Halo CE Universal launcher 1.8 for Windows

Most players don't need this launcher any more. Halo CE Universal now
comes ready to play: cybersecurity's project publishes it for Windows already
built, and it keeps itself up to date. Get it from the Download section of
https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal (the Windows release build,
halo-windows-release.zip): unzip it into a folder of its own and start
halo.exe. The first time, it asks for your Halo disc image.

New in 1.8: when the launcher opens on a PC where Halo has run, it says
this, with a Download Halo button, and offers to uninstall itself. That
uninstall keeps your game files: it moves the maps folder to
Halo game files in your user folder (copy it next to the new halo.exe if
you don't have the disc image any more). Your saved games stay where they
are, and the new Halo uses them. The setup's first page says the same.

Keep the launcher if your PC's graphics have no OpenGL 4.5 (Intel HD
Graphics from before 2016, for example). The ready-made download can't show
its picture there; the launcher's Direct3D build can (1.7), so the launcher
doesn't ask those PCs to change.

Launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when they open (click
Yes).

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: 82f4fe01a296a9846b5340b72ea62e305f08eab4bc36bc2ada5aa603d0e5e9db

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.7 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need:

• Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or European
  (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files.
• A graphics chip with OpenGL 4.5 and a current driver for it (NVIDIA's and
  AMD's since about 2010, Intel's since about 2016), or one with Direct3D
  10.1 for Halo's Direct3D build (Intel HD Graphics since 2011, for example).

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.7: Halo runs on graphics without OpenGL 4.5. When the game
can't get the OpenGL 4.5 it asks for, the launcher now offers to change it to
its Direct3D build, which draws with Direct3D 11 instead. Click Yes: the
launcher downloads that build and builds it (a few minutes, once), then
starts Halo. You can also change to it, or back, under More > Direct3D
build. The Direct3D build comes from https://github.com/bnunu/halo-ce-universal;
the Direct3D 11 part is ANGLE, from the NuGet package
Avalonia.Angle.Windows.Natives (its licence is installed with it). Things it
does differently: a level starts a few seconds later, and a weapon meter that
is fading shows at full brightness.

HaloFallbackTest.zip is the earlier hand-run test of the Direct3D build
(1.6); the launcher now does this by itself.

Updating: launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when
they open (click Yes). Older launchers can't: download this one once.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: f65c8f603a0ac0d22b6872891401f158a8b3a009b101ec6b0312baea85871474

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.6 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need:

• Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or European
  (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files.
• A graphics chip with OpenGL 4.5 and a current driver for it: NVIDIA's and
  AMD's since about 2010, Intel's since about 2016. For older graphics, see
  the test build below.

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.6: the setup's game page names the three American disc images
and nothing more.

Test build for older graphics: HaloFallbackTest.zip. On a PC whose
graphics have no OpenGL 4.5 (Intel HD Graphics from before 2016, for
example), the game can't show its picture, and the launcher says so. This is
a test build of the game that draws with Direct3D 11 instead (through ANGLE;
it needs Direct3D feature level 10.1). It has not run on such a PC yet, so
it may not work.

1. Install the game with HaloLauncher.exe first (the test uses the game
   files it installed, and changes nothing there).
2. Download HaloFallbackTest.zip and unzip the whole folder.
3. Double-click Start Halo (test).cmd.
4. Afterwards, send back halo-test-log.txt from that folder, and say
   whether the game showed and how smoothly it ran.

Updating: launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when
they open (click Yes). Older launchers can't: download this one once.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• Neither file is code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC"
  the first time: click More info, then Run anyway.
• The test build's game is built from https://github.com/bnunu/halo-ce-universal
  with configure.py --release --portable --lto=off --gles. Its
  libGLESv2.dll is ANGLE 2.1.1, from the NuGet package
  Avalonia.Angle.Windows.Natives 2.1.27548.20260419 (licence in the zip).

