Thinking about creating a South Florida LAN for HALO CE on original xbox

l88bastard

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To this day, I have never found a multi-player experience that can come close to the fun that can be had with the original Halo on a quad xbox lan. I would love to setup a weekly lan with fellow Halo crackheads that miss the originals swag as much as I do.

I already have four copies of HALO CE and the original Xboxs are now going for cheap on ebay (I can get four of them for less than $100). Also, I have found some nice CRT tvs on Cragslist for free...so the total cost for me to get all the goods is a mere $100.

All I need now is a few fellow Halo addicts and a volunteer to host the LAN. I wish I could host it but my woman would kill me if she saw four massive 36" Sony WEGA CRTs in the living room ;)

I am in the Eastern Fort Lauderdale / Pompano area, so if anybody is interested in joining post up in this thread :)
 
If I was in Florida I would gladly join you. I have some people I still do that with once and a while in Minnesota. We use 360's and LCDs instead of the original Xbox. It runs smoother on the 360 and is a lot clearer than playing in 480i, also you get the 360 controllers (although I miss the original "Dukes").
 
I dunno, whenever we play Halo CE on the 360 there always seems to be a random annoying jitter every now and then. The "jitter" never existed on the original xbox version, plus my large hands loved the Duke controller :)

I just got Halo CE for the PC and am really impressed because I have been able to play it at 2560x1440 @120hz widescreen with the widescreen fixer and a simple console command! So I may re-think the quad xbox lan setup in favor of a PC Lan because it is superior. Imagine 16 people raiding a starbucks with their laptops for some halo lan action :D
 
From Miami here, also still have my original xbox + Halo although no controllers, I think I threw them away. I hated those controllers, always bought the mini madcatz ones instead.
 
I agree that Halo 1 multiplayer was the best. I used to play online by using tunneling software (gamespy arcade/xbconnect). Easily the best online multiplayer experience of any game I've played. 2 had it's moments but Halo 1 was still more fun.

I dunno, whenever we play Halo CE on the 360 there always seems to be a random annoying jitter every now and then. The "jitter" never existed on the original xbox version, plus my large hands loved the Duke controller :)

One of my friends claimed that CE didn't play right on the 360 --- Microsoft did update those backward compatibility files, though I'm not sure Halo had any updates/improvements --- this chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360 says it does have framerate problems in co-op (makes me think 4 player split screen over LAN w/ a total of 16 players would be worse).

The 360 controller is actually really nice, not just because it's wireless, but it combines some of what was great from the duke with some of what was great for the S. I used to own with the Duke --- then the Controller-S grew on me during Halo 2 days.

So I may re-think the quad xbox lan setup in favor of a PC Lan because it is superior. Imagine 16 people raiding a starbucks with their laptops for some halo lan action :D

I've finally got a chance to try the PC version --- it's definitely fun, but sometimes boring possibly because it's not with friends or I just played waay too much Halo way back when. At least PC version has official online matches.
 
@Justinjk: I have had a couple of "Classic" Halo CE moments on the PC version recently, but it still is missing that LAN element. Having a group of friends under the same roof playing on multiple TVs/Xboxs over a lag free LAN setup is the best no matter what game is being played. I believe you can cross play xboxs with 360s when you play Halo CE, so some people could opt to go old skool if they want.

The key to keeping Halo CE multiplayer fresh through the LAN event is to have a healthy mix of single and team gametypes.
(1) Sniper slayer on Boarding action
(2) Rocket Slayer on Prisioner
(3) Shotty + Pistol Slayer
(4) CTF with standard weapons, rockets+unlimited grenades, or shotty + pistol
(5) King of the hill with standard weapons, rockets+unlimited grenades, or shotty + pistol
(6) Rally Race with rockets & indestructable warthogs on BloodGulch (this is my absolute favorite game type)
(7) Variants of all of the above with massive health & overshields or reduced health & overshields

@NickJames: I'll put you on the list here..maybe if we get enough addicts together we can get something coordinated.
 
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Halo CE LANs. I remember those days.

My friends would still play but we left console gaming behind long ago.
If we still had the original XBOX, I would have about 4 people join immediately.
 
@Justinjk: I have had a couple of "Classic" Halo CE moments on the PC version recently, but it still is missing that LAN element.

Ha, yeah, I can't lie, I've still had some fun. I just dropped $350 on my first dedicated graphic card for my PC and I found myself only caring to play Halo: CE.

