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Halo 2: Anniversary

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Halo 2: Anniversary
Halo 2: 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 May 12, 2020
Reception
Metacritic 71
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS, Shooter
Vehicles Automobile, Flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Africa, Sci-fi, Space
Series Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo 2: Anniversary on HowLongToBeat
Halo 2: Anniversary on IGDB
Halo 2: Anniversary guide on StrategyWiki
Halo 2: Anniversary on MobyGames
Halo 2: 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

Halo 2: Anniversary is a remaster of the 2004 sci-fi first-person shooter Halo 2, released as part of the Halo: The Master Chief Collection both in a bundle and as an individual product.

General information

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]

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/1064270/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\SaveGame\halo1
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1064270/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
Cutscenes in Anniversary are 21:9 anamorphic.
Multi-monitor
Centered HUD is an option.
Ultra-widescreen
Hor+ gameplay. Spanned HUD is an option. All cutscenes are windowboxed FMVs.
Use the community tool as a workaround or Vidsquish to re-encode the FMVs.[7]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
70-120° for 1st and 3rd person (Hor+). View model offsets can be adjusted separately.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Exclusive fullscreen also available.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Low, Normal, or High.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Post-processing AA toggle only. Classic visuals have no AA.
High-fidelity upscaling
FSR 1.0
Added in July 2023 update.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Uncapped or limited to 60, 120, 180 or 240 FPS.
See High frame rate to unlock the frame rate in menus.
Cutscenes for both Classic and Anniversary are pre-rendered at 30 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Supports HDR using the Windows 11 Auto HDR feature.
The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

Post-processing

Toggle post-process effects[8]
  1. Download Halo_MCC_3D_Vision_fix.7z (NOT Halo_MCC_geo11_fix.7z).
  2. Extract the contents to <path-to-game>\MCC\Binaries\Win64\ž.
  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 does not 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 to re-enable playing multiplayer modes that require EAC.

Hotkeys

  • 5: depth of field toggle. Not disabled by default. When disabled, aside from Halo 2 classic, things can still look lower res than what was not blurred.
  • 9: screen space reflections reflected geometry multiplier for Halo 2 remastered (x1, x2, x4, x8, x12). x1 by default. Higher presets look better but come at a cost of some more GPU usage, not much. Keep in mind that visual stretching may occur at the cutoff point where the reflection does not have more space to reflect from the screen.
  • K: HUD toggle. This does not 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
Steam version does not support Impulse Triggers.[9]
PlayStation controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
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
5.1
Subtitles
Cutscenes only. No speaker names displayed.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Mistakenly labeled on Steam as Portuguese.
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

Network

In-game general network settings.
In-game general network settings.
Supports cross-play between Microsoft Store and Steam versions. PC/Xbox cross-play was implemented in November 2020.[10][11]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
LAN play
16 Co-op, Versus
Co-op limited to 2 players[12]
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.

VR support

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

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.[13]
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.[13]
Cutscenes Bink Video Only for anniversary graphics.
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) 28.8 GB + 7.35 GB
Video card (GPU) AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile
Intel UHD Graphics 630
1 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11.1 compatible
Shader model 5.0 support
A 64-bit operating system is required.
May be differences in System Requirements between the Windows Store and Steam versions of the game.[6]
Halo 2: Anniversary MP is stored in a separate game engine folder named "groundhog".


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>/1064270/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1064270) 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. Reddit - last accessed on 26 May 2023
  8. Verified by User:Keith on 2021-01-17
  9. Impulse trigger support? - Halo MCC Steam Forums - last accessed on 2023-09-21
  10. Halo: The Master Chief Collection Patch Notes - November 2020 - Halo Support - last accessed on 2021-07-31
  11. 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: 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.
    System Requirements:
    • Currently our focus is on Win10 and Win7. Win8 is still being investigated.
     
    "
  12. Halo Waypoint – The Halo Bulletin E3 2014 - last accessed on 2019-03-19
  13. 13.0 13.1 Halo Waypoint - Halo: The Master Chief Collection Credits - last accessed on 2019-12-09