FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

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002
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FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

Post by 002 » Sun Feb 26, 2017 10:58 pm

How do I join a Halo PC server on HaloMD?

There are three ways you can do this:
  • Add the server IP to your favorites list and join it from within the lobby.
  • Direct IP to the server using the DIRECT IP function from within the game.
  • Use the connect command to join the server.
If the server is not using Blood Gulch, then you will need to insert that map into your maps folder. If the map is MD renamed, you can open it with HaloMD. Otherwise, open HaloMD, press shift-command-M to reveal the maps folder, and drag the map file into your Maps folder.

If the server is a Custom Edition server, then you will need to download the Halo+ plugin (can be downloaded from within the Extensions menu) and, if the server is using a Custom Edition map, install the Sapphire plugin (get it at viewtopic.php?f=101&t=20871).

Note that not all maps are compatible with HaloMD and may crash the game.



How do I join a HaloMD server from Halo PC?

There are two ways you can do this:
  • Direct IP to the server using the DIRECT IP function from within the game.
  • Use the connect command to join the server.
To obtain the server IP address, click on the server name in the lobby and invoke command-I to bring up the inspector. Alternatively, you can join the server and hold down the score screen key (default is 1 or F1) to see the IP on the bottom right corner of the screen.

If the server is not using Blood Gulch or any other retail map, then you will need to insert that map into your maps folder. If it's a HaloMD map, you can either send the map file over or go to http://halomd.net/mods/ to download the map file.

You cannot join a HaloMD server from Halo Custom Edition.
Note that not all maps are compatible with Halo PC and may crash the game.




If you have any further questions, there are a few ways you can ask them:

Reply here. Response times can vary.

Ask your question on the Mac Gaming Mods IRC. Note that response times can vary, but your question will usually get responded to within a few hours to a few days. Do NOT leave the IRC until your question has been responded to, or else your question will very likely not be answered.

Private message 002 or nil. Response times can vary. Note that directly private messaging either of us will not guarantee you a faster response than any of the above methods.
Last edited by 002 on Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

viz
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Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 4:03 am

Re: FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

Post by viz » Tue Mar 28, 2017 4:21 am

Hey I'm new here

Looking to get this setup mainly for LAN play, have a few Macs and PCs around here so would be great to get everything working together!

Have tried with the latest HaloMD and Halo CE v1.10 and it doesn't seem to be compatible? Joining the CE server on HaloMD (with Halo+ extension) fails with the error prompt that the client version is lower than the server version.

Looking at settings > info in HaloMD suggests its running v1.09. But I read elsewhere on this forum that it's compatible with Halo PC v1.10? Confusing.

So to be clear, what's the latest version of both Halo PC and Halo CE that HaloMD is compatible with?

P.S. are you the 002 who wrote the documentation for SAPP? It's super helpful!

002
Ranger
Posts: 944
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:48 pm
Location: ::1

Re: FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

Post by 002 » Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:02 am

viz wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2017 4:21 am Hey I'm new here

Looking to get this setup mainly for LAN play, have a few Macs and PCs around here so would be great to get everything working together!

Have tried with the latest HaloMD and Halo CE v1.10 and it doesn't seem to be compatible? Joining the CE server on HaloMD (with Halo+ extension) fails with the error prompt that the client version is lower than the server version.

Looking at settings > info in HaloMD suggests its running v1.09. But I read elsewhere on this forum that it's compatible with Halo PC v1.10? Confusing.

So to be clear, what's the latest version of both Halo PC and Halo CE that HaloMD is compatible with?

P.S. are you the 002 who wrote the documentation for SAPP? It's super helpful!
From what it looks like, you can only join custom edition servers running SAPP. Unfortunately, the guy who made Halo+ (Samuco) is a little hard to get a hold of, but I'll try passing this along to him.

This should get you started: https://www.dropbox.com/s/avmucqp73tki8 ... d.zip?dl=0 Enclosed is SAPP, Halo Custom Edition's dedicated server (version 1.10), Blood Gulch, an init.txt file which will start Blood Gulch on CTF as well as set the path to the current directory so you don't have to go to My Games to edit SAPP's configuration (if you're doing this), an init.txt file in the sapp folder which enables no lead, and a maps folder with the bare minimum to run Blood Gulch on CTF.

As for the documentation, yeah.

viz
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 4:03 am

Re: FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

Post by viz » Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:57 am

It's all working now!

Tips for anyone else trying to do a mixed Mac/PC LAN:

- If you want to play as a client on the same computer that's running the SAPP server, you have to change the client port in Halo's network settings.
- Have to leave the server as public (can add a password) i.e. can't set <sv_public 0>. If you do this, anyone joining will instantly disconnect with "Network Connection Lost" error. 002's documentation mentions this setting is unstable.

I'll be honest, getting some surprisingly high lags on the server. Ping sits at around 9 and often spikes up to 25 and even 75. Had to use the no_lead patch to get sniping back to what should be expected from LAN. Probably not a good idea running the server and client together on one computer (did try graphics on bare minimum but it didn't do much for the lag spikes). Could be something else in my setup though. Will experiment further...

Cheers 002 for the help and thanks for fixing the Sapphire link in the other thread.

Jacolack
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:13 am

Re: FAQ: Joining a Halo PC server (or having a Halo PC client join a HaloMD server)

Post by Jacolack » Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:24 am

Just got this working in 2019!

I just had one question... Blood Gulch is fun but my friends and I are looking for more maps... I tried taking the .map files from both the Halo CE game folders on my pc and my friend's Mac's game folders. Neither of them worked, so I tried to download them from http://hce.halomaps.org/. This also didn't work... 002 mentioned that he had a "maps folder with the bare minimum to run Blood Gulch" I was wondering where I can get the rest of the maps or what other files are part of the "bare minimum" to run a map on the server that both a PC and a Mac can connect to.

FYI... the PC .map files allow all PC's to connect and play (as expected) but when attempting to connect with a Mac, we get the error message: "Unable to download." The .map files from the mac no one can connect to (sadly also expected).

Please and thank you for any and all help!

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