I played Halo 1 over XBC for 8 solid hours last Saturday

[l Maximus l]

Why am I sharing this?

Because, I had the most fun playing a video game in over 4 months. I played it over XBC and I didn't even host once. I kept joining other people's servers the entire time. My only disappointment was that there was only, at most, 15 available servers at one time when there used to be around 300 before Halo 2 was released.

This is the honest truth: I had more fun playing with lag and my opponent, who was hosting and had a host advantage, compared to playing Halo 2 on XBox Live.

Now, for those of you who just may consider flaming me, the reason why I don't like Halo 2 is because of the Havok engine. The Havok engine butchered the game and it completely changed the entire physics of Halo. So, bottom-line, Halo 2 is, in it's completeness, a different game than Halo 1. And, my major disappointment with Halo 2 is that it is so extremely different when I, like many other Halo 1 fans, expected it to be the same with a bunch of new maps, some new weapons, and a few new capabilities (like vehicle boarding). I think duel wielding would have been an okay addition if Halo 2 was using the Halo 1 engine. The Havok engine screwed up the Halo series.

So, this is a rally for the Halo 1 troops! Get your asses back on XBC and let's share in the good old days :D

[No Fear 23]

i tried getting back into it, but hated it.

halo 2 is so much better.

[l Maximus l]

i tried getting back into it, but hated it.

halo 2 is so much better.

It's better how? Better because there is not as much lag?

[Whisper]

maybe he just has more fun playing it.. wait that's impossible right?

[l Maximus l]

maybe he just has more fun playing it.. wait that's impossible right?

All I did was ask for him to elaborate a little more. You don't have to be such a smart ass.

[# 1 Stunner]

i can say i enjoy playing halo 2 more, not because of gameplay, just mostly because of the amount of people you can play with, how easy it is to find games and such and not messing with that xbc bullchit, its just a pain in the ass to me.....mostly bc my computer is downstairs and xbox is upstairs, but overall halo 2 is much easier to play even though its the lesser game...

[Whisper]

All I did was ask for him to elaborate a little more. You don't have to be such a smart ass.

no, the smart asses are the ones going around telling the people who say they have more fun playing Halo 2 that they are "wrong" and it is impossible to have more fun playing Halo 2, and if you do, you're "wrong" and "don't understand" or you "sucked at Halo 1"

[thrAsher]

Me and a buddy of mine were talking about the Halo/Halo 2 thang the other night. We both agreed that Halo 2 could never compete w/ the original for various reasons.

What we decided was that Halo had 'the surprise' (ie: the Flood), better SP battles, and a more coherent, thought out story. And basically all Halo 2 has is a better multi. He argued Halo CE's was better, but that's garbage. He just never got used to the dual wielding, which I think along w/ boarding vehicles makes Halo 2's multi the better. And we both hate XBC for the lag, but couldn't possibly throw a LAN party w/o everybody bringing a copy of Halo CE.

But, all in all, we did agree that Halo is a timeless classic, while Halo 2 is simply a sequel. Great series, but it can never touch the overall greatness that we all felt playing the first.

[Soundscape]

no, the smart asses are the ones going around telling the people who say they have more fun playing Halo 2 that they are "wrong" and it is impossible to have more fun playing Halo 2, i don't think anyone here has ever said that.



halo 2 is so much better.
yeah, i guess if noobed out = much better :confused:

i know i've said this before, but i think halo 2 was designed so that just about any gamer could pick up a controller and be decent at the game. halo 2 is a game that was made to be convenient to n00bs, as totten said a while back.
duel wielding, the massive ammount of auto-aim, smg start, the sword, grenades that don't overturn moving vehicles, no fall damage, rockets that lock on, ect., ect...it's all lame as hell.
and if i didn't have xbl i wouldn't ever play halo 2. but i must say i enjoy playing mlg custom gametypes over xbl. but because of all the games flaws, it can be pretty fun and really frustrating all at the same time. but i kinda suck sometimes, though :/

[Reclaimer]

I'll do you one better. Halo PC. Just like Halo 1 except less lag if any than what you get on XBC, 1 new warthog that's cooler than the guass hog, 2 extra guns (flame thrower and plasma mortar) and 5 new big ass maps.

Don't anyone dare tell me that Halo PC is laggier than XBC. I played for a few hours last night and if I came across lag, it was minimum and the guy who was causing it got booted from the game.
I found a joystick I can use. That was my biggest problem was that I'm so used to playing Halo with a joystick that it felt alien using a keyboard. So I picked up a Logitech Dual Action. Looks unfortunately like a PS2 dual shock though. But it works fine for me. So I get the best of all worlds. Halo 1 goodness and a few extra things.

Man, I love having that pistol.

Seriously though, I really like PC gaming now for some reason. Maybe because I never really could in the past.

[# 1 Stunner]

I'll do you one better. Halo PC. Just like Halo 1 except less lag if any than what you get on XBC, 1 new warthog that's cooler than the guass hog, 2 extra guns (flame thrower and plasma mortar) and 5 new big ass maps.

Don't anyone dare tell me that Halo PC is laggier than XBC. I played for a few hours last night and if I came across lag, it was minimum and the guy who was causing it got booted from the game.
I found a joystick I can use. That was my biggest problem was that I'm so used to playing Halo with a joystick that it felt alien using a keyboard. So I picked up a Logitech Dual Action. Looks unfortunately like a PS2 dual shock though. But it works fine for me. So I get the best of all worlds. Halo 1 goodness and a few extra things.

