Proto:Guitar Hero

This page details one or more prototype versions of Guitar Hero.

The September 3, 2005 prototype build of Guitar Hero was leaked as part of Project Deluge, released through Hidden Palace's website and archive.org on March 20, 2021. Nothing was known about this build prior to its release, although other beta versions of this game had been seen in marketing material before.

  This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

Sub-Page

Songs Whose gurney?

General Differences

• This build is DEBUG ENABLED, and the majority of GH2's debug buttons work when connecting a keyboard via usb.
• The HOPO threshold in this version of the game is stricter than retail; 159 ticks (1 tick less than a 12th note), vs 170 in retail. Charts where this adjustment is particularly easy to spot are You Got Another Thing Comin and Texas Flood on Expert.
• Notes that follow a chord and have the same color as the chord's lower fret can be HOPOs in this build, unlike retail where they are always strums. A good example of this is Heart Full Of Black on Expert's orange strumming section.
• Whammy rate is different in proto build, gives you less Star Power.
• The bug in retail where the 2nd note of the song always appears as a strum, even if it is a HOPO, is NOT in the prototype.

Major Bugs

• Letting a demo play then trying to select a band crashes the game with an "Index Too Big" error

Keyboard Debug Cheats

To do: Make sure all these work. This is copied from GH2, and I went through and checked which worked and edited as such. Also make sure if GH1 has any that aren't in this.

Key	Function
Function keys
F2	Toggles a swap of Player 1 to be Player 2
F3	Crowd Meter Debug display
F4	Debug Light Name Display
Esc	Toggles developer console
Single keys
0	During song, pauses the song and chart, crowd noise continues to play.
A	During song, toggle world visibility, rocker and crowd are still visible.
B	During song, audible metronome (beatmapping debug)
C	During song, cycle camshot
E	During song, subtract 0.1 from current crowd meter
F	During song, toggle highway
G	During song, show character waypoints
H	During song, hides the score, multiplier, star power, and rock meters.
J	During song, make guitarist start walking (if venue allows it) (The only affect this has is crashing some venues)
L	During song, fail immediately
M	During song, toggle crowd meter
P	Autoplay Toggle
R	During song, reloads song (This causes a crash.)
S	During song, toggle score debug overlay, basically a "note log"
T	Toggle song time debug overlay
X	During song, toggles shuttle (crashes frequently)
Key combinations
Shift+A	If in menus, toggles All Access. If in a song, toggles Crowd Audio
Shift+B	During song, fretboard bounces on beats (beatmapping debug)
Shift+C	Toggle camera debug overlay
Shift+E	During song, add 0.1 to current crowd meter
Shift+G	Unknown, toggles 0 -> 0, but this does not change.
Shift+I	Toggle world lighting events
Shift+M	Mute all
Shift+P	Cycle through music speeds (100%, 50%, 25%, 10%)
Shift+Q	Prints current UI screen to the debug overlays
Shift+R	During song, reloads track (this DOES work, but fails to reload the music or video)
Shift+S	During song, fill entire star power meter
Shift+T	Toggle CPU meters and framerate, per game module and overall

Controller Debug Cheats

These can be done with a controller. Works both 1P port and 2P port.

Button Combination	Function
Left (L1+L2) cheats
L1+L2+Up	Toggle framerate and texture loading counters
L1+L2+Down	Cycle heap information (main heap, rendering heap, off)
L1+L2+○	Toggle graphic stats debug overlay
L1+L2+△	Freezes camera and tells the position and rotation of the camera.
L1+L2+✕	Toggle CPU meters, per game module and overall
L1+L2+Select	Writes screen to screendump_1.bmp (crashes immediately)
Right (R1+R2) cheats
R1+R2+Right	Toggle light preset debug overlay
R1+R2+○	During song, enables Free Cam (Arena, Fretboard, Off)
R1+R2+△	Toggle camera debug overlay
R1+R2+✕	Freezes the song, toggles time display.

Setlist

The setlist in the prototype is almost the same as in the final game, with one ordering difference and a few naming differences.

Demo	Final
Hot Licks (no problem)	Opening Licks
I Love Rock & Roll	I Love Rock & Roll
I Wanna Be Sedated	I Wanna Be Sedated
Smoke On The Water	Thunder Kiss 65
Thunderkiss 65	Smoke On The Water
Infected	Infected
Sizzling Songs (ok, I can do this)	Axe-Grinders
Iron Man	Iron Man
More Than A Feeling	More Than A Feeling
You Got Another Thing Comin'	You Got Another Thing Comin'
Take Me Out	Take Me Out
Sharp Dressed Man	Sharp Dressed Man
Blazing Headbangers (flaunt my skills)	Thrash and Burn
Killer Queen	Killer Queen
Hey You	Hey You
Stellar	Stellar
Heart Full of Black	Heart Full of Black
Symphony Of Destruction	Symphony Of Destruction
Blistering Tracks (practice these)	Return of the Shred
Ziggy Stardust	Ziggy Stardust
Fat Lip	Fat Lip
Cochise	Cochise
Take It Off	Take It Off
Unsung	Unsung
Bad Ass Tunes (work on my chops)	Fret-Burners
Spanish Castle Magic	Spanish Castle Magic
Higher Ground	Higher Ground
No One Knows	No One Knows
Ace Of Spades	Ace Of Spades
Crossroads	Crossroads
Face Melting Riffs (these kick my ass)	Face-Melters
Godzilla	Godzilla
Texas Flood	Texas Flood
Frankenstein	Frankenstein
Cowboys From Hell	Cowboys From Hell
Bark At The Moon	Bark At The Moon
Underground Tracks (just for kicks)	Bonus Tracks
Advanced Harmony: Final Project	Trippolette (Unused)
All of This	Fire it Up
Behind The Mask	Cheat on the Church
Breaking Wheel	Caveman Rejoice
Callout	Eureka, I've Found Love
Caveman Rejoice	All of This
Cheat on the Church	Behind the Mask
Decontrol	The Breaking Wheel
Even Rats	Callout
Eureka, I've Found Love	Decontrol
Farewell Myth	Even Rats
Fly on the Wall	Farewell Myth
Fire it Up	Fly on the Wall
Get Ready 2 Rokk	Get Ready 2 Rokk
Graveyard Shift	Graveyard Shift (Unused)
Guitar Hero	Guitar Hero
Hey	Hey
Sail Your Ship By	Sail Your Ship By
Story of my Love	Story of my Love