HOW TO DOWNLOAD HARMY'S STAR WARS DESPECIALIZED EDITIONS
The Ultimate Introductory Guide
to
Harmy’s Star Wars Trilogy
Despecialized Editions
Harmy’s Star Wars Trilogy
Despecialized Editions
How to Download, View, and Stay Informed
She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.
Authored by HanDuet
Latest revision: 2016-02-13 (v4.6_en)
Content reviewed and approved by Harmy
Latest review: 2015-02-07 (v4.5)
Share this guide directly with the following link: https://goo.gl/1WGHBA
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Available Languages
English (v4.6_en), author & editor: HanDuet
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
Greetings!
Thanks for your interest in the Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editions. 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 AN OFFICIAL HD RELEASE for each respective film (i.e. Star Wars Episodes IV, V, & VI), such as the official Blu-ray Disks or digital purchase and download.
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 and approving its content for publication.
TUIG featured by Harmy at the following links:
http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/488639#TopicPost488639 (links to “The Ultimate Introductory Guide”)
Section 2: About the Despecialized Editions
Born out of frustrated fans’ failed attempts to convince George Lucas to release the 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 (“DE” or “DEED”) 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, the Despecialized Edition of Star Wars was remastered at version 2.5, ESB saw major improvements in v2.0, and a workprint (rough draft) of v2.0 for ROTJ was released mere weeks before Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters. Furthermore, Harmy shared his development plans for eventual v3.0 releases of the entire Trilogy over the next few years. If you plan to enjoy Star Wars DE to the fullest, check for the most current versions (Section 6), and 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 numerous 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 Harmy’s DE allows the films’ sound to accommodate any preference. Most audio work was contributed by hairy_hen and Belbucus.
Finally, Harmy’s DE also includes & supports subtitles courtesy of Project Threepio led 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:
- MKV (.mkv) - the full, complete release with all features
- AVCHD (.iso, BDMV folder) - full video with limited extras formatted for Blu-ray Disk
- 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 Trilogy Despecialized Edition 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 news 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 and enjoy Harmy’s DE.
Section 3: Uloz.to Manual Download (Coming Soon!)
Method Summary:
|
Search for filename on host site, then download one or two large files.
|
Advantages:
|
Simplest method. Minimal setup and installation of programs.
|
Disadvantages:
|
Slowest method. NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE.
|
This download method is under development and will become available for all releases soon! This section of the guide will be updated for TUIG v4.6 once requested by Harmy.
Section 4: Multipart RAR Download
Method Summary:
|
Install download manager. Add list of URL links to initiate automated downloads of a multipart RAR file.
|
Advantages:
|
Faster method. Official releases first provided this way. Preferred method.
|
Disadvantages:
|
Installation of programs to setup.
|
Step 1
Java Runtime Environment version 7 (“JRE 7”) or newer is required to run the download manager. You probably already have this, but be sure to install or update to the newest version of Java as needed:
Step 2
Download the program FreeRapid Downloader (“FRD”). For convenience, I’ve provided the following direct download:
FreeRapid-0.9u4.ZIP (Windows/Mac/Linux/Others)
Step 3
Extract the downloaded .ZIP file. Move the extracted folder to a location on your computer where you want to save the program.
Windows users: It is recommended that you not save the FRD program under “Program Files” as this can prevent plugin updates. It may also be necessary to run the program “as administrator”.
|
Step 4
Open the extracted folder and double-click the file named “frd.jar” as shown in the image below. This will launch FreeRapid Downloader.
Mac users: Since the file is unsigned, the first time you launch this program you will need to locate this app through Finder (not Launchpad), click “frd.jar” while holding the Control key, and then choose “Open” from the shortcut menu.
For more information, see: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18657
|
Step 5
Once the program loads, go to the Help menu to check for and install any updates for the program and plugins.
Step 6
Take a minute to open and view the Preferences window under the Options tab and configure settings as you want.
