Release Date: December 10th, 2024


This update focuses on bug fixes, improvements, and optimization.


This update significantly reduces the installed size of Halo 3: Combat Evolved by 34.85%

As to how I optimized the mod: It now uses compressed bitmaps and only includes sound banks for sounds used by the mod, I was able to bring down some 98MB bitmap tags down to only 11MB without sacrificing image quality! The original 800mb+ "sfx.fsb" sound bank used in ODST also no longer ships with the mod and all of the mod it's sounds are now contained within their own sound banks (indicated by the "h3ce" and "h3" prefixes.

The mod used to include the original ODST SFX sound bank because prior to the July 2023 update, all sounds imported had to use the existing ODST sound banks. Thankfully with the July 2023 update, we can now import sounds into custom sound banks. However, sound importing was really tedious for mods like Halo 3: Combat Evolved due to the amount of custom sounds it uses and importing sounds into a new bank has a chance to corrupt it, which meant having to go through the import process all over again each time a single sound failed to import. Since the mod has so many custom sounds this could take forever especially with dialogue, since it would also have to regenerate the lip-syncing data.

Thankfully in November I discovered a way to properly import sounds into custom sound banks/recover corrupted sound banks which meant I was able to reimport all of the sounds used by Halo 3: Combat Evolved with relative ease, getting rid of the original 800mb+ ODST SFX sound bank! If you are are a modder yourself or are curious how to do this yourself, check out my tweet here.[x.com]

Talking about the sound importing discovery actually leads to the next important change...

This update includes all the languages the original Halo: Combat Evolved supported as well as support for subtitles! Currently the only localized sounds are mission and cutscene specific dialog as well as the Firefight voice for Masterchief. I'd like to replace the dialog for Marines, Grunts and Elites with their original dialog from Halo: Combat Evolved including the variants for other languages.

Halo 3: Combat Evolved now supports the following languages:

• English
  
• Chinese
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Spanish

For the time being this will only apply to sounds. In-game text like objectives, hints and subtitles are still English only and will be localized at another date.

• Heartbeat sound when low on health now plays correctly.

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• View Model Adjustments
  The following weapons had their view models adjusted:
  - Silenced SMG
  - Sentinel Beam
  - Spiker
  - Mauler
  - Brute Shot
  
  
• Sounds
  The following weapons had their sounds adjusted:
  - Assault Rifle
  - Flamethrower
  - Magnum
  
  
• HUD
  - Indicators for low ammo and overheating have been added.

• Brute Plasma Rifle:
  - Stats updated to match Halo 2's Brute Plasma Rifle.
  
• Magnum:
  - Scope mask is now higher quality.

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• Vehicle Damage
  Drivers, passengers, and gunners now take the same amount of damage as Halo: Combat Evolved.

• Rocket Warthog
  - Turret updated to match Halo: Combat Evolved's values.
  - Turret now has a reload indicator and a new (work-in-progress) model.
  - Colors updated to match with Halo: Combat Evolved's colors.

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• HUD
  - Indicator for when you have no shields has been added.
  - Fixed an issue where the health bar disappeared at very low health.
  - Curvature adjusted to match Halo 3's values.
  - HUD layout now consistent across widescreen and ultra-widescreen.
  - Firefight scoreboard now has a new layout.
  - Medals now correctly display on screen.
  
• Menus
  Forge menu color palette updated to match Halo 3.