How to use

Download the script and run it.

Installation is mostly automated, however issues can arise and therefore it is recommended to run the installer through a terminal so that errors are clearly shown.

The recommended method would be as follows:

curl -Os https://codeberg.org/VFX/H2PC-Linux-Installer/raw/branch/main/h2pc_installer.sh
bash h2pc_installer.sh
rm h2pc_installer.sh

However a less secure method that circumvents storing the file locally would be:

curl -Os https://codeberg.org/VFX/H2PC-Linux-Installer/raw/branch/main/h2pc_installer.sh | bash

To remove files created by the installer:

bash h2pc_installer.sh --delete

Warning: Flatpak is not handled by this process as it may have come preinstalled with your distribution and is recommended to remain installed in those cases.

To show all available options:

bash h2pc_installer.sh --help

The script will exit prematurely on systems where Flatpak is not installed and a suitable package manager to handle it automatically cannot be determined.

Do note that you will be graphically prompted to install Windows Media Player and .NET runtime, which are required for functioning game audio and mod suppport respectively. Both components may claim there is system incompatibility and/or a failure to install, but will typically install successfully anyway.

Custom maps

Servers and P2P lobbies in Project Cartographer can host maps that are not present in the base game. Upon joining one of these sessions, the map will be automatically downloaded if it's present in the official repository.

Additional maps can be found here, but must be shared manually.

The local directory for all custom maps is the same. When using this repository's installer, the path is

~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/H2PC/drive_c/users/$USER/Documents/My Games/Halo 2/Maps

Custom game variants

For convenience, some user-created multiplayer modes have been made available in this repository. Follow the commands below for simple installation.

# With git
git clone https://codeberg.org/VFX/H2PC-Linux-Installer.git
mv "H2PC-Linux-Installer/Game Variants"/* ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/"H2PC/drive_c/users/$USER/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Halo 2/Saved Games/"

# Without git
curl -Os https://codeberg.org/VFX/H2PC-Linux-Installer/archive/main.zip
unzip main.zip && rm $_
mv "h2pc-linux-installer/Game Variants"/* ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/"H2PC/drive_c/users/$USER/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Halo 2/Saved Games/"

The parent folder naming scheme is designed to avoid overwriting pre-existing variants, but may create an inability to make new ones. To fix this, remove the first 1 in the folder name with 0.

To view the game type and name of any variants, open savemeta.bin in a text editor.

User configurations

To assist with button mapping, this script offers various controller schemes from Halo 1-5. It does not currently support schemes that change the default trigger behaviour. Run this with the same syntax as the installer scripts.

Some configuration presets have also been added for convenience. Note that these will entirely overwrite any pre-existing settings. halo2config1.ini contains graphics and controller bindings, and weapon offsets are stored in WeaponOffsets.cfg, both of which are read from the following path:

~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/H2PC/drive_c/users/$USER/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Halo 2/

Submissions for additional configuration templates are welcome.

Mods

There are several mods built for Halo 2 for Windows Vista that are also compatible with Project Cartographer.

A simple installer script is offered in this repository to automatically move a specified executable to the game's installation directory and generate a desktop entry. Usage follows the same aforementioned syntax as the game installer script.

Alternatively, Bottles (the Wine wrapper used with this installer) offers a graphical option to open executables in some desktop environments. Right click on the mod executable, then select H2PC when prompted.

To run from a terminal, use flatpak run --command=bottles-cli com.usebottles.bottles run -b H2PC -e '<path to file>'. The same string should be used if manually creating a desktop entry.

Known issues

• The first launch of the game will likely prompt for a game update. This may need to be done multiple times with game restarts in-between.
• Nvidia users may experience white screen artifacts if antialiasing is enabled.
• Frame drops may occur in lobbies that utilise in-game frame interpolation and are rarely due to DXVK overhead on capable hardware.