Halo CE: Arena Evolved

Halo: Combat Evolved with modern quality of life, on any PC. Every addition optional, CE's balance kept.

Arena Evolved (AE) is Halo: Combat Evolved's Xbox engine running natively on modern computers. It is a fork of OpenCE, the port of the Halo: Combat Evolved decompilation, and grew from ChupathingyCE. Its focus:

• Modern quality of life: what later Halo games made standard (item timers, a match clock, bots, split screen with each player's own profile and settings, map downloads from the host, menus that work with any controller or a mouse and keyboard), and fixes for the annoyances the game has always had.
• New gameplay: new gametypes, weapons and vehicle features in the spirit of the later games, tuned to fit Halo CE's sandbox rather than replace it. The magnum stays the magnum; a new weapon earns its place against Halo CE's own.

It is inspired by the grassroots Halo CE community's rules, MLG's and today's HCS settings, with ideas of its own. Halo 1: NHE's own maps and gametypes stay supported as an option.

Status: early and in active development. The current pre-release is 0.3.9.1-beta. Supported: Windows, Linux and macOS. The other platforms OpenCE's automated builds cover (Android and more) build from the same code and are released with major releases, or sooner when players ask for them.

Optional by design

Nothing Arena Evolved adds is forced on you. If you want Halo CE as it was:

• Play it on another client. OpenCE, ChupathingyCE or the original Xbox give you the classic game, and online Arena Evolved plays with OpenCE builds on its network version, so classic and AE players can still meet in one game (upstream.md).
• Or turn the additions off in Arena Evolved. Halo CE's own gametypes play by Halo CE's rules: the AE rules (no fall damage, health styles, weapon packs, controller crouch and more) are on only in the AE gametypes, and each is a row in a gametype's GAME OPTIONS you can switch off. As the host, your gametype decides for everyone in the game. HUD STYLE CE draws Halo CE's own HUD, Settings > System > MENUS brings back the PC version's menus, and callouts, timers, waypoints and the other aids each have their own setting.

What's in it

• Competitive rules on any map: no fall damage, Halo 2 or Halo 3 style health, no spread, a pre-game countdown, practice mode, silent movement for split screen, a lethal oddball, all on a gametype's ARENA OPTIONS.
• Ready-made gametypes, in playlist folders: AE FFA, AE 2V2, AE 4V4, AE BTB (big team), AE ACTION SACK and AE PRACTICE (with OCTAGON warm-up drills: infinite ammo, instant respawns), each with its battle rifle version, new modes (Bomb, Grifball, Gun Game, Infection), and Halo 1: NHE's own (gametypes.md).
• Item timers and training: the power items' next spawns by the match clock, waypoints over them, spawn markers coloured by how likely you are to spawn there, spoken callouts.
• New weapons, tuned to Halo CE's sandbox: the battle rifle (three-round bursts, a 3x scope), an SMG, a carbine and suppressed SMG and assault rifle, as weapon packs (in the Windows and Linux downloads) that a gametype puts on any map or turns off. A test pack adds vehicle damage and wrecks.
• Split screen on PC: up to four players on one PC, locally, on a LAN and online, each with their own profile, controller layout and settings.
• Bots that play every mode like a person of their level, in six levels from RECRUIT to DEMON: up to 31 in a game on one PC (change how many from the pause menu, mid-game), and in any LAN or internet game you host, up to a big team game's worth and more (127), "BOT " before their names, filling the teams evenly and stepping aside when a player joins a full game. They play as a team: a wingman sticks with each player, they know the power items' timers, regroup when outnumbered, hear gunfire, pace their pistol shots, scope back in after a hit and take the high ground.
• LAN nights: players who lack a map get it from the host as they join, with its progress on the lobby's header (Settings > Network > INTERNET DOWNLOADS turns it off); map packs keep their own folders and pages in the map lists, and community, Custom Edition and HaloMD maps all play.
• Controllers: a PS5 DualSense's adaptive triggers and lightbar, 14 layouts including MCC's, back buttons and paddles, Nintendo Switch Pro controllers.
• Menus of its own: CREATE GAME and its lobby, CHANGE MAP and CHANGE GAMETYPE with folders and filters, a gametype editor, KEY BINDINGS, and every setting with a line of help.
• Display: a combat HUD of its own (or Halo CE's), a match clock and campaign timer like the Master Chief Collection's, waypoint pictures, keyboard keys shown in the game's prompts when you play with a keyboard, a performance overlay.
• Privacy first: public game lists, stats and crash reports stay off unless you turn them on, and the game never updates itself.

Every option in detail: features.md. What changed in each release: CHANGELOG.md.