Man, I love having that pistol.

Seriously though, I really like PC gaming now for some reason. Maybe because I never really could in the past.onep roblem i hear about is halo pc is all about vehicles, like all people do is whore banshees and fly around all the time, and this is coming from the orignal halo fans saying it was kinda lame...just not t he same with 16 people or more...

[l Maximus l]

I'll do you one better. Halo PC. Just like Halo 1 except less lag if any than what you get on XBC, 1 new warthog that's cooler than the guass hog, 2 extra guns (flame thrower and plasma mortar) and 5 new big ass maps.

Don't anyone dare tell me that Halo PC is laggier than XBC. I played for a few hours last night and if I came across lag, it was minimum and the guy who was causing it got booted from the game.
I found a joystick I can use. That was my biggest problem was that I'm so used to playing Halo with a joystick that it felt alien using a keyboard. So I picked up a Logitech Dual Action. Looks unfortunately like a PS2 dual shock though. But it works fine for me. So I get the best of all worlds. Halo 1 goodness and a few extra things.

Man, I love having that pistol.

Seriously though, I really like PC gaming now for some reason. Maybe because I never really could in the past.

I would love to do it, man. I just don't have the interest in souping up my PC to run it...Well, let me rephrase it: I don't have the extra funds to soup up my PC to run the game...I definately have the interest, though!

Hey, did you know that you can purchase a USB adapter that can plug in your XBox controller to your PC? www.lik-sang.com had one there...atleast at one time. I haven't checked it out recently, though. I bet that would be kick ass!

Damn, I may have to come up with the funds because H2 is such a disappointment and I need something new and exciting.

[TOTTEN]

Me and a buddy of mine were talking about the Halo/Halo 2 thang the other night. We both agreed that Halo 2 could never compete w/ the original for various reasons.

What we decided was that Halo had 'the surprise' (ie: the Flood), better SP battles, and a more coherent, thought out story. And basically all Halo 2 has is a better multi. He argued Halo CE's was better, but that's garbage. He just never got used to the dual wielding, which I think along w/ boarding vehicles makes Halo 2's multi the better. And we both hate XBC for the lag, but couldn't possibly throw a LAN party w/o everybody bringing a copy of Halo CE.

But, all in all, we did agree that Halo is a timeless classic, while Halo 2 is simply a sequel. Great series, but it can never touch the overall greatness that we all felt playing the first.
I completley agree except I think Halo: CE has better multiplayer. Halo 2s online aspects are much better except for the most important part GAMEPLAY.

[Reclaimer]

Oooh! Oooh! I need to get the Xbox controller USB adapter. That would rock seriously.

It does get chaotic with every vehicle turned on in the game. I played Blood Gulch CTF with a full 16 people and each side had 2 Scorpions, 4 warthogs, 3 ghosts and 1 banshee. It was mayhem! Well, it was fun. You can turn these things on and off.. you know? There's only 4 maps that supports the Banshees and usually get 2. Except for Danger Canyon that runs 4 banshees. But these are the cool banshees that can stop, back up and drop plasma bombs and then get themselves shot down by someone with the assault rifle.

[Regosnot]

I'll do you one better. Halo PC. Just like Halo 1 except less lag if any than what you get on XBC, 1 new warthog that's cooler than the guass hog, 2 extra guns (flame thrower and plasma mortar) and 5 new big ass maps.

Don't anyone dare tell me that Halo PC is laggier than XBC. I played for a few hours last night and if I came across lag, it was minimum and the guy who was causing it got booted from the game.
I found a joystick I can use. That was my biggest problem was that I'm so used to playing Halo with a joystick that it felt alien using a keyboard. So I picked up a Logitech Dual Action. Looks unfortunately like a PS2 dual shock though. But it works fine for me. So I get the best of all worlds. Halo 1 goodness and a few extra things.

Man, I love having that pistol.

Seriously though, I really like PC gaming now for some reason. Maybe because I never really could in the past.

The only problem is that my computer isn't that great and I have trouble playing some games. So my Xbox is alot more convient to me. I would go on XBC if anyone else is going on. Once I get a new computer everything will change.

[l Maximus l]

The only problem is that my computer isn't that great and I have trouble playing some games. So my Xbox is alot more convient to me. I would go on XBC if anyone else is going on. Once I get a new computer everything will change.

Dude, I'm definately going back to Halo 1 and play on XBC. I just need to get more people to do it more often. Honestly, I haven't had this much fun in four months :)

I played a round of BG CTF...2 v 2...I couldn't believe it when I saw my opponent's Warthog do a flip when I stuffed a grenade on the ground in front of it.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe that Halo 2 is a very good game...just not for hardcore Halo CE fans. Halo 2 is like "Halo" but for everyone else.

