Le Hefe

Posting in the forum earns you opportunities for rank promotions. Each rank is based off of the ranks represented in Halo: Reach. These ranks do not affect your status as a member, Map Maker, Staff, etc and are only meant to signify the level of posting you are at. The ranks are as follows below. If you have any questions, post them here. Please give thanks to Zerker for doing these! Recruit - 0 Private - 5 Corporal - 10 Corporal Grade 1 - 15 Sergeant - 20 Sergeant Grade 1 - 25 Sergeant Grade 2 - 30 Warrant Officer - 45 Warrant Officer Grade 1 - 80 Warrant Officer Grade 2 - 110 Warrant Officer Grade 3 - 145 Captain - 210 Captain Grade 1 - 235 Captain Grade 2 - 255 Captain Grade 3 - 280 Major - 325 Major Grade 1 - 350 Major Grade 2 - 375 Major Grade 3 - 400 Lt. Colonel - 450 Lt. Colonel Grade 1 - 480 Lt. Colonel Grade 2 - 510 Lt. Colonel Grade 3 - 540 Commander - 600 Commander Grade 1 - 650 Commander Grade 2 - 700 Commander Grade 3 - 750 Colonel - 850 Colonel Grade 1 - 960 Colonel Grade 2 - 1,070 Colonel Grade 3 - 1,180 Brigadier - 1,400 Brigadier Grade 1 - 1,520 Brigadier Grade 2 - 1,640 Brigadier Grade 3 - 1,760 General - 2,000 General Grade 1 - 2,200 General Grade 2 - 2,350 General Grade 3 - 2,500 General Grade 4 - 2,650 Field Marshall - 3,000 Hero - 3,500 Legend - 4,000 Mythic - 5,000 Noble - 6,500 Eclipse - 8,000 Nova - 10,500 Forerunner - 14,000 Reclaimer - 20,000 Inheritor - 30,000

Known bugs on HaloTracks version 5.0. Maybe we should reinstall the board? Unresolved Date and time picker does not respect timezone Hidden posts are unstyled Some users' comments are not displaying within the Map View. The page refreshes; however, no comment can be seen. The user who reported this is using Safari on an Ipad A user reported being able to see images uploaded to the slider in the Map View, when no such images were uploaded to the DB. He states these images were uploaded from his phone, and he was able to view them in the slider. It's possible this is just a caching/device issue rather than a legitimate bug Resolved Using HTML characters '<' '>' breaks posts in the Shoutbox and displays an empty message Guests are unable to view the Maps application Order in "Most Downloaded" block on map homepage is inaccurate Spoilers are unreadable Increased max upload file size for /forum, this was stopping people from uploading pictures across the whole forum Sorting order of maps on maps homepage is inaccurate, particularly by timestamp Unable to search by map name on maps homepage Popular Maps module on Maps homepage not showing most popular map/accurate results. At this time, El Toro should be included on the list User photos are not correctly displaying within .userPane on maps homepage (for me, it's showing the default IPB photo) Active forgers this week is displaying seemingly random data Tournament description is not respecting formatting Map thumbnail in a tournament is displaying rocket race as roller derby Users using Safari cannot progress through steps in create map Map browser was displaying n*10 maps where n was the page number. Pagination needs to be included in Map Prompts Searching does not function properly in Map Prompts Tournament names are too small to be clickable on tablet / mobile Map header upload is restricted to one map at a time @Camonized cannot view his profile and is receiving a fatal error on page load. Fatal error: Call to a member function getTimestamp() on null in /home/halotrac/public_html/forum/system/Content/Search/Results.php on line 388

<center><embed src="http://www.halotracks.org/HTSX%20Animation_003.swf" width="710" height="150"></embed></center> DOWNLOAD A little late this week. Some shenanigans went down. No time for intense summaries. Sorz. PS: Nice loadout cam, Cassel. RESULTS: 1.) PANCAKEMUFFIN - 14 2.) xSODAPOP 13x - 13 3.) King Edward I - 12 4.) xNJD1x - 11 5.) Shazzle4 - 9 holeshot 6.) Purpledinosaur0 - 10 7.) xTheSully - 8 8.) TheOffice1808 - 7 9.) Shadow Forges - 7 10.) Cassel - 5 11.) xxPackers1996xx - 4 12.) Gogetarulez - 2 DNF - H3R0 365 DNQ - Turkeyshot98 DNQ - NukedIceCream DNQ - III JROD III Minor Intentional Wreck : Offender: Gogetarulez Victim: Shadow Forges Minor Intentional Wreck : Offender: Shazzle4 Victim: Purpledinosaur0 +/- Reference Saturday, May 24, 2014 3:30PM EST 2:30PM CST 1:30PM MST 12:30PM PST Race will commence at the designated time. The race lobby opens 10 minutes prior. Being late equals missing the race. Rules These rules apply during all races: -No intentional wrecking. If someone accuses someone, we will review it. -Any major annoyances such as going backwards will result in a DNF for that person without warning. -No whining or having meltdowns. Handle all problems maturely. -Go on the "Gate Drop." There is no rolling, jumping or going through the gate at any time. Doing so will result in -1 points for that race or ejection for multiple offenses. -HT Supercross has a Blue Flag flag rule. This means that if a racer is being lapped, the racer must pull over and let the leaders pass. If the leader does not call a Blue Flag, then the lapped racer does not have to pull over. If the lapped racer ignores the leader call Blue Flag, then the leading rider gains the ability to Intentionally Wreck the interfering racer. -Calling a false Blue Flag to pass and/or wreck an opposing rider will result in an immediate 3 race suspension and a -10 deduction on your Leaderboard Standings. The racer victim of the False Blue Flag gains +2 points for that race. -Intentionally wrecking is not allowed. Type of wrecking are listed below: Minor Intentional Wreck: Ruled by when a rider causes another rider to flip, however no major loss in position occurs. This results in a -1 for the causing rider and a +1 for the wrecked rider. Major Intentional Wreck: Ruled by when a rider flips another rider, however a major loss in position occurs. This results in a -2 for the causing rider and a +2 for the wrecked rider. The only exception for wrecking is when a Blue Flagged rider is not pulling over. However, the rider that is lapping the other must be completely sure that both parties understood that one was being lapped. Wrecked Blue Flagged riders will still go under review; however, in a separate way. -If you feel you were the victim of a wreck, send the host a message after the race with what lap you were on and who it was that wrecked you. Important: Race Hosts do not have to review a wreck if they did not receive a message. -Make room. Don't be a douche. Acknowledge other racer's positions around you. -If you are wrecked, knocked off of the track or have your race impeded in anyway, you must keep racing. Stopping to wait for the racer in front of you to pass you again does not grant you your previous position back and you will instead remain on the same lap that you waited on. If you were wrecked, then standard wrecking rules still apply to both the offender and victim. Racing End Rules -The Race Host will tell you when to stop. When he does, you will comply or you will be removed. -Line up behind the racer who finished before you. -If you are not complying when a Race Host is asking you to remain in your spot (getting off, jumping, shooting, etc), then the Race Host may resort to the removal of the disorderly racer. Read Fulls Rules Here AMA Formatted Race Signups 1.) @King Edward I +Prospect / Rockstar Energy Racing KTM 2.) Rookie / Monster Energy Kawasaki 3.) ^Pro Racer / Tactical Advantage 4.) Prospect / Rockstar Energy Racing KTM 5.) @MtnDewX97 Amateur / Tactical Advantage 6.) @gogetarulez Prospect / Monster Energy Kawasaki 7.) Amateur / Rockstar Energy Racing KTM 8.) Amateur / Monster Energy Kawasaki 9.) @xUnknownGamingx Pro Racer / Tactical Advantage 10.) @Bomberman914 Rookie 11.) Elite Racer / Monster Energy Kawasaki 12.) Rookie 13.) @H3R0 365 Prospect / Main Event Guaranteed 14.) @Shadow Forges Rookie / Rockstar Energy Racing KTM 15.) @DaManDante Rookie 16.) Pro Racer 17.) @Ihatethepackers Rookie / Troy Lee Designs Racing 18.) @turkeyshot98 Rookie / Troy Lee Designs Racing Commentator: Asterisk is used to identify leader of team Heat 1 1. King Edward I 2. Gogetarulez 3. TheOffice1808 4. Sodapop Remix 5. Neudlez 6. H3R0 365 7. Purpledinosaur0 8. DaManDante Heat 2 1. xNJD1x 2. Casselfied 3. PANCAKEMUFFIN 4. Shazzle4 5. xTheSully 6. llll JROD llll 7. Shadow Forges 8. zl Pwnage lz 9. Turkeyshot98

