Patch File Size: 5 MB

Game Publisher: Microsoft Games

Operating System: WinXp/Win2k/Win9x

Date Posted: Jun/2/2005

Patch Release Information:

Halo PC 1.07

The Halo for Windows v1.07 Hotfix addresses a rare hang that could occur if a
malicious individual (hacker) purposely imitates a game server and sends
invalid data to a server. This hot-fix changes the version number of Halo for
Windows and the Halo for Windows Dedicated Server to v1.07 from v1.06.

NOTE: Due to an incompatibility discovered between some systems and the updated
Auto-patcher released with version 1.05, users of 1.05 will have to manually
download an updated Auto-patcher 1.06 and run it from the Halo directory to
receive this latest update. Users updating form prior versions can auto-patch
from the game. This issue is addressed for any future patches beyond 1.06.

Users of HaloPC 1.0 through 1.04 will receive the normal auto-update message,
however a change in the auto-updater will require users of 1.05 to follow a
special manual-update procedure:

If you are running HaloPC 1.05, follow the following precedure to update:

1. Save the following file to your game directory, such as c:program
filesmicrosoft gameshalo. Overwrite the existing file. Remember to "save"
this file, don't try to "open" it directly from the website. HaloUpdate 1.07:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/4/0/440419e2-db95-455c-8871-54b1cd89ad07/haloupdate.exe
2. Now that the file is saved, run it. If you receive an error message, such as
that strings.dll was not found, you probably didn't save it to the location
where the game was installed.
3. Allow it to download the full 1.06 patch and install it. You're done!


Halo PC 1.06

The Halo for Windows v1.06 Hotfix addresses a rare crash bug that could occur
if a malicious individual (hacker) purposely imitates a game server and sends
invalid data to clients who try to browse the server list. This hot-fix changes
the version number of Halo for Windows and the Halo for Windows Dedicated
Server to v1.06 from v1.05.


Halo PC 1.05

The Halo for Windows v1.05 Hotfix addresses a rare crash bug that could occur
if a malicious individual (hacker) purposely sends a malformed packet to a game
server. In addition, it incorporates fixes to resolve compatibility problems
with Windows XP SP2 and certain 256MB video cards, which could cause the game
not to launch, or not to display chat messages. This hot-fix changes the
version number of Halo for Windows and the Halo for Windows Dedicated Server to
v1.05 from v1.04.


Halo PC 1.04

The GameSpy Security update (update v1.04) for Halo for Windows addresses a
rare crash bug that could occur if a malicious individual (hacker) purposely
tries to exploit the GameSpy CDKey SDK. This update changes the version number
of Halo for Windows and the Halo for Windows Dedicated Server to v1.04 from
v1.031.


Halo PC 1.031

- Fixed the crash on startup bug relating to the intro movies.
- Anisotropic filtering is now NOT on by default.
- Saved games prior to 1.03 are now no longer compatible. Any levels that were
unlocked as you progressed through the game are still available, but your
checkpoints will be reset.


Halo PC 1.03

Halo PC 1.03 is our first update to address some of the most important issues
that have arisen since the game was released. Our goal with this patch was to
1) improve the quality of the online experience for gamers and 2) address the
most frequent issues gamers run into. This update is also our first opportunity
to improve our networking architecture with some of our learnings from our
hours of online play. Here is a summary of what's new in Halo PC 1.03.

Note:All updates to the Halo Dedicated Server are documented in the Halo
Dedicated Server Readme file, which is available here: Halo Dedicated Server
1.03 Readme

Improving the Quality of the Online Experience for Gamers

Addressing Team Killing
Servers now have a complete team killing / banning system that should
significantly reduce team killing online. The concept is simple: team-kill a
number of time and you will automatically be banned from the server for a
period of time set by the server administrator. Because team kills can be
accidental, the concept of grief also exists: following a team-kill, if you
don't team-kill again for a period of time, you are forgiven for your
team-kill. These settings are customizable by the server administrator(s) using
server console commands.

In addition to the system above, players are no longer penalized for being
killed by someone on their team and respawn time penalty for a team-killer is
multiplied by the number of teammates he killed, rapidly leading to very long
respawn times for team killers.

Improving the Quality of the Online Experience
We've made a number of updates and bug fixes to our networking architecture,
the most important one being specifically in how we transfer / predict player's
movement / position as well as the action of reloading your weapon. While going
into the details of these changes is beyond the scope of this document, the
result should be a smoother online game experience across the variety of
connections to
the Internet.

