Forza Motorsport

Prototype Info Prerelease Info E3 2004 & Trial Version leftoversThey didn't try to hide it.

Unused Graphics#

To do: Rip xbox_logo.xpr

Early Arcade/Career Backgrounds#

A handful of early backgrounds for the Arcade Mode and Career Mode still exist, which have much more color than the game's typical white & silver backgrounds. These backgrounds all depict the same frame of a wheel with various UI elements drawn on top of them. These backgrounds can only be seen briefly in-game if you were to have access to the debug mode.

Some *.ini files still reference bkgd_ar_main.xpr and bkgd_ar_trksele.xpr, but because these backgrounds are covered up by other backgrounds, they can never be seen.

Early Swoosh/Arc Backgrounds#

Two early revisions of the Swoosh/Arc background, lacking any details or fiber. The oval is also bigger in size, as seen in some early builds. Some *.ini files reference bkgd-arc-50.xpr, which is either covered up by other backgrounds or only present in E3-related files, confirming that this background was used around the E3 2004 demo.

pointer.xpr#

A simple cursor for highlighting something on the UI. It has a similar style to the graphic below.

pressstartscn.xpr#

A very robust graphic of an early title screen, depicting a more blue/halo style for the game that can be seen across similar files. It seems as the game was simply known as "Forza" during this part of development. Part of this title screen was used for the Trial Version icon, but this wasn't visible without viewing the icon with a custom dashboard.

waiticon.xpr#

A placeholder wait icon with slots for 5 frames.

Unused Text & Scripts#

Early Drivatar Menu#

Leftovers from an early Drivatar Lessons menu exists in "media\cabs\Mega.ca2\drivatarlessons\ser00001.xml".

• The title of the menu reads "Peter sez you'll never read this!", probably referring to Peter Chapman, one of the game's developers.
• The Drivatar's default name is "Brumitt".
• All the descriptions are unfinished. Each one starts with "Lesson at" and names every track by their internal name.

• Each option uses a deleted flythrough video from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (d:\media\frontend\Laguna.xmv).
• All lesson display names are numbered by numbers instead of worlds (Lesson #1 became Lesson One).

Extras Menu#

An option that would've been on the main menu. This is where the credits would've been, but was ultimately moved to the Options menu.

Vince's Feedback#

Present in "media\cabs\Mega.ca2\vince\vince.ini" is a leftover document detailing some information for receiving player test results from an early build of the game, servers and upload page included! The build date suggests this was from a build from March 10th 2003 - more than a year before the game's reveal at E3.

Although the survey questions and backdrop are absent, they are present in a prototype build.

[BuildInfo]
Project=Forza
Build=10.0303.1301
Session=okcomputer_0001

[Logging and Log Uploading]
Logging=false
AutoUpload=true
UploadWebServer=mgsvince01.redmond.corp.microsoft.com
UploadaspxPage=/vince_upload/upload.aspx
LogFileBase=Forza

[Surveys]
PresentSurveys=false
SurveyFileName=d:\media\vince\forzaquestions.txt
SurveyFont=d:\media\vince\Font12.xpr
BackgroundColor=0xff000030
BackgroundImage=d:\media\vince\Bkgd_faded04.jpg
QuestionColor=0xFFAF7F00
SelectedAnswerColor=0xff2B6086
AnswerColor=0xff000000
FooterColor=0xff505050

Xbox Demos#

An option in the Extras menu to play other Xbox demos that would've been bundled on the disc. There's no known release of the game with bundled demos.

Build Dates#

In each release, present at 0x48A604 in the game's *.xbe is some build info. This info is ordered by entry (Forza Motorsport 2 would have this set to 2), year, month, day and revision. Revision 1 is a later print exclusive to North America containing the Xbox Live Arcade through a CDX menu.

1.05.03.28.59858

1.05.06.17.60055

Miscellaneous Scrapped Features#

Some scrapped content has more than just a single graphic or string. Sometimes, there's even complete inaccessible menus.

Downloadable Content#

Despite the back of the box showing that "Content Download" isn't ticked off, there's still leftovers in the final game suggesting that downloadable content (or just DLC for short) was planned - and perhaps even made at some point during development. A majority of DLC was distributed online through Xbox Live, or physically on Xbox demo discs, such as OXM, Xbox Exhibition, or even sold at retail like any other game. This DLC would then be saved onto your Xbox's hard drive and display an icon on the Xbox dashboard when content is installed.

Present in the final game are not only strings, but even dashboard icons (media\cabs\MegaXPR.ca2\frontend) for three unique downloadable courses and one car (though this could've been for any car). The track icons are unique, as they show a minimap of the courses they would've been for. None of these minimaps are similar to the tracks seen in-game either, though there is a possibility that any of the deleted courses listed in the course list would've been downloadable. Why DLC was scrapped to begin with is unknown, though it's possible this ended on the chopping block after several delays.

A couple of related string indicators exist in media\Loc\X\UIStrings.str (X can be any of the language folders) next to a bunch of Xbox Live related strings.

;================================================================================
; Downloadable Content (DLC)
;================================================================================

Free Run "Drift" Mode#

To do: Is this accessible in any way?

A fourth mode is listed in between Autocross and Point to Point titled "Drift". Drift likely would've been a mode where you had to hit corners and rack up a high score, a concept similar to that of Project Gotham Racing, where the better the drift, the more Kudos you'd receive. It appears this mode was largely finished, as several tracks have a special "Drift" string, *.xml files exist for each of these tracks will offsets and mode settings, and a result screen all still exists. Why this mode was scrapped to begin with is unknown.

