Harmy's Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editions

The Ultimate Introductory Guide to Harmy's Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editions

The Ultimate Introductory Guide to Harmy’s Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editions How to Download, View, and Stay Informed

Authored by HanDuet Latest revision: 2015-12-27 (v3.2.4_en)

Content reviewed and approved by Harmy Latest review: 2015-12-14 (v3.0)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Available Languages

English (v3.2.4_en), author & editor: HanDuet French (v3.2.4_fr), translator: Nathan Dubuc (“FoxTrotte”) Italian (v3.2.4_it), [IN PROGRESS]

NOTE: Only the English version of this guide is considered official. Translations are provided by volunteers as a convenience, but may be updated less frequently and may contain errors.

Guide Contents

Section 1: Introduction Section 2: About the Despecialized Editions Section 3: Public Torrent Method (Unofficial) Section 4: Private Torrent Method (Approved) Section 5: Multi-part RAR Method (Official) Section 6: HashCheck Verifications (Optional) Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Edition Checksums Star Wars Despecialized Edition, v2.5 MKV Star Wars Despecialized Edition, v2.5 AVCHD The Empire Strikes Back Despecialized Edition, v2.0 MKV The Empire Strikes Back Despecialized Edition, v2.0 AVCHD The Empire Strikes Back Despecialized Edition, v2.0 NTSC DVD5 Return of the Jedi Despecialized Edition, v1.0 AVCHD Section 7: Playback Disk Playback USB Playback Software Playback Section 8: Staying Informed & Helpful Links Staying Informed Other Helpful Links Section 9: Closing Section 10: Feedback & Planned Updates How to Give Feedback List of Planned Updates Section 11: Change Log

Section 1: Introduction

Greetings!

Thanks for your interest in the Star Wars Despecialized Edition. First of all, allow me to emphasize that I'm simply a fellow Star Wars fan helping others discover this amazing project. Credit for its actual creation goes to Harmy along with countless others who have dedicated their time, skills, and resources toward this restoration. Getting copies of the Despecialized Editions ("DE") can be a hurdle if you don't know what you're doing, so I'm here to help.

Remember, as with any fan edit, YOU CAN ONLY DOWNLOAD THIS PROJECT IF YOU ARE A LEGAL OWNER OF THE OFFICIAL SOURCE.

For Harmy's DE project, this means YOU MUST OWN THE BLU-RAY DISK for each respective film (i.e. Star Wars Episodes IV, V, & VI).

This Star Wars fan community is built on the honor system, so your word is sufficient. Simply realize that if people who don't own legal copies of the Star Wars Original Trilogy obtain the DE, it's entirely possible that the entire project will be shut down before it's finished due to piracy allegations. So please encourage people to support the Star Wars franchise and purchase the official Blu- rays!

This guide is meant to introduce people to the DE project, outline methods of obtaining copies, and explain various ways to view the media.

For convenience, I encourage people to refer to this document as “TUIG” (short for “The Ultimate Introductory Guide”).

Special thanks to Harmy himself for reviewing this guide (v3.0) for errors and approving its content for publication. Please see the change log for any modifications made since then.

TUIG featured by Harmy at the following links: http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/488639#TopicPost488639 (links to “The Ultimate Introductory Guide”) https://www.facebook.com/despecialized/posts/1615566828719522 (shared on official Facebook page)

Section 2: About the Despecialized Editions

Born out of frustrated fans’ failed attempts to convince George Lucas to release unaltered, theatrical versions of the Star Wars Original Trilogy films (Episodes IV, V, & VI), the online forum community built around a popular petition hosted at OriginalTrilogy.com turned to discussion of fan edits as a means to obtain their shared goal without Lucas’ help. Eventually, a fan restoration project led by Harmy as the primary video editor resulted in the what he called the Despecialized Editions.

Since the initial release of the Despecialized Edition of Star Wars [“Episode IV: A New Hope”] in 2011, Harmy has since published DE versions of The Empire Strike Back [Episode V, “ESB”] and Return of the Jedi [Episode VI, “ROTJ”], and continues to release landmark updates to each of these restored films.

As of December 2015, Star Wars DE is considered nearly perfected at version 2.5, ESB saw major improvements in v2.0 with future updates planned, and a workprint (rough draft) of v2.0 for ROTJ was released mere weeks before Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters. If you plan to enjoy Star Wars DE to the fullest, learn how to stay informed (Section 8) so that you’ll know of future updates when they’re available!

Each of the DE films includes a combination of three major projects: video, audio, and subtitles.

The video itself was painstakingly restored from various sources, including the official Blu-rays, bonus DVDs, Digital TV broadcasts, film scans, and more. All these were gathered from fans around the world, then compiled and underwent massive fine-tuning by Harmy and others.

