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Thread: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

  1. #1

    Halo 2 Vista FAQ

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    Halo 2 Vista FAQ
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    I. Introduction
    II. Bungie's Frequently Asked Questions
    III. Agamemnon's Frequently Asked Questions
    IV. Goodies
    V. Credits

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    I. Introduction
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    NOTICE: Please read the FAQ before posting your questions.

    Welcome to the Halo 2 Vista FAQ. Here most of your most common questions can be answered in just one thread, thus helping the main board keep clean with questions that aren't answered here. Nonetheless, even if they aren't, don't be afraid to post in here and ask your question; it's still the FAQ and I might include it the next time I have to update this thread.

    This time around I'm including a lot more of info, mainly because I'm drawing it from all the updates they've been handing out like candy. This FAQ not only includes most of Bungie's FAQs about H2V but some of my personal ones that I find important as well. There is also a section for websites that are dealing/will deal with Halo 2 Vista once it comes out for the PC; you definitely will want to bookmark those.
    Anyways, enjoy this slew of information.

    -Agamemnon

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    II. Bungie's Frequently Asked Questions
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    Since Bungie has decided to open up the site, I felt that it was necessary to start a completely new FAQ. So, for the first part, I will draw the FAQ from Bungie's own FAQ for H2V; straight from the horse's mouth.

    Q: What systems is Halo 2 for Windows Vista available for?
    A: As the name suggests, Halo 2 Vista will be brought to PCs with Windows Vista only. Of course you can always purchase Halo 2 for you Xbox or Xbox 360. There are currently no plans to bring Halo 2 to Mac, Playstation 9, or the Commodore 64.

    Q: Will Halo 2 Vista players be able to play against Halo 2 Xbox players?
    A: No, Halo 2 Vista players will only be able to [play] against Vista owners.

    Q: Does Halo 2 Vista support the Xbox 360 Controller?
    A: Yes, the Xbox 360 controller will be fully supported by Halo 2 Vista.

    Q: What are the minimum system requirements for Halo 2 Vista?
    A:

    OS:
    Windows Vista
    Processor:
    2 Ghz Pentium 4 class processor (or x64)
    RAM:
    1 GB
    Hard Drive:
    7 GB
    Video Card: DX9 graphics card:
    WDDM driver, PS 2.0/32BPP, At least nVidia 6000 or ATI x700 or above
    Online Multi-player:
    Internet connection for Games for Windows – LIVE
    Drive:
    DVD-ROM drive

    Q: Does Halo 2 Vista support user-created content?
    A: Yes, there will be a comprehensive package released to facilitate the generation of user-created content for Halo 2 Vista.

    Q: Can I play my favorite Halo levels, like Blood Gulch, in Halo 2 Vista?
    A: Not exactly. Bungie does not like to reuse old content, so we built four levels in homage to older Halo favorites. These are Coagulation (an aged, excavated version of Blood Gulch), Beaver Creek (a modified version of Battle Creek ), Warlock (a version of Wizard which has since been overrun by tropical growth) and Elongation (which answers the frequently asked question - what if Longest were a shipping room on a space station?). All should prove both familiar and surprising to fans of older maps. Another image map is Foundation, loosely based on an old Marathon map.

    Agamemnon's quip:
    Don't worry, there will be enough modders out there to convert Halo 1 multiplayer levels to Halo 2. The Halo 1 PC modding community did it with Halo 2 levels for Halo 1.

    Q: Will there be multiplayer bots?
    A: No. If you want to practice, you can do it against real people. You can however explore any multiplayer level you wish simply by starting an "empty" LAN match.

    Q: How does dual wielding work on Halo 2 Vista?
    A: Virtually the same way it does on the Xbox. To dual wield, you simply approach a second weapon that is lying on the ground. You'll see the standard "press E to swap weapons" message appear in your HUD. However, if it's a one handed weapon, you will also see "Press and hold '' to dual wield". If you do that, you will pick up the gun in your left hand. Left click first the left weapon, right click fires the weapon in your right hand. You can't melee attack or throw grenades while dual wielding. You can stop dual wielding at any time by pressing melee attack (discards extra weapon and punches simultaneously) or by tapping 'T' to toss your secondary weapon. Of course, the keyboard layout is fully customizable and you can change any of the settings to your heart's content, or just use the controller.

