August 15, 2003 build

This is a sub-page of Proto:Tony Hawk's Underground (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows).

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

To do: Figure out how to stop levels from crashing in singleplayer. See if any of the prototype matches that or was changed in the later September build.

The earliest prototype build of Tony Hawk's Underground that has been recovered. This build is locked into Demo Mode by default, but by hex editing the ISO this can be disabled.

This particular article generally covers the PlayStation 2 version of the build but an Xbox prototype that was built the same day can also be found.

General Differences#

• Demo Mode enforces multiple restrictions:
  • Some choices on the options screen are removed.
  • Only the first 10 chapters of the Story mode are available.
  • Beating the Tampa AM contest will make the words DEMO BUILD display on screen for a short while.
  • The player is unable to choose a team to join afterwards, halting progress.
• Once Demo Mode is disabled the user is granted access to all other portions of the game, debug options also become useable.
• Pressing + activates Viewer mode, this freezes the skater in place and allows the player to freely move and rotate the camera.
  • is used to move the camera.
  • is used to rotate the camera.
  • and lets you move the camera higher and lower.
  • and lets you tilt the camera to the right and to the left.
  • swaps between camera speeds.
  • changes the position of the camera to multiple isometric views of the level.
  • changes the position of the camera to multiple side views of the level.
  • changes the position of the camera to multiple topdown views of the level.
  • Pressing + in Viewer mode unfreezes the skater and lets you control them while in viewer mode. Pressing them a second time deactivates Viewer mode and switches back to the in-game camera.
• All story mode levels past Tampa (excluding Moscow) crash when attemping to load peds, making them hard to access in singleplayer. Loading these levels through multiplayer bypasses crashing.
• All script, texture and collision data for the unused levels Australia, West Side and MotoX remain intact in this prototype, the former two can even be accessed ingame through further hex editing.
• Several cheat codes from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 will still register when entered.
• On the main menu screen the Download Your Face option is instead Create Your Face.
• The secret level Hotter Than Hell notably isn't finalized in this build and contains unfinished visuals. The loading screen also uses a placeholder.
• The custom skater uses bail sounds from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

Story Mode#

• Several goal peds don't have lip animations when speaking.
• Recurring goal peds (such as Shawn in New Jersey) have inconsistent appearances throughout. In the final the game keeps track of whichever design has been chosen.
• Some stream files (such as goal ped voices) will at random play very quietly.
• Some cutscenes do not fade in or out, allowing one see them quickly load in and out.
• Vehicles do not disappear during cutscenes, they just freeze in place.
• The text on many goal messages aren't as aligned to the center and often get too close to the edges of the box.

New Jersey#

• New Jersey has different time of day settings in a few chapters. Chapter 1 begins with a moodier look with morning fog. Once beating the goal Help Eric the fog is removed but a light layer of rain is added.
• Both collectibles are placed in different spots.
  • The Old Skool Level pickup is located at the front of the school instead of the hospital side ledge.
  • Instead of being under the bridge the Secret Tape pickup is located at the factory rooftop pool, next to the Hidden Factory Lip gap.

August Build	Final Build

August Build	Final Build

Help Eric

• A slight text difference on one of Eric's dialogue boxes:

Look - I was just skating, minding my own, and the dealers grabbed my board! They tore it apart and threw the pieces up on the roof...

I was just skating, minding my own, and the dealers grabbed my board! They tore it apart and threw the pieces up on the roof...

• The voice line of Eric saying "Here, I'll hold your deck." uses a different take.

Walk Charles

• While skitching Charles the player will attempt to switch sides when hitting the and buttons. This was fixed in the final.

Eric's Challenge

• The voice line of Eric saying "Well, well. Someone's been practicing." begins with a different take.

Get the stolen items back from the dealers

This mission has noticeable differences in this build:

• The player does not approach Shawn during the first shot of the goal intro.
• The shot of the front porch is different.
• The overview of Elm Street is far more dynamic, starting by pulling out from the previous shot into a birds eye view of the alleyway, which then continues past the playground and stops by where Shawn, Eric and the player are stood.
• Shawn does not call out "Wait, kid. It's too dangerous!" once you gain control.
• The unused dealer voicelines are still implemented at this point, they can be heard talking amongst themselves when close by.
• The stealth is far more strict. The dealers can easily spot you on the usual school balcony and house rafters path, failing the mission if you aren't fast enough to escape. It is advisable to take a different route.

Cutscene: Meet Peralta - Eric in Trouble

Watch on YouTube

• The Time of Day is morning during this cutscene, there is also a thick layer of fog.
• The first shot of the player approaching Stacy Peralta uses a different camera angle.
• The song Hung, Drawn and Quartered does not play at the end of the cutscene.

Get the scrapmetal for the tombstone maker

• Johnny Turbo does not yell out "Okay, let go!" when approaching the ramp.