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: 907b4c728291c85c8b2c415218bafbd0d289da73f578400312d5c80fc1a67d8c
SHA-256 of HaloFallbackTest.zip: 5459d3d745cda859e5a64c88525c0a38f533723666723487d1c03a4dd260475f

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.5 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need:

• Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or European
  (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files.
• A graphics chip with OpenGL 4.5 and a current driver for it: NVIDIA's and
  AMD's since about 2010, Intel's since about 2016. Older Intel graphics (HD
  Graphics 4000, 4400, 4600, 5500 and the like) can't run the game.

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.5: on a PC whose graphics driver doesn't give Halo the OpenGL
4.5 it needs, the game used to stay a black window that didn't answer. The
launcher now sees that within a second or two of Play, stops the game and
tells you why: which graphics chips and drivers the PC has, to install the
newest driver from the chip's maker, and which chips are too old.

Updating: launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when
they open (click Yes). Older launchers can't: download this one once.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: 7ae696492cc52cea8f5c4e84de4672d5b80dc866b716f7da887fc3a717e8bda4

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.4 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need: Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or
European (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files.

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.4: installing and updating work again with the American (NTSC)
version of the game. Earlier launchers changed two lines of Halo's source
code so that it took American game files. Halo takes them by itself now and
those lines are gone, so since 30 September those launchers stopped at
"Making Halo accept the American version" and Halo was not updated. 1.4
leaves the source code as it is. If your launcher stopped there: take this
update, then click Update now.

Updating: launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when
they open (click Yes). Older launchers can't: download this one once.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: 9c132b142974becbd5c4ae55b1f590f91b6717ab7962eed076c1ff8157a1cf2c

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.3 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need: Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or
European (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files.

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.3: the Xbox SDK (XDK) isn't needed any more. Halo's source code
now comes with its own clean SDK declarations, so setup only asks for your
Halo game (two steps instead of three). Halo installed with an earlier
launcher keeps working: its copy of the XDK headers just isn't used any more.

Updating: launchers from 1.2 on offer this version by themselves when
they open (click Yes). Older launchers can't: download this one once.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: 89f814e1bdb347e06a3ffd26ea6c05fbede8ee21d05a99397af20f1807072e1a

Halo CE Universal launcher 1.2 for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need:

• the Xbox SDK (XDK) version 3911, from August 2001
• Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or European
  (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

New in 1.2: the launcher keeps itself up to date. When it opens, it
checks here for a newer version; if there is one, it asks, downloads it,
checks it and restarts. Launchers older than 1.2 can't do that: download
this one once.

Also since 1.0: a download that times out ("Couldn't download ... The
operation has timed out") is tried again with Windows' own curl.exe; setup
checks there is room on C: before installing Microsoft's C++ build tools and
explains their error codes.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

SHA-256 of HaloLauncher.exe: ad0a213b659df2c652aa3596790f8ed32a91958c32143d47f4142a53454156fc

Halo CE Universal launcher for Windows

Sets up Halo CE Universal (Halo: Combat Evolved rebuilt from its source code
as a native Windows game, from https://github.com/cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal)
on your PC, keeps it up to date and starts it.

You need:

• the Xbox SDK (XDK) version 3911, from August 2001
• Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, American (NTSC) or European
  (PAL) version: a disc image (.iso) or the disc's files

Everything else is downloaded for you. Download HaloLauncher.exe and
double-click it; a setup window walks you through it.

Good to know:

• If the PC has no Visual Studio with C++, setup installs Microsoft's free
  C++ build tools (it asks first, and Windows asks for permission). They need
  about 12 GB free on C: together with Halo.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows says "Windows protected your PC" the
  first time: click More info, then Run anyway.

Updated 2026-09-27: when a download times out ("Couldn't download ...
The operation has timed out"), the launcher now tries again with Windows' own
curl.exe. If setup stopped there, download this version and run it: setup
remembers your files, and after Install it carries on where it stopped.

SHA-256: b83d1750dc008eb3f8d4aad9e00002d1a37a5cccc73664e0aa2d881e74f0e74d