    Q: Do you plan to enable anti-aliasing? Other visual features?
    A: Halo 2 for Windows Vista makes use of several DirectX 9 features such as edge anti-aliasing, anisotropic texture filtering, enhanced resolution shadow buffering, additional dynamic shadows, improved normal map filtering, parallax mapping, and per pixel specular mapping.

    Q: Why will Halo 2 for Windows Vista not support DX10?
    A: Halo 2 will certainly support DX10 graphics cards but the game itself is not being re-written to specifcally take advantage of upcoming DX10 features. The more robust your graphics card, the more visual features and fidelity you will be able to enjoy.

    Q: I hate/love auto-aim. Will it be enabled in Halo 2 for Windows Vista?
    A: Auto aim is said to only be present when you are using an Xbox 360 controller and not when using a mouse and keyboard.

    *Note that the answer above was changed by me after some updates from gaming sites reviewed some of Halo 2 Vista's gameplay.

    Q: How does Halo 2 for Windows Vista cope with cheating, aimbots, and so on?
    A: A Windows Live system will be in place that will ban anyone by their CD key indefinitely by what it deems cheating content.

    *Note that the answer above was changed by me after a Hired Gun blog.

    Q: Will it be possible for players to create their own campaign or co-op levels for Halo 2?
    A: No, the user-created content tools are exclusively for multiplayer maps and game types.
    Last edited by Agamemnon; May 23rd, 2007 at 03:28 PM. Reason: changed cheating question
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  2. #2

    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

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    III. Agamemnon's Frequently Asked Questions
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    These are some questions I've encountered that Bungie hasn't officially noted. Please note that some of the answers are speculations unless otherwise noted.

    Note: Speculated answers will be marked with this symbol: [*]

    Q: Windows Vista? What's that?
    A: Windows Vista is the new operating system from Microsoft.

    Q: Are there any requirements for Windows Vista?
    A: Yes, there are. Currently there are two classifications for whether your system can run Vista when it comes out. I will provide a chart to inform you.

    Vista Capable
    Processor...................800 MHz
    Memory.......................512 MB RAM
    GPU.............................DirectX 9
    GPU Memory..............32MB RAM
    HDD capacity..............20GB
    HDD free space..........15GB
    HDD type...................Normal
    Other Drives..............CD-ROM

    Vista Premium Ready
    Processor...................1 GHz
    Memory.......................1GB RAM
    GPU.............................DirectX 9 with Pixel Shader 2.0
    GPU Memory...............128 MB RAM
    HDD capacity...............40GB
    HDD free space...........15GB
    HDD type....................Normal
    Other Drives...............DVD-ROM

    Q: How much will Windows Vista cost?
    A: It varies from version and whether you're upgrading or getting it for the first time, but these are the official prices from Microsoft:

    Version........................................ful l/upgrade
    Windows Vista Home Basic..........$199/$99.95
    Windows Vista Home Premium....$239/$159
    Windows Vista Business..............$299/$199
    Windows Vista Ultimate...............$399/$259

    Q: Will there be Co-Op mode on Halo 2 Vista?
    A: No

    Q: How will online play work if XboxLive is no longer the system that Halo 2 Vista will use?
    A: Bungie is implementing a new system called Live Anywhere, which is, a service similar to Xbox Live and will bring matchmaking to H2V players. It is stated that we will be able to do all the things we could do before; system links for local connections, global online play, and dedicated servers. Bungie has stated that there will be no ranking or player stat tracking systems for Halo 2 Vista, nor will it offer clan support.

    Upon recent events, we also learned that matchmaking will only be available to those with Gold memberships. Also, it will no longer be possible to run a dedicated server and play on that server at the same time, as it is supposedly restricted. In order to host a regular game, you also must have a Gold membership.

    Q: Will we have to pay to play Halo 2 Vista?
    A: For a free Silver membership, no, you won't. With a Silver membership, you will be allowed a single gamertag, a common gamerscore and and gamer profile, single player achievements, private chat via text and voice, a common friends list and online presence, and a browsing list. With a Gold membership (which you do have to pay for), you have everything the Silver membership offers, matchmaking, and multiplayer achievements.

    Q: When will Halo 2 Vista come out?
    A: It's out.

    Q: How much will Halo 2 Vista cost?
    A: The cost varies. $49.99 - $59.99

    Q: Will there be a demo for Halo 2 Vista?
    A: Yes, there will, but the release date for it is still TBA.

