Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo PC gamers read this.
  • Subject: Halo PC gamers read this.
Subject: Halo PC gamers read this.

Halo PC gamers, have u ever heard of Halo Custom Edition??? Its an awesome version of halo PC and it is not that popular for some reason. please, if u play Halo PC, u should go and download it by clicking here . When u downlaod it, u can download any maps u want from http://hce.halomaps.org/ . The best maps that I recomend is "Coldsnap" which is about 6Km big and the read team has 2 pilotable Longswords!!!!. Another one is caos gulch which realy is caotic because the assualt rifle shoots out rockets, the shotgun soots out fule rod, and the warthog is drivable from the gunner seat. There are a lot of other awesome maps like the one thats over the piller of awesome and it has a lot of vehicles on it.
so doanload it and enjoy!

  • 01.06.2007 9:49 AM PDT
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I hope you noticed the sticky on this topic on your way in.

BTW, Coldsnap, Hugeass, extinction, and all the other similar maps teh sux.

Sorry if I seem rude. I'm just stating facts.

[Edited on 1/6/2007]

  • 01.06.2007 9:50 AM PDT
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Why did you post this again? I told you that this was old news. There's a sticky on it. :/

  • 01.06.2007 9:54 AM PDT
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Yoyorast Island is the best commonly played map, though there are far better (but less downloaded) maps.

Coldsnap is only good because of the jet.

  • 01.06.2007 10:56 AM PDT
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Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
And it's your connection that's slower than turtle sex.

In........................................................Out .

OLD NEWS.

  • 01.06.2007 12:02 PM PDT
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Wow, yet another poor ignorant soul has stumbled upon the Maw with absolutely no clue.

  • 01.06.2007 1:58 PM PDT
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The problem is, Halo's Custom Edition isn't as convenient as you would expect it to be. Whereas other games (CounterStrike, UT, etc) let you use a Download manager, and include the "custom edition" part within the actual game itself, Halo is one of the only games I know that forces you to 1. download and install a different app for custom maps and 2. self-download and extract maps before being able to go in game, instead of downloading while in game.

Always thought it was a little quirky in that sense, and since then I haven't used it.

  • 01.06.2007 2:28 PM PDT
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Posted by: me15ter
The problem is, Halo's Custom Edition isn't as convenient as you would expect it to be. Whereas other games (CounterStrike, UT, etc) let you use a Download manager, and include the "custom edition" part within the actual game itself, Halo is one of the only games I know that forces you to 1. download and install a different app for custom maps and 2. self-download and extract maps before being able to go in game, instead of downloading while in game.

Always thought it was a little quirky in that sense, and since then I haven't used it.

I agree, I always thought this hampered Custom Edition and its inconvenience and a somewhat of a steep learning curve has shortened its life-span and popularity considerably.

  • 01.07.2007 6:14 AM PDT
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The Halo Maps Website http://www.halomaps.org
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Posted by: Master Kim
I always thought this hampered Custom Edition and its inconvenience and a somewhat of a steep learning curve has shortened its life-span and popularity considerably.
While I agree that not having in-game downloads of maps is not as convenient as other games I totally disagree that Halo CE has had a shortened life span. You must first have an understanding of its genesis to fully appreciate how popular and long lived in its market segement the game has actually become.

Unlike most of the other games mentioned such as Half Life and UT which were PC based games then ported to the console, Halo was a console based game ported to the PC. As such the core code was not developed with game downloads in mind. Bungie's tag system while fine for consoles has some limitations when moved to the PC platform. Each map file includes most of the "tags" or assets to determine the look and operation of the level. This makes the map files anywhere between 10-100mg in size averaging around 16meg uncompressed. The bandwidth required for 16 people to download the map while still playing on-line would far outstrip any DSL/Cable connection and bring the server to its knees.

But excluding that limitation the original Halo PC game was released in 2003 and was a "port" of the console game from 2001. Wither good or bad the decision made for the Halo PC game was that it fit on a single CDROM and be playable on-line by 56K modem users. Remember that at the time these decisions were made there was less than a 10% Cable/DSL penetration and availability: a very small market segment.

