Ok, This is seriously weird
Ok, This is seriously weird
For a very long time, I have tried to mod Halo Combat Eveolved on my Mac and everytime I try, I always end up mad because I don't get anything done. I need some serious help with modding. Anything I download doesn't work. I have been looking for weeks for any Halo modding tools like HKK or something that actually worked. Then when I try to use something, it doesn't work. I also have no idea what alot of things mean. There are to many abbriviatins that I don't understand. I'm a total n00b at modding, I know. But I'm trying to learn. So can someone help me with modding anything at all?
HHK = Halo Hacking Kit. It's a program that loads a halo mapfile into RAM and is so far the easiest way to rebuild on a mac. Of the versions you download, you should be using the one with the waffle icon.
As for programs not working. In general, they don't work if you're not using the most recent version of MacOSX.
Other abbrivations:
HMT = Halo Mapping Tools. A general program that allows you to modify bitmaps, extract/decrap models and swap dependencies.
PPF = Playstation Patch File. A type of file that records changes between two files so a mod will only be a couple of kb's rather than the ~17mb size of a mapfile.
PMI = Perfect Model Injection. Adding new models to maps usually corrupts the data and they have to then be fixed or decrapped. The method for doing this is called PMI.
Useful terms:
Tag/Meta: Subfiles of the halo mapfile that contain data for models, bipeds, weapons, vehicles and smaller things like effects, contrails.
Dependency: Some tags are dependent on other tags. For example a vehicle needs effects a model and sounds. Tags with these dependencies have references to those other tags. These references can be changed (d-swapping) to produce simple results such as swapping a projectile for a biped.
Rebuilding: you can add new tags to a map by first extracting them from another map, injecting them into your target map and then rebuilding it so that the map knows those tags are now in it.
This is the direct link to downloading the primary modding tools. Inside should be the HHKs and the HMTs which is what you should primarily be using. It also has a handful of semi-useful tutorials. Note: In the HMT folder, there are two programs. Halo Mapping Tools 0.5 and HMT (0.7.5 but you can only tell if you get info on it). HMT is the one with the dependency swapper. You should view the folder in list mode so that it displays because it is hidden way down in the folder.
Here is a small tutorial I wrote for adding AI to a map that goes over d-swapping, rebuilding and PMI with pictures. I hope you find it useful. Also, you might find my program Eschaton 0.5.1 useful for editing data values such as speed, damage, rate of fire and the like. Some tutorial for it are here but they vary in how well they're written.
As for programs not working. In general, they don't work if you're not using the most recent version of MacOSX.
Other abbrivations:
HMT = Halo Mapping Tools. A general program that allows you to modify bitmaps, extract/decrap models and swap dependencies.
PPF = Playstation Patch File. A type of file that records changes between two files so a mod will only be a couple of kb's rather than the ~17mb size of a mapfile.
PMI = Perfect Model Injection. Adding new models to maps usually corrupts the data and they have to then be fixed or decrapped. The method for doing this is called PMI.
Useful terms:
Tag/Meta: Subfiles of the halo mapfile that contain data for models, bipeds, weapons, vehicles and smaller things like effects, contrails.
Dependency: Some tags are dependent on other tags. For example a vehicle needs effects a model and sounds. Tags with these dependencies have references to those other tags. These references can be changed (d-swapping) to produce simple results such as swapping a projectile for a biped.
Rebuilding: you can add new tags to a map by first extracting them from another map, injecting them into your target map and then rebuilding it so that the map knows those tags are now in it.
This is the direct link to downloading the primary modding tools. Inside should be the HHKs and the HMTs which is what you should primarily be using. It also has a handful of semi-useful tutorials. Note: In the HMT folder, there are two programs. Halo Mapping Tools 0.5 and HMT (0.7.5 but you can only tell if you get info on it). HMT is the one with the dependency swapper. You should view the folder in list mode so that it displays because it is hidden way down in the folder.
Here is a small tutorial I wrote for adding AI to a map that goes over d-swapping, rebuilding and PMI with pictures. I hope you find it useful. Also, you might find my program Eschaton 0.5.1 useful for editing data values such as speed, damage, rate of fire and the like. Some tutorial for it are here but they vary in how well they're written.
