Crushed Dreams

[I_Am_Error117]

Halo 2 Vista info dump
Tons more Halo 2 Vista info coming out of the Game Developers Conference - a hands-on (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halo2/news.html?sid=6166892) at Gamespot (thanks, LoneRanger 2.5 (http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=787297)), a preview at Shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2007/030607_halo2pc_1.x), a hands-on at GamePro (http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=104568), and a summary of new features (http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0306.1931.33257.htm) at Game Informer. Things you might not know yet (or that have changed in recent months):

The game is expected out 'later this year' (originally, it was going to ship at the same time Vista did)
A DX9 video card is all you need (there are no DX10-specific features)
Your Xbox Live account that works with an Xbox works with Halo 2 Vista, too
A Silver account is enough to play Halo 2 Vista (it's free)
H2V will be the first game that allows players to set up dedicated Live servers
H2V will ship with a map editor
You can use mouse and keyboard, or game controller, or (and this is odd) mouse and game controller
No online coop
No splitscreen playThere's more info in all four articles - go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 12:38:36 UTC (http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html))

Well no split screen, and that usualy means no co-op..... :(

Link: http://halo.bungie.org/

but this hybrid mouse and gamepad setup sounds like something I would use :)

[DaBillyBob]

Yeh, and for the Gold and Silver Live accounts, I also read that with a silver(free) account you can not do matchmaking. Only searching for servers through a browser.

[someone]

Halo 2 for Windows Vista is currently expected to be released within the first half of 2007.
So it is true! Halo 2 Vista will come out in April/May:D

[MereCatfish]

No online co-op is a shame :(.

[Stealth]

Co-Op, I'd hate it, no one to play with, and it would be use less for me.

[Terry]

Yeh, and for the Gold and Silver Live accounts, I also read that with a silver(free) account you can not do matchmaking. Only searching for servers through a browser.

That isn't too much of a problem...I mean its what we're used to on CE :)

[Dragonpurr]

how is this crushed dreams?


nice info BTW

[MereCatfish]

how is this crushed dreams?


nice info BTW

I think he is referring to the lack of co-op.

[Dragonpurr]

I think he is referring to the lack of co-op.
oh....




Yeh, and for the Gold and Silver Live accounts, I also read that with a silver(free) account you can not do matchmaking. Only searching for servers through a browser.

does that mean no lobby?

[MereCatfish]

does that mean no lobby?

That is what we can assume at the moment.

[AAA]

no, no, no....from what I've read, he's dissapointed that there's no auto match making. I'm use to the lobby. I like choosing my games

btw, it would still be possible to make the campaign maps for MP.....RIGHT??!?!?!

EDIT: What's this silver and gold accounts I hear about. It's free?? GOOD. I don't want to play Halo anymore if I have to pay for it.

What does the Gold Account enable for H2V? and what does the Silver account enable for H2V?

Please reply to this

[someone]

With the silver account you can play MP in halo 2 vista(server browser only), chat via mic with others and gain SP achievements.
The gold account enables SP and MP achievements, matchmaking and everything what the silver account has:)

BTW, you can send in-game voice messages with both.

[DaneO'Roo]

Heh, Halo 2 Vista crushed my hopes BIG time. Seems the port isn't going to be a very good one. They said you'll need a decent graphics card to play, and by todays standards, a decent card is a 7 series geforce. Now, Halo 2, graphically, is just halo 1 with more bump maps, and better lighting, and runs on the EXACT same hardware that halo 1 runs on. Now, Halo 2 Vista may have some extra polies in hte 1st person area, and some higher res textures, but THAT shoudln't impact hugely on performance. That is a gaming standard of today. And since Vista is a speedy workhorse, and the developers are "getting a solid 60 frames per second" - bungie update, the developers most likely have quite good computers, and to be getting 60 frames per second, is a HUGE worry.

It seems the port of halo 2 , to the PC is an even WORSE port than the Halo 1 port to PC. Now, Doom 3, graphically, shits all over Halo 2, yet it runs perfectly fine on a 5900 geforce. But halo 1 only runs at an "ok" level on a 6600 geforce. And Halo 2 runs on the same hardware as Halo 1 xbox, so, logically, if your running halo PC with a geforce 6600GT, you would expect to run Halo 2 Vista just as well on the exact same card, no?

