Halo: Combat Evolved

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Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved cover
Developers
Bungie
Windows Gearbox Software
macOS (OS X) Westlake Interactive
Publishers
Microsoft Game Studios
macOS (OS X) MacSoft
Engines
Halo Engine
Release dates
Windows September 30, 2003
OS X December 3, 2003
 
 
 
Halo
Halo: Combat Evolved 2003
Halo 2 2007
Halo: Spartan Assault 2013
Halo: Spartan Strike 2015
Halo 5: Forge 2016
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition 2017
Halo Wars 2 2017

Key points

Patch 1.10 fixes issues with modern hardware and replaces the GameSpy master server.
Weapon/player animations are capped at 30 FPS, however all refresh-rates are supported.[1]

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[edit]

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.

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

Patch 1.10 updates the Windows version. Includes all previous patches. Patch notes may be found here.
The Mavericks/Lobby patches for the OS X version switches to the new Patch 1.10 lobby servers and optionally fixes compatibility with OS X Mavericks (10.9).

Halo: Custom Edition[edit]

Halo: Custom Edition allows players to play multiplayer Halo games on user-created maps.
Doesn't include the single-player campaign, but a workaround exists (see this section).

Halo Anticheat 2[edit]

Halo Anticheat 2 is a mod that fixes multiple issues and adds several features, while supporting all versions of both Combat Evolved and Custom Edition.
Download it directly from here, extract the .zip, then copy loader.dll to the relevant controls folder.
For a list of console commands, see this page. Also see this section for enabling the console.
Only compatible with Open Sauce after downloading an additional fix.

Open Sauce[edit]

Open Sauce is a mod for Custom Edition that fixes multiple issues and adds several features for modders.
Only compatible with HAC 2 after downloading an additional fix for HAC 2.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Add -novideo parameter[citation needed]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Add the -novideo parameter.

Modifications[edit]

CMT SPV3[edit]

Texture and model enhancement for Halo: Custom Edition.
Includes high resolution textures, Battle Rifle singleshot/burst shot toggling, VISR mode, in pause menu for changing Open Sauce-related settings, and assorted Easter Eggs.
Only the first six missions are available to play, with the team planning to release the second half of the campaign at a later date.

Project Lumoria[edit]

A brand new campaign story for Halo CE
Stays true to the classic Halo CE feel

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\config.txt
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Halo\
macOS (OS X)
Custom Edition saves in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Halo CE\

Video settings[edit]

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.
Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 Patch 1.10 adds support for resolutions up to 4800x3600. Use Halo Anticheat 2 to fix HUD stretch.
Multi-monitor
 
 See above.
Ultra-widescreen
 
 See above.
4K Ultra HD
 
 See above.
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Launch the game with the -window parameter.
Windowed resolutions above 1600x1200 requires Halo Anticheat 2.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Force in the graphics card control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Only FXAA/MLAA can be forced in the graphics card control panel. Alternatively SMAA can be forced using injectSMAA or the game can be rendered in higher resolution using Virtual/Dynamic Super Resolution.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
Cutscenes, as well as animations and effects are capped at 30 FPS.[1]
120+ FPS
Refresh rates up to 120Hz are available, for 144Hz and above simply launch the game with the -Vidmode Width,Height,Refresh parameter.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Use Halo Anticheat 2[citation needed]
  1. Install Halo Anticheat 2.
  2. Launch the game, press F6 and slide the mouse to adjust the FOV.
  3. Press F6 again to set it.
Use Open Sauce[citation needed]
  1. Install Open Sauce.
  2. Launch the game and press F7 to toggle the in-game menu.
  3. Press 1 and slide the mouse to adjust the FOV. Left click to save, right click to reset.
  4. Optionally press 2 to customize the weapon FOV in the same way.

Borderless fullscreen windowed[edit]

Use Halo Anticheat 2[citation needed]
  1. Install Halo Anticheat 2.
  2. Add the -window parameter to the game's shortcut.
  3. Launch the game and ensure the in-game resolution matches the desktop resolution.
  4. Press LAlt+↵ Enter to toggle borderless mode.

Input settings[edit]

In-game controls settings.
In-game controls settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Cannot be fully disabled, See Mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Found by clicking ADVANCED in Control Setup while the gamepad is selected as a Device.
Controller Y-axis inversion
Set in Mouse Setup.
Additional information
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback

Mouse acceleration[edit]

Does not completely disable Mouse acceleration, it will simply set the parameter to the lowest value.[2]
Create the autoexec.cfg file and execute it at launch
Deactivate the "Hide extensions for known file types" checkbox in the Windows Explorer's Folder Options prior to following this guide.
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Right-click the while in the game's directory, go to New and click Text Document
  3. Name the file "autoexec.cfg" and open it in a text editor such as Notepad
  4. Insert the command "mouse_acceleration 0"
  5. Save the file
  6. See Command line arguments, and then add -exec autoexec.cfg to the game's executable.

