Alan Wake (Windows)

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Unused Models Unused Textures

Unused Cinematics#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Check for more.

The game's data/videos folder has a couple of unused .bik video clips.

Unused Animations#

Wolf Animations#

Several animation files for a wolf can be found in "wolf/default":

• wolf_alert.binhkx
• wolf_death_pose.binhkx
• wolf_stand.binhkx
• wolf_wounded.binhkx

Similarly, a skeleton for those animations is located at 'skeletons/wolf_skeleton.binhkx, as well as an unused wolf model which can be seen in the Unused Models subpage. Those were most likely made for the scrapped wolf enemy type, as according to Alan Wake: Illuminated, the wolves did manage to pass basic animation and AI tests before being scrapped.

Unused Demo Files#

There are several binwps files which were used in Demos of the game located in \debug. Note that some of those could've been used in final game without being renamed.

Demo06#

Files used in the lighting and tornado attack tech demos at X06 and IDF 2006.

• demo06_lamp_break.binwps
• demo06_tornado_car_drop_dustcloud.binwps
• demo06_tower_impact_dust_debris_medium.binwps
• demo06_tower_impact_dust_large.binwps

Demo08#

There was no demo shown in 2008, so it is not entirely certain where those files are from. However, some of the file names suggest it featured the visitor center segment, which in that case could be the demos shown in TGS and E3 in 2009.

• demo08_bus_fire.binwps
• demo08_carcrash_particles.binwps
• demo08_bridge_collapse_dust.binwps
• demo08_car_debristrail.binwps
• demo08_shootlock_sparks.binwps
• demo08_small_debristrail_dark.binwps
• demo08_visitor_center_wall_breaks.binwps

GDC09#

Files which were likely used for the gdc09 demo. Though it is possible once more that some of those ended up being used somewhere in the final game, as there is a file named "gdc09_1100" in the files of the second DLC.

• gdc09_logharvester_sparks.binwps
• gdc09_raven_impact.binwps
• gdc09_safehaven.binwps
• gdc09_shadowshield_dies.binwps
• gdc09_wallbreak.binwps
• gdc09_tree_swaying.fsb

Unused Music#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Check for more unused audio.

The game's files have some unused tracks.

manuscript_music_01#

This unused track was audible in the E3 2009 demo, after Alan finds the manuscript page on the back of a car. The cutscene and this following mood piece were both removed from the final game.

cauldronlake#

An unused track that seems to be an earlier rendition of the track "Deerfest" from the final game. It is named 'Cauldronlake' but no further information is known about its intended use.

Unused Sounds#

Voicelines#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There are potentially more unused lines spread across the levels. Maybe it's worth considering a subpage for all the unused sounds in the game depending on how many more unused lines will be found.

The game has several level specific voicelines which ended up being unused in the final game. Several of them are of Alan narrating or describing things that as happening, in line with the way he's narrating events as if he reads them in a page. It is possible the developers wanted to tone down the amount of narrating in certain moments.

Level 01 - A Writer's Dream#

A lot of extra dialogue for the first episode of the game. Most of Alan's monologue was cut in favour of just having Thomas Zane explain the game mechanics instead. Interestingly, one of the dialogue pieces refers to several characters coming to life from Alan's novel, while in the final game, it's just the hitchhiker.

Level 02 - Welcome to Bright Falls#

Extra dialogue for the segment where Alan and Alice arrive at the Bird Leg Cabin.

Level 03 - Waking up to a Nightmare#

Just one line here, for a hunter that gets killed by the Taken Stucky. The final game just plays thrashing foley sounds without a voiceline here.

Manuscript Pages#

An unused manuscript page which appears to be an early version of the manuscript page "Wake Attacked by the Dark Presence" which is listed as "notebook_098_wake" in the files. The core scene is the same between the two files, with the main difference being how the scene is described and written.

Ambience#

forestfire_ambience_loop#

An ambience track of a forest fire can be found in the game files, despite there not being any instance of large fire in the final game. This is likely a remnant of the scrapped forest fire episode.

Demo06 sounds#

The /prototype/ folder contains a whole lot of sounds from the lighting and tornado attack tech demos at X06 and IDF 2006.

