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This page details Chimera’s compatibility with other mods, platforms, and game versions.

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Platform Compatibility

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Supported Versions

  • Windows 7 or newer: Full support
  • Windows XP and newer: Supported with dedicated Windows XP release
To build Chimera with Windows XP support, pass the argument -DCHIMERA_WINXP=ON when running CMake.

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Installation Location Notes

Most users install Halo in the default “Program Files” folder. This can cause issues with write permissions:
  • Auto-updaters (if they existed) would fail without admin rights
  • Some features may require running as administrator
  • Consider installing Halo outside of Program Files for better compatibility
Running Halo as administrator is not recommended for security reasons, especially for an Internet-connected game from 2003.

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Minimum Requirements

  • Wine 4.0 or newer is required
  • Older Wine versions may fail due to API differences

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Known Issues

Some mods with obfuscated DLLs may crash on Wine:
  • Wine has issues loading obfuscated DLLs
  • These DLLs require unpacking, which isn’t possible without reverting the DLL manually
  • Note: Chimera itself is not obfuscated and works fine on Wine

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Building on Linux

Chimera can be cross-compiled from a Linux host:
# Create a build directory
mkdir build
cd build

# Run MinGW cmake (command varies by distro)
i686-w64-mingw32-cmake -S <path-to-source> -B . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

# Build
cmake --build .

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Game Version Compatibility

Status: ✅ Fully Supported

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Requirements

  • Game must be updated to version 1.10 (unless using trial)
  • Back up original strings.dll before installing

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Custom Edition Maps on Retail

Chimera can enable Halo Custom Edition map support when playing base Halo PC.To enable:
  1. Put these files in your maps folder:
    • custom_bitmaps.map (Halo Custom Edition bitmaps.map)
    • custom_loc.map (Halo Custom Edition loc.map)
    • custom_sounds.map (Halo Custom Edition sounds.map)
  2. Obtain these files from:
    • Halo Custom Edition installer, or
    • Extract from installer using 7-Zip (Windows) or p7zip (Linux)
  3. Rename them with custom_ prefixes
Do NOT overwrite your original bitmaps.map or sounds.map files. You need these to load Halo PC maps. Chimera will not enable this feature if any of the custom_* files are missing.
Status: ✅ Fully Supported

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Special Features for Custom Edition

  • Campaign re-enabled: If all campaign maps are present, Chimera restores the campaign menu option
  • Fast loading: CRC32 checking is done when loading maps, not at startup
  • Map downloading: Auto-download from HAC2 Map repo

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Performance Improvements

Custom Edition benefits significantly from Chimera:
  • No more slow startup with large map folders
  • Better handling of maps over 128 MiB
  • Improved server listing speeds
Status: ✅ Supported

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Trial-Specific Fixes

  • NVIDIA camo fix: Fixes alpha-blended camo on NVIDIA graphics cards (uses proper liquid camo shader)
No need to update to 1.10 if using trial version.

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Mod Compatibility

Status: ❌ Not Compatible

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Why HAC2 Doesn’t Work with Chimera

Chimera does not support HAC2 because:
  • Both modify the game in similar ways
  • They conflict with one another
  • Supporting HAC2 would require significant extra development time
Do not attempt to use HAC2 and Chimera together. They will conflict and cause crashes.

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Additional HAC2 Issues

While not related to Chimera compatibility, be aware:
  • HAC2’s auto-updater has historically prevented users from playing when servers go down
  • The public HAC2 repository is not maintained and years out of date
  • Recent HAC2 builds are closed source
Status: ❌ Not Compatible

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Why Open Sauce Doesn’t Work with Chimera

Similar to HAC2:
  • Modifies the game in ways that conflict with Chimera
  • Both mods cannot coexist
  • No plans to add compatibility
Choose either Chimera or Open Sauce, not both.
Status: ✅ Compatible (with exceptions)

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How to Install DLL Mods

  1. Create a folder called mods in your Halo directory
  2. Copy DLL files into the mods folder
  3. Chimera will automatically load them