CTF on Blood Gulch (I would usually play 3 vs 3s) is always going to be one of my favorite gametypes. CTF on Hang 'em High is also fun especially with a lot of players.

If we still had the original XBOX

More people should have held onto them. Once the HDD fails, it will not start a game anymore. If the HDD is still ok, it's possible to hotswap the hdd into your PC to recover the HDD key allowing you to switch over to another IDE hard drive (guide). If the hdd is dead, you still have the option of pulling up the eeprom info that includes the HDD key by building a reader (guide) - I've never done this myself, but I've seen them on eBay for ~$20 shipped. When you have control of what's on the Xbox hard drive, it's very easy to install a softmod exploit, allowing you the ability to use Halo Cache Editor - a very fun editor allowing you to change weapon projectiles ect. or load PPF patches on your Halo multiplayer maps. If you used that networked, everyone would need the exact same edits made, otherwise it would desync instantly.

Also, if you DO plan on using your old Xbox, be aware of the problem where the solder beneath the power supply gets loose solder joints. Huge / not resized pictures of what mine looked like due to this problem: http://hosting.fayp.com/viewer.php?v=full&image=mxnF.jpg http://hosting.fayp.com/viewer.php?v=full&image=QOLqe9.jpg

I heard about a recall on the power cord, called them and got a free one shipped to my house. Then like 8 or 9 years later (last year), my xbox is making popping noises constantly and it smells like an electrical fire every time I turn it on --- but still stays on, and seems perfectly fine. I finally decide that I'm going to research this because I want to keep this thing as long as possible for some of the non backward compatible exclusives. As I learned from this; http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=361537 it turns out the power cord was not in any way related to the problem, it was just a replacement that was supposed to notice the shorts happening because of the solder joint problem. The scary part is that I was USING the replacement power cord when the popping noise/burning smell had been happening, and the Xbox never turned off. I followed the steps to fix the problem and now it's perfect again. They claim the "1.0 or 1.1" models are affected, but I heard someone say their later model had a problem as well, so be careful. It's very easy to disassemble and you can be awful at soldering and still accomplish this fix (just unplug it when you are done playing and don't leave it on and unattended).
 
So here are the button combos that I am using for Halo CE PC:
I hold the controller with my left hand and:
-the left thumb stick does movement
-the top left bumper is melee
-the left trigger is for grenades
-pressing down on the left thumbstick reloads

With my right hand I use the mouse:
-left button fires
-right button zooms
-top thumb button jumps
-bottom thumb button crouches
-mouse wheel down switches weapons
-mouse wheel up switches grenades

The PC version of CE is superior versus the xbox version because:
1) Mouse is way more accurate than aim assist
2) Graphics, resolution & refresh rate are superior (Im playing 2560x1440 @120hz on my Catleap 2b versus the xbox versions 480p @30hz.
3) More Maps, better sound effects
4) Complete customization
5) Everybody in a Lan can have their own screen. The xbox version limits you to four consoles, so you need to split screens when you go over 4 peeps playing. PC doesn't have that limitation, so everybody can have their own screen.

Perhaps we can setup a [H]ard league of Halo CE matches or something :D
 
I hold the controller with my left hand and:
With my right hand I use the mouse:

Can't imagine what gave you the idea to even try that. The Goldeneye 64 two controller settings come to mind...

Whatever works, right? I wonder if pro gaming competitions would allow people to use a setup like that (not that we are talking about pro gaming, just makes me wonder).
 
Can't imagine what gave you the idea to even try that. The Goldeneye 64 two controller settings come to mind...

Whatever works, right? I wonder if pro gaming competitions would allow people to use a setup like that (not that we are talking about pro gaming, just makes me wonder).

Why? Its the best of both worlds. Movement with a keyboard sucks and is unnatural. With my method you use the thumbstick to move which means you get the full analog input spectrum on your movement and not just "stop & go" like a keyboard does.

With my method you get to look with the mouse, which is far superior versus looking with a controller...so my method marries the best of both control styles and I have been playing FPS like this since BF1942 released ten years ago.
 
Can you host a server and run as many people on Halo PC and Halo 2 PC as on the console versions?
 
do you guys realize that halo pc has an active community? (we have dwindled greatly)

i was an admin on and off for the clanwars.cc site back when we actively played ladders... theres just not as many people any more. we are doing all we can to keep the game active. im an admin of the forum we all congregate on.


the cool thing about halo pc is it gets prettier the more hardware you throw at it.
 
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