Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: WinXP SP2 / HaloPC / 256MB video card compat fix
  • Subject: WinXP SP2 / HaloPC / 256MB video card compat fix
Subject: WinXP SP2 / HaloPC / 256MB video card compat fix
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Compatibility Fix for Windows XP SP2 and certain 256 MB video cards
Update 8/25: See the bottom of this post

Microsoft has identified a potential incompatibility between Halo for PC and Windows XP SP2, on certain high-end video cards, which causes Halo to exit silently to the desktop immedately after launching the program, before the logo movies play. Systems which can get beyond that point are unaffected by this problem, and will not benefit from this fix.

Note: You must patch Halo to the latest version (1.04) before applying this fix. Please download Halo 1.04 from: http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/1/6/416cd169-d8c4-42 a1-8a31-7d1e2d34e13a/patch1.0-1.04.exe

Microsoft has only seen this problem on computers with an Nvidia GeForce 5900 or 5950, or ATI X800 video card, and only on certain driver versions, including the Nvidia drivers included by default in new installations of Windows XP SP2.

Solution: Microsoft is providing an updated version of a file for Halo which may be installed to fix this problem. Gameplay is otherwise unaffected by this change.

1. It is recommended that you only continue to install this fix if you experience the specific problem noted above.

2. Ensure you have the latest version of Halo (1.04) by running the latest update, (which can be downloaded from: http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/1/6/416cd169-d8c4-42 a1-8a31-7d1e2d34e13a/patch1.0-1.04.exe), or by checking the version number of the file halo.exe, typically located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo. The correct version number is 1.0.4.607.

3. After verifying that you have the correct version, download the new Strings.dll from: http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/7/d/d7d479ae-4aed-4e 6c-9565-0c97bfda7554/Strings.dll and save it to the location where Halo was installed, typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo. When prompted to overwrite the existing file, choose Yes.

4. Launch Halo to verify that it functions as intended. Note that if you see the message "Corrupted Halo.exe", then Halo was not patched to the correct version before applying this update - See step 2 above.

5. If that doesn't completely fix it, please also download the following file. Save it to the directory where Halo is installed, overwriting the one that's there.
http://www.bungie.net/games/halopc/binkw32.dll


Roger Wolfson
HaloPC Test Lead

[Edited on 8/27/2004 11:50:28 AM]

  • 08.04.2004 5:30 PM PDT
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Halo CE and Halo Demo Versions
Do not use this strings.dll file for Halo CE - it won't work. I've provided a separate Halo CE version of this fix to Gearbox, which they will make available for download shortly. Please watch the Gearbox forums for details.

Likewise, do not use this file with the Demo (Trial) version of Halo; it won't work with that, either. If you have this problem with the demo, use this file: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/d/3/5d3cf991-ea9c-44 e9-b70f-dc491b434be2/Strings.dll

However, you may need to copy the binkw32.dll file from Step 5 above into your CE or Demo directories; this file is the same for all versions.

Thanks

[Edited on 8/27/2004 7:14:22 PM]

  • 08.04.2004 5:36 PM PDT
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i tryed what u said and after replacing the file it still crashes to the desktop what should i do now???? does it work with xabre videocard?? please help me!!

[Edited on 8/7/2004 9:57:18 PM]

  • 08.07.2004 9:53 PM PDT
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Whenever i run halo now, it gets stuck at the microsoft logo screen (the one right before the menu screen), the sound for the menu comes up and when i move the mouse i hear menu sounds (clicks) but the menu is not being displayed, no errors or nothing or hard locks, just no menu display with the Halo moving about in the background.

I tried the strings.dll and that didnt seem to fix anything... Halo 1.4 update is already there since I play everyday.

Whenever I ran the Cat 4.8 beta, i get menu,gameplay, during which oncreen status such as "Player2 was killed Player3", could not be displayed, do you have any idea what the problem is?

Update : Rollback to Cat 4.5 Works!

[Edited on 8/8/2004 4:21:19 AM]

  • 08.08.2004 2:06 AM PDT
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did u try to reinstall halo? that might fix it, or try running the halo update thingy

  • 08.08.2004 1:19 PM PDT
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ok just bought a XT-PE so cat 4.5 wont work... getting no menu screen on cat 4.7 , tried 4.8 beta, im getting no stats during game play such as "X was killed by a vehicle"

  • 08.08.2004 9:04 PM PDT
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Posted by: dRPeppir
ok just bought a XT-PE so cat 4.5 wont work... getting no menu screen on cat 4.7 , tried 4.8 beta, im getting no stats during game play such as "X was killed by a vehicle"


Hmm, the lack of chat/message text usually means that MSXML 4.0 has been uninstalled. Try re-running that MSI file from the redist folder of your Halo CD, and un/reinstalling it; maybe one of the Cat uninstalls removed it.

  • 08.10.2004 2:51 PM PDT
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Posted by: DOOD
i tryed what u said and after replacing the file it still crashes to the desktop what should i do now???? does it work with xabre videocard?? please help me!!