[FB-Gollum]

It's funny. I agree and disagree with so much. I mean, is Halo 2 noobed out? Sure to a degree. Not so much as I think people claim because I still see a pretty massive disparity in skill. Given the curve is much sharper this time around with a more massive pooling at the bottom. In essence, due to it's ease, it's that much harder to break away from the pack. That said, I think Halo CE was pretty noobed out itself relative to PC games. Seriously, Halo CE was a game you could just jump into, get the hang of within about 30 minutes, and hold your own against most average players. PC Games own Halo when it comes to "skills" required. Try jumping into a game of Rogue Spear or Raven Shield online even after completing the campaign. You'll get owned so hard by even medicore players. It's utterly unforgiving. Halo doesn't even have a blooming ret.
In the time it takes you to get Halo's controls down and be reasonably comfortable with them, you'll just be figuring out the differences between firing SMG's and AR's. Never mind learning to snipe. No "2 quick shots" here. 1 shot, 1 kill, or else. *(Please do not mention the Xbox version of R6, as it is SUPER noobed out compared to the PC version).

I guess my point here is, while we're all calling Halo 2 a noob fest, let's try to remember what we're comparing to wasn't exactly the steepest learning curve itself.

[blonks]

i tried getting back into it, but hated it.

halo 2 is so much better.


finally furr lays the smack down... same thing happened here... halo 2 is like crack you never go back

[Soundscape]

yeah, except alot of people DO go back to halo 1...all the time. and some halo 1 players won't even play halo 2. i think that says alot.

[LoRd StOnEpAw]

Max... what's ur XBC name? I'll handle teh lag :cool:

[GTA3 Dude]

It's funny. I agree and disagree with so much. I mean, is Halo 2 noobed out? Sure to a degree. Not so much as I think people claim because I still see a pretty massive disparity in skill. Given the curve is much sharper this time around with a more massive pooling at the bottom. In essence, due to it's ease, it's that much harder to break away from the pack. That said, I think Halo CE was pretty noobed out itself relative to PC games. Seriously, Halo CE was a game you could just jump into, get the hang of within about 30 minutes, and hold your own against most average players. PC Games own Halo when it comes to "skills" required. Try jumping into a game of Rogue Spear or Raven Shield online even after completing the campaign. You'll get owned so hard by even medicore players. It's utterly unforgiving. Halo doesn't even have a blooming ret.
In the time it takes you to get Halo's controls down and be reasonably comfortable with them, you'll just be figuring out the differences between firing SMG's and AR's. Never mind learning to snipe. No "2 quick shots" here. 1 shot, 1 kill, or else. *(Please do not mention the Xbox version of R6, as it is SUPER noobed out compared to the PC version).

I guess my point here is, while we're all calling Halo 2 a noob fest, let's try to remember what we're comparing to wasn't exactly the steepest learning curve itself.


Moderate players usually beat anybody that is new pretty hard in any game. The same exists in Halo.

[ScorpionX]

It's funny. I agree and disagree with so much. I mean, is Halo 2 noobed out? Sure to a degree. Not so much as I think people claim because I still see a pretty massive disparity in skill. Given the curve is much sharper this time around with a more massive pooling at the bottom. In essence, due to it's ease, it's that much harder to break away from the pack. That said, I think Halo CE was pretty noobed out itself relative to PC games. Seriously, Halo CE was a game you could just jump into, get the hang of within about 30 minutes, and hold your own against most average players.

Sorry but you definately weren't playing "average" players if you could hold your own after 30 minutes of experience... it took most players at least a year to become decent at the game. But I probably have a much different idea of what an average player is than others.

PC Games own Halo when it comes to "skills" required. Try jumping into a game of Rogue Spear or Raven Shield online even after completing the campaign. You'll get owned so hard by even medicore players. It's utterly unforgiving. Halo doesn't even have a blooming ret.

The EXACT same thing can be said for Halo and jumping onto XBC. You probably would average around 2 kills in a game with decent players until you eventually learn how the game is played.

I really wasn't expecting this to be such a bad game until I saw that E3 demo at Zanzibar, instead of showing new weapons or tactics Bungie chooses to show a warthog exploding... And Bungie deserves all this scrutiny because they knew damn well how the Halo community would feel about this game.

[l Maximus l]

It's funny. I agree and disagree with so much. I mean, is Halo 2 noobed out? Sure to a degree. Not so much as I think people claim because I still see a pretty massive disparity in skill. Given the curve is much sharper this time around with a more massive pooling at the bottom. In essence, due to it's ease, it's that much harder to break away from the pack. That said, I think Halo CE was pretty noobed out itself relative to PC games. Seriously, Halo CE was a game you could just jump into, get the hang of within about 30 minutes, and hold your own against most average players. PC Games own Halo when it comes to "skills" required. Try jumping into a game of Rogue Spear or Raven Shield online even after completing the campaign. You'll get owned so hard by even medicore players. It's utterly unforgiving. Halo doesn't even have a blooming ret.
In the time it takes you to get Halo's controls down and be reasonably comfortable with them, you'll just be figuring out the differences between firing SMG's and AR's. Never mind learning to snipe. No "2 quick shots" here. 1 shot, 1 kill, or else. *(Please do not mention the Xbox version of R6, as it is SUPER noobed out compared to the PC version).

I guess my point here is, while we're all calling Halo 2 a noob fest, let's try to remember what we're comparing to wasn't exactly the steepest learning curve itself.

Don't get me wrong, Gollum, I'm good at Halo 2. I understand that it takes skill to play...but, so does Unreal Championship. That's not the point I'm trying to make.

Halo CE involves much more skill to play than Halo 2. There's no question. Last Saturday, I played 8 solid hours of it only to take a few bathroom breaks and grab a few beers, and a bite to eat. I put in Halo CE a few times but just for a short amount of time in the past because I kept trying to give Halo 2 a chance.

