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Halo: Combat Evolved

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 02:16, 25 September 2017 by SomeFan (talk | contribs)
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Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved cover
Developers
Bungie
Publishers
Microsoft Game Studios
Engines
Halo Engine
Release dates
Windows September 30, 2003
macOS (OS X) December 3, 2003
Halo: Combat Evolved guide on StrategyWiki
Halo: Combat Evolved on Wikipedia

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

For shorthand clarity in a PC context, the standard unmoddable version of the game is Halo PC. The moddable version of the game is Halo CE (Halo Custom Edition)
Patch 1.10 fixes issues with modern hardware and replaces the GameSpy master server.
Animations, effects, and cutscenes are capped at 30 FPS.[1] See High frame rate.

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
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
Windows
macOS (OS X)
The official demo for the game can be found here.
Disc checking was removed in Patch 1.08.

Essential improvements

Patches

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). Still requires the latest official patch to function properly.

Halo Custom Edition

Halo Custom Edition allows players to play multiplayer Halo games on user-created maps.

Modifications

Open Sauce and Halo Anticheat 2 are not compatible with each other. Only one of the mods can be installed at any given point. That being said, a potential workaround is available

Open Sauce

Open Sauce is a mod for Halo Custom Edition that fixes multiple issues and adds several features for modders.

Halo Anticheat 2

Halo Anticheat 2 (or HAC2) is a mod that fixes multiple issues and adds several features. Supports all versions of Halo: Combat Evolved and Custom Edition.

Chimera

Chimera is a tool that provides lots of additional functionality to Halo.

Halo Mini Demo

HaloMD is a mod (perhaps even the only one) for the Mac release of Halo that addresses compatibility issues with later OSes and adds support for hosting and playing on custom maps (Custom Edition was not released for the Mac).

CMT SPV3

SPV3 is a revamp of the original campaign, featuring new weapons, enemies, vehicles, abilities, features and levels.

Project Lumoria

Project Lumoria is a brand new campaign story for Halo CE; stays true to the classic Halo CE feel.

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Save game data location

Custom Edition saves in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Halo CE\
Mini Demo saves in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\HLMD\

Video settings

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

Instructions

Field of view (FOV)

By default, Halo compresses its vertical FOV rather than stretching its horizontal FOV in widescreen resolutions.
Instructions
Instructions
Instructions

Windowed

Instructions

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Forcing MSAA in the graphics card control panel has no effect.
Instructions

High frame rate

The game was hard coded to run at 30 FPS.[1] Animations, effects, and cutscenes are capped at 30 FPS.
Adding interpolation makes objects' movements appear much smoother to take advantage of higher frame rates.
Instructions

Input settings

In-game controls settings.
In-game controls settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
Only in French version of the game
Italian
Spanish

Network

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

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

Make Open Sauce and Halo Anticheat 2 compatible

Instructions

Open Sauce can't be installed

Instructions

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Refresh rates up to 120 Hz are available; 144 Hz and above require a fix.
Instructions
Instructions

Mouse wheel activates other background windows

Instructions

Activating hardware acceleration or environmental sound causes sounds to cut out randomly

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.[2]
Instructions

Broken main menu background flyby

i.e. The flyby for the Halo ring in the main menu background is not following the correct path.
Instructions

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
OpenGL 1 OS X only.
Shader Model support 1.1, 1.4, 2.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer GameSpy Was shutdown in late 2014. New host uses HostPC.com

Halo Custom Edition campaign port

Instructions

Disable zoom blur and pixelation

Instructions

Prevent the camera from automatically leveling in vehicles

Instructions

Command line parameters

See command line arguments on how to use the following options.
Parameter Description
-nosound Disable all sound
-novideo Disable video playback
-nojoystick Disable joysticks and gamepads
-nogamma Disables adjustment of gamma
-useff Forces the game to run as a fixed function card
-use11 Forces the game to run as a shader 1.1 card
-use14 Forces the game to run as a shader 1.4 card
-use20 Forces the game to run as a shader 2.0 card
-safemode Disables as much as possible when running the game
-window Run the game in windowed mode
-width x Forces the game to run at a specified resolution
-vidmode w,h,r Forces the game to run at the width(w), height(h), and refresh(r) specified
-adapter x Forces the game to run fullscreen on a multimon (multiple monitors) adapter
-port x Server port address used when hosting multiplayer games
-cport x Client port address used when joining multiplayer games
-ip x.x.x.x Server IP address used when you have multiple IP addresses
-screenshot Enables the Print Screen key to generate screenshots. Having this always enabled can cause a slight decrease in performance
-console Enables the debugging console
-devmode Enables the Halo Developer Mode

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98SE
Processor (CPU) 733 MHz
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.3 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.2.8 (10.3.9 for UB version)
Processor (CPU) PowerPC G4
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.4 GB (1.5 GB for UB version)
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 2MX/ATI 7500 or better (ATI Radeon 8500/9000, GeForce 3Ti/4Ti for UB version)
32 MB of VRAM

References