Demo08 sounds#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There's more, but some of these sound used. Need to figure out if they are.

More mysteriously, the /prototype/ folder also contains sounds labeled demo08. There never was a 2008 demo, so who knows what these were for.

Unused Ambience Presets#

Ambience presets are used to set up the weather, lighting, fog density and many other parameters for the way the world looks. These were once used to define weather states for the open world, but the final game uses them for atmosphere on a stage-by-stage basis.

There are several unused presets located in ambiance_presets. Each level in the final game has several presets labeled for the level's name and section. Aside from those, there are many other unused presets for things such as debug, previous demos and even leftovers from scrapped levels.

Cinematic Presets#

Presets that were likely made for specific cinematics for both the base game and the two DLC levels. It should be noted that all cutscenes are pre rendered, so those are likely leftovers from the assets Remedy used to render the cinematics in the first place.

• cine_14_night_no_fog
• cine_10300_daytime
• cine_10400_no_fog
• cine_14100_sunrise
• cine_15100
• cine_15350_no_fog
• cine_15400_less_bloom
• cine_16202_less_clouds
• cine_17300_mist
• cine_17300_sunrise
• cine_level_10_daytime
• cine_night_default_no_fog
• cinematic_sunsrise
• dlc1_cine_100100_darkness_foggy
• dlc2_cine_200300_darkness

Debug Presets#

As the names suggests, those presets were likely used for tests and debug sessions

• debug_day_ambient
• debug_neutral

GDC09 Presets#

There are a few presets which were specifically made for The Game Developers Conference 2009 (GDC 09), likely for a showcase or a demo:

• gdc09_night
• gdc09_windy_coast_night

General Presets#

Those seem to be presets for general times of day or weather conditions, possibly states for the original open world's day and night cycle or templates which were used to make the individual level presets later on.

• darkness
• darkplace
• darkpresence
• day_cloudy_default
• day_cool
• day_default
• day_interior_bright
• diver
• night_clear
• night_default
• night_default_rain
• night_default_rain_thunder
• night_disturbed
• night_foggy
• night_foggy_dreamy
• night_foggy_ominous
• night_storm
• redundant_attack

Level 7 Presets#

Several presets intended for Level 7, which is missing from the overall level list. Level 7 was intended to be the scrapped lighthouse/Raincove level. The names given to the presets also match the known sections the level was meant to have, such as the end battle and the bunker (with latter being also found in the game files.)

• level_07
• level_07_misty
• level_07_bunker
• level_07_endcombat

Map Leftovers#

Using the -freecamera command line option when launching the game, you can access a free camera mode by pushing down on the right thumbstick on an Xbox 360 controller. Using this, it's possible to see many out of bounds secrets hidden in the game. Such as the entire open world map.

Unused Buildings out of Bounds#

There are a few instances of unused buildings still existing on the map, yet are out of bounds and can only be seen by using the free camera:

• The Bright Falls Museum was meant to be fully explorable building where players could learn the history of Bright Falls. The location was scrapped and many of its assets were placed on the Coal Mine Museum, but the building itself still remains in Bright Falls, even if the players never go near it in the final game.
• The Bright Falls Bank is also a unique building in the town that seems to have a fully modeled room, but again is left out of bound and is never seen by the players during normal gameplay.

File Names and Scrapped Landmarks#

Various filenames for map chunks make references to locations that are no longer in the game.

• An area to the north of Bright Falls is called nw_militaryharbour. This used to once host the saw mill and a small harbor.
• An area to the northeast of Bright Falls is called nw_militarybase. It used to once host an army base, according to prerelease materials.
• The area directly to east from Bright Falls is called ne_graveyard. It used to have a graveyard at one point.
• An area in the northwestern side is called nw_radiostation. The radio station in the final game is located in the southwestern quadrant, close to Stucky's Gas Station.
• A large, flat area which remains unseen in the final game is called se_junkyard.
• The area directly to the west of Cauldron Lake is called sw_wakescabin, after the original location of the Bird Leg Cabin. Diver's Isle and the cabin itself are located in se_cauldronsouth in the finished game.
• The area to the south of sw_wakescabin is called sw_anderssonfarm [sic]. While the location of the final Anderson farm is never specified in the game, the farm is located in the northwestern quadrant of the map, far outside Bright Falls.
• The area directly to the east of sw_anderssonfarm is called sw_coalmine. The coalmine you visit in Episode 3 is some 2 tiles east of this area.
• The southwesternmost corner of the map is named sw_lighthouse and sw_lighthousesea, named after the original lighthouse seen in pre-release trailers. The lighthouse seen in the intro of the game exists on its own landmass outside Bright Falls, and isn't loaded into the game outside of the nightmare sequence.

