Halo MCC Gets Huge Update That Adds ODST, Firefight, New Weapons For Halo 3, And More

While Halo Infinite might be delayed until 2021, the Halo engine keeps on chugging with a big new update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

First and foremost, Halo 3: ODST is out now on PC--you can grab it on Steam, the Microsoft Store, or Xbox Game Pass for PC. It's the fifth game in the package to come to PC, following Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. The sixth game in the package, Halo 4, will be released at some point later in 2020.

ODST was already available for MCC on Xbox One, but the big update introduces ODST Firefight on console. Some of the notable updates for ODST Firefight, which is available for PC and Xbox One, are new weapons in the form of the Halo 3 battle rifle and ODST's assault rifle, as well as the Hornet and Anti-Air Wraith vehicles, among other things.

In addition to ODST on PC and Firefight for console, the MCC update brings a lot of other changes to the game across platforms. Halo 3 now has weapon skins and different visor colors you can use to customize your character in multiplayer. These can be turned off for those who want to enjoy the game as it originally released.

Another major change for Halo 3 in MCC are improvements to hit-registration. For a long time, players have remarked that hit-registration just didn't feel right in Halo 3, but this new update makes changes that should improve the experience. For lots more on this, you can read this ridiculously in-depth and technical breakdown of what was going wrong and how Microsoft addressed it.

Another big change for Halo 3 is that, for the first time since the game originally launched for Xbox 360 in 2007, new weapons are now available for multiplayer. These include the silenced SMG, Automag, and Brute plasma rifle from ODST.

What's more, the launch of ODST kicks off Halo: MCC Season 3, which is called Recon. There are more than 80 pieces of new content to unlock spread over 50 tiers. Below you can see a glimpse at the new Season 3 offering. What's more, Season 3 adds more weekly challenges that players can take on to earn special gear and items.

The Season 3 update patch carries a maximum file size of 19.74 GB on Xbox One, 11.5 GB on Steam, and 14.09 GB on the Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass for PC. You can see the full Season 3 patch notes below, as posted by Microsoft on its website.

Halo: MCC Season 3 Patch Notes

Latest Version

• The latest version of the game is 1.1829.0.0, to find the version number (Full KBA).
• To update your game if you are not on the latest version (Full KBA).

Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta)

• Max size of 14.09 GB

Steam

• Max size of 11.5 GB

Xbox

• Max size of 19.74 GB

New Features

• ODST is now available on PC!
• ODST Firefight has been added to Xbox, Steam, and Windows Store, included with the ODST DLC package.
• ODST Firefight now supports custom game variant options for creating your own Firefight modes.
• Season 3 has been added to the collection, featuring ODST Firefight Customization, New Halo 3 Weapon and Visor Skins, and new nameplates including:
  • 12 Halo 3 Weapon Skins.
  • 30 Halo 3 Visor Skins.
  • 10 ODST Character Skins.
  • 4 ODST Character Skins (Unlockable via Challenges).
  • 30 Nameplates.
• A new frontend menu has been added to welcome ODST Firefight Customization to the collection.
• Halo 2 Anniversary Multiplayer’s Customization has been broken down into per-part pieces.
• Added Challenges to the Pause Menu for visibility during gameplay.
• Added an option that allows users to disable the Challenge notification.
• Added deck progress counter in Challenge Hub.
• Progress notifications for featured (golden) challenges now appear gold.
• More variety is present for Challenges which reward Season Points from week to week.
• Added ODST's Silenced SMG, Automag, and Brute Plasma Rifle to Halo 3 Multiplayer.
• Added Recon weapon set to override all weapons on the map with their ODST counterparts.
• Added new option for Halo 3 Grenade Regeneration which includes Firebomb grenades.
• Added bottomless clip option for Halo 3 Infinite Ammo setting.
• Simplified Chinese Text Language is now supported in ODST.

Flight Improvements Brought into MCC Retail

These improvements came from feedback reported by our community and were resolved during or after the flight period of ODST. Thank you for participating!

Halo 3

• We have brought over the improvements made in our last flight patch to hit registration in multiplayer (related to the 60hz and 30hz engine refresh rate as referenced in our development July 2020 blog).
• Fixed several issues that caused floating turrets, mongoose falling from the sky, and a series of issues that were identified during the initial flight with Elephants on Sandtrap.
• Service ID's shorter than 3 characters now display in gameplay.
• Scoreboard player scrolling is now bound to Up and Down arrow keys.
• Updated how the camera intersects with objects in Forge fixing an issue where players would be flung out of the map boundaries and killed when playing or moving objects.
• Several improvements to Forge with camera movement, menu navigation, and placing or moving objects.
• Halo 3 matchmaking game films no longer prevent players from restarting the film. 

