I think it’s time we discussed this, we have awesome modding tools for MCC on PC and have had them for some time now. There is also great talent out there taking advantage of them to create awesome content, the biggest thing holding them back right now is MCC itself.
The current server browser system is not great, it is literally a glorified public party system. That’s it, it doesn’t allow the technically minded to fine tune variables and it also doesn’t let anyone run a server without actually playing the game. Forcing PC users to stick to the Xbox Live systems just doesn’t work with the advanced tools 343i have given us.
What MCC needs is a traditional PC server browser much like the original Halo: Custom Edition that allows players to have the ability to run and build a community within the game by using server providers or their own systems through an interface with their own mods etc.
The Solution
Give the MCC on PC a launcher that allows us to either launch the game as it is currently or search for a community server within the launcher, download the maps for that server then launch into the particular Halo title the server is running. Upon quitting the game, the launcher should reappear allowing us to pick a new server or just exit the launcher.
A great example to take inspiration from is the community made launcher called FiveM for Grand Theft Auto V.
This way the PC features and mods won’t interfere with any of the Xbox Live systems currently in place and changes won’t need to be made to accommodate the PC tools within the Xbox Live systems while still giving PC users the ability to launch MCC as it is currently to enjoy the cross platform multiplayer etc.
For the launcher idea to work we also need to be given dedicated server tools that lets us do all the configuration you’d expect from a traditional PC dedicated server system including the ability to run things like a welcome script and server rules splash etc. and importantly, allow server providers to provide host services.
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I think this concept is a great idea - I remember running a CE custom server on my PC back in the early 2000s, what a great community!
The only caveat I will add is that MCC has much bigger problems to tackle first. You cant even play Co-Op without constant crashes and cross-platform campaign still isn’t done for a majority of the titles. The ban system is another failure.
Once 343 tackles their larger problems and is able to focus more on custom games, I would support this. We could argue that they should be able to work on both at once, but realistically I would prefer campaign/matchmaking and the existing functionality fixed before they add more undoubtedly broken code.
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My mentality is that adding the launcher system mentioned will actually simplify things for 343i, I’m pretty sure they are trying to work out how to have modded maps running over Xbox Live. Having all the server stuff run by server hosts and the community themselves will remove a decent portion of the work they’d have to put in just to support these things within the frankly limited Xbox Live systems.
Ideally the launcher system would be running “off the grid” in terms of the Xbox Live stuff, so basically no points progression to worry about factoring in etc. All that’s needed is your gamer tag, armour colours and parts.
That’ll lead us to pure and basic Halo that’s driven forward and kept alive by the community, which is where Halo is at its best.
Theoretically there would be an influx of new players purchasing the MCC after features like that purely because of the infinite content potential from the community run dedicated servers with mod support and word of mouth about those features, all that attention and sales would surely light a firecracker under the devs cracks to get more help and fix more issues.
That’s how it looks in my head at least haha.
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Pavlov has a great server system
They let players use their servers for small lobbies, let you use your own if you want something bigger or otherwise out of the norm & auto download mods when joining a match.
That seems pretty good, sounds somewhat similar to what’s already in place currently with the custom games browser for the small portion. We’re missing out on the bigger and more exciting options so far but hopefully that can and will change.
I wish CGs had vote to kick/skip round options for players when the host is AFK or just doesnt care if the round is delayed.
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Yeah that’s the problem with CGB, it’s a glorified party system instead of a proper server system so if the “host” is AFK the experience is soured.
A simple voting system would go a long way, it’d also make a difference in matchmaking, I just played a round in Halo 3 and ran into 2 enemy players that were flying around the map killing everyone and couldn’t do anything about it other than report them, a vote to kick option would have shut them down quickly.
yeah if all these systems are going to be so…bare minium I wish I could just play any game in the MCC with all their social/gameplay content intact instead.
Yeah, the multiplayer in MCC is definitely an objective downgrade from the originals, I remember Halo 3 and Reach having a screen that let you know how many players were currently playing, you could party up after a match which created friendships and massively cut down wait times between matches, you had a veto system for maps and game modes etc.
They should have taken all the best aspects of classic Halo matchmaking and continued them in MCC but sadly it was all gutted for an inferior and somewhat antisocial system.
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I really want someone to explain to me why they removed vicinity voice, voice/personality preferences in MM, original game modes & decided to arbitrarily remove and change models, netcode and other content to something worse.
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I have a feeling that 343i has an irrational fear of letting players interact outside of shooting at each other.
When you add up all the removed options from social matchmaking features to fun things like proximity voice it certainly seems that way.
Original game modes seem like they’d be so easy to add, one of the great things about Halo games is how you can easily make different game modes by tweaking settings of existing modes to create something fresh, the original modes in the games showed that off and could surely be recreated and added into a new playlist.
I haven’t noticed much removed or changed content other than the Halo 3 spartan suit and the Marty easter egg in ODST to be honest, but if some were pointed out to me I’d never unsee them, it’d be like someone pointing out a broken pixel on my monitor.
There has been some beneficial changes though such as Captain Keyes in CE looking like he did in the original Xbox version which is a beneficial change as it comes closer to preserving the Xbox version of Halo CE which I’m all for.
I’d love to see them go further and bring the original Xbox Halo CE multiplayer maps over to MCC to replace the Halo PC ones we currently have.
As for netcode there is good reason as to why that had to be changed, all the games were originally made for 30FPS so the old ticks don’t line up with the 60+ FPS the games use in MCC and I can confidently say that playing Halo CE online in MCC feels better than it did on the Halo PC version where you had to lead your shots based on ping (eventually community made dedicated server plugins fixed it though IIRC).
I get more the impression they think they know better than the people who built the systems.
Encouraging rowdy behavior? That sounds ‘toxic’ my guy, better remove it! Net code? Pfff this is like what? 360 era GARBAGE? We MODERN DEVELOPERS can improve it easily! Progression? NOT ENOUGH MICROTRANSACTIONS IN THIS, BETTER LAY THE GROUNDWORK.
I agree 100%. As a game server Admin for 24 years. We need to be able to do the following as a Server game Admin:
Be able to kick Afker’s, to ban people for creating hate an discontent, Racists remarks, People using Cheats/Hax and send messages to users, Have a ban list, Have a Favorites for your friends, Have a Welcome Screen and have a Server Rules list.
Most of this can be done with a Desktop Control Panel. Even Halo Combat Evolved had the ~ ( Tilda key ) so you could some of the above and that’s a fact!
Peace! 
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Not even need admins per se, just let the small community in that lobby decide what is and isnt acceptable.
I was never in favor of lobbies. That is why I love to use a Custom Game Browser. No Need to be in lobby when you can just click on a server and play in the Custom Game Browser.
Peace!
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Funnily enough, back when the community had access to these tools and the ability to run their own dedicated servers the overall online experience was far better, there was almost always an admin either playing or on call to deal with the troublemakers.
Matchmaking systems that gets pushed on the PC platform lead to a horrific experience because of the lack of local policing, in some games we get a vote to kick option as well as a report one but that practically does nothing in the short term.
The trouble makers will roam free until whoever reviews the report data uses the hammer, that process can sometimes take over a month or more.
This would be for people who CAN host a server and have the people to manage it, im referring to what we have now with the CGB
What we have now is a wannabe Dedicated Server. No real admin commands like other Dedicated Game Server Software… Just wish we had our own dedicated game server software like we had with Halo Combat Evolved and others.
Peace!