Halo 2 Reshade Mod

May 29, 2015
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Teddyland
unitedfalconclan.roflforum.net
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UF ShadowTeddy
#1
Honestly, I am quite surprised no one has posted this here before, but here goes!


Ever wanted to breath new life into Halo 2?

See the dated graphics and think to yourself 'Damn, even maxing out the game It just doesn't look appealing anymore'
Well, look no further! I present the Halo 2 Reshade Mod. Its a simple matter of dragging and dropping the contents of the zip that you download into the root of Halo 2.

Still not convinced? Well, here's some proof of the Reshade mod in action!

[BBvideo 800,490:3k63j12y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVlsUXwjenk[/BBvideo]

Link to the Reshade Mod:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/q0raf ... eShade.zip

As you can expect, you will need a pretty good PC to get a decent frame rate while utilising the reshade mod (this means laptops are out of the question, unless you want to play at 20 fps :p ) This is due to the nature of the Reshade mod utilising more hardware resources.
 
Mar 20, 2013
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Hawaii
www.h2mt.org
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Kills Alone
#2
Cool to see this again. When we used it before I did not see much of an improvement. Now with a more powerful system I'll try it again.

I like to mod in multiple ways, but when this appeared we decided to stick with real tags, compiled textures & materials, as custom mapping was still the main focus. Some outside apps like this and DSfix offer some nice additions for some users, for others they caused too many issues.

EDIT: BTW, an updated version was released recently: http://reshade.me/#download
 
May 29, 2015
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Teddyland
unitedfalconclan.roflforum.net
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UF ShadowTeddy
#3
The only improvements I see as opposed to vanilla H2PC is that it makes the colors look more vivid.


Again, its one of the many things that could be used towards appealing more people towards Halo 2 PC


As for the Community Made ISO, I had an idea for it. Its dependent on one factor though:
How difficult is it to make a new Installer?
 
Mar 20, 2013
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Kills Alone
#4
Two ISO's just showed up on the torrent sites in the last few days: Halo 2 & Halo: Online, both by NOSTEAM, both have new installers and god knows what else. What is interesting about it is that the Halo: Online ISO is based on ElDewrito and Halo 2, I am not sure....people said it worked online so I'm not sure if it includes Project Cartographer or not. If it does that means more players on Halo 2. Now whats funny is the Halo: Online kids are getting mad, they cannot see the irony in NOSTEAM doing to them what they did to the actual devs work, they called them assholes or whatever for replacing the bik intros and watermarking, this is literally one of the first things that was done to modify H: O. Everyone always thinks they are more entitled.

--

Now for something completely different; yesterday I decided to walk to a hidden beach most people don't know about, time to get away from computers and people. It was going to take about 1.5 hours to walk one way if I took the more direct route. I wanted to know the timing and potential hazards so I can take my son next time. My friend dropped me off at the lower (wrong) entrance. I said screw it and followed the coast-line. My right shoe was ripped off my foot when I fell into a large hole as I was trying to avoid a flooded area, this was about half way there. So either way I was gonna have to walk on my bare foot, whether I turned around or not, and there is no way of getting help. I said screw it and pushed on ahead, I've been in much worse situations, willingly, and I considered this a worthy challenge, I traversed massive boulders which eventually led to a lava field, took my time so as not to eviscerate myself, some of these rocks are razor sharp.

Finally got to the beach and was able to enjoy it for a bit, I knew there would be sea turtles but not nēnē (Hawaiian goose), check my time and realize I need to haul ass because I'm way behind schedule, the ocean route took 2.5 hours, I will be doing the last bit of the (shorter & inland) trail in the dark. Fortunately I usually had a few backup plans, I brought one of my boys finger light; a type of small blue LED and the night before was a full-ish moon. The main problem I encountered on that trail: mud that blended into the darkness and the jungle canopy made it dark before I expected. I finally found a decent walking stick and made my way for about a mile through the jungle. Overall, it was great adventure, definitely not an experience I will forget.

Now for the irony (just to bring us full circle); get home where I can wind down and feel safe, I look down on the bathroom floor and there is a centipede, I almost accidentally stepped on it. Feel like I dodged a bullet on that encounter. :D
 
May 29, 2015
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Teddyland
unitedfalconclan.roflforum.net
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UF ShadowTeddy
#5
Dat reaction time doe!
I love a good old anecdote, and this one brought a smile to my face :)

As for the noSTEAM people, The only reason why the ED people are getting so angry is because of one thing:
People are idiots. Angry Idiots. Because they downloaded their version of ED, this means that they get a bunch of people asking:
'Why can't I join this game?'
'Why does this server take ages to load?'
'Why are there people with the same name as me?'
'Why can't I change my name?'
'When can I haz reconz?'