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.
Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls
Master, effects and music.
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output.[3] May require DirectSound 3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
Needs a fix for modern systems; see Restoring Legacy Audio Effects.

Localizations

Language UI Audio CC Notes
English
French
Only in French version of the game

Network[edit]

In-game network settings.
In-game network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
Local play
Xbox version only.
LAN play
Versus
Online play
Versus
See Patches.

Connection types

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

Ports

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

Issues fixed[edit]

Stretched HUD in widescreen[edit]

Even with the fixes below, some of the HUD elements are still stretched when using the scope zoom. The developers of Open Sauce said this cannot be fixed.
Install Halo Anticheat 2[citation needed]
Use Open Sauce[citation needed]
  1. Install Open Sauce.
  2. Launch the game and press F7 to toggle the in-game menu.
  3. Press 3, then 2 to toggle HUD stretch compensation.

Active camouflage not displaying correctly[edit]

Install Patch 1.10, then Halo Anticheat 2 or Open Sauce[citation needed]

Activating Hardware Acceleration or Environmental Sound causes sounds to cut out randomly[edit]

Add the Sound Card to the config.txt file
ASUS Sound Cards cut out short-duration audio streams for power management, as a result the Assault Rifle will become silent when holding the Fire Button.[4]
  1. Go to the Device Manager and expand the Sound, video and game controllers section.
  2. Right-click on the primary playback device (Example: ASUS Essence STX II) and click Proporties.
  3. Go to the Details tab and change the Property listbox to show the Hardware IDs.
  4. Write down the Vendor ID (Example: VEN_13F6) and the Device ID (Example: DEV_8788).
  5. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  6. Open config.txt.
  7. Hold Ctrl+F and type 0x plus the Vendor ID (Example: 0x13F6) and click Find Next to see if the Vendor ID is already listed in the config.
//If the AudioVendor already exists:
0xDEVID = "Sound Card Name" // EXAMPLE: 0x8788 = "ASUS Essence STX II"
	HeadRelativeSpeech
	EnableStopStart
	break

//If the AudioVendor doesn't exist:
AudioVendor = 0xVENDOR_ID "Vendor Name" // EXAMPLE: AudioVendor = 0x13F6 "C-Media"
0xDEVICE_ID = "Sound Card Name" // EXAMPLE: 0x8788 = "ASUS Essence STX II"
	HeadRelativeSpeech
	EnableStopStart
	break

7. Save the file and launch the game.

Broken main menu background flyby[edit]

i.e. The flyby for the Halo ring in the main menu background is not following the correct path.
Enable Vsync[5]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
OpenGL Unknown OS X only.
Shader Model support 1.1, 2
64-bit executable

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer GameSpy

Play the campaign with Custom Edition[edit]

Add .map files[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\maps\
  2. Create a backup of ui.map in a different location.
  3. Download a new ui.map and the campaign levels.
  4. Extract the new .map files into the same maps folder.

Configure post-processing filters[edit]

Edit OS_Settings.User.xml[citation needed]
  1. Install Open Sauce.
  2. Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Halo CE\OpenSauce\
  3. Open OS_Settings.User.xml with a text editor.
    • To toggle bloom, edit: <Bloom enabled="true"/>
    • To toggle motion blur and configure blur amount, edit: <MotionBlur enabled="false" amount="1" />
    • To toggle FXAA, edit: <FXAA enabled="false"/>
    • To allow custom maps to use their own custom post-processing filters, edit: <Internal enabled="true"/>
    • To disable all global post-processing filters, edit: <External enabled="true" />

Enable the console[edit]

Add -console parameter[citation needed]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Add the -console parameter.
  3. Press ~ to open the console in-game.

System requirements[edit]

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) 1.3 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible
OS X
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.2.8
Processor (CPU) PowerPC G4
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.4 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Halo: Combat Evolve - choppy animations - PC & Mac Discussion - GameSpot
  2. ↑ Halo PC - Mouse Acceleration
  3. ↑ PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up
  4. ↑ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1753466/sound-card-sounds-cut-sputter-xonar-dgx.html#11344439 ASUS Soundcard: EAX/GX Issues
  5. ↑ Verified by User:ThatOneReaper on September 9, 2016