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Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

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Revision as of 10:05, 3 March 2021 by Kendotlibero (talk | contribs)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary cover
Developers
Lead development 343 Industries
Original game Bungie
Windows Ruffian Games
Windows Splash Damage
Windows Saber Interactive
Publishers
Xbox Game Studios
Engines
Halo Engine
Saber3D Engine[1]
Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows March 3, 2020
Reception
Metacritic 79
IGDB 80
Taxonomy
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter
Vehicles Automobile, Flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Sci-fi, Space
Series Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on HowLongToBeat
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on IGDB
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary guide on StrategyWiki
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on MobyGames
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on Wikipedia
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Subseries of Halo
Halo: Reach 2019
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary 2020
Halo 2: Anniversary 2020
Halo 3 2020
Halo 3: ODST 2020
Halo 4 2020

General information

Official website
Official forums
Steam Community Discussions
Halo Insider Program

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store
Xbox Game Pass for PC
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
All versions require a Microsoft account for both singleplayer and multiplayer.
The game can be purchased either individually, or in a discounted bundle containing all six games of the Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Remove the video files[2]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\MCC\Content\Movies.
  2. Delete or rename FMS_logo_microsoft_7_1_.bk2.

Notes

Players can use the Anti-Cheat Disabled (Mods and Limited Services) option to speed up the launch even further.[3]

Halo Combat Evolved: Refined

Experimental port of the Halo CE Refined mod to MCC. The Refined project is an attempt to smooth all those wrinkles and provide a port that even die-hard Halo purists will be happy with.
at the moment it's not possible to switch to the Anniversary graphics while using this mod

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Microsoft Store %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\
Steam %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1064221/pfx/[Note 1]
Local settings are shared between the Steam and Microsoft Store versions.[4]

Save game data location

System Location
Microsoft Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Chelan_8wekyb3d8bbwe\SystemAppData\wgs\
Steam <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\976730\remote\<user-id>\Saves\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1064221/pfx/[Note 1]
Saves cannot be transferred between the versions.[5]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Used to save mid-mission checkpoints in Campaign and Playlists.[6]
Xbox Cloud
Progress will transfer between the Xbox One and PC versions (mid-mission checkpoint progress is not retained as not compatible).[6]

Video

In-game general video settings.
In-game general video settings.
In-game general gameplay settings.
In-game general gameplay settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Centered HUD is an option.
Ultra-widescreen
Spanned HUD is an option. Cutscenes are pillarboxed at 32:9. Use the related community tool as a workaround.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
70-120° for player and vehicles (Hor+). The view model does not scale with higher FOVs.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Uses a weak level of AF by default; see Anisotropic filtering (AF) for better quality.[7] Options to adjust it manually added on November 17, 2020.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Uses a post-processing AA technique that cannot be modified nor disabled.[8][9] Toggle to enable/disable it added on November 17, 2020.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Game animations in cutscenes and some in-game animations run at 30 FPS.[10] See High frame rate to unlock the framerate in menus.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the engine page to force native HDR output, or the glossary page for other alternatives.
The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.
Graphics quality is limited to presets. Enhanced graphics mode dramatically increases the distance at which models load in and the distance at which lower detailed models are swapped in.

Post-processing effects

Toggle post-process effects[11]
  1. Download Halo: The Master Chief Collection 3D Vision fix.
  2. Extract the contents to <path-to-game>\MCC\Binaries\Win64\.
  3. Launch the game with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) disabled in one of two ways.
    1. Launch the game with the "MCC Anti-Cheat Disabled" option that Steam offers. This will disable all achievements, but it doesn't require touching any game files.
    2. Download MCC_EAC_Bypass.rar, and copy the contents to <path-to-game>\easyanticheat\. Remember to make a backup of the originals for whenever you want to play multiplayer modes that require EAC.

Hotkeys

  • F4: toggle for black bars in Halo CE remastered. Not disabled by default.
  • 5: depth of field toggle. Not disabled by default. When disabled, things can still look lower res than what wasn't blurred.
  • K: HUD toggle. This doesn't disable pause menus and some Forge menus.
  • L: help OSD toggle. This shows a block of text with the current state of hotkeys and how to use them.

Input

In-game keyboard and mouse control settings.
In-game keyboard and mouse control settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Pause function can not be rebound (by design).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse Smoothing also supported.
Mouse sensitivity
Look, Vehicle, and Zoomed Mouse Sensitivity values.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Separate values for Look and Flight.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Limited to presets, see Controller remapping.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Separate values for Look and Flight.
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Button prompts
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Controller remapping

The Universal Presets apply to all games in the collection.

Audio

In-game general audio settings.
In-game general audio settings.
In-game general accessibility settings.
In-game general accessibility settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Menu Music, Game Music, Effects, and Voice Chat.
Surround sound
7.1[12]
Subtitles
Full subtitle support.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D, Z3D, DirectVR
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Network

In-game general network settings.
In-game general network settings.
Online features require a free Microsoft account.
Supports cross-play between Microsoft Store and Steam versions. PC/Xbox cross-play is being looked into but is unlikely to be in place at launch.[13]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
Will be investigated to see if it can be supported post-launch.[13]
LAN play
16 Co-op, Versus
Co-op limited to 2 players[14]
Online play
16 Co-op, Versus
Co-op limited to 2 players

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Hosted on 343i's Dedicated Servers.
Peer-to-peer
Self-hosted lobbies are Peer-to-Peer.
Dedicated
Matchmaking Online matches are hosted on 343i's Dedicated Servers. No official dedicated server is provided.
Self-hosting
Can host peer-to-peer Custom Game lobbies.
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 4811, 52390-52397, 52401-52425, 52460-52638, 52855, 53070, 53274, 53490, 53719, 53962, 54085-54090, 54175, 54382
UDP 4379, 7551, 61421
This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

Issues unresolved

Known issues

See this support page for a list of known issues affecting Halo: CEA.