As for their version of halo 2, its annoying everyone who plays the game. These noSTEAM people have been hacking, there was some SBB people posing as noSTEAM and were hacking the game too (which resulted in their untimely ban). And if that wasn't enough, the join lag is absolutely unbearable. if there's one of them in a server and another tries joining, then they won't be able to. Which leads to lag for everyone in the game. Now as you know, Join lag happens for like a second right?
Well in this instance, IT DOESN'T. There will be atleast ~7 - 9 of these people joining at the same time with the same names + XUID. That makes for.... oh yes suicide inducing lag that lasts for minutes. its THAT bad
Oh yeah. The ban policy has now been radically changed. You hack ONCE and that's all you need to get you off Project Cartographers servers and the game itself. Offline will still be available, but the people who have been hacking get their IP and XUID blacklisted by Tweek himself. Game Over.


Now I shall go back to doing some work on Microsoft Word. I just realize I have fraps running, so im technically getting 0 fps on MSWORD. Bro do you even lift? :cool:
 
Mar 20, 2013
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www.h2mt.org
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Kills Alone
#6
I think its on the devs to provide a message/method to fix the UID/XUID issue, it would not be difficult to implement even a pop-up message or a search for overused UIDs, then a prompt is sent to that user asking them to delete the appropriate file. This is also why torrents are a powerful tool that need to be utilized, if the correct version of a game/app is not out there then usually the wrong version will be; thats just supply and demand. The end-user is often uninformed, and throw in the language barrier.

To clarify, when you speak of the nosTEAM release and the influx of hackers are you saying the nosTEAM release is using Project Cartographer for its MP? If so the quickest method to fix this is to go straight to the source, ask them to edit xlive.ini and remove any log files from the collection, if we explain why they would probably update it. People need to communicate first, otherwise we need to counter-attack and that means our own ISO. At the least I could include ~48 custom maps, some slot maps, or H2.5 maps, along with the latest Project Cartographer, various links, and a few handy apps. EDIT: I sent a few messages in nosTEAMs direction.

Another important point, now that both Project Cartographer and ElDewrito have some form of dedicated servers, well, find a way to encourage players to stick to their own regions, this is pretty simply, we just need more (spread out) dedicated servers running; of which someone on another thread was offering.

Banning people will get you nowhere fast, my time at MonstrMoose taught me this, even when Moose still gave a shit about the game people still attacked him...on some level they were completely wrong, but on another they were right, Moose used hacks, everyone does. Its more about how you use them. Can you use them respectfully? Start banning hackers and you end up banning everyone, especially when the numbers are so low.

To counter the want for hack tools I wanted us to release an approved tool, it would have hacks that were not malicious in the sense that they would not cause extreme lag or damage to servers/players. Perhaps it would only work on servers with a specific name, like 'glitches'. This way people have a fun place to hack and they are reminded that that is the place for it. Would have gone forward with this plan but both Moose and TBeast were against it at the time.

Something else I wanted the tool to do was sync with the server so we could implement server side mods like visual mods and more advanced projectile mods. We could adjust the light levels on the map server side then the players would see this as well. Player spawns could be modified, perhaps map barriers could be disabled.

--

Take my word for it bra; Fraps is the craps, OBS (Open Broadcaster Software Classic 64-bit) all the way. I'll release a video with my recommended settings. I can turn on my OBS and leave it on for say an hour, that file will only be around 4 GBs. Wheras with Fraps files would hits the 4 GBs after say 10 mins.
 
May 29, 2015
830
14
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25
Teddyland
unitedfalconclan.roflforum.net
Gamertag
UF ShadowTeddy
#7
Kills Alone said:
I think its on the devs to provide a message/method to fix the UID/XUID issue, it would not be difficult to implement even a pop-up message or a search for overused UIDs, then a prompt is sent to that user asking them to delete the appropriate file. This is also why torrents are a powerful tool that need to be utilized, if the correct version of a game/app is not out there then usually the wrong version will be; thats just supply and demand. The end-user is often uninformed, and throw in the language barrier.

To clarify, when you speak of the NOSTEAM release and the influx of hackers are you saying the NOSTEAM release is using Project Cartographer for its MP? If so the quickest method to fix this is to go straight to the source, ask them to edit xlive.ini and remove any log files from the collection, if we explain why they would probably update it. People need to communicate first, otherwise we need to counter-attack and that means our own ISO. At the least I could include ~48 custom maps, some slot maps, or H2.5 maps, along with the latest Project Cartographer, various links, and a few handy apps.

Another important point, now that both Project Cartographer and ElDewrito have some form of dedicated servers, well, find a way to encourage players to stick to their own regions, this is pretty simply, we just need more (spread out) dedicated servers running; of which someone on another thread was offering.

Banning people will get you nowhere fast, my time at MM taught me this, even when Moose still gave a shit about the game people still attacked him...on some level they were completely wrong, but on another they were right, Moose used hacks, everyone does. Its more about how you use them. Can you use them respectfully? Start banning hackers you end up banning everyone, especially when the numbers are so low.

