Halo: The Master Chief Collection Title Updates

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Title Updates This page lists all Title Updates for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

11.14.14 Update

The 11.14.14 update was released on November 14, 2014.

• Fixed a variety of issues that caused players within the same Matchmaking party to be placed on different teams. In rare cases, this issue may still occur, and we are investigating additional fixes.
• Fixed a Matchmaking issue with behind the scenes team skill matching, allowing team skill matching to be more accurate in both ranked and unranked playlists.
• Fixed an issue where the campaign HUD did not reset from level to level with scoring or time HUD enabled. This will clear out the full visualization of level segments, which was previously not reset.
• Fixed a variety of issues with campaign leaderboards and scoring HUD, so now when scores are posted, score, kills, time, deaths, and penalties will be reported correctly for new mission leaderboard entries. We are still working on additional fixes for playlist leaderboard entries.
• Fixed an issue with competitive HUD time split. Now, when players have competitive time HUDs on with a rival set, they will see per-segment split times for whether they are ahead or behind at each segment.

11.20.2014 Update

The 11.20.2014 Update was released on November 20, 2014.

Matchmaking

• Addressed a number of issues that resulted in extended matchmaking times and low matchmaking success rates.
• Made a number of updates to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player. With this update, you'll see better, more frequent and more informative status updates throughout the matchmaking flow – so "Players Found" for example, will be displayed to let players know where they are in the matchmaking process instead of simply wondering if it's going to connect. The improved matchmaking flow is as follows:
  • Searching
  • Searching for more players
  • Players found
  • Finalizing matchmaking process
  • Connecting session
• Made an update to ensure that parties stick together when returning from the post-game carnage report
• Prevented the ability for players "kick" other players from matchmaking games
• Made an update to ensure that the Roster correctly displays the "searching" UI rather than "My Game Session" while searching for players
• Removed the possibility to boost ranking through a custom games exploit
• Made an update to ensure that players cannot get stuck in the matchmaking screen during map voting
• Made an update to ensure that the "Connecting to your game" message no longer incorrectly displays in the lower right of the screen during gameplay
• Made an update to the "team creation" phase that allows players to be grouped by team
• Made an update to prevent players from seeing the "connection failed" dialogue if disconnected during the map voting screen
• Improved roster / matchmaking lobby stability
• Made improvements to the accuracy and stability of the "Game Session Details" UI
• Improved version compatibility

UI

• Improved emblem and nameplate behavior to ensure that they do not reset to default (especially after game sessions)
• Corrected career stats that did not update uniformly across different profiles in multiple titles
• Improved Forge map display names in Theater
• Corrected various medal inconsistencies across titles

Campaign

• Made updates to the attainability of various achievements, including "Goat Roped," "Monopolized," "You're Joking," and "Devastating."
• Improved Halo: CE career stat tracking
• Resolved scoring and time HUD reset and display issues
• Made an update to ensure that rival emblems are displayed correctly

Halo: CE

• Improved consistency and reliability of shot registration
• Improved headshot hitboxes
• Fixed an issue where respawning players could momentarily appear at their death location
• Made an update to ensure that the match ends when the entire opposing team quits
• Improved fall damage consistency (specifically in regards to uneven surfaces)
• Improved Halo: CE menu and loading screen stability
• Improved consistency with multikill rewards
• Made an update to improve post-game carnage report accuracy for Halo: CE FFA games
• Updated default language settings

Halo 2

• Made an update to ensure that the team color shown in pre-game lobby matches in-game
• Improved a variety of networking issues to allow for improved consistency between host and clients in peer to peer matches
• Improved a variety of networking issues to allow for improved gameplay consistency
• Made an update to service tag functionality, allowing for service tags to appear for all players
• Improved the post-game carnage report to correctly display team color
• Made an update to ensure that the match ends when the entire opposing team quits
• Improved "original" medal icon functionality in split-screen
• Improved host migration functionality
• Corrected "headshot" stat tracking
• Addressed a crash that occurred with the Scarab skull
• Addressed art errors that occurred on the opening cinematics for "Uprising" and "High Charity"

Halo 2: Anniversary

• Made an update to prevent players from gaining achievements in Forge
• Improved Forge item display names
• Resolved text overlapping issues
• Improved split-screen stability
• Made an update to resolve the notorious "-1th" scoreboard text
• Improved lobby functionality to address players not being able to reconnect to the party leader after completing a match
• Improved host migration functionality
• Corrected vehicle and weapon thumbnails in the "Tools of destruction" table in the post-game carnage report
• Addressed a dedicated server issue that caused gameplay physics issues on Stonetown
• Improved split-screen party functionality to ensure that players are not directed to a broken lobby screen after completing a game session
• Improved Forge mode stability
• Made an update to King of the Hill scoring to prevent multiple hills from counting down at the same time
• Improved Shrine objective spawn points
• Improved King of the Hill and Ninjanaut mode stability
• Addressed an issue where controller vibration could persist during the pause menu
• Improved Race mode respawn zones

11.26.14 Update

The 11.26.14 update was released on November 26, 2014.

