Halo: Combat Evolved’s cut content is being restored by modders and 343

343 Industries is currently working alongside a team of modders to bring back cut content from the original version of Halo 1 dating back to when it was still intended to be a real-time strategy title for the Mac.

The details:

• The team behind the restoration of the content known as Digsite went into detail about the highlights of the ongoing project in a new post on Halo Waypoint. The team discovered "design/production docs, Bungie feedback notes, tags, compiled maps, and source data for previously unseen multiplayer maps" as the most interesting pieces of content during the recovery effort.
• The previously unseen multiplayer maps were cut from the PC port of Combat Evolved while it was being developed by Gearbox Software. "Indoor" was the most complete map discovered by Digsite, even though it lacked spawns and weapons, and was "still a bit messy" in terms of flow. This prompted a member of the team known as Ludus to use unused textures from Gearbox to rework the map into "Underground," with the team also working on resurrecting other cut maps for playability in the Master Chief Collection (MCC).
• Digsite has also managed to resurrect the long-lost 1999 Macworld demo in MCC, complete with a functional third-person perspective and new weapons, such as a version of the iconic Assault Rifle with an integrated grenade launcher and a cut SMG. Content from Halo's RTS era was also discovered, primarily vehicles and enemies; however, the majority of the assets are "data-only" due to a lack of documentation regarding how they should perform in-game, with the team deciding to leave the assets to modders to get creative with.
• Early versions of both campaign missions and multiplayer maps, as well as cut vehicles and alternate melee animations for the Battle Rifle, Sniper Rifle, and SMG, have all been restored. The team is currently working on repairing cut weapons from the game, though no specifics were provided.
• According to Digsite, there is more content to be shown off, such as the intriguing Halo 2 E3 2003 demo and some cut Halo 3 Guardians, with the second blog post detailing these findings coming on July 14. The content will also be available on Steam Workshop and GitHub shortly.

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