Saturday, November 12, 2022

Halo: The Master Chief Collection









3D Vision and geo-11 fix for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. This fixes all of the games inside the collection, including the customization menu made in Unreal Engine 4, the classic versions of Halo CE and Halo 2, and Forge and multiplayer maps. Considering the differences in the games shaders, this is more or less like 9 fixes in 1.

Tested with the Steam version of the game.


Update (2022-11-12): updated geo-11 fix with build v0.6.78. More HUD consistency between games. Autoconvergence configured. Refixed Halo 3 shadows that a game update broke. Performance improvements.

Update (2022-06-21): added geo-11 fix.

Update (2022-06-13): a round of polishing, with improved light shafts in Halo 2, correctly fixed sniper views (including a vehicle in Halo: Reach), fixed radial blur, added a missing Halo 2 crosshair to the list, fixed Halo 4 thermal vision, a water shader in Halo 2, some shadows in Forge mode, more effects in the customization menu... And also changed defaults of some hotkeys, for what I find more comfortable.

Update (2022-04-20): after the recent game update, I have refixed shaders in the affected games and also fixed motion blur from 3 and ODST, and radial blur when aiming in Halo 1. Shader regex compilation has been improved by a lot too. I did NOT refix weapon convergence in Halo 2 classic. I'm tired of it getting broken so frequently, so I'm going to wait until Halo MCC stops receiving updates.

Update (2021-12-11): refixed water in Halo 3.

Update (2021-11-06): minor update that fixes a shadows shader in "The Arbiter" mission in Halo 2 with medium shadows selected. It also fixes some new shaders from the customization in the main menu.

Update (2021-10-23): fixed broken things from Halo 1 and Halo 2 again after the latest update broke them. I have also fixed water caustics in Halo 2 Anniversary, improved its light shafts and fixed light shafts in Halo 2 classic (the sun was invisible with the old fix).
By the game update itself, lighting clipping in Halo 1 isn't there anymore, and weapon convergence is already correct in Halo 2 Anniversary (not in the classic Halo 2. That fix still is necessary) so CPU performance is now better.

Update (2021-06-26): fixed Halo 1 again after a game update broke it. I have also fixed a Halo 3 fog shader I missed the last time. Reenabled stereoization of specular reflections for Halo CE classic.

Update (2021-04-15): fixed Halo 3 again after a game update broke it and added some missing Halo CE crosshairs and textures now stereoized. Disabled stereoization of specular reflections for Halo CE classic, because it had glitches. Other small fixes.


Fixed

  • Shadows.
  • Lighting.
  • Lens flares.
  • Light shafts (there is a bit of imperfection in Halo 2 remastered).
  • Haloing issues like water and some windy effects in Halo 2 classic.
  • Fog and distant fog.
  • Weapon convergence scaling in Halo 2 classic (pending to refix).
  • 2D geometry in Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST.
  • Night vision in Halo 3 ODST and Reach, and a similar effect in 4.
  • Distortion effects.
  • Motion blur.
  • Sniper rifle screens.
  • Customization menu.
  • Black textures in anniversary maps of Halo 2.
  • Distant geometry in Halo CE classic.
  • Stereoized specular reflections.
  • Stereoized parallax occlusion mapping and similar effects.
  • Dynamic HUD except for Halo 2 classic which remains at 100% depth.
  • Added some automatic convergence presets for some of the games.
  • Minor things that I don't remember.

Known issues

  • Halo 2 classic doesn't have dynamic HUD. I couldn't find a suitable shader from which to get the depth.
  • The culling fix for Halo 2 remastered lens flares has the side effect of clipping some lighting at the left and right borders of the screen.
  • After the October 2021 update, fixing some elements in Halo 2 classic has the drawback of breaking others. I tried to reach a balance.
  • Stereoized specular reflections in Halo CE classic and Halo 2 classic may not always be correct depending on the camera angle.
  • Some fog effects were fixed in a "sticky" way instead of making it float mid air. I couldn't find another way to do it and I'm not sure if that possibility exists.

