Halo 2 PC now works on Windows XP

Unknown-One

Unknown-One

[H]F Junkie
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You read that correctly, a patch has been created that allows Halo 2 to run on Windows XP. There are no glitches, it runs and performs perfectly, and there's no graphical quality penalty for running on XP.

"Tired of waiting for Falling Leaf to produce drivers so that you can playShadowrun in XP? The wait is over, because Razor1911 already has the remedy! Yes, you read right. This game will also function in Windows XP".
Sources:
The Enquirer
halo.bungie.org
Download mod and instructions:
Download the mod
Click to expand...
The only problem that has yet to be solved, is activation of the game. Halo 2 will install the full game and allow you to play through the first level before asking you to activate, but due to the way the hacked launcher works, this doesn't bring you to the activation screen, leaving you stuck in "demo mode". The only way to get around the activation problem is to use a cracked mf.dll to activate your game (which still leaves you unable to play multi player).

I'm not going to link to a crack (and the patch above doesn't come with it either), but I can confirm that you can finish the entire single player campaign flawlessly on Windows XP once the game thinks it's activated.

And before you get on my ass about the crack, I payed for the full game, and I've gone through and properly activated it on my laptop (which is running Vista), so I personally don't have a problem with using a crack so I can play the single player campaign on my desktop running XP. I figure by the time I finish the single player campaign and want to get into multi player, someone will have come up with a way to activate Halo 2 on XP, at which time I will happily feed my CD key to Microsoft in order to activate the game properly on my desktop computer as well.
 
I didn't see anything about it on the first few pages of this forum and the search function is currently broken...that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :p
 
So for 100% it works on XP?

I am gonna go buy it right now.
 
Yes, it works perfectly on Windows XP apart from activation...you'll need to get creative to get the game activated (like I stated in my first post)...
 
okay, but... why?

can't name 2 people I know that even like this game enough to care.
 
I can't help but laugh at the people who said this was impossible a month ago... I know nothing of programming or how DX works, but I bet negative 30 dollars that we'll be able to play DX10 games in DX10 mode under XP sometime
 
Tylerdurdened said:
I can't help but laugh at the people who said this was impossible a month ago... I know nothing of programming or how DX works, but I bet negative 30 dollars that we'll be able to play DX10 games in DX10 mode under XP sometime
Click to expand...
i'm too sleepy to understand that :confused: if what you are saying is DX10 on XP, sorry but no.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
I can't help but laugh at the people who said this was impossible a month ago... I know nothing of programming or how DX works, but I bet negative 30 dollars that we'll be able to play DX10 games in DX10 mode under XP sometime
Click to expand...

The only reason this was possible is because Halo 2 is purely a DX9 game, simple as that. I have grave doubts about whether they will be able to get DX10 to work in XP, but heres hoping
 
I haven't tested this, but it might also be possible to install Shadowrun on XP with the above method...might...
 
Shadowrun works too, I've seen people install/play it on XP with no problems.
 
I know people that have been playing it for days already on windows xp. If theres a will theres a way practically ;)
 
after seeing this post i went out this morning a bought the game, but am i stupid or something becasue i can't make it work. i have admin privilages i try and run the loader.exe but the the screen just flickers, i have tried double clicking it, using run box, cmd prompt, so can some explain this to me like i am a 4 year old because my understanding of the read me is not working.

thnx
 
aznpxdd said:
What I did was just drag the startup into the loader and it worked.
Click to expand...


That was the only way I could get it to work also. I copy and pasted the loader into the Halo2 folder and then you can drag the startup icon over to the loader and Bingo, it works.
 
well that worked it popped up the install screen i click install it gave windows vista message saying something about performance issues with my pc and i should run the performance check in control panel, i skipped passed that and after that nothing happened.
 
Can nobody here read the included directions? Here are step by step directions, if you follow these to the letter, you should be just fine (these assume that your DVD-ROM drive is D:\, and that you install Halo 2 to the default directory):

- Extract the archive to C:\H2\
- Insert the Halo 2 DVD.
- Open a command prompt.
- Type in the following all on one line (with the quotes) "C:\H2\Loader.exe" "D:\startup.exe"
- The disk menu will now open properly without bringing up an error.
- Install the game using the "Customize game Install" option, be sure to do a full install.
- Wait for the installer to finish (the progress bar may take a while to appear, just let it go).
- navigate to D:\redist\ and install both XLiveRedist1.0.6027.msi and vcredist.msi, if one acts like it's already installed, click the "repair" option to continue.
- navigate to C:\H2\ and copy dwmapi.dll, mf.dll, MFPlat.dll to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo 2\
- To start the game, make a new shortcut on your desktop (Right Click > New > Shortcut).
- Type the following path (with the quotes) "C:\H2\Loader.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo 2\halo2.exe"
- Double click the shortcut you've just made and the game will start.
 
OK guys, sorry to bump an old thread but...