Download

Releases are on the Releases page. Take the zip for your system:

Download	For
arena-evolved-<version>-windows64.zip	Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with OpenGL 4.5. Nothing to install.
arena-evolved-<version>-linux64.zip	Linux x86-64, most distributions (Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Mint, Zorin, Pop!_OS, Debian 12), SDL3 included.
arena-evolved-<version>-linux64-arch.zip	Arch and other rolling distributions (uses the system's sdl3).
arena-evolved-<version>-macos.tar	macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon.
-android-unsigned.zip and other platforms	Android 9 on 64-bit ARM and the other platforms OpenCE builds: with major releases or on request, untested by us.
-server-linux-<arch>.zip	The dedicated server (server/README.md).

Full requirements and versions: dependencies.md. The game says its version in its window's title and its log.

You need your own copy of Halo

Arena Evolved includes none of the game's maps, sounds or art. You need an Xbox disc image (.iso or .xiso) of Halo: Combat Evolved; any region works. The first time it starts, the game asks for the image and copies its maps out of it (about 2 GB). Custom Edition maps also need bitmaps.map, sounds.map and loc.map from Halo PC or Custom Edition; if Halo: The Master Chief Collection is installed on Steam, the game finds them there and asks before using them.

Getting started

1. Start the game and point it at your Halo disc image.
2. The menus are Arena Evolved's own (Settings > System > MENUS switches to the PC version's). The game's settings are under SETTINGS; a gametype's rules are in its GAME OPTIONS.
3. MULTIPLAYER > CREATE GAME, pick LAN or HOST ONLINE, a map and an AE gametype, and set the lobby's BOTS. Extra players on this PC press START on their controllers in the lobby.

Every setting the port adds is in config.toml beside the game, written the first time it starts with each one explained (port/linux/README.md).

Playing over LAN

Every computer needs to be on the same network (not a guest Wi-Fi) with UDP ports 5150, 5151 and 5160 and TCP port 5153 open. Windows asks the first time the game starts: allow it. On Linux a firewall blocks LAN games silently: open the ports once (sudo ufw allow 5150:5151/udp, sudo ufw allow 5160/udp, sudo ufw allow 5153/tcp). Players who lack the host's maps get them from the host. Details, firewalld and map sharing: lan.md.

Where it's going

More of the same focus: quality of life and the old annoyances ironed out, new gameplay that respects Halo CE's balance, and bots good enough to fill any game. Next: an in-game pause menu and post-game results in Arena Evolved's style, a scoreboard for big team games, more weapons and vehicles, and the newest OpenCE builds merged in.

For developers

• Building: Python 3, ninja, clang with lld (or gcc on Linux) and SDL3: python3 configure.py --release then ninja linux64. Every platform and package list: building.md.
• Upstream: OpenCE is where the port is made, and Arena Evolved merges its releases and offers fixes and features back to it, credited to Arena Evolved. Online, Arena Evolved is network version 38 and plays with OpenCE builds on it (build-268 to build-281) and ChupathingyCE 0.8.0f and later: upstream.md.
• Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md. Arena Evolved's own code is in port/linux/game/ae_*; it changes the upstream files only by single marked lines (/* AE hook */, listed in port/linux/game/ae_hooks.txt).

Credits

• The decompilation: punpckhdq/halo and bnunu/halo-1, of the Xbox build 2342.
• The port: OpenCE and its contributors (its main contributors are Jonas Volman, @bnunu, and MrBruh, @cybersecurity). The menus' blue arrow mouse cursor (port/assets/cursor, from OpenCE build-250) is pugzysixtyfour's art.
• ChupathingyCE: Milenko and contributors, and the contributors credited there and in each commit. From ChupathingyCE 0.8.0: ugoboom (Zebouski), HD HUDs on Custom Edition maps (MCC's "0.5 HUD scale" and Chimera's "force HUD use high resolution scale" flags) and the loading screen's sound on the SDL ports. The scoreboard's platform logos are one-colour marks from Simple Icons (CC0) and Wikimedia Commons (public domain), plus ChupathingyCE's own Xbox 360 ring and Wii U GamePad; the names and logos are their owners' trademarks, used only to identify platforms. HaloMD map names come from MacGamingMods' public HaloMD mod list.
• High-res HUD art on the Xbox maps (HUD STYLE CE): Aerocatia's and Jessie's HUD art from Halo PC Restored (release r220), brought in by ChupathingyCE and used with Aerocatia's permission on the condition that both are credited; port/assets/hud/NOTICE.md lists which files are theirs.
• Controller button icons by snapchipper, CC0 (port/assets/prompts).
• Halo 1: Neutral Host Edition (NHE), the Xbox competitive mod whose rules inspired Arena Evolved: the NHE team. Arena Evolved's versions are its own code; it is not made or endorsed by the NHE team. Download NHE itself from halo1nhe.com.
• Fonts: Overpass (SIL OFL; the game's text and the logo's wordmark), Cyborg Interface Gothic by fizzy (SIL OFL; made to match Halo's interface font from Overpass and glyphs of their own, ChupathingyCE's high-res text font), Noto Sans (SIL OFL) and Kenney's Input Prompts (CC0).
• The battle rifle's model, textures, animations and sounds are CMT's, from the source release of The Silent Cartographer: Evolved (1.4.1c), used with credit; its scope and gun-screen art are redrawn here, and its aiming reticle follows crosshair 033 of Kenney's Crosshair Pack (CC0). The pack's own credits file is packs/ae_battle_rifle.CREDITS.txt.
• The vehicle damage pack's effects and wrecks (packs/ae_vehicle_damage.aepack) are CMT's, from the same TSC:E 1.4.1c source release (the Evolved team), used with credit; its credits file is packs/ae_vehicle_damage.CREDITS.txt.
• The vehicle horn (sounds/horn.wav) is CMT's Warthog horn from the same TSC:E 1.4.1c source release (the Evolved team), used with credit (port/assets/sounds/CREDITS.md).
• The logo (ORBIT) is Arena Evolved's own drawing (port/assets/branding, made by tools/ae_logo.py); it uses no third-party art. It is not under the code's licence (see "Licence" below).
• Streamer mode's word list (OpenCE's, port/assets/text_filter) is made from Surge AI's "The Obscenity List" (MIT License, Copyright (c) Surge AI: the notice is in AUTHORS.md) and the public-domain english-words list.
• Libraries: SDL3, stb, Mbed TLS, miniupnpc, KCP, tomlc17, musl's maths, Expat, Monocypher, zlib, SMAA, and Project Nayuki's QR Code generator. Their licenses are beside them in port/third_party.

