After playing Halo PC ...

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-05 05:06am

... and finishing the single-player campaign (in one evening, of course; I'm such a geek), I've learned a few things:

1) The game is far, far easier with keyboard/mouse than the stupid gamepad on XBox. But everyone was already expecting this. I was wondering whether they would make serious alterations to the gameplay in order to reduce the advantage of the mouse, but they didn't. I was able to pick off bad guys with the sniper rifle without bothering to use the zoom.

2) That old 32MB GEForce2 GTS card is really showing its age.

3) Gamma correction is really nice to have. I was able to set it so that I could see in the darkened corridors without bothering to use the light.

4) Even at 640x480, it is far, far easier to clearly see and identify the enemy on a computer screen than on a TV set.

5) The fucking idiots at Gearbox could have used C&C Renegade style controls for vehicular mode so that you can drive in one direction while pointing your gun in the other with the mouse (which would be handy with the tank), but instead, they chose to simply port the XBox control scheme directly over (where the turret always points at wherever you're driving, so the only time it really rotates relative to the tank is when you're stopped).

6) It would have been nice if they gave us the option to switch to a joystick for flight mode.

7) The new Hunter-guns are nice, as are the Warthogs with rocket launchers on them.

8) The graphics could stand to look a little better (while much clearer, they are not as pretty as they are on the XBox), although that's probably due to my ancient video card.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-10-05 05:25am

A lot of people have been getting performance issues with better cards than yours, i'm still wondering how my Ti4600 is going to hold up.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2003-10-05 07:22am

I got Halo, and I already finished it, too.

1) The game is, indeed, far easier, I was using the sniper rifle only on the elites, no need for scope at long range, and of course, thanks to mouse and keyboard, it did just fine in close combat against those same foes, you can off the blue ones with one shot, either body or head, and the red ones with one shot to the head, or two to the body, didn't count the shots for the yellow ones, but i think 2 to bring down the shield, and plus one, either on the head or the body, anyway, it's a far better option than emptying full clips on the bastards, so it was a nice close combat weapon.

I haven't tried the harder difficulty settings, but, frankly, I'm not interested, the library levels are just too annoying.

2) The game was smooth (60-70fps almost continuously) on my 9800 pro (I pitty those who don't have one, bwahahahaha), with just an Athlon XP 2000+, but backed up by 768 mb of ram, everything stock. Even the flood hoards were not enough to bring down my fps to unplayable levels, i guess the lowest i got were 40-50. I played it fully at 1280x768 resolution with high quality mipmap and textures levels and 2x anisotropic filtering. I hope all this info is helpful.

3) I love gamma correction

5) I hate the vehicle controls too.

6) I think there was too little flying to even bother to connect my huge joystick. (an original Force Feedback Pro, which i don't really use anymore).

8 ) I found the graphics to be better than those of the Xbox, thanks to the high resolution and the filtering, but the textures were almost all low res, the elevators on the library were full of squares everywhere, the famous grass texture was all pixelated, so where the backgrounds, and the tree trunks were shaped like squares or pentagons. Most models had a low polygon count and i didn't like how everything metal had to be shiny.
I think there's no excuse for the game to run so slow, graphically, it's nothing special.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-10-05 12:21pm

I wish there was a 3rd person perspective option even when your not piloting a vehicle.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-05 01:44pm

Why on Earth would you prefer third-person view when you're not in a vehicle? It's useless for shooters, and you can use the mouse to quickly look left and right for bad guys (not like the XBox, where you have to stand there like the Statue of Liberty and slowly swivel around with that ridiculous controller).

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-05 01:46pm

Shogoki wrote:I think there's no excuse for the game to run so slow, graphically, it's nothing special.

Agreed. It runs slower than UT2003 on the same machine, and it doesn't look anywhere near as good.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-05 02:09pm

FYI, in Halo 2, you will be able to drive the tank like in Halo 1, OR you can drive it while operating the turrent independantly.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-10-05 02:17pm

They really should incorperate the Renegades style control of vehicles for single player. Its an easy to use system that allows good control and weapon use at the same time.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-10-05 02:18pm

Alyeska wrote:They really should incorperate the Renegades style control of vehicles for single player. Its an easy to use system that allows good control and weapon use at the same time.

That, and a Medium tank popping a wheelie is a beautiful sight.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-10-05 02:31pm

SirNitram wrote:
Alyeska wrote:They really should incorperate the Renegades style control of vehicles for single player. Its an easy to use system that allows good control and weapon use at the same time.
That, and a Medium tank popping a wheelie is a beautiful sight.

I haven't managed that yet. Although I have dived off cliffs with the Humvee and had it do a hand stand for 30 seconds before it exploded

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-10-05 02:33pm

Alyeska wrote:
SirNitram wrote:
Alyeska wrote:They really should incorperate the Renegades style control of vehicles for single player. Its an easy to use system that allows good control and weapon use at the same time.
That, and a Medium tank popping a wheelie is a beautiful sight.
I haven't managed that yet. Although I have dived off cliffs with the Humvee and had it do a hand stand for 30 seconds before it exploded

There's a few maps with sufficient incline to get a second or two where the Meddie just sort of sits there, balanced entirely on it's rear treads. And one where it does a little 'hop'. I can't recall the names, but will post if I find them. Everyone should have the joy of 'jumping' onto a Noddie trooper with a tank.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-10-05 02:50pm

Darth Wong wrote:Why on Earth would you prefer third-person view when you're not in a vehicle? It's useless for shooters, and you can use the mouse to quickly look left and right for bad guys (not like the XBox, where you have to stand there like the Statue of Liberty and slowly swivel around with that ridiculous controller).

