The full Halo: Combat Evolved campaign is now playable via PC VR.
Available to download via GitHub, this Halo: Combat Evolved VR mod lets you experience the entire campaign with full 6DOF motion controls, a two-handed aiming mode for weapons, rebindable controllers, and more. Compatible with the original 2003 PC release, it requires using SteamVR and you can see this demonstrated in LunchAndVR’s video below.
However, you can’t use this mod with the Master Chief Collection or the remastered Anniversary Edition. The original PC version isn’t legally available digitally either, though physical copies can still be found secondhand through places like eBay. LivingFray notes this mod hasn’t been tested in multiplayer, and that the original PC release never included co-op.
How To Install The Halo: Combat Evolved PC VR Mod
Here’s the full instructions as listed on GitHub.
- Install Halo: Combat Evolved for PC using an original installation CD + product key.
- Install the 1.10 patch.
- (Optional) Install chimera (fixes a few bugs/issues such as entities moving at 30fps).
- If using chimera: open chimera.ini, locate the “Font Override Settings” section, and change enabled=1 to enabled=0 (failing to do this will break many UI elements in VR).
- Download the latest version of this mod from the releases page.
- Extract HaloCEVR.zip and place the files in the same directory as the halo executable (You should see a VR folder, openvr_api.dll and d3d9.dll if done correctly).
- Launch the game once to generate a config.txt file in the VR directory.
- If setting LeftHanded=true in the config, consider selecting the left handed controller bindings in the game’s SteamVR controller bindings page.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Halo in VR, with other efforts including a Rec Room crossover, an attempted fan remake, and a cancelled Halo: Reach VR mod. More notably, early Windows MR headset users may recall when Microsoft released Halo Recruit back in 2017. However, this 5-minute experience offered little more than a disappointing VR wave shooter where you shoot targets on a flatscreen.
Given there are no indications from Microsoft of adding VR support to its Xbox consoles, this Combat Evolved mod is likely the closest thing we’ll get to a full Halo game in VR for some time.
Ian Hamilton
