Image via 343 Industries
The games continue rolling into Halo MCC, as ODST is the latest to join its counterparts on PC. Players can now enjoy the campaigns of Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo Reach. For those who have never played ODST, it is the first installment where the player does not play as Master Chief, but instead one known as The Rookie. Wearing ODST battle armor, he’ll journey through covenant in an attempt to reunite with his team.
This update also introduces the long-awaited firefight mode to the console and PC versions of the game. ODST was already a part of the MCC on consoles long ago, but firefight mode was not included in the original version. If you don’t remember, firefight is the PvE mode in which waves of enemies spawn into the area and players must work together to kill them as quickly as possible.
It also now includes customization so that players can create their own firefight game modes. Similar to Gears of War’s horde mode or Call of Duty’s zombies, firefight can keep you and your friends busy for hours. The full patch notes are below.
Today, September 22, 2020, we are releasing Halo 3: ODST for the PC. This will include an update for the Xbox version that includes Firefight for ODST. We are also happy to introduce the beginning of Season 3 which will incorporate customization unlocks for titles in the collection along with a journey of continued challenges to complete. A breakdown of the install and update sizes and bug fixes can be found below:
Game Install Size and Version
Please see the information below to ensure you have the proper disk space to install the latest update.
Latest Version
- The latest version of the game is 1.1829.0.0, to find the version number (Full KBA).
- To update your game if you are not on the latest version (Full KBA).
Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta)
- Max size of 14.09 GB
Steam
- Max size of 11.5 GB
Xbox
- Max size of 19.74 GB
New Features
- ODST is now available on PC!
- ODST Firefight has been added to Xbox, Steam, and Windows Store, included with the ODST DLC package.
- ODST Firefight now supports custom game variant options for creating your own Firefight modes.
- Season 3 has been added to the collection, featuring ODST Firefight Customization, New Halo 3 Weapon and Visor Skins, and new nameplates including:
- 12 Halo 3 Weapon Skins.
- 30 Halo 3 Visor Skins.
- 10 ODST Character Skins.
- 4 ODST Character Skins (Unlockable via Challenges).
- 30 Nameplates.
- A new frontend menu has been added to welcome ODST Firefight Customization to the collection.
- Halo 2 Anniversary Multiplayer’s Customization has been broken down into per-part pieces.
- Added Challenges to the Pause Menu for visibility during gameplay.
- Added an option that allows users to disable the Challenge notification.
- Added deck progress counter in Challenge Hub.
- Progress notifications for featured (golden) challenges now appear gold.
- More variety is present for Challenges which reward Season Points from week to week.
- Added ODST’s Silenced SMG, Automag, and Brute Plasma Rifle to Halo 3 Multiplayer.
- Added Recon weapon set to override all weapons on the map with their ODST counterparts.
- Added new option for Halo 3 Grenade Regeneration which includes Firebomb grenades.
- Added bottomless clip option for Halo 3 Infinite Ammo setting.
- Simplified Chinese Text Language is now supported in ODST.
Flight Improvements Brought into MCC Retail
These improvements came from feedback reported by our community and were resolved during or after the flight period of ODST. Thank you for participating!
Halo 3
- We have brought over the improvements made in our last flight patch to hit registration in multiplayer (related to the 60hz and 30hz engine refresh rate as referenced in our development July 2020 blog).
- Fixed several issues that caused floating turrets, mongoose falling from the sky, and a series of issues that were identified during the initial flight with Elephants on Sandtrap.
- Service ID’s shorter than 3 characters now display in gameplay.
- Scoreboard player scrolling is now bound to Up and Down arrow keys.
- Updated how the camera intersects with objects in Forge fixing an issue where players would be flung out of the map boundaries and killed when playing or moving objects.
- Several improvements to Forge with camera movement, menu navigation, and placing or moving objects.
- Halo 3 matchmaking game films no longer prevent players from restarting the film.
ODST
- Fixed an issue that caused missing or delayed subtitles during cutscenes.
- Detached turrets no longer use lowered crosshairs when Crosshair Position is set to “Centered”.
- Players can operate and exit hijacked Ghosts without others seeing them as standing on it.
- Resolved several crash issues reported during the flight period.
- All the character models have matching hands.
- AA Wraith Spawns normally in “Lost Platoon.”