Step 7
NOTE: If you cannot access, or want to avoid using tehPARADOX.com, follow these instructions in place of Step 7.
|
Create a free forum account on tehPARADOX.com, login, and go to the official Star Wars Despecialized thread:
As shown in the example image below, find the version of Harmy’s DE you want in the first post. For each film, note that a number of “Code” boxes are provided, with each containing a list of download URLs from a host site. Click "Select All" above the "Code" box containing all the download links. Copy the selection onto your computer’s clipboard.
Step 8
Open FRD. If “Clipboard monitoring” is enabled, all the URLs you copied will be automatically shown. Otherwise, click the “Add URL(s)” icon and paste all the copied URLs copied from Step 7. Choose a “Save To” location where the files will be downloaded onto your computer, then select Start to begin downloading.
Step 9
FRD will analyze, queue, and begin downloading the files automatically. If you encounter errors, close and restart FRD. If some download links are offline, recheck those links later by right-clicking and selecting “Validate” in FRD. (If this still doesn’t work, I encourage you to report broken links to me.)
Once started, FRD will run multiple downloads simultaneously and start the next queued items once a download is completed. At any time, you may pause the downloads and later resume them, even if you close FRD or restart your computer.
Step 10
While waiting for your download(s) to finish, install a free RAR archive extractor that works with multipart RARs such as 7-Zip (Windows / Linux) or The Unarchiver (Mac).
Step 11
After you’ve downloaded ALL files of the multipart RAR archive, use your installed RAR extractor to extract the first part of the RAR archive (will say something like “...part01.rar” at the end of the file). The first part of the multipart RAR archive contains information about how many parts are in the complete file, so the RAR extractor will automatically combine all parts into the complete, original file.
Use “harmy” when prompted for a password.
That’s it! See Sections 6-8 for additional helpful information.
Section 5: Other Download Methods
The download methods described in Sections 3 and 4 are the most efficient known ways to obtain official releases of the Despecialized Editions provided directly from Harmy. However, it is worth noting that a number of alternative download methods are available if you know where to look. While detailed guides will not be provided, here are a few more summaries to get you started if you’d like to look into alternative download methods.
Method Summary:
|
Multipart RAR download with JDownloader or other download manager.
|
Advantages:
|
More program features than FRD.
|
Disadvantages:
|
Updated guide not provided. May involve programs that include adware.
|
To start...
|
Method Summary:
|
Download through public torrent tracker.
|
Advantages:
|
Potentially faster downloads. Different formats and versions may be available (smaller file sizes, BD25 format with menus, etc.)
|
Disadvantages:
|
No guide. Obtained files may be not be official versions provided by Harmy (see Section 6), and are likely lower quality.
|
To start...
|
Method Summary:
|
Download through private torrent tracker (MySpleen.org).
|
Advantages:
|
Fastest download. Provided versions verified as official by Harmy.
|
Disadvantages:
|
No guide. Practically impossible to obtain invite to private tracker.
|
To start...
|
Section 6: File Verification (Optional)
This is an optional step you can utilize to ensure you find and successfully download the official current versions of Harmy’s Star Wars Despecialized Edition. File names, sizes, checksums, and instructions to accomplish this are provided at the link below:
Supplementary Guide: File Verification
Section 7: Playback
OK, so you've made it this far and finally obtained a copy of the Despecialized Editions. Now, how do you watch them? Depending on which version you downloaded, the files will be in one of three possible formats: MKV, AVCHD, or NTSC DVD5.
The MKV (.mkv) releases are the best, comprehensive versions, with all the various soundtracks and subtitles included. This version can most easily be converted into other formats with the right programs.
AVCHD is formatted for burning onto a Blu-ray Disk (BD) or even a dual-layer DVD (DVD-DL). This version usually downloads as a .ISO file (often with a .MDS file included). Not all soundtracks and subtitles are included in this version due to BD limitations. See this article to learn how to “mount” the .ISO file on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
NTSC DVD5 is for burning onto a compatible DVD. This version may only include a single soundtrack and possibly no subtitles in order to make the files small enough to load onto a DVD.
