PSA: Halo Technical Preview 2 Updates

During the live stream last night it was announced that flighting may experience a slight shift due to a late game technical issue that cropped up.

<mark>Please make sure to follow this topic for updates, updates will be made in separate posts</mark>

UPDATE: This section is now outdated and 343 have announced new information found in the latest post. The flight has <mark>not</mark> been delayed.

The flight is on hold at the moment as 343 are dealing with the above noted problem. No codes or emails providing access to builds are likely to be sent until decisions have been made and updates posted. The flight may or may not be pushed out, a delay is not confirmed until 343 provide updates. An update is likely to come out in the AM, 343 time [PST] with further details.

Original announcement from 343’s Community Director ske7ch (Brian Jarrard)
https://twitter.com/ske7ch/status/1440852333936590852?s=19

> Thank you to everyone for tuning into the live stream today! Awesome to share the team’s work and very excited to play it together soon. No updates on flight timing yet, we’re in a holding pattern as work continues. We’ll see how things are looking tomorrow AM and make the call.

Invites to the Halo Infinite tech preview will be rolling out later this afternoon (23rd September) [PST - this could be anywhere from 1 to 5ish hours from now] when the build becomes available for pre-loading. This will include a DM in your Halo Waypoint Message Inbox with all the links to download/install instructions on the Halo Insider Support Site and access to any Steam Keys [if applicable] on your Halo Waypoint Insider Profile [be sure and check that they are for Infinite and not MCC].

Access to the game will turn on later today allowing you to play Training Mode. Weapon Drills, explore the Battle Pass and access Customization, with the first PVP flight starting Friday, September 24 @ 10am PST

Please see the latest blog for further information:
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/multiplayer-technical-preview-overview

<mark>Additional clarification</mark>:
https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441161091371831312

> When the Halo Infinite tech preview kicks off tonight, you will be able to access Training Mode, Weapon Drills, explore the Battle Pass, and customize your Spartan.

PVP is till tomorrow (24th), but you’ll be able to at least mess around with bots when things get switched on.

It’s important to remember that 343 operate on West Coast US time zone PST [UTC - 8], which means that for the likes of UK and European folk, it will be potentially 2am or later before this is available to you. Recommend waiting until tomorrow and setting things up then.

The post above has been edited with these clarifications.

We are nearly there!

Access to the flight, keys, download instructions, etc should be good to go in about 2 hours from the time of this post.
That’s around 8PM PST / 4am UK

https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441206337967255554

> More good news! Our final test passes are happening now. If everything goes well, we will then move to release the #HaloInfinite tech preview build. ETA under 2 hours. Send your energy and positive vibes to our Test & Release Management teams!

The Test has signed off. Release process is underway.

<mark>IMPORTANT PARTS ARE BOLDED - IF YOU DONT HAVE AN INVITE STRAIGHT AWAY, PLEASE BE PATIENT AS IT CAN TAKE A FEW HOURS TO SHOW UP!</mark>

https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441218582977732609

> Now that our build release process is underway, invites will begin rolling out in the next few minutes. <mark>Since we are inviting a lot of Halo Insiders, it may take some time for your invite to arrive via email and Waypoint.</mark> Thanks for all the patience today, it’s almost time

<mark>For users having issues with Steam keys being marked as invalid / duplicate / used</mark>:
https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441261459103576080

> This is a known issue with Infinite Steam codes. 343 have identified the source of the invalid Steam keys. They’re working on getting new ones sent out to people who received invalid ones. To set expectations, it likely won’t happen tonight but the team believes they can address it tomorrow.

Further updates will be provided here as soon as word is out that this issue has been resolved. For now, please be patient as it will be a few hours from this post before anything can be actioned.

<mark>For anyone dealing with the duplicate/invalid Steam code issue - please file a support ticket on the Insider Support Site:</mark>
https://insidersupport.halowaypoint.com/hc/en-us

<mark>Hey folks, 343 are aware of users who are having issues with “You’re not authorized” errors. They are looking into this now</mark>

https://twitter.com/ske7ch/status/1441433121774133250?s=20

> Hey Halo Insiders! FYI we are aware that some players are running into a “You’re not authorized” error when trying to launch the #HaloInfinite preview build (even if you were able to play prior). This is an issue on our side and it’s being worked on.

Additionally:
https://twitter.com/ske7ch/status/1441433123015720960

> This error can also arise if you’re not on the gamertag you registered with and/or if another account is logged into your console at the same time. (or in rare cases, it could be a totally diff issue)
> No need to reinstall the build and there’s not a problem with your key.

And lastly, regarding the duplicate Steam key issue - this is still being worked through. Please file support tickets:
https://twitter.com/ske7ch/status/1441433124081070082

> Speaking of keys - we are aware of Steam folks who received invalid keys yesterday (“Already redeemed”). We’re working to remedy that, please stand by. Reminder: if you run into bugs and issues, please visit http://insidersupport.halowaypoint.com to file a ticket!

