Halo 2 Online Free 360 & oXbox 2018-20 - Xlink Kai, RB Meet?

[Jagosaurus]

Well, gents I posted this thread about 9 months ago... took me a bit but have Xlink Kai running. This simulates LAN play for games over the net for several consoles and even PSP. Looks to be some folks still playing Battlefront II and Socom II as well.

Who wants to play some Halo 2 now? Thinking we could schedule something. I need to get an xbox headset. Sounds like some folks just get on Discord for voice chat. Don't we have a RB Discord set up?

Ignore the video I posted in that previous thread. He does some backwards stuff. Hook both your PC and xbox to your router directly. Steps I used below successfully, but lets look at awesome pics first. Man... it felt good to see these screens again after all these years. I have my 360 hooked up so I can play upscaled to 1080p, but I may have to break out the oXbox to get the full nostalgia effect soon!

125 people on, during the day on Tuesday... okay... impressed


Yeah.... I was ballin' at first. Got dominated after this match though... BAD




Awesome to see a full lobby in 2018... this game got nuts


Steps I Used:

1. Create Account at https://www.teamxlink.co.uk/
2. DL the program
3. Connect PC and xbox to same network via router (Ethernet or WiFi)
4. Statically assign IP address for laptop
5. Statically assign IP address for 360 (oXbox will work also)
6. Create port forwards on router/gateway (3000 and 34522)
- In port forward settings, server IP will be your PC (not the xbox)
7. Open Xlink Kai in Windows Vista SP2 compatibility mode as administrator
8. Here you go to metric, scroll down, & see if says "Found Console" to verify connection
9. Find xbox in menus > Halo 2 > Latin American Servers
10. Boot Halo 2
11. Go to console system link (not XBL)
12. Join lobby
BOOM... PLAYING SOME HALO 2

I have more testing to do, but looks like you click matches within the app/web GUI to join private sessions where a mod is present. Versus simply joining a public one from the console.

[8bit]

Dude, I am definitely in! I'll work on getting this setup this week and then report back!

[Jagosaurus]

I should have mentioned, even for games on the original xbox live that were compatible on the 360, the original XBL 1.0 was decommissioned in 2010. Microsoft moved to 360 XBL 2.0, ending an era. This is now resurrecting dead "online" games.

Also, Halo CE only had local play originally... now it can go online.

I could see RB group having fun playing some odd ball games. I'm seeing CGN Mario Kart Double Dash for example...

Dude, I am definitely in! I'll work on getting this setup this week and then report back!

Took me about 30 minutes of tinkering but I got it. My steps should help. Let me know.

I'll get more familiar with the lobby system and maybe try hosting games. For chat I don't have the proprietary xbox headset, but I do have a 3.5mm PC headset. I guess I can be not old and try Discord . If needed I'll PM those interested my cell.

[Jagosaurus]

Just played for 2 hours . It's on. Very smooth. Had 2 or 3 match making hiccups in that time but fairly certain the host bailed on those.

Get ready to get dominated. The guys playing are legit. Had 14 years of practice

[fastbilly1]

I'll get more familiar with the lobby system and maybe try hosting games. For chat I don't have the proprietary xbox headset, but I do have a 3.5mm PC headset. I guess I can be not old and try Discord . If needed I'll PM those interested my cell.

Discord is super simple and there is one or two for racketboy already setup

[Jagosaurus]

Here is the list of the 353 compatible games between all the consoles.

http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/?go=games

I'll get more familiar with the lobby system and maybe try hosting games. For chat I don't have the proprietary xbox headset, but I do have a 3.5mm PC headset. I guess I can be not old and try Discord . If needed I'll PM those interested my cell.

Discord is super simple and there is one or two for racketboy already setup

On my list to tinker with soon. Just got invited to hit up Discord with some Xlink US players. Need to try it out. So are you guys just using the IM function or do you jump on audio?

[8bit]

Welp, I've spent an hour getting everything setup this evening but no luck getting having the xbox find a game. Here is where I am at....

1. Create Account at https://www.teamxlink.co.uk/
2. DL the program
3. Connect PC and xbox to same network via router (Ethernet or WiFi)
4. Statically assign IP address for laptop
5. Statically assign IP address for 360 (oXbox will work also)
6. Create port forwards on router/gateway (3000 and 34522)
- In port forward settings, server IP will be your PC (not the xbox) - I am not sure that I am doing this correctly but I've tried setting this up on my Airport Extreme. This might be my issue
7. Open Xlink Kai in Windows Vista SP2 compatibility mode as administrator
8. Here you go to metric, scroll down, & see if says "Found Console" to verify connection
9. Find xbox in menus > Halo 2 > Latin American Servers
10. Boot Halo 2
11. Go to console system link (not XBL)
12. Join lobby


I've got XLinkKai setup, signed in, its finding my oXbox, I've got static IPs on my laptop set and on the xbox, I've attempted port forwarding... but I simply can't find any games in system link after i join a lobby. Not sure what to try next.... Any suggestions?

[Jagosaurus]

Awesome. Kai opens and syncs & your console is found. That's half the battle!

Most residential firewalls are fairly straight forward. Is that your main ISP gateway, meaning nothing else behind it? Need to configure on main ISP gateway versus a secondary wireless router.

I have a stock Comcast Cisco firewall. Forward both the ports above. Server IP is your PC static. I did it for TCP & UDP. If you have an option for overall firewall strength, try bumping it down a notch.

I also read some forum posts about PC anti virus or windows desktop firewall blocking mai also. I got a pop up from windows asking me to allow it. Disable all the above or allow if promoted.

If Kai gets past the query screen, you likely did this correct.

When you log into Kai, are navigating to Halo 2 under game arena? They don't populate until you do this.

I think his network setup is a little odd, but check out this video from 4 min mark to 5 min. It'll show you where to go within web interface. Once you're in the Halo 2 game area in Kai (all the way to "Solo Retos"), go to system link on xbox. Game lobbies should start populating.

https://youtu.be/rH5gBLOI2lU

[Melek-Ric]

I've known about this for a while and it's cool that's there's still a dedicated community playing on OG hardware.

That said, I don't know if it's worth the trouble these days. During the years when there was no other viable way to play Halo 2 online, this was great. Today though, the simpler option is TMCC. It has also been updated as well. The player population is bigger and you have access to good old CE and H3 as well. If really like Halo online, it's worth checking out if you don't already own it.

[noiseredux]

I've known about this for a while and it's cool that's there's still a dedicated community playing on OG hardware.

That said, I don't know if it's worth the trouble these days. During the years when there was no other viable way to play Halo 2 online, this was great. Today though, the simpler option is TMCC. It has also been updated as well. The player population is bigger and you have access to good old CE and H3 as well. If really like Halo online, it's worth checking out if you don't already own it.

this was my thought as well. I genuinely don't want to be a Debbie Downer. I think it's great that you guys are using the old hardware to do this. But if I personally wanted to play Halo 2 online, I'd just opt for the simplicity of buying the Xbox One version and spending zero time setting anything up.