Changing Your Settings

Learn how to change settings in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, including controls, audio, video, and multiplayer options.

How to Save Settings: Remember to hit 'Ok' on the settings section and then 'Ok' on the options list to save your changes. If you make a mistake, each section has a 'Default' button to reset settings.

Change Name: This option allows you to change your player name for multiplayer games. Names can be up to 12 characters long.

Customize Controls: If you are not comfortable with the default controls for actions like moving or firing, you can customize them here. You can assign up to two controls per action: one keyboard control and one mouse control. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can use scroll up or scroll down as controls.

GamePad: This option is available if you are using a GamePad, allowing you to customize controls specifically for it.

Mouse Setup:

• Horizontal Sensitivity: The default is 3. Increase it to turn left and right faster, or decrease it to turn slower.
• Vertical Sensitivity: The default is 3. Increase it to look up and down faster, or decrease it to look slower.
• Invert Vertical Axis: The default is 'No'. If set to 'No', moving your mouse forward looks up and backward looks down. If set to 'Yes', moving your mouse forward looks down and backward looks up.

Audio Setup: Adjust your sound settings here.

• Master Volume: The default is 10. Controls the volume for both sound effects and music.
• Music Volume: The default is 10. Controls the game's music volume. Setting it to 0 turns music off.
• Effects Volume: The default is 10. Controls the sound effects volume. Setting it to 0 turns sound effects off.
• Hardware Acceleration: The default is 'No', which does not use sound buffers. Setting it to 'Yes' uses sound buffers.
• Sound Quality: The default is 'Normal'. Set to 'Low' for lower audio quality or 'High' for higher audio quality, depending on your computer's speed.
• Environmental Sound: This option is off and cannot be adjusted. These sounds come from DirectX and create effects like vibrations and echoes.
• Sound Variety: The default is 'High'. Setting it to 'Normal' or 'Low' reduces the variety of sounds, which may be necessary for slower computers.

Video Setup:

• Resolution: The default is 800 x 600. Higher resolutions make the game look sharper but require faster computers. The latest patch allows for higher resolutions compatible with modern monitors.
• Refresh Rate: The default is 60HZ and should generally be kept. Higher rates may cause display issues and could harm your monitor; ensure your monitor/video card supports the chosen rate.
• Framerate: Adjust this to control the game's framerate relative to the refresh rate, which can affect performance.
• Specular: Turning this on adds luster to objects; turning it off removes it.
• Shadows: Turning this on adds dynamic shadows; turning it off removes them.
• Decals: Turning this on adds details like bullet holes and blood. Turning it off removes them and can improve performance on slower PCs.
• Particles: Adjusts details like sparks and dust.
• Texture Quality: Set to 'Low', 'Medium', or 'High' to determine the quality of drawn textures.
• Gamma: Lowering gamma makes the game darker; raising it brightens it up.

Network Options:

• Connection Type: Configure your connection type (e.g., Dial Up, DSL, Cable). Faster connections support more players in multiplayer.
• Server and Client Port: Configure your ports for creating a server.

Change Color: This option is only for multiplayer and allows you to change Master Chief's color from the listed options or use the default uniform.

About: Displays your game's current ID for technical support and the game's version number.