Halo 2 Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: How does the server choose host?
  • Subject: How does the server choose host?
Subject: How does the server choose host?
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isnt it random?

  • 08.30.2007 4:31 PM PDT
Subject: How does the server choose host?

You have been plundered by Cap'n IceWolfen. Arggggggggg!

ok, I searched the Bungie forums and could not find anything on this type of discussion so if there IS actually a post like this then forgive me.

Ok then, my question was, "How does the Halo 2 Servers choose who is host?" The first thing I thought was that the server would choose the person with the best internet connection in the group to serve as host. Unfortunaley though, I just recently found out that this isint the case. A couple of weeks ago, my friend started to play Halo online, but unfortunaley he has "ClearWire" for his internet provider. For those of you who don't know, ClearWire is a wireless internet provider that works by sending a sattelite signal to modems. Well, to start off, for gaming, Clearwire is teh sek. We'll somehow my friend with clearwire got host in the game. How on earth did that happen? So anyways, the game lagged alot off of his host, and this is the cause of my question.

What actually decides who the host of a match will be?

  • 08.30.2007 4:10 PM PDT

Its completely random.

I play on Dial-up internet and when I first started it gave me host 50% of the time It finally realised my connection wasnt even close to suitable to be host so I havnt gotten host for a few weeks now, what probably happend is it thought I was standbying.

Heres to hoping that Halo 3 chooses the best quality and located host.

  • 08.30.2007 6:40 PM PDT
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How can you tell whose host again at the start of the match?

  • 08.30.2007 7:36 PM PDT
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hold select and the person without the red X has host

  • 08.30.2007 7:50 PM PDT

my other account, if you are gonna send me an FR, send it to this account and my Main GT.

Since when can you play xbl on dial-up?

[Edited on 08.31.2007 1:09 AM PDT]

  • 08.31.2007 1:08 AM PDT

Posted by: brownish pile253
Since when can you play xbl on dial-up?

You can't play on a 56K connection

  • 08.31.2007 2:50 AM PDT
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host is choosen by hoo teh bst payer is in teh -blam!-m

  • 08.31.2007 2:52 AM PDT

I'm quite suprised that a few people believe that the host was chosen at random( as much as at time it does feel like that in some game!s) I'am very comp illiterate and even i knew that each xbox stores your host info,it was even mentioned after the last 1.5 update on this site by Frankie.
I believe that since that update the method the servers pick host has been altered i dont know in what way but a change i think has been made, possibly with the prevention of cheating in mind.
Seeing as a lot of games before this update, the host was picked by an unsporting team or individual player rather than the system.

  • 08.31.2007 11:24 AM PDT
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Location: Outlaws' Summit.

As Steppenwolf said, your Xbox stores the host record so if you host games alot and have a solid connection you'll get host often.

Last year in my dorm I had this kickn T1 that kept everyone full green the whole game. So we played a lot of BTB and I remember distinctly getting host 10 games in a row.

Of course, people said I was either standbying for host or getting bridged LOL. But yeah, you want to have a good host record and you'll get host a lot (my host now is trash though LOL back to DSL.)

And I've heard that you can actually get banned from having host now......

[Edited on 08.31.2007 11:30 AM PDT]

  • 08.31.2007 11:30 AM PDT

Posted by: ICEMAN ASSASS1N
And I've heard that you can actually get banned from having host now......
what do you mean?.

  • 08.31.2007 11:38 AM PDT
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Location: Outlaws' Summit.

Posted by: the steppenwolf
Posted by: ICEMAN ASSASS1N
And I've heard that you can actually get banned from having host now......
what do you mean?.


I've heard of a couple people getting "host banned."

Don't know the full details, but they both claim to have been. And someone made a thread in optimatch last week asking why he got host banned.

Haven't heard any confirmation of this though.

  • 08.31.2007 11:53 AM PDT
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ive heard something along those lines.. they said that they were standbying...and for some reason your xbox or your connection stores that, and when bungie wants to, they can look at it, at your games, and see......so if you standby....stop......or you'll lose host advantage f0r3v3r!

[Edited on 08.31.2007 3:14 PM PDT]

  • 08.31.2007 3:14 PM PDT

This is my signature.
RENT IT FOR $55/DAY CALL NOW! [/sarcasm]

(The system is probably more complex than this, but here it is simply:)

Your xbox has, let's say a number, saying how often you should host. It starts at 10 for example.
If you play a game, that game randomly picks a host, but heavily weighted by your host-number.
If you are host, then the game starts recording how well your connection is to the others, etc.
If you have a good connection on average, your host number starts going up, and you host more.
If you have bad connections, or you start dropping players (caused by bad connections or standbying, ip blocking, etc.), then the number starts going down pretty fast, making it very unlikely you'll host when you play online.

Nothing to worry about - it's completely automated and over time it'll almost always pick a good host - and if I had a bad connection, I wouldn't even want to be picked host as everyone else would lag and probably leave.


When you play a custom game and someone with a bad connection is picked as host, just end it and restart it, and there's a chance he won't be host again. (This problem is really common if you host a game with a friend, 1v1, and then you have 14 people join, and it gets very laggy. To fix it, just end the game and start it again. When you restart it, there's a good chance someone who joined has a better connection than you, and he'll be picked as host.)

Also, if for some reason you don't want to have to restart the game, just figure out whose party host (it will be one of the people who were in at the start of the game unless you've already done this) and have them leave and rejoin. When the connection host leaves it picks a new one. (Almost always if there's a blue-screen, and then it says someone left, that person was the connection host and it just picked a new one. Blue screens are also caused by problems with your connection to the host as it tries to reconnect to the host [standbying, laggy connections, and interference cause this one])

[Edited on 08.31.2007 4:15 PM PDT]

  • 08.31.2007 4:10 PM PDT

RIP Halo 2.

For each game, Frankie paints the GamerTag of each player on a baby kitten. At step 3, he throws these kittens at a dartboard. The GamerTag which is on the kitten which splatters closest to the bullseye is given host.

  • 08.31.2007 6:16 PM PDT

Posted by: WindLeader
Posted by: brownish pile253
Since when can you play xbl on dial-up?

You can't play on a 56K connection


Some people a very misinformed.

It is very possible to play XBL on a dial-up internet connection, all you have to do is use your computer as the router.

its as simple as connecting you Xbox to your computer via network card then letting the Dial-up connection "share" with the network. there is no minimal limit for XBL to work, they are simply suggestions.

and before you get on your high horse and think you know everything, I have been playing XBL on Dial-up for a month, and if the Host is in a good location for me such as anywhere in australia and not oversea's somewhere I can actually get green bars. hell, I can even play BTB without much trouble if the host is in Australia.

  • 08.31.2007 6:41 PM PDT