We're going into "donation mode" for this month. I've settled into the new apartment, but money is still pretty tight. Due to this, I won't be making a payment to our web host out of my pocket. This means that our server tab is going to be picked up by you guys, the community, this month. Fortunately, I've lucked into a job and will be starting on June 15th. I'll be able to earn more than enough money for HT and even gain the ability to begin stocking inventory for the 5.0 version of the HT Store. There are certainly exciting times ahead, but it's important to still focus on the present. This isn't the first time I've asked for donations. I've also previously stated that people who donate are going to get some tasty stuff. Holding myself true to that, here's what that tasty stuff will be for this month. Donating is set up in tiers. Along with the benefits of the donation tier you're at, you also receive all of the rewards of the tiers below you. The more you donate, the more you receive. These rewards won't be instantaneous. I'll need to rebuild my finances, which could take a month or two. That doesn't mean you won't get the rewards you've earned. It just means it'll take a little bit of time. To reiterate, I won't be picking up the tab for HaloTracks this month. The money I would usually spend has been running into the money I need for things like food. This situation isn't permanent, as I start working on June 15. I apologize for dropping this bomb on you all, and I waited as long as I could to decide on whether or not I would need to make this decision. I want to thank each and every one of you for all the help you've given and, hopefully, are about to give. Please let me know if you have any questions! I will begin designing all of the rewards as soon as possible and will update this topic with previews as I complete them. GOAL: $56.00 USD TARGET DATE: June 18, 2015 Total received: $201.00 To receive rewards, donate to our PayPal account by clicking the "Donate" button either on the Home or Forum page. Be sure to PM @Le Hefe to make sure your donation is properly tracked. Tier 1 - $5.00 Custom HaloTracks box art for Halo 5. You call HaloTracks home. Make sure your copy of Halo 5: Guardians reflects that. Tier 2 - $10.00 All rewards in Tier 1, plus a HaloTracks poster. Choose from Forge-oriented "Creation," or race-inspired "Rite of Fire." Regardless, your wall is going to look much better. Tier 3 - $25.00 All rewards for Tiers 1 and 2, plus the official HaloTracks T-Shirt. I'd say you'd never have to take it off, but then you'd get stinky. Then the shirt turns green and might even explode... It's just not a good time. Tier 4 - $50.00 All rewards for Tiers 1, 2, and 3, but with a customized T-Shirt and HT 5.0 nameplate. How custom? How custom do you want it? Tier 5 - $80.00 All rewards for Tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4, plus a free copy of Halo 5: Guardians with included custom HaloTracks box art. Free game? Enough said. GOAL COMPLETION - $56.00 A preview of the tournament view inside of HT 5.0, taken straight from the PSD, to be shared among the community. This page holds all of the information for a specific tournament and is what you'll interact with once 5.0 drops. Make sure you donate to our PayPal account by clicking the "Donate" button on either the Home or Forum page. If you don't want to do that, the email address associated with our PayPal account is HaloTracks@gmail.com. Also, PM @Le Hefe to make sure your donation is properly tracked. Thank you for taking the time to read this! If we don't hit our mark, HaloTracks will be forced to go offline until the server payment is made, which wouldn't be until around July. Saying that HaloTracks is in your hands would be correct. I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't warranted by legitimate circumstance. Every dollar counts. Even if you can't spare the minimum tier, any amount is greatly appreciated and won't go to waste! Take care, and thanks again! PS: To everyone that has donated prior to this topic, I haven't forgotten about you! You'll all get stuff, too. I'll PM you regarding my plans for that. Oh, and you can get even more by donating this month. Wink wink.

