Halo 2 Vista X06 Press Kit Content

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

I see about 11 pages, I some times have it so I can see the Max amount of Post per page so I don't have that larg # of pages to go through, oh and can we have more Custom Emblems, and maybe add Black as one of the Colors in Halo 2 Vista, I think with the GFX upgrades that would make it look really cool, just a idea to think about.

Techinically, the steel color is black for halo2. :/

[TheGhost]

I seem to remember them saying they took out black because it had such an advantage over all the other colors concerning stealth.

[Agamemnon]

I figured as much as to why black was never actually black.

[jcap]

Nitro, what do you have to say about this? http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2022621,00.asp

Any truth to the matter? Is it really that close to going gold?

Also, where is the final HUD's position going to be? In some pics it is thrown into the corners, and in some others it is set 1/8 in. I might be the only one, but I think it just looks too...weird having it too close to the edge, even though it may give you the slightest bit more viewspace.

What is being done with the HUD text? It looks awful in those pics, being so close to the ammo counter. How is the text chat going to be done, too?

Are we going to be able to add -devmode to the shortcut and be able to enter the developer mode, like with Halo CE?

I have a thousand more questions, most of which I compiled in a thread on Bungie.net for the Halo 2 Vistravaganza week. Some of them have already been answered, some were already asked. I don't want to bother sorting everything out now. Answer what you can, please!

Q: Will we be able to add the "-console -devmode" parameters to the Halo 2 shortcut and be able to enter the game in developer mode, like with Halo CE? This is one of the best features you can use in Halo CE, and it would be terrible to see it be lost in Halo 2, especially if there isn't going to be a second custom edition where it could be enabled.

Q: How is the netcode based? Server side or client side? If it is server (please be), can we really have all of the devmode functions available with a simple parameter, especially since it is impossible to cheat in Halo's server side netcode? =)

Q: How is the HUD? Is it going to look awful on a higher resolution, rather than the 640x480 Xbox resolution? Is it be blurry/jaggy at all?

Q: Are any of the shaders modified from Halo 2 to the point where they look as bad as they did when you compare Halo Xbox to Halo PC (HUD meters, Jackal shields, weapon/flagpole shaders, main menu Halo, etc.)?

Q: Will there be a "beep" when you shoot and hit another player while playing multiplayer? This was one of the biggest, most helpful features in Halo CE, so you could tell that you were actually shooting someone due to the various latency on different servers.

Q: When you plug in an Xbox 360 controller, are you going to get the HUD messages like they are displayed on the Xbox (Press (X) to pickup [weapon])?

Q: Have the main menu images been reworked to be sharper on a higer resolution than the Xbox? If there are any new created menus, do they flow seamlessly with the originals, or do they look like they were created in Paint? *cough* Halo PC multiplayer/settings menus *cough*

Q: A "Checking for Updates" screen is probably going to be implemented into the game, so is it going to take an hour for it to check for updates, then finally tell you that there actually isn't an update and proceed on? Is it going to be under a settings menu, like with one of the new Halo CE UI's (my team's), or is it going to be right as you click on "Internet" under the multiplayer screen?

Q: Does the active camouflage work on BOTH ATI and nVidia graphics cards, or only ATI, like in Halo PC?

Q: Are the credits going to be ugly, horribly colored, text only credits like in Halo PC, or are they going to be the same, low quality, 337 MB, credits_60.bik file as Halo 2 Xbox has, or is it going to be completely different from those two? A higher quality movie, or the actual renderring of the credits?

Q: Will you be prompted to sign in with a profile EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' TIME you play the game? (Please be no)

Q: Will you have to "Press (ENTER) to Continue", like with Halo 2 Xbox? (Please be yes)

Q: If you are inactive for a minute or so, will the 117 MB, low quality attract_60.bik file play with its screwed up, misplaced sounds in the video? If it is placed in, will it be higher quality? (Yes and yes, please =D)

Q: When dual wielding, is left mouse button primary fire (right gun), and right mouse button secondary fire (left gun) (please be this), or does the left mouse button fire the left gun, and right mouse button fire the right gun? Can we change it in the settings if we don't like the feel of them?

Q: Is there (going to be) Internet/LAN co-op? This is one of the things everyone would look EXTREMELY forward to, and would be a HUGE plus for the game. =)

Q: What are the benchmarks of Halo 2 so far with your test computers? How do they compare to other computers? How much of the CPU cycles does it consume, how much RAM does it take up at any random time, and how are your frames per second?

Q: How featured and advanced is the new "map editor"? Is it more advanced than the HEK (PLEASE be =D), or is it so under-advanced, that you can create a map with terrain, spraypaint the textures on, add trees, place some pre-modeled bases, and export within five minutes?

Q: Is there ANYTHING which is being removed from (or even added to) Halo 2 which you think will like, but will end up hating in the end? Anything which you think is "smart", but is one of the dumbest, most idiotic things to do, ever? Not things like removing the Matchmaking system, but other things like the shaders. Much of these things I hinted at with the questions above, given the unfortunate experience we had with the Halo PC conversion.

[TheGhost]

These are some very good questions, jcap. I would also like to reiterate... will we have developer mode commands? I just now realized how much I had taken these for granted all of this time.

[~A.]

Honestly, I really don't like this being a Vista exclusive. =/ I just had to pay money for my laptop xp.

[TheGhost]

Well, for one, it's a great way to jump start some new users on Windows Vista. Take for example myself and many others on this board who will be getting Vista "early" (read: initial release) in order to play this game ASAP.

[Boo Diddly]

nice questions jcap. also, are we going to be able to use more of the devmode commands while testing a map? *like I can't use "rasterizer_stats 2" in game to see what my poly count is.*

[Zeph]

Lol, jcap, is that the series of questions you came up with when Halo 2 Vista was announced and I made that thread talking about how to make a successful port?

[Stealth]

I seem to remember them saying they took out black because it had such an advantage over all the other colors concerning stealth.

Oh so that is why, I've all ways loved Black, oh well, any ways, a Dev mode is a Good thing for Map makers, I hope that we get Dev mode for Halo 2 Vista.
Edit | Ok ToDay I got really board in Computer ProGraming and this is what I did, I opened the Ivory Towers Screen shot,
[wshot]http://files.h2vista.net/images/X06/IvoryTower.jpg[/wshot]
and did some work one, (Just click on, Auto levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Colors, and this is what I got,
[wshot]http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7249/ivorytowerws2.jpg[/wshot]
as you can see, it looks a hole lot better now.