    Q: What will be Halo 2 Vista's ESRB Rating?
    A: M for Mature

    Q: Will Halo 2 run on any version of Windows Vista?
    A: Yes, it will. It is optimized so even the people who are getting a simple upgrade can play the game.

    Q: What do we know about the custom tools to build our own maps in Halo 2 Vista?
    A: Quite a lot. The original tools found for the first port, Guerilla, Sapien, and Tool, will make a reappearance; this time included on the disc. The H2V team has stated that this time around we will be able to customize a lot more than Sapien had to offer, as well as creating new and improved textures and even customiziable shaders.

    It is also said that the H2V team are trying to make the tools much more user-friendly; the co-existing tools for Halo 1 were extremely hard to use and were not easily picked up, even after you had an extensive knowledge on how to use it.

    The H2V team also boasted a much more stable toolset, as the three had an uncanny habit of corrupting files, shutting down for no reason, and producing errors that no one had ever heard of. This is something what many Halo 1 modders would call a Godsend.

    Q: Cool! So we'll be able to model our own maps with the tools given to us?
    A: Actually, no, you won't. Bungie will not be including a 3D modelling program once again for you to model your own maps.

    Q: What are some boastable new features Halo 2 Vista will include?
    A: Up to 1900x1200 screen resolution, dedicated servers, tools to create custom maps, extremely upgraded and fine-tuned graphics, text lobby chat (as well as a mic still), and in-game text chat.

    Q: Will there be new weapons or vehicles in Halo 2 Vista?
    A: No.

    Q: Will there be new maps for Halo 2 Vista?
    A: Yes, there will be two new Halo 2 Vista-exclusive maps.

    Q: In Halo Custom Edition, we had to download maps manually to actually play them online. Is there a new system that solves this problem?
    A: Yes. There will be an online system that will automatically download content that is required to play in the server of your choosing. Needless to say, you won't have to download maps again unless you're hosting them for the very first time.

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    IV. Goodies
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    This section will list some important sites that you might want to bookmark and check on periodically for Halo 2 Vista news as well as some future content for the game.

    http://www.halo2vista.net/
    Founded by GBX forerunners, this is the definite community hang out spot to find out what the current HCE community is doing and what their plans are for the future of H2V.

    halo2pc.org
    Halo2pc.org is the first and foremost organized Halo 2 Vista community. Check here regularly for news, theories, ideas, and interesting discussions.

    http://h2v.halomaps.org/
    When H2V comes out, this is where the maps, tags, bipeds, textures, and everything else for your H2V modding needs will be uploaded and downloaded from. The site is generally part of halomaps.org, which is the most general place to find your HCE fix for just about everything dealing with it.

    http://www.halomods.com/
    This is the place to come around and learn about modding either Halo 1 or Halo 2, and when time permits, Halo 2 Vista as well. This is where some of the real interesting modding ideas develop and come to reality.

    http://www.customedition.org/
    Here's another site like halomaps.org except they deal mainly with tags, bitmaps, models, and tools, all of which include custom content for you to download. They also have a help forum if you are ever confused about what to do with the tools.

    http://www.halo.bungie.org/
    Another prime traffic site with news, interviews, fan fic, art, and loads more. Generally it's everything that you can possibly find about the Halo series.

    http://www.bungie.net/
    Let's not forget the company that started it all. You'll find news and what not about Halo 2 Vista here, straight from the head honchos themselves.

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    V. Credits
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    Bungie.net: For the first part of the FAQ and some of the answers I drew from my FAQ
    H2PC.org: For where I also drew some of my info from
    Wikipedia.org: For info on Windows Vista
    TheGhost: For the X06 H2V info
    Boo Diddly: For his estimation on system requirements
    Stealth: For helping me fix some minor (but major) corrections
    Master_Dragon: For pointing out to me that redundant questions need to be added (You wouldn't even believe...)
    ChAiRMaNWoW: For Vista-related info
    HereticKnight: For the articles from gaming websites in Jan.
    Someone: For the article including the system requirements that Gamespot released
    TUI Hentz: For the article including the release date
    Master Kim: For the H2V ad that included the info of two new maps
    Last edited by jcap; May 23rd, 2007 at 08:15 PM. Reason: Release date and cost
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  3. #3
    Senior Member WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ's Avatar
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    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    Because I'm nice. I'll sticky.
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  4. #4

