Case study

HaloPad: Halo on Apple devices through a decompilation port and x86 recompilation

Brings Halo: Combat Evolved to iPhone, iPad and Apple silicon Macs through two engines. The Xbox edition builds a pinned OpenCE port of the community Xbox decompilation, while Custom Edition translates the user’s own haloce.exe 1.10 from x86 to ARM64 ahead of time, with HaloPad supplying Windows, Direct3D 9, input, audio and network services. The project discloses substantial AI assistance and records device results in a status log.

Targets: Game
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-18
Evidence class: C1 partial scope or analysis entry

Stars: 135
Last commit: 2026-11-09
Language: C

GitHub data as of 2026-11-10

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Evidence

Demo screenshot from the project's public documentation

Observed: Download and demo observed; the case covers part of the target software.
Scope: Partial
Checked: 2026-11-09

How evidence classes are assigned

Requirements & limits

Preview release 0.3.10 provides a PadMint recipe and checksums, with no public IPA. Personal builds contain Halo game code and must not be shared. Tested devices include iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation), iPhone 14 and Apple silicon Macs; Xbox graphics still have differences.
Xbox edition needs the user’s original-Xbox Halo: Combat Evolved disc image; only USA maps build 01.10.12.2276 was tested. Custom Edition needs HaloCESetup.exe 1.00 and the user’s product key; the builder fetches Bungie’s 1.10 update. Retail Halo PC, Anniversary, Master Chief Collection and later games are unsupported.
iOS/iPadOS 17.4+ or macOS 14.4+ on Apple silicon. Building with PadMint needs an Apple silicon Mac, Xcode 26+ and about 35 GB free for the first Xbox build; the Xbox edition also has a GitHub Actions workflow. Custom Edition additionally needs Wine and pinned M-HT SR tools.
Known limits include first-use hitches, softer Xbox textures, occasional controller loss and DLL mods such as Chimera not loading.
No project-wide public license grant is stated; RIGHTS-STATUS.md says publication is not authorized. Reconstructed Bungie/Microsoft code and original game assets retain their rights.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{halopad-project-reach-case,
  title = {{HaloPad: Halo on Apple devices through a decompilation port and x86 recompilation}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/chrissotraidis/projectreach}},
  url = {https://github.com/chrissotraidis/projectreach},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/halopad-project-reach-case/}}
}

Plain text

HaloPad: Halo on Apple devices through a decompilation port and x86 recompilation. https://github.com/chrissotraidis/projectreach (accessed 2026-10-18). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/halopad-project-reach-case/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/STATUS.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/XBOX-ENGINE.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/G2-SELECTION.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/EXECUTION-MODEL.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/REVIEW-HALO1-DECOMP.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
docs/RIGHTS-STATUS.md GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
config/xbox-release.json GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
dependencies.lock.json GitHub · chrissotraidis/projectreach · Revision a291d85
https://github.com/chrissotraidis/projectreach/releases/tag/v0.3.10