ODST

• Fixed an issue that caused missing or delayed subtitles during cutscenes.
• Detached turrets no longer use lowered crosshairs when Crosshair Position is set to “Centered”.
• Players can operate and exit hijacked Ghosts without others seeing them as standing on it.
• Resolved several crash issues reported during the flight period.
• All the character models have matching hands.
• AA Wraith Spawns normally in “Lost Platoon.”
• Suicide Grunts now have grenades in their hands.
• Projectiles are visible when Wraiths are seen firing.
• Players can use health packs in Firefight. Scope zoom sound effects only play once in Firefight.
• When the time limit expires the game ends instead of a new game starting before the end of the current game in Firefight.
• Front turrets on Phantoms are visible to players in Firefight
• The preview images were corrected for several reward tiers (Romeo and Buck, Helmets on/off).

Resolved Issues

Below is a breakdown of the specific fixes that have come with today’s update:

General/UI

• Exit Experience no longer plays sound effects for 0 Challenge XP.
• Post-game and pause menu roster no longer display player names as “Player Found”.
• The Refresh Pings button no longer disappears if user passes over Relays option after viewing Network pings.
• Players will no longer get a duplicate notification of the same challenge when progress is made.
• The player emblem is no longer missing the background image for all users that appear in the pause menu roster.
• "Playlist stats" is no longer missing "Max local players" in the "Competitive" game mode selection menu.
• The warning when enabling a zero-scoring skull has been updated to define that any "mission completion, scoring, time, Challenges, and par achievements will not be recorded when running campaign with a zero-scoring skull.

Halo 1

• The customization menu "Schism" skin texture placement is no longer inconsistent with other Fuel Rod skin textures.
• The preview model will no longer show the last visor color highlighted when highlighting “DEFAULT” instead of the default color.

Halo 2& Halo 2 Anniversary Multiplayer

• Armor descriptions are no longer missing from Spartan Armor Customization.
• In Halo 2 Anniversary Forge, hovering over a different highlightable field before selecting "Yes" on a prompt no longer causes the action to not be taken.
• Crosshair no longer moves up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
• The Edit Mode action "Grab Object" is no longer assigned to a random key every time the game is restarted.

Halo 3

• Crosshair no longer moves up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
• The prompt no longer indicates [Q] (instead of assigned key) to enter edit mode at the beginning of the forge session.
• Boot Player prompt no longer contains references to the Xbox One console on PC.
• Objects placed when nearing the total object limit are now saved.
• Objects no longer despawn when too many are placed on maps with high object density.
• Changing to Player Mode while moving an object set to phased physics no longer causes the object to continue moving indefinitely.
• Forge object rotation is more responsive with a mouse when using an unlimited framerate.
• Objects set to fixed or phased physics no longer maintain momentum when released and changed to normal physics.
• Players and held objects are no longer rapidly accelerated when cameras and objects are misaligned.
• The callout to Summary now reflects actual key binding.
• The picture-in-picture display in the Sniper Rifle's Scope will now appropriately reflect the player’s view when the crosshair is centered in Halo 3.
• The progress bar in Halo 3 Theater is now filled during playback. All weapons, vehicles, and grenades now appear in the appropriate kills category in the Post Game Carnage Report.
• Halo 3 armor components now display description strings in the Customization menu.

ODST

• Look Inversion set to Inverted no longer overrides Flight Inversion while in Banshee while using Controller.
• Updated the Epilogue thumbnail & loading screen image to remove a spoiler.
• Excessive flashing no longer occurs in security camera shots in cutscenes in 4K resolution.
• Tools of Destruction no longer displays the Halo 3 Magnum instead of ODST Magnum.
• Suppressed SMG tool of destruction is no longer displayed as standard SMG.
• There is no longer a large visible gap in the center of the Health Bar in 4K resolution.
• Com Data UI no longer consistently blinks while viewing any Com Data.
• Weapon icons in gameplay have been updated to higher-quality versions.
• Fixed an issue where the VISR's intel menu did not display objectives as individual bullet points.
• There is no longer a misplaced period for weapon pickup text in Italian.
• Betrayed ODSTs no longer appear as Spartans in the Post Game Carnage Report.

Halo 4

• Friendly Fire has been disabled in various Halo 4 Big Team Battle game variants, most notably in Team Heavies.

Halo: Reach

• Engineer is no longer listed as Huragok in the Post Game Carnage Report for ODST and Halo: Reach campaigns.
• Firefight Matchmaking now gracefully prompts a User without the DLC Entitlement or Campaign Content.
• Crosshairs no longer move up when zooming if crosshair position is lowered.
• The picture-in-picture display on Covenant vehicle dashboards will now appropriately reflect the player’s view when the crosshair is centered.