Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots)
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Close Combat Series -> Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far

#1: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: CloseCombatRob PostPosted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:51 pm
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Hello, I've been wondering a long time about this, I've found lots of images floating around showing earlier builds of CC2, I'll try and upload as many as I can find, feel free to post more if you find any, heck there's even some in the help file, the back of the CC2 box, the manual, and in the trailers. There's things to notice like CC1 flags, not as much terrain detail, map differences, teams having (1) or (2) at the end, bigger trees, different cease fire button, CC1 unit pictures, and lots more. I think they could have even been planning more maps judging by the manual too. I wonder if any of these early builds got leaked or there's anyway to play them? I'd love to be able to play one of these early builds.

Also i found this in the CC2 Faq:
"John was also asked about the possibility of releasing maps that were dropped during development: "We had one test map early on, but the format changed so it is no longer usable. In fact we had to drop 15 or so maps from our original design"."

This implys that more maps were planned for this game, I wonder if there is any traces of them or any information on where they could of taken place? or any half finished versions?

Screenshots:

Early unit pictures, look similar to CC1, early version of Nijmegen Bridge:


Same picture again, but this shows the ui in place, notice the CC1 unit pictures at the bottom, and a different cease fire/truce button:


Another photo of the early Nijmegan Bridge, CC1 unit pictures again, the trees look a lot bigger than in the final, the victory location seems to be placed different, and minor map differences if you look around, a random truck on the right for example:


Early version of Schijndel Road, the map looks alot different, even the units look alot different, and its using the cc1 unit pictures:


And another, the trees look different again and the UI looks different:


Early version of Requisition screen, again with CC1 like unit pictures, also the firefly is listed in the US Airborne, the bazooka is under "Support" and Son Town is listed as "Son Town Battle", the flags look different, and judging by the picture, the map looks a little different too:


And another, looks more like the final, but look at the Groesbeek LZ map in the bottom right, its unfinished, and they haven't put the information for the AB Ad Hoc Rifle team in yet, also notice there is a number next to the unit which indicates how many you have:


And again another, looks even more like the final, but the units are in the wrong order, also the description for the assault team is unfinished and it repeats itself:


Early version of the battlemaker screen, can't see much difference other than the flags and the unit names, the compass is still wrong on this map in the final game:


Early version of the UI, but more importantly, notice how Nijmegan North Bridge is upside down compared to the final version, this is historically correct but I think they changed it due to the rule of allies fighting from the right:


Early version of the UI, notice the different logo, and the operation map on the right is wrong:


Early version of the in-game UI, notice the different icons:


Early version of the air-drop/supply screen:


And again, this time it looks more like the final, but it still has differences to the final:


Early version of battlemaker screen, showing more early maps, you can notice theres things different to the final releases of the maps in most of these:


Not much difference here, but judging by the screenshot of Nijmegan City, it looks less detailed than the final version, also Arnhem Bridge is blanked out, i'm guessing it was unfinished at this stage?:


Different names of the Son battles:


Early version of Son Town, notice the units look different, and the tank camos are different, also a few map differences if you look closely:


Early version of Son Bridge, CC1 like units pictures again, and a completely different UI, it resembles the CC1 UI a little, M = Move Out, D = Defend, P = Pull back and E = End Battle, these features were only in CC1, also notice the "Map Control" bar to the left of the "Troop Status" bar, this is the only build i've seen this in, also its dark green rather than the greenish brown in all the other builds including the final, i'm guessing this is the earliest build on here as these features were gone in pretty much every other build i've posted here:


And another, this time it has the same old ui as i posted above:


And again another, notice how the bridge and river look a little different:


And again, this time exploding with a different effect, also notice the weird flak placement in the bottom right:


And another, this one looks the same above, but has the newer ui, the cease fire button is different however:


Finally, this one has the secondary bridge blowing up, you couldn't do this in the final CC2:


Early version of Arnhem Bridge, notice the lack of detail compared to final:


