Dark Summit (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube)

To do: There is a leaked [https://hiddenpalace.org/Dark_Summit_(Jul_6,_2001_E3_prototype) E3 Xbox build] meant to be run on a devkit. It has a fully-unpacked filesystem with lots of early stuff. It needs to be documented as well. The build has working Windows executables as well, but is missing a "PDDI" rendering-related DLL. The ones included in various Pure3D game leaks are all too new, but someone is working on making a functional one, so eventually it'll run on Windows for better documentation.

Dark Summit is a snowboarding game that tries to set itself apart through mission-based gameplay and a conspiracy-themed story.

Cheat Codes#

This game has a set of relatively-unknown cheat codes, not because there aren't any online, but because the method of entry commonly listed is incorrect, and the descriptions seem to be incorrectly copy-pasted from an unreliable source. This has led to them being complete gibberish with broken English, and even reported as fake in some places. Additionally, GameCube cheat codes exist that were never published anywhere. In order to enter cheats, you need to be in Dark Summit Mode. Then, hold the Warp button (//). As you Warp, start holding the Pause button (//) as well. While in the pause menu and holding both of these buttons, the below button sequences will work. If entered correctly, you'll hear a ding sound effect, but remember to choose "Back to Chairlifts" or else the codes' effects won't activate properly, the two shorter cheats being the exception. These might require you to hold the controller in a weird way. Below is a full ist of cheats for each platform.

Completion Code#

The final cheat code in the list is very strange, since it wasn't designed to be entered by itself. Instead, it's part of a cheat code sequence to unlock everything for the currently-selected rider. In order to use this code, you must enter every code before it in the order this chart presents them in (minus the Slow-Motion Mode and Barrel Launcher codes) and then enter that code. Doing this will unlock everything, and is the only way to unlock the "Moon Gate" location with cheats. This also has the strange effect of bringing a rider's completion percentage to above 100% due to cut missions still having completion percentage "weights", despite having been removed from the total.

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Debug Printing#

An unknown amount of debug printing functionality remains in the game. At least a crash handler is known to exist, as when the game crashes, it'll print a basic crash reason to the screen using a unique debug font. This functionality exists on all three releases of the game.

Debug Menu#

To do: Make codes for the other releases. Further reverse-engineering has confirmed that this menu does exist on GameCube and Xbox as well, so they'll need codes too.

The debug menu replaces the pause menu. It can be enabled in US PlayStation 2 copies by setting memory address 0025FC44 to 03. Note that the menu was designed for a much earlier build of the game, leading to most of the options being incredibly buggy, crashy, or non-functional.

Overlays	NIS
Tries to display screen overlays of your choice, but most crash the game.	This menu allows you to play the intro or intro cutscene for the currently-active mission.

Challenge	Teleport (maybe)
Claims to let you choose a mission, although it doesn't work.	Tries to teleport the player, but instead loads in terrain over the currently-loaded terrain, stops loading new terrain, and usually crashes the game.

"Jason" doesn't have any obvious function, and "Pause Menu" doesn't actually return to the pause menu, rather it opens up a set of equally-as-broken options.

Unused Dialogue#

To do: Is there more? (Definitely, currently.)

Mission-related dialogue appears to be identifiable by the presence of a "[m/c/e/b]NN" code at the end of the filename, or in the case of the Narrator's dialogue, an "NN[i/s/f]" code instead.

Cut Challenges#

Dialogue exists for several challenges that don't appear in the game.

ID 7#

This challenge appears to have involved some sort of jump, and revolved around chasing/crashing into a Ski Patrol member gameplay-wise.

Narrator challenge information, success, and failure dialogue.

Unique ambient dialogue from the PA.

Challenge success dialogue for Naya.

ID 11#

This challenge appears to have involved "bonking", a mechanic not seen in the final game.

Narrator challenge information, success, and failure dialogue. The voice actor is also different to the final game.

Ambient dialogue from Chief O'Leary.