I'm having a blast playing Halo 2 on my computer. I bought a 360 controller a long time ago for Lego Star Wars and other games, and now I'm loving the fact that I can play Halo 2 in high-res with a 360 controller and have a lot of fun with it. I'm working my way through the SP campaign but I'm hoping to get some MP going within the next couple of weeks.

The game looks amazing at 1680x1050 2xAA, and I keep Vsync on. I'll get the occasional drop to 45/30 FPS during the really chaotic outdoor scenes but nothing to complain about. The colors really pop on this NEC monitor, and 4xAA is playable as well if I don't mind more 45FPS than 60. I haven't tried it on Vista yet and I don't really plan to until I try to play MP :D

If you haven't played it on 360 and you have the hardware to run it smoothly, go for it. It's a lot of fun and it's much more polished and looks much better than the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved.
 
i found an easy way to install halo2 on XP!!!

www.halo2xp.tk

this guy made a whole installer and uninstaller using batch files!

now if onyl someone made an FOV hack :(
 
Sigh, I can't get this shit working! I tried manually installing Halo 2 on XP a couple of weeks ago with the loader.exe, did everything right but when I start the damn game, it gives me this message - "LIVE Gaming on Widows failed to initialize. This may be because another LIVE Gaming on Windows application (such as the Halo 2 dedicated server) is running on the same machine. Other wise, reinstalling the game may fix this problem". Well, I'm pretty damn sure I don't have anything else LIVE installed on my system since its XP.

Anyways, I uninstall and install the game again with the installer in the link above. Everything goes about the same and when I start the game...I get the same damn message again!

Does anyone know what's going on? I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling LIVE from the DVD, but doesn't help at all. If anyone knows how to get around this problem, I'd really appreciate it if you help me.
 
I also have problems. I can start the game just fine but a level wont load. It just sits at a screen when i select a difficulty and my HDD doesnt move at all.
 
I find it hilarious;

A) How bad the game looks in 1680 x 1050 :p (It was the ONLY res that was properly in my range)
B) How well it runs on my setup, given its supposed to be dx10 crap (Or is it?)
C) How fun it is for how crappy it looks :D (Oh god, the tank... MOAR TANK!)

Wow. Way to go to these guys... MS is looking like a bitch right now.
 
Vagamus said:
I find it hilarious;

A) How bad the game looks in 1680 x 1050 :p (It was the ONLY res that was properly in my range)
B) How well it runs on my setup, given its supposed to be dx10 crap (Or is it?)
C) How fun it is for how crappy it looks :D (Oh god, the tank... MOAR TANK!)

Wow. Way to go to these guys... MS is looking like a bitch right now.
Click to expand...

how are they looking like a bitch? You bought it :rolleyes:
And it's a dx 9 game. As much as I hated part 1, I thought part 2 was a lot of fun which I know halo nuts hate part 2. I dunno why though.
 
This is funny. I was at a store yesterday and saw A LOT of Halo 2 boxes sitting there. I just laughed and walked away. I was not interested because I dont have any Vista plans anytime soon. I may dabble in this hack to play. I liked halo 1.

MS so "shot themselves in the foot" making a 2 year old game one of their Vista show pieces.
 
aznpxdd said:
Sigh, I can't get this shit working! I tried manually installing Halo 2 on XP a couple of weeks ago with the loader.exe, did everything right but when I start the damn game, it gives me this message - "LIVE Gaming on Widows failed to initialize. This may be because another LIVE Gaming on Windows application (such as the Halo 2 dedicated server) is running on the same machine. Other wise, reinstalling the game may fix this problem". Well, I'm pretty damn sure I don't have anything else LIVE installed on my system since its XP.

Anyways, I uninstall and install the game again with the installer in the link above. Everything goes about the same and when I start the game...I get the same damn message again!

Does anyone know what's going on? I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling LIVE from the DVD, but doesn't help at all. If anyone knows how to get around this problem, I'd really appreciate it if you help me.
Click to expand...

I am getting this exact same message. I used the latest 0.3 batch script installer listed above and followed it to a T using Razor911 REPACK of Halo 2 and I get the sme Live Gaming on Windows failed to initialize. Anyone?
 
I just gave up on this. I have tried multiple installs, copying this and that to this and that directory and still the same thing. The annoying part is it switching to 640 x 480 during the error message causing me to have to change all my monitor settings back. Game isn't worth all these troubles.
 
kohan69 said:
i found an easy way to install halo2 on XP!!!

www.halo2xp.tk

this guy made a whole installer and uninstaller using batch files!

now if onyl someone made an FOV hack :(
Click to expand...

Ahh...thanks for the link, finally found a way to get around Gravemind bug :)

now it's time to finish the campaign so I can uninstall this piece of MS garbage.
 
I figured it out pretty easily, then after playing for 10 minutes i found out the game was awful and quickly deleted any trace of it from my PC.
 
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