Gearbox software, with their background in PC games, felt that the there should be a way for users to create custom content and with Bungie's approval in 2004 released the unsupported Halo Custom Edition for people who had purchased Halo PC. It was released without fanfare, without marketing, without support and without Gearbox or Bungie making any money from it. It was essentially a bonus program for those that stumbled across it and has been solely supported by the community.

Because it was never marketed or released in a retail or any distribution venue there have never been a large number of players at any one time. But the number of active players has remained fairly consistent since its release. People leave and new people find it.

By now you are probably wondering how I base my argument on its relative popularity and that is simple. Because the custom maps are required to be downloaded I can track the number of downloads of maps. Since Jan 1, 2005 there have been 2,668,430 map files downloaded from Halo Maps. And the rate of downloads has been steadily increasing even as people have retuned to school when downloads normally fall off.

Halo CE was never intended to be the replacement for Halo PC and by its very inception could never have been. It was developed by the PC gamers at Gearbox on their own time without compensation and offered for free. Although I do not know for sure, since no one from Bungie has ever contacted me, I suspect that Bungie has been watching Halo Maps and the Halo CE community very closely and it would not be a large leap to surmise that the decision to include the editing kit and custom content in the H2-Vista release was bolstered by the Halo CE community's response to the Halo CE game.

These things are always a matter of perspective. For the average buy-the-box-install-and-play gamer Halo CE is a dismal failure. For the much smaller die hard custom content Halo community it is a success. Its popularity has remained the same and has even grown some as it enters its fourth year. Considering how it started it is remarkable it lasted longer than a year.

  • 01.08.2007 8:20 AM PDT
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Stay away from CE, you bloody HPC users! It's fine as it is.

  • 01.08.2007 9:32 AM PDT
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Posted by: UXB
While I agree that not having in-game downloads of maps is not as convenient as other games I totally disagree that Halo CE has had a shortened life span. You must first have an understanding of its genesis to fully appreciate how popular and long lived in its market segement the game has actually become.

Unlike most of the other games mentioned such as Half Life and UT which were PC based games then ported to the console, Halo was a console based game ported to the PC. As such the core code was not developed with game downloads in mind. Bungie's tag system while fine for consoles has some limitations when moved to the PC platform. Each map file includes most of the "tags" or assets to determine the look and operation of the level. This makes the map files anywhere between 10-100mg in size averaging around 16meg uncompressed. The bandwidth required for 16 people to download the map while still playing on-line would far outstrip any DSL/Cable connection and bring the server to its knees.

But excluding that limitation the original Halo PC game was released in 2003 and was a "port" of the console game from 2001. Wither good or bad the decision made for the Halo PC game was that it fit on a single CDROM and be playable on-line by 56K modem users. Remember that at the time these decisions were made there was less than a 10% Cable/DSL penetration and availability: a very small market segment.

Gearbox software, with their background in PC games, felt that the there should be a way for users to create custom content and with Bungie's approval in 2004 released the unsupported Halo Custom Edition for people who had purchased Halo PC. It was released without fanfare, without marketing, without support and without Gearbox or Bungie making any money from it. It was essentially a bonus program for those that stumbled across it and has been solely supported by the community.

Because it was never marketed or released in a retail or any distribution venue there have never been a large number of players at any one time. But the number of active players has remained fairly consistent since its release. People leave and new people find it.

By now you are probably wondering how I base my argument on its relative popularity and that is simple. Because the custom maps are required to be downloaded I can track the number of downloads of maps. Since Jan 1, 2005 there have been 2,668,430 map files downloaded from Halo Maps. And the rate of downloads has been steadily increasing even as people have retuned to school when downloads normally fall off.

Halo CE was never intended to be the replacement for Halo PC and by its very inception could never have been. It was developed by the PC gamers at Gearbox on their own time without compensation and offered for free. Although I do not know for sure, since no one from Bungie has ever contacted me, I suspect that Bungie has been watching Halo Maps and the Halo CE community very closely and it would not be a large leap to surmise that the decision to include the editing kit and custom content in the H2-Vista release was bolstered by the Halo CE community's response to the Halo CE game.

These things are always a matter of perspective. For the average buy-the-box-install-and-play gamer Halo CE is a dismal failure. For the much smaller die hard custom content Halo community it is a success. Its popularity has remained the same and has even grown some as it enters its fourth year. Considering how it started it is remarkable it lasted longer than a year.

