Addison Bair
35f643f376
A plasma bolt is drawn by its light volume, a widget, and both pools were still the Xbox's: 64 widgets and 256 light volumes. Every assault rifle holds a light volume for its flashlight beam from when it is made, held or dropped. In network co-op the rifles left lying about are kept as garbage in proportion to the players, and garbage that any player can see is never collected, so a large game fills the widget pool and keeps it full; a client that joins a game in progress makes all the rifles at once and takes every slot. From then on widgets_new finds the pool full and skips the widget, so every bolt flies and hits unseen. - widgets 64 -> 2048 (HALO_PORT_MAXIMUM_WIDGETS) - light volumes 256 -> 2048 (HALO_PORT_MAXIMUM_LIGHT_VOLUMES); with only the widgets grown, the light volumes run out next At 128 players a game can hold about 1,000: the rifles in hand, the ones on the ground (garbage collection starts at 400 and keeps those in view) and the bolts and needles in the air. The CPU part of the game state grows by 38,144 bytes, to 18,242,828 (2,466,548 free). As with any pool size, saved games of earlier builds no longer load.
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. 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/.