Some text strings exist as well for for the main menu, including mentions of leaderboards and ranks.

;================================================================================
; Free Run
;================================================================================
; HOT LAP
; AUTOCROSS
; DRIFT
; P2P
; Class Info

Scrapped/Deleted Tracks#

Present in \media\Loc\X\TrackString.str (X can be any of the other folders) is a full list of every track for the game. A number of tracks listsed were either renamed, scrapped or deleted entirely from the final game, including a handful of tracks that were probably planned as DLC. Half of these tracks are listed as "drift" tracks, and it's not known what these could've been for. All of the tracks in tracks.xml have some file paths leftover.

Physics#

<track RosettaName="N/A" 
        name="Physics" tracknameid="18" trackSegCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\Physics\TrackSegCams.xml"
        collisionFile="d:\media\tracks\Physics\QuickPreview1.col" pitCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\DefaultPitCams.xml"
        resourceFile="d:\media\tracks\Physics\QuickPreview1.xbp" pvsFile="d:\media\tracks\Physics\QuickPreview1.pvs"
        dataFile="d:\media\tracks\Physics\physics.xml" modelName="MODEL_QuickPreview" audioFile="\Audio\CommonTrack"
        loadMode="NotUsingPVS" reverseSplines="false" swapInnerOuter="false" Ordinal="22" trackIdentifier="Physics"
        ZoneWindowLeadCount="1" aiReady="false" length="5000" icon="0" collObjsFile="d:\media\tracks\physics\CollObjs.xml" />

The icon for the track is present in media\cabs\MegaXPR.ca2\frontend\ico_tracklogo_sm.xpr.

Quick Preview (no PVS)#

<track RosettaName="N/A" 
        name="QuickPreview NoPVS" tracknameid="19" trackSegCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\TrackSegCams.xml"
        collisionFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.col" pitCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\DefaultPitCams.xml"
        resourceFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.xbp" pvsFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.pvs"
        dataFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview.xml" modelName="MODEL_QuickPreview"
        audioFile="\Audio\CommonTrack" loadMode="NotUsingPVS" reverseSplines="false" swapInnerOuter="false"
        Ordinal="23" trackIdentifier="QuickPreview" ZoneWindowLeadCount="1" aiReady="false" />

Quick Preview#

<track RosettaName="N/A" 
        name="QuickPreview UsePVS" tracknameid="20" trackSegCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\TrackSegCams.xml"
        collisionFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.col" pitCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\DefaultPitCams.xml"
        resourceFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.xbp" pvsFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview1.pvs"
        dataFile="d:\media\tracks\QuickPreview\QuickPreview.xml" modelName="MODEL_QuickPreview"
        audioFile="\Audio\CommonTrack" loadMode="UsingPVS" reverseSplines="false" swapInnerOuter="false"
        Ordinal="24" trackIdentifier="QuickPreview" ZoneWindowLeadCount="1" aiReady="false" />

A folder with some leftover files is present in media\cabs\Mega.ca2\tracks\quickpreview.

Test Track 2#

<track RosettaName="N/A" 
        name="TestTrack2" displayName="TestTrack2" tracknameid="39" trackSegCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\TrackSegCams.xml"
        collisionFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\QuickPreview1.col" pitCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\PitCams.xml"
        resourceFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\QuickPreview1.xbp" pvsFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\QuickPreview1.pvs"
        dataFile="d:\media\tracks\TestTrack2\QuickPreview.xml" modelName="MODEL_QuickPreview"
        audioFile="\Tracks\TestTrack" loadMode="NotUsingPVS" reverseSplines="false" swapInnerOuter="false"
        Ordinal="43" trackIdentifier="TestTrack2" ZoneWindowLeadCount="1" aiReady="false"
        length="5000" minimap="33" icon="0" />

Asian Spring Time#

<track RosettaName="N/A" 
        name="AsianSpringtime" tracknameid="76" trackIdentifier="AsianSpringtime" trackSegCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\TrackSegCams.xml"
        collisionFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\QuickPreview1.col" pitCamsFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\PitCams.xml"
        resourceFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\QuickPreview1.xbp" pvsFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\QuickPreview1.pvs"
        dataFile="d:\media\tracks\AsianSpringtime\QuickPreview.xml" audioFile="\Audio\CommonTrack"
        modelName="MODEL_QuickPreview" loadMode="UsingPVS" reverseSplines="false" swapInnerOuter="true"
        aiReady="false" Ordinal="81" ZoneWindowLeadCount="1" length="5000"
        minimap="0" icon="0" />

All AI/Drivatar files are still present in media\cabs\Mega.ca2\ai\drivatarv2.

Road America II#

An icon exists in media\cabs\MegaXPR.ca2\frontend\ico_tracklogo_sm.xpr, but isn't referenced by anything else in the game.

Name Entry Cheats#

There are two profile names you can enter on the name entry screen to give yourself a boost in the campaign mode, both of which are cAsE sEnSiTiVe.

• "nOsLiW" grants you level 50, unlocking every challenge and every track from the start.
• "tEAm4za" grants you 900,000,000 credits, unlocking every car and available car customizations from the start. Team 4za is interesting in this case, as it was the name of the development team before getting canned from the final game entirely. They even had a unique logo! This profile name - and some other file names - are the only leftovers in the game of this team's existence.

References#