Some effects and graphic elements are missing in the original graphics mode

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was based on the 2003 PC version ported by Gearbox Software, which was missing several graphic effects and elements from the original Xbox version, and at this time is still present in the PC remaster. Devs are aware of this and are investigating into restoring it with the help of Original Xbox development kits.[15][16]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11.1
Shader Model support 5.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio FMOD, Miles Sound System, Wwise, iZotope Utilizes multiple audio processing systems across the collection.[17]
Interface Unreal Engine 4, Scaleform The former is used for the Main Menu UI and Customization UX, whereas the latter is used for the in-game UI.[17]
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Xbox Live, Steamworks
Anti-cheat Easy Anti-Cheat Players have the option to launch the game without anti-cheat to play with custom modifications. Matchmaking is disabled in this mode.

Shortcut to launch without anti-cheat

Create a custom shortcut (Steam only)[citation needed]
  1. Right-click on the original desktop or start menu shortcut created by Steam, and select 'Properties.
  2. In the URL textbox change steam://rungameid/976730 to steam://launch/976730/option1
  3. Click OK, and launch the game using that link to run it without anti-cheat.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7
Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 7 2700U 2.20 GHz
Intel Core i7 8750H 2.20 GHz
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 7.36 GB
Video card (GPU) Radeon Vega 10 Mobile
Intel UHD Graphics 630
1 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11.1 compatible
Shader model 5.0 support
Support for Windows 8 is still being investigated.[13]
May be differences in System Requirements between the Windows Store and Steam versions of the game.[6]


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1064221/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1064221) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Saber Interactive - Halo: The Master Chief Collection - last accessed on 2020-03-09
  2. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-12-03
  3. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-12-03
    Verified the presence of the option on both Steam and the Microsoft Store versions of the game.
  4. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-12-03
    Verified by launching both versions and seeing what settings carried over.
  5. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-12-03
    The saves of each version uses a separate file structure from the other version.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Halo Waypoint - MCC Development Update - October 2019 - last accessed on 2019-10-31
  7. YouTube - Halo Reach PC/Xbox One Review: It's Good - But There Are Issues - last accessed on 2019-12-09
    "The way that detail is resolved into the distance though will depend on the version of the game you're playing, for example textures. Curiously all versions of the game have a default non-configurable, lower level of anisotropic filtering. So textures into the distance in all game versions - even on PC - become less defined and blurry. On PC, you can of course mitigate this by forcing a higher level of anisotropic filtering in your [GPU] control panel."
  8. YouTube - Halo Reach PC/Xbox One Review: It's Good - But There Are Issues - last accessed on 2019-12-09
    "The Anti-Aliasing this time though is very standard, nothing exactly completely modern. It's just a simple post-processed anti-aliasing as far as I can tell, that does okay when the camera is still, but when you move your camera aliasing will rear its face."
  9. Verified by User:Weion on 2019-12-09
    Tested on all Graphical Presets and no change with Anti-Aliasing strength.
  10. Youtube - Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary PC Tech Review: The Master Chief Collection Version Analysed!
  11. Verified by User:Keith on 2021-01-17
  12. Verified by User:Aemony on 2019-12-03
    Determined by using Special K and Razer Surround; basically through the process that is described here.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 r/gaming - MCC PC, Halo: Reach, and Halo Insider AMA - last accessed on 2019-03-19
    "  Video Settings:
    • Yes, support for FOV-sliders is the plan. We will adjust what level of FOV is supported on a title by title basis. As an example, if adjusting the FOV causes significant player/weapon model distortion, we may need to put limits in.
    • Uncapped framerate is the plan, but the specific level of support will vary by title.
    Network:
    • re: Crossplay - PC players will be able to play together regardless of which store they choose to purchase from. In terms of Xbox One to PC crossplay, it's not something we're currently committing to at launch but it is top of mind and the team is actively investigating this.
    • re: Dedicated servers for Reach - our goal is to continue using dedicated servers to power the matchmaking experences within MCC. We'll definitely share more details as development progresses.
    • A custom games browser is of course very important to us and something we're looking forward to bringing to MCC on PC and Xbox One.
    • Regarding Splitscreen: This one is tricky and the team is still looking at what can be supported.
    System Requirements:
    • Currently our focus is on Win10 and Win7. Win8 is still being investigated.
     
    "
  14. Halo Waypoint – The Halo Bulletin E3 2014 - last accessed on 2019-03-19
  15. YouTube – Differences between Halo PC and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (1.1350.0.0) - last accessed on 2019-27-05
  16. Halo Waypoint - MCC Development Update – June 2019 - last accessed on 2020-03-06
    "We’re not targeting it for the launch on PC, but we are continuing to investigate what we can do to bring CE back to parity of the original Xbox version. But, what I can say, is we have dug up some original Xbox devkits that we are looking into utilizing."
  17. 17.0 17.1 Halo Waypoint - Halo: The Master Chief Collection Credits - last accessed on 2019-12-09