The Unofficial Non-Retail Halo Thread.

[bt0aster]

Nothing here is any information that is not already retrievable from the internet. Everything here has been said before (not in these exact words). There are no downloads here. However, this topic is extremely useful because it is the only place where all of the info has been put together (including some hard-to-find info.)

I threw in the info from the retails just to make it more complete.

These are in order of release. Feel free to comment about mistakes I have made, or tell me what some more builds / build #s are. PM if you think you need to, or want to talk about anything else.

Also, a note that you should read before asking where the H2 E3 Demo is: The only ones posted here are the ones that have been at least slightly public outside of original sources (I will probably start adding the unleaked ones soon).

There is a LOT of info here, if you have any more or want to talk about any builds or anything, PM me.

Organization
------------
Game [Bolded] | Platform | Build Name/# | My comments | Availability
If I write [?] in the build # spot, it means I don't know and I hope that someone else can find it.

Halo CE Debug | Xbox | Builds Unknown / [?] | Images of about 3 different versions exist. | Not publicly available, possibly leaked to a few people
Halo CE NTSC | Xbox | Retail [2276] | The retail NTSC build of Halo CE | Retail, available all over the place...

Halo CE PAL | Xbox | Retail [2342] | The retail PAL build of Halo CE. | Retail, available all over the place...

Halo CE OXM Demo | Xbox | Demo [?] | An old Halo CE Demo that was in OXM 7, 11, and 17 iirc. | Possible to find on Ebay, but the files are available online.

Halo CE PC Pre-Gold 1.0 | PC | Pre-Gold / Beta [?] | A Pre-Gold (apparently still called "beta" in some files) version of Halo CE PC | Available in some places online, but they all (to my knowledge) need registration and/or are in a different language.

Halo CE PC Pre-Gold 1.5 | PC | Pre-Gold / Beta [?] | A Pre-Gold (apparently still called "beta" in some files) version of Halo CE PC | Available in some places online, but they all (to my knowledge) need registration and/or are in a different language.

Halo CE PC Pre-Gold 2.0 | PC | Pre-Gold / Beta [?] | A Pre-Gold (apparently still called "beta" in some files) version of Halo CE PC | Available in some places online, but they all (to my knowledge) need registration and/or are in a different language.

Halo CE PC Retail | PC | Retail [?] | The retail build of Halo PC | Retail, available all over the place...

Halo CE PC Trial | PC | Trial [?] | The "Trial" of Halo PC, really a demo. | Publicly available and widely played online.

Halo 2 Multiplayer Alpha/Beta | Xbox | Alpha/Beta [07902] | The closed multiplayer beta of Halo 2, given only to MS employees. It is referred to as an Alpha and a Beta in it's files. | Leaked, publicly available.

Halo 2 Retail | Xbox | Retail [?] [Possibly 1.00.5849.12] | The retail build of Halo 2 | Retail, available all over the place.

Halo 2 Vista | PC (Vista) | Retail [?] | The retail build of the port of Halo 2 to PC. I think someone found a way to play it on XP. | Retail, all over the place.

Halo 3 Alpha "Pimps at Sea" | Xbox 360 | Alpha [?] | An alpha version of Halo 3. US soldiers were at one point allowed to play the game. This caused photos and videos to leak. The name "Pimps at Sea" is a running joke with bungie, and was the codename of the game for when they played it on live. Note: There are probably multiple alpha builds named Pimps at Sea, in fact, I am almost completely sure of that. | Not available. Possibly leaked to a few people.

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta | Xbox 360 | Beta [09699] | A public beta of Halo 3 that you received access to if you bought Crackdown. The normal beta's .xex (X360 equivalent of an .exe file) no longer works, but there is a forceloader program as well as some forceload xex's if you have a jtag or a devkit. | The files are online and relatively easy to find if you dig around.

Halo 3 Epsilon 11729 | Xbox 360 | Epsilon [11729] | A microsoft employee-only "epsilon" test. Basically a pre-gold test. There are only a few (known) differences between it and the retail. | Not available, but leaked more so than the Alpha.


Halo 3 Epsilon 11856 | Xbox 360 | Epsilon [11856] | This build is odd, it's build number is higher than the retail build's number, meaning that should have been created after the retail. However, it was created sometime in August, not after the retail. There are only a few (known) differences between it and the retail. It was a Microsoft-only test. | Not available, but leaked more so than the Alpha.

Halo 3 Retail | Xbox 360 | Retail [11855] | The retail build of Halo 3. | Retail, all over the place.

Halo 3 ODST Retail | Xbox 360 | Retail [13895] | The retail build of Halo 3 ODST. It was leaked before it's release, and I have always wondered if the leak is a different build. | Retail, all over the place.

Halo Wars Preview / Review | Xbox 360 | Preview / Review [?] | I know absolutely nothing about this. PM me with info. | Not publicly available.