Our yearly update schedule is on point. It's another comeback, because I'm atrocious at running a website. In this update, we're going to touch up on a very special Halo 5 content release and give an update on HT 5.0. Sit back and enjoy what could be the first and last HT Update of 2016. Don't forget to come at me, bro. Update: Monitor's Bounty is available now! Update size is 7.2GB Let's get right into what 343 are calling an "ambitious" update: Monitor's Bounty. Look, I know you've probably already looked at the original article or one of the thousand YouTube videos talking about this. So we're not going to get into too much detail, but I will touch up on some areas important to our community. This free update to Halo 5, available today, provides the largest update to Forge ever. Well, as far as Halo 5 is concerned. Over 650 new objects have been added to Forge. These objects include things like more detailed crates, ancient Sangheili architecture (Elite stone stuff), Forerunner architecture, new lights, scripts, banners, and so much more. Quite a few models from the campaign are making their way into Forge as well, continuing a growing trend in some of the more recent updates. The update also includes 2 new canvases. "This update was a labor of love by a team passionate about empowering the community to create whatever they want to make the legacy of Halo 5 their own." - Tom French, UGC Director, 343 Industries Tom French has led the Forge team since Halo 5's development. He and his team have worked tirelessly to keep Forge nice and fresh since the game mode launched in December 2015. That being said, the Forge team has another surprise for us: RACE IS BACK, BABY!! Kind of. Monitor's Bounty drops with a new tools that allow users to craft their own experience in Halo 5. I'm talkin' 'bout making your own gametypes. I'm talkin' 'bout ruling the way that gametype governs a map. The ultimate goal of this update is to offload the work to the community, because 343 is too lazy to do it themselves. That was a joke. In reality, these options have been a "dream" of Frenchy and his team for quite some time. Due to the loss of one of the team's programmers, that dream was pushed back. This eventually culminated in the addition of Arena Multiplayer teams pitching in to help complete the update. While the timing is certainly up for debate, I have no doubt that Monitor's Bounty bears the fruits of a lot of hard labor. Now that we have that out of the way, we haven't been told everything just yet. Information about how to create gametypes and manage them within Forge should come soon. That being said, RACE IS BACK BABY! Options shipping with the update include being able to spawn in vehicles and allowing observers. Certain objective-based objects have also been modified to allow for better scripting and visual acuity. The ability to "observe" a game while it transpires has also been included. Something that should come in handy for you streamers out there ( looking at you, Season 8 ). A 343-made "Race" variant will launch with the update, as will a KOTH variant. With all of the scripting options, new objects, and the ability to craft our own gametypes, racing should have a bright future. Speaking of future... It's coming. I have no idea when, but it's coming. Aaron (Hatter is Mad) and I (Le Have No Friends) have been silently working on the biggest update in HaloTracks history. Development is sporadic as he and I work to place ourselves in financial stability. You all may have noticed the website was down for over a week earlier this month. This is what I'm talking about. Not much has changed in terms of what we plan on releasing. Though, I can say that our applications are nearly good to go. HT Maps is more or less complete, sans a few bugs and any smaller features we may have missed. HT Tournaments is a beast that will consume months of our time to develop. The plan for the tournament system is still to release the application one page at a time. Specifically, one skinned page at a time. The system will work completely when 5.0 launches, it just won't look pretty. A small price to pay for an enormous dream. The announcement trailer hinted at a 2016 release. This may still be possible, but with the IRL difficulties Hatter and I are currently facing, it's a possibility that we could be looking at early 2017. I understand how frustrating that is. Truly, I do. Just please understand that this update is extremely ambitious. Everything needs to be right the first time. One huge mistake could potentially erase years of work, and your patience will have been for nothing. Which is not something we aim to accomplish. We'll keep you all update on our progress, and you can read more information on HT 5.0 in this topic. ...and could someone please tell Ducain to stop fanboying? Jeeze. Actually, give that guy some love. He's the reason why HaloTracks was brought back online. Thanks again, buddy! That will conclude this year's update. I leave you with these things and will now go to sleep. Hope you enjoyed this trash update. See you guys on the track! [/youtubeHD] [youtubeHD=WAU5iVjF0ow] LINK TO FORGE UPDATE ARTICLE