I'm not interested in other FPSs, especially on the PC because I can't justify souping up my computer to run the games. It's not that I can't afford it...I can easily afford it, but, my wife doesn't exactly see things the way I do. :D

I'm interested in Halo...I enjoy the physics and the ability to always improve. I don't look at it like it's just another game...to me, it is THE game...I have the most fun with it. I just can't stand Halo 2 because it's so dramatically different than Halo CE. It's practically a disgrace that it shares the same name.

EDIT: Scorpion makes a great point...it takes atleast a year to be remotely decent at Halo. Sure, it could be shortened if a person doesn't give up or get too frusterated if they only play against people at the pro level.

[FB-Gollum]

Sorry but you definately weren't playing "average" players if you could hold your own after 30 minutes of experience... it took most players at least a year to become decent at the game. But I probably have a much different idea of what an average player is than others.

Sure you can. You'll get a few flukey kills and some nade action. A YEAR? What is this freaking calculus? The game evolved, after a year most people are veterans. I say average players, people who play once a week, for fun, not blood and pride. That says nothing to how basic motor skills interact in the game environment. I think you do have a different concept of "average".

The EXACT same thing can be said for Halo and jumping onto XBC. You probably would average around 2 kills in a game with decent players until you eventually learn how the game is played.

Sure, but for entirely different reasons. Only an entirely infintessimal percentage Halo players ventured on to XBC. The "truly hardcore" for the most part could be found there. That versus a PC game with integrated online multiplayer provides a more vast (and level, due to netcode) playing field.

Halo isn't a hard game. It never was. That doesn't mean it doesn't kick ass. It's my favourite game of all time. Hands down. Halo 2 is less difficult.

[Xorg]

I still enjoy playing Halo 1 whenever I can, add me to play some matches on XBC, even though I am still not used to the lag as I barley played xbc before halo 2 for other reasons and problems. (my old halo ce didnt work on system link, and I got a new one just before halo 2 came out)

[Reclaimer]

I would love to get back on XBC. You can play it if your Xbox is wireless on your network. But you can't play it if your PC that runs the XBC client is also wireless on the network, so that puts me out. That leaves me Halo PC to get my fix. I still like Halo 2, just as long as I remember that it's essentially a different game completely that just uses the same character from Halo 1.
Once we lay down the line there, drawing the division that Halo 1 and 2 are two different games and not traditional sequels, we'll be alright.
I'll still play Halo 2 because for a XBL FPS game, it is good. But, I'll always play Halo PC because it's just a whole other animal besides the fact I can't get XBC to run on my network.

To be completely honest with you all, I probably wouldn't play Halo CE if I wanted to simply because the new maps on Halo PC: Icefields, Infinity, Death Island, Danger Canyon, Timberland, and Gephyrophobia are worth it. They put up servers that rotate the new maps and that's all I need.
It's what I wanted from Halo 2 that I didn't get. Same physics, same weapons (plus 2) same great game, just on new maps and the ability to run it 1600x1200 resolution and have a solid game with some extra graphic niceties that didn't require them to build an entire new game to get.

Halo 2 is awesome, but not in the full respect that we anticipated. They still would have sold 6+ million copies of Halo 2 if all they did was take the Halo CE engine, added 5 extra maps on top of the ones that Halo PC has and gave it Live.. it would have been awesome and everyone would have been happy.

Bungie said they couldn't add live to Halo CE through a patch. But they sure as hell could have worked it into the game from a rebuild of the original core and shipped it out. They could have completely forgone the Halo 2 story and just put out a Xbox Live battle kit upgrade and that would have sold like little golden hotcakes.
Think of it. No story, no campaign. Just the original halo CE with live and 10 new maps.
Speaking of maps, those Halo PC maps are nice. They are big, with Infinity being bigger than waterworks several times over. I mean flying a banshee and it takes awhile to get around everything from one base to another. Anyway, those are some balanced maps. Nobody has a homefield advantage. Every map is the same (more or less) on one side and the other, it's just all the stuff in the middle. I feel those maps are way more balanced, fair and interesting than what we got in Halo 2.
Just my 2 cents. I can't rave about Halo CE on XBC, so I'll rave about what I can get.

[l Maximus l]

Great post, Reclaimer...damn...well said. But get this: I'm a die hard Halo CE fan and I have yet to see Halo PC in action. I've seen screenshots, but, I just don't have a machine that can run it.

Your post got me all amped up, though...so, one question: What would it take for me to get Halo PC running smoothly? Since your set-up seems to be working good, perhaps that would be a good benchmark. Do tell, homie!!!

[l Maximus l]

I still enjoy playing Halo 1 whenever I can, add me to play some matches on XBC, even though I am still not used to the lag as I barley played xbc before halo 2 for other reasons and problems. (my old halo ce didnt work on system link, and I got a new one just before halo 2 came out)

Add me and we'll play: MaximusXBC

[Reclaimer]

Great post, Reclaimer...damn...well said. But get this: I'm a die hard Halo CE fan and I have yet to see Halo PC in action. I've seen screenshots, but, I just don't have a machine that can run it.

Your post got me all amped up, though...so, one question: What would it take for me to get Halo PC running smoothly? Since your set-up seems to be working good, perhaps that would be a good benchmark. Do tell, homie!!!

