Halo: Reach crashes in some Campaign missions - support feedback required

[Vilius]

OK, so I'm sick of these constant crashes in the middle of some Halo: Reach Campaign missions so I thought I should do something about it. I'm trying to organize a support feedback from everyone who experiences the same issue.

I bought Halo MCC couple of weeks ago. Started playing Halo: Reach campaign on Normal as single. To my surprise there are missions and almost exact places in those missions where Halo crashes the whole PC. Video output mostly just goes black, and the PC fans start spinning at the incredible speeds. I cannot go back into Windows or quit Halo. The only way to get back the PC running is to kill the power and then power it back on. When these crashes happen, I go back to start from the last saved checkpoint and sometimes I can get though past problematic area.

This is the mission list where it happens:
1. Winter Contingency: during the fight in the comm relay courtyard. There is a small garage type room on the left (when looking at the main building). There is like 50% chance that if I go into that room the game crashes.
2. ONI: Sword Base: during the gate sequence when you get a pointing laser for orbital weapon to kill two Wraiths. There is > 90% chance the game could crash any time just before, during or after this gate sequence.
3. ONI: Sword Base: the same gates as above, but when you go back through them after finished clearing the enemies outside. This one crashes less frequently but still it could be on every other run. Interestingly, the same gates on The Package map doesn’t crash at all.
4. The Pillar of Autumn: this map is riddled with crashes. First time it happens is during the fight which takes place when you reach a blocked road and have to go on foot. A lot of brutes and other enemies appear, and the Wraith is dropped. The game could crash any time during that fight.
5. The Pillar of Autumn: after you go out of caves you get snipper rifle. Then the big battle starts in the area which looks like space ship construction docks. You clear the first area and then you have a possibility to take lower or upper path to get to another “inner” docks area. If I take lower path the game most definitely would crash. If I take upper path, it crashes less frequently but then Halo crashes any time during that second fight in the “inner” area, when fighting turrets and Ghosts.
6. The Pillar of Autumn: just after the first molten forge area battle but before you fight two hunters. This one less frequent but still there is like 40% chance to crash when fighting last white elite, which tries to escape outside.
7. The Pillar of Autumn: during the battle with two hunters. This one could crash > 90% of the time while hunters still alive. The interesting thing is that if I kill both hunters and then try to explore the same area the game doesn’t crash at all.
8. The Pillar of Autumn: during the last battle when first waves of the Phantoms start dropping enemy troops. If you go to the lowest level of the area there is like 60-70% chance for the game to crash. If you stay on the upper level where you get snipper rifle you can mostly fight this scene without any crashes. After the first and second enemy waves are cleared, and you have to bring the package to the Pelican, you are then fine to step down on the lower level.

I have found other posts all over the internet since 2019 mentioning EXACTLY the same problematic maps. https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/85d779d52cfd46918b4f8b638f2e3c7b/topics/oni-sword-base-not-loading/b3413d02-b1fb-4b20-b5b2-84e21b175817/posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/gnsz8c/fatal_error_on_pillar_of_autumn_mission_halo/
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/85d779d52cfd46918b4f8b638f2e3c7b/topics/halo-reach-multiplayer-crash-in-pillar-of-autumn/549bbc10-9265-4a29-9d4b-ec629855d1ec/posts

I’ve already tried to verify my game files, update video drivers, disable Enhanced graphics, running the game in windowed mode, disabling EAC, etc. None of the workarounds work. I don’t have any issues with other games or my PC in general. I’ve spent 20 years working as an IT manager, so I know what I’m doing.

Seems like a serious bug, but 343 never received enough feedback on this or just ignored it, so if you experience THE SAME issue like me please add to this thread AND fill the support ticket on Halo Waypoint mentioning this thread at https://support.halowaypoint.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036218972-How-to-Submit-a-Halo-Support-Ticket

Any help is very appreciated! The more feedback they’d get, the faster this legendary game is fixed.

[Chrille 🎃]

?

[countgrey]

I'm sure you've tried this, but you didn't explicitly mention it, so... Have you tried running it in windowed mode instead of full screen? Does running it with EAC disabled have any difference? Have anything running in the background that might mess with it? I have an intermittent issue where my wifi will suddenly drop connection if I'm running Discord and MCC at the same time, happens once a month or so.

That aside, a buddy of mine also works IT and has a serious gaming rig. He's got a very rare glitch where his particular configuration leads to the enemies not rendering in - they appear perfectly invisible. Understandably, it makes the game hard to play, and 343i basically said "yeah, that's an issue, we're working on it" but that was months ago.

[Vilius]

Originally posted by countgrey:

I'm sure you've tried this, but you didn't explicitly mention it, so... Have you tried running it in windowed mode instead of full screen? Does running it with EAC disabled have any difference? Have anything running in the background that might mess with it? I have an intermittent issue where my wifi will suddenly drop connection if I'm running Discord and MCC at the same time, happens once a month or so.

That aside, a buddy of mine also works IT and has a serious gaming rig. He's got a very rare glitch where his particular configuration leads to the enemies not rendering in - they appear perfectly invisible. Understandably, it makes the game hard to play, and 343i basically said "yeah, that's an issue, we're working on it" but that was months ago.

Unfortunatelly, windowed mode or disabling EAC doesn't help either. I have updated my original post to mention that.

[countgrey]

Originally posted by Vilius:

Unfortunatelly, windowed mode or disabling EAC doesn't help either. I have updated my original post to mention that.

Well, crap. Could your GPU be one of those rare few higher end ones that doesn't work well with MCC? There was a guy posting here a few months back who mentioned he's melted several cards playing MCC.

[Vilius]

I don't think so. My rig is pretty old actually, but does the job just right at the constant 60 fps. I have Alienware X51 R2 with GeForce GTX 760 Ti. GPU temperatures are normal, the same as with other games.

[Deadly Peanut]

dunno, i've got an aging alienware that runs MCC Halo: Reach like butter.

i played a few of the missions you mention and didn't have any crashes or any problems. heck, the fans on my rig don't even spin up enough for me to notice.

could be a specific issue... suggest a bug report if you're concerned.

[Vilius]

Originally posted by Deadly Peanut:

dunno, i've got an aging alienware that runs MCC Halo: Reach like butter.

i played a few of the missions you mention and didn't have any crashes or any problems. heck, the fans on my rig don't even spin up enough for me to notice.

could be a specific issue... suggest a bug report if you're concerned.

I've already submitted bug report myself, but the purpose of this post is to seach for others who have the same issue, and to get considerable amount of bug reports submitted.

Given that similar issues mentioned by others in exactly the same maps, I guess I'm not the only one.

[redeye_gaming420]

Me and my brother are playing the coop campaign tryna finish all the games in the MCC, but when we get to the second to last mission it crashes us. We make it through the tunnels on the rd and game crash at as we make it to our destination. We tried all the stops from Reddit and here but still nothing works! Anyone have an idea?