Banner by ForgeHub This article includes content and information from ForgeHub's original article. HaloTracks is not the author, nor contributed to the authoring of that announcement. In a family reunion, of sorts, HaloTracks has partnered with ForgeHub to bring their first map contest of 2018 to fruition. This contest pits your ability to make a track that is both visually stunning and delivers a fun experience with a a high replay value. Details are as follows (as is from ForgeHub). What is it? The ForgeHub Grand Prix Aesthetic Race Contest (or ForgeHub Grand Prix for short) is the first of many contests the pit crew at ForgeHub will head in 2018. It's also the first since the Extermination contest of 2017 to be birthed, raised and nurtured by your tender loving staff themselves. In this test of speed and momentum, submissions will be judged equally on their aesthetics and tracks, meaning that a perfect marriage of both will see you crossing that finish line ahead of the competition. In the rest of this article, I will be detailing the specifics on how to ensure your racetrack is in our top gear. When is it? A schedule is being finalized right now for all you rookie racers looking to get your tires moving. Below is an up-to-date version of the schedule. Official Contest Submission Date Begins 12:00 AM EST - Friday, January 19th, 2018 Contest Submission Closes 11:59 P.M EST - Monday, February 19th, 2018 Judging begins the final week of February. Who is Involved? Unlike our previously hosted contest, The ForgeHub Grand Prix is being hosted by a panel of four ForgeHub Staffers and one very special guest, who feels right at home here with us. Without further ado, our judging panel is... -BaconMedia- -Ducain23- -Shooty Person- -Sir Iron Wolf- And Special Guest, the Owner of HaloTracks.org -Le Hefe- Below you can find the rubric for how maps will be judged, which has been constructed from the ground up to prevent subjectivity in the judging process. How Will my Map be Judged? There will be FIVE total categories in which you may score points for your map. Each category is worth an equal 20 points, and the five categories are all based around the principle features your map will have: A Racetrack and Aesthetics. - Theme - How well does your map capture the intended theme? Are there sounds? Is there fitting lighting? A custom skybox? All of these are suggestions to improve your score in this category. Your theme may be an original concept OR it may also be a remake or re-imagination of an existing theme seen in Halo or other media. You will NOT be scored less for using an unoriginal theme, but you may be judged more critically if you do not capture said theme in a familiar way. - Construction/Piece Usage - Does your map maintain it's quality of appearance throughout? Or are some sections lacking in order to boost the look of others? If so, is this an appropriate trade-off? Are pieces obvious? Do you disguise your pieces well enough to merge them seamlessly into your crafted environment? Are there floating pieces/holes in your environment? Noticeable construction errors? - Integration With Track - Does your environment effect your playspace (racetrack)? Maps that incorporate their tracks into the environment will score significantly higher than maps that create a simple floating track. If your track isn't fully integrated, does it at least match the overall theme? - Functionality - Does your racetrack run smoothly? Are there any unintentional bumps or odd angles? Is your racetrack too difficult to be casually enjoyed? The objective is not to create a strong challenge, but instead to provide a setting where players can enjoy themselves. Please note that Framerate will NOT effect your score in any way short of causing a catastrophic error in the map's playability. (Causing a jump to become unreadable, causing racers to repeatedly die in a specific area, etc.) - Track Design/Layout - Is your racetrack exciting without being too difficult? Does it create a fun atmosphere catering to both casual and veteran players? Are there any unique or exciting gimmicks? Scripted events? Overall, this category exists to ask the question "Is this race fun?" To recap, each judge will rate each category on a scale of 1-20 (1 being an overall failure to include any elements of the category, a 20 being an exceptional and groundbreaking measure). At the end, each judge will tally their score to give the maps and overall 1-100 rating. The judges will compare their 1-100 overall score and a formula will be preformed to find the true average (or mean) for each map. This will be the map's final score. The three maps with the highest total scores at the end of the competition will place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Which brings the next question. What do you get? What do I get When I Win? The true winners in this competition are the judges, as they get to have fun playing through a plethora of exciting community maps. But as far as contestants go, there will be THREE winners in this contest. 3rd place Prize -$100 USD- 2nd place Prize -$150 USD- 1st place Prize -$250 USD- What Else Should I Know? Here are some key bullet points and guidelines for this contest, think of this section as a FAQ, and the more questions you ask down below, the more we will update this section. Your objective is to design a LOOPED race. This means a map with several laps around a circuit, NOT a point-to-point race similar to the ending of Halo: Combat Evolved. This is a choice made to provide a smaller, repeating track so you may increase your visuals and focus on aesthetics more freely. You may use your vehicle of choice from the following: Warthog (any), Mongoose, Banshee, Wasp, Ghost. Your map MUST be able to support up to AT LEAST 5 racers in whichever vehicle you choose. Prefabs with the scripts and tutorials on how to set up the Race Gametype will be provided closer to the submission date opens. Using another forger's aesthetic published prefabs is PROHIBITED. This is a contest based heavily around visuals and any map that is caught using another forger's prefab will be requested to make the change or be immediately eliminated. Your map MUST be started AFTER this announcement. Yes, THIS announcement! Meaning you don't have to wait until the submission date to start throwing together ideas, you may begin right this very moment, but you'll have to hold off until 12:00 A.M EST on Friday, January 19th to submit. As always, lets keep it civil and classy. Anything that violates our Code of Conduct will be removed, and the author may be placed on a blacklist prohibiting them from entering our contests.

Make HT's next update your own With the framework for 5.0 nearing completion, I feel as if we're leaving out a key element in HaloTracks' next big update. An element that can only be provided by the community. You all are the driving force behind what has made HaloTracks a symbol in both the Forge and racing world of Halo. Now, you have a chance to greatly influence the rest of what features we will implement in HT 5.0. Before you begin, let's go over the basics of the update and what we're trying to accomplish with it. Engineering a New Beginning Forge and racing are large parts of Halo. In fact, some contribute Forge being the driving force of what has kept Halo's community alive. HaloTracks has been privileged enough to stand near the forefront of all of that. Since 2007, many innovations in the art of racetrack forging have come from HaloTracks. Expanding on that innovation, we steadily adopted an impressive racing scene. Despite all of that, however, there is only so much that can be accomplished with a simplistic forum design. After the release of HT 4.0, a radical idea for a tournament system came about. This new system was tailor made to accommodate the two primary aspects of HaloTracks: Forging and racing. Due to complications within our staff at the time, the idea never truly came to fruition and the project was abandoned... Seemingly left to become inevitably forgotten by time. As HaloTracks withered away into an even more radical idea called TriggerPoop, the hopes of bringing more innovation and intrigue to HaloTracks went along side it. It wouldn't be until the revival of our community that the idea was given new life. A bold new undertaking called HT 5.0 was born. Without a doubt, it is the largest project in the history of HaloTracks (herein referred to as "HT"). We have included several key features so far: Semi-automated tournament system with leaderboards, our own True Skill-like ranking structure, experience points, different tournament levels that offer different rewards per level, and basic statistical tracking. A new squad layout that essentially turns HT squads into miniature communities. Leaders are able to promote their own staff, create and name their own ranks, customize the look of their squad, post news, message their members with important information, and have access to the tournament system inside of their squad. Revamped home page that puts community news in the center of attention. A basic list of tournament stats is showcased next to a fancy news slider, allowing ease of access to your racing career's progress the second you visit the site. Member created blogs will give you the opportunity to express your opinions and ideas on racing, forging, gaming; you name it. Your fan base is important to you, and now you'll get the opportunity to let them connect to you in an exciting new way! Forging New Ground Those are just the newest and largest updates you'll see in HT 5.0. Along side them, you'll see an improved "Recent Maps" area that is being upgraded to showcase the 5 latest maps. Now it's your turn to add a little more to the project. Think about ways that make browsing the site easier and/or more entertaining. New processes that enhance the power of this community are always just around the corner; however, our staff isn't the largest part of this community. The heart and soul of HaloTracks is, and always will be, you guys and only you can know what you want. Below are some guidelines to take into account when suggesting new features. How crazy is too crazy? Remember that suggesting very large, sophistated features will take a long time to build and may not be considered practical enough to code. Consider how large your features are and how they affect the memory on our server. Will it take a few kilobytes or, perhaps, even gigabytes? Remember that this is about you. What have you always wanted to see on HaloTracks? Make a solid case for your requests. Tell us why your improvements and features would benefit the community. Every request will be considered and taken to our Code Monkeys for deliberation, but not every request may be fulfilled. Don't be discouraged by the above statement! Use your imagination and get creative with your ideas! Above all, have fun with this! I've already thought up several new features for 5.0 while I've been typing this. One of which will come in handy for whatever your rank is. On the top of the page, I'm wanting to add rank specific buttons that act as quick links to perform tasks that your rank would need to do. This is similar to the way global moderators and administrators have unique links that are only visible my them. Examples of this would be the ability for any member to go to the tournament submission form with one click. Map Makers will be able to go to the gallery posting form from anywhere on the site. Getting to their recent screenshots will only be a click away, saving them time and allowing everyone to view their new maps faster. This is a small new feature that can have a decent impact within the site. Of course, it can and will be expanded to other ranks as well. Implications with testers, journalists; etc are all on the list! Building a Dream HaloTracks 5.0 started out as an idea. That idea has grown into a reality that is looming closer every day. The Halo community universe has taken a big hit, but is inhaling dedication and exhaling creativity. HT 5.0 is more than a site update to HaloTracks. It's symbolic to the resilience of this community. Whether you be a Forger or a Racer, there's no hiding the fact that you're playing a vital role in the health of our game. This is your update. Make it your own! Regards, HaloTracks Staff