Software Playback
For viewing directly on your computer (my preferred method), the MKV version is best. If you don't already have a program installed that can play MKV files, here are some recommendations:
VLC (Windows / Mac / Ubuntu / others) is a very popular free media player that's compatible with almost all media file types.
MPC-HC (Windows) is a minimalist player and my personal favorite.
I recommend downloading and installing KCP, a codec pack originally designed for anime playback which includes MPC-HC bundled with powerful playback options.
Both VLC and MPC-HC can also be used to view the AVCHD / NTSC DVD5 versions on your computer by opening the BDMV or VIDEO_TS folder with the media player.
Disk Playback
If you're wanting to burn the video onto a disk to view through a hardware BD or DVD player, clearly you should choose the AVCHD or even NTSC DVD5 version. Then, use a program like ImgBurn (Windows) to write the files onto an appropriate disk.
Here's a guide for using ImgBurn to create a Blu-ray Disk movie from AVCHD files:
USB Playback
If you're wanting to watch on a TV screen but don't want to burn on a disk, some modern TV's and Blu-ray players can play files from a USB drive. Some of them can even play MKV files directly.
Otherwise, you could try converting the MKV file to the widely-compatible .MP4 format with a program like HandBrake (Windows / Mac / Ubuntu / others). Research online as needed to learn about file converting programs.
Section 8: Staying Informed & Helpful Links
Staying Informed
As stated in Section 2, Harmy and others are constantly working on new versions of the DE Trilogy as better sources, technology, and skills become available. To stay informed about the ongoing work and updated releases, you’ll want connect and/or get involved with the project through one or more of the following ways.
First, I highly encourage you to visit the official forum threads on OriginalTrilogy.com for each film of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, found at the links listed below. The first post of each thread will tell you about the most current version of that film along with detailed specifications. In addition, it's a great place to communicate with Harmy and the other contributors of this project!
Official OriginalTrilogy.com Project Threads:
Star Wars: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/id/12713/
Empire Strikes Back: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/id/12511/
Return of the Jedi: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/id/12905/
Other good ways to connect with Harmy and stay informed are through the official project Facebook page and Harmy’s YouTube channel.
Official Star Wars Despecialized Facebook page:
Harmy's official YouTube channel:
Follow my Facebook page to be informed of updates to this guide and other helpful/interesting information related to the Despecialized Editions:
Other Helpful Links
Finally, here is a collection of links that might be of help or interest to you. Directly relevant links are already incorporated into this guide.
Video Sources Documentary for Star Wars DE v2.5 (11 min version)
- Short version of documentary about the creation of Star Wars Despecialized Edition v2.5
Extended Video Sources Documentary for Star Wars DE v2.5 (20 min version)
- Updated and extended version of documentary about the creation of Star Wars Despecialized Edition v2.5, posted on Harmy’s official YouTube channel
- A recommended way to view the Star Wars Saga
- Source for information on many fanedit projects
L8twrt’s Star Wars Prequel Trilogy:
- One of many “FanFixes” that improves the prequels
- A good place to get technical help with video playback, conversions, and more.
- Another preservation project by Harmy that reconstructions the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) shown in theaters that had less alterations than the 2004 Special Editions released on DVD.
- Discussions of a myriad of other ongoing projects by fans of Star Wars, including some used as sources in Harmy’s Despecialized Editions.
Section 9: Closing
Thank you so much for referencing this guide! While admittedly lengthy, I strived to create a comprehensive, yet reasonably concise summary that provides detailed answers to the most frequently asked questions by those who discover the Despecialized Editions.
As long as you credit myself as the source and provide a link back to this document, feel free to download, share, and reference this guide in part or in whole (see license for more info).
Please use this link when sharing TUIG: https://goo.gl/1WGHBA
May the Force be with you,
-HanDuet
Section 10: Feedback & Planned Updates
I’m working hard to keep this guide up-to-date and constantly improving. See the Change Log for past updates made so far.
