Test Drive Unlimited - 17th October 2006 Prototype
4Released as part of 「PROJECT VELOCITY」, I am proud to present a newly preserved "Press Preview PR Australia" build for Melbourne House's PS2 conversion of Test Drive Unlimited! This disc was burned on 24th November 2006, however the build itself seems to be a recycled / lightly tweaked one dating from 17th October 2006 (as all game files including the SLES possess a date no later than this apart from a random NETGUI file), just under 3 and a half months before the final builds.
Despite having been compiled months before the first final build this prototype is surprisingly (and unfortunately) pretty close to being finished, with only somewhat minor differences overall. It does however come with an intact Debug Menu possessing a bunch of options, including tests for the game "Spots" and "Sectors" as well as some quick start tutorial skips and unlock all options!
3 supplementary PDF files have been included in the archive download; a general differences PDF like I previously made for my Bugs & Taz and Hot Wheels Velocity X builds, a document table featuring all the vehicle text stat differences in this build, and a document going into detail about all of the Debug Menu features. I will also summarise most of the differences below:
* This build features a watermark reading "v3800" which is present at all times outside of the FMV, as well as xyz coordinates which appear when the main menu loads and stay throughout this build.
* The Test Drive / Atari / Havok physics copyright screen upon boot up is a mix of the NTSC and PAL final build screens; it reads "Atari, Inc., New York, NY." like the final NTSC build but lacks the ESRB logo or trademark text just like the final PAL build.
* The options configuration screen has several differences to the final builds; changed symbols, differently placed UI elements etc.
* Several options menu screens such as Steering Sensitivity or SFX Volume allow you to back out of these menus by pressing the O button alongside pressing X like the final builds, and features a UI element informing you of being able to press O to go back.
* All vehicles have differences relating to their stat bars (usually with higher stats than the final builds), and most vehicles additionally have mostly minor performance differences on their stat screens to the final builds.
* Many vehicle wheel options & paint options have differently formatted UI name text, or in rare cases small differences.
* The Statistics Overall screen lists your playthrough time as "Play Time" rather than "Total Time" like the final builds, and additionally has a UI prompt for switching the page with L1 and R1 like the Challenges screen. The latter was removed from this screen in the final builds as it has no use due to the screen not having enough entries to even be able to scroll any text.
* The Statistics Challenges screen features 19 challenges which are nowhere to be found in the final game. They also do not seem to be physically present by default in this build, but could potentially exist in the game files. This screen also lacks the scroll bar UI element seen on the left side in the final builds.
* The grass outside the front entrance of Aliamanu Aston Martin Dealership is a lighter shade of green than the final build.
* Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Caterham, Ford, McLaren, Pagani and Spyker have different logos used for the About licensor credits, and Saleen has a minor spelling mistake of a second full stop.
* The NETNTSC.ELF / NETPAL.ELF file is missing from this build, while 5 IRX files and an extra IMG file are present in the IOP folder which were later removed.
Download link: https://archive.org/details/tdups2preview
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