I've played lots of 3rd person shooters and I've had no problems at all aiming accurately, infact I think it's easier to aim in 3rd person shooters and I get a far more complete feeling from that perspective myself, it's far from useless IMO, some of the best shooters I've ever played have been 3rd person, Max Payne, Hit Man 2, Splinter Cell, etc.

Actually, when I think about it, pretty much all of the games I remember most fondly where 3rd person games, with the exception of strategy games.
Still even so, Halo is a great game, although I'd still like the 3rd person view as an option, Halo was originally planned to be such a game before it was revamped once or twice.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-10-05 02:53pm

How hard is it to incorporate 3rd person perspective? Isn't it just a matter of shifting the camera back a bit? Duke 3D, C&C: Renagade and the Jedi Knight series have all done it.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-10-05 02:58pm

2000AD wrote:How hard is it to incorporate 3rd person perspective? Isn't it just a matter of shifting the camera back a bit? Duke 3D, C&C: Renagade and the Jedi Knight series have all done it.

Well Halo already has a 3rd person perspective feature built in.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-10-05 03:46pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:FYI, in Halo 2, you will be able to drive the tank like in Halo 1, OR you can drive it while operating the turrent independantly.

So, we'll be seeing that on PC in 2007 I presume?

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-10-05 03:51pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:FYI, in Halo 2, you will be able to drive the tank like in Halo 1, OR you can drive it while operating the turrent independantly.
So, we'll be seeing that on PC in 2007 I presume?

Hopefuly Microsoft won't have to pull the same stunt this time. There were a couple factors involved in getting Halo onto the X-Box and those hurt the PC players. Its not going to be the same next time around. At least it shouldn't because these factors won't be involved. The X-Box doesn't need an award winning title to prop it up anymore against the PS2. This means designing the game can leave proper information waiting for the PC. Furthermore PC sales can begin much sooner because most people who are going to own an X-Box have one. Halo was released as it was to encourage people to buy the X-Box. They don't need to do that with Halo 2. This means we might see Bungie do something similar to what Rockstar has done with the GTA series. Release it for console, then 6-9 months later release for PC.

Microsoft is in it for business and their first considerations with Halo was good business. Releasing Halo 2 on PC sooner is now the good business goal and Bungie ought to be doing that. If they are really smart they should be letting Gearbox in on the development of Halo 2 very soon so that Gearbox can start working independently to create Halo 2 for the PC and allow Bungie to do lead work.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-05 04:53pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:, Halo is a great game, although I'd still like the 3rd person view as an option, Halo was originally planned to be such a game before it was revamped once or twice.

No, actually, it was originally going to be a real-time strategy game.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-10-05 04:58pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
His Divine Shadow wrote:, Halo is a great game, although I'd still like the 3rd person view as an option, Halo was originally planned to be such a game before it was revamped once or twice.
No, actually, it was originally going to be a real-time strategy game.

I thought it went like this:
1) 3rd person shooter
2) RTS game
3) 1st person shooter

Eh, nomatter either way.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-05 07:07pm

AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-10-05 07:12pm

Darth Wong wrote:AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.

Mike, thats a fairly common thing. Some times games that give you two CDs will be nice, but thats not even too common. As you mentioned earlier, EA even removed a classic Westwood capability.

My advice on the subject is to search to see if someone has created a CD key hack and also look for game copying options. This would allow you to create a legal copy of your own game that you can opperate independently of the main CD. It would have the added benefit of being able to be played in your house on a LAN.

As to the pirate complaining folks, you can piss off. This is advice for a perfectly legitament use and Microsoft can fucking kiss my ass.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2003-10-05 07:16pm

Darth Wong wrote:AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.

What if you disable TCP/IP so it can't connect to the Internet?

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-10-05 07:18pm

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.
What if you disable TCP/IP so it can't connect to the Internet?

Its not that simple. Some games have the LAN code set to check for valid CD keys. If its the same CD key, game doesn't work. Raven Shield pulls a different stunt. It requires internet access even for LAN games to determine if the CD keys are legit.

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2003-10-05 07:49pm

Darth Wong wrote:AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.

How can I put this... There are a number of "vulnerability testing" programs out there. You may wish to investigate if you think the security on your copy of Halo might be faulty.

I think you can find some on suprnova.org if you use Bittorrent, but I wouldn't know first-hand.

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-10-05 09:02pm

Alternativly...there are various web sites that...hm..'replace' your lost cd-key...how were you to know it would rub off the back of the manual?

Google will bring you to salvation

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-10-05 09:14pm

Darth Wong wrote:AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

You can't do multiplayer LAN games without different CD keys for each computer!!! Fucking bastards. My son wants me to play multiplayer with him and I can't, because of this fucking CD key bullshit.

You might want to check and see if Halo opens up any ports in addition to the standard one for making connections (i.e. aside from the one the game runs on). If it does, try closing off those ports. It's possible that Bungie may have put in something that would automatically return a negative authentication result if no answer is received though.