Halo Infinite has a lot going on right now. The co-op mode was delayed from Season Two’s launch, but it’s still on the way. Meanwhile, the game received several wins from the 2021 Video Game Accessibility Awards.
On March 14, developer 343 Industries has a double dose of updates for the latest Halo title. The first is a patch that resolves two lingering issues: it improves stability in the PC version and adds an option to access LAN servers from in-game menus. That update is only “600 MB or less” on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.
The other update is roughly twice as large, at 1.3 GB. This is the mid-Season One update, bringing a slew of improvements and bug fixes. The blog post summarizes some of these fixes before listing the patch notes, including better cheat detection and anti-cheat implementation — Easy Anti-Cheat is why the game isn’t on Steam Deck, in fact. Additional changes include smoother first-person animations and Quick Resume improvements. See the full patch notes below.
Halo Infinite Season One Mid-Season Update Patch Notes
Global
- First-person animations, including reloading and clambering, now appear smoother at all frame rates.
- The following sound effects are louder in the audio mix for both multiplayer and campaign:
- Enemies throwing grenades
- The Needler’s supercombine
- Player Ravager completing its charge
- Multiple improvements to Quick Resume on Xbox Series X/S consoles including increased reliability of reconnecting to Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and customization services. Players who have purchased Halo Infinite’s campaign digitally should also see less prompts to purchase Campaign after using Quick Resume.
- Players who did not receive an Achievement after completing its requirements should see it unlock after updating and launching Halo Infinite.
- Improvements to Dolby Vision HDR output on Xbox Series X/S consoles.
- Color accuracy improvements when playing on a PC with an AMD GPU and FreeSync capable monitor(s). If you want to play with HDR enabled, ensure it is enabled HDR in Windows and the AMD Radeon Software/Settings.
- Stability improvements for Xbox One consoles.
- Launching Halo Infinite with an out-of-date PC graphics driver will now direct players to download Halo Support’s recommended drivers.
- PCs with Intel Integrated Graphics hardware may experience less graphical corruptions.
- Intel Integrated Graphics are below Halo Infinite’s minimum system specifications. Gameplay on this hardware may be functional but is likely not performant.
Multiplayer
- Improved cheat detection and other anti-cheat improvements.
- Sound effects for receiving damage as well as enemy footsteps and gunfire are now louder in multiplayer’s audio mix.
- The Combat Sensor’s range has increased from 18 meters to 24 meters in Big Team Battle.
- Added new telemetry to help our developers gather more information on shot registration issues. Read the development team’s in-depth analysis of these issues and their plans for future mitigations: Halo Infinite’s Online Experience.
- After receiving a matchmaking ban, players can select the Play button in any matchmaking playlist to see when their ban will end. This expiration time will be in the MM/DD/YY format and PT time.
- The Optimal Polish Initiated armor coating is now available for all players who have submitted a valid code on Halo Waypoint.
- Players standing on destroyed vehicles will no longer experience stuttering or desyncs.
- Matchmaking playlists now reflect accurate Estimated Wait times.
- The Post-Game Carnage Report will now reflect the correct winning team after online matches.
Campaign
- Improvements to Campaign’s save system to prevent data loss.
- Interactive items, such as uncollected audio logs and ammo crates, now have their intended sound and visual effects after completing the campaign’s final mission.
- The description of Forerunner Artifacts now appears correctly when playing in a language other than English.
