Halo Infinite Technical Test Is Not A Game Launch So Expect Hiccups Says 343 Industries

343 Industries wants fans to remember that the Halo Infinite technical test is, as the name implies, a technical test. This is not the same as a game launch nor a beta meant to function as a demo, so there will be hiccups. Those started on launch day with a bumpier-than-intended rollout, but the Halo Infinite beta is now live, though there are issues to be aware of.

“As we are all eager and increasingly impatient, just a friendly PSA this is a technical test at a scale unlike anything we’ve done to date,” Halo community director Brian Jarrard wrote in a Twitter thread. “Driven by production. Not a game launch. Things are proceeding but there are many steps to navigate.”

“Also a great scale test for our systems as we’ve seen Waypoint load dramatically increasing. Team has already been able to work out additional deployments but it’ll likely get bumpy when everyone slams the site for their messages, please bear with us.”

Jarrard also wrote that this technical test has been designed around US business hours, so folks who live outside of the US shouldn’t expect the same level of 24-hour monitoring associated with a game launch. 343 will primarily be working on the technical test within its business hours.

On the Halo Waypoint site, 343 shared a list of known issues you might encounter. When first booting up the game, you should expect a long black screen; this is said to be normal, so just let it run its course. Matches may also take a few minutes to load, and you’ll want to make sure you only sign in to your Xbox Live account that was granted access to the beta.

A full slate of technical problems is outlined in the list below. If you’re playing on PC with an AMD video card, 343 strongly recommends ensuring your drivers are up to date (21.6.1 or later). Anything earlier can present significant performance issues.

• How to install the Halo Infinite beta

If you didn’t make it into the Halo Infinite technical test, don’t worry. 343 Industries released gameplay of a full Halo Infinite match running on Xbox One. Despite running on last-generation hardware, the gameplay looks remarkably crisp.

Halo Infinite will launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC this holiday season. If you’re eager to play before then, you can still try to sign up for the Halo Infinite beta.

MAJOR ISSUES

MULTIPLAYER

• Some matches start with one team missing a player. The missing player is replaced by matchmaking within one minute.
• Rarely, players are removed from matchmaking after about one minute at the black loading screen for a match.
• Rarely, players are removed from matchmaking within 20 seconds of starting to load a match.
• Occasionally, player scores will not appear during the victory screen at the end of the match.
• Rarely, melee attacks do not register when they appear to hit.
• The post-game carnage report may not load after some matches.
• Rarely, a player may be unable to see their own weapon and have some audio missing for a match.
• After pressing A at the title screen, Challenges, Customization, and Commerce screens take a while to appear on the main menu.
• Various situations can cause stuttering, desync, and other abnormal behavior across all maps and modes:
  • Throwing grenades
  • Sliding
  • Colliding with other players
  • Collision with specific surfaces on certain maps
  • Clambering

PC

• Players on low graphics settings who have set a high FOV may see additional graphics pop-in.
• On Steam, with some users and some hardware configurations, the game crashes shortly after reaching the title screen.
• On Steam, with some users and some hardware configurations, the game crashes when launching a multiplayer match.
• Invitations from other players are not visible in the Xbox app.
• The game crashes when joining a fireteam with other players on PC.
• The game consistently takes a long time to reach the main menu.
• Players on low graphics settings who have set a high FOV may see additional graphics pop-in.

COMMON ISSUES

GRAPHICS

• When dying while aiming down sights, the display elements unique to aiming down sights persist through the spectator camera until respawn.
• When switching between different menu screens (Play, Customize, Shop) sometimes a blank blue background will appear instead of the environment.
• On Xbox One and Xbox One S consoles, shield recharge effects can be blindingly bright.
• Weapons can appear to flicker every few seconds.
• Various weapons, equipment, and sprinting occasionally have bright and colorful visual effects corruption when used.
• Graphical corruption appears briefly when pausing the game or transitioning from the pause menu to the Settings menu.
• Spartan bodies can sometimes become transparent after dying.

AUDIO

• Players voices can be heard if they have Push To Talk Enabled and are not pushing their PTT button.

MAPS

• When a player goes out-of-bounds, no countdown timer is visible.

BAZAAR

• At the start of a game, a player may spawn at a respawn location separated from their team.
• Players may encounter a bright light in random locations throughout the map.

GAME MODES

ACADEMY

• When players grab a weapon immediately upon beginning a weapon drill, they may see the weapon model stutter as they move and aim for a few seconds
• When selecting a new drill, menu screens can change abruptly.
• Rarely, players will have issues loading into another drill or backing out to the main menu after playing weapon drills for a long time.
• At the end of a weapon drill, the star rating visual does not update.

GAMEPLAY

EQUIPMENT

• The Drop Wall charge counter does not update to the maximum number (3) when picking up additional charges while already holding 2 charges.
• The Drop Wall middle-bottom panel does not take damage from players.

WEAPONS

• The area damage plasma pool from the Ravager sometimes deals no damage to bots.
• After firing a charged shot from the Ravager, spamming the reload button while the weapon is venting will cause a second, faster venting animation.
• Throwing a grenade briefly prevents the player from zooming in.
• Thrown grenades may desync.
• When rapidly throwing 3+ grenades, the animations for the grenade throws are desynced.

BOTS

• Some bots lose their customizations after back-to-back matches.

CUSTOMIZATION

• When initially navigating to the Customize tab, the weapon, vehicle, and Spartan models render in lower quality before fully rendering into their intended quality model.
• The wrist item “Buckler” will re-equip itself after unequipping it and entering any customization socket screen.

MOVEMENT

• Players may rubberband while clambering.
• Players will often desync when hit by physics repulsion.

CONTROLS

• When rebinding the key for crouch, zoom, or sprint, those abilities reset to the “Hold to use” mode in the settings.
• When switching thumbstick layouts, the controller option descriptions do not change.
• When switching to a different button layout, custom button layouts change back to defaults.

USER INTERFACE

• Some content is missing from the Battle Pass.
• Players on Xbox cannot play splitscreen.
• When navigating the Battle Pass menu, the background and some items do not render as each item is highlighted.
• When inspecting the bundle for the Boost and Swap Pack, the background does not render.
• When purchasing a rank in the Battle Pass, the reward animation is delayed.
• When a player dies due to the Ravager’s damage-over-time effect, there is no icon in the kill feed.
• The text chat window does not work in loading screens.

ACCESSIBILITY

• On console only, when the Linear Navigation accessibility option is enabled, the “pre-release” notification immediately after launching the game is not the highlighted option. To work around this, move the control stick on the controller left or right (not up or down) to put the “pre-release” notification into focus properly.
• Narration requires specific steps to enable on PC; see below.

TO ENABLE NARRATION ON PC/WITH MOUSE & KEYBOARD:

1. Launch the title.
2. Wait until you hear the menu music, wait 15 seconds, then push the SPACE key to progress past the title screen.
3. Wait 15 seconds for the main menu to load.
4. Push the SPACE key to skip through the disclaimer note about the title being pre-release software.
5. Press the F1 key to open the control panel menu.
6. Press the SPACE key to open the settings menu.
7. Press the E key 5 times to navigate to the Accessibility Settings Menu.
8. Press the DOWN ARROW key 2 times to navigate to the UI Narration option.
9. Press the SPACE key.
10. Press the DOWN ARROW key once and then press the SPACE key
11. UI Narration should now be on. Try pushing the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW key if you don’t hear it at first.
    • If you still do not hear narration, quit the title and relaunch. Follow these steps again but with more delay between each key press

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