Halo 3 (original) - no achievements awarded since update

[neuromancer]

Hi everyone,

Late to the party with all things xbox 360, I've recently (last week) started playing Halo 3 for the first time.

I've completed several missions of the campaign on Heroic, but not received a single achievement from the game.

I spoke to a very polite support person at Microsoft on live chat this afternoon; it appears that this has started happening in the last couple of weeks.

It's all a bit surprising to me - I'd assumed the achievements were hard-coded, and not susceptible to the vagaries of updates on distant servers...

Here's a relevant section of the chat transcript (names have been changed)

[support]: ...There is a known issue currently with the achievements not unlocking with Halo 3. And, its different for everyone. Some are able to get all but 1 and others can't get any. Have you tried a different difficulty?

[neuromancer]: I did temporarily drop back to an easier difficulty for a couple of segments which I was struggling with, but I haven't completed a whole mission on anything other than Heroic

[neuromancer]: Given that the game is five years old, I doubt if anybody's working on patching it...

[support]: Thank you, [neuromancer]. Now, I know that the level achievements are earned on any difficulty. Unfortunately, I have not heard if anything was being done about it. I know that 343 is supposed to be handling game glitches, like this.

[neuromancer]: In your experience, if a player isn't getting achievements, does it stay like that permanently?

[neuromancer]: Would creating a new profile (in the game, not the dashboard) help?

[support]: There should also be a few post on the forum for this issue. We have sent it up through to our T3 to try to get a fix for it.

[neuromancer]: Do you know if this problem has been around for five years, or has a recent update caused it?

[support]: Honestly, for some it works and for others it doesn't. You can certainly try creating a new profile to try.

[support]: The recent update was the start of this issue. In 2 years I have only heard of this in the last 2-3 weeks.

...
[neuromancer]: I don't suppose you have a link to the forum post you mentioned?

[support]: [neuromancer], check out the forum on the Halo.xbox.com/en-US/? . I don't play Halo and it makes you sign in or I would get you a direct link to the forums.

[The Beans]

Is that all support said?

Before trying a different profile you should delete your save clear your system cache to remove all updates and see if the Achievements unlock offline on a new save with no updates. Clearing your cache deletes ALL game updates so you'll be prompted for updates for all your games when you play them on Live again.

Then go online and accept any updates and see if the Gamerscore and Achievements you've unlocked are added to your gamercard (ie: recognised by Microsoft's servers).

If they don't update or unlock offline then the glitch is at Microsoft's end and your profile has been glitched, in which case phone support and see if they'll enable the unlock. If the glitch is on Bungie's end you need to get on their forum. I've got a handful of Achievements that haven't unlocked in other games.

How far have you played? The first Achievement for completion is given after completing Sierra 117 which comprises of the "Walk It Off", "Charlie Foxtrot" and "Quid Pro Quo" missions (if I'm remembering right). Have you definitely played far enough to unlock an Achievement? There's also a skull to find that's easy to locate early on that unlocks an Achievement.

[neuromancer]

Hi The Beans,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Yes, that's all the information I got from Xbox support.

Currently I'm on Tsavo Highway, Rally Point Alpha (I'm taking th names from the Campaign, Select Mission screen, which isn't showing the actual missions, such as 'Rescue the Marines from the Barracks'.

I've completed :

Sierra 117
- mission start
- rally point alpha
- rally point bravo

Crow's Nest
- mission start
- rally point alpha
- rally point bravo

Tsavo Highway
- Mission Start

I haven't located any of the skulls.

If I've understood you correctly, I'll need to to bin all my progress (my save file), then dump the cache, and start again?

I'm assuming that the saved game files aren't held in the general cache, although I've already got the saved games backed up onto usb. The microsoft support page isn't entirely clear - it states that 'game files' aren't removed when clearing the cache, but doesn't clarify if this covers game saves.

When I was talking about creating a new profile, I meant only in Halo 3 - I thought I could create a different player just for that game, but perhaps I'm thinking of Halo 1 or 2 here... or making it up!