I'm talking a look at config.txt in the Halo directory, which represents our compat information. Searching it for "xabre" shows a listing for Xabre 600 as "unsupported". So, it looks like our config labs decided taht this card wasn't Halo-compatible, at lest with the drivers available last fall when we released.

[Edited on 8/10/2004 4:33:54 PM]

  • 08.10.2004 2:55 PM PDT
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msixmlenu.msi does not work... first came it says Welcome PlayerName and thats it after tha no in-gametext

  • 08.10.2004 6:25 PM PDT
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I did it an it doesn't work..... I wanna play haloooooooo......

someone fix it please

______________________________________

ATI Radeon X800 Pro

  • 08.10.2004 8:42 PM PDT
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Tried the update and .DLL switch ... no luck. Re-installed HALO, the re-applied the patch and STRINGS.DLL update. Nope. Keeps telling me that my video hardware accelerator isn't working. The DirectX Diagnostic Program that it tells me to run says everything is working A-Ok. Strange this wasn't happening until SP2 installed DirectX 9.0c. Naturally, one cannot go backwards without cutting off one's arms or legs and offering them to the Covenant. Everything else has been working exceptionally well with SP2.

I'm running on an ASUS P4P800E MB, Pentium 4 3.2GHz, 2Gb DDR, ATI Radeon 9600 w/256Mb ... (seems like a lot for playing Solitare, doesn't it?)

Michael

  • 08.12.2004 7:17 AM PDT
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u lucky u can even play the bloody game. i cant get to the menu. Lucky ass

  • 08.12.2004 7:54 AM PDT
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that new file also fixes the logos. whenever i used to start it with the service pack 2...my colour screw up on my screen. and when i got to menu halo, my screen would keep flickering

  • 08.12.2004 8:45 AM PDT
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Strings.dll did not fix my logos . logos doesnt seem to be the problem here

  • 08.12.2004 8:56 AM PDT
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what is the gearbox forums cos ill download anything to get halo past the logo movies

  • 08.12.2004 6:11 PM PDT
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you can get past them by installing hte CAtalyst 4.8b but you wont get any ingame chat or stats. bungie is really -blam!-iung up here they kep dodging the issue

  • 08.12.2004 7:05 PM PDT
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I also am not able to play HALO PC or HALO CE.

I am running XP SP2 and DirectX9c with a 256MB ATI Radeon 9800PRO. Catalyst drivers 4.9beta and 4.7 show the same graphical problems.

sum guy: To remove the logo movies that you see after launching your HALO .exe, you will need to edit the shortcut which you click to launch HALO. Insert a -novideo tag to your target field.

For instance, I right-clicked and edited the properties of a HALO shortcut on my desktop. My target field looks like:

"K:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition\haloce.exe" -novideo

  • 08.12.2004 7:17 PM PDT
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nnooooo
i dont want to get rid of it i just get cut off at that point and it says that my graphics card is known to have serious issues ect.
go 2 my pole its in caps lock

  • 08.12.2004 7:29 PM PDT
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?

  • 08.13.2004 5:35 AM PDT
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try setting your AGP Aperture size to 128 in your BIOS
im hearing it works, didnt work for me but it works for some.

  • 08.13.2004 9:19 AM PDT
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Setting my graphics aperture size to 128mb in BIOS worked for me. This is a good temporary fix, because I don't want to have to keep switching it back to 256mb when I play Doom 3. Hopefully microsoft comes out with a solid fix soon.

_______________________________________________________

ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB gddr3

  • 08.13.2004 11:13 AM PDT
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I tried that too. Setting my apature size to 128 meg allowed me to run the game but it is MUCH too laggy to play. I have a P4 2gig with a Radeon 9800 XT and it used to run very smooth.

I hope this gets fixed soon.

~dark

  • 08.13.2004 3:34 PM PDT
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Hi again!

I want to help everyone get around the SP2 problem, so here's what I'll ask:

0. If your problem isn't new to XP SP2, stop reading, this isn't your thread :-)
1. First, make sure you've followed the advice in my original post so we're all starting from the same place.
2. If you have your AGP aperture set to 256, try setting it to 128. We haven't found this to affect performance; if you think it does, please run halo.exe -timedemo before and after, preferably 2 or 3 times each, and let me know the average FPS. (You can find the AGP Aperture setting in your BIOS when you reboot)
3. If you still can't play the game, please send me email at hpchelp@microsoft.com and mention XP SP2 in the subject line. I will follow up with some test DLLs to try.

Thanks,

Roger

  • 08.16.2004 11:43 AM PDT
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man im really freaking starting to hate Halo for PC first it wouldnt work with my video card so install on a faster newer computer and as soon as the movies play i get a blank screen and cant go further.....can someone please help me out here im really want to play Halo for PC

[Edited on 8/18/2004 2:47:39 PM]

  • 08.18.2004 2:46 PM PDT