Halo Campaign Evolved Patch Notes – August 17 – Halo Support

Published August 17, 2026 - Build 2026.08.11.1121610

Download Size by Platform

XBOX: 8 GB
PlayStation®: 12 GB
Microsoft Store/Xbox app PC: 29 GB
Steam: 17 GB

August 17 Patch Overview

This update to Halo: Campaign Evolved brings enhanced stability across multiple platforms, adjustments to enemy AI behaviors, new settings options, and more.

For a list of high-impact issues resolved in this update, see the Resolved Issues section below.

Please note that this update includes changes that require mid-mission saved progress to be reset when the update is installed. Any unlocked Missions or Rally Points will remain available.

Troubleshooting & Assistance

Instructions for each platform on updating the game: How to Update Halo: Campaign Evolved.
Instruction for PC storefronts on verifying your files: Verifying & Repairing Halo: Campaign Evolved PC Files.
Instructions for each platform on uninstalling and re-installing: Installing & Uninstalling Halo: Campaign Evolved.

New Video Settings

Chromatic Aberration & Film Grain

Chromatic Aberration and Film Grain are used throughout Halo: Campaign Evolved for a variety of visual effects and rendering systems.

With the August 17th update, players will now have the option to turn Chromatic Aberration and Film Grain on or off individually to better suit their visual preferences.

Developer Notes

Our intent is to match what players were already doing on their PCs using their configuration settings and bring it into the game menus. This makes tuning preferences more convenient and ensures console players have the same options. In places where Chromatic Aberration is used to communicate different player states or special effects (such as standing in a gravity lift), some of that effect will still be visible.

Chromatic Aberration

Film Grain

To toggle Chromatic Aberration or Film Grain on or off:

Open the Settings menu using the Menu button (XBOX controller), Options button (PlayStation® controller), or F1 (Keyboard).
Select Video.
Navigate down to the Video Motion & Effects section.

Here you will find a checkbox-style toggle for each effect.

Upscaling Options on PC

While setting your Upscaling Quality to Native (100% render resolution) removes resolution upscaling, Halo: Campaign Evolved continues to use processing techniques for image reconstruction, anti-aliasing, and other graphical enhancements.

The August 17th update adds a new "None" setting under Upscaling Technique that allows upscaling and anti-aliasing to be turned off completely.

Upscaling Comparison.png — A side-by-side comparison of Upscaling Technique set to **NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS)** (left image) and **None** (right image). Click the image to view it at full resolution.

To turn off Upscaling:

Open the Settings menu using the Menu button (XBOX controller), Options button (PlayStation® controller), or F1 (Keyboard).
Select Video.
Navigate down to the Advanced section.
Select Upscaling Technique.
Select None in the dropdown menu.

In-Game Account Unlinking Help

The August 17th update introduces a new in-game method to start an account unlink request. Selecting this option opens your browser and prompts you to confirm your account details, then sign in to your Microsoft account.

Unlink Help.png — An in-game capture of the new Unlinking Help option in the account settings menu on Steam. Click the image to view it at full resolution.

Follow these steps to find the new Unlinking Help option:

Open the Settings menu using the Menu button (XBOX controller), Options button (PlayStation® controller), or F1 (Keyboard).
Select Account.
Highlight Unlinking Help to view your currently linked accounts on the right side of the screen, and press the A button (XBOX controller), Cross button (PlayStation® controller), or Enter key (Keyboard) to begin the request process.

For more information and assistance with account unlinking, visit Account Linking & Unlinking in Halo: Campaign Evolved.

New Customization

The new Recompilation Armor customization is now available to all players to redeem through Halo Waypoint.

To redeem the Armor:

Visit aka.ms/Recompilation
Sign-in to your Microsoft account you use to play Halo: Campaign Evolved.
If the code is not pre-entered in the field, enter the code ZS75-7UM8-C2BL-JE3D-4BFZ.
Select Redeem.

Once redeemed, the customization will be added to your account and available for use in-game.

A 4K render of the Recompilation Armor Skin. Click the image to view it at full resolution.

Resolved Issues

The following list contains issues that have been fixed or improved since the previous release. Many improvements come from Halo Support tickets submitted by our community. Thank you for participating and please keep submitting tickets!

Global

Jackals can now be staggered more reliably when targeting their hands and feet.
Implemented several fixes for Sgt. Johnson in Boarding Action to address issues that could block mission progression.
The Assault Rifle’s rate of fire and spread have been corrected on XBOX and PC to match the weapon's intended performance, consistent with its behavior seen on PlayStation®5.

Developer Notes

In Halo, weapon accuracy is defined as "barrel error": the maximum angle by which a projectile can diverge from the barrel. Error is visualized in the weapon reticle, with elements of the reticle expanding to illustrate the error bounds (sometimes referred to as "weapon bloom"). Weapon barrels typically start with a very narrow error cone and that cone typically expands for a brief period after the barrel fires. That cone will then contract to the initial angle after the barrel has been idle for a brief period. This simulates the behavior of real-world weapon barrels and encourages the player to fire controlled bursts to maintain optimal accuracy.

