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About this mod
A mod that restores classic audio to Halo 2 Anniversary's entire campaign, including music, weapons, vehicles, characters, and ambience.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Mirrors
- Changelogs
Overview
This mod reverts all audio in the Halo 2 Anniversary campaign to classic, rebalancing both editions to reproduce the Original Xbox soundscape as closely as possible.
Where Anniversary edition provides new audio, I've conservatively kept only the additions that enhance the atmosphere while remaining faithful to the original game. The full list of changes is below.
Changes
Installation
Variations
By popular request, I've uploaded a variation of the mod which only restores classic music. The rest of the anniversary campaign's new sounds remain unchanged in the music only version. Installation is the same for both mods.
Source Code
Restoring Halo 2 Anniversary's audio requires changing almost 2,000 files. Completing this process once is painful. Doing it again each time an official update touches the campaign and breaks the previous mod is prohibitively frustrating. This is why, even years after launch, it's often impossible to find an up-to-date total audio restoration mod.
This project breaks the cycle. Rather than manually change each file, I've written a script to automate the process using MCC's official mod tools. With a little setup and two clicks, anyone can generate fresh, audio-restored .map files for the most up-to-date version of MCC. The source code for the project is linked below, along with instructions. My goal is to keep this mod updated forever. But if I falter, the power is in your hands.
Halo 2A Sound Restoration on GitHub
Resources & Credits
This mod reverts all audio in the Halo 2 Anniversary campaign to classic, rebalancing both editions to reproduce the Original Xbox soundscape as closely as possible.
Where Anniversary edition provides new audio, I've conservatively kept only the additions that enhance the atmosphere while remaining faithful to the original game. The full list of changes is below.
Changes
- Music - Restored & rebalanced.
- Weapons - Restored & rebalanced.
- Vehicles - Restored & rebalanced.
- Characters - Restored & rebalanced. Preserved the following faithful additions:
- Hunter Footsteps: Weightier in Anniversary. Decreased volume for subtlety.
- Sentinel Enforcer Rocket: New launch sound when rocket fires that makes Enforcers much less disorienting to fight. Changed to a quiet thump and decreased volume for subtlety.
- Ambience - Preserved faithful additions; restored noteworthy sounds. Rebalanced all.
- Environmental Tracks: Halo 2 Anniversary adds phenomenal ambience and environmental tracks throughout the campaign. From subtle clangs and groaning metal on Cairo Station to distant small arms fire and explosions in Old Mombasa, the additions overwhelmingly work. This mod preserves those subtle background improvements while reverting the important classic foreground tracks. For example, the first mission's MAC gun load/firing sequence, doors, plasma shields, alarms, and elevator sounds have all been restored. This approach has been consistent throughout the campaign and brings subtle life to spaces that otherwise sound hollow/desolate in Anniversary graphics.
- Environmental Tracks: Halo 2 Anniversary adds phenomenal ambience and environmental tracks throughout the campaign. From subtle clangs and groaning metal on Cairo Station to distant small arms fire and explosions in Old Mombasa, the additions overwhelmingly work. This mod preserves those subtle background improvements while reverting the important classic foreground tracks. For example, the first mission's MAC gun load/firing sequence, doors, plasma shields, alarms, and elevator sounds have all been restored. This approach has been consistent throughout the campaign and brings subtle life to spaces that otherwise sound hollow/desolate in Anniversary graphics.
- Dialogue - Rebalanced (Anniversary already uses classic dialogue).
Installation
- Download Halo 2 Anniversary - Total Audio Restoration.7z and use 7Zip to extract. This will produce a folder full of .map files.
- Navigate to <steam games>\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\halo2\h2_maps_win64_dx11. This folder contains all of Halo 2's vanilla map files, including those for the campaign, which are numbered 01a-08b. Backup these vanilla campaign .map files before proceeding.
- Copy the modded .map files from step one into the above folder, replacing the vanilla files.
- Launch MCC with Anti-Cheat disabled. You're ready to play!
Variations
By popular request, I've uploaded a variation of the mod which only restores classic music. The rest of the anniversary campaign's new sounds remain unchanged in the music only version. Installation is the same for both mods.
Source Code
Restoring Halo 2 Anniversary's audio requires changing almost 2,000 files. Completing this process once is painful. Doing it again each time an official update touches the campaign and breaks the previous mod is prohibitively frustrating. This is why, even years after launch, it's often impossible to find an up-to-date total audio restoration mod.
This project breaks the cycle. Rather than manually change each file, I've written a script to automate the process using MCC's official mod tools. With a little setup and two clicks, anyone can generate fresh, audio-restored .map files for the most up-to-date version of MCC. The source code for the project is linked below, along with instructions. My goal is to keep this mod updated forever. But if I falter, the power is in your hands.
Halo 2A Sound Restoration on GitHub
Resources & Credits
- SpartanOnyx259 was instrumental in helping me learn what I needed to build this mod. His Halo 2 Anniversary w/ Classic Music & Sound Effects mod served as inspiration for the project and was the last manual audio restoration before automation was possible.
- The good people of the Halo Mods Discord were incredibly patient as I bugged them with basic questions about Halo modding. They're a kind, welcoming community committed to building wacky things together.
- The Reclaimers Library is a community-run wiki that catalogs hard-earned information about how the Halo games were built. It's a phenomenal resource for understanding Halo's various engine/modding tools. If the knowledge isn't there, it's been lost to time.
- This mod wouldn't be possible without 343's commitment to classic Halo. They've done an incredible service to the community with MCC's official mod tools and have my thanks for continuing to support the series 20+ years on.