New features
Servers choose the camera; players can switch to third person
Servers now decide how players see their own character on foot in multiplayer games:
- First person only (the default): everyone plays in first person, as in Halo 3, including characters made for third person and game types whose traits set Camera to Third person.
- Players choose: each player switches between first and third person with the new Switch camera key (P on the keyboard; bind a controller button in Settings → Controller). Until they press it, the game type and their character decide.
- Third person only: everyone plays in third person.
Pick it in Host Settings → Camera when you host while playing. Dedicated servers use camera = "first_person", "player_choice" or "third_person" in dedicated.toml (or RECLAIMER_DEDICATED_CAMERA in Docker), and a configuration reload changes it from the next game. Pressing Switch camera where the server doesn't let players choose says so in chat.
Game modes built around third person, such as UNSC vs Covenant's classes, keep it whatever the setting, and vehicles keep their own views. Every player's game shows each player in the same view and fires their shots from the same place, and films replay each player's camera as it was. Campaign co-op and Firefight are not affected.
Hosts: servers that host characters made for third person now show them in first person unless you choose Players choose or Third person only.
Rebind Halo 3: ODST's own controls
Settings → Keyboard & Mouse and Controller now list Halo 3: ODST's own controls under HALO 3: ODST: VISR mode, VISR database (the PDA) and Waypoint markers, starting on ODST's own keys and buttons (4 or X, Tab or Back, the Up and Down arrows or D-pad up and down). Every button layout places them as MCC does for ODST, so the controller's VISR is on X again instead of Halo 3's flashlight button, and custom layouts keep your changes. Escape now closes the PDA instead of opening the game menu over it.
Changes
- Everyone in a game needs 0.9.20. Servers admit only players on exactly their own version, so players and servers on 0.9.20 can't play with those on 0.9.19 or older. The server browser's Version column shows a server on another version in red. Update dedicated servers and players together.
Bug fixes
- Keyboard, mouse and controller control Halo 3 games again. In 0.9.19 the keyboard and mouse did nothing in Halo 3's games (multiplayer, Forge and the campaign) while controllers still worked, and clicking the game window didn't bring them back. After a game of ODST, a controller's B opened the pause menu and LB the scoreboard in Halo 3's games instead of meleeing and reloading. Both work in play again.
Install
The game client requires Halo: The Master Chief Collection with Halo 3 installed; no game files are included.
Double-click project-reclaimer-client-v0.9.20.exe to start the game. It finds Halo 3 in any Steam library and opens without a console window; its log is Documents\My Games\Project Reclaimer\Logs\client.log.
For remote server administration, double-click reclaimer-rcon-v0.9.20.exe, enter the host, RCON port and password, and connect. The RCON client needs no game installation. See the attached RCON.md for setup and commands.
To make a customization mod, double-click reclaimer-customization-editor-v0.9.20.exe, open the mod's folder and pick each player character's armor, colors and camera bones. It writes the mod's customization.json.