Early version of Polish Drop Driel, formally known as Driel Landing Zone, i'm guessing this was originally going to be the landing zone map? can't see much difference other than the bigger trees, unit names and flags (feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) also notice in the activity messages, theres a team called "Ersatz Schutzen", this was the old name for the German reserve teams:


Heres another, this time it has the cc1 units pictures again, and a lot more differences:


Early version of "Polish Drop LZ" shown on an early battlemaker screen, notice how alot of things that was in the final is missing, perhaps this was originally meant to be the road map and Driel was the landing zone? it's odd that even in the final version, on the road going to the right the victory location is called "To LZ", but on Polish Drop Driel it also has a victory location on the right called "To LZ", maybe they were planning an extra map here? who knows:


Early version of Polish Drop Farmland, its missing a couple of victory locations, and its upside down compared to the final version, however this is historically correct, but i think they turned it around because of the allies fighting from the right, and it would be unrealistic if they fought from the riverfront:


Heres another, this time the trees are turned off:


Early version of Arnhem Rail Bridge, the sunken boat is missing, and its lacking the road in the final version:


Early version of Oosterbeek North, notice how the grass is more flat and the train is missing, along with other minor differences:


Early version of Arnhem West Approach, the terrain looks a lot more flat and the roads look different, along with other minor differences:


Early Versions of Arnhem West Approach and Oosterbeek North:


Early versions of Arnhem West Approach and Son South:


Early Version of Schijndel Road, can't notice much differences other than the flags, trees and explosion effect in the middle:


And another, this one looks different, notice the road inbetween the 2 and 3 story buildings at the bottom is different, also the road going north:


And another, theres not as many trees at the south, and its using the old bigger trees, the hedgerow to the north looks different, also minor detail differences:


Early version of Schijndel Dunes, CC1 units again, the river looks different, the tank camos look different and the unit sprites look different:


Early version of Groesbeek LZ with gliders:


Another photo of the early Groesbeek LZ, shown in battlemaker:


Early version of Arnhem Suburbs, less detail, and things missing that was in the final version, such as the ruins, and a few other things:


Early version of Nijmegan City, bigger trees in north and the victory location has a different name:


Not sure what this belongs too, but theres obvious differences so i'll include this:


Early version of Veghel Town, notice the hedgerow is missing at the bottom, and other minor details:


Early UI again, notice on the Oosterbeek North map, a few buildings in the centre are missing, this can also be seen on the battlemaker maps screen i posted earlier:


Early Battlemaker map screen again, notice the lack of detail and things missing on some of the maps:


Another early requisition screen:


And again, this one looks more like the final with minor differences:


German Reserve team, showing as Ersatz Schutzen:


Early victory/loss screen:


Last edited by CloseCombatRob on Sat Oct 31, 2015 8:57 pm; edited 40 times in total

#2: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: IosifStalin PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:13 pm
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Nice finds CloseCombatRob. i've always wondered why the screenshots on the back of the box look different to the actual game. i hope one of the builds gets released somewhere. i'd love to play to see how they developed this game. i find things like this very interesting.

#3: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: CloseCombatRob PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:20 pm
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Thanks, yes I hope so too, that would be awesome, however i doubt it will, unless someone finds someone with one of these old builds and begs them to release it :/

#4: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: PeteLocation: Nijmegen, Netherlands PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:40 pm
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Nice archeological find from the early medieval period of computer war games.

#5: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: CloseCombatRob PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:03 am
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Thanks Smile

#6: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: Stwa PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:20 am
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It is amazing to me how polished CC2 appears in some of the screenshots!

Nice going CloseCombatRob!

#7: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: CloseCombatRob PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:09 pm
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Stwa wrote (View Post):
It is amazing to me how polished CC2 appears in some of the screenshots!

Nice going CloseCombatRob!


I agree, there are a few things I wish they kept from these early beta builds Smile

#8: Re: Early builds of CC2:ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: sample PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:31 am
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CloseCombatRob wrote (View Post):
Stwa wrote (View Post):
It is amazing to me how polished CC2 appears in some of the screenshots!