Hey everyone, Aaron and I need some people to help us test the tournament system on the development board. We're on the hunt for some bugs. Let me know if you're willing to lend a hand. This is an open beta, and there are no prerequisites to join other than having an account on our Development Board. Once your account has been approved, play with everything. Go explore. See if you can break anything. Be a pain in our butts. Report any issues you find, as well as feature requests, in the Beta Feedback forum. Thanks.

HT Squads Update TIME TO ROLL For years, HaloTracks' squads have served as innovators of the racing community, especially in the areas of competition. Many leaders have stepped up to the plate. Most have failed, but the squads that did succeed changed the racing landscape forever. It only makes sense that such prominence receive the proper tools to push themselves, and the community, forward... right? Well, squads have been nestled in the Forums since HaloTracks began. This is something that has long hindered a squad's ability to establish a firm identity... but will no more. HT Squads have undergone a massive overhaul, phasing out of the Forum and into an application more aptly suited for the needs of each squad. Here's a quick rundown of how the squad landscape is changing. SITE WITHIN A SITE The simplest explanation for what squads were turned into would be "mini website," though this is a loose translation. What squads have been given is a portal that allows them to keep better track of important information like members, forums, news, etc. Membership is controlled within the app. No longer will members need to reply to a signup topic, which boosted post counts for both member and squad alike. This extends to the creation of member roles within each squad. Each role can be assigned special permissions, if desired. Think racer ranks; mods; that sort of stuff. Forums have long been a back-and-forth topic between squad leaders and admins. Now, the middle man is completely cut. Leaders of a squad have full control over forum type, permissions (which can be role-based), privacy, and more. SQUADS GOODNESS The name of the game is, control. Leaders will have access to IPB's internal blogs application, as well. This can be utilized for the allocation of broader squad topics. Things like news, archival information, etc. Just like the forums, each squad leader has ability to both create and moderate their own blogs. No admin required. SQUAD CREATION The creation of squads, just like in the old days, is closed off to the public. With that said, squads are still run by the community. The same 'interest' prerequisites still apply. Once a prospective squad is approved, the squad will be created and ownership transferred from admin to Squad Leader. The member will also be given instruction on how to properly use the application. SOME HOLES Currently, the Maps nor the Tournaments applications have been integrated into the new Squads app. Whether or not this is something Aaron and I decide to do in the future is unclear. It's probable that we could decide to develop our own application for squads. Time will tell, but I can definitely assure you that no such integration is present at this time. BLOG IT UP In summation, HT Squads have gone through a massive overhaul. This quick update only skims the surface of some of the new app's features. I look forward to seeing how this grows over time. We also have quite a few squads that are inactive, but could definitely be revived. Racing is in our blood, and squads are the complete manifestation of how far we can push ourselves. Be sure to check it out for yourself, and please do not hesitate to ask any questions. Race hard -Jeff