Well, it's mostly my video card and sound card that determined the overall output. I've use the same CPU, an Athlon 2500 XP and the same memory, 512x2 in DDR. Though I overclocked my CPU a bit.
I had an older sound card, an old Sound Blaster 5.1 and it caused some strain on the system because it couldn't do hardware sound processing. So I had to keep the sound quality low. I've upgraded to an Audigy NS Platinum and all is well there.
I've run Halo PC on my old FX5200 and it works. But I had to run it at the lowest resolution and keep everything down to medium or less quality. It ran and it wasn't too big of a deal. But I upgraded to a 6600GT OC and I can run it full blast with everything on. You can get a 6600 pretty cheap nowadays. Remember, it's an older game, so I would think that even a 5500 or above will work out fine.
I was surprised to see that my sound card would be an issue because it put load on my CPU since I couldn't support hardware processing and EAX extensions.
Now it's just bad ass.

By the way.. thanks for that link about the Xbox controller. I didn't buy it. I made one. It was easy as hell. 4 wires and they match. Just solder the same color wires together. I didn't need a tutorial either. After you put it together, you get the drivers required and it's a done deal. Now it's like playing Halo CE on the Xbox, just on my computer with some added perks. Too bad Halo PC doesn't support rumble controllers.
I just figured there was nothing special about those cables. The Xbox is a computer, running a windows 2K kernel. The controllers are USB devices with a proprietary plug.
All I did was cut a USB cable in half and cut the plug off a break away xbox cable and fused them together. Total time=15 minutes, 2 cigarettes and a beer. There was this little yellow wire in the Xbox cable that didn't match anything. I figured it was a constant voltage line so that the Xbox knew when the breakaway cable came apart. If you put a computer together, the yellow wires on a fan are the speed control, which is an adustable voltage line. I just said screw it, there's no need for it and my hunch was correct. It looks like total ass, but it works. Calibration is a bit tricky but Win XP-Pro SP2 doesn't freak out on it and the Windows game pad calibrator works fine. It just takes a few shots to get it. It's probably because this controller is old as hell. I didn't want to use my good controller on this project.

Anyway, a recent sound card like an Audigy will do you fine. A recent video card from the last year or so will do you fine too. Nothing special required, we're not playing Far Cry here. Caveat- Halo PC recognizes the new controller and you can use it in your profile with no problems. You can assign all the buttons like the Xbox, except for some reason you can't double up functions. Like my reload and action button can't be the same "X" button. I had to assign Up on the D-Pad as action. That sucks, but it's workable. It's mainly the game and not the controller.

[Xorg]

Well, it's mostly my video card and sound card that determined the overall output. I've use the same CPU, an Athlon 2500 XP and the same memory, 512x2 in DDR. Though I overclocked my CPU a bit.
I had an older sound card, an old Sound Blaster 5.1 and it caused some strain on the system because it couldn't do hardware sound processing. So I had to keep the sound quality low. I've upgraded to an Audigy NS Platinum and all is well there.
I've run Halo PC on my old FX5200 and it works. But I had to run it at the lowest resolution and keep everything down to medium or less quality. It ran and it wasn't too big of a deal. But I upgraded to a 6600GT OC and I can run it full blast with everything on. You can get a 6600 pretty cheap nowadays. Remember, it's an older game, so I would think that even a 5500 or above will work out fine.
I was surprised to see that my sound card would be an issue because it put load on my CPU since I couldn't support hardware processing and EAX extensions.
Now it's just bad ass.

By the way.. thanks for that link about the Xbox controller. I didn't buy it. I made one. It was easy as hell. 4 wires and they match. Just solder the same color wires together. I didn't need a tutorial either. After you put it together, you get the drivers required and it's a done deal. Now it's like playing Halo CE on the Xbox, just on my computer with some added perks. Too bad Halo PC doesn't support rumble controllers.
I just figured there was nothing special about those cables. The Xbox is a computer, running a windows 2K kernel. The controllers are USB devices with a proprietary plug.
All I did was cut a USB cable in half and cut the plug off a break away xbox cable and fused them together. Total time=15 minutes, 2 cigarettes and a beer. There was this little yellow wire in the Xbox cable that didn't match anything. I figured it was a constant voltage line so that the Xbox knew when the breakaway cable came apart. If you put a computer together, the yellow wires on a fan are the speed control, which is an adustable voltage line. I just said screw it, there's no need for it and my hunch was correct. It looks like total ass, but it works. Calibration is a bit tricky but Win XP-Pro SP2 doesn't freak out on it and the Windows game pad calibrator works fine. It just takes a few shots to get it. It's probably because this controller is old as hell. I didn't want to use my good controller on this project.

Anyway, a recent sound card like an Audigy will do you fine. A recent video card from the last year or so will do you fine too. Nothing special required, we're not playing Far Cry here. Caveat- Halo PC recognizes the new controller and you can use it in your profile with no problems. You can assign all the buttons like the Xbox, except for some reason you can't double up functions. Like my reload and action button can't be the same "X" button. I had to assign Up on the D-Pad as action. That sucks, but it's workable. It's mainly the game and not the controller.

assign the action to "X" and it does both, reload and actions

[l Maximus l]

Well, it's mostly my video card and sound card that determined the overall output. I've use the same CPU, an Athlon 2500 XP and the same memory, 512x2 in DDR. Though I overclocked my CPU a bit.
I had an older sound card, an old Sound Blaster 5.1 and it caused some strain on the system because it couldn't do hardware sound processing. So I had to keep the sound quality low. I've upgraded to an Audigy NS Platinum and all is well there.
I've run Halo PC on my old FX5200 and it works. But I had to run it at the lowest resolution and keep everything down to medium or less quality. It ran and it wasn't too big of a deal. But I upgraded to a 6600GT OC and I can run it full blast with everything on. You can get a 6600 pretty cheap nowadays. Remember, it's an older game, so I would think that even a 5500 or above will work out fine.
I was surprised to see that my sound card would be an issue because it put load on my CPU since I couldn't support hardware processing and EAX extensions.
Now it's just bad ass.

