Halo: Combat Evolved Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Playing Halo on the 360, some troubles...any advice?
  • Subject: Playing Halo on the 360, some troubles...any advice?
Subject: Playing Halo on the 360, some troubles...any advice?

Der Fuchs ist schlau und stellt sich dumm, bei manchem ist es andersrum

Hey all

Just wondered if anyone else is having this problem, as I have found very little on the intertubes and not a great deal on here...if I may, I will post a series of isues I am having playing (or trying to play) Halo: Combat Evolved on my current gaming setup, in the hope that someone else may know a workaround or fix.

So, I have Halo on the original 2001 game disc, and off of Xbox Originals. But I am frustrated because unfortunatley, neither are very playable on my 360, and through an old Xbox, the graphics quality is terrible on my LCD TV.

Firstly, I can't play the game using my VGA connection to my Samsung LCD TV - I am in the UK and running a PAL box - but I know why that is, and there's little that can be done about that. So I have to switch to the standard hi-def component cables instead. I thought, no worries, I can live with that.

But, when I tried that, there were further complications. It seems that as I walk along in game, my motion seems to "jerk" every second or so. It's subtle, but not so subtle that you can't help but notice it and find it impossible to play. It got to the point where I had to go out and buy an old Xbox just to play on that.

So, I buy an old Xbox, and pop the old disc in, only to discover that playing old Xbox games through a composite cable or SCART into my HDTV looks freakin' AWFUL! Jaggies, jaggies, everywhere, because it is upscaling a 480p signal. So I thought "why not get the hi-def AV pack for the old Xbox". Which would have been great, except that it turns out there is no way to actually output a hi-def signal on a PAL Xbox (NTSC Xboxes can output higher resolutions, up to 720p or more). I *could* theoretically soft or hard mod the old Xbox, but you know, I don't want to do that. That's not an option. So I stuck with the component cables which, although the box isn't outputting anything more than standard definition 480p, looks a tiny bit better. But when I say better, I still mean "like a mid-1990's game with no antialiasing". Still more jaggies than you can shake a stick at though :(

So I have the choice of the original Xbox which gives a terrible image because I can't change the resolution to 720p, or the 360 which makes everything look nice and smooth but jerks around (interestingly, the old Xbox does the same thing if you put it to 60hz instead of 50).

I can't imagine that anyone in the UK with anything other than an old CRT TV hasn't had the same issues, but no one seems to have said anything that I can find (apologies if I have missed any threads, I did do a search). So all you PAL users out there, have you found any way to get around this? I just want to play Halo on my 360 through my BIG TELLY, without having immersion-breaking graphics problems :)

Cheers for any advice.

  • 03.23.2008 11:57 AM PDT

I'm not a PAL user since I live in the U.S. but I have had problems similar to yours because of my HDTV. When you have a composite cable plugged up the output is 480i. Even with the HD adapter for the original Xbox it would still display in the same resolution(assuming you weren't PAL.) My advice would be to get the remote to your TV and change the aspect ratio. Then when you are done with your gaming for the original Xbox just change the aspect ratio back to its original setting. Chaning the aspect ratio will decrease the size of the game on the screen but you will see a big advantage in video quality. I hope this helps and if you need help changing your aspect ratio feel free to ask.

[Edited on 03.23.2008 8:23 PM PDT]

  • 03.23.2008 8:22 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

It seems that as I walk along in game, my motion seems to "jerk" every second or so. It's subtle, but not so subtle that you can't help but notice it and find it impossible to play.
Considering you've got a Samsung HDTV I'm willing to bet it's gaming lag. I might be wrong about what you mean by "jerk" though.
NTSC Xboxes can output higher resolutions, up to 720p or more
Some games can but not Halo. Through component it can output Halo at 480p and though composite it's 480i.

I going to say the HDTV is at fault. On page 2 of the link I provided there's a list of a few Samsung models that have gaming lag.

  • 03.24.2008 6:27 AM PDT

Why are you reading this go play your xbox 360!!

glad i havent gotten one of those samsungs eventhough they are the ones microsoft says work the best with there xbox 360

  • 03.25.2008 9:08 AM PDT

Der Fuchs ist schlau und stellt sich dumm, bei manchem ist es andersrum

Cheers for the advice all of you. I thought about changing the aspect ratio, but that leaves me with the big fat lines down the side of the screen - and given the hours I spend on the 360, I don't want to risk any form of burn in (I know, I know, but i'd rather not take the risk).

I wasn't aware that the games themselves (old Xbox games) didn't all support output greater than 480, I thought the console just carried out some awesome upscaling shenanigans. Then I remembered (after reading your comments) that the Xbox Originals version has been tweaked to allow upscaling from 480 (the only change that was made to it). So I guess I am stuck with the 480 resolution on the old xbox no matter what.

As for the TV...well, mines an LE37 which thankfully wasn't on that list, but that doesn't mean it is not the source of the problem. I did notice that the same lag was present on the old Xbox until I changed the console to "not PAL60" compliant". Which is ironic, because you have to set old PAL Xboxes to "Pal 60" to avoid all the visual glithces in Halo two (such as the freaking out of the doors in Old Mombasa when the huntes break through).

Well, I guess I shall have to either learn to get used to slight jerkiness in halo on the 360 - it only seems to be that game that has the issue - (what I mean by that was when you are walking forward in a straight line, it's almost as if every 4th step is a little bit faster than the rest, so your movement seems to hitch ever so slightly) or just get used to jaggy-jaggy edges on the old console. I'm sure I'll live :)

Anyhoo...cheers for the advice, most helpful!

  • 03.25.2008 1:31 PM PDT