Halo Custom Edition Mapping Guide

[DEEhunter]

Everyday we are getting new users to the forums, and joining up with the
Halo CE community, so i figured I would make all of you guys who are still
relatively new to this game, or need help, a complete guide of mapping on this Engine.

Halo CE Info
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Halo CE was released in May of 2004, unlike the Halo PC, this "Expansion"
of the game was made for Custom Map Creation, allowing users to create
their own content and be able to use them in their Halo map.

Maps get installed to your Halo Custom Edition/maps folder
(normally C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/Halo Custom Edition/maps)
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What you will need to create your own custom map are:

Auto Desk 3DS Max : 3D modeling program used to create models to put into the game, and you must also have this script to export you map:
http://ghost.halomaps.org/bluestreak/jm ... _v1-0-1.ms
The Reason I tell you to get this is because Blitzkrieg (original exporter)
does not work with the 3ds max 2000 series.

Adobe Photoshop : Used to create textures for the game

Halo Editing Kit : Used to import your content into the format the game
uses, Tag editing, and Level Population.

These are just the 3 must have applications to make a fully custom level.

__________________
Running a 3DS Max Script

Follow the image below.

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Installing the Editing Kit

Now this is where a lot of people get lost, in fact i got lost for a while here,
run the .EXE file you downloaded and follow the procedures until it says the
installation is complete. This is where people get lost. The intallation creates
3 applications and 2 folders(data and tags).

Editing Kit Applications

The Applications that have been installed are now in your
C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/Halo Custom Edition folder.

Guerilla: Guerilla is the tool used for editing/creating tags in the game.
EX: Weapons, Vehicles, Characters, ETC.

Q: What are tags?
A: Tags are basically the source files that make up the game itself, without
tags, there would be no game!

Sapien: Sapien is where you populate your map. It is also used to compile
scripts, but we'll get into that later.

Q: What do you mean by "Population"?
A: Population is where you place the objects in your map that make up
game play and beauty, like Weapons, Scenery (trees, rocks, etc) and
Vehicles.

Tool: This is probably the application you will be using the most. Using
this application requires Command Prompt. It converts your creations
into a file format Halo can read.

Q: Where is command prompt, and how do I get to Tool with it?
A: Command prompt can be found when you click start, then go to
accessories. When you click it, type in
cd/program files/microsoft games/halo custom edition

that will take you to the folder that the tool application is in.

Q: What can I do with tool?
A: Good question. I will show you the list of commands tool has to offer.

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition>[B]Tool[/B]
Couldn't read map file './toolbeta.map'
usage: tool verb <options..>
  model source-directory
  animations source-directory
  strings source-directory
  unicode-strings source-directory
  bitmaps source-directory
  bitmap source-file
  structure scenario-directory bsp-name
  structure-lens-flares bsp-name
  structure-breakable-surfaces structure-name
  collision-geometry source-directory
  physics source-file
  sounds directory-name platform<xbox,wav,ogg> ogg_only_value_flag<quality or
trate>
  sounds_by_type directory-name type <round to 64 samples:yes/no>
  build-cache-file <scenario-name>
  windows-font
  hud-messages <path> <scenario-name>
  lightmaps <scenario> <bsp index> <quality> <stop threshhold>
  process-sounds <root path> <substring> <gain+|gain-|gain=|maximum-distance|m
imum-distance> <value>
  merge-scenery <source scenario> <destination scenario>
  zoners_model_upgrade
  import-device-defaults <defaults|profiles> <savegame path>

As you can see, all i did to get this list was type the word Tool.
_______________________
Beginner Tutorials

To create your first map, I will show you the tutorials i followed to
make my first map. These tutorials will also go over some of the commands above.

Kirk's Beginner Tutorials

Kirk's Intermediate Tutorials

Start from the top and work your way down
These tutorials are nice and slow for you new Guys.

_______________________
Intermediate Terrain Modeling Using Height maps

Creating your Height Map
[youtube]BbrFLxybDI[/youtube]
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbrFLxybDI )

Using your Height Map to create Terrain

[youtube]sVskRIWVKns[/youtube]
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVskRIWV ... re=related )

For Lesson 3-15 go to Jwenfield's youtube profile http://www.youtube.com/user/jwenfield

Bump Mapping
Bump mapping is what really makes a game come to life.
An easy way to create Bump maps is by using Crazy. Bump.
This application can make a 2d surface into a high resolution 3d surface.
With bump maps you can use low poly meshes and create bumps to make
them look like they are really detailed models.

Things that Crazy Bump can do
-Create a Normal Map (Bump map)
-Create a Specular Map
-Create an Occlusion Map
-Create a Displacement map

Since Halo is an older engine, we can only really take use of the Normal
Map and some what Specular Map.

I opened the Beaver Creek Cliff Texture for an example.

And in seconds I got beautiful results:

Now I saved my Bump Map and Ran it through tool and plugged it into
my Shader Environment Tag here



Now with dynamic lighting you can see your awesome bumps, or without
dynamics by changing the cube map properties on the bottom of the tag.

Sounds

Download Wave Pad

My Example Sound is gonna be called Bobert.
Im going to save it to data\sound\Bobert\Bobert.WAV

I will save the file using these properties:

As you can see, i made my own format Called Halo CE sound format, you
can do this by changing an existing setting, and change the preferences to
match mine, then press Save As.

Now to get the sound into Guerilla, Open up Tool and type:
Tool sounds sound\Bobert ogg 1

We don't have to use ogg but heres why I am for this example
WAV: doesn't play ingame