PlayableShow Details
Unknown
EAC Enabled, crashes after 343 intro video.
EAC disabled, the game launches fine
In order to play with friends on Windows I had to replace the ucrtbase.dll files in the wine prefix as detailed here: https://web.archive.org/web/20250724035426/https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/11dftq1/fix_halo_mcc_coop_between_windows_and_linuxsteam/
Playing through the Halo 3 campaign, we ran into significant performance issues on a regular basis. Very severe stuttering at times, sometimes related to effects like rain, but between those stutters it ran fine.
Needed to replace DLL files to play with friends on Windows, and it seemed to be inconsistent about who could host games, but overall it was alright. Only played co-op campaign with anti-cheat disabled.
Without the tinkering the game can realistically only be played solo, so it's hard to recommend out of the box. But the fix isn't complex, just annoying, so if you're craving Halo there isn't much reason to avoid.
To get achievements working, you will need to use GE-Proton.
Works out of the box with no issues, if you get an error saying "Too many requests" when logging in, this also happens on windows, try restarting steam, it has nothing to do with Linux
Connecting to transport service. Please wait.
Impossible to play online. Cannot add/ join friends through the in-game menu. Steam invites appear to do nothing. Tried literally every proton version available on steam at the time. Searched this issue but last reports are 2+ years ago. People recently report that multiplayer works but I don't see how. None of the tweaks I found online did anything to help. Did not try copying ucrtbase.dll since that is only for desync in co-op campaign apparently. I can't even get into a multiplayer lobby, let alone try multiplayer. I only installed Halo 3 multiplayer, trying to just install everything now to see if one of the games somehow fixes it.
Solo campaign works without any changes. But multiplayer was the main reason I actually wanted to play this. In typical Microsoft fashion, the game hard crashes when trying to close it, i have to kill it manually through steam or with a process manager. This weird bug just makes it feel like salt in a wound.
No complaints
Can't login to microsoft services. Difficulty booting the game.
two issues that make the game unplayable before the main menu
Multiplayer campaign disconnects after 2 or so minutes when not using GE-Proton
Use GE-Proton for the multiplayer campaign, other than that the game works fine with default Proton
Wish we had them all
Did turn off EAC
Actually switched to Linux for a better multiplayer experience.
Persistent disconnects during online coop after about 2 minutes
Solo campaign and regular versus multiplayer work without issues.
Persistent disconnects during online coop in Halo Reach after about 2 minutes (on every checkpoint?).
How to fix coop disconnects and desync issues:
- Replace "/steamapps/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32/ucrtbase.dll " with one from a working Windows setup "C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll"
- Replace "/steamapps/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/syswow64/ucrtbase.dll " with "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ucrtbase.dll"
(Credit goes to this reddit post and this report)
I have not been able to find a way to pull the proper version of the dll-files via protontricks.
After all these tweaks the game works well.
TDP: 10-12 (Dependiendo que juego, pero todos corren estables a 60fps Velocidad del reloj: 1,100-1,300 Mhz (Dependiendo que juego, pero todos corren estables a 60fps
Configuraciones desbloqueadas si lo usas en monitor 1080p (siempre estable a 60fps)
Si tienes dos o mas mandos conectados, el juego no sabe cual dispositivo usar y no te permite usar ninguno, reinicar la configuración de controles debería ayudar después de desconectar todos los mandos.
El multijugador local no es nativo, funciona con modificaciones, pero no es un experiencia 100% grata
1:1 with Windows
If you don't care about multiplayer, it'll run just fine if you have the proper SDL config.
You must use GE-Proton9-23 to play without being kicked!
To properly sign-in and play, set in your /etc/environment:
SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland,x11,windows QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland GDK_BACKEND=wayland,x11 QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=kvantum
Some text is small.
Proton 9.0-4 prevents the anti-cheat from temp-banning you.
Make sure to use Proton 9.0-4 if you plan on playing online.
Would not launch with GE-Proton9-27 or latest Steam Proton. I had to select Proton 7.0-6 and delete compatdata.
No need to run the much older versions of proton like 7.0-6 as some have suggested. Use GE-Proton9-5
Running this game with GE-Proton9-5 is compatible with 3rd party tools as well. I did not test multiplayer with my setup. single-player only.
To have the full experience, you need to:
- Switch to Proton 7.0-6
- Launch the game once (there won't be a steam overlay btw)
- Switch to GE-Proton9-23
After that, the game should work just fine without any noticeable issues, including no desync/freezes in campaign co-op
Works better than original here in linux land, just have to update your compat files as instructed to enjoy with our windows friends!
If you are having trouble playing with friends/folks on windows PC, you need to copy windows versions of the files and place them into the compdata folder for Halo on your deck/PC. After that we were able to play without desync.
Note: you may need to delete+reinstall compdata before taking these steps. I just did a fresh install to make it easy.
- The windows files are located at:
C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dllandC:\Windows\SysWOW64\ucrtbase.dll. Keep track of which is which, the files are different. - Once you've copied the files to linux/Steam Deck, place them in
steamapps/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32/ucrtbase.dllandsteamapps/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/syswow64/ucrtbase.dll.
I found this information in the following post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/11dftq1/fix_halo_mcc_coop_between_windows_and_linuxsteam/
Original discovery by Fractal: https://www.protondb.com/app/976730
kept switching to mouse despite putting gamepad as default
temp banned me despite anticheat still can play
solid memories from my childhood
MANGOHUD=1 %command%
Worked as if it were native; no issues playing single player or multiplayer, steam workshop mods work just fine as well.
just pirate it
Works perfect with older Proton-Version. Crashes with current Proton-Version after 10–15 minutes to the desktop without any error message.
EAC cannot start for Simplified Chinese language, game cannot start neither if I choose disabling EAC in launch options.
If I use Simplified Chinese in Properties, EAC says "Failed to load the embedded resources." and it is failed to launch. Setting game language to English in Properties or launching game with EAC disabled can workaround this. I can still change game language in game ui if I set game language to English in Properties. As for the game failed to start even EAC problem is workarounded, that's because msvcp140.dll failed to load, you can run game with PROTON_LOG=1 to find it out. Following https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks/pull/2345 to extract a correct msvcp140.dll and replace the broken one in system32 can launch the game and play. No need to downgrade Proton to 7.0, I use Proton GE 9.27 in the whole time. After those problems workarounded, game should launch with EAC enabled. Halo Reach Campain works fine, but I do not test other DLCs, nor Multiplay.
Orginally tried newer GE proton but had to follow steckums steps below to clean the 976730 compat data folder and then launched again using 7.0-6 and it seems to be working fine.
Perfect out of the box, at least singleplayer.
I don't remember if i played the multiplayer on Linux or not. So i can only tell about my last singleplayer sessions.
Game was working fine under GE proton, then borked. Wouldn't get past the splash screen. I tried verifying integrity of game files over and over with different proton versions to get the install script to work properly. In the end, using proton tricks, I ran the emulated uninstaller and removed everything except Wine Mono Windows Support from the prefix (there were multiple versions of Microsoft VC Redist for some reason). Verified integrity of game files again, switched to Proton 7.0-6 as suggested by others and the game now works flawlessly. Install scripts worked and EAC is functional.
It worked as expected. Matchmaking was slow but that's because I only had Reach multiplayer installed when testing.
It may work straight out of the box then break one day. I've never had this issue before so your mileage may vary.
All campaigns run smooth with no issues (even when in co-cop). Multiplayer caused controller to stop working, but is fixable by re-plugging.
Controller worked in Campaigns, but not Multiplayer (vanilla Xbox One controller via USB)
The Xbox One controller stopped working when launched into a game and was forced to switch to keyboard. Also, something on the backend cause EAC to flag me and temp ban me. Modding was disabled, and I do not have any mods or cheat engines installed.
Used Proton Hotfix with zero issues, fully stable with no lag at max quality settings
Other reports say you can switch back to your preferable Proton after the first boot. Didn't work for me.
Completely unplayable in Halo 1, if you dare to press escape in any of the games you will be forced to restart the game
gamemoderun gamescope --force-grab-cursor -W 5760 -H 1080 -w 5760 -h 1080 -r 240 -- %command%
Set resolution to 5760x1080, have to reset it every single time the game is started
Needed to use --force-grab-cursor command with gamescope
Game will completely freeze after a few minutes in Halo 1, there is a random (high) chance that pressing escape during gameplay in any of the games that will open the menu missing almost every element and will not allow you to close it, requiring a restart
Coop works fine, but the game doesn't so it doesn't matter
Don't know about Halo 1 crashing, but the pause menu problems did not exist at all to my knowledge from the last time I played about six months ago.
Experienced nearly constant desync problems at checkpoints when playing co-op campaign until I changed two things: I switched to GE-Proton and locked vsync to 60 FPS to match my friend's vsync. I don't know which thing was key, but we never had the desync problem again.
Once we got past the desync problem, there were no other issues. Pretty cool to play this game 20-25 years after it came out at a modern resolution, and on Linux.
Xbox Live account requires input from keyboard to login
Co-op works with little issue. PvP causes anti-cheat incidents that results in temp bans.
Proton 7.0-6 is required for intial launch. If you have launched on a newer version before, you need to delete your compat data folder (which is named 976730) and run with version 7.0-6. After the initial setup, you can return to a newer version of proton.