By the way.. thanks for that link about the Xbox controller. I didn't buy it. I made one. It was easy as hell. 4 wires and they match. Just solder the same color wires together. I didn't need a tutorial either. After you put it together, you get the drivers required and it's a done deal. Now it's like playing Halo CE on the Xbox, just on my computer with some added perks. Too bad Halo PC doesn't support rumble controllers.
I just figured there was nothing special about those cables. The Xbox is a computer, running a windows 2K kernel. The controllers are USB devices with a proprietary plug.
All I did was cut a USB cable in half and cut the plug off a break away xbox cable and fused them together. Total time=15 minutes, 2 cigarettes and a beer. There was this little yellow wire in the Xbox cable that didn't match anything. I figured it was a constant voltage line so that the Xbox knew when the breakaway cable came apart. If you put a computer together, the yellow wires on a fan are the speed control, which is an adustable voltage line. I just said screw it, there's no need for it and my hunch was correct. It looks like total ass, but it works. Calibration is a bit tricky but Win XP-Pro SP2 doesn't freak out on it and the Windows game pad calibrator works fine. It just takes a few shots to get it. It's probably because this controller is old as hell. I didn't want to use my good controller on this project.

Anyway, a recent sound card like an Audigy will do you fine. A recent video card from the last year or so will do you fine too. Nothing special required, we're not playing Far Cry here. Caveat- Halo PC recognizes the new controller and you can use it in your profile with no problems. You can assign all the buttons like the Xbox, except for some reason you can't double up functions. Like my reload and action button can't be the same "X" button. I had to assign Up on the D-Pad as action. That sucks, but it's workable. It's mainly the game and not the controller.

Damn, dude...thanks for the great reply! I'm glad to see that you got your XBox controller to work on your PC...nice thinking about making it yourself...very cool.

The information yo provided was perfect and exactly what I needed. Do you have a rough guestimate on how much I'll be looking at? (price-wise)

Also, I was wondering if I could use my laptop. It's brand new...well, 4 months old. I'll be playing on my HDTV anyway, so, I'm just curious.

Thanks!

[LoRd StOnEpAw]

I was playing Halo for 3 some hours today on XBC. For some reason, I was extra good today... doing much better than the host that people thought I was the host :D
When you usually on Max?

Halo PC sounds awesome. My computer sucks right now, I plan to upgrade it maybe in summer. I'll probably pick up Halo PC then too. It's like $20 right?

[Reclaimer]

If you want to use the same graphics card I have, you can get the Nvidia 6600 GT Overclocked edition starting at 176 dollars from newegg.com. It's a x8 AGP card and it requires it's own seperate power connector and at least a 350watt power supply.
Max, I don't know what the story is with your computer, like if you built it or bought it somewhere. So, the dedicated power cable, the 350 power supply and x8 AGP port is something to consider. If you have a x4 AGP motherboard, that should be OK because the cards can downclock the AGP port t x4. However, I don't know if that will effect anything. The 6600's run up to about 240 depending on the manufacturer, but the chipsets are all the same. I've got one and I've overclocked mine up a bit using a program called rivatuner. It's not the top card in the fleet, but it's like the model under the Nvidia flagship, the 6800 series.

Soundcards, like I said I don't know what you got under the hood, but I would at least recommend any of the Audigy series from Soundblaster. One of those Audigy cards even has a Halo PC demo, so we know the Audigy's can dish out Halo PC. Hell, the EAX software that comes with the Audigys has a preset for Halo PC and automatically detects when the game starts. The Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 series starts at 69 dollars with several cards all the way up to 289. But you might not want those because they come with front drive bay devices that you may not use.

By the way, the game does list for 20 dollars. (19.99)

As for your laptop.. hmm.. I couldn't on mine and it's a Compaq Presario AMD Duron 900 (haha..) 256MB, shared 64 Savage Video and it ran like crapola.
My brother's could and it was a Emachines that was pushing something like a AMD Athlon and it had a Radeon 9600 mobile. It was a sweet laptop and it ran the game well. We were using it for lan games.

As for my controller project, I'll try to assign the X button as action and leave reload as blank and see if that works. I'm about to swap controllers on the cable and see if it was that one controller that was worn out or not.

[l Maximus l]

I was playing Halo for 3 some hours today on XBC. For some reason, I was extra good today... doing much better than the host that people thought I was the host :D
When you usually on Max?

Halo PC sounds awesome. My computer sucks right now, I plan to upgrade it maybe in summer. I'll probably pick up Halo PC then too. It's like $20 right?

Yo, dewd...I'm usually on a couple nights during the week (about 10:00pm PST) but I am not on specific days. On the weekends, I will easily be found anytime on Sunday. I freakin' love playing Halo CE again on XBC. I had no idea how much I missed it!!!