Interview and article composed by @Camonized With every ambitious project comes the ambitious people to bring it to life. HT 5.0 is no exception, as it requires a straining effort from it's makers. One of these individuals is Aaron Siciliano, mainly known by his alias 'Mad Hatter' or 'Hatter is Mad'. Hatter has quite the history with HT, as he is one of the community's biggest contributors and oldest members (being one of the original 3 members of HT). Other intriguing additions on his community resume include being one of the current Code Monkeys, a leader for one of the most all time successful squads and a seasoned racer with commendable results. He may not be the most social on the website or within the community, but Hatter nonetheless is an interesting fellow with unparalleled integrity, thus making him the perfect fit for this edition of Community Spotlight. HaloTracks: We've already given you a brief introduction, but could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do? Hatter: I am the longest lasting, last standing, developer for HaloTracks. In my free time, I am developing the HT5.0 platform update which also includes both the Maps application and Tournament system. Outside of the Halotracks community, I have dedicated a large part of my life to Sprintcar racing. I also am in the process of restoring a 1974 Jaguar XJ6, which is my daily driver, and a 1999 Ducati Monster 900 which is my favorite motorcycle. Hatter (#44 in the black car), racing at Charleston Speedway in Charleston, IL. Most people know you've got a hefty track record, but where did it all begin for you? I started with Halo racing back in Halo 2 with Warthogs on Coagulation. I would play all kinds of mini games with my friends for several hours per night. At one point I learned how to mod Halo 2 on Xbox Live and I started creating modded racetracks on Containment. In the first week of Halo 3 I was searching through the Bungie.net forums and come across a racetrack made by killer200o and cul8er. This racetrack was very simple but they had come up with a gametype for tracking laps and no one else had the drive to even start on large projects like racetracks. I immediately added cul8er on my friends list and contacted them about starting a Halo racing community. cul8er and killer200o then invited me to their xbox live party, in which they happened to be forging their third track, and explained to me that they just a few hours prior created a Bungie.net group called HaloTracks. I promptly joined and was the third active member, 35th registered member, on the Bungie.net group. Communities see plenty of people come and go, but you've stuck around all these years. What keeps you coming back? Wait, am I allowed to leave? Actually to be honest I have tried to leave a couple times. Originally, my reasons for leaving the community were due to conflict between cul8er and I. At one point I even started my own Halo racing community. It failed when cul8er threatened to ban anyone from Halotracks who supported me and eventually managed to alienate me from the racing community. killer200o managed to bring me back to the community but cul8er and I would almost never be on speaking terms again. At this point in the timeline I came back because the Halo racing community was thriving and very fun to be around. The second time that I left the community was during the time that I was practicing for MLG tournaments and competing on GameBattles. I did not officially leave the community, but I stopped hosting the Velocity squad tournaments because I didn't have enough time. The last few years I have had no desire to be apart of the community due to the members of the community. I have however stayed with the intent on finishing the HT5.0 system because I made a promise that I would see it through to the end. We see you're back at the races. How does it feel to be back in the saddle? It wasn't my decision to stop racing! You guys didn't want to invite me or let me race since I was overseas and laggy. I am glad I am back and racing again but I do not ever expect to be dominant again like I was back in the Halo 3 days, unless we return to terrain racing. After a long hiatus from racing, Hatter returned in Halo 4 for his first full season of HTSX during Season 7, where he finished in 18th Overall. He made 4 main events with his best finish being an 8th. In late 2014, Hatter made a personal journey to Thailand, which took a blow to his racing comeback. Plagued with connection issues, he salvaged an 11th Overall in the HTSX National Open Series. He completed only 5 races, making 3 main events with his best finish being a 6th. In his return to the states, Hatter faired well in the 2016 Nationals Series, where he finished 2nd Overall. He completed 8 races and snagged one overall win. Speaking of, those were some tough times for you! How did knowing you were at a disadvantage and had more in the tank affect you mentally? Would you say it hindered your performance (aside from your connection issues)? I don't think it hindered my performance too terribly. I am not very consistent with the Supercross style mongoose racing. If someone, usually Soda, didn't take me out because of my connection issue then I likely would have just wrecked on my own anyways. You've mentioned your time was back in Halo 3 during the days where you managed HT Velocity. How would you describe the current state of competitive racing and how it's evolved from the H3 days? I think the current state of competitive Halo racing is shameful compared to what it used to be. I do not believe that the current members of the community are the sole contribution to this however. I believe the childish mentality that was prevalent during the success of this community is to blame here. Each squad wanted to be superior to each other and belittle each other, looking at you Velocity and Supercross, this along with squad mismanagement left us with no squads and no one taking incentive to host races or forge racetracks. I believe this community will continue to suffer unless each and every member takes accountability for the lack of activity and does their part to create new tracks and host tournaments to try and recapture the success of this community that we all have collectively ridden into the ground. H2A is pretty shit though. Can we all just go back to Halo 4? Seeing how you've pretty much raced in every era of racing, which era was the most difficult to produce results? Halo 3 for terrain, Halo 4 for everything else. I would have to say that the Halo 4 era of racing, although not my favorite, was the most difficult to win a race in. The tracks were mostly supercross with low tolerances for f*** ups. The fantastic part about Halo 4 was the consistency of the mongoose. The mongoose and controls outclassed all of the other Halo games, even its successors. However, Halo 3 terrain racing was my favorite era of racing. Halo 3 provided the best mongoose for terrain racing. Unfortunately it was limited to eight racers per lobby and we would occasionally have to cut people from the races or create two different tournaments to facilitate all of the signups. If some of the more competitive racers from the Halo 4 era of racing had existed in the community during the Halo 3 era we might have seen more competitive racing in Halo 3 than Halo 4. While competitive Halo racing was inevitable, Hatter is still a commendable pioneer of the concept. With help from former Head Map Maker, Bomberman914, Hatter created the grassroots of prestigious HT racing tournaments and his legacy is something to be cherished forever. You've had a rough go at racing over the past few years and mentioned you don't see yourself returning to your dominant ways. What are your current goals as a racer? I plan on racing for fun. I don't expect that I will be practicing for any tournaments nor winning any races anytime soon. What has been your biggest challenge as a racer? I think the biggest challenge that I have had as a racer is making sure that I can get my pizza put in the oven and cooked completely between races. It has been an ongoing challenge for several years now. Don't be fooled; Hatter is quietly one of the most decorated racers on HaloTracks. His accolades include 24 HT Velocity tournament victories (3rd all time) and an HT Velocity championship from Season 1. Hatter may not produce the same results as he did back then, but that doesn't change his records or his status as a seasoned veteran. What has been your favourite highlight and/or your greatest accomplishment in your Halo racing career? My greatest accomplishment during my Halo racing career was when I won ten consecutive Velocity Squad tournaments in a row. Not only did I win the squad tournaments, but I did so convincingly by rarely dropping races during these tournaments. After I won the tenth tournament I decided to stop practicing for Halo racing and just take it for fun after that. I think my favorite highlight during my racing career would be the entire time that I hosted HT Velocity. I was very proud to have organized that squad and help that squad to impact this community in the ways that it has. Who was or has been your toughest competitor in racing? In the early Velocity days I would have to say my toughest competitor was Deano. The later velocity days that transitioned over to Cassel. I raced a single time during Halo Reach and I led every lap of the race and Soda passed me on the last turn of the last lap to win the race. This race marked the first time I had ever raced against Soda and the last time I was on even footing with him. Since then Soda has been my bad luck charm, anytime I have raced with him in Halo 4 or H2A he will accidentally take me out of the race. In closing, where do you see yourself in the future of HaloTracks? As well as being a developer, what are your hopes with HT 5.0 and where do you want to see HaloTracks in the future? I would love to be a large part of HaloTracks in the future. I have spent so many years of my life on this community and would hate to see the community die from the current trend of inactivity. In a perfect world I would like for HaloTracks to see an upswing in content creation and tournaments being hosted. This activity would hopefully invite new members to join our ranks and allow the community to grow and re-establish itself. Halotracks 5.0 will be a nice flex of our muscles as a community, however it is a useless gesture when there is no community to use it.

