Halo for Mac OS X
November 2003
© MacSoft, 2003. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Halo for Mac OS X!

This file contains information to help you troubleshoot issues with Halo for the Macintosh.  For the latest support and troubleshooting information, please visit http://www.macsoftgames.com/.

CONTENTS
A.	System Requirements
B.	Installation
C.	Save Games & Preferences
D.	Getting Help
E.	Graphics Issues
F.	Performance Tips
G.	Multiplayer

A. System Requirements

Halo requires a Power Macintosh with the following minimum specifications:

•	800 MHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor.  1 GHz or faster recommended.
•	Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later.  Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” recommended.
•	256 Megabytes (MB) of RAM.  512 MB recommended.
•	32 MB 3D hardware-transform-and-lighting-capable AGP graphics card. Hardware vertex shader-capable graphics card (ATI Radeon 8500/9000, GeForce 3Ti/4Ti) or higher recommended.
•	1.5 GB of available hard disk space.  2 GB recommended.
•	8x CD-ROM drive. 
•	56 Kbps modem or LAN for online network play.  Broadband recommended.

B. Installation

To install the Demo:

1.	Download the Halo Demo disk image
2.	Double-click the “Halo Demo.dmg” icon to mount the disk image.
3.	Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

C. Save Games and Preferences

The Halo Demo stores its saved games in /Users/user name/Documents/Halo Demo.  Some game preferences are stored in /Users/user name/Library/Preferences/Halo Demo Preferences.

D. Getting Help

You can get help for Halo in the following ways:

•	For an overview of the game as well as for information about getting started and playing the game, see the Halo printed manual.
•	Visit the Support section of MacSoft’s web site (http://www.macsoftgames.com) to view top support issues, product-specific content, and other related resources for playing games. 

E. Graphics Issues

Make sure that you have the most up-to-date video drivers available for your operating system and graphics hardware.  Many video issues can be resolved by simply updating your Mac OS X installation or by downloading and installing the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card.

ATI Graphics and Mac OS 10.2.8
Players with this configuration should download the ATI Radeon 3.1.1 Update (available from http://www.ati.com).  This update is essential for owners of R200-class ATI video cards such as the Radeon 8500 and Radeon 9000 and will prevent Mac OS X kernel panics from occurring.

nVidia Graphics and Mac OS 10.2.8
Players with this configuration may see red, green, or white-colored edges on some objects.  This problem is a result of issues with the Jaguar OpenGL drivers and has been resolved in Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther”.

nVidia Graphics and Mac OS 10.3.x
Halo’s performance on certain nVidia hardware such as the GeForce 3 Ti, GeForce 4 Ti, and GeForce 5200 FX will improve substantially if Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” is installed.  We’ve seen performance increases by as much as 100% when using these cards under Panther.  Your mileage may vary.

FSAA
You may experience difficulties playing Halo using ATI or nVidia video cards in any of the Full Screen Anti-Aliasing modes. If you are having a problem, you should disable the FSAA mode for the game using Halo’s Graphics Options window.

F. Performance Tips

Halo is very much a “graphics-driven” game.  Halo’s performance can be increased dramatically by playing the game on a Mac with a high-end graphics card and fast AGP (4x or better) bus.

Mac OS X 10.3
Panther’s OpenGL implementation is generally more robust than that of Mac OS X 10.2.8 Jaguar.  Many graphics problems have been fixed in Apple’s latest operating system and some major performance enhancements have been added.  Owners of GeForce 3 Ti, 4 Ti, and 5200 FX graphics hardware will see dramatic improvements using Panther.

Energy Saver System Preference
Mac OS X 10.3 has an option in the Energy Saver System Preference to toggle Processor Performance.  We recommend that you set this to “Highest” (rather than “Automatic” or “Reduced”) when playing Halo.  The “Highest” setting can have a dramatic effect on game performance, particularly on PowerBooks.

Graphics Options Window
Halo for Mac provides an extra window that allows you to fine-tune game performance.  Feel free to experiment with the settings, or just click “OK” to start the game.  If you choose the “Don’t show this again” option, you can bring back the window by holding down the Command (Apple) key any time you re-start Halo.

