Is anyone else seeing players deleting maps?
I’ve played multiple games this week where players said they deleted maps so it wouldnt load; calling it a “veto”.
After a minute or so the game fails to load. I submitted a ticket but curious if others are seeing this.
Is this an allowed modification of the game files?
See screenshots.
https://i.imgur.com/2fF36zW.png
https://i.imgur.com/7Llc1D2.png
https://i.imgur.com/UaZjIp9.jpeg
This “trick”. There’s a reason why you don’t hear about it often. I’m pretty sure the game throws an Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) error and treats a player’s failure to get into the match as if they intentionally left. It sounds like MCC is detecting that not all players are able to load into the game and starts the search again. I’m glad to hear that you’re not getting a penalty.
I haven’t heard of anyone being on the receiving end of this before. I’ve got to admit, it sounds like an ethical way to avoid getting a Halo 3 BTB Utah Mambo match. All this time later and I still don’t want to play on that Sandbox map.
I’m going to break down the gametype and forge map structure in MCC. There’s three main places. 1) Where local (private) files are stored, 2) where built-in files are stored, and 3) where matchmaking files are stored. Gametypes are “.bin” files and maps are “.mvar” files.
Local files, such as everything you manually save, can be found here.
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\LocalFiles
%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\LocalFiles
It’s sorted first by game and then by gametype or forge map. The filenames are in hexadecimal. You can often see identifying information by opening the files in Notepad, turning on Word Wap, and then looking near the top of the file. Don’t ever edit the contents directly. You can edit the name of the file but be aware that editing it again in-game will require you to save-as instead of just save. There’s a limit for 50 gametypes across all Halo games and a separate limit for 50 forge maps across all Halo games.
Built-in gametypes and forge maps are sorted first by Halo game and then by gametype or forge map. They can be found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\halo3\game_variants
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\halo3\map_variants
Putting a file here will always make it appear before a local file when selecting a gametype or forge map. Putting files here is an excellent way to bypass the 50 file limit on PC. Steam players can do this with ease but Windows Store players will have difficulty.
And now we have the matchmaking “hopper” folders. Never mess with these. Always copy them out or you will get penalized when matchmaking detects an error.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\halo3\hopper_game_variants
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\halo3\hopper_map_variants
This is Halo 3’s folder specifically but it is in an identical place for the other Halo games. This is the folder people may mess with in order to do what OP is describing. 343i pre-loads what people will play in matchmaking in order to cut down on redundant bandwidth usage. If the file you attempt to load from this folder has been tampered with, then Easy Anti-Cheat will flag it and kick you back to the main menu. It will only result in a punishment identical to either intentionally leaving that match or getting kicked from that match. Steam players can verify game files to force a re-download of any missing files in this folder. Windows Store players have no such luck and would have to reinstall or update(?) to refresh this folder.
Modding by replacing or editing files generally only results in a temporary block until the game files are found to not be different. It’s intentionally trying to bypass EAC that will carry a ban risk.
This is the Steam version on Windows 11:
What I did I made a batch file that will delete all the TEMP game files and game mode temp files at the same time for “ALL” of the games. Then I backup the MCC folder every time I make a new map or make any small changes I do.
Side Note: It sucks we can’t do this in HALO INFINITE! 
We need to be
able to make Backups of our game modes and maps on our "OWN STORAGE DEVICES!!
I never understood why we don’t have a “DELETE ALL” for all of your temp files.
Example: If you have 50 max files in your video’s folder. you have to click 3 times to delete one file.
So you have to click your mouse 150 times to get rid of 50 files.
Screw That BS!!
That is why I made my batch file. ( .bat file)
EXAMPLE:
This section for the Game Reach Only!:
d C:\Users\Me\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\Temporary\UserContent\HaloReach\GameType
del , /Q
cd C:\Users\Me\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\Temporary\UserContent\HaloReach\Map
del , /Q
cd C:\Users\Me\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\Temporary\UserContent\Reach\Movie
del , /Q
cd C:\Users\Me\AppData\LocalLow\MCC\Temporary\UserContent\Reach\Gametype
del , /Q
pause
exit
You can do the same thing for all the MCC games. Just change the name for each game and save its as a .BAT file.
Peace! 
I’ll continue to report / open tickets against these players.
Appreciate the detailed writeup.