Excellent point, UXB. I never meant to call Custom Edition a failure at all. I love CE, and I agree with you in many ways. But if CE was ever short-lived, it wouldn't be because of mere inconvenience, it would have been this thing that was called "Halo 2" which made people stop playing CE.

[Edited on 1/8/2007]

  • 01.08.2007 11:43 AM PDT
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Posted by: Master Kim
But if CE was ever short-lived, it wouldn't be because of mere inconvenience, it would have been this thing that was called "Halo 2" which made people stop playing CE.
My point is that Halo CE has not been short lived. It has been remarkably long lived considering the marketing budget of $0.00 thrown at it by the manufacturer. It has been a purely community supported product and pretty much "officially" ignored by Bungie. And What I mean by "officially" is that as far as I know there have been no statements pro or con issued by Bungie about Halo Custom Edition and although developed by Gearbox it is Bungie's intellectual property. It is remarkable that the game exists at all much less has lasted over 3 years with pretty much the same sized user base, if not larger.

The nature of video games and software is that earlier versions get replaced by newer better versions. Halo is no exception. Halo 1 Xbox has been mostly replaced by Halo 2 Xbox and soon Halo 3 Xbox will supplant that.

In the PC world, a secondary market for Bungie, Halo 1 PC has not yet been superseded by another Halo based game. Once Halo 2 Vista hits the market there will be an inevitable decline in demand for Halo 1 PC and CE games as people move to H2 Vista. This is just the nature of things and nothing to be sad or discouraged about.

  • 01.09.2007 8:23 AM PDT
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I find something illogical about your statement. Halo 2 isn't a better version of Halo 1, it's a completely different game. It didn't replace the old Halo, it's just a sequel. I think a more logical approach would be Halo 1.2 being replaced by Halo 1.3 and so on through patches. Halo 2 didn't replace Halo 1 and Halo 3 won't replace Halo 2 because they are seperate entities. Likewise Halo Custom Edition won't replace Halo PC because it is a seperate entity, really it's just a better version of the Multiplayer, not a complete replacement of the game.

  • 01.09.2007 9:06 AM PDT
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Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
I find something illogical about your statement. Halo 2 isn't a better version of Halo 1, it's a completely different game. It didn't replace the old Halo, it's just a sequel.
In the category of missing the forrest for the tree, my point was a that new games supplant older games in popularity and my examples were restricted the the Halo franchise for the sake of simplicity.

  • 01.09.2007 5:06 PM PDT

No signature found. Click here to change this.

*cough* *cough*

  • 01.09.2007 6:05 PM PDT
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Posted by: UXB
Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
I find something illogical about your statement. Halo 2 isn't a better version of Halo 1, it's a completely different game. It didn't replace the old Halo, it's just a sequel.
In the category of missing the forrest for the tree, my point was a that new games supplant older games in popularity and my examples were restricted the the Halo franchise for the sake of simplicity.


While you are correct, that isn't always the case. Some game sequels ae like movie sequels. They're ok, but just not as good as the original. IMO, Halo 2 wasn't as good as Halo. Same with Battlefront 1 and 2.

  • 01.09.2007 6:16 PM PDT
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Woo! Proud to have sparked an actually INTELLIGENT discussion around these parts for a change.

While I think Kim and UXB have hit it right on the money, I think it should be noted that the average consumer has no sympathy. In other words, what I'm saying is that consumers won't consider if the company created it out of their own free time and will, without profit, regardless of how noble a deed it is. What they will consider is what is more convenient and effortless a game will be to play. In those terms of thought, Halo doesn't exactly rank too high up the list.

  • 01.09.2007 6:58 PM PDT
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Posted by: me15ter
Woo! Proud to have sparked an actually INTELLIGENT discussion around these parts for a change.

  • 01.10.2007 3:43 AM PDT
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i just want to say that there is an extreme lak of players on hce there fore they should advertise this on othere sites because when i started i had no idea of this programe and let me tell you that halopc is not that amusing with out ce so i consider to tell your friends [if you have some] or tell people on halo pc

[Edited on 1/10/2007]

  • 01.10.2007 3:30 PM PDT
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Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
IMO, Halo 2 wasn't as good as Halo. Same with Battlefront 1 and 2.