- Suicide Grunts now have grenades in their hands.
- Projectiles are visible when Wraiths are seen firing.
- Players can use health packs in Firefight. Scope zoom sound effects only play once in Firefight.
- When the time limit expires the game ends instead of a new game starting before the end of the current game in Firefight.
- Front turrets on Phantoms are visible to players in Firefight
- The preview images were correct for several reward tiers (Romeo and Buck, Helmets on/off).
Resolved Issues
Below is a breakdown of the specific fixes that have come with today’s update:
General/UI
- Exit Experience no longer plays sound effects for 0 Challenge XP.
- Post-game and pause menu roster no longer display player names as “Player Found”.
- The Refresh Pings button no longer disappears if user passes over Relays option after viewing Network pings.
- Players will no longer get a duplicate notification of the same challenge when progress is made.
- The player emblem is no longer missing the background image for all users that appear in the pause menu roster.
- “Playlist stats” is no longer missing “Max local players” in the “Competitive” game mode selection menu.
- The warning when enabling a zero-scoring skull has been updated to define that any “mission completion, scoring, time, Challenges, and par achievements will not be recorded when running campaign with a zero-scoring skull.
Halo 1
- The customization menu “Schism” skin texture placement is no longer inconsistent with other Fuel Rod skin textures.
- The preview model will no longer show the last visor color highlighted when highlighting “DEFAULT” instead of the default color.
Halo 2& Halo 2 Anniversary Multiplayer
- Armor descriptions are no longer missing from Spartan Armor Customization.
- In Halo 2 Anniversary Forge, hovering over a different highlightable field before selecting “Yes” on a prompt no longer causes the action to not be taken.
- Crosshair no longer moves up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
- The Edit Mode action “Grab Object” is no longer assigned to a random key every time the game is restarted.
Halo 3
- Crosshair no longer moves up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
- The prompt no longer indicates [Q] (instead of assigned key) to enter edit mode at the beginning of the forge session.
- Boot Player prompt no longer contains references to the Xbox One console on PC.
- Objects placed when nearing the total object limit are now saved.
- Objects no longer despawn when too many are placed on maps with high object density.
- Changing to Player Mode while moving an object set to phased physics no longer causes the object to continue moving indefinitely.
- Forge object rotation is more responsive with a mouse when using an unlimited framerate.
- Objects set to fixed or phased physics no longer maintain momentum when released and changed to normal physics.
- Players and held objects are no longer rapidly accelerated when cameras and objects are misaligned.
- The callout to Summary now reflects actual key binding.
- The picture-in-picture display in the Sniper Rifle’s Scope will now appropriately reflect the player’s view when the crosshair is centered in Halo 3.
- The progress bar in Halo 3 Theater is now filled during playback. All weapons, vehicles, and grenades now appear in the appropriate kills category in the Post Game Carnage Report.
- Halo 3 armor components now display description strings in the Customization menu.
ODST
- Look Inversion set to Inverted no longer overrides Flight Inversion while in Banshee while using Controller.
- Updated the Epilogue thumbnail & loading screen image to remove a spoiler.
- Excessive flashing no longer occurs in security camera shots in cutscenes in 4K resolution.
- Tools of Destruction no longer displays the Halo 3 Magnum instead of ODST Magnum.
- Suppressed SMG tool of destruction is no longer displayed as standard SMG.
- There is no longer a large visible gap in the center of the Health Bar in 4K resolution.
- Com Data UI no longer consistently blinks while viewing any Com Data.
- Weapon icons in gameplay have been updated to higher-quality versions.
- Fixed an issue where the VISR’s intel menu did not display objectives as individual bullet points.
- There is no longer a misplaced period for weapon pickup text in Italian.
- Betrayed ODSTs no longer appear as Spartans in the Post Game Carnage Report.
Halo 4
- Friendly Fire has been disabled in various Halo 4 Big Team Battle game variants, most notably in Team Heavies.
Halo: Reach
- Engineer is no longer listed as Huragok in the Post Game Carnage Report for ODST and Halo: Reach campaigns.
- Firefight Matchmaking now gracefully prompts a User without the DLC Entitlement or Campaign Content.
- Crosshairs no longer move up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
- The picture-in-picture display on Covenant vehicle dashboards will now appropriately reflect the player’s view when the crosshair is centered.