Damn Halo 2 for not being anything like it. :(

[l Maximus l]

If you want to use the same graphics card I have, you can get the Nvidia 6600 GT Overclocked edition starting at 176 dollars from newegg.com. It's a x8 AGP card and it requires it's own seperate power connector and at least a 350watt power supply.
Max, I don't know what the story is with your computer, like if you built it or bought it somewhere. So, the dedicated power cable, the 350 power supply and x8 AGP port is something to consider. If you have a x4 AGP motherboard, that should be OK because the cards can downclock the AGP port t x4. However, I don't know if that will effect anything. The 6600's run up to about 240 depending on the manufacturer, but the chipsets are all the same. I've got one and I've overclocked mine up a bit using a program called rivatuner. It's not the top card in the fleet, but it's like the model under the Nvidia flagship, the 6800 series.

Soundcards, like I said I don't know what you got under the hood, but I would at least recommend any of the Audigy series from Soundblaster. One of those Audigy cards even has a Halo PC demo, so we know the Audigy's can dish out Halo PC. Hell, the EAX software that comes with the Audigys has a preset for Halo PC and automatically detects when the game starts. The Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 series starts at 69 dollars with several cards all the way up to 289. But you might not want those because they come with front drive bay devices that you may not use.

By the way, the game does list for 20 dollars. (19.99)

As for your laptop.. hmm.. I couldn't on mine and it's a Compaq Presario AMD Duron 900 (haha..) 256MB, shared 64 Savage Video and it ran like crapola.
My brother's could and it was a Emachines that was pushing something like a AMD Athlon and it had a Radeon 9600 mobile. It was a sweet laptop and it ran the game well. We were using it for lan games.

As for my controller project, I'll try to assign the X button as action and leave reload as blank and see if that works. I'm about to swap controllers on the cable and see if it was that one controller that was worn out or not.

Damn, thanks again for the info. My PC (not my laptop) is a Dell. I purchased it about 4 years ago. It has nothing upgraded except for RAM and a CD Burner (I bought it a week before CD Burners were standard). Yeah, it's older than my grandma's wooden tampon. It is 600 megahertz and a tiny 12 ghz hard-drive. I think it was manufactured about the same time dirt was invented. :D

As for my laptop, it's pretty cool. It has a 1600mhz Pentium M Processor with Mobile Centrino technology. It runs circles around my desktop. I know a dude that is really knowledgeable about laptops and he is a hardcore Halo CE fan. I'll show him your post and ask him if it is possible to get Halo PC to run on this (I'm using it right now :D)

I plan on using my HDTV as my monitor and I plan on using an XBox controller (The Duke! Fortunately, I bought a six pack of these things knowing that they were being discontinued).

Thanks for your help again...I'll keep you in the loop. I may consider having a machine built if my laptop doesn't work. Yes, I'm that hardcore :cool:

[Reclaimer]

Damn, thanks again for the info. My PC (not my laptop) is a Dell. I purchased it about 4 years ago. It has nothing upgraded except for RAM and a CD Burner (I bought it a week before CD Burners were standard). Yeah, it's older than my grandma's wooden tampon. It is 600 megahertz and a tiny 12 ghz hard-drive. I think it was manufactured about the same time dirt was invented. :D

As for my laptop, it's pretty cool. It has a 1600mhz Pentium M Processor with Mobile Centrino technology. It runs circles around my desktop. I know a dude that is really knowledgeable about laptops and he is a hardcore Halo CE fan. I'll show him your post and ask him if it is possible to get Halo PC to run on this (I'm using it right now :D)

I plan on using my HDTV as my monitor and I plan on using an XBox controller (The Duke! Fortunately, I bought a six pack of these things knowing that they were being discontinued).

Thanks for your help again...I'll keep you in the loop. I may consider having a machine built if my laptop doesn't work. Yes, I'm that hardcore :cool:

Yeah, your Dell isn't going to cut it for several obvious reasons. Your laptop will probably do it, but I'd be concerned about the videocard installed on it.
If you wanted to build a dedicated desktop just to run Halo PC and use that HDTV monitor, you can get a cheap case for around 50 bucks, get a motherboard for under 80, a PSU for under 100, the video for under 180, sound under 100 and a single hard drive under 100 and you'll be alright. Oh yeah, CPU for under 120 bucks and memory for 120 or less. We're building a machine to run Halo PC, we're not concerned about other games really. That'll do it just fine. However, the videocard may not become a concern because I don't think the 6600GT can support an external HDTV monitor because the max resolution will be different. But, we can look into that.

As for my monster garage project with the Xbox S type and a USB cable, it's all working fine now. It was the controller I was using being old and worn out. I swapped out for a new S type and it all works great. But I have to reload the driver and calibrate everytime I reboot the controller.

However.. Halo PC goodness. I just played for a bit more and all was fine out there.
By the way, I was able to assign the action button to X and unassign reload and pick up weapon, and it all works out fine.
Fun for all.

[l Maximus l]

Yeah, your Dell isn't going to cut it for several obvious reasons. Your laptop will probably do it, but I'd be concerned about the videocard installed on it.
If you wanted to build a dedicated desktop just to run Halo PC and use that HDTV monitor, you can get a cheap case for around 50 bucks, get a motherboard for under 80, a PSU for under 100, the video for under 180, sound under 100 and a single hard drive under 100 and you'll be alright. Oh yeah, CPU for under 120 bucks and memory for 120 or less. We're building a machine to run Halo PC, we're not concerned about other games really. That'll do it just fine. However, the videocard may not become a concern because I don't think the 6600GT can support an external HDTV monitor because the max resolution will be different. But, we can look into that.