Matchmaking

• Made improvements to the way the matchmaking system handles player matching
• Made improvements to the team selection process to improve team balancing
• Made an update to the party system to improve searching with parties (2+ players)
• Made further improvements to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player
• Made an update to ensure that players do not enter a non-joinable state after searching for a match
• Made an update to ensure that the "Game Session" UI does not persist after leaving a matchmaking lobby
• Resolved a variety of incorrectly displayed matchmaking prompts
• Improved matchmaking roster presentation during team creation phase to remove roster flickering
• Corrected a "connecting to host" message that incorrectly displayed during the matchmaking searching phase
• Made an update to ensure that FFA players do not appear as if they are on the red team in the pre-game lobby

Party, Lobby, and Custom Games

• Made an update to ensure that custom game settings persist between matches
• Made an update to ensure that player's player emblems load correctly when returning to lobby
• Made an update to improve nameplate and emblem display
• Improved the display of emblems in the "Games Session Details" screen
• Made improvements to parties to ensure that parties are merged when the host joins another player and "brings party"
• Made an update to improve party stability after completing a matchmaking game
• Made an update to ensure that players are joinable after playing a matchmaking game

Stability

• Made a variety of updates to improve UI stability
• Resolved stability issues that occurred while viewing medals in "Player Details"
• Made an update to prevent stability issues caused by controller disconnects
• Made an update to improve post-game-carnage-report stability
• Made an update to address in-game stability for Halo 2
• Improved matchmaking stability while searching with parties (2+ players)
• Addressed a crash that could occur after searching in the Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
• Resolved a variety of miscellaneous stability issues to improve overall performance

Achievements

• Made an update to ensure that the "Zealot" achievement is unlockable
• Warden – An additional was check put in place and description updated to include both Halo 2 Classic and Halo 2: Anniversary.
• Explore the Floor – Description has been updated. This must be completed on Heroic difficulty or higher.

12.3.2014 Update

The 12.3.2014 Update was released on December 3, 2014.

• Made a change to allow for matches to start once minimum player counts are met, allowing for faster matching times.
• Made an update to resolve issues that caused false matches to be created, which resulted in a variety of matchmaking issues, including slow matchmaking and bad session starts.
• Streamlined the process for maintaining party continuity through the matchmaking process.
• Made an update to the high-level matchmaking flow that will reset lobbies after each match. Moving forward, players and party leaders need to press "B" after the post-game-carnage report, and select a playlist for their next match. This flow is consistent with previous Halo titles.
• Improved user experience through removal of non-actionable error messages. This will allow for a more seamless matchmaking flow with less interruption and confusion.
• Improved the post-game experience to fix an issue that could result in a player getting sent to another player's lobby, rather than returning to the matchmaking screen.

12.7.2014 Update

The 12.7.2014 Update was released on December 3, 2014.

Matchmaking and Parties

• Made improvements to matchmaking team balance
• Made an update to improve matchmaking search times and success rates, specifically expediting the "Players Found" and "Connecting Session" search phases
• Made improvements to prevent a player's rank from resetting unexpectedly
• Made an update to resolve an issue that allowed players to be placed into an incorrect lobby after a matchmaking game
• Made improvements to prevent the party from being disbanded upon returning to lobby
• Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the "Match Found" screen
• Resolved an issue where Team Slayer matches in Halo 3 could separate players onto individual teams
• Resolved an issue where players could be placed into a group of 7 players and unable to find more
• Made improvements to ensure that the party leader is prompted to "Bring Party" when leaving a lobby
• Made an update to ensure that split-screen players cannot be divided onto different teams
• Made improvements to ensure that clients are not kicked from parties at the end of matchmaking games with a "failed to connect" error
• Made an update to ensure that Halo 2: Anniversary matches do not continue indefinitely after entire opposing team quits
• Made an update to ensure that parties are not separated when the party leader navigates through multiple titles

Custom Games

• Made improvements to prevent manual team selection from getting reset after a Custom Game match
• Made an update to ensure that the "Make Party Leader" command functions correctly

Achievements

• Made an update to ensure that the "Too Close to the Sun" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "Monopolized" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "Devastating" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "You're Joking" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met

Game-Specific

• Made improvements to Halo 2: Anniversary objective pickup, specifically in regards to objective "juggling"
• Made an update to Halo 3's movement input, specifically to resolve a deadzone issue which affected moving in a straight line
• Made additional improvements to Halo: CE fall damage scenarios
• Made an update to resolve a Halo 2 Classic campaign issue where a black screen could overlay the gameplay screen

Stability

• Made a variety of stability improvements across the following areas:
  • Matchmaking
  • Custom Games
  • Halo 4 Campaign

Miscellaneous

• Made an update to ensure that clan tags appear in the post-game carnage report for all players
• Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the post-game carnage report
• Made an update to ensure that emblems are displayed correctly in the post-game carnage report

12.15.2014 Update

The 12.15.2014 Update was released on December 15, 2014.

Matchmaking

• Made improvements to the reliability of Matchmaking parties.
• Local split-screen players will now always be on the same team in Halo 2 Matchmaking.
• Made an update to allow players to use Voice Chat during loading screens in Matchmaking.
• Made an update to ensure that players are not forced into an incorrect party after encountering an issue in Matchmaking.
• Resolved an issue where the "Winning Team Won" text was shown in the Carnage Report.