Hey guys, I'm running through this version of HaloTracks in an effort to increase its efficiency. A lot of HT 4.0 was built on images. Lots and lots of images. As such, the load times on HaloTracks are less than I'd like them to be. So I'm combing HT 4.1's markup to eliminate as many unnecessary images as possible. This will be a continuous process, as I will not shut the site down to perform these tasks. You will, however, begin to notice some changes here and there. Additionally, I'll also change the look of a few things when and where I see fit. You might be asking yourself why I'm spending time working on this old girl. HT 5.0 sits on a development board... and is definitely much cooler... and is a more worthwhile venture, right? My answer to that is I simply want HT to function well in any state. HT 5.0 isn't out yet, leaving this version of the site as a source for many first impressions. At the very least, it's important that this version is also somewhat presentable. I will not be making this version of the site to be mobile friendly! Doing so is more than possible, but would take a development period akin to the tournament system. In short, that would take weeks; possibly months to do. I'll post an update to this topic once I have completed the changes. If you have any concerns or possible suggestions, please post them here and I'll respond as quickly as I can!

Hey everyone, just wanted to post a quick PSA regarding an update we just did to the server. Aaron and I are inching closer every day to 5.0 coming out, and the development site's version of IPB was in a need of an update. To do that, we were forced to update our PHP version from 5.1.something to at least 5.6.x. The installation was finished last night, and I caught some weird little bugs on the development board immediately after the update. It's not likely that this site's version of IPB will have any of those bugs, but I'd like if we could all be on the lookout for them. Thanks for reading, and post any bugs you find in this topic.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the site. As some of you may very well remember, we purchased an old backup of HaloTracks. The version you are on is the same HT the minute before it became TriggerPoop. I'd like to digress momentarily, and please ask all of you to not bash TriggerPoop intensively. What's done was done, and we have all learned from it. Now, the site is still being transferred and updated to our new servers. So page times can be slow, and you may experience momentary times of HaloTracks seemingly not being there. These are normal "bugs" that can occur during the name server transfers and will diminish once it is all complete (5/17/12 @ 2400 PST). If you encounter any sort of extra bugs, please post them here and I will do my best to resolve them. List of Known Bugs/Issues: Mackey feels he isn't important. SQL Error when signing in or using the wrong Username/Password combination. List of Fixed Bugs/Issues: Fixed an issue with "halotracks.org" directing to an inaccessible page. "Halotracks.org" now redirects to the Home page. Disabled word filter for a small amount of bad words. Please use foul language responsibly.

Leaving this here so it's not forgotten while we work on cooler stuff: Orphaned maps should be invisible in the maps list on the maps homepage, even if they're approved.

- Fixed a bug where the wrong game was being displayed in the map view - Fixed a bug where some images would unexpectedly repeat - Ratings icons are now being displayed properly across all instances Still tons left to do because our applications have broken a lot over time. Please submit your bug reports in Feedback and Support. Thank you.

Lol, ok gotcha. That threw me for a loop.

What are you confused about? Are you unfamiliar with some of the terms I mentioned (ex. double wide tracks, Blockers, etc)?

This list contains feature requests from the community that have been expressed to me, but haven't found their way to the forums. If you have any specific requests for Aaron and I, please post them here or create a new topic. It's much easier for us to track what features you want from our applications when it's in writing! Requested Features Display the date map was posted in Map View. Implemented Features Rejected Features

It's been almost two years since Halo 4 was released, and the racing community has definitely been through a lot. There were a lot of hurdles thrown our way, but we persevered, innovated, and prospered. The strength and resilience of the race community as a whole is continuously tested. We continuously pass that test with impunity every single time. We've shown that there are no limits to a creativity and ingenuity. As long as the tools and will to create are there, this community always finds it's way through. Perhaps not completely unscathed, but nonetheless through. It's time to end an incredible and historical two year run in Halo 4. Forge and race have a lot to show for it, but we want to know what stands out the most. Welcome to Best of Halo 4! How It Works Best of Halo 4 is a one-month long contest. In it, the best racetracks and racers will be decided. This event is separated into two sections. The first section focuses on Forge, so let's go over that one first. The Forge section of BOH4 focuses on racetracks created using the Forge in Halo 4. Best of Forge is split into 11 categories: Best Overall - The track that towers over all other racetracks. Truly the best of Halo 4. Best Map Maker - The best Forger in Halo 4. General - These tracks have a little bit of everything, but do not necessarily fit into any specific category. Best Terrain - Tracks where the majority of the racetrack is forged on natural terrain. Best Motocross - This category is made up of Supercross and Nationals tracks. Best Skytrack - These kinds of tracks have almost all of their track in the sky. They float, basically. Best Roller Coaster - Roller coaster tracks are made to look like, well, roller coasters. Best Mayhem - Tracks that cause mayhem. You know it as wrecking. These tracks are designed to cause collisions that maim or kill. Best Demo - Demo tracks are designed to accommodate the Demo race variant. In Demo, two teams square off against each other to win. The goal: Get your racer to the finish and block the opposing teams's racer! Best City - Tracks that take you on a stroll through city-themed tracks. That stroll, by the way, is over 100kph. Best Aesthetic - Tracks that focus on scenery. The only category where form can be more important than function. Nominations Tracks are nominated by the Halo community (that's you) over a 2 week period. You can nominate for every category, and may do so to your heart's content. Things are going to be changed up a little bit this time around, though. Unlike previous Best of Halo events, we're allowing self-nominations for every category except Best Map Maker. To nominate your own creation, you must first nominate a racetrack not of your own making. You can also only nominate one of your own tracks per category. There is no minimum number of nominations you can make. If one is all you've got, then we're cool with that! You cannot nominate tracks for the Best Overall category. This category is reserved for the winners of the previous 8 track categories. To start nominating and view all of the rules, click here and get those nominations done! Judging After the nomination period ends, we will begin a week of preliminary judging. We, the HaloTracks Staff with some assistance from VIP's if necessary, will boil down the nominations to just the tracks that unequivocally stand out above the rest. This process lasts approximately one week. Voting This is where you come back in. Voting is the last stage in choosing the best tracks. As with past BOH contests, you will vote on your top 3 tracks per category. Your first vote counts as 3 points, the second is 2 points, and the 3rd vote is 1 point. As with nominations, you don't need to vote in every category for your vote to count. You can also come back at any time to add votes in categories that you haven't voted in. Category voting lasts two weeks. The winning racetracks of each category are placed into Best Overall contention. The voting for Best Overall ends on November 8, 2014. The best racers of Halo 4 will have to earn it. Starting October 11th, a series of tournaments will take place to determine who makes it to the final rounds. These tournaments will be 12 racer-maximum lobbies and only centered around competition-friendly tracks. The final round will be a 1v1 double elimination bracket consisting of the top 12 racers from the first series of tournaments. The schedule goes as follows. All tournaments begin at 3:00PM Eastern Standard Time (US). October 11, 2014 - Preliminaries 1 October 12, 2014 - Preliminaries 2 October 18, 2014 - Preliminaries 3 October 19, 2014 - Preliminaries 4 October 25, 2014 - Finals 1 November 1, 2014 - Finals 2 (Semi-Finals and Finals) Qualifying Getting into the finals requires qualification. This is what the preliminary tournaments are for. At the end of the prelims, the Top 12 racers will advance into the 1v1 bracket finals. Where you qualify is important. Your seed, or qualifying position, determines who you're matched up in the first round. The Top 12 racers are determined through the four preliminary tournaments. After each tournament, the Top 3 finishers from each lobby move into a final qualifying round. The top 3 finishers from this final round advance to the finals, but can no longer participate in the other preliminaries. Finals The finals are a 1v1, double elimination bracket tournament. The first round commences on October 25, and will stop once the semi-finals are reached. Losing a round automatically moves you into the loser's bracket, and this where the fight for 3rd place begins. Losses in this bracket mean elimination from the tournament, entirely. Who you face in the first round is determined by your seed. First place seed will face last place seed, second seed will face second-to-last seed, et cetera. The higher you qualify, the better your chances are of getting past the first round. The title of Best Racer goes to the winner of the final round! The loser of the final round on November 1st will play the winner of the loser's bracket for 2nd place. Again, all times are at 3:00PM EST. If you're not a racer but still want to see what happens, you can watch live streams on our Twitch channel! These tournaments will have individual topics assigned to them. You can expect the first set of tournaments to be posted very shortly. PRIZES! What's a competition without prizes? Winners of all categories will have their maps posted in our Best of Halo 4 gallery and granted the Distinguished rank on HaloTracks. The winner of Best Overall will have his or her track featured on HaloTracks, with a video showcase that will be posted on our YouTube channel. The winners of Best Overall and Best Racer will also receive a free copy of this: Already getting it? Don't worry, we'll get you something of equivalent value instead! That'll wrap up this introduction to Best of Halo 4. We have an amazing month planned out for the racing community. It's been a wild two years, and it's finally time to send it out with a bang. We hope that you enjoy the event, and thank you for participating in Best of Halo 4!