Get access to the train station

• Slight text differences on one of Security Stews voicelines:

Guess I was too busy stopping lying skate rats from sneaking into the station and spray painting 'I am the King of No Pants' on the phone kiosks

Oh. Guess I was too busy stopping lying skate rats from sneaking into the station and spray painting 'I am the King of No Pants' on the phone kiosks.

Rescue Eric

• The skater walks from off camera beside Shawn when the mission starts instead of remaining idle next to him.
• The dealer's SUV does not make any noise whatsoever.

Cutscene: Hop On The Train

Watch on YouTube

• Eric does not speak at all during this cutscene.

Manhattan#

Cutscene: NY Level Overview

• The first shot of Manhattan is completely different. It is instead a whole birds eye view of the entire level.
• The player strangely refers to 78 Water Street as 77 Water Street.

Chad Muska's Trick Challenge: Get SPECIAL and do a Moonwalk Five-O

• Chad's first line of dialogue begins differently. Some of the text also differs, notably Moonwalk Five-O instead reads Moonwalk 5-O.

Hope you're not afraid of the water sissy! Get SPECIAL on this QP then do a Moonwalk 5-O, start right there on the wire.

Yo, let's see you try this one! Get SPECIAL on this QP then do a Moonwalk Five-O. Start right there on the wire.

Hold-Grind Combos

• This goal is known as Hold-Grind Tetris in this build. It was likely changed to avoid mentioning a licensed property.

Help the Student

• This goal is known as Help the Hottie in this build. The Student is also instead named Hottie.
• Slight text differences on the goal message and the help text.

Help! Someone just stole my purse and now my stuff is spread allll over!

Help! Someone just stole my purse and now my stuff is spread all over!

Find the stuff from the hot chick's purse

Find the stuff from the student's purse

Cutscene: NY Skaters

Watch on YouTube

• There are slight camera angle differences.
• One of the local skaters has a different voice.

Help the Local Skater

• The Nut Buster created trick only consists of a very simple 360 Frontside Spin Indy.

Help Stacy's Relative

• In what seems to be a mistake or oversight the player is required to score 500,000 points instead of 50,000, even though the goal info says otherwise.

Tampa#

Cutscene: SPOT Rejection

Watch on YouTube

• The custom skater's model has noticeable issues throughout.
• Chad Muska is used as a placeholder for Jamie Thomas.
• A Hanna-Barbera like sound is heard when Eric shakes his head.
• The female custom skater does not audibly say "What?!" when she is told the list is full, but her animation still suggests so.
• When Eric heads through the gate he visibly freezes in place.
• There are slight differences in the animation, notably when the player dejectedly drops their board.

Cutscene: Win SPOT

Watch on YouTube

• Besides voices there is no audio in this cutscene, there is also no audio filter when the skaters are "on camera".
• Andrew Reynolds uses a standard ped model as a placeholder.
• The park is far less crowded with most of the audience absent.

San Diego#

Cutscene: Todd - Team Manager

• The banner hung outside the team headquarters features Shorty's as the sponsor. This is noteworthy as Shorty's is not among the chooseable sponsors in the game, nor is it listed as such in the prototype.
• Todd's final line of dialogue has changed between builds. In the August build he specifically mentions Atiba (presumably Atiba Jefferson) as the person who is getting coverage of the team. This was changed to just the filmer in the final release.

New Jersey: Part 2#

Create-A-Trick

• The Soul Skating created trick hasn't been implemented. The mission uses Premade CAT 3 instead.
• Shawn has an additional message when completing the goal that simply reads Siiiiiiiiiiiiick!!!

Tear up Eric's best line

• This goal is named Own Eric in this build. Similarly the help text during the goal just reads Beat Eric.
• The camera angle in the shot of Eric talking to the player is different. The player can also be heard approaching.
• Only 31 of the 41 markers are present, Eric's line ends rather abruptly on a powerline.
• Upon beating the goal the game tracks a scripted ped who strolls towards the bridge for a comically long time. The ped will eventually stop at one of the support beams and then walk backwards... only to walk towards the beam again in a loop. This scene will only stop when you Press to continue.

View Goals menu#

Chapter Summaries#

Many chapter summaries have yet to be finalized in this build. Some of them have grammar errors, differing punctuation, are more profane or reference other media.

Chapter 4:

Out of that shithole of a hometown and in the big city! Time to hit some of those great Skate Spots.

Out of that dump of a hometown and in the big city! Time to hit some of those great skate spots.

Chapter 6:

Mr. Peralta thinks you guys might actually have a chance in Tampa, do some errands for him and he'll let you borrow his car to get down there!

Mr. Peralta thinks you guys might actually have a chance in Tampa. Do some errands for him and he'll let you borrow his car to get down there!

Chapter 8:

This is bullshit! Got all the way down here and they won't let you enter the contest... maybe some of the pros that are in town can lend a hand...

This sucks! Got all the way down here and they won't let you enter the contest... maybe some of the pros that are in town can lend a hand...

