Are you getting bored playing Halo? Halo Custom Edition is a special version of Halo from the original developers that allows players to use special maps and game modes. This version is not officially supported, but there are hundreds of user-generated maps that you can download and use for free, as long as you have the original Halo PC. To learn how to install and add game maps, see Step 1 below.
Step
Step 1. Install Halo PC
To get Halo Custom Edition, you need to have Halo PC installed on your computer. Halo Custom Edition is designed for the PC version of Halo 1, and is not available for Xbox.
You must use a valid Halo PC CD code to be able to install Halo Custom Edition
Step 2. "Patch" Hello PC
You must get the latest update from Halo before you can install Halo Custom Edition. There are four patches (patches) that must be downloaded and installed in the order listed below. The required files can be downloaded from FilePlanet.com and HaloMaps.org.
- 1.07 - Contains previous patches (1.01-1.06).
- 1.08
- 1.09
- 1.10 - This patch released in May 2014 allows you to play on non-GameSpy servers (GameSpy has closed as of June 30, 2014).
Step 3. Download Halo Custom Edition
This program was released by the developer as an unsupported add-on. Users can create their own maps and add a number of features and stability to multiplayer online games. You can download Halo Custom Edition for free from a variety of websites, including HaloMaps.org, Download.com, and FilePlanet.com.
Step 4. Run the installation
Run the downloaded installer file for Halo Custom Edition. When you click the Install button, you will be prompted to enter the CD code. Its function is to let the program know that you have a valid copy of Halo PC.
- While installing, you can uncheck Install GameSpy Arcade, as this service no longer works.
- The installation may take a few minutes to complete.
Step 5. Patch the Custom Edition installation
After installing Halo Custom Edition, patch it to fix some security issues, and more importantly to remove the Halo PC CD check when Windows starts. This means that you don't need to insert the Halo PC CD into your computer in order to play.
- This patch will try to install automatically when you start Halo Custom Edition, but you can also download and install it manually. You can download it from the Custom Edition installation location.
- Once added, the Custom Edition will be version 1.09.616.
Step 6. Install custom maps
The best thing about Halo Custom Edition is that you can play on user-generated maps. There are hundreds of maps available on internet sites, such as HaloMaps.org and FilePlanet.
- Find the map you want and download the file. This map is usually a ZIP file. Generally you can sort through all maps by user rating and popularity.
- Open the Halo Custom Edition Maps location. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Halo Custom edition installation directory. The location of the "maps" directory is there. Usually the location is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Hello Custom Edition\maps".
- Double-click the downloaded ZIP file to open it, then copy the ".map" file into the "maps" directory. You can click and drag files, or copy-paste them. Your new map is now available in the Maps list when you play Halo Custom Edition.
