Paul Hontz
444877f06d
The menus' text fields (Server Setup's name and password, the password a listed game asks for) take only a keyboard's keys: on a Steam Deck in Game Mode, with no keyboard, there was no way to type into them but to bring up Steam's keyboard by hand (Steam + X). The game's own on-screen keyboard (profile and gametype names) works with the controller and is unchanged. While a field is typed into, the platform layer now runs SDL's text input where the system has an on-screen keyboard that text input brings up: Steam's, which Steam asks for with SDL_ENABLE_STEAM_SCREEN_KEYBOARD in Big Picture and Game Mode (SDL 3.4 opens steam://open/keyboard, and steam://close/keyboard when the field ends), or a Wayland touch screen with no keyboard. The field is single-line: Enter on Steam's keyboard ends it, as a keyboard's Enter does, and closes it. A password's field asks for a hidden password's keyboard (SDL_TEXTINPUT_TYPE_TEXT_PASSWORD_HIDDEN; Steam's is the same). Elsewhere text input stays off, so that no input method takes the keys the field reads. SDL is called from the window's thread (the event pump), whichever thread the menus run on. Steam does not say when its keyboard goes (its Enter, or closed by hand), so SDL holds it to be up while text input runs. Each field begun brings it up again, even when the last field ended in the same frame, as the password screen's does after a wrong password (its field ends and begins again): text input still running is stopped, which closes Steam's keyboard, and started half a second later, which opens it (Steam takes each as a URL, each through a process of its own, which could otherwise arrive the other way round). A keyboard closed by hand comes back when the field is begun again. On a Steam Deck (SteamOS 3.8.16, Game Mode, the game started from Steam), the password screen (debug.menu_open) brings Steam's keyboard up at the bottom of the screen, below the field; keys pressed on it type into the field, and its Enter ends the field (the game tries to join) and the keyboard goes (Steam's log: open/keyboard ... Mode=0, then close/keyboard).
Halo: Combat Evolved for Linux, Windows and Android
This project is a port of the Halo: Combat Evolved decompilation to Linux,
Windows and Android. The decompilation is of the Xbox build 2342
(cachebeta.exe, SHA-256
4cc87b45f721270392a96f1674ed2b5cd4a7bb4355faeab4531d1cf1884d9520).
The port starts from the decompilation of bnunu/halo-1. That project is a fork of punpckhdq/halo.
Download
GitHub Actions builds the game for each commit. These links download the builds of the latest release:
| Platform | Release | Debug |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | halo-linux-release.zip | halo-linux-debug.zip |
| Windows | halo-windows-release.zip | halo-windows-debug.zip |
| Android | halo-android-release.zip | halo-android-debug.zip |
Use the release build to play. The debug build stops at the first failed assertion and writes it to the log. Use the debug build to find and report problems.
The game updates itself. At start-up it looks for a newer release, and asks if you want to install it. Refer to "Updates" in port/linux/README.md.
Each build of the main branch that passes on all three platforms is a new
release. The Releases
page keeps the last five releases. If the latest build has a problem, get
an older build from that page.
Game data
The port does not include the game data. Download an Xbox disc image
(.xiso or .iso) of Halo: Combat Evolved. All versions of the game
operate. The maps of the European (PAL) version were made for a slower
console. The port changes them to play as the North American (NTSC) maps do,
so players of the two versions can play together.
- Start the game.
- At the first start, the game asks for the disc image. Select it.
- The game extracts the
maps/folder. Then the game starts.
On Linux and Windows, the game puts maps/ next to the executable. On
Android, copy the disc image to the phone first. The app puts maps/ in its
data folder. Refer to port/android/README.md.
Platforms
Each platform has its own instructions:
| Platform | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Linux (32-bit x86 executable, OpenGL 4.5, SDL3) | port/linux/README.md |
| Windows (32-bit x86 executable, OpenGL 4.5, SDL3) | port/windows/README.md |
| Android (arm64 app, OpenGL ES 3, SDL3) | port/android/README.md |
The Linux README also gives the controls, the settings and the multiplayer functions. These are almost the same on all platforms.
Multiplayer
The game can play system link games on a local network and on the internet:
- A system link game can have up to 128 players on up to 128 machines.
- Linux, Windows and Android machines can play in the same game.
- An invite link lets a machine join a game on the internet. No server of this project is necessary.
- The netcode is new. Each machine moves its own player at once, and the host makes the decisions for the game. Refer to port/linux/NETCODE.md.
Build the game
You do not need the Xbox SDK. The port supplies the SDK declarations that the game uses. Refer to port/include/xdk.
To build the game:
- Install Python and ninja.
- Install the tools for your platform. Refer to the README for the platform.
- In the root folder of the repository, enter
python configure.py. - Enter
ninjawith the target for the platform:
| Target | Result |
|---|---|
ninja linux |
build/linux/halo |
ninja windows (on Windows) |
build/windows/halo.exe and SDL3.dll |
ninja android_apk |
port/android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk |
If you enter ninja without a target, ninja builds the game for the
computer that you use.
tools/ci_build.py makes the same builds as GitHub Actions. For example,
enter python tools/ci_build.py linux release.
Build options
Give these options to configure.py:
| Option | Result |
|---|---|
| (none) | A debug build. A failed assertion stops the game. |
--release |
A release build. The game does not examine assertions, as in the retail game. |
--portable |
The Linux and Windows builds operate on all x86-64 processors. The Linux build also operates on older distributions and on SteamOS: refer to "Portable build" in port/linux/README.md. Use this option for builds that you give to other persons. |
--lto=thin, --lto=off |
Less link-time optimization. The link is faster. |
--pgo=off |
No profile-guided optimization. |
--pgo=train |
Records a new optimization profile. Refer to "Optimization profiles". |
Without --portable, the Linux and Windows builds use all the instructions
of the processor that builds them (-march=native). Such a build does not
always start on a different computer.
Optimization profiles
The builds use profiles of the game to optimize the code:
pgo/halo_linux.profdatafor Linux and Android.pgo/halo_windows.profdatafor Windows.
The profiles need clang 22 or later. With an older clang, the builds do not use the profiles.
To record a new profile:
- Delete the profile.
- Enter
python configure.py --pgo=train. - Enter
ninja linuxorninja windows.
The build then plays the main menu and the first minute of each campaign
level. This procedure continues for approximately 15 minutes. The game
data must be in assets/.