Halo is a trademark of Microsoft. Halo CE: Arena Evolved is a non-commercial fan project, not made or endorsed by Microsoft, Bungie, 343 Industries or Halo Studios, and includes none of the game's content: you need your own copy of the game. It is free, and must never be sold (Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules allow free fan projects only).

Testing

The tests are listed in AGENTS.md ("Testing"). Most run without the game data, in GitHub Actions too.

One check needs the retail maps, so it runs on your own computer (or on a self-hosted runner), not in GitHub Actions: tools/net_compare.py plays two builds together in a network game on one computer and checks that they stay in step. Run it when a change can alter how a build calculates the game, as a change to the simulation, the compiler or the maths does, before it is merged. For example, to check a build with such a change against a build without it:

python tools/net_compare.py --a build/linux/halo --b <other checkout>/build/linux/halo \
    --data <folder with maps/> --maps bloodgulch,beavercreek,hangemhigh --swap

Each game prints PASS or FAIL. A FAIL names the first player, tick and value that differ. Refer to "Comparing two builds" in port/linux/NETCODE.md.

Licence

Arena Evolved is free software: you can give it to others and change it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3 of the License or (at your option) any later version (AGPL-3.0-or-later), as OpenCE is. It comes with no warranty. The full text is in LICENSE.

• From the change. Arena Evolved follows OpenCE, which moved to the AGPL at its build-237. The AGPL applies from the merge commit that brought OpenCE build-237 into Arena Evolved, and to each release built from that commit or a later one (0.3.5 and after). Earlier releases (0.3.4-beta and before), and the source at every earlier commit, were released under CC0 1.0 and stay that way.
• What Arena Evolved builds on. OpenCE is under the AGPL 3.0 from its build-237 and under CC0 1.0 before it. The decompilation of punpckhdq/halo is under the AGPL 3.0 from 17 October 2026, and under CC0 1.0 before that date. bnunu/halo-1 is under CC0 1.0. ChupathingyCE's code up to its 0.7.5d is under CC0 1.0; its code from 0.8.0 (16 October 2026 on) is under the GNU General Public License 3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later, the text in LICENSES/GPL-3.0.txt). Arena Evolved includes ChupathingyCE 0.8.0b; the GPL 3.0 (section 13) lets that code be combined with the AGPL 3.0 work it is in, and those parts keep their GPL terms.
• Contributions are under AGPL-3.0-or-later.
• Hosts and servers. If you change the game and let other persons play with your version over a network (for example, as the host of an internet game, or on a web site), the AGPL asks you to offer them the source of your version (section 13). The game as released has its source here, and each release's source is its tag.
• Third-party code, fonts and art keep their own licences, which are next to them (port/third_party, port/assets/fonts, port/linux/ui/fonts, port/assets/icons, port/assets/prompts, port/assets/hud, port/assets/text_filter) and listed under Credits above. The release downloads carry their notices.
• The logo is the exception: the ORBIT mark, the ARENA EVOLVED wordmark and the app icons made from them are all rights reserved by the project. You may use them unmodified to refer or link to Arena Evolved (in articles, videos, server lists), but not as another project's branding. The files and terms: port/assets/branding/LICENSE.md.
• Halo is not covered. The licence covers the work of Arena Evolved's and OpenCE's authors. It gives no rights in Halo, its maps or anything else that Microsoft owns.

If you use Arena Evolved's code, a credit is appreciated: "Halo CE: Arena Evolved by PeterRichardsonGolf", with a link to this repository.