How to Give Feedback
If you find any errors, have feedback, or can think of ideas for improving this guide, please leave a comment on my Facebook page. I will also post on that page when a new version of this guide is published, so please “like” the page if you’d be informed of future updates:
List of Planned Updates
The following is a list of improvements to this guide I am working on or would like to make.
If an item is marked as “HELP WANTED”, please contact me through my Facebook page if you’re able & willing to assist!
Update Topic
|
Status
|
Note
|
Add instructions for Uloz.to Manual Download
|
Pending
|
Collaborating development with Harmy. Will be provided in TUIG v4.6 once method available for all releases.
|
Translations
|
Postpone until major updates to guide finalized.
|
Translate TUIG to other languages. No hablo anything.
Translation efforts on delay until after major updates to TUIG.
|
Section 11: Change Log
2014-01-05, v1.0:
- Original post on Pastebin.com.
2015-12-10, v2.0:
- Changed title from "Star Wars Despecialized" to "How to Download Harmy's Star Wars Despecialized".
- Content completely revised. More detailed step-by-step instructions added, non-working methods removed.
2015-12-11, v2.0.1:
- Added second mirror for JDownloader installer to accommodate high bandwidth demand.
2015-12-11, v2.0.2:
- Fixed MEGA download link for JDownloader.
- Added MD5 hash value for hosted installer of JDownloader.
- Added most recent revision date and version of this article at beginning of post.
2015-12-11, v2.0.3:
- Added link to support article for JDownloader not installing on Windows machines.
2015-12-12, v2.1:
- Added Section “Playback”. Renumbered following sections.
- Additional minor clarifications and rewording. A added some details in other sections.
2015-12-14, v2.2:
- Final Pastebin version, eliminating all content except for a link to the new Google Doc guide.
2015-12-14, v3.0:
- Content from v2.1 transferred from plain-text Pastebin post to formatted, rich-text Google Doc to improve readability and navigation of expanded, comprehensive content.
- Title changed to “The Ultimate Introductory Guide to Harmy’s Star Wars Despecialized Editions” with subtitle “How to Download, View, and Stay Informed”.
- Added Section “About the Despecialized Editions”.
- Added Section “Hashcheck Verification”
- Added Section “Staying Informed & Helpful Links”.
- Rewrote Closing section.
- Revisions, clarifications, and reorganizing of existing content.
2015-12-14, v.3.1:
- AVCHD “(.ios)” corrected to “(.iso)” per Harmy’s review.
- Added statement “Content reviewed and approved by Harmy” to beginning of guide.
- Added special thanks for Harmy and documentation of review in Introduction.
- Created Google URL shortener link for referring people to this document (Link Analytics).
- Added links to Video Sources Documentary (11 & 20 min versions) on YouTube under “Other Helpful Links”.
- Created “TUIG” shorthand name for this document.
- Added “Trilogy” to document title, reformatted to put “The Ultimate Introductory Guide” on a single line to emphasise shorting to “TUIG”.
- Revised Closing to mention license and crediting of / linking to TUIG.
- Minor formatting updates.
2015-12-15, v3.2:
- Added link to new HanDuet Facebook page under “Staying Informed” section as a means to communicate updates to TUIG.
- Added my common user avatar to signature to help people recognize me online.
- Corrected numbering of sections.
- Added “Feedback & Planned Updates” Section.
- Added ability for viewers of TUIG to comment directly through Google Docs (experimental; may discontinue if abused / unmanageable).
- Minor formatting and spelling updates.
2015-12-16, v3.2.1
- Removed viewers’ ability to comment directly through Google Docs to suggest edits (didn’t work like I expected; restored to v3.2).
- Minimized screenshot from PM discussion with Harmy’s review of TUIG.
- Provided links in Introduction to locations where Harmy has shared TUIG.
- Added “Announcements Box” for high-visibility or live messages.
2015-12-23, v3.2.2
- Changed recommended link to share TUIG to https://goo.gl/1WGHBA to accommodate higher volume traffic and load faster (Link Analytics).
- Changed recommended BitTorrent client from µTorrent (ad-supported) to qBittorrent (no ads).