    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    Gratzie Whiplash.
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  5. #5
    Wrong in so Many Ways Boo Diddly's Avatar
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    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    nice. A while ago I posted what I suggested as the requirements on bungie.net:

    Required:
    Windows(R): Vista - 512 MB RAM
    Processor: Pentium 4 2.3 GHZ or equivalent
    Hard Drive: 2.0 GB (3.5 for developer software)
    Video Card: 128 MB/T&L capable
    Online/Multiplayer: 56.6 kbps modem or LAN; broadband to run a server
    Other: Directx 9.0c, 8x DVD, Sound Card, & speakers/headphones

    Recommended:
    Windows(R): Vista -1 GB RAM
    Processor: Pentium 4 3.0 GHZ or equivalent
    Hard Drive: 2.0 GB (3.5 for developer software)
    Video Card: 256 MB/T&L capable
    Online/Multiplayer: LAN or Broadband; DSL (high) or more to run a server
    Other: Directx 10.0, 8x DVD, Sound Card, & speakers/headphones
    either youre under estimating halo 2, or i'm over estimating it ^^
    BTW, I modeled the specs right off the halo pc box. Now that I look back, i may have set the hard drive requirements a bit too high...
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  6. #6

    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    Now that I look back on it, yours are probably more correct; I was really only seeing Halo 2 with upgrades in bloom lighting and AA, but, then again, I have a feeling they'll up that in H2V. If you don't mind, I'd rather use your estimation instead of mine.
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  7. #7
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    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    Quote Originally Posted by Agamemnon View Post
    Q: Will there be multiplayer bots?
    A: No. If you want to practice, you can do it against real people. You can however explore any multiplayer level you wish simply by starting an "empty" LAN match.
    Stealth's Thoughts: if you want to play with bots and get some practice do what I do, go and play with the Bots in the SP mode, and there might be some halo 2 Vista modders that will try to make some Maps with MP bots, I know there is some trying to do that for halo 2 Xbox right now, but don't keep your hopes up.

    here is something that I want to know, can CMT make a SP mod for halo 2 Vista? And is there going to be a way to take Screen shots ingame with out and kind for Game cam tool, that is some thing I would love to see in Halo 2, I want to take screen shots in MP games in halo CE, but I can't with out xfire, and I can't even get Xfire to save them, and I've yet to learn how to talk to people in game with out down sizing halo CE.
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  8. #8

    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    That's from Bungie's official FAQ on the game. Their policy has always been no bots. Also, real bots will never be real, as the net code in Halo 1 PC doesn't sync. People consider scripted AI bots, but they're not. They're spawning AI with a basic script that tells them to shoot at what ever comes close to them. They don't use any real tactics, such as exploring the map, getting different weapons, and hunting you down. Play Quake 3 Arena to check out what bots should be. I doubt any modder could accomplish something like that in Halo, and bots from Q3A would have to be completely different in Halo, considering you have grenades to also consider. I don't think it will be any different in Halo 2 as well.
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  9. #9
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    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    True, ok here is one FAQ I get all the time,
    How much is Windows Vista Cost?
    It varies from version and where you're geting it from, here is the prices,
    Vista Ultimate - $399 (full) / $259 (upgrade)
    Vista Home Premium - $239 (full) / $159 (upgrade)
    Vista Home Basic - $199 (full) / $99 (upgrade)
    Now the cost will vary from State to State and Store to Store, there is a lot of things that will ether make the price go from $199 to $250, there is Tax, Shiping, the what store you get it from, and as for the price for Halo 2 Vista, that isn't set yet, but I think it will between $20 and $40 at any store, and from Bungie, it might be some where between $15 and $30. (that is with out Shiping) I'll spend a totel of about $500 just to upgrade to Vista, because some of us don't even have the minimum requirements for Windows Vista, I know I don't but I'll have it some time in the next 2 years.
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  10. #10

    Re: Halo 2 Vista FAQ

    Like I explained to you in the PMs, no. That is Microsoft's official retail prices and EVERY retail store has to abide by them. Bungie doesn't sell Microsoft merchandise. Taxes are completely different and I'm not about to calculate fifty different state taxes for estimations. Those are the prices and that's that.

    Also, in case you haven't noticed, there are more than three different versions. A simple upgrade will only cost $100.

    EDIT: OHHH, now I see what you're saying. You're right, I meant to say Vista prices, not the price for the game.
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