The audio features availability in multiple streams. From 5.1 DTS-HD-MA surround, to 1.0 mono mix to reproduce the feel of the original theatrical showing, to various dubs in a multitude of languages, the sound choices bundled with Star Wars DE allows the films’ sound to accommodate any preference. Most audio work was contributed by hairy_hen and Belbucus.

Finally, Star Wars DE also includes & supports subtitles courtesy of Project Threepio lead by CatBus. This ongoing fan project provides high-quality subtitles for Star Wars films in their unaltered forms in order to broaden the appeal of fan preservation efforts beyond the English-speaking world. HELPFUL TIP: Be aware that Harmy releases Star Wars DE in multiple formats: 1) MKV (.mkv) - the full, complete release with all features 2) AVCHD (.iso, BDMV folder) - full video with limited extras formatted for Blu-ray Disk 3) NTSC DVD5 (VIDEO_TS folder) - compromised features to fit project on a DVD (see Section 7 for more info)

Many view Harmy’s Star Wars Despecialized Edition Trilogy as the quintessential version of the Original Trilogy and a testament to the unwavering dedication of fans inspired by the films. You can learn more about the project’s origin, development, and goals by reading this ABC article or searching for other online articles, as news of the project has made its way mainstream media on more than one occasion.

The rest of this guide explains how to obtain copies and enjoy Harmy’s DE.

Section 3: Public Torrent Method (Unofficial)

Acknowledging that most people reading these instructions just want to quickly grab Harmy's DE and run, I'm starting with the easiest, but worst, download method. If you love Star Wars and want to honor Harmy's high-quality work, please use the methods described in Sections 4 or 5 instead. For the nerf-herders that remain, read on:

Before starting, make sure you have a good virus scanner and ad-blocker. "Watch your step, this place can be a little rough." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

DISCLAIMER: Copies of DE obtained through this method are often modified in some way from the officially released versions. See Section 6 to verify the integrity of the files.

Step 1

Install a BitTorrent client that can handle torrent downloads. I recommend qBittorrent.

Step 2

Select a public torrent tracker to search. While not an endorsement, unofficial versions of Harmy's DE are known to be on TPB and KAT (links go to online searches of the sites’ names to find the current URL for each site, which changes from time to time).

Step 3

Use the torrent tracker's search bar to look for "Star Wars Despecialized". Select the best torrent for the version of Harmy's DE you want. - Typically, the best torrent has the most "seeds" (people hosting the file). - Be sure to read any feedback people have posted about the torrent.

Step 4

Download the .torrent or use the magnet link and open with your BitTorrent client to start the download. Depending on the number of seeds and your internet connection, the download may take a long time.

Section 4: Private Torrent Method (Approved)

If you can gain access, the most convenient and trusted download method is via the private torrent tracker MySpleen.org. Shortly after an official release of Harmy’s projects, a torrent for the new files is uploaded to this site by someone following the project on the OT forums after gaining permission from Harmy. Thus, only a single copy of each official release is posted on this torrent tracker, though the uploader varies.

Step 1

Install a BitTorrent client that can handle torrent downloads. I recommend qBittorrent.

Step 2

If you don't already have an account with MySpleen.org, you'll need an invite from a current MySpleen user to create one. This is the hardest step, which only became harder when too many people joined the site to simply grab Harmy's DE and run. I no longer have any good advice on how to get an invite; most MySpleen invite threads on various forums are now closed. You'll need to be resourceful and spend some time doing Internet searches to find the best current method. If you can find a way to contact me directly, I can give 1 invite each month.

Step 3

Log into MySpleen.org with your account. Go to the Torrents page and search for "Harmy" to bring up a list of all available versions of Harmy's various projects (including, but not limited to, the Star Wars Despecialized Editions of the Original Trilogy).

Step 4

Select and download the .torrent for the version of Harmy’s DE you want and open with your BitTorrent client to start the download. Depending on the number of seeds and your internet connection, the download may take a long time.

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that since MySpleen is a private tracker, there are certain expectations you must meet to have access to that community. Read the guidelines here.

For those who have had issues with torrent downloads in the past, you should know that private trackers mitigate most issues, and I encourage you to give this a try before attempting another download method.

Section 5: Multi-part RAR Method (Official)

This method is a bit complicated, but is the best solution to get official, trusted releases of Harmy's DE without torrents. In fact, whenever Harmy releases an updated version or new project, this is the first place it becomes available!

Bonus Help

If following these instructions gives you trouble, I recommend checking out this YouTube video kindly uploaded by someone following an earlier version of this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEvZ-rKdYQY

Step 1

The recommended way to handle this download method is to install and use a download manager like JDownloader, in which you'll copy and paste multiple download links at once into the program, which then automatically handles each download and combines the files once finished.

