Help needed for a Mod project...

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:04 pm

**I have both windows and mac, but use windows for modding halo**

Hello.

I'm new to modding (like iv said b4

) And have a way of learning a new tool or program. I have an idea, and do what's needed to get there, and on the journey I learn more and more about the tool i'm using.

Now, my idea for a halo mod, is kinda original, yet personal. I want to accomplish the following.

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*Transform BG into a night-time forrest. I would do this by....
-Importing trees and rocks from timberland (PMI, or hopefully another way)
-Changing the sky map (most likely timberlands sky lol)
-Changing the actuall lighting to make it seem like night-time.

*I then want to make covenant stuff fun, by expanding there weapons and vehicles....
-PMI a wraith in (make it faster, and the main cannon faster aswell)
-Change the properties for the guns (that should be easy)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I already know how to PMI a wraith in, but theres still some problems that need fixing.

Anywayz, sorry to bore you lol. But I need people to help me, answer some necessary questions.

I'll start the whole thing off by asking...
Is there an easier way to import trees and rocks n stuff without PMI??
I noticed that when I imported the wraith, in sparkedit, I couldn't see it except the object i replaced it with (a warthog). Now, if i'm importing new scenery, i'd like to see it. If this is possible.

Thanks

MoDFox · Post by **MoDFox** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:12 pm

I'd suggest a night time sky instead of Timberland, Something like Truth and Reconciliation's sky. You're taking a good approach on modding too, learning by experience and making an actual mod is smart. You are on windows? or Mac? You may want to state that in your first post.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:37 pm

windows and mac lol, tho i dont's use mac for anything halo, so guess it's wondows

I'll edit the first post to make it clearer for first readers.
Eh good tip about the sky. I didn't want to completely copy timberland lol, plus I notice that timberland at times, seems like daytime.
Ta

Philly · Post by **Philly** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:04 pm

Wow... You're the best 'new to modding' person I know. You make your posts readable and go into a lot of detail. You know that it is better to learn by doing and you have considerations for others... WOW.

I'll be happy to help. Please feel free to PM me if you have a specific problem. Well done and good luck.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:27 pm

hey, thanks for the support philly

, I'm starting to really like this forum.
Well, i'd like to get into action with this mod straight away, the sooner the funner lol.
I followed this tutorial on how to PMI a wraith into BG.
http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.ph ... 94&t=56916
It's a wonderfull tutorial. It answers my question on "how do I get a wraith imported?". But I wanted to use this to import tees and rocks from timberland.
I'm not too sure how I would modify this tutorial to suit my needs. I have a couple of questions for the future of this mod...

When I PMI the wraith into bloodgulch (which i've done), how do I make it show in sparkedit?
Like i said on the first post, all I see is the object I REPLACED the wraith with, in this case it was the (black) warthog. So in sparkedit, i'd like to see the wraith instead of the hog.

(the reason for this is so that i can do the same with scenery. This way I can see exactly where a big massive rock is being placed

)

And one last quickie. Is there a way to add to a PMI? For example, i've PMI'd the wraith, and rebuilt the map. But I forgot to PMI a pleican into it aswell. Does that mean I'd have to start over, or is there a way to add?

Thanks (these long replys are tiring lol, to write, and probobly read

)

bcnipod · Post by **bcnipod** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:29 pm

ryan_mckenzie wrote:hey, thanks for the support philly , I'm starting to really like this forum.
Well, i'd like to get into action with this mod straight away, the sooner the funner lol.
I followed this tutorial on how to PMI a wraith into BG.
http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.ph ... 94&t=56916
It's a wonderfull tutorial. It answers my question on "how do I get a wraith imported?". But I wanted to use this to import tees and rocks from timberland.
I'm not too sure how I would modify this tutorial to suit my needs. I have a couple of questions for the future of this mod...

When I PMI the wraith into bloodgulch (which i've done), how do I make it show in sparkedit?
Like i said on the first post, all I see is the object I REPLACED the wraith with, in this case it was the (black) warthog. So in sparkedit, i'd like to see the wraith instead of the hog.