ID 32#

This challenge appears to have involved performing 5 3x combos in the half-pipe in the Pipeline area. It may have been cut due to there being 3 other half-pipe/trick-centric challenges.

Narrator challenge information, success, and failure dialogue.

Challenge success dialogue for Naya.

ID 51#

This challenge has its name, "Squirrel's Revenge", left unused in the game data.

Narrator mission information dialogue.

Ambient dialogue from Forest Ranger Dick.

This mission actually still exists, the term "exists" being used very loosely here. After completing the "Feed the Bear" mission and returning to the entrance of the forest, the mission's title will appear indicating that it's a mission that automatically starts, and it'll spawn a few rat NPCs as well as play mission music, but it ends before anything can happen. It doesn't display a start or an end screen, nor does it trigger any of its relevant voice lines. It also doesn't count towards percentage and never appears again.

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This leftover indicates that the squirrels likely would've originally gone crazy and attacked the player. Your contact even hints at the existence of this mission, since upon completing the "Feed the Bear" mission, he claims that Forest Ranger Dick went "a bit squirrel-y up there all by himself".

Challenges#

Unused dialogue assigned to challenges that do exist.

Storm the HQ#

Narrator challenge failure dialogue. The mission reloads immediately after failing, giving the line no time to play.

Unused Music#

These short tracks go unused in the Xbox/PlayStation 2 releases, and are absent in the GameCube releases.

Removed Cutscenes#

Cutscenes, or NISes as this game calls them, are stored as single tracks of audio and sets of animations. These are labelled nisX, the X being the cutscene's ID.

In the sound directory for rider-specific in-engine cutscenes is an audio track for a "Cutscene 0", or a cutscene before the game's intro cutscene. This cutscene is labelled "nis0" while the intro cutscene uses "nis1". Only the audio remains, as the "set" and animation files for the cutscene were removed. They are still present in the leaked E3 Xbox build, however they crash the game with an "Out of Memory" error if they're inserted into retail copies.

Additionally, all files for a "Cutscene 9" have been completely removed from the filesystem of every release, so the file order skips from nis8 to nis10.

Interestingly, there's also an audio track for a "Cutscene 15" which doesn't have any other files. It sounds rather spooky and unlike anything in the game, so it could've potentially been related to aliens, or the Alien Halfpipe. It should be noted that the Alien Halfpipe is teased throughout the entire game, but only appears as a simple low-grav halfpipe. There's also a building at the end of the track which looks to be enterable, but you're warped back to the mountain as you approach it. Perhaps there were more plans for this area at one point in development, like a chilling discovery inside that building, hence this cutscene audio?

While the leaked E3 build only has 3 unique E3-related cutscenes, it has placeholder audio for nis0 all the way through nis17, showing that there were plans for many more cutscenes that didn't make it to the final release.

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Revisional Differences#

The GameCube release has some changes compared to the Xbox/PlayStation 2 releases.

• The logo videos shown at boot cannot be skipped.
• The unused music tracks "Title1" and "Title2" were removed.
• The exploration music track "score07" was removed. The sound scripts are still aware of the track by name, but its reference has been updated to point to and play "score06" instead.
• The rider select screen uses actual images for the locked riders rather than a generic rider image.
• Boards have a shine effect added to them, but the riders have less shading.
• Some text changes exist, such as "PRESS START" on the title screen, the combo text being a different color, and some capitalization differences here and there.

The PlayStation 2 release is the only one that cannot read game data in extracted form, as in extracting the .RCF data archives and puttiing their contents into the root directory. It's unknown if this functionality was removed or simply disabled.

Additionally, the PlayStation 2 and GameCube releases have differences in the boards section of the Equipment menu. The textures for some of the boards are in a slightly different order, and names and descriptions for the boards were added.

Xbox:

PlayStation 2/GameCube:

Regional Differences#

• In European releases, upon completing "The Bomb: Finale", the player is not frozen still during the completion dialogue, nor are they teleported with a loading screen to "Storm the HQ" immediately after. Advancing slightly further will begin the latter challenge anyway.