Installation
  • geo-11 (new, recommended, using build v0.6.78): download this file and extract its contents in the "Halo The Master Chief Collection\MCC\Binaries\Win64" folder, where "MCC-Win64-Shipping.exe" is. Remember to edit "d3dxdm.ini" to change your "direct_mode" to the output you need.
  • 3D Vision (outdated): download this file and extract its contents in the "Halo The Master Chief Collection\MCC\Binaries\Win64" folder, where "MCC-Win64-Shipping.exe" is.
  • Now you need to run the game, but it's very important to do it in a way that doesn't launch Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). There are two ways of doing it:
    1. Launching the game with the "MCC Anti-Cheat Disabled (Mods and Limite.." option that Steam offers. This will disable all achievements, but it doesn't require touching any game files.
    2. If you want to get achievements in single player modes (and some for messing around in Forge or alone in multiplayer maps), you need to bypass EAC. The dll files you can download in a ".rar" there go in the "Halo The Master Chief Collection\easyanticheat" folder. Remember to make a backup of the originals for whenever you want to play multiplayer modes that require EAC.
  • When you run the game for the first time, let it overwrite the Nvidia profile.

Recommendations
  • DO NOT use the resolution percentage slider. Anything other than 100% will break mouse interactions with the menu until you alt+tab.
  • Play in borderless mode (it triggers 3D just fine) or "upscaling = 1" + windowed to have quick and working alt+tab. However, you need to not use the resolution scaling setting. Anything other than 100% will crash the game. For lower or higher resolution, you'll need to use windowed. Exclusive fullscreen is problematic.
  • If you play on a 3D Vision monitor, 3D TV or projector (basically limited to 60fps per eye), use the ingame 60fps limit for maximum smoothness at 60fps. However, when you get lower than 60fps it's choppier than the unlimited setting.
  • Each game needs its own convergence for the same effect. The "F2" hotkey is good for this. Some flying sections in Reach and 4 can be better with very high convergence, but there isn't a hotkey for that.
  • I recommend the "8" hotkey, especially in Halo 4. By default it's already in use.
  • (3D Vision, old recommendation): to get a lot better fps (near double fps in CPU limited situations) in Halo 3, ODST, Reach and 4, turn down the "Details" setting to medium, or low if medium isn't enough. However, the fps difference of this option in Halo 1 and 2 remastered is minor.

Hotkeys (not the numpad for the numeric keys)
  • L: help OSD toggle (if you uncomment the ";include = ShaderFixes\help.ini" line in "d3dx.ini"). This shows a block of text with the current state of hotkeys and how to use them.
  • F2: convergence presets (0.25, 0.34, 0.5, 0.75, 1). 0.25 by default. Only when autoconvergence is disabled. Each game has its own convergence needs.
  • F3: convergence multiplier (kinda, it will show as x0, x1, x2, x3, x4 in the help text) for when you ride vehicles or use turrets in Halo CE, 2, 3 and ODST. This is because in those situations a high convergence mode will be triggered. x3 by default.
  • F4: toggle for black bars in Halo CE remastered. Disabled by default.
  • F5: weapon convergence correction presets for Halo 2 classic (x0, x4, x8, x13). x8 by default, which seems the most accurate. Anything other than x0 is just the proper fixed convergence correction. Non functional until I redo the feature.
  • F6: motion blur toggle for Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST. Disabled by default because it's annoying.
  • F8: vignette toggle for Halo 4. Disabled by default.
  • 5: depth of field toggle for the games that have it. Disabled by default. When disabled, aside from Halo 2 classic, things can still look lower res than what wasn't blurred.
  • 6: image grain toggle Halo 3 ODST. Not disabled by default.
  • 7: night vision distortion artifacts toggle for Halo 3 ODST. Not disabled by default.
  • 8: this toggles off useless HUD helmet textures in Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST and Halo 4. Disabled by default. I recommend it to have fewer distractions in your view.
  • 9: screen space reflections reflected geometry multiplier for Halo 2 remastered (x1, x2, x4, x8, x12). x1 by default. Higher presets look better but come at a cost of some more GPU usage, not much. Keep in mind that you may see visual stretching at the cutoff point where the reflection doesn't have more space to reflect from the screen.
  • 0: dynamic HUD samples (100, 250, 500, 750, 1000). 250 by default. Higher number equals more crosshair depth smoothness at a cost of more GPU usage. You probably won't need to touch this.
  • K: HUD toggle for all the games. This doesn't disable pause menus and some Forge menus.

Autoconvergence (with geo-11)
  • If you go to "d3dxdm.ini" and set "dm_auto_convergence = 0", you will disable autoconvergence.
  • ctrl+F5 and ctrl+F6 change the general convergence strength in autoconvergence.