Scrapped Level Layouts#

Some of the layouts of such locations are also left in the actual areas and can be viewed by the player by using free camera to go to those areas.

Level 7: The Lighthouse#

The northwestern corner of the map also contains a semi-circular level layout, featuring a large shoreline area. This was meant to be used for an Episode in which Alan and Barry were investigated a replica of Bird Leg Cabin and ended up traveling to a lighthouse. The terrain also has several holes in it which would've fit the unused military bunker complex shown above, meaning that Alan would've had to traverse the bunker along the way to the lighthouse.

The Frying Pan#

Right next to the previous layout, there is another scrapped level layout which would've been used for an episode in which Alan would've found himself in a forest fire and had to make his way to a cable car station in order to reach higher ground. The area lines up perfectly with a layout sketch shown in Alan Wake: Illuminated, and is also notable by having many burnt trees in it.

Runaway Train#

To the south of Cauldron Lake is the location for the old coal mine, as seen in some pre-release screenshots. Beginning at the coal mine is a set of train tracks leading across the map, over the Bright Falls railway bridge and to the northeastern corner near the dam, where they end at another railway bridge, with its prop still intact. This was a path for a cut mission involving stopping a runaway train.

X06 Demo Layout#

North of the Bright Falls Dam, there is a small layout which would've been connected to the main road by a hanging bridge. This is a leftover from the layout used in the X06 demo, in which Alan Would've needed to make it past the hanging bridge to reach a small cabin located at the end of the road.

Linear World Test Level#

North from where the Sawmill was once located, there is a massive level layout which is not used nor seen anywhere in the game, visible only with free camera. According to a layout map found in Alan Wake: Illuminated, this layout was used for a test level around 2006-2007, when the game started to shift towards linear story levels. The level would've seen Alan making his way through forests and roads in order to reach Mott's warehouse in order to get a gasoline truck to drive back into Bright Falls. The level would've also featured optional areas to explore and a side quest given by a ranger to find and save NPCs around the area. There was alsp going to feature a forest fire in its final segment as well. Given its nature as a test level, it's quite certain this was not part of the final story the game had.

Some areas appear to be different between the layout map and the one left in-game, but the overall structure remains the same.

Leftover Asset Placements#

There are several unused asset placement files in the game files, scattered across folders that laos contain terrain data for the areas they were meant to be placed in. They are confirmed unused because in the final game, each level's placement files are stored in a dedicated folder named after the level.

Some appear to be slightly different or entirely similar versions of existing levels, but some are leftover placements for assets in scrapped levels or landmarks from the open world phase.

Level 3: Waking Up to a Nightmare#

Appears to be nearly identical to its final version, with possible differences.

Level 7: The Lighthouse#

There is a folder in the game files named "nw_raincove", which contains file with partial asset placements for the level. It includes placement files for several buildings, rocks and other assets. Among them are unused assets like the coastal turret, the Bird Leg Cabin replica and the Keeper's House.

It is incomplete, with many of the assets still missing. There is also a log file which lists all the assets used for this level, but not placements.

Bright Falls#

Placements for the entirely of Bright Falls, the railway bridge and the far docks, which appear to be identical to the placements used in "Level 2: Welcome to Bright Falls".

Cauldron Lake#

There are placements for Diver's Isle, Bird Leg Cabin and the surrounding area, which appear identical to the ones used in the final game for Level 2. There are also unused terrain files which contain slightly different terrain, including a portion of floating land in the middle of the lake. It's unknown if the terrain files are unfinished or if they were part of an early or scrapped sequence.

Apple Farm#

There are a few placement files for a small map in the middle portion of the map, in an area which is never seen nor visited in the final game. Early maps suggest this was meant to be the Breaker Apple Farm. There are placements there for the unused greenhouse models as well as their pipes, a boathouse and a water pump.