Unfortunately, the "official" installer of this program is infamous for having adware and other problems bundled with it. An article on PCWorld.com pointed out this problem, and provided a "clean" installer of the program. While the download is no longer available there, I have uploaded this clean installer of JDownloader (v0.9) available for download at the following links: Mirror 1: MEGA Mirror 2: Dropbox MD5 checksum: 1CF7D2457D6A5424F1094FB353E9FB8D

Windows users, read this article if JDownloader won't install because "This publisher has been blocked..."; Fix #6 worked for me: Link to article on TechnialNotes.org Backup PDF download of article

Official and reportedly “clean” installers of newer versions of JDownloader (v2) can be found at the link below. Note that I have not personally tested this version: https://board.jdownloader.org/showthread.php?t=54725

Instructions below are specific to JDownloader (v0.9); exact directions may be different depending on your download manager and version.

Step 2

After installing JDownloader, be sure to open the program and allow it to run updates for its add-ons. Decline any prompt to upgrade the JDownloader 2 BETA. Open the Settings tab and ensure "JD Unrar" plugin is active in the Extensions window.

Step 3

Create a free forum account on tehPARADOX.com, log in, and go to the official Star Wars Despecialized thread: http://tehparadox.com/forum/f89/harmys-star-wars-despecialized-edition-2543089/

If you cannot access tehPARADOX.com, use these instructions.

Step 4

Find the version of Star Wars DE you want in the first post. Select one of the download site options (Uloz.to, MEGA, FileFactory, …), then click "Select All" above the "Code" box containing all the download links. Copy the selection onto your computer’s clipboard.

Step 5

Open JDownloader, select Linkgrabber tab, click Add URL(s), then paste all the copied links at once. Click Parse URL(s) and allow the program to check the status of all links. Some links may be temporarily offline; restart JDownloader and/or recheck those links later. If that doesn't work, it may be necessary to download from one of the other host sites.

Step 6

Right-click the package for all the download links, select Properties. Enter the password provided in the official thread on tehPARADOX.com (usually "harmy") into the Archive Password field.

Step 7

Initiate download by selecting Continue with all; alternatively, you should be able to start download of only selected links if desired.

Step 8

Follow prompts to start the downloads. You may need to accept TOS, enter captchas, etc. as prompted.

Step 9

Once all links finish downloading, JDownloader should automatically extract and combine the multi-part RAR files into the complete, original file.

NOTE: If you want to avoid using JDownloader, you can manually download each "part" and use a .RAR extractor to combine multiple parts into one archive with a program like WinRAR. This will take significantly longer, though.

Section 6: HashCheck Verifications (Optional)

This is an optional step you can utilize the verify your download completed as expected, with no errors or modifications. Without getting into the details, methods exist that can calculate a file’s “checksum”, something like a unique fingerprint. Any file can have a checksum generated through one of any available calculation methods; common methods are CRC32, MD5, and SHA-1, though many others exist.

With the steps below, you can confirm you have the official, unaltered version of Harmy’s DE if your downloaded files’ checksums match those I’ve provided here.

There are two ways you can perform HashChecks:

1) Single-file verifications with a program like HashTab by manually copying and pasting a checksum value for comparison by the program.

2) Multi-file batch verifications with a program like RekSFV by using the program to run a file containing the checksums of multiple files. For this method to work, the files must have the exact same names and be organized in the same folders/subfolders as the source (unless you manually modify this information in the checksum file, which is possible).

I like having both methods in my arsenal. Note that there are many more free programs that can perform generate checksums and perform HashChecks; choose whatever works for you!

Step 1

Install the HashCheck program of your choice (see above).

Step 2

From the list below, copy any checksum value for the file you want to verify and compare with a single-file HashCheck program.

Alternatively, use the provided download link to download the batch HashCheck file and move it to the same folder containing the file(s) you want to verify. Open the batch file with a compatible HashCheck program and allow it to perform the verifications.

Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Edition Checksums

DISCLAIMER: I will do my best to keep this list up to date, but cannot guarantee that the newest releases are included here. Checksums are only provided for the newest official releases I have personally downloaded. Unless otherwise stated, these checksums were calculated by myself from files downloaded through officially-approved sources, but the only guarantee of them being correct is if they are confirmed by Harmy.

NOTE: While MKV releases include a Project Threepio folder for subtitles, I have excluded these from the checksums because you can update Project Threepio without modifying the DE video/audio streams from Harmy.

Star Wars Despecialized Edition, v2.5 MKV

✔ These checksums are verified by Harmy (source) Original File Structure & Names: Despecialized Edition v2.5 MKV readme.txt Star.Wars.Despecialized.Edition.v2.5.mkv