<mark>Good news regarding Steam keys everyone!</mark>

https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441482316732264449

> If you received an invalid or used Steam key, a new one should be landing on your Halo Insider profile shortly. Thanks for being so patient here! You can check for your new Steam key in one of these three places:
>
>
>
> - Waypoint Beta (My Flights):
> - https://beta.halowaypoint.com/halo-insider/flights… - Waypoint Message:
> - https://halowaypoint.com/en-us/messages - Halo Insider (“My Flights” at the bottom):
> - https://halowaypoint.com/en-us/halo-insider/profile

<mark>Important update for users who use certain hardware configs like 3070 Tis & 3080 Tis!!</mark>

> We identified an issue that prevented Halo Insiders with certain hardware configurations, including 3070 Tis & 3080 Tis, from receiving an invite. We are aware of this and will be working to get impacted players invites as soon as possible.

<mark>For users still waiting on replacement Steam key and users waiting on invites showing up, ske7ch put together some information over on Reddit that explains some of the issues that have cropped up over the last few days. I’ve quoted the post in the spoiler tag below for ease.</mark>

https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/pugv7o/the_reason_why_you_did_not_get_an_invite_although/he4q23w/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

An issue was identified where 3080 and similar cards did not get recognized correctly. Looks like that’s less than 2,000 people who fall into that category. Updated invites/keys should be going out to these folks who should’ve been included today (this work is underway now).

There are several thousand Insiders with 900-series GPUs who were invited last time but really shouldn’t have been given the known issues and level of support in the game. For this preview, the call was made that this build doesn’t officially support those cards, which means those folks did not get invited.
Additionally, we do have reports of a subset of Insiders who have reported that their profile was inexplicably wiped/reset. This is a new issue still being investigated with no obvious root cause and is not expected to be resolved during this preview.

There are admittedly a variety of less than ideal aspects to this entire flow and we recognize that. Unfortunately, tinkering with the Insider process has had to take a backseat to the flight/game development priorities and the upcoming launch of the new site (which itself will alleviate some pains).

I 100% empathize and understand how disappointing and frustrating it is for folks who expected to get an invite but didn’t. The reality is we’re talking about upwards of 1 million accounts/invites for a limited time preview in the midst of actively closing out a game that’s launching in a few months. We are just not able to manually check and troubleshoot everyone’s access issues. I’m sorry for that.

Next weekend we are widening the funnel and opening things up more. Steam and Xbox players will have an opportunity to participate without going through the Halo Insider process. I’m not sure at what scale yet - it will really depend how well things go this weekend and if we’re hitting our concurrency targets. Next weekend we need to push it even harder, so we’ll be using data from this weekend to identify how we’re trending and then back into the totals we need. So it’ll let more people in but there will be a cap.

Hopefully this is somewhat helpful context though I realize it’s a small consolation for folks who just want to play. We greatly appreciate the passion and support and I’m sorry some Insiders won’t get the opportunity to participate this weekend.

EDIT: I’m told the invites for folks who were originally valid and signed up in time with 3080s have been sent out. Check your Waypoint messages/Insider profile if you fall into this category!

EDIT #2: Evidently we may also have an issue where folks on gaming laptops are not having the right GPU recognized, which would account for another group of Insiders not getting invited but likely should have. We’re still gathering some info and looking into this.

EDIT #3: Some of the new replacement Steam keys are evidently also being reported as invalid. 3rd time’s a charm, I hope. If this is you, stand by, you should be getting another one.

And re: the laptop GPU issue - it does sound like the system was only recognizing the integrated GPU, not dedicated. Unfortunately this is not trivial to resolve and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be realistic to address for this flight. Sorry if you’re one of these Insiders and weren’t able to get in this weekend - hopefully the alternate paths next weekend help out.

An impotant take from that post that will be a happy point for a lot of people, is that the BTB flight is going to be a lot more open:

> Next weekend we are widening the funnel and opening things up more. <mark>Steam and Xbox players will have an opportunity to participate without going through the Halo Insider process</mark>. I’m not sure at what scale yet - it will really depend how well things go this weekend and if we’re hitting our concurrency targets. Next weekend we need to push it even harder, so we’ll be using data from this weekend to identify how we’re trending and then back into the totals we need. <mark>So it’ll let more people in but there will be a cap</mark>.

<mark>More invites are on their way! Players who were signed up in time with gaming laptops that meet min spec but didn’t get invited will be getting invited.</mark>

https://twitter.com/Unyshek/status/1441581427619819521

> We’ve identified even more Halo Insiders with PCs that meet our min spec. An additional wave of invites is rolling out now! Keep an eye on your Halo Waypoint profile