Halo: Combat Evolved

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Halo: Combat Evolved

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Developers
	Bungie
Publishers
	Microsoft Studios
Engines
	Halo Engine
Release dates
Windows	September 30, 2003
macOS (OS X)	December 3, 2003

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Halo
Halo: Combat Evolved	2003
Halo 2	2007
Halo: Spartan (series)
Halo Online	2015*
Halo 5: Forge	2016
Halo Wars (series)
Halo Recruit	2017
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (series)
Halo Infinite	2021

Key points

Patch 1.0.10 fixes issues with modern hardware and replaces the GameSpy master server.

Modding tools are available as a separate download

Great console port

Can run on low end hardware.

Small community

General information

Bungie.net - The developer's site

Halo Nation - A very detailed wiki for everything Halo related

Halo.Bungie.org - One of the biggest Halo fan sites around

Halo Maps - A fan site for downloading mods and maps for Halo: Custom Edition

Bungie forum thread about enhancing many aspects of Halo CE and Halo PC

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Amazon.com

The official demo for the game can be found here

Disc checking was removed in Patch 1.08

Versions

Halo: Custom Edition

Halo: Custom Edition allows players to play multiplayer Halo games on user-created maps. There is no singleplayer campaign in its initial release, but see How to play Campaign with Open Sauce for a fix.

This is the path for a default installation on a 64-bit copy of Windows 7. The path may vary. If you downloaded a .zip or other archive, you will need to extract it first.

Do NOT delete any .map files in the folder by default, ESPECIALLY not ui.map. Halo: Custom Edition and any custom maps can be downloaded from halomaps.org.

Essential improvements

Patch 1.0.10 (Windows)

Patch 1.0.10 replaces the GameSpy master servers and fixes various issues.

Mavericks/Lobby patches (OS X)

The Mavericks/Lobby patches switches to the new Patch 1.0.10 lobby servers and optionally fixes compatibility with OS X Mavericks (10.9).

Open Sauce

A mod for Custom Edition that fixes multiple issues and adds several features. It is not compatible with Combat Evolved.

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location

Save game cloud syncing

No save game cloud syncing information; you can edit this page to add it.

Video settings

File:HaloCE Video.png

In-game graphics settings.

Widescreen resolution

Version 1.10 supports resolutions up to 4800x3600. For exotic resolutions follow fix bellow.

Instructions

Field of view (FOV)

On widescreen resolutions, Halo compresses its vertical field of view (FOV) instead of stretching its horizontal FOV. To fix this, download the following tools as appropriate to the version you are using

Halo: Combat Evolved

Instructions

Instructions

Instructions

Halo: Custom Edition

Instructions

Instructions

Adjust FOV by hex editing

Backup your maps folder before starting (default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Halo\maps)

A hex editor is required. HxD is a good free editor.

Works for both Custom Edition and Combat Evolved

In A Nutshell : Replace all occurrences of AA619C3F with CDCCCC3F in all .MAP files.

Instructions

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Halo does not support Antialiasing (AA).

Force-enabling AA in your graphics driver has no effect on Halo: Combat Evolved and in Halo: Custom Edition causes the game to freeze on the loading screen while playing the main menu music in the background. The only way to escape this is by force closing the game with Alt+F4 or the Task Manager.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Instructions

Halo: Custom Edition

If your graphics card does not support MLAA/FXAA natively, you can still use FXAA by enabling it in Open Sauce (see Postprocessing Filters).

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

There are two methods available to enable Anisotropic filtering:

Method 1

Instructions

Method 2

Instructions

Postprocessing filters (Custom Edition)

Does not work for Combat Evolved edition.

Instructions

Input settings

File:HaloCE Controls.png

In-game controls settings.

File:HaloCE Mouse.png

In-game mouse settings.

File:HaloCE Gamepad.png

In-game gamepad settings.

Audio settings

File:HaloCE Audio.png

In-game audio settings.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play		Use Patch 1.0.10 (Windows) or the lobby patch (OS X).

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	80
UDP	2302, 2303

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

HUD stretch (Custom Edition)

Instructions

HUD stretch (Combat Evolved + Custom Edition)

Instructions

Active camo fix (Custom Edition)

Officially fixed in version 1.10.

This issue should be fixed just by installing Open Sauce. If it does not, use following fix.

Instructions

Other information

How to play Campaign with Open Sauce

Open Sauce does not include single player campaign. To add single player, follow this fix.

Instructions

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98SE	ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	733 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1.2 GB
Video card (GPU)	3D T&L capable 32 MB of VRAM