- Changed “Announcements Box” to “Available Languages” box to list links and credits for translations of TUIG as they become available.
- Removed page headers and footers (doesn’t appear in new “public” version). Moved copyright license notice from footer to first page.
- Formatting updates for new public version.
2015-12-24, v3.2.3
- Removed unnecessary and confusing phrase about single-file HashChecks.
- Minor corrections and formatting updates.
2015-12-27, v3.2.4
- Added link to new instructions for users who cannot access tehPARADOX.com.
- Text about support for common technical issues is smaller font, dark red, and italicized.
- Font size for change log decreased.
- Updated Available Languages section. New version numbers will not be issued for release of new translations.
2016-01-08, v3.3
- Links to recommended programs are now followed by a list of supported operating systems.
- Changed recommended file archiver/extractor from WinRAR (trialware) to 7-Zip (freeware).
- Replaced reference to Daemon Tools Lite with referral to WikiHow guide that shows how to mount .ISO files on Windows (with Daemon Tools Lite), Mac, and Linux.
- Replaced all instances of “HashCheck” (program / shell extension) with “checksum” or “checksum verification” (generic terminology).
- Added referral for iHash, a checksum verification program for Mac.
- Text for technical support is now further highlighted with dotted red border.
- Section 6 renamed from “HashCheck Verifications” to “File Verifications”.
- Content of “File Verification” section removed from TUIG and modified to create supplemental guide. This allows linking to checksums separately from TUIG (optimized traffic), and helps reduce the overwhelming size of TUIG by removing optional content utilized by everyone.
- Assigned Star Wars concept art and relevant movie quote to each guide.
2016-01-17, v3.4
- Private Torrent Tracker Method (i.e. MySpleen) instructions removed by Harmy’s request. Getting an invite to MySpleen is too difficult for this to be an efficient method of mass distribution.
- Section 4 renamed to “Single RAR Method”; notice of method under development added.
- Notice of major updates in development for Section 5 “Multi-part RAR Method” added.
2016-01-24, v4.0
- Complete review and minor revisions throughout for clarity.
- Added Amazon product link to Star Wars Original Trilogy Blu-ray Disks in Introduction.
- Corrected link to Harmy's Facebook post sharing this guide.
- Revised "As of December 2015..." paragraph in Section 2, adding sentence and link for Harmy's Facebook post about development plans for future releases (including v3.0 of entire trilogy).
- Added “Multi-part RAR Method (Manual)” Section for users who don’t want to use download managers.
- Renamed Section 5 to include “(Automated)” at the end to differentiated from newly-created Section 6.
- Renumbered all Sections after Section 6, updated internal references.
- Multi-part RAR Method (Automated) completely rewritten to describe use of JDownloader 2 with captcha service, including pictures as part of guide.
2016-02-07, v4.5
- Removed “Public Torrent Tracker Method” Section; renumbered following sections.
- Added directions for “Single RAR Download”.
- “Multi-part RAR Download” directions completely rewritten (again) to recommend FreeRapid Downloader instead of JDownloader 2.
- Added “Other Download Methods” section, providing brief summary of other possibilities.
- Minor updates of links and references.
2016-02-07, v4.5.1
- “Single RAR Download” renamed to “Uloz.to Manual Download” and instructions temporariliy removed by Harmy’s request. Will add back in TUIG v4.6 once method is further developed and available for all releases.
- Revised OriginalTrilogy.com forum thread links.
2016-02-07, v4.5.2
- Due to feedback, Mac users are now advised to try JDownloader or Mipony rather than FRD.
- Minor revisions.
2016-02-10, v4.5.3
- Minor revisions not even worth mentioning, but here I am, writing about it in the change log.
2016-02-11, v4.5.4
- Clarified that users are required to own any HD release, not exclusively the Blu-ray Disks, of Episode IV, V, & VI prior to download of DE.
2016-02-13, v4.6
- “Multipart RAR Download” method revised for compatibility on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.).
- Minor revisions and corrections.