Original Xbox Halo: Combat Evolved, brought to modern devices through its decompilation and native ports.
Our goal is to reproduce the Halo 1 experience that OG players know: movement, weapons, sounds, presentation, and the original 30 Hz simulation. Community maps and explicitly enabled competitive/practice tools give serious players more ways to play while keeping OG rules as the default. Faithful reproduction is the goal; complete retail parity is still being tested.
Get running and join the playtest →
Use the test-v0.3.0-net11-dmg2 testing release. Choose your platform:
| Platform | Testing package | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Mac | Halo-OG-macos-arm64.dmg | Apple Silicon, macOS 26+ |
| Linux | halo-linux-release.zip | halo-linux-debug.zip |
| Windows | halo-windows-release.zip | halo-windows-debug.zip |
| Android | halo-android-release.zip | halo-android-debug.zip |
All packages in the release come from the same source commit. Use the same
tag when playing together. The release includes SHA256SUMS, provenance.json,
and Mac installation notes. These are experimental builds.
The dmg2 revision adds a Mac drag-to-Applications install screen; the game app
and other platform ZIPs are unchanged from test-v0.3.0-net11; both releases
contain identical protocol-11 game builds. The original release remains available.
If the release is not available, sign in to GitHub and use successful runs of
this repository's macOS DMG workflow
or Build workflow.
Download the platform's halo-…-release artifact, or halo-macos-arm64-dmg, and
match the runs' commit SHA. Artifact downloads are ZIPs and expire.
The Mac test build is ad-hoc signed and unnotarized. Install Halo OG.app into Applications; no Homebrew or developer tools are needed. Testing packages have automatic updates disabled. Installation steps explain first launch, platform dependencies, and updating.
Each build of upstream main that passes on Linux, Windows, and Android is a new
OpenCE release. The Releases
page keeps the last five of those. Linux, Windows, and Android players should use
that page. This Mac tree is built from that source and has to be rebuilt here.
- Download and install the package for your platform.
- Supply your own original Xbox Halo disc image (
.iso/.xiso) or complete extractedmapsfolder. USA NTSC data is recommended and required by the current community-map collection. Game data is not bundled; PC, Custom Edition, Anniversary, and MCC data are not substitutes. - Create/select a profile, try a stock map, then join the multiplayer playtest.
Mac first launch imports a disc or offers to manage a copy of your maps.
Data, saves, and settings live in ~/Library/Application Support/Halo OG/.
Prior Halo CE Universal data is copied where needed, preserving the old folder
and existing files. External map folders can remain selected.
Data management details.
Mac Settings can download 40 approved community maps in the background after you opt in. The Cloudflare R2 collection is about 863 MiB, built for Xbox v5 NTSC data. Verified downloads remain usable offline. Windows, Linux, and Android currently install matching maps manually; community-map setup includes the downloads.
PB Options offers a match timer, spawn markers, timer announcements, and optional silent movement/weapon-ready sounds. All modifications default off; the host chooses the match's options. Use Stock for original-rule play. Timer announcements need a separate audio pack, not bundled with these builds. PB Options explains settings and compatibility.
The current network protocol is 20. Older builds, including protocol 19, cannot join it. Enabled PB Options require compatible peers. For the first cross-platform tests, use matching Halo OG packages with PB Options off.
Native Mac campaign/input/audio smoke checks and protocol-11 stock multiplayer have been exercised. A client starting without Downrush downloaded the verified map and completed two consecutive Slayer matches with a host on the same physical Mac; offline reuse also passed. All 40 community caches passed short local load/render and public hash checks; the native Mac download service also passed automatic download and offline reuse for all 40. Physical cross-platform play, Internet/NAT, long sessions, full campaign coverage, and reference-Xbox fidelity remain acceptance work. See the fidelity policy, protocol review, and map-delivery evidence.
Build from source · Apple setup · Community-map conversion · Community package prototype · Report a playtest problem
The experimental iPhone port is a developer build with no installation package in this testing release. Halo OG builds on bnunu/halo-1, punpckhdq/halo, and the platform work in cybersecurity/halo-ce-universal. We review upstream changes individually and keep optional modifications explicit.