(the reason for this is so that i can do the same with scenery. This way I can see exactly where a big massive rock is being placed )

And one last quickie. Is there a way to add to a PMI? For example, i've PMI'd the wraith, and rebuilt the map. But I forgot to PMI a pleican into it aswell. Does that mean I'd have to start over, or is there a way to add?

Thanks (these long replys are tiring lol, to write, and probobly read )

just PMI the Pelican to the rebuilt map. there really is not a problem in doing this.

MoDFox · Post by **MoDFox** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:31 pm

Wherever it says "Wraith" simply pretend it says whichever tree you want. Then you just follow that to import trees. Do the same thing for the rocks.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:34 pm

Well, that's the PMI adding sorted, Thanks. And I'll follow the tutorial like it's PMI'ing a tree instead of wraith.
I'll still need a soultion to making the imported tree/rock appear in sparkedit, any ideas??

bcnipod · Post by **bcnipod** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:36 pm

ryan_mckenzie wrote:Well, that's the PMI adding sorted, Thanks. And I'll follow the tutorial like it's PMI'ing a tree instead of wraith.
I'll still need a soultion to making the imported tree/rock appear in sparkedit, any ideas??

you have to add it to the scenario, so sparkedit sees as a actual part of the map, instead of as a set of unused tags.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:47 pm

Alrighty

I found this awsome tutorial, which should most deffintly solve this PMI confusion.
http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.php?t=74889

I kinda understand what ur saying bcnipod, just not too sure how to accomplish this.
Will research it tho...

hiheyhello · Post by **hiheyhello** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:53 pm

heh thats mine i want to clean that tutorial up anywayz i will do it so its easier to read

Cryticfarm · Post by **Cryticfarm** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:55 pm

That isn't by far the greatest. Decoys is the best. It was on halopc.net, which is now closed, toobs has a backup, but whatever. That tut doesn't even have pics.

hiheyhello · Post by **hiheyhello** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:58 pm

Crytic is right it isnt the greatest far from te greatest. i will try to make another more clearer and add pictures.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:44 pm

Who said it was the greatest??? I said it was awsome. Anywayz, I'd preffer some help rather than a meaningless argument.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:47 pm

Sorry for the double post, but DEAR GOD, I FINALY WITNESSED THE EXCEPTION!!!
I went ahead and done the tutorial, which was going really well,

http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.php?t=74889

Until, i got to step 2 (after the congratulations) and things went terribly wrong. At this step I wanted to do option 2: open sparkedit. I did so and opened the map, it said it was loaded, but nothing was there, just a big blank peice of greyness. All the other maps worked, and rebuilding the map went fine. So I tried it playing the map in halo, and that damn **exception** warning appeared. All of a sudden, I don't feel so happy lol.

Well "hiheyhello", it's your tutorial, can ye help me. Or my god anyone else lol

hiheyhello · Post by **hiheyhello** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:33 am

its not mine its yours, make sure you recursivly extract all the items you want in your map, odnt forget to add the sbsp.meta, and i prefer way 1

Cryticfarm · Post by **Cryticfarm** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:06 am

hiheyhello wrote:its not mine its yours, make sure you recursivly extract all the items you want in your map, odnt forget to add the sbsp.meta, and i prefer way 1

Way one screws up the string by making it scorpian instead of tank. Did you decrap?

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:55 am

Sorry hiheyhello, I meant to say "it's your tutorial" lol. Well, I've fixed that little typo, now for the real problem. I actually don't think this is much of a porblem. I'll just retry the whole process, and make sure i'm doing everything right.

ryan_mckenzie · Post by **ryan_mckenzie** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:59 pm

Ok, i'm just about importing the new scenery. Does anyone know where I can get a log to PMI?

hiheyhello · Post by **hiheyhello** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:02 pm

the silent cartographer, umm its the 4 level in teh list b20, or something.