The stationary turrets do not consistently illuminate the area around the turret when fired as it does in footage of the original demo. It's especially noticeable with the first turret ("No, no, behind that ST," etc.), but the turret the presenter is to use in the defense section exhibits similar issues when fired at certain angles by the player.

It appears to be some kind of proximity culling issue, since the light seems to be functionally present, but will not display unless the player is rubbing up against whoever is using the turret while it's firing.

Yeah, this is due to the amount of dynamic lights in the level. The game automatically prioritises those closest the player but kicks in when you physically enter the radius of the light to know to do this.

I'll be working on improving the current light manager system I wrote, for reference, regular Halo 2 only usually supports around 4-8 lights. We go near and sometimes beyond 32!

Added to the list, thank you for reminding me about that. Cheers - N

Some things I noticed that differ from the original which maybe inconsistent, some that are bugs, you guys be the judge of these.

Chief's walkspeed is faster than the original version.

The hogs drive faster than they do in the original version which can result in a strange music transition when you drive the ghost up towards the highway at the end unless you stall right before that sequence.

The gauss cannon's explosion color when impacting the ghosts or shadows uses an incorrect color palette of cyan compared to the original.

The gauss cannon's fire rate is the same as retail's, which is a bit slower than the e3 2003 version.

Some of the marines' helmets will randomly disappear every playthrough.

There's strange jittering with the battle rifle FP animations when standing still and looking around.

The brute that lands on the gauss hog doesn't throw the marines out of their seats aggressively like in the original, they clip through the hog instead or get teleported next to it after being killed.

When you hijack the ghost, the kick sound differs from the original version and the brute doesn't grunt aggressively either.

Things I've noticed inconsistent with the E3 Demo footage I reviewed:

In the courtyard fight, the car closer to the first GPMG turret is consistently red in old footage, but both are green in the Digsite version.

Also, cars during their second explosion effect are suppose to cause damage that can kill grunts and jackals and move nearby objects like other cars. The retail uberchassis still uses the "vehicle_explosion" damage effect which may be the same one from the E3 Demo.

Similarly, the four plaza signs that can be destroyed I believe were suppose to do damage judging by the footage, but its hard to tell. On Metropolis, one of these plaza signs still exists and also uses the "vehicle_explosion" damage effect which further leads me to believe it was present in the E3 Demo.

It's possible to flip the warthog during its rail phase. This ejects both player and driver. After reentering the hog nothing happens.

In my case there is a problem with lipsync scenes aswell. Every dialogue is played without its corresponding animation.

During the end scene, when the new mombasa sign hits the phantom below, some explosion animations are missing.

Energy swords have some weird flickering

the light beam effect texture of the sky spotlight right at the beginning strangely rotates instead of aligning itself to the players camera position

(Not a bug, but I would like to see the e3 bungie logo right at the start of the demo aswell ^^)

Originally posted by phen0menal:

Chief's walkspeed is faster than the original version.

If you are using a keyboard rather than a controller, there is no way in the retail engine as-is to specifically support you moving at a slower pace. Controller players can move about identical to the demo.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

The hogs drive faster than they do in the original version which can result in a strange music transition when you drive the ghost up towards the highway at the end unless you stall right before that sequence.

This is known, due to our differences necessary for AI to drive vehicles properly. There is a good chance this cannot be addressed due to multiple factors that can differentiate each playthrough, notably, the ghosts that you can board specifically are triggered after two Brutes have been killed by any means. If you do this faster than the original demos were intended, then this will require you to wait around for the music cues to play as intended. This is on parity with how the real build worked.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

The gauss cannon's explosion color when impacting the ghosts or shadows uses an incorrect color palette of cyan compared to the original.

This is likely due to a difference in shader behaviour between H1.5 and H2, but will look into this, cheers.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

The gauss cannon's fire rate is the same as retail's, which is a bit slower than the e3 2003 version.

The gauss cannon fire rate is the same as the tags from the E3 build. This is correct.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

Some of the marines' helmets will randomly disappear every playthrough.

This was always possible in the E3 build, and purely comes down to chance, however we have considered possibly forcing marine permutations in our version for more perceived consistency.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

There's strange jittering with the battle rifle FP animations when standing still and looking around.

I can't currently find any visual evidence of this. Would you be able to provide video footage, if possible, please?

Originally posted by phen0menal:

The brute that lands on the gauss hog doesn't throw the marines out of their seats aggressively like in the original, they clip through the hog instead or get teleported next to it after being killed.

This is due to engine differences with how vehicle ejection is handled, and cannot be fixed.

Originally posted by phen0menal:

When you hijack the ghost, the kick sound differs from the original version and the brute doesn't grunt aggressively either.

This is generally because the hijack in the original footage is a "fake" one, and is an animation that pauses for input to complete the sequence, where the sounds are part of the animation. Our demo uses the real hijacking system in retail H2, hence the difference in sound behaviour.

Cheers - Neo.

Originally posted by Satan:

In the courtyard fight, the car closer to the first GPMG turret is consistently red in old footage, but both are green in the Digsite version.

Good spotting. I'm checking through other sources of footage to confirm this, and will update this in if confirmed. Cheers.

Originally posted by Satan:

Cars during their second explosion effect are suppose to cause damage that can kill grunts and jackals and move nearby objects like other cars. The retail uberchassis still uses the "vehicle_explosion" damage effect which may be the same one from the E3 Demo.