Halo Wars Retail | Xbox 360 | Retail [?] | The retail build of Halo Wars | Retail, all over the place.

Halo Reach Pre-Beta | Xbox 360 | Pre-Beta [?] | A pre-beta build of Halo Reach, I am not sure whether it was a public one that was slightly harder to get into (than the MP beta), or a MS Employee-only thing. It used to be available somewhere online. | No longer publicly available.

Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta | Xbox 360 | Beta [?] | The public multiplayer beta of Halo Reach, which you received access to from either getting a code from bungie's website, or ODST. It has some forceload xex's, like the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta.

Halo Reach Retail | Xbox 360 | Retail [11860?] | The retail build of Halo Reach | Retail, all over the place.

Halo Reach Demo | Xbox 360 | Demo [1509?] | The demo of the retail build of Halo Reach | On the marketplace or on some places online.

Finally, done writing.
I apologize for not being able to give too much info on Reach Pre-Beta, CE PC Pre-Golds, CE Debug, H3 Alpha, or H3 Epsilon builds, as I do not actually have any of these :l. Maybe sometime in the future.

Written by bt0aster.

[Andrew Tapferke]

Good repo.

[JaSpeR]

Good post dude !
Even if we call the Halo 2 multiplayer build a Beta, i would say that it's more a alpha than a beta, because of its major differences compared to the final retail game, and when the game crashed it shows that :

halo2 alpha xbox 02.06.28.07902 Jun 28 2004 02:48:03
uploading files to server, please wait... O%

[bt0aster]

Good post dude !
Even if we call the Halo 2 multiplayer build a Beta, i would say that it's more a alpha than a beta, because of its major differences compared to the final retail game, and when the game crashed it shows that :

halo2 alpha xbox 02.06.28.07902 Jun 28 2004 02:48:03
uploading files to server, please wait... O%

Thanks!
And yeah, that's basically what I meant. I looked through the xbe awhile ago and found the string that said that crash screen text. In fact, that's where I got the build number from (02.06.29.07902). However, the reason that I would still call it Beta / Alpha is that if you look at the .xbe in a hex editor, you will find strings that say things like beta/source/blahblahblah. But yeah, I would agree that the actual game content seems more like an alpha.

If I can get some special editing privileges for this topic only or something, that'd be cool, because I want to update this with all of the versions that we find.

Offtopic Comment

Does this forum have a spoiler bbcode tag? I tried [spoiler] but it didn't work..it would help organize this kind of stuff.

[Smorgan]

Your missing one thing which I recall which was that halo reach was leaked onto torrent sites.

the following build was stolen from the Xbox Live site:

Build 1542.

[Xinra]

Thx for the good report.

Halo is one of the best games.

[JaSpeR]

I found the build version for the Halo 3 Multiplayer Public Beta :
halo3 cache release xenon 09699.07.05.01.1534.delta

and also the build version of the final retail Halo CE Xbox (PAL Version) :
halo xbox 01.01.14.2342

[bt0aster]

Your missing one thing which I recall which was that halo reach was leaked onto torrent sites.

the following build was stolen from the Xbox Live site:

Build 1542.

Ah, thanks! I just assumed that the leak was the final version. I wonder if the stolen PAL French Halo 2 was non-retail? Or the ODST leak (I think ODST leaked...right?). I'll try to find out, but I don't think the PAL French H2 is even available anymore.

I found the build version for the Halo 3 Multiplayer Public Beta :
halo3 cache release xenon 09699.07.05.01.1534.delta

and also the build version of the final retail Halo CE Xbox (PAL Version) :
halo xbox 01.01.14.2342

Thanks jasper! I added those two in. Do PAL versions have different build numbers than NTSC? That wouldn't really make sense but I guess it's worth checking for.

[JaSpeR]

Well, Halo CE has been released first in the US and Canada, and then in the Europe =

15 November 2001
14 March 2002
24 April 2002

So, i'm not sure if the builds are really the same.

The .xbe has been made after the american release, here is its date : Jan 14 2002 13:03:45
And the .exe inside the .xbe is called : palfinal.exe
The NTSC Halo CE could be a different build.

[bt0aster]

That's weird. I know different countries have different release dates, but different builds? I'll have to take a look sometime soon.

[Betarchiver]

Do you have pic or vids from the "Pimps at Sea" alpha ?
I found this but the quality of the video is bad : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kzHNHdCUos

[JaSpeR]

Here are some new build versions i found later.

Halo Reach Final Retail :
11860.10.07.24.0147.omaha_release

Halo 3 ODST Final Retail :
atlas cache release xenon 13895.09.04.27.2201

And i don't agree with Smorgan, the leaked XCP of Halo Reach was the exact same build version than the final retail one.