Nice going CloseCombatRob!


I agree, there are a few things I wish they kept from these early beta builds Smile


I wish the same, like the trees, anyway many thanks for finding and sharing all these

regards,
m's

#9: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: ScnelleMeyer PostPosted: Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:35 am
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Could these images be re-posted by someone please?

#10: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: Ivan_Zaitzev PostPosted: Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:48 am
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ScnelleMeyer wrote (View Post):
Could these images be re-posted by someone please?


Not as complete as this list, but I have some pictures up on an old site: http://closecombat2.blogspot.com/p/curiosities-coming-soon.html

#11: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: ScnelleMeyer PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:12 pm
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Thanks a lot! - Very interesting to see these early build versions I think.

#12: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: sample PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:46 pm
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The images below may have been posted for the first time by CloseCombatRob, but at the moment the images in his post are no longer visible. I found on various sites dedicated to computer games some screenshots of the game in various stages of development:

1.  Part of Nijmegen Bridge map - CC1 style UI, bigger trees and early flags and fonts used for victory locations; and different textures used for German and Allied tanks. Also visible a small civilian car near the fountain and the civilian truck at the right side of the map, both removed in the final version of the map.

2. Part of Schijndel Dunes map - CC1 style UI, bigger trees and different textures for German and Allied tanks, early flags and fonts used for victory locations; apparently the german infantry was able to cross the river to attack the allied positions.

3. Part of Schijndel Road (1) map - bigger trees, and early flags and fonts used for victory locations. The tanks textures are very similar with the final versions. What is interesting in this screenshot, is what appears to be an explosion near the Sherman 76 positioned near the allied anti-tank gun. They seem to have used sprites different from the final version.

4. Part of Schijndel Road (2) map - CC1 gadgets, completely different trees and early textures for tanks; very interesting, the scale of soldiers compared to tanks, which appear much smaller. Also the rifles, especially of the german soldiers in attack, appear to be much longer than the final version of the game; perhaps, the developers tried to depict the soldiers with bayonet mounted - the shadows of the two US paratroopers located on bottom left side of the map, positioned in front of the Sherman 76 tank, indicates rifle with mounted bayonet. The helmet of the german soldiers is also different from the final game.

In all screenshots of the maps, the "Flee" and "Truce" buttons in the interface are different compared with the released version.

I just hope I can ever play one of these early builds.

regards,

m's



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#13: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: sample PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2023 10:40 am
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Again, perhaps it was posted before and it is no longer visible, an early version of CC2 requisition menu: except the structure, pretty much everything is different from the final version.

cheers,

\m/



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#14: Re: Early builds of CC2: ABTF (With lots of screenshots) Author: sample PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2023 5:55 pm
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Once again, perhaps these screenshot had been posted before

1. Groesbeek LZ - perhaps a custom battle, with polish paras against regular german army units. CC1 flags and different fonts for victory location. The Waco glider is clearly present in this version of the map. Too bad is was not kept in the final version.

2. Polish drop Driel, with bigger trees, CC1 flags for victory locations and also different fonts used, CC1 units icons. The victory location is called Cathedral instead of Catholic Church and the Parish House victory location present in the final version is missing. The explosion sprites are again different and explosion crater sprites are CC1 style.

3. Schijndel Road 3, with bigger trees, CC1 flags for victory locations and also different fonts used; also the tank camos are different. The explosion crater sprites are also from CC1. What is interesting is the allied flamethrower in the 3 flour building appear to have 2 soldiers, one of them been designated as a leader. The terrain right under this house is less detailed than the final version.

4. Son Bridge, with bigger trees, CC1 flags for victory locations and also different fonts used; the explosions on the bridge are different from the final version.

5. Early version of the UI Battlemaker menu, with the different logo, CC1 style victory locations and different name for Auflakler team.

cheers,

\m/



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