Halo Gameplay Tricks
Frequently Asked Questions
A collection of questions and answers designed to answer the most common questions we get regarding the Gameplay Tricks section - if you see the answer to your question, please, let us know - we'll add it to this list if we get enough of 'em!
How do I submit a trick?
When I try to upload a file, I get the message 'permission denied' - what's up with that?
I have some really cool pics of a Warthog on its nose. Do you want 'em?
Okay, what tricks have been done to death?
Hey! I did that trick when I first got my Xbox! Can I get credit for it?
I sent in a trick a week ago, there's been no word about it since. What happened?
How do I submit a trick?
Pretty simple - you can post a description (with links to documentation) on our forum - I'll grab a local copy of it, and add it to the Tricks queue. You can mail it to us, at halo@bungie.org - and I'll add it to the Tricks queue. You can upload it to our FTP space, which gets checked daily - any tricks there will be added to the queue. (Be sure, if you upload files, that you also upload a text file telling us who you are, and what file is yours. We're not mind readers, you know.)
When I try to upload a file, I get the message 'permission denied' - what's up with that?
In the good old days, we provided an anonymous ftp upload site which could be viewed by everyone - you could see what had been uploaded but not processed, and indeed, could download it directly from there, without waiting for it to be added to the site officially. Unfortunately, there are mean people in the world - people who see convenience and think, "How can I make this work for me?" These people, a number of different times, attempted to use our ftp space as a warez/pr0n transfer point - they'd upload files that we simply don't need or want here, and tell their friends where to go get them. This, obviously, was unacceptable... but because we're not superhuman, we simply don't have the time to keep an eye on that directory 24 hours a day. The quick-n-dirty solution was to make the directory world-writeable, but not readable; you could put anything you wanted in there, but you couldn't see what others had left. This works reasonably well. The downside is the 'permission denied' message - it only applies to LISTING THE CONTENTS OF THE DIRECTORY, but clients like Internet Explorer don't give you this information... they simply tell you that permission was denied. Ignore the message, drop your file on the open window... we'll get it. I promise.
I have some really cool pics of a Warthog on its nose. Do you want 'em?
I'm sure they're glorious... but we've seen 'em. Similarly, we've seen Ghosts on their noses, Tanks on their noses, Banshees on their noses, even Wraiths on their noses. We don't need to add any more balancing vehicles to the Tricks section - it's been done to death.
Okay, what tricks have been done to death?
Well, as I said above, vehicle balancing is pretty much done. Base stuffing (putting all your vehicles in a base) has been done - on all (okay, both) the maps that allow vehicles. Getting vehicles OUT of a map has been done on a significant number of maps; please, search for
'Off the Map' tricks and ensure that your trick hasn't been submitted already before you send it to us.
We've seen
- The floating tree on AotCR (I filmed it in January)
- the first pair of banshees on Halo without pilots (yes, they fall out sometimes - no, you can't get in)
- vehicles in trees, marines in trees, MCs in trees
- most grenade-assisted vehicle jumps for the jump's sake (we're still happy to post new tricks that USE the jump for something else)
- the invincible marines on the bridge of the PoA
- gun glitches (where - usually after a save - the screen shows one type of gun, but the bullets/targeting reticle show another... it usually goes away after switching guns once or twice).
And probably a dozen more. If your submission is in this class... please, don't get angry at us if we don't post it. Just give it another go... with a trick that HASN'T been done.
Hey! I did that trick when I first got my Xbox! Can I get credit for it?
Unfortunately, we aren't omniscient. We can only go by what's publicly posted. If you announced your post on a forum (ours, or another gaming forum) prior to our listing of the post, and can back that up with a link, we'd be happy to add credit for you to the trick after the fact. If you sent us email about a trick that we managed to forget - remind us; we keep everything, and we can look it up. If the only proof that exists is on your computer's hard drive (or your Xbox) - sorry, we can't help you.
I sent in a trick a week ago, there's been no word about it since. What happened?
HBO gets dozens of emails a day (sometimes over 100). Many of these contain submissions of one sort or another. In the days before the release of Halo, the quantity of submissions was low enough that we could generally post things within a day of their submission (sometimes within the hour). That's all changed now - the rate of submission is simply too high. We're doing the best we can, and slowly but surely automating certain parts of the system (which should help, in the future) - but it's not perfect yet. Here's the litmus test: if we post a batch of tricks, and DON'T state that there are more coming, and yours didn't get posted... we might have missed it; send us mail. If there hasn't been an update since you submitted your trick, or if we said 'there's more on the way'... please, be patient. Thanks!
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