Sawmill#

Only one placement from the Sawmill remained - a rail mesh named "rails_sawmillriver01" which is located in one of the nearby roads.

Lighthouse#

The area on the map named "sw_lighthouse", which was the original lighthouse location has two placements for a warehouse and a boathouse, which condredict the original layout it had when the lighthouse was there.

Other placements#

• Several of the gaps across the map still have placement data for bridges, including those which are never seen or visited in the final game.
• Some road intersections on the map have placements for roadline assets.
• A few placements for billboards and roadsigns across the map, including areas that are never seen nor visited.
• Plavements for some of the assets in the New Work Flashbacks in the south-west corner of the map.
• Isolated placements for two barns exist in the south region of the map.

Other oddities#

• There are many missing holes in the map. These used to be buildings in the older open world iteration. The finished game only ships with the lowest quality LOD version of the overworld that lacks most props, detail brushes and the map collision data.
• There are three levels missing from the level list of the final game, between Elderwood National Park (level 5) and On the Run (level 9), suggesting there was more that had been cut between Episodes 2 and 3. As confirmed by several sources and gamefiles, level 7 would've been the scrapped seaplane/lighthouse level, and Level 8 might've been The Frying Pan/Forestfire mission, as there are some leftover level_8 folders that contains some placement logs for burnt trees assets. There is nothing that indicates what level 6 might've been though.
• In the New York episodes, it's possible to see that the house Alan lives in reuses several textures from Max Payne 2.
• Every field in the game has crop circles, even though most of these fields aren't visible in any of the playable levels.

Miscellaneous#

Various strange mismatches still remain in the game, as a result of the tumultuous development cycle.

• Nurse Sinclair's textures are named "rose_var01_xxxx". This lines up with an undated screenshot from Alan Wake: Illuminated, where nurse Sinclair's model was used for Rose in an early iteration of the game.
• Rose's final textures are named "rose_var03_xxxx", meaning that there was one other version between the Sinclair-looking model and the final one. This version in fact used Sarah's head model with a had a blue outfit. This version of Rose can be briefly seen in the 2009 cinematic trailer.
• Rose's facial textures are named "alicehead", "alicehair" and "aliceeye". In the 2009 cinematic trailer and the 2009 E3 Trailer, glimpses of Alice showed that at the time Rose's head model was used for Alice instead.
• Rudolf Lane's textures are named "frankbreaker_xxxx". Frank Breaker is Sarah's father who owns the family's apple farm and never made an appearance in the game outside of a brief mention. Early maps, remnants in the game files and map leftovers suggest that the Breaker Apple Farm was planned to be an explorable location in the map, meaning that it was likely that Frank was also meant to make an appearance in there.
• Pat Maine's textures are labeled "doc_". In comparison, Doc Nelson's textures are labeled "doc2010"
• As mentioned above, Agent Nightingale's textures are labeled "finnegan_". Finnegan is Nightingale's partner, canonically killed in action before the start of the game's story. In earlier revisions, Finnegan was supposed to appear in-game and be fought as a Taken in Episode 2.
• Several models are labeled "fryingpansigns", with "Frying Pan" being the name given for the scrapped forest fire level. Those signs are named "deerpeak_aeriallift_left", and "deerpeak_left". Note that the forest fire level also featured an areal lift. The textures for those signs are named "fringpant" but the signs featured there are ones used in the nightmare sequence of Episode 1. It is very likely that once the forest fire mission was scrapped, those signs were retextured and reused for Episode 1.

Anti-Piracy Features#

As of v1.05, if the game detects that it was installed in a not quite legal form, a few minor aesthetic changes are made to the game in response: Alan wears a pirate eyepatch for the entire game (Barry, on the other hand, wears two!) and the messages shown during loading screens are replaced with a message politely encouraging the player to buy the game if they like it.

There was a survey in 2012 on whether there should be a command line to get this legally, such as "-legaleyepatch". Such an option does not exist in the final game.

The eyepatch model itself is located in inside ep999-03.remdp, in 'objects/items/misc/eyepatch_mesh.binmsh