Proto:Halo 2/E3 2003 Demo

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The E3 2003 demo of Halo 2 is a single campaign mission. The game requires an XDK hard disk image to run.

The XBE's build date is May 11 2003 00:11:07.

Differences from the May 3, 2003 build

Compared to the build from a week earlier, the E3 demo has differences in lighting. Stencil shadows appear to have been dialed back.

May 3, 2003	E3 2003

Demo functionality

True to Bungie's word, the demo is extremely rough in performance and scripting. Some debug text remains when playing this build.

Cores

If issues arise during the demo, pressing Back then Start will load a Core. These are hardcoded checkpoints in case of emergency. There are several cores, with selection depending on the most recent point passed in gameplay.

Game loading

At boot, the engine runs the following console commands as defined in the init.txt file:

game_difficulty_set impossible
show_hud 1
cheat_deathless_player 0
cheat_bottomless_clip 0

And the following console commands as defined in the launch.txt file:

earthcity_e3
e3_start

The game will load to a black screen with the Bungie logo. Press A to begin the Johnson intro cutscene, or hold Back and press A to skip him entirely, going straight into the demo's intro.

Upon finishing the mission and watching the final cutscene, the game will halt at the Halo 2 logo. A hardware reset is required at this point.