But for Halo 2 Vista, they're asking you to upgrade your card as well >_>

See where I'm going with this?

I don't expect much from a port, in terms of new gameplay, weapons and all that (would be nice), but I EXPECT them to at least port the fucking game well.

Just my 2 cents

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

Halo 1 Blam! Engine /= Halo 2 Blam! Engine

Yes, it is the same engine, but there are many more changes than just some, "More bump mapping and better lighting." :/

[Agamemnon]

Well no split screen, and that usualy means no co-op..... :(
Yeah, and as we all know, split screen on a computer game happens frequently nowadays. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the info. You'll be credited.

EDIT: Never mind; I just realized everything that they've stated has already been clarified, such as no co op.

[DaneO'Roo]

Halo 1 Blam! Engine /= Halo 2 Blam! Engine

Yes, it is the same engine, but there are many more changes than just some, "More bump mapping and better lighting." :/


yeah, I know that, but what I'm getting at is, they both run on the same hardware on xbox, but for PC, you need to upgrade for what, higher res textures, and some extra pollies in 1st person?

seems like somethings wrong to me.

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

No, that is not just it, they are also adding in Parallax mapping (Which I believe FEAR was the first game to introduce it as well) and anti-aliasing.

[Roostervier]

I thought MP was completely free and you did not need a gold account to play multiplayer... unless by "browsing the server" you mean you can play too, but no medals or any thing... (which I am perfectly fine with, since I just plan on making new content).

[Dragonpurr]

wasnt halo 2 on hav0k?

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

No. And it's Havok, no 0.

[Snowy]

Cool, I like picking my own server, I'd rather do that then be matched up with somebody that might be a high skill level, but only plays on those "Rockets no shields no n00bs" servers.
And if I really wanted to play with somebody good, I'd just join a clan, or IM somebody on Xfire.

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

Uh, Rocket-only servers with no shields is noobish. :)

[DaneO'Roo]

No, that is not just it, they are also adding in Parallax mapping (Which I believe FEAR was the first game to introduce it as well) and anti-aliasing.

Parallax mapping won't be supported on a whole. It'll only be some bsp textures. And Antialiasng is MEH. EVERY game has antialiasing (cept halo PC >_>) I can run FEAR on my geforce better than I can run Halo PC. Seems like I'll still be able to run the much better looking FEAR, at a higher framerate than Halo 2 Vista, with is on the oh so speedy Windows Vista.

As I said before, it sounds like a crappy port, for such a low poly game to need a new card ontop of a new OS.

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

FEAR can run better because it was made more recently than Halo PC. They didn't have the knowledge/technique for coding back-then as they do now.

What do you mean it wont be supported as a whole though, I don't get that. How do you not support it as a whole? I only see it as either supporting it, or not having it.

[I_Am_Error117]

Sniper only no shields is noobish, then the little kids scream about how I aimbot when I get one shot kills in their feet.

funny how one letter can change a word lol (+reped)

Well it seems that, I;ve confused some people. The way the loby system works is like this (assuming its the same from the xbox except with a section for DS's)

You select online from the main menu. After which you can go to one of four Places:

1 Quick Match
2 Matchmaking
3 Custom Game
4 Content Download

Definitions:

1) Quick match: starts the last matchmaking gametype you selected and will find players of the same skill

2)Matchmaking: You select a gametype and find players of the same rank

3)Custom Game: You may start a game of your own, it will be un ranked

4) Content Download: You can download content, ie maps.

The way thes lobies work is like so:

You slecet one of the three game options from the main menu(the ones listed above), you are now in a party. You can join other peoples parties, and they can join yours. You can select weter to make the party, provat, public, or invite only. In your party whoever started it decieds what game is played or can give head of the party to some one else. In the lobby you can jump from custom games to matchmaking and vise versa. So there is the tour of the lobby. I know this is very convoluted, I MIGHT make a video tour tom. IF I HAVE TIME.


Edit: the reason why the pc version needs more hardware is that it is running on top of an os, and the computer is doing other stuff, while you play your game, the xbox does not.