We made the following changes to our user interface:
* Servers name now supports 65 characters for dedicated servers and 32
characters for client-hosted servers and now accepts an extended character set.
* Chat text length has been extended to 64 characters
* In-game scoreboard now displays every client's ping
* In-game scoreboard now displays your # of assists
* Server port numbers are displayed accurately throughout their range

Additional Online Multiplayer New Features:

* Teams are now persisted for the next game when map cycling occurs
* Map Reset: It's now possible to restart the current game without requiring
the server to map cycle.
* Assault: We now have a timer to keep track of how much time is left to your
offense / defense round
* Assault: Alongside this timer, we also have an "Offense" and "Deffense"
indicator to quickly inform you of your role

Addressing the Most Frequent Issues Experienced by Gamers

Many users have reported problems with Halo PC when using 3rd party software to
force the refresh rate of their monitor. We have changed how we handle this
situation in our code to seamlessly fall back to the forced refresh rate.

A significant number of reported game crashes are related to an external
library called keystone.dll. We have updated this library to address the most
common failures. These crashes would usually occur when changing screen
resolution, when starting or quitting Halo PC, when chatting in a multiplayer
game or when using ALT-TAB to minimize Halo PC and return to Windows.

Additional Bug Fixes

* Halo can now be bound to a specific IP address using the -ip command line
agrument. (facilitating multiple NIC support for Halo Dedicated Servers)
* Halo can now read/write data files to a user specified folder using the
-path command line argument. This is particularly useful for Halo Dedicated
Servers but also be be used for users whose "My Documents" folder is remapped
to a UNC path. It is an advanced option and using it will force you to manually
move saved games and multiplayer gametypes.
* Online Multiplayer: Telefrag message is now appropriately replicated.
* Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to switching teams in kill-in-order games
(scorew will now remain accurate)
* Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to the end of the game state (new players
now have to wait for the game to be restarted before being admitted to the
server)
* Online Multiplayer: Fix for clients flashlight states when joining games
* Online Multiplayer: Vechicles won't respawn if they have a projectile (such
as a plasma grenade) attached to them. They will wait for the projectile to be
removed.
* Online Multiplayer: Minor fixes to using teleports for high-latency
connections
* Sound: Fix for cinematic dialog being cut out on certain cards when
enabling Audio Hardware Acceleration in the Audio Settings.

Halo PC 1.02

With Halo PC 1.02, we are adding support for multiple instances to our
dedicated server, enabling us and the community to roll out many more servers
for gamers. We are also introducing client support for RCon (Remote Console),
allowing dedicated server operators to have control over their servers running
in data centers. For more information on the Halo PC Dedicated Server and the
Remote Console, please consult the Halo PC Dedicated Server Readme file located
here:

Halo PC Dedicated Server 1.02

We have also released the Halo PC Technical and Performance FAQ, which answers
most frequenty asked technical questions about Halo PC. This FAQ is located
here:

Halo PC Technical & Performance FAQ

Here is a summary of the changes with Halo PC 1.02:

* Halo PC Dedicated Server Support for multiple instances
* Halo PC client support for RCon (remote console) to dedicated servers

Bug Fixes:

* Timedemo doesn't check memory usage consumption with every frame rendered
(see Halo PC Techincal and Performance FAQ for more info)
* After running timedemo, the last saved checkpoint is not altered anymore
* Multiple minor bugs fixed in the Halo Auto-Updater application
* Fixed an issue in keystone.dll that was causing certain configurations to
potentially crash when chatting in multiplayer games
* Fixed minor card specific rendering glitches

Halo PC 1.01

After Halo was released to manufacturing but before it arrived on store
shelves, the Halo team discovered a potential crashing issue when playing Halo
multiplayer online. In order to guarantee the best possible experience for our
customers we have issued an update that addresses this issue. Before you can
play Halo multiplayer online you will need to allow this update to install
through the auto-install feature of Halo or by running haloupdate.exe from your
Halo installation folder.

This is the only issue that was addressed with Halo PC 1.01

Halo PC 1.00

Initial release of the PC version of Halo

Technical Support Options

Your first stop for Halo PC technical support should be
www.microsoft.com/games/halo/support.asp

For all of our support offerings, visit . In Canada, visit
http://microsoft.ca/support.

To get started, try the following:

* For articles targeted at a specific issue, visit the Microsoft Knowledge
Base at http://support.microsoft.com
* To work with a Microsoft Product Support Professional over the internet,
submit your issue at http://support.microsoft.com/directory/onlinesr.asp
* For your product's general support policy, visit
http://support.microsoft.com

Phone Support: Call (425) 637-9308 in the U.S., or (905) 568-3505 in Canada
(toll charges may apply). For paid assisted support in the U.S., call (800)
936-5700; in Canada, call (800) 688-7975.

TTY Users: Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services are available at (425)
635-4948 in Washington State, (800) 892-5234 elsewhere in the U.S., and (905)
568-9641 in Canada.

Worldwide: Support outside the U.S. and Canada may vary. For regional contact
details, visit http://support.microsoft.com/international.aspx. If there is no
Microsoft subsidiary office in your country or region, please contact the
establishment from which you obtained your Microsoft product.

Conditions: Microsoft's support services are subject to then-current prices,
terms, and conditions, which are subject to change without notice.

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