Why would you report people that just simply don’t want to play those terrible new maps? No one gets a penalty when they don’t load, the lobby just breaks. Its not that serious that you would need to report it. The new maps are trash and play horrible for a ton of people. Waterfall barely renders everytime i play it. I dont blame anyone that deleted those trash maps. If you look at the file size for the new maps its 2x bigger than original h3 maps…
Because editing your game files to interfere with matchmaking is against the rules. Pretty straight forward.
while I understand the sentiment some people have against particular maps, as there has been calls for a menu to enable/disable maps on a per-Map Pack basis; a subjective opinion does not pardon a purposeful circumventing of the current matchmaking rules to hinder other players ability to play all featured content, plain and simple.
I can confirm this topic. Yesterday I had players, who more or less, openly admitted via ingame chat, that they deleted some Data so certain maps won’t load resulting in a server crash for everyone and force to restart matchmaking again. Of course you connect with these people again on another map and everything is working fine.
This should be addressed as high priority because it’s basicly cheating.
This is an interesting topic. Do maps get deleted forever?
For example, if someone else deletes the Waterfall map, does that mean I won’t be able to load that map for future matches and custom games?
If yes, do players have to reinstall the game in order to recover that map?
Of course this is considered as cheating and due to the severity, these players must be banned forever, as they’re altering the game without consent.
If you’re on Steam then you can verify game files to get the missing .map or .mvar file back. If you’re on the Windows Store then maybe you can do a repair thing? I don’t know. If you move the file out instead of deleting it then you can put it back afterwards. So long as it’s the same version as the latest update then it won’t cause any trouble. (Great way to tell is by comparing the last modified dates on the files in File Explorer.)
The Windows Store version of MCC is essentially literally the same as the Steam version except for that it’s wrapped in a UWP file. That’s a can of worms that I can’t properly answer without better understanding how Windows 10/11 and the Windows Store use UWP files. 343i allows you to mess with the game’s files in order to use mods. There’s a whole setting for not starting the game with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). The trick OP is talking about only results in a player automatically getting kicked or automatically disconnecting when that map or forge map tries to be loaded.
lmaoing at the people crying about others not wanting to play the same maps as them.
Nobody wants to play Orbital.
No one wants to be kicked out of matchmaking either.
Nobody wants somebody else modifying the game files without your consent.
You’re both completely missing the point and spamming the same response over and over.
The reality is editing game files should not (and to my knowledge, is not) allowed.
The sensible thing to do is report the player who admits to it and block them, additionally on Steam. There are a few Australians who do this and it is very frustrating to get Waterfall, Edge, Edge, having wasted over five minutes of precious Halo time on failed lobbies.
Nobody gets a ban. You just search again and my find the same person with one of their maps removed. People removing these maps may very often only be doing so as a personal choice, not because they’re suffering framerate and frame pacing issues that occur on XB1/XB1X consoles (who have no choice but to play them).
This would be a major trolling issue if the game was free (good thing it is not). Imagine a farm of VMs running free copies on steam, disabling all maps, putting legitimate players into unplayable matches all day.
I guess that was the 3rd strike, or will he keep spamming the same non-sense statement?
The point here is, modifying a game is not allowed. And according to the Xbox community standards this is not allowed as well (Section VII: Harmful behavior has no place on Xbox)
This is still occurring and becoming more prevalent.
Just block and maybe even report people that do this
Personally, I hope these players never gets banned. The godawful matchmaking system is THE reason why I rarely play the game anymore and I 100% believe it’s the #1 reason why the playerbase is basically dead.
I got so sick of playing the same awful map/mode over and over and over again that I literally stopped playing my favorite game. I got Sandtrap Territories 7 times in a row one night, it was absolutely ridiculous, and to this date I have yet to play a single round on Powerhouse on Halo Reach. I realize that this is possible and a problem with VOTING as well, that’s why the game needs a VETO system (which this basically is, checks what map comes next and gets rid of it).
If you ignore the playerbase long enough, they will find their own solutions to the problem. Maybe this time 343 actually listens.
Now… Which file is Dino Blasters?..
LOL at the Dino Blasters… I agree with you completely, VETO needs to be a thing again. The reason they removed it is that people were just quitting. I’m almost sure this would now be a minimum due to the harsh penalties they now enforce for quitting