[bt0aster]

I don't have any Pimps at Sea stuff that isn't easily findable. I'll try to start collecting more of the pictures and videos, but it's not like I can post them here, (unless there is a spoiler tag...) otherwise it'd get unorganized fast.

Jasper continues to give me build numbers! Thanks, also, I pm'd you with a question.
I'll add those two in. Also, are you sure about the leak thing? When Smorgan posted that I looked up the number real quick and I'm pretty sure that I found a picture that said "Halo Reach Build 1542". If I find it again I'll PM it.

I just looked real fast and I didn't find the picture, but I found that when Reach leaked it was supposed to only be going out for reviewers, so I suppose that will be called a Review copy of reach now.

Edit: unless it was actually just the final build..

[JaSpeR]

I recently got a NTSC version of Halo CE.

I looked in, and here is its build version :
halo xbox 01.10.12.2276

I was right, it's not the same build. The exe is called final.exe, and its date is Oct 12 2001 16:14:28
I'm looking for a NTSC-J version at the moment, because it could be another build version.

[Twis7eD]

Here are some new build versions i found later.

Halo Reach Final Retail :
11860.10.07.24.0147.omaha_release

Halo 3 ODST Final Retail :
atlas cache release xenon 13895.09.04.27.2201

And i don't agree with Smorgan, the leaked XCP of Halo Reach was the exact same build version than the final retail one.

I agree. I'm almost positive that the leaked version of Reach was the same build, but just put on the marketplace for reviewers to get a head start and review the game before it actually came out. And I've played it and I don't think I have ever noticed any differences.

[bt0aster]

Thanks for more build #s, I'll have the NTSC-J sometime soon so I'll put up what it is soon. We should check the other games' different regions to see if they're different builds.

[JaSpeR]

Here is the build version of the Halo Reach Demo i just found :

00095.11.04.09.1509.demo

I'm getting the Halo CE NTSC-J version at the moment. For the others retail Halo, the builds would be the same, because it won't work online with different builds together.
That's why Halo CE NTSC doesn't work with PAL and NTSC-J by system link.

[bt0aster]

Here is the build version of the Halo Reach Demo i just found :

00095.11.04.09.1509.demo

I'm getting the Halo CE NTSC-J version at the moment. For the others retail Halo, the builds would be the same, because it won't work online with different builds together.
That's why Halo CE NTSC doesn't work with PAL and NTSC-J by system link.

Nice, I'll add that (and remove the H:R leak because it's retail). I suppose that makes sense for the PAL/NTSC thing, but are you sure? I have played with french people (who would probably have PAL) on Halo 2 on XBC.

I just so happened to get the NTSC-J right now...I must get the build number before you!

EDIT: The files were corrupted...

EDIT 2: I noticed that my reach build #s are really different (retail being in the ten thousands and demo being thousands), does anyone know if that is incorrect? It seems like it..

[JaSpeR]

I finally got the NTSC-J version of Halo CE, that was really hard to find !

Here is its build :
halo xbox 01.03.14.0009

And here, its exe and its date :
final.exe Mar 15 2002 13:28:47

Now, there are all the Halo CE retail builds !

[bt0aster]

I finally got the NTSC-J version of Halo CE, that was really hard to find !

Here is its build :
halo xbox 01.03.14.0009

And here, its exe and its date :
final.exe Mar 15 2002 13:28:47

Now, there are all the Halo CE retail builds !

Nice one. I think I'll start adding the dates to the OP as well as unleaked build stuff.

EDIT: Also, I'm not sure that we're getting the build numbers from the right spot...unless the number is the entire "01.03.14.0009", because it wouldn't go from 1500's to 0009.

[jimmsta]

Well, at the very least, that build date states March 14, 2001, yet the exe has a date of 2002? kinda strange. Perhaps the build number here is a sub-build revision, instead of a standard build number. I'd expect the map files to be the same, just with the build string changed for the executable to identify the maps as official NTSC-J edition files.

[dezodor]

or someone opened the exe in notepad++ and changed build date. but forgot to change the sytem time on his pc when he re-saved the exe

[ShadowsSpark]

Halo 3 Private Multiplayer Beta | Xbox 360 | Beta [Unknown] | A private beta of Halo 3 that was only known to Microsoft employees. Supposedly containing all multiplayer maps with only three of them polished for public play. A leaked video of "Zanzibar" from a microsoft employee is the only known source for this beta.

Code: Select all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUn45x6R4c8

| Video Leak only, Builds unknown.

[onza110]

Do you have pic or vids from the "Pimps at Sea" alpha ?
I found this but the quality of the video is bad : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kzHNHdCUos

That looks very interesting. I will be digging around for some info on that

[Atomfire]

There is another Build of halo reach that got leaked just before the release date. It is Halo Reach [Build 1542] No idea if it's available anywhere now.

Not sure abouts link's but here is a news article about the leak http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/201 ... xbox-live/