To counter the want for hack tools I wanted us to release an approved tool, it would have hacks that were not malicious in the sense that they would not cause extreme lag or damage to servers/players. Perhaps it would only work on servers with a specific name, like 'glitches'. This way people have a fun place to hack and they are reminded that that is the place for it. Would have gone forward with this plan but both Moose and TBeast were against it at the time.

Something else I wanted the tool to do was sync with the server so we could implement server side mods like visual mods and more advanced projectile mods. We could adjust the light levels on the map server side then the players would see this as well. Player spawns could be modified, perhaps map barriers could be disabled.
Again, im all for the whole dedi just for hacking idea
But these are people who are ruining the game at an early stage. At the end, its all about word of mouth, this is how H2PC will be repopulated. I understand that banning people will get you nowhere fast, but a line must be drawn. After all, its a fine line. Either let the hackers bully you around or you lay down the law. As for the NOSTEAM People, we have tried to communicate with them (hell I tried to), but their site is a cluster-fuck of wrong. There's popup ads left, right and center. As if that wasn't enough, the actual layout of the site as a whole is absolutely abysmal and headache inducing. I was literally ripping my hair from my head trying to navigate this hellish website, only to find...Oh look. ANOTHER POPUP.

The only way we can make the MP experience different from what it used to be on GFWL is to completely learn from past mistakes. We Had a toxic community *ahem Xkillers* and ever since GFWL H2MP went down, we're just a community of individuals sharing content and discussing about events. Now, we've been given a second chance, Project Cartographer. With Cartographer, this will bring both new and old players to the table. Remember Project Lazarus?
Barely anyone knew it. All the old players didn't want to branch out and try custom content cause they wanted to do their own stuff. Because of the newer players, Project Lazarus will actually be played in MP. During my time of playing GFWL Halo 2 MP, I have never seen anyone play Project Lazarus. No one at all. I was honestly thinking that H2MT wasted their time. Now with the newer players, who knows?
Maybe actual dedis hosting Project Lazarus maps and ACTUAL games being played on it.
Here's the good thing though:
Those people aren't around anymore. Moose, Xkillers, They've not played the Project Cartographer MP. Which means all the Halo 2 drama STAYS with them.

For the time being, we could host a barebones of the ISO, including H2.5 , the customs, the launcher, the Map restriction remover and the Handy Apps (Those being Sndrecs mouse tool.) It wouldn't be anything special (like a custom installer) but it would be something.
 
Mar 20, 2013
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Hawaii
www.h2mt.org
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Kills Alone
#8
IKR, that website was as bad as Astalavista became back in the day. And that was hellacious experience, just when I came to a crossroads I saw their Twitter; sent the message that way.

I hear you, we have a new chance to help make H2 great again, I see it. But Project Lazarus was never officially out of a test state and never released beyond a proof of concept because I did not want to split the community, I don't want to see any one clan lording over H2v either. Without a modified executable (which seems to be protected) the maps have to be loaded from the server, but the previous server tools could not work around the custom restriction issues, so its still WIP status, thus the inquiry about if it might work over this system as well, I was pretty stoked to find out that H2.5 (fully custom Main Menu, Shared, & Maps) still worked over Live. If only I could sidestep that issue, another way would be Real-Time Editing the value, so the user has to change the map with an external app but thats just not good enough in my book, not good enough to leave WIP.

We released over a hundred maps and countless custom assets for others to use which we ran on double digit servers, there was a time when custom servers were always in use. Then the server crashing started. The problem was not on our side, it was the issues I outlined elsewhere, only so many maps can be seen by Halo 2 & one slow or full downloader kills the server. The only way to avoid these issues is to provide alternate ways of download, which we did but again I think an All-In-One ISO is the best bet for the casual user.

I try to keep things as legit as possible, so there were issues there with H2.5 as well. And with releasing a full ISO, I'm less concerned with that now since H2 Live MP is dead. I thought about releasing an expansion type pack and thats where some of the projects were leaning towards but again the All-In-One approach seems the way to go. I'll start a thread asking for advice on what to include.

Thats the nice thing about torrents; the community helps do the hosting for you.


EDIT: After some research I found out nosTEAM have apparently fixed the UID issue with ElDewrito:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HaloOnline/comments/4be1gd/nosteam_just_uploaded_a_torrent_for_halo_online/

Not sure if they will do the same with their H2PC release.

This pops up on nosTEAM ElDewrito server list:
 
Apr 24, 2020
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ASSASINS CREED
#9
hola soy nuevo tengo un problema hago todos los pasos pero cuando abro el juego permanece en la pantalla de halo 2 y da un error de bloqueo y si cierro el error el juego se cierra agradecería la ayuda gracias por su atención