If you liked the fix and want to contribute for more future fixes, you can donate to this PayPal account: masterotakusuko@gmail.com
Or you can join my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/masterotaku

53 comments:

  1. Hi, If I play turning on 3d, appear the following error on the title screen.

    "The UE4 MCC game hs crashed and will close.
    Low level fatal error, File: Unknown Line:200
    Unreal engine is exiting due to D·D devise being lost.
    Error 0x887a0006 hung"

    This only happen to me on this game conpilation recently, before that I could play the game Halo 1 combat evolved on 3d.
    Could you help me,please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you mean the old version of Halo CE, then I suspect your problem is not having the driver hack enabled. It's necessary for many games, especially ones that use Unreal Engine 4. And it's precisely what the main menu of this collection uses.
      You can enable the global hack in 3D Fix Manager. If you have doubts, go to discord or the mtbs3d forums.

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  2. Man... these screenshots look fantastic. I've already played every game at least twice, most in co-op, including the Halo 3 and Reach in LASO mode in co-op. But never in proper 3D. I think I have to fire it up again. Thanks man.

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  3. Wow...big masterotaku!!!!!!!

    I'm just playing the MCC for the first time now(Halo 3 currently), thanks 1000x for this fix!!

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  4. instead of drinking vine and celebrate Christmas, u make 3d fixes....wow

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  5. Am vey excited about this patch and respect the time you put in. Am I the only person that gets a crash and error message when applying the patch because it seems like I am. Frustrated but glad others can enjoy.

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    Replies
    1. Does it not crash if you don't use the fix (but still have 3D enabled)?

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    2. Also what driver are you using? Anything over 452.06 is dead to us, and anything over 425.31 requires the Schwing hack.

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    3. I uninstalled the fix and it works fine without it. I am running Windows 1909 with the 425.31 drivers. Thank you so much for replying.

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Wait, I see you mentioned the Schwing hack. Where can I get that?

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    7. Is the Schwing hack (schwing, hee hee) Bringback3DV.eve? If so doesn't my having the 3D Fix Manager make that unnecessary? I currently play other games in 3D so my system does play 3D games (thanks to 3D Fix Manager). To give you more info, it comes up with two errors. The first one gives me a code. The second one says that 3d311.dll is an untrusted system file. Error code at top says its from Easy-Anti-CHeat.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Wow, in doing my research to give you guys information so you could help me, I figured it out. I just had to run the game from Steam which gives me the option to play without the anti-cheat. Thank you guys for asking and leading me to the answer. It plays like a dream! Please know that you are the best, and offering help to those of us who still have trouble after the fix is posted is more than above and beyond! Will contribute when holiday season is over. Thanks again!

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    Replies
    1. The installation instructions mention EAC. The launch option and also how you can avoid EAC with modded dll files to still get achievements. Multiplayer modes that use EAC will kick you out, however.

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    2. I thought I was careful to read the instructions thoroughly. Sorry about that.

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    3. Yeah, I ran into the same issue - running the game from desktop shortcut of .exe from the Win64 folder gives the error about untrusted file - the game has to be run from Steam with the Anti-Cheat disabled option.

      I see this is covered in the last sentence of step 2 but the fact that step 2 is marked as optional is a bit confusing because step 3 only says to launch the game - perhaps this could be made clearer, i.e. - step 3 should say "Using the Steam launcher, run the game in the mode that disables EAC and achievements and let it overwrite the Nvidia profile"? Just a thought :)

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    4. And, of course - big thank you masterotaku!

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    5. Done. I think the steps and options are explained better now.

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  8. Much appreciated, will queue this up for a full campaign playthrough. Thanks.

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  9. Regarding performance, I noticed lowering "details" setting to LOW gave me a huge performance boost. I still have to test H3:ODST but that was the case for the other games. Halo 4 ran at 60fps in the opening scene, the the jungle level and desert level - I only tested small areas but sondar so good, looks amazing!

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    Replies
    1. PS. I couldnt really spot too much difference between low and high detail settings bar a bit more foliage at HIGH.

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    2. Hey, you're right (and it makes sense because the fps drops are because of the amount of detailed geometry)! At first I dismissed the details option because its effect on fps was small in remastered Halo 1 and 2, but I see it makes a really big difference in the rest of the games (3, ODST, Reach and 4).
      For example, there's a jungle/forest level in Halo 4 where I know a spot that runs at 22fps on high, 55fps on medium and 60fps (vsync locked) on low.

      The graphics difference of low is noticeable in some Reach rock textures, but medium is already a big fps bump.