[The Beans]

If I've understood you correctly, I'll need to to bin all my progress (my save file), then dump the cache, and start again?

I'm assuming that the saved game files aren't held in the general cache, although I've already got the saved games backed up onto usb. The microsoft support page isn't entirely clear - it states that 'game files' aren't removed when clearing the cache, but doesn't clarify if this covers game saves.

When I was talking about creating a new profile, I meant only in Halo 3 - I thought I could create a different player just for that game, but perhaps I'm thinking of Halo 1 or 2 here... or making it up!

You should have Achievements by now.

Clearing the cache doesn't delete game saves, it deletes patches.
Unfortunately, your game save will probably have to go because the game has "missed its chance" to unlock the Achievements on that save. I feel your pain. Heroic is no push over. maybe trying on a different difficulty will work.
The idea here is to clear any game updates and play OFFLINE with the "vanilla" Halo 3 using a game save that is definitely not corrupted. The Achievements should unlock.
Then go online and see if the Halo 3 Achievement additions, which are hopefully now on your Gamercard, are recognised by Microsoft's servers and updated properly.
If they aren't then your profile thinks you've already unlocked those Achievements even if you can't see it on your gamercard. You can't unlock them again in this case. Only Microsoft can do that from their end.

[Antiriad2097]

You could not worry about achievements for this particular game, since they're fairly meaningless anyway. Save yourself a lot of hassle, blast through the game then move onto something better.

[neuromancer]

Thanks for the information once more The Beans.

There's a posting on the Halo forum (Halo Waypoint) that was made yesterday by another player failing to gain an achievement.

I'm currently convincing myself to clear the cache and delete the save...

I wonder what would happen if I can get the game to recognise the achievements, then I restore my original save file?

Seems a pretty messed up state of affairs...

[The Beans]

Thanks for the information once more The Beans.

There's a posting on the Halo forum (Halo Waypoint) that was made yesterday by another player failing to gain an achievement.

I'm currently convincing myself to clear the cache and delete the save...

I wonder what would happen if I can get the game to recognise the achievements, then I restore my original save file?

Seems a pretty messed up state of affairs...

If you have a USB flash drive or memory card move your save to it and keep it safe. Might be worth keeping if starting a new game unfreezes any glitches etc. Not sure if it will require any title updates to use that save though. Either way at least your save won't be gone if nothing works.

[gman72]

I love Xbox360 achievments.
I re-played this game about three weeks ago to mop up some achievements that i missed the first time and noticed that i was not getting them, then i noticed that the game had auto-turned off my notifications on the xbox dash board, so whilst i was getting the awards my xbox was not telling me that i was. Maybe this is whats happening to you, Neuromancer. Worth checking anyhoo.
WORD!!!

[The Beans]

I love Xbox360 achievments.
I re-played this game about three weeks ago to mop up some achievements that i missed the first time and noticed that i was not getting them, then i noticed that the game had auto-turned off my notifications on the xbox dash board, so whilst i was getting the awards my xbox was not telling me that i was. Maybe this is whats happening to you, Neuromancer. Worth checking anyhoo.
WORD!!!

Could have done with you earlier if it turns out to be that. I think there'll be a huge sigh of relief from the direction of Neuromancer.

Unless he's already deleted his Heroic game save.

[neuromancer]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Nothing done yet, and yes, I have my game save on usb. Real life (tm) intervened to add some perspective to proceedings (sad to say)

Unfortunately it doesn't seem a case of having the notifications switched off - i've been playing The Walking Dead alongside Halo 3, and gaining achievements without problems. Good idea though.

Nonetheless I won't be able to leave this achievement issue alone. I'll let you know what happens.

My main issue with deleting the cache is having to re-download all the game updates. Pain in the nethers.

[neuromancer]

You could not worry about achievements for this particular game, since they're fairly meaningless anyway. Save yourself a lot of hassle, blast through the game then move onto something better.

Yes, I agree totally. Unfortunately my OCD doesn't. In my day job I'm part sysadmin, part developer, and hate technical issues - they nag at me until I understand them. Even when it's not worth the effort...