Regardless, Halo 2 did supplant and surpass Halo 1 in popularity and that can be determined by the sales. And that is my point. And to further flog the supine equine, Gears of War a newer game has now surpassed Halo 2 in popularity based on sales for the Xbox360. The point I was and continue to make is that old games get superseded by newer ones due to technology or social shifts in the market.


Posted by: me15ter
I think it should be noted that the average consumer has no sympathy. In other words, what I'm saying is that consumers won't consider if the company created it out of their own free time and will, without profit, regardless of how noble a deed it is. What they will consider is what is more convenient and effortless a game will be to play. In those terms of thought, Halo doesn't exactly rank too high up the list.

You are absolutely correct. The consumer wants the most for less. What the "most" is will vary by product. Consumers also want convenience and there is no doubt Halo CE is not very convenient to either obtain or maintain. It has to be downloaded; a 200meg+ download and the custom maps have to be downloaded as well. This is one of the many reasons why Bungie did not make the upgrade a mandatory one. In my opinion though it is worth it, but I am biased.

There is another factor to consider and that is that a large majority of consumers what to be told what is good or bad. They don't want to make the evaluation themselves they want to be told. (Of course then they complain afterwards.) This is evident by the number of emails I get asking which maps they should download. NO one from Bungie or Gearbox "told" them to get Halo CE - no advertisement, no boxes on the shelves, no ads in game magazines, nothing but a cryptic ticker message in the game lobby. The information although not secret has been spread on a small number of websites that most of the core consumers don’t visit.

Halo CE was never advertised - they didn't tell people to get it - and it was not supported. Therefore it has had a viral type existence and always had a much lower user base that Halo PC has. The fact that it has maintained that small user base is a testament to its functionality.

I find it sad that as you said "...consumers won't consider if the company created it out of their own free time..." a factor in choosing a product. Because it shows a totally selfish and narrow world view and in effect makes it OK for companies to act badly as long as the consumer gets what he wants. We should reward companies who act responsibly be it an environmentally "green" company, a socially responsible company or one like Gearbox who was responsive to the gaming community.

For me I like the custom content in Halo CE, I like to see the creations of the users and I like the way the game plays. The inconvenience of Halo CE was, for me, inconsequential in my decision to support it. I saw early on that in order for it to thrive it needed a stable support system and that is why I developed the Halo Maps file archive. I knew Halo CE needed a file distribution system and I had the resources and knowledge to build and operate one: It is what I do. The Halo CE community is a small one in comparison to the Halo PC community and there are many who don’t like standing out in the smaller community, but if you do then it's a pretty good one to belong to and the games are fun to boot.

[Edited on 1/11/2007]

  • 01.11.2007 1:11 PM PDT
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i have custom edition but i have no freakin clue how to get the levels to work! i have downloaded them but i dont know how to put them into the game! please HELP!

  • 01.12.2007 11:48 AM PDT
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Posted by: The Assasin
i have custom edition but i have no freakin clue how to get the levels to work! i have downloaded them but i dont know how to put them into the game! please HELP!
On the download page for EVERY map in the file archive is a little link that says:

How to Install: Click Here

directions: click the link.

  • 01.12.2007 2:52 PM PDT
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The amount of Deja Vu I am feeling right now makes me feel a ferry is about to blow up and then something I can't see is watching me.

  • 01.12.2007 6:27 PM PDT
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Posted by: UXB
Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
IMO, Halo 2 wasn't as good as Halo. Same with Battlefront 1 and 2.

Regardless, Halo 2 did supplant and surpass Halo 1 in popularity and that can be determined by the sales. And that is my point. And to further flog the supine equine, Gears of War a newer game has now surpassed Halo 2 in popularity based on sales for the Xbox360. The point I was and continue to make is that old games get superseded by newer ones due to technology or social shifts in the market.


I think Halo 1 was only supplanted by Halo 2 due to the success of Halo 1. All the little kiddies who loved Halo 1 clamoured over each other scratching and biting to get at Halo 2 because it was the second Halo game. Not because of anything about the game itself being superior to Halo 1. I think that was the reason (IMHO) why Bungie sort of got lazy when they made Halo 2. They knew it would sell because of like you stated earlier, the success of Halo 1 and market shifts.

  • 01.12.2007 6:42 PM PDT