A possible way to enhance Halo PC's graphics?

[wilson]

Okay, I found this program called ENBseries by a Russian guy named Boris. It's a bunch of dlls which you insert into a DX9 game's root directory, and it can enable a bunch of cool effects in certain games. It's even got an .ini file which you can modify to set how much bloom, motion blur, or even enable ambient occlusion mapping.

You can read its description here:

http://boris-vorontsov.narod.ru/description_en.htm

or DL it here: http://boris-vorontsov.narod.ru/download_en.htm

It has only been tested by the creator on a few games, including GTA: San Andreas, HL2, Crysis and Stalker. It's meant to make old DX9 PC games look much nicer with post filter effects, and it definitely does make HL2 and GTA look much better than before.

It's been reported to work with pretty much any DX9 PC game, though the results aren't that great except for the few titles which are mentioned on the website, I still wonder what Halo would look like with some shiney new graphics. I've tried it on RE4 PC, before the author started supporting it, and with a few tweaks, it made RE4 look a lot better.

However, when I put these dlls into my Halo main directory and start up halo.exe, I get an error telling me that my version of Directx is too old. Is there any way to get around this? I really want to see what Halo would look like with this.

[peta-182]

It's most likely because there isn't any download there for Halo PC in the download section. What dll's did you use? The Resident Evil 4 ones?

[wilson]

It's most likely because there isn't any download there for Halo PC in the download section. What dll's did you use? The Resident Evil 4 ones?

I tried all of them, but they didn't work. The dll was definitely working, but Halo wouldn't start up because unlike the other games I've tried ENBseries with, it checks if your DirectX version is an official one.

It should work with most DX9 games, though the results usually aren't very good. Before the author started supporting RE4, i downloaded the GTA dlls and used them in RE4 and they worked (somewhat) after a few tweaks to the .ini. I'm pretty sure the dlls are all the same, but the .ini files are tweaked for each game.

But my problem is, I can't even get the thing to work for Halo, because the .exe prevents me from even starting up the game with the plugin installed.

I don't think there is an easy solution to this, it'd probably involve hacking the halo.exe or getting the source code to ENBseries and modifying it. I just hope there's someone who can find a way to get this to work.

[Mr.Brightside]

one word.

DXTweaker.

The FTW configuration, specifically.

[bcnipod]

one word.

DXTweaker.

The FTW configuration, specifically.

yes, also there is no way to go beyond an engine's limitations without getting a better engine. there are ways to make skins look like something they are not, eg: fake bumpmapping

[wilson]

one word.

DXTweaker.

The FTW configuration, specifically.

yes, also there is no way to go beyond an engine's limitations without getting a better engine. there are ways to make skins look like something they are not, eg: fake bumpmapping

It doesn't actually improve the game's graphics. It's all post filter stuff, like AA, motion blur, and bloom.

And can anyone tell me more about this DXTweaker program? I've looked on google but I haven't found an official site or much information on it yet.

EDIT: I've downloaded and tested out DXTweaker a little... It does very little compared to ENBseries. I think DXTweaker is for performance tweaking, because it doesn't really do much to improve graphics besides AA.

ENBseries is capable of adding motion blur and bloom, and in some games it can improve shadows and reflections, and it can add ambient occlusion mapping to a few games (though it creates a lot of ugly artifacts). That's a lot better than just AA and crappy screen overlay effects.

EDIT: I GOT IT TO WORK!!!! I did a little hacking with resource hacker on the ENBseries d3d9.dll so that halo.exe wouldn't think its the wrong version of directx or whatever.

I managed to enable bloom only, without any tweaks. The fps I get is far from playable though. It was literally a slide show, though on beaver creek and the main menu I got 10 fps (while normally its in the hundreds). I took a few screenies and posted them on imageshack:

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7046/bloom1wy5.jpg

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3913/bloom2kc3.jpg

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/6629/bloom3vs0.jpg

There is definitely some bloom, though it's not very noticeable (and definitely not worth the massive drop in fps). But I haven't tweaked it yet, and I'm sure that with a powerful enough computer and enough tweaking, we can get make halo run with much prettier graphics

[Philly]

Woah... that's some serious stuff you have there. The only thing that worries me is the drop in framerate. Get that sorted and it's a definate win.

[wilson]

I did a little tweaking, and I also tone down the bloom to a more realistic amount. It's still shiney and pretty, but it's not over the top. It runs a lot better now, but it's still pretty laggy.

I get 60 fps in the menu, and 30-50 fps in multiplayer when there's no action. Once there are explosions, or plasma bolts flying around, it can drop down to 12 fps, and sometimes into single digit fps.

I'm running Halo on an old 2004 PC though, so if you had a geforce 7 or radeon x1000 series card or better, you could probably get around 30 fps. I'd like to release this app, but I'm just going to ask the creator for permission. Maybe he'll even support it and optimize it for Halo.

[niktheweirdmodder]

I'll give it a go, I have a pretty good GFX Card (512MB) but poor ram.

[Philly]

I get 60 fps in the menu, and 30-50 fps in multiplayer when there's no action. Once there are explosions, or plasma bolts flying around, it can drop down to 12 fps, and sometimes into single digit fps.

OH TEH NOES!!!1!
Seriously, I'm used to about five fps on the main menu.

[Cryticfarm]

I get 60 fps in the menu, and 30-50 fps in multiplayer when there's no action. Once there are explosions, or plasma bolts flying around, it can drop down to 12 fps, and sometimes into single digit fps.

OH TEH NOES!!!1!
Seriously, I'm used to about five fps on the main menu.

Wow, I can get about 300, but i like to keep everything at 30.

[wilson]

I get 60 fps in the menu, and 30-50 fps in multiplayer when there's no action. Once there are explosions, or plasma bolts flying around, it can drop down to 12 fps, and sometimes into single digit fps.

OH TEH NOES!!!1!
Seriously, I'm used to about five fps on the main menu.

Wow, I can get about 300, but i like to keep everything at 30.

Yeah, my FPS is in the hundreds in the main menu usually(and my pc is ancient), but this app really kills your fps.

I'm going to contact the creator of ENBseries, but I really don't know what to say... His English isn't that great, and I think he uses a translator. And I don't want him to misunderstand me or ignore me, but I don't know Russian either. I'm hoping to just get permission from him to release my hacked version of his dlls, and maybe if I ask nicely enough he'll support it and optimize it for Halo. But I'm not sure how..

EDIT: if you really want to try it out now, just PM me and I'll send you the DLLs. I'm not going to post it for public DL yet cause this guy might not want me releasing hacked versions of his programs. Anyways, I don't want to get into trouble, so please PM me if you want to try it out. niktheweirdmodder, check your inbox, I'm going to PM you the dll and some instructions.

[UPS]

OH TEH NOES!!!1!
Seriously, I'm used to about five fps on the main menu.

Lol, looks like you're gonna have fun with this then xD