[neuromancer]

I've just found this comment on a very old thread on another forum:

"You played on Easy. You don't get achievements for Easy.

Also, for the level complete ones, not only must it be normal or higher, they must be done without saving."

The first part doesn't apply (or does it...) as I played on Heroic, however:

I dropped back to easy on Rescue the Marines from the Barracks, because it was ridiculous until I'd worked out a strategy. I then restarted from the nearest point via the Campaign menu.

Thinking back, I also struggled very early into the game, definitely in the first mission, where I did the same - dropped back to Normal, then re-did it on Heroic. I can't recall if I started from scratch on that one.

I really despise the tendency of games to only have one save (Resi 5 etc)- I much prefer having multiple save sltos (resi 4, Dead Space).

Anyway, so far I've:

I've save the last game to usb
Deleted Halo 3 from the hard disk, then reinstalled (it didn't delete the patch though, but that was expected- just a long shot).
Elected to start a new solo campaign on Normal (no point in making life difficult just for a test, and I have my original save)
Going to play through Sierra 117 in one sitting (time permitting) and try to grab the first skull...

[The Beans]

You can definitely unlock the Achievements if you use a save but to unlock the stuff like the "Landfall" Achievement you've got to do it on the same difficulty. So you need to have completed the first three missions on at least Normal.
Maybe they only unlock if you do all missions on the same difficulty.
I definitely saved and quit mid-level but never changed the difficulty at all on two playthroughs.

I would say that dropping to Easy and then restarting mid-level would stop the Achievement unlocking. Otherwise you could just keep dropping the difficulty on the mad bits but still unlock the Achievement for completing the game on Legendary etc.

Also, Halo 3 performs worse if you install it to HD according to Bungie. Unless that's been patched. It's been a while since I gave it a good play. I installed mine anyway and didn't notice anything tbh.

[neuromancer]

You can definitely unlock the Achievements if you use a save but to unlock the stuff like the "Landfall" Achievement you've got to do it on the same difficulty. So you need to have completed the first three missions on at least Normal.
Maybe they only unlock if you do all missions on the same difficulty.
I definitely saved and quit mid-level but never changed the difficulty at all on two playthroughs.

I would say that dropping to Easy and then restarting mid-level would stop the Achievement unlocking. Otherwise you could just keep dropping the difficulty on the mad bits but still unlock the Achievement for completing the game on Legendary etc.

Also, Halo 3 performs worse if you install it to HD according to Bungie. Unless that's been patched. It's been a while since I gave it a good play. I installed mine anyway and didn't notice anything tbh.

I'm pretty sure that dropping to easy for a section, then going into the next section on a harder difficulty would wreck things, but when I resorted to scouting a section on easy or normal, I replayed that section again on Heroic.

It seems that you have to continue a play though in one go - you can save, then use resume to continue, but it seems dropping out of a game, then using the Campaign menu to restart from a specific point breaks things.

Whether this has any bearing on not gaining any achievements I don't know. I'm mid-way through Sierra 117 on Normal at present (and it's dull and no challenge at all).

I found the first skull, but it's a silver skull which doesn't give achievements (for anybody), so I still don't know if this is going to work until I find the first gold skull on this level, or just complete the level.

The achievements in this game are far less clear than on everything else I've played...

[neuromancer]

Success!

Thanks for your input everyone (working this out has been tougher than playing the game!)

I just grabbed the first Gold Skull (the building where Sergeant Johnson is being held) and got the notification 'achievement unlocked'.

Don't fancy slogging through the first half of the game on Heroic again though (yet) - there were some epic battles that I only just sneaked through

- ha! the game just glitched on me; I ran off to get the iron skull whilst the end of level mechanics were playing out. When I got to the dropship to finish, the ship was too far out over the water, and I missed the jump (it wasn't possible to make it; the 'rb to ride in the pelican' notification wasn't being shown) and died.

This game hates me!

- but not too much
I've just completed the level and see if I get the achievement for completion on Normal:

'achievement unlocked - landfall'

Seems I'll have to grind through on Heroic again after all.