Players on some platforms noticed that the error cone on the Assault Rifle had a chance to fully contract between fired rounds while holding the trigger down, thus allowing the weapon to be fired continuously without sacrificing accuracy as long as vertical recoil was controlled. This was originally speculated to be an issue with the rate the error cone expanded and contracted on the weapon. After some investigation, it was identified that the rate-of-fire of the Assault Rifle was actually incorrect on these platforms. The error values were tuned around the intended rate-of-fire of 10 rounds-per-second, but the weapon was firing more slowly which gave the barrel the chance to recover after each round. While this made the accuracy of the weapon easier to manage, it also lowered its damage output. This also led to the weapon fire audio being out of phase with the actual weapon fire.

Halo's game simulation updates at fixed intervals known as game ticks. The simulation runs at a tick rate of 60 ticks-per-second or 60 Hz. During each tick, every game system and object in the game world has a chance to update. As such, the rate of fire for a weapon barrel is converted from a rounds-per-second value defined by a designer to a ticks-per-round value. The Assault Rifle's rate of fire of 10 rounds-per-second is therefore 6 ticks-per-round. However, it was actually firing every 7 ticks (for a rate of fire of 8.57 rounds-per-second).

The ticks-per-round value is stored as a single-precision floating point value. Floating points are used over integer values because the ticks-per-round value may be less than one and special logic is in place to amortize any rate-of-fire that doesn't evaluate to a whole number ticks-per-round value similarly to how the Earth's revolution around the sun (which takes 365.25...ish days) results in a "leap year" on every fourth year. Due to floating point imprecision, the barrel's ticks-per-round computation was returning 6.0000048. The barrel's idle timer (the number of ticks since it last fired) is compared to the ticks-per-round value to determine whether the barrel can fire again on the current tick. When the barrel updated on the 6th tick after firing, the expression 6>=6.0000048 evaluated to false and the barrel determined it was not allowed to fire again. On the subsequent tick, the expression 7>=6.0000048 evaluated to true and the barrel was able to fire.

While the ticks-per-round computation in Halo Campaign Evolved has intentionally not meaningfully changed from previous Halo games, compiler optimizations exposed this latent bug. These optimizations didn't affect all platforms in the same way which is why the rate-of-fire differed across platforms. We've fixed the underlying bug to restore the rate-of-fire of the Assault Rifle to its intended value. This increases the damage output of the weapon, while requiring players to fire short, controlled bursts to maintain optimal accuracy. The bug affected other weapons in subtle ways and has been fixed across the board.

Fixed an issue where Marines and Flood Marines would not fire their Assault Rifles when the Magnified Skull was enabled.
Marines equipped with a Battle Rifle will now fire their weapon as intended.
Improved Active Camo behavior to reduce instances of uncloaking when falling from a ledge or walking over small bumps.
Fixed an issue where console players using mouse and keyboard could experience inconsistent weapon firing.
Attempting to reload the Magnum immediately after firing will now correctly start the reload process.
Players can now interrupt the reload animation of the Fuel Rod Cannon, Rocket Launcher, or Needle Rifle by throwing grenades.
Achievement progress will no longer be awarded incorrectly when using restricted Skulls or difficulty modifiers.
Fixed an issue where achievements earned while playing offline were not awarded after reconnecting to the XBOX network, requiring players to repeat the unlock requirements.
Reduced instances where audio would become muddy, crackly, and pop during the mission Keyes.
Campaign Remix will no longer crash when Flood replace a group of enemies intended to enter vehicles.
Improved the account linking process where failing to make a Microsoft account would require a full title restart to attempt linking again.

PC

Numerous improvements to PC stability and performance have been made, including:
- Mouse & keyboard custom key bindings will no longer reset to default after restarting the game.
- Adjusted Maximum Frame Rate options when using VSync on high refresh rate displays to prevent stability issues.
- Improved stability when using XeSS Frame Generation and an in-game maximum frame rate limit.
- Reduced occurrences of stability issues when loading a co-op session.
Added support for all graphics quality options across all supported devices.
- Players can now select any graphics quality option, from Very Low to Ultra, regardless of their device type or hardware class.
All supported AMD graphics cards now properly utilize Advanced Shader Delivery, significantly reducing shader loading times and minimizing in-game hitching.
Frame rate during cinematic playback has been improved while using Frame Generation.
- For improved performance, Frame Generation will automatically turn off during cinematics and then turn back on when gameplay resumes.

PlayStation®5

Enemies and objects are less likely to appear to skip frames or stutter in high-activity areas.
Frame rates have been improved, resulting in smoother gameplay.

Known Issues

For a list of some of the high-impact known issues for Halo: Campaign Evolved, visit our Known Issues article.

If you experience an issue not listed here, report it through Halo Support using our Game Issue Report Form.

Additional Notes

Player feedback is critical. Report issues through Halo Support using our Game Issue Report Form.

If you experience problems with your XBOX console or Game Pass, XBOX Support can help you.

If you have problems with your account, Microsoft or XBOX purchases, Microsoft Support can help you.

If you have problems on PlayStation® that are not in-game issues, please contact PlayStation Support.

If you experience a problem in Steam that is not an in-game issue, please contact Steam Support. 