Roster

• Made fixes to reduce the amount of time it takes to update the Roster:
  • Players will now be discovered sooner after starting the game.
  • Changes to the roster will be more immediate to better reflect friend activity.

Parties

• Made several improvements to party joining and management.
• Resolved an issue where players that were in a party could not join another party from the Roster.
• Made changes to ensure that parties cannot exceed the maximum party size of a playlist.
• Made an update to ensure that Party Leaders can assign a new Party Leader or Kick a player from their party.

Custom Games

• Made a change to ensure that teams selections are correctly carried over in Custom Games.
• Made an update to ensure that player settings do not revert to a previous state after completing a Halo 2: Anniversary Multiplayer match.
• Made an update to ensure that players do not disconnect after completing a Custom Game.
• Resolved an issue in Custom Games where parties would disband if some players were playing in Split-Screen.
• Made a change to ensure that Halo 3 Custom Game variants display correct author information.

Halo: CE

• Made various changes and improvements to Halo: CE multiplayer hit registration.

Achievements

• Made an update to ensure that the Legend Slayer achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met.
• The Pacifist Achievement will no longer be awarded for resuming Assault on the Control Room.

Stability Improvements

• Made a variety of stability improvements across the following areas:
  • Matchmaking
  • Custom Games
  • Campaign Playlists
  • Main Menu

Control Schemes

• Updated the Halo 2 Green Fingers Button Layout.
• Updated the Halo 2: Anniversary Multiplayer Recon Button Layout.

Misc.

• Made improvements to stat-tracking.
• Improved language support for Norwegian, Spanish, German and Japanese.

12.22.2014 Update

The 12.22.2014 Update was released on December 22, 2014. It provided more fixes to matchmaking and added Spartan Ops.

Spartan Ops

• Added the entirety of Halo 4's Spartan Ops mode.

Matchmaking

• Made an update to make sure a match only starts when teams are even.
• Players will now receive a loss when disconnecting before a round has ended.
• Made an update to include all split screen players in vote tally.
• Resolved an issue that caused players to become stuck "Joining Session."
• Resolved an issue where players could be dropped from matchmaking after disconnecting their controller.

General Multiplayer Updates

• Made additional improvements to Halo: CE hit registration.
• Made an update to the "Halo 2: Anniversary Career Progress" page to ensure achievements are correctly tracked.
• Fixed an issue where it took a long time to join players that are in a Multiplayer lobby.

General UI/Menu Updates

• Made additional improvements to Roster update times.
• Fixed Halo 3 gametype text when viewing saved data in "My Files."

Halo 2: Anniversary Campaign

• Fixed an issue where the Black Eye skull incorrectly prevented players from reaching checkpoints.

Campaign Playlists

• Fixed an issue where cross-game playlists could fail to progress to the next level.
• Made several fixes to Campaign Playlist Carnage Reports.
• Fixed an issue where Halo 3 Cooperative Playlist progress would not save correctly when completing a mission.
• Made changes to ensure that Competitive Scoring and Timing are tracked correctly in Halo: CE and Halo 2 Campaign Playlists.

Stats & Medals

• Made updates to improve stat tracking.
• Fixed an issue where the Steaktacular medal would not be correctly awarded in Halo 3.
• Fixed an issue where the Supercombine medal would be incorrectly awarded in the Halo 4 Campaign.

Achievements

• Made an update to ensure that the Flaming Ninja Anniversary achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met.

Control Layouts

• Updated the Halo 2 Boxer Button Layout.
• Updated the Halo 4 Legacy Thumbstick Layout.

General Stability

• Made several updates to improve overall game stability.

1.19.2015 Update

The 1.19.2015 update focused on UI, matchmaking, controls, and stability.

Matchmaking

• Improved matchmaking search success rates.
• Made an update to reduce instances of "Awaiting Privileges" matchmaking errors.
• Made an update to ensure player counts more reliably match the expected numbers for each playlist.
• Fixed an issue where player would sometimes appear to be searching in an incorrect "FIND GAME" screen.
• Added countdown sound effect to the voting timer.

General Multiplayer

• Made an update to improve Halo 2: Anniversary network performance, specifically in regards to bandwidth spikes.
• Made several improvements to party joining through the in-game Roster.
• Made an update to ensure that the mute icon is visible while in Matchmaking.
• Fixed an issue in Halo 4 where players could equip the same weapon as their primary and secondary weapons.

General Campaigns

• Made several improvements to stat tracking for Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.
• Made changes to Halo 3 and Halo 4 scoring to ensure that players are not penalized for destroying empty vehicles.

General Menu

• Lowered the music volume level in multiplayer menus.
• Fixed an issue where friend emblems in roster would show up as default when exiting a game session.
• Made updates to UI and menus to improve multiplayer status messaging, such as when a player joins your lobby.

Control Layouts

• Made an update to the Halo 2: Anniversary "Legacy" Stick Layout.

Stability

• Made stability improvements across multiple titles for campaign and multiplayer.