you will need hamachi: https://www.vpn.net/

This Program runs in the background on your computer, it is safe, secure and trusted.
it creates a new virtual network that you control and it pretends to have a connection to a new virtual router almost like connecting to a new wifi network, your partner will also need this program and you will both need to make an account in order to complete the connection to each other, do not worry the company is not intrusive and this helps if you change computer or use multiple computers. this free service will only allow 5 accounts connected to the same Virtual network so you cannot use this for anything more than 5 players, however for me this is the best and easiest to use.


Alternatively there are other choices here, you can also use tunngle and Radmin they all do the same thing create a VPN Virtual Private Network to connect to each other directly emulated as a LAN connection. LAN means Local Area Network it means anything directly connected to you on the same network, if your phone and TV are on your home wifi they are on a LAN connection so what this programs do is make a fake LAN and put connect your computers together like they are in the same building.

Many Games support LAN as a way of playing multiplayer so this will also work on older games, games where servers have shut down like gamespy games or for some games that had multiplayer removed or modded in like Mercenaries 2 and command and conquer.

the next step will explain usage of the software

wherever you like and continue through the installation its pretty straight forward
once its running in your network section where you see your wifi/ethernet connection you will now also see Network 2 with the adapter name as Hamachi. this is the virtual LAN i was talking of in the last section.

there will be a small circle blue and white icon in your icon dashboard next to the steam icon to the left of the time and date, you may need to click the echelon to expand the dock. double click this if it is not already open.

• click network > create a new network.

it may ask you to make an account here, you will need to do that.

• make a name and a password for your server, there are many many servers out there
  and this is how you both connect so it will need to be unique, two networks cannot have the same name.

create the network and you will see the name of the network with 1/5 next to it meaning 1 out of 5 connections, now the VPN has been made

• on your partners PC instead of clicking create network click join existing and enter the same name and password, now your partner has connected to the VPN

once your partner has done this you should see 2/5 next to the network name and a green light

• right click your friends computer and click ping, you should see how long it takes to ping your friend there this is real time ping from you to your friends in milliseconds.

If you do not see the green light and there is an issue pinging

• right click your partner and click diagnose, they can also do this too it might be a problem on their side, if there is a problem 9 times out of 10 its the firewall, if you are good here and see the ping skip the next section

and i'm not going in depth

If you want a super quick fix type windows security into your windows search bar or right click the icon in your taskbar where steam and hamachi live, navigate to firewall and turn it off for all the networks you see there, return to hamachi and test it diagnose again and it should be working.

The firewall protects your pc from incoming and outgoing connections its like a guard and your pc is like a prison, its the last line of defense on an attack from the outside you should not turn it off as it leaves you unsecured, what you should do is go into the rules and excecptions and allow hamachi full access you can learn all about that from microsoft.

why am i turning it off? most routers like mine have one built in, hamachi is very secure and is the hackers only entry point, most hackers wont give a ♥♥♥♥ about you, changing the rules and exceptions sometimes does not do ♥♥♥♥, doing it everytime i reinstall windows is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pain.


if your issue was not the firewall it may be the port forwarding on your router, you will need to log into your routers settings and read their manuals to help you here, hamachi may work if you tell your router to keep the ports open for it, ports are sort of like mailboxes for the data your computer is receiving from internet.

next section please

we need to change a setting on windows 10 so that you can see each other properly
Microsoft have a setting for rating and limiting connections that tends to ♥♥♥♥ with halo
its harmless to everything else. you will need to do this on both computers

• right click your network icon next to the time and click network and internet settings

• click network and sharing centre down the bottom

• find network 2 and click hamachi in blue on the right then properties

• select internet protocol version 4 and click properties > advanced

• UNCHECK automatic metric and delete whatever number is in there, set it to 1
  that mean full steam ahead basically do this on BOTH computers

close all that ♥♥♥♥ down and launch halo normally

• on the main menu press options > network

• change the network type to LAN ( you will need to do this every time unfortunately) do this on BOTH computers
  
  
  
• return to the menu and get a campaign level ready but don't launch it till your partner is in
  
  
• your partner will need to click the icon up top right on the main menu to load the friend list and you should be in there, click join and you are good to go.
  
  
• If you are having trouble connecting you either did not set the net automatic metric properly. or something is wrong with hamachi. or your game is bugged reinstall on both. or they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ it with an update.

i have done this twice with 4 different machines, as long as you are on windows 10 you should be fine.

please read the next section

If you have done all of the above and still cannot see each other you may need to play the game with mod support on and anti-cheat off which disables achievements but from all my testing it has been fine launching the game normally

this bit is important
If you want to play multiplayer Just turn the network back to xbox live and try, if it works great if not then it will be because we turned the firewall off, xbox live on PC requires the firewall to be on to create a connection to other players for peer to peer games this will affect other games such as state of decay 2 and gears of war so just turn that back on and test your connection to Xlive by typing xbox live settings in your windows search bar/ cortana and do a test there it should read back connected, if it says blocked try restarting the PC.

Good Practice going forward for a good connection
there is no need to turn hamachi off unless you do not trust your partner and leave your pc online all the time you may end up using it more than you think for other games that may have server/invite issues, its also sometimes easier to set up private multiplayer games that way. there's no need to fiddle with the automatic metric if its set to 1. 1 means the best connection, before you play any LAN coop game do a ping test and diagnose each others connections in hamachi, if you set up the firewall for hamachi correctly there's no need to turn that off and on so you can switch between multiplayer and coop freely. however feel free to be lazy and just turn the firewall off and on every time like i do.

if your game is working you can skip the next and final section

1. Use Hamachi to set up a lan connection
   
   
   Microsoft added some stupid ass rate limit to networks that halo reads for some reason
   preventing visibility in the friend roster when host and client switch to LAN in game.
   
   
2. go to network and sharing > Hamachi properties > IPV4 Properties > Advanced
   
   
3. uncheck automatic metric and set it to 1
   
   
4. if your connection to each other is fine in hamachi then launch like normal and try lan,
   
   
5. get a mission ready but don't launch, client will see host in the friend roster, click join
   
   
6. if that does not work try launching the game with anti cheat disabled
   
   
7. if that does not try nucleus coop lol
   
   
8. if that does not work open a support ticket and get ignored

Thanks for reading