Originally posted by Satan:

Similarly, the four plaza signs that can be destroyed I believe were suppose to do damage judging by the footage, but its hard to tell. On Metropolis, one of these plaza signs still exists and also uses the "vehicle_explosion" damage effect which further leads me to believe it was present in the E3 Demo.

We did have these set up at one point but I believe it caused some other issue. Will look into this.
Cheers - N

Originally posted by Leuta:

It's possible to flip the warthog during its rail phase. This ejects both player and driver. After reentering the hog nothing happens.

This is known, and is consistent to the real E3 build. In that build, holding BACK and WHITE would revert to developer-placed emergency checkpoints. In our case, you just need to revert to last save in the pause menu, and this should reset you to the start of the hog sequence, where you encounter the jackal formation.

Originally posted by Leuta:

In my case there is a problem with lipsync scenes aswell. Every dialogue is played without its corresponding animation.

Can you be more specific, if possible please? H2's lipsync system works independent of normal game-timing logic, and can desync on low framerates (this is not itself fixable, but we're working on improving performance)

Originally posted by Leuta:

During the end scene, when the new mombasa sign hits the phantom below, some explosion animations are missing.

Good spotting, will add to our list.

Originally posted by Leuta:

Energy swords have some weird flickering

This is partially due to the postprocessing stack and how bloom is handled in retail H2, but will add this to the list, thanks.

Originally posted by Leuta:

The light beam effect texture of the sky spotlight right at the beginning strangely rotates instead of aligning itself to the players camera position

Our tags are consistent with the original and this is likely caused by a shader difference (which may not be addressable), but will look into this. Cheers.

Originally posted by Leuta:

(Not a bug, but I would like to see the e3 bungie logo right at the start of the demo aswell ^^)

We'd all personally love this, but we aren't allowed to use copyrighted material from other trademarks or IPs outside of Halo, including company logos.

Cheers for the continued reports. - N

Originally posted by Neo Te Aika:

...

Originally posted by Leuta:

In my case there is a problem with lipsync scenes aswell. Every dialogue is played without its corresponding animation.

Can you be more specific, if possible please? H2's lipsync system works independent of normal game-timing logic, and can desync on low framerates (this is not itself fixable, but we're working on improving performance)

...

NPCs do not have face animations at all. Maybe it's on my side only, because I watched other people's videos and they did not have that problem at all. I'm wondering if it's because my game language settings are set to German

Is it possible to have the magazines in weapons have more rounds or be bottomless and still be able to reload? In the Press Release of demo, there is only 1 reload when you are approaching Sgt Banks after clearing some Grunts. I notice I end up needing to reload alot more with BR and SMGs when trying to play thru shot for shot like Bungie's video.

Great work on the Demo! It is amazing to be playing it!

Originally posted by A druNkRABb1T:

Is it possible to have the magazines in weapons have more rounds or be bottomless and still be able to reload? In the Press Release of demo, there is only 1 reload when you are approaching Sgt Banks after clearing some Grunts. I notice I end up needing to reload alot more with BR and SMGs when trying to play thru shot for shot like Bungie's video.

Great work on the Demo! It is amazing to be playing it!

Seconding this!

When chief uses the turret, he flinches when shot and this didnt happen in the demo

Right after a marine says 'no tags' at the beginning, you hear the announcement in the background in the demo, in this mod you dont hear it at that point.

very nitpicky but the slower you walk in the mod, the slower the gun sways, while this is more realistic and objectively better, it didnt happen in the demo, instead it had the halo 1 animation and moves the same speed no matter how slow or fast youre moving

the camera clips through chiefs legs when i look down, is this just because of what my FOV is set to? could you even see the legs if you look down in the demo? i dont know but i doubt it

I noticed one key detail missing from the Halo 2 cut demo when comparing it to the 2004 Halo 2 demo trailer.

Remember the scene where the Marine interacts with an injured comrade? The part where he asks, 'Hey, is it clear?' and the other Marine replies, 'You tell me,' just before an explosion suddenly goes off? That moment was supposed to have the ground shake aggressively, as shown in the Halo 2 cut demo from the 2003 trailer. Unfortunately, this dramatic effect is absent in the latest build we have today. Please bring this detail back in—it adds so much intensity!

Originally posted by Leuta:

NPCs do not have face animations at all. Maybe it's on my side only, because I watched other people's videos and they did not have that problem at all. I'm wondering if it's because my game language settings are set to German :MCCMONITOR:

Yep, only English language is supported, since David Scully's performance for this demo was never dubbed for other languages.

Originally posted by J Dot Loc:

When chief uses the turret, he flinches when shot and this didnt happen in the demo

Right after a marine says 'no tags' at the beginning, you hear the announcement in the background in the demo, in this mod you dont hear it at that point.

very nitpicky but the slower you walk in the mod, the slower the gun sways, while this is more realistic and objectively better, it didnt happen in the demo, instead it had the halo 1 animation and moves the same speed no matter how slow or fast youre moving

the camera clips through chiefs legs when i look down, is this just because of what my FOV is set to? could you even see the legs if you look down in the demo? i dont know but i doubt it

H1.5 did not have the third person model/legs viewable in first person, so this is a Halo 2 specific thing.

The gun sway thing is an actualy H1/H2 engine difference to my knowledge, it probably can be brought closer but this is not a bug, so is beyond the scope of our work. Would be a cool change though!.

The annoucement thingy is in our build, and has a random chance of playing. This is consistent to the original build. Cheers.