Rendering Pipeline
Halo has three different ways it displays or “renders” its 3D graphics.  Depending on your graphics hardware, you may have the option of using one, two, or all three methods:

•	No Shaders.  This is the basic rendering mode; much of the game’s 3D graphics are rendered using the CPU.  This is the only mode available on low-end graphics hardware such as the ATI Radeon 1, Radeon 7500 or nVidia GeForce 2mx and 4mx.
•	Vertex Shaders.  Hardware Lighting is done on a polygon “per-vertex” basis, and the results are very striking compared to No Shaders.  Medium-range graphics cards such as the ATI Radeon 8500/9000 and nVidia GeForce 3Ti/4Ti/5200 FX support this mode.
•	Pixel + Vertex Shaders.  Hardware Lighting is done on a “per-pixel” basis.  Halo’s graphics really shine in this mode, but a powerful video card such at the ATI Radeon 9600, 9700, or 9800 is needed.

Generally, Halo’s graphics will look better in the more advanced shader modes, but the game’s overall performance will be reduced.

Detail Objects
Only available when “Pixel + Vertex Shaders” is enabled.

FSAA
FSAA, or “Full Screen Anti-Aliasing” should be kept disabled for best performance.

Lens Flare
Keep Lens Flare set to “Low” or “Medium” for best performance.

3D Models
Setting 3D Models to “Low” or “Medium” will increase performance, but may introduce animation glitches on the soldiers, Covenant enemies, and vehicles.  Keep this setting on “High” to avoid problems.

Multiple Monitors on a Single Video Card
If you have two monitors attached to a single AGP video card, you may see better performance by disabling one of the monitors and restarting your Mac before playing Halo.

G. Multiplayer

Multiplayer in the Halo Demo is Mac->Mac only. Mac->PC Multiplayer is available in the retail version of the game.

Network Settings
To ensure the highest level of multiplayer game quality, you should specify your connection type in Network Settings. Not only does this setting determine the maximum number of players you can host on a game, but it also determines the amount of data that you will receive from other servers when you are connecting to a multiplayer game as a player. 

To specify your network settings:
1.	On the Halo main screen, click Settings.
2.	Click Network Setup. 
3.	Select the appropriate connection type.
4.	Click OK.

Direct IP Connection
You can join an Internet multiplayer game using a specific IP address for the host server. The host address can be a computer name or numerical IP address.

To join a game using Direct IP:
1.	On the Halo main screen, click Multiplayer.
2.	Click Direct IP under Join. 
3.	Enter the IP address for the host server.
4.	Enter a password (if required).
5.	Click Join to join the game. 
Notes: 
•	Halo remembers the last host address you typed in.
•	If there is no game at the specified IP address, then a “Connection Failed” dialog box is displayed. When you click OK, you are returned to the Main Menu Screen. Click Multiplayer and try entering the IP address again, using the steps above. If that doesn’t work, you should contact the person hosting the game to verify the IP address for the host server.

Ports Used by the Game
Halo connects to the Internet on the following ports by default:
•	2302 (UDP)—Game host listens on this port
•	2303 (UDP)—Game client connects to host through this port
Halo will run from behind most routers and Network Address Translation (NAT) devices. If you have difficulty connecting from behind a router, you should consult your router documentation to ensure that the ports listed above are not blocked for your PC.

In non-team games (such as Slayer), all vehicles are spawning in front of the Red Base: You must select two of each type of vehicle to ensure that one vehicle gets placed in both the Red Base and Blue Base. In non-team games, the default base is Red when vehicles are assigned. If there is only one type of vehicle spawned, then only the Red Base will be populated with vehicles.

Damage-confirmation beep: You may want turn off the damage-confirmation beep in multiplayer games. To do this, you must use the Debug Console. To activate the Debug Console, hold down the Command (Apple) key when you double-click Halo and check the “Allow console” box.  Press ‘~’ (tilde) in the game to enable the Debug Console, and then type “should_play_multiplayer_hit_sound 0” (without the quotes).

Halo does not offer automatic NAT negotiation of UPnP devices. If you have difficulties connecting to games or hosting a server behind this device, you should manually set it to forward the required ports—2302 and 2303 (UDP) by default—to the IP address of the game computer behind the router.