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Exceptions

The following mods are not compatible:
  • HAC2 (conflicts with Chimera)
  • Open Sauce (conflicts with Chimera)
  • Any mod that hooks similar functions to Chimera
Most simple DLL mods that add features without modifying core game behavior should work fine.
Status: ✅ Fully Supported

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Lua Scripting in Chimera

Chimera includes Lua scripting support ported from Chimera -572.Script Locations:
  • Global folder: Scripts loaded on startup, remain permanently loaded unless reloaded
  • Map folder: Scripts loaded when a map loads, unloaded when map unloads
  • Embedded in maps: Scripts can be contained inside map files (requires load_embedded_lua setting)
Configuration:
[memory]
load_embedded_lua=1  ; Enable loading Lua from map files
Commands:
  • Reload scripts with the scripts reload command
Status: ✅ Recommended

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Using dgVoodoo2 with Chimera

dgVoodoo2 is a graphics wrapper that provides:
  • Proper gamma/brightness control (recommended replacement for Halo’s disabled gamma setting)
  • Enhanced graphics options
  • Better compatibility with modern systems
Why Use dgVoodoo2:
  • Chimera disables Halo’s built-in gamma setting for safety reasons
  • dgVoodoo2 provides a safer alternative that doesn’t modify your registry
  • Additional graphics enhancements available
Status: ✅ Compatible

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Using DSOAL with Chimera

DSOAL enables hardware-accelerated audio and EAX on modern systems.Benefits:
  • Hardware acceleration for audio
  • Environmental audio (EAX) support
  • Better sound quality on modern systems
Chimera’s Default Settings Include:
  • Hardware Acceleration: YES (requires DSOAL)
  • Environmental Audio: EAX (requires DSOAL)
Chimera sets these as defaults for modern PCs, but you’ll need DSOAL installed for them to work.

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Map Compatibility

Status: ✅ Fully CompatibleAll standard Halo PC and Halo Custom Edition maps work with Chimera:
  • Campaign maps
  • Multiplayer maps
  • Custom Edition maps (on retail with proper setup)
Status: ✅ Fixed by Chimera

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The Problem

Vanilla Halo has a bug where maps exceeding 128 MiB:
  • Are opened multiple times
  • Only closed once
  • Cause memory leaks
  • Eventually run out of file descriptors

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Chimera’s Fix

Chimera removes the file size check, properly handling large maps:
  • No memory leaks
  • No file descriptor issues
  • Safe to use maps of any size
You can safely use large maps with Chimera without any special configuration.
Status: ✅ Fully Supported

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Chimera Compression

Chimera supports maps compressed with the chimera-compress tool:
  • Uses blazingly fast zstd compression algorithm
  • Drastically reduces map file sizes
  • Transparent to the user
Decompression:
  • If maps in RAM is enabled: Decompressed directly into RAM
  • Otherwise: Temp files used (placed in Chimera’s folder)
Compressed maps provide the best experience when combined with the memory settings feature.
Status: ⚠️ Requires CRC32 Forging

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CRC32 Checking

When joining Custom Edition servers, Chimera performs CRC32 checks:
  • Ensures map matches server’s version
  • Prevents crashes from incompatible maps
  • ~99.999999976% certainty of match

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Using Modified Maps

If you want to use a modified map on a Custom Edition server:
  1. Recommended: Get the original, unmodified map
  2. Advanced: Forge the CRC32 to match the server’s map
Using modified maps with forged CRC32s can cause crashes if the modifications aren’t compatible. This check exists for your protection.

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Controller Compatibility

Status: ✅ Configurable

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Controller Support

Chimera includes controller configuration support with premade configs for:Windows:
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox 360
  • Switch Pro
  • DualShock 4
  • DualShock 4 (DS4Windows)
Linux:
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox 360
  • Xbox Original

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Configuration

See chimera.ini for controller settings including:
  • Deadzone settings (chimera_deadzones)
  • Diagonal movement (chimera_diagonals)
  • Aim assist (fixed for analog sticks)
Chimera fixes Halo’s broken aim assist, but it only works for analog sticks, not mouse.

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