      Thanks for noticing this. I'm going to add it to the recommendations list. Now I'm mad that I played most of the time far from 60fps because of just one setting :p.

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    3. hehe, glad to help. Yeah, I have this habit of tweaking settings trying to reach 60 @ highest possible visuals as I really like smooth fps. It's annoying, especially in games with many options but usually pays off. Maybe you can replay Halo 4 at 60 now :D

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  10. Who made this and how do I pay you for your hard work?

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    Replies
    1. Says right there at the bottom:

      "If you liked the fix and want to contribute for more future fixes, you can donate to this PayPal account: masterotakusuko@gmail.com"

      Delete
  11. Another way to launch without EAC is creating a desktop shortcut as outline here: https://www.reddit.com/r/halomods/comments/eg04eh/how_to_launch_halo_reach_pc_mcc_steam_version/

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  12. This is great. Just sent you some cash on paypal. One question, is there a way to get reshade or Sweet fx to work with this particular fix? From what I can gather its no but just checking. Thanks for keeping 3d vision alive. G.

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    Replies
    1. ok ... Got Reshade to work by just installing it on top of helix 3d fix. Did not have to mess with proxy stuff at all like I remembered in the past ... Really great stuff. Thanks again.

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  13. Can you add an option to disable "Bloom" please??

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  14. Can you add an option to disable the "Bloom" effect in "Halo 3" please?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually with just a little learning, you can mod this to remove bloom yourself. Removing effects is super easy using the 3Dmigoto tool. Set hunting=1 in the d3dx.ini file and you'll then see the hunting UI green text. Cycle through pixel shaders with numpad 1/2 until you find the bloom effect winks out. Hit Mark with Numpad 3, and it will save a file into the ShaderFixes folder. You can find the hash code specifying it, and add that to the d3dx.ini file with a handling=skip.

      That's the basic idea, you'll need to experiment, study, and play with it to learn all the details. You can do this, it's easy.

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    2. I tried what you said but I could not do anything. I don't understand how it works, I have no idea how to do it. Do you have a tutorial that explains everything step by step?

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    3. did you ever figure it out? i cannot stand the blurry vaseline effect bloom in halo mcc. its atrocious. it looks worse than halo 2 cartographer. i am playing at 4k but it looks likek 480p.

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  15. Brilliant, thank you very much for this fix!

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  16. Don't see any difference.

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  17. Any reason why this is capped at 60fps for my C6 OLED. I am using the Acer EDID passive monitor override. I have set the game to remove the frame limiter but I'm still locked at 60 fps and so my frames dip at 4k3D

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  18. I bought HMCC a few days ago and there was a huge update. I'll keep an eye for any fix updates for that big update. Let me know if fix works just fine with new update pls.

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    Replies
    1. The update broke many of the games. I have to update the fix, which I'll probably do this week.

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    2. It is done. Games fixed again.

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    3. Thank you Master, I will save up to donate to you. You are invaluable to the Helixmod Community!

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  19. Current geo11 version breaks the game - black screen with audio then crash. 3D Vision seems to work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are using the geo-11 version off this page, right? Not the generic 0.6.6 version from the announcement.
      The fix here is working, masterotaku has tested it. Give us more info on your setup.

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    2. Hi, same problem for me...

      Config :
      Win11 family 21H2 update KB5017383
      RTX 2060 with driver 516.94 (next will be RTX 3080)
      3D driver 425.31 installed with 3DFM
      3D enabled with 3DFM

      New install of HALO MCC

      Unzip of Halo_MCC_geo11_fix (d3dxdm.ini dated 21 june 2022) in "Halo The Master Chief Collection\MCC\Binaries\Win64" folder
      Edit of "d3dxdm.ini" to change "direct_mode" to dx9
      Use of MCC_EAC_Bypass in "Halo The Master Chief Collection\easyanticheat" folder to bypass EAC
      Launch of the game with STEAM (borderless mode, 60fps, sync ON)
      --> error or game or game in 2D
      Enable fix in 3DFM
      Launch of the game with STEAM (borderless mode, 60fps, sync ON)
      --> sound but black screen
      --> if tested in SBS mode : OK, 2 pictures and sound...

      Unzip of geo-11+v0.6.56 in "Halo The Master Chief Collection\MCC\Binaries\Win64" folder
      Edit "d3dxdm.ini" to change "direct_mode" to dx9
      Launch of the game with STEAM
      --> sound but black screen
      --> if tested in SBS mode : OK, 2 pictures and sound...

