ManagedDonkey

What is this?

• Donkey is a project I started in August 2022, inspired by years of reverse engineering the Halo engine and learning C++.
• The goal is to create my own version of a Halo mod, documenting all the information for others to use.
• This project is intended for technical folk such as developers, not for users who want a finished product.

Why Halo Online and why ms23 1.106708 specifically?

• I started looking at this build back in mid 2015 and have grown quite a fondness for it.
• It was built with less compiler optimizations than newer builds.
• Working client simulation logic, broadcast logic (systemlink) and much more.

Will other Halo builds be supported in the future?

• Maybe? While there's no plan to move to newer builds there's also no reason to stay on ms23 1.106708 once everything that's missing from new builds is implemented.

Getting started

• Source a build of Halo Online ms23 1.106708
  • Extract to G:\Games\ms23; refer to this as GameDir.
• Download files from DonkeyFileShare.

Project Configuration

• Right-click the game project

  • Properties -> Debugging -> Set Working Directory to GameDir.

• Right-click the launcher project

  • Set as StartUp Project
  • Properties -> Debugging -> Set Working Directory to GameDir.

Building

• Git and Powershell are only used in a prebuild step to get the last commit revision.

Debugging

• Required Extensions (Visual Studio 2022)
  • Smart Command Line Arguments VS2022
  • Microsoft Child Process Debugging Power Tool 2022

How can I help?

• Test Donkey.
• Share ideas.
• No outside contributions, please.

Other

• For more information, join the Halo Mods discord and the ᴅᴏɴᴋᴇʏ ᴅᴇᴠᴇʟᴏᴘᴍᴇɴᴛ post.