As for my monster garage project with the Xbox S type and a USB cable, it's all working fine now. It was the controller I was using being old and worn out. I swapped out for a new S type and it all works great. But I have to reload the driver and calibrate everytime I reboot the controller.

However.. Halo PC goodness. I just played for a bit more and all was fine out there.
By the way, I was able to assign the action button to X and unassign reload and pick up weapon, and it all works out fine.
Fun for all.


You know, that's a really good idea. First I'll ask my close buddy about my laptop working or not for Halo PC...and see if I can upgrade anything to make it play correctly...or I could have him help me build a machine simply to run Halo PC. He builds PCs for people part-time, and he is a hardcore Halo CE fan...and he knows a ton about laptops. I'll show him your post about what you have running and I'll keep you in the loop.

Seriously, man...thanks!!!

Oh yeah...I have a question...what do you do to find others playing Halo PC on-line? Do people play over Gamespy or something?

[Reclaimer]

You know, that's a really good idea. First I'll ask my close buddy about my laptop working or not for Halo PC...and see if I can upgrade anything to make it play correctly...or I could have him help me build a machine simply to run Halo PC. He builds PCs for people part-time, and he is a hardcore Halo CE fan...and he knows a ton about laptops. I'll show him your post about what you have running and I'll keep you in the loop.

Seriously, man...thanks!!!

Oh yeah...I have a question...what do you do to find others playing Halo PC on-line? Do people play over Gamespy or something?

I saw that Halo PC installed gamespy, but I didn't even know what it was until you asked. I ran it and it seems cool. I haven't played with anyone I knew directly over the internet. I just jumped on the game and found a match I wanted to play.
Gamespy seems to streamline the process a bit by giving you a chatroom to loiter in and a buddy list. Gamespy profiled all my games and gave me a link to go to when I wanted to play them online. I checked out the Halo PC end, and it mirrors the active games very well. So, if people started wanting to play this with me, I'd probably go through Gamespy. Seems easier that way to meet up.

I will say that I've been praising the glory of Halo PC, but I do feel obligated to mention that it isn't all roses though. There are some minor annoyances that didn't exactly happen in Halo CE. We all loath that damn sword from Halo 2. Everyone calls it the noob cannon. Well in Halo PC, there's this Fuel Rod cannon that's the alien version of the rocket launcher. It carries an assload of ammo and fires 4 shots quickly. It's more devasting than the rockets are. People tend to whore this gun and it will be on the tip of the spear during an assault on your base. It's a strategic weapon, but it's also annoying when you get killed by it 9 times in a row. But, there's ways around it like the pistol and the grenades. It will flip the crap out of a warthog, and since it can fire 4 shots before overheating, it can kill a full truck in a flash.
There are a lot of noobs that play, so the balance between elites, average and noob is wide. You'll get used to it. By the way, Halo PC has zero concept of spawning you in safety or "waiting for area to clear." That seems to have gone away or was forgotten. The game will spawn you beneath a moving vehicle, in the middle of a firefight, ontop of an active grenade, or just keep spawning you over and over again in the same crapola place that kept getting you killed. That is probably the most annoying thing I can think of. At least in Halo CE, it would move you somewhere else. Not in HPC, it will keep putting you in the same place and maybe move you somewhere else, but near that area. I got spawned beneath a tank, and respawned beneath it two more times.
I personally think that sniping is easier with a keyboard, it's like point and click death, but I still love using a joystick. It feels more natural to me especially driving. I can't drive **** with the keyboard.
To this day there's between 300 to 400 games being played, it's still popular and theres a lot of dedicated servers. Bungie has a few and theres these servers called Nolimitz. Those are good servers but they strictly put up blood gulch matches.
There are more CTF matches than anything else. They are more popular and the default drive a vehicle and hold a flag at the same time is the general rule.

Let me know how it goes there with you. I think you can pull off making an econobox computer to play this game. The minimum reqs was a 900mhz CPU and like a 64meg videocard. But, the better the card, the more you get and higher resolution. Halo pC uses the same textures as Halo CE, but it adds things like lense flares, reflections, and "weathered" effects on armor plating. It's actually quite nice to look at. It's like the same as Halo CE, but a few little things to make it better here and there without redoing the whole game.
That HDTV thing is a good idea, but that will limit you on videocards, because I was looking at the BFG site, the people who make my card and the 6600 does not support that kind of output. So that might force you to get a high end card, unless your laptop can do it, but I don't think can run it at the resolution you want on the HDTV. But, ask your buddy because that's a bit more than I know.

By the way, I just discovered Xfire. It supports Halo PC, it's like an online friends list type thing.

[Xorg]

Do you play halo pc with the original one or with the custom edition?

[Reclaimer]

Do you play halo pc with the original one or with the custom edition?

I play the original PC version. I've read all about the Custom Edition, and I've researched how to get it all to work. I'm actually interested in seeing some of the Custom Maps like Blood Gulch at night. One day, I'll get around to playing it.
At least the main server list shows a bunch of custom games and which packages to have.
XFire will even show when I'm in a Custom game.