      So impossible to run HALO in 3DVision mode (OK with Metro 2033, Fallout 4, ...). Please help. Thanks for your help and your nice work :)

      Delete
  20. Halo 3 the water renders incorrectly

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. I just wanna playwithout motion blur on a 2d monitor. how do I do that?

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  23. Hi brothers and sisters,

    long time indeed. I got great news, I was able to bypass the UE menu in Master Chief Collection and hack a way to make Halo: Reach work in 3D in my 4070ti - and with Alt + F3 Geforce experience shaders it looks amazing.

    Now it won't be an easy task to get it to work but its easy to adapt to it if you got endurance.

    Firstly the steps to take:

    1. Install Master Chief Collection fix directly from helixmod website by MasterOtaku the Legend.
    2. The screen in loading will be black and sound will be coming out.
    3. Blind perseverance: Before you load the game with the fix setup all graphical instructed settings in the helixmod page by Masterotaku - i.e. 60fps cap - u can use borderless or Fullscreen. e.g. If you have trouble start borderless without dx11 dll and place it in a new folder in the .exe dir if u want 2D without issues.
    4. In borderless and blind in 3D you just tap enter until an image of the loading 2D screen appears and there is no blackness anymore - it will resume where u left off, so before dx11 dll is in you gotta setup difficulty and chapter.
    5. When game loads into action in the first chapter you esc and go to settings and change to fullscreen - game will freeze for a short few seconds and resume, you tap iR Emitter shorcut to activate until it kicks in - it should work, it works here.
    6. You can then just start in fullscreen mode in blackness and spam enter to enter the resume option and activate IR Emitter if in 2D in action mode.
    7. If coop you can load game in blackness and I presume *untested* you can get a friend to join your game when you pass the intro startup movies and in UE menu - he should join, and u spam enter until it resumes <- untested, will post here soon my findings.
    8. If you wanna play other Halo versions you in blackness time your enters and move your highlight to the game - so if its a 3rd release u press down arrow 3 times and enter spam until it loads after setting it up in 2D with dx11 dll in new folder in the dir.
    9. I used max settings in Halo: Reach and enhanced in fullscreen at 1440p with a pg278qr and 4070ti with latest drivers and Alt + F3 shaders. I advice u try Sharpening, +sharpening and detail.

    I'll investigate more. This is a must play game in 3D, so I hope I helped you a bit.

    Please comment with any better solutions, or thoughts.

    Enjoy Halo in 3D vision in a 40 series.

    Please donate to masterotaku, as quoted:



    "If you liked the fix and want to contribute for more future fixes, you can donate to this PayPal account: masterotakusuko@gmail.com
    Or you can join my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/masterotaku
    Posted by masterotaku"

    ReplyDelete
  24. 3DFM fix seem to work-ish, Halo is flawless but Halo 2 has weapon convergence set to like 3 million and cant be changed with the "Fix menu", going through the Halo 2 options in that menu doesnt do anything at all for the Halo 2 weapon convergence settings.
    Halo 3 seem to work except water renders at wrong depth/convergence, and since theres quite a bit of water throughout the game, it becomes unplayable.

    Now, the Geo-11 fix on the other hand has a different problem, the main menu is black, if i press: enter enter enter i start 'Reach', and that seem to work perfectly with "direct_mode" set to dx9, but dx11 just crashes the game with "error line 200"

    Gonna re-read the comments here and see if anyone got a fix for the black menus which plague dx9 mode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After more testing
      -3D Vision-
      Halo , 10/10, from what i've seen nothing seem broken.
      Halo 2, broken weapon convergence, i feel like Sid from Ice Age playing the game.
      Halo 3, Water surfaces are broken, might be issues with weapon convergence as well
      Halo 3 ODST, water surfaces are broken
      Halo 3 REACH, 9/10 everything seems fine, looked at water and weapons and it seems reach is the second best.
      All H3's have extremely poor performance though, at details high barely 15 FPS, details medium fps almost doubles, and at details low you cant really see where the enemies are coming from cause details lowers the draw distance of certain models (enemies included). 3DV turned off i easily have 120+ fps, so something might render the wrong way?

      -Geo-11-
      What little ive tested with Geo-11, the black menus seem to be the only issue, but ive only been able to test Reach a tiny bit before i realized i didnt wanna play reach first, but navigating the menus in total darkness and no real sound-cues is a bit tricky to be able to try anything else, the performance with Geo-11 seem to be A LOT better than 3DV though.

      Delete