[DaneO'Roo]

What I mean is, theres going to be paralax mapping, but judging by the videos of H2V ive seen it's seems its only applied to bsp textures. I mean not suported as a whole, jsut how bump mpaping is in Halo PC, but not for weapons and bipeds.

I have my doubts about the performance of the game, and if i dont get more than 30 fps in a 16 man server on anymap with my geforce 6600, something is definately wrong. but hey, they know about coding and stuff now, so maybe it will be awesome pefromance.

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

I am not sure parallax mapping can be applied to anything but bsp. It was like that in FEAR, for bullet holes. >_>

[DaneO'Roo]

ooh that would be awesome for a mod in H2V D:

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

Which was awesome. Too bad FEAR bullet holes are all giganticYeah, I always wondered why they made the bullet holes so big. :/ Some where just fine, like on certain materials with the pistol. But mainly they were way to big for any of the weapons.

[Reaper Man]

I am not sure parallax mapping can be applied to anything but bsp. It was like that in FEAR, for bullet holes. >_>
Well, If you're referring just to H2V, then probably yes. If you're referring to parallax mapping as a whole, just take one look at the H3 biped.

[Love De Lux]

mouse and game controller

Omfg, YESSSS :lol:

Also, Co-op was removed because of the ammount of bandwidth it used imo. To host a 16 players server you need 1mb/s upload speed, in the solo there can be more than 16 biped in the same time. ( dedi ?...)

[WhÎþLå§h ÐÆmØÑ]

Well, If you're referring just to H2V, then probably yes. If you're referring to parallax mapping as a whole, just take one look at the H3 biped.Just H2v. I am aware of the H3 biped. ;p

[I_Am_Error117]

Wow we are all on topic here arent we?


Omfg, YESSSS :lol:

Also, Co-op was removed because of the ammount of bandwidth it used imo. To host a 16 players server you need 1mb/s upload speed, in the solo there can be more than 16 biped in the same time. ( dedi ?...)


No I wanted slplit scrren co-op, I know PC games don't do split screen, but would it really be that hard to do? I mean one of my favorite things in halo 2 to do is to blow throught mmetroplis doing all kinds of stunts in the hog...

It wont be long after release before we have a map editor made by siem one that supports sp, so I'm not too woried about that.

[Edward Elrich]

well, so much for "Halo 2 Vista multiplayer will be free to all." :mad:And here I thought I could actually do matchmaking without getting Xbox Live Gold (a meaningless thing for me, since I don't have a 360...)

[I_Am_Error117]

Co-Op, I'd hate it, no one to play with, and it would be use less for me.


So much for not coming back lol, dude what happended is over now change your thingy under your name and your user notes.

Well I belive the reason for matchmaking costing $$$$$ is because microsoft need money for their servers to run to match people (not that they need it). Alos mosth PC games dont have matchmaking, its just a list of peoples servers. So matchmaking is a new thing for pc right? In addition online isnt free on xbox. Plus you all know this wont be the only game to use Live.

[Hotrod]

How could you play a game with a game controller and a mouse at the same time? Wouldn't you need 2 hands to use the controller? The only way that I can see it working well is if 2 people were playing at the same time, or if somebody had 3 hands...

[p0lar_bear]

well, so much for "Halo 2 Vista multiplayer will be free to all." :mad:And here I thought I could actually do matchmaking without getting Xbox Live Gold (a meaningless thing for me, since I don't have a 360...)

...it is. Matchmaking isn't needed to play the game online, it's just a luxury.

[Agamemnon]

If anything, it should be a blessing, considering you'll be able to join any server at will. This will hopefully get rid of this superiority bull with ranks, which many people cheat out of anyways. I can only imagine what Halo 2 would've been like if Bungie didn't install a system that made others assume you were a God at Halo 2 the higher your rank was.

[Varmint260]

I thought they were actually WORKING on porting Halo2 to Vista, not just making it compatible with DirectX 7 and slapping it onto a PC CD-ROM. So, they're actually making it work better on Vista than HaloPC did on XP... am I wrong?

In any case, I don't care about the medals and achievements and stuff. I just wanna blow s**t up.

[Dragonpurr]

how mutch is gold and can you get it without haveing an xbox360