But seriously, we love you and you deserve the best. We have some pretty high standards as to how HaloTracks works. Last year, we made an upgrade to dedicated servers to ensure that we can maintain a good level of overhead to accomplish whatever our hearts desire. Dedicated servers, while flexible and fast, come with a cost. That cost is in dollar signs and is why I'm asking for your help. It costs us just over 2K American dollars to rent our server for one year. While some may call a dedicated server overkill for a site like HT 4.1, it's paramount to the success of HT 5.0. Specifically, our tournament system which will require a fair amount of processing power to remain speedy. Normally, I could cover this cost by myself without any hassle, but my living situation is about to change and money could start becoming a problem for just a few months. Any donation is immensely appreciated, and I'll definitely have some nice things planned for those that contributed. I'll keep this announcement short and end things here. My humblest of thanks to everyone that is still visiting and signing into HaloTracks. The Master Chief Collection is certainly a speed bump for us, but it amazes me every single time I see the guys and gals of this community refusing to give up. All of you make HaloTracks what it is, and I'll never forget that!

Sky Tracks: Tracks which are forged at least 90% off of the ground. Common examples are floating double wide tracks, battle tracks, and roller coaster tracks. Terrain: Tracks which are at least 90% on the ground. Tracks in this category tend to be competitive in nature. Motocross: Closed circuit tracks which prominently feature jumps. Supercross and Outdoor Motocross tracks fit into this category. Like, terrain, these tend to be competitive tracks. Demo: Closed circuit competitive tracks which facilitate the HT Demo gametype, a game where two teams of 4, each comprised of one Racer and three Blockers who's job it is to wreck the other team's racer, square off against each other. Mayhem: Tracks which encourage wrecking, dying, or any other form of obstructive driving. Hardcore and collision tracks are common examples of a mayhem track. General: Any track which does not fit into the previously mentioned categories. Let me know if you still have any questions

Leaving this here in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src=" https://www.youtube.com/embed/PUzl04hzmy0?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You've waited years for this update. Now, it's finally happening. I know that most of you will be pretty underwhelmed by this trailer, since the HaloTracks community already knows about HT 5.0. This trailer is absolutely geared towards members of the Halo community that do not yet know about the fifth version of HaloTracks. I'll give a quick rundown of what this update is for the newcomers out there. The Largest Update in HaloTracks History HaloTracks version 5.0, commonly abbreviated to HT 5.0, is the largest and most comprehensive undertaking that our community has ever done. The entire face of HaloTracks is changing. We're bringing in applications we've made ourselves, most notably an intricate system in which to post your Forge maps and compete on those maps for glory. Our new maps application is tailored to racetrack forgers and enthusiasts alike. HT Maps offers support for different genres of racetracks, ways to filter only the tracks you want to see, user ratings, map statistics, and so much more. I kind of have to end things there. There's so much we're pouring into this application alone, that it would take quite a long time to detail everything. HT Tournaments is arguably the backbone of HT 5.0. Essentially, this system is akin to Matchmaking in Halo... but for racing. The only thing it lacks is the ability to actually search for players, since we would need an actual game to do that. Within the tournament system, we've included an intricate skill system, progression for rankings, leaderboards, multiple tournament formats, and some of the most powerful hosting tools you'll find on this side of the galaxy. All of this is designed by Jeffrey Heral (Le Hefe) and is developed by Aaron Siciliano (Hatter is Mad). As always, make sure you give Hatter your thanks. The technology we're implementing into this update isn't the easiest thing in the world to create. He's worked extremely hard to get this thing to where it is now. This is a quick rundown of HT 5.0, but there's so much more it has to offer. The hype train is underway, so please check back often for potential updates! Quick disclaimer, we have no concrete schedule for releasing updates. Information is released as soon as it's finalized. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to HT 5.0's release in 2016! Follow Us Twitter: @HaloTracks