Chapter 10:

Too many choices! Time to join a real team. Once you beat a Sponsor Challenge, you can join their team...

Too many choices! Time to join a real team. Check out the team videos then choose a team...

Chapter 11:

Damn! A team skater! Well - better get to know the rest of your team - probably wouldn't hurt to start gettin some press too...

Damn! A team skater! Well, better get to know the rest of your team - probably wouldn't hurt to start gettin' some press too...

Chapter 18:

What the F&@*! Your part was gone from the video! Well - only one thing to do... destroy EVERYONE in the competition!

What the F&@*! Your part was gone from the video! Well, only one thing to do... destroy EVERYONE in the competition!

Chapter 20:

Welcome to Russia, Comrade. Skate. Explore. Enjoy... and remember, prostitution is legal here.

Welcome to Russia, comrade. Skate. Explore. Enjoy... and remember, prostitution is legal here.

Chapter 22:

Screw this James Bond stuff, time to get out of Mother Russia

Screw this super spy stuff, time to get out of Mother Russia

Goal Names#

A few mission names are different in this build.

Level Differences#

• Levels take noticeably longer to load in this build.
• Time of day lighting differs somewhat, especially at night time.

New Jersey#

• The kill scripts used when the player goes out of bounds throughout the level does not make a sound or display any messages, they more closely resemble a warp script.
• It is possible to shatter the steps of most houses in this build. This only works with the one house with a wooden porch foundation in the final.
• The previously mentioned house still has the angled ladder from pre-release screenshots in this build.
• The player can get on top of the raised platform of the factory (The one that triggers the Hidden Factory Lip gap). In the final game it is surrounded by a collider.

Create-A-Skater#

The skater's bedroom still resembles it's appearance in pre-release screenshots.

August Build	Final Build

August Build	Final Build

• There are many visual differences of note.
  • The skater's bed is much neater and has slightly different bed sheets.
  • The bricks and drawers used for the skater's makeshift workbench are colored differently.
  • The carpet texture is different. It also has a very strong lightmap that was toned down in the final version.
  • The boombox placed on the workbench is shorter.
  • The lightbulb hanging above the workbench has a different design.
  • The baseball bat is placed on the floor instead of being against the lower shelves.
  • The milk crate is placed on the floor rather than the lowest shelf.
  • The Pro Skater 4 game cases placed around the room feature PlayStation 2 branding. This isn't true for the one seen during the intro cutscene.
• When Demo Mode is disabled an additional option named Debug CAS is available.
  • Selecting this option opens the standard pause menu which allows the user to access debug options.
  • Unpausing lets the user rotate the camera like they normally would in-game. Viewer mode also works.
  • Choosing a restart point in the Goto Restart menu allows the player to regain control of the skater.
• The list of pre-made skaters is different and notably smaller. There is also a complete lack of female skaters in the menu.

Create-A-Park#

• Only the Suburbia theme is finalized. City Rooftop, Lost Island and Warehouse have no scenery whatsoever. Attempting to load Prison Yard crashes the game.
• The Time Of Day menu has multiple weather options, the user can activate either rain or snow on the park.
• The Gap Tool allows for a Walk gap type.
• The Area Selection tool has an option to Reset Heights which flattens raised or lowered floors.
• A few park editor pieces differ slightly:
  • On top of the five Underground pieces from the final there are three Underground Down pieces that were cut.
  • Some pieces like the Rio Quiksilver Box have corrupted textures.
  • The three VC Planters still have their shadows from Vancouver baked onto them.
  • The four Billboard pieces feature fictionalized ads instead of the branded ones used in the release build.
  • The pieces Dock and Dock Short are offset incorrectly and lack textures.
• Pre-made parks are inaccessible.

Create-A-Goal#

Create-A-Goal is largely the same as in the final game. However the editor doesn't seem to be set up correctly with level optimization methods. Moving objects further around the current level and away from the player's position will display heavy culling in the geometry.

Create-A-Trick#

• Multiple options are named differently.
  • Start and Stop are instead named From and To.
  • Hold Time is known as Idle.
  • The Holdable toggle is named Tweak.
• There is an additional slider to Blend trick animations, this is set at 30% by default.
• There are only three Pre-made tricks.
  • The entries are named Premade CAT 1, Nut Buster and Premade CAT 3.
  • Each trick only consists of a simple 360 Frontside Spin and Indy.

Soundtrack#

The game's soundtrack was yet to be finalized in this build:

• Two songs are completely absent (Living Legends - War Games and Jane's Addition - Suffer Some)
• On the other hand, this build features a song that didn't make it into the final game. (Freestyle Fellowship - Can You Find the Level of Difficulty in This?)
• The songs Frog One - Blah Blah, The Herbaliser - It Ain't Nuttin and Wildchild - Secondary Protocol still feature uncropped intros.
• Some songs have less censorship or in some cases (Like with NAS - The World is Yours) are entirely uncut.