XBC Thread

[menotyou135]

XBC website
XBC download 
Since there are so many people who are going back to Halo 3 instead of playing Halo 4, I figured I might as well post this here. This thread is to be a party up thread for everybody to play Halo 1 and Halo 2 on Xbox Connect, as those games are funner to play than Halo 3.
 
For those who don't know, Xbox Connect is a program that allows you to play non-online games online so long as they have a LAN feature in the game (both H1 and H2 do). It does this by effectively tricking your xbox into thinking that it is playing LAN, when in reality, the connection is being routed through the internet. 
 
So now that you know the good aspects, what are the problems? Well for starters, the program is a pain to troubleshoot if you have never done it before. Different routers treat the program differently, and your firewalls will consistently block the game from working, so you need to disable them while playing. Furthermore, you usually need to port forward. This is a complicated process for those unfamiliar with messing with their router settings so cT has a great guide that worked for me.

 

cT's Workseverytime XBC Setup Instructions



-Uninstall xbc if you've ever installed it before.

-Go download the most recent version but dont install it yet. 

-Start, run, cmd ipconfig /all (Its just Start, type cmd, type ipconfig /all in Vista)

-Find your IP address on your local area connection, make a note of it... its probably a 192.168.x.x address. Also find your default gateway's IP. That is your router's IP. Its probably 192.168.0.1 or something close to that.

-Put the router IP into firefox or IE

-Go here and follow the steps on your specific router but dont forward one port, forward a range of 8602-8603 to the IP of your computer you noted earlier. Use the test port link at the bottom of the instructions page to make sure you did it right

-Install XBC, *IMPORTANT* when installing, choose to install the WinpCap driver. I think its a checkbox.... You MUST do this.

-If your windows is fully patched, Win Firewall should prompt you that xbc is trying to get thru the firewall, you can just click Unblock this program and itll be fine. If you suck and have like no service packs on your computer then you may need to manually go into windows firewall and either turn it off or allow 8602 and 8603.

-Open xbc, find your console. 

-Find a room or click Host and fill out info. 

-Play halo 1.



Okay it sounds harder than it really is.... if you do that exactly, theres no reason you cant play xbc... Ive done it two dozen times for two dozen people on different setups and its pretty much always worked... i had one issue a long time ago when ti didnt but we redid it all and it worked the second time....

If that doesn't work, this is another guide. I have never used it so I don't know how good or bad it is: http://www.westaby.net/2006/10/xbconnect-n00b-guide/
 
 
After setting it up, the next problem arises. Since the game is tricked into thinking it is on LAN, your ping drastically effects the game. Essentially, the LAG in XBC works like this: When you shoot, there is a delay of however long your ping is, between when you think you shot and when host thinks you shot. Because of this, even in Halo 2, where it is hitscan, you will need to lead to a certain extent. The ammount you have to lead depends on your ping. Anything below 100 on H2 is not terribly noticable. With CE however, since it already has lead, anything greater than 100, is hard to play for people who have never played XBC before. Eventually however, you get a feel for how much you have to lead in certain situations and XBC vets aren't hurt too much by off host. 
 
Because of the fact that host gets such an advantage on XBC, it is generally a good rule of thumb to avoid certain weapons that are already really host dependent. Basically just don't whore weapons like the shotgun all day and realize that if you won by a small margin on host, that doesn't necessarily mean you are better than them. For example, I have a friend who I have LANed with. He beat me 25-12 on prizzy. I played him on XBC with my host and about 40 ping, and he only beat me 25-21. 
 
Also, make sure you time weapons if you are going to play XBC CE. If you don't, you will get destroyed. Trust me. There are tons of timers including iPhone aps, audio files, ect... 
 
Here is a list on a per-map basis of Halo CE: Here
 
Here is a great audio file by cT for timing weapons: Here
 
Here is one I use in a pinch if I don't have an audio file: 

 
 
Here is a list of Halo 2 weapon spawn times (MLG doubled spawn time if I remember right): Here
 
The last notable problem is that it is sometimes hard to find games. Halo 2 isn't so bad. Usually you can get a lobby (If you don't mind playing occasional columbian hosts). That is where this thread comes in.
 
The last part of this thread, I will be adding people who are interested to play in a list format: 
 
menotyou135 (Florida)
Sitri (Massachusetts)
Droid (Florida)
cT (California)
SilentRaine (Mississippi)
Bunniesz23 (Illinois)
akademik87 (New York)
Mechonis
aPK (Wisconsin)
Cyren (Michigan)
div0rt3xx(Maryland)
Krizen (Toronto)
ivoir

kneegrow

ThreeShotPistol (Michigan)

WTFrenetic (Florida)

beatsrus (California) 

TF Reset 

 

 

 

 
 
If anybody wants added just post and I will add you to the list at my leisure. Just comment your name and (optionally) what your region is so people know whether you will connect well to them. Please use this thread to schedule XBC play sessions and all that jazz. 
 
Keep calm and play Halo.

[Sitri]

Region would be a nice thing to know of anyone wanting to play. So we can get a neutral host and not have to rip our hair out.

[SilentRaine]

I would enjoy playing once I get some free time.

 

I am in Mississippi myself, SilentRaine.

[AkaDemiK]

add me

 

akademik87

 

new york

 

[zZunair]

Alright this post for the most part is for h1 specifically.

 

1) regions are as important (maybe more) than your actual connection. So it's best to find players around your region and if possible your state.

 

For example I get about 20 ping with players in my city. On the contrary, I get about 80 ping with players in PA

 

2) here is the link to an h1 timer. Credit goes to cT https://www.dropbox.com/s/hk5i3utz4qlzl7s/cTs_Halo_Timer.mp3

 

Use it. Weapon control is even more important in this game than any other. Hell if you want you can do what I did and tape/glue a small timer on your. Xbox controller

 

3) Be nice. Xbc already has enough dicks, we don't need more

 

4) understand some weapons are OP on host (shotgun for example)

 

5) if you're having problems Skype me and we'll put you in a chat to try fixing it

 

6) You're not good if you won on host

 

7) Learn the spawn system if you want to do well in 2s. I'll link it once I get on a computer

 

8) 70 ping is pushing it

 

9) links to guides

 

This one teaches you some random tips and useful core aspects of h1 you need to learn to get better

 

Some more things you need to learn

 

NADE TRICKS. these are super useful and just awesome to do. You can invent your own nade tricks but these are the standard

 

There is a guide I'm looking for now that is really good but I might try posting my own version of it if I can't

 

 

It's 1 am so I don't remember most of what I want to say. I'll edit this later

[menotyou135]

Hit quote instead of edit: My b

[AkaDemiK]

Read this and become one with it...

 

cT's "Halo:CE Player Spawn System... Fully Explained"

 

http://gamebattles.majorleaguegaming.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7843178

[Sitri]

add me

 

akademik87

 

new york

 

Added

[zZunair]

Not gonna lie, $10 everyone tries this for a little bit then goes back to h4 to bitch about it

[Mechonis]

I have always had problems hearing people in the game on H2.

I had all my ports forwarded correctly but nothing seemed to fix it.

 

XBC: Mechonis

[ThreeShotPistol]

You're wrong about just one thing.

Winning on host always means you're better.

 

Also if you play {{truth}} and {{soulja}} you will get raped. And they sometimes use fake XBC accounts and you don't realize why you're losing by 30 kills every game. I did beat them once on Priz. But I was host so *.

[menotyou135]

Not gonna lie, $10 everyone tries this for a little bit then goes back to h4 to bitch about it

No worries.

[El Vortex]

Do I need 360 or OG Xbox to use this ?

 

Would like to play some CE and H2.

[Mechonis]

Do I need 360 or OG Xbox to use this ?

 

Would like to play some CE and H2.

Both work fine.

[El Vortex]

Both work fine.

w00t, thanks.

[Moa]

Region would be a nice thing to know of anyone wanting to play. So we can get a neutral host and not have to rip our hair out.

ill host all the games. I know droid is a huge fan!

[chaosTheory]

any questions about anything just post em in here. There's not a lot about this I don't have answers for.

[Ender]

Is there a good way to test if my connection is decent enough to even bother trying this? Or can I expect at least decent gameplay as long as I don't lag on XBL?

 

SpeedTest.net says "57 ping, 0.95 Mbps DOWN, 0.36 Mbps UP". It doesn't seem to get much worse at all even when pinging serves from 3-4 hours away.

[Sitri]

Is there a good way to test if my connection is decent enough to even bother trying this? Or can I expect at least decent gameplay as long as I don't lag on XBL?

 

SpeedTest.net says "57 ping, 0.95 Mbps DOWN, 0.36 Mbps UP". It doesn't seem to get much worse at all even when pinging serves from 3-4 hours away.

For CE especially, the games have much worse netcode. You're going to have to keep that in mind.

[chaosTheory]

Is there a good way to test if my connection is decent enough to even bother trying this? Or can I expect at least decent gameplay as long as I don't lag on XBL?

 

SpeedTest.net says "57 ping, 0.95 Mbps DOWN, 0.36 Mbps UP". It doesn't seem to get much worse at all even when pinging serves from 3-4 hours away.

 

Back in 05/06 I used to play XBC on 0.3mb up and down DSL. On a close host it actually wasn't horrid.

 

As with all Halo games, they use almost no bandwidth unless you're hosting a big game. It's more about how fast those few packets get where they're trying to go. As long as you don't have high pings to local servers, you should be ok. How far away is that 57 ping speedtest server?

[KraZeR]

Can this work Mac?

[chaosTheory]

Can this work Mac?

Not natively but you could build a VM or something pretty easily.

[aPK]

When I go to check my port forwarding, it says:

 

Ping Result: We were not able to ping your router.

 

Port Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer.

 

 

 

Did I do it right / wrong?

[zZunair]

@aPK: When it comes to port forwarding you want your router to static. Does it say anything like that?

[aPK]

@aPK: When it comes to port forwarding you want your router to static. Does it say anything like that?

 

Not that I see. The first line tells me my external IP address which I didn't include in my post for obvious reasons.

 

At the bottom of the report it says: "This means that our server was able to establish a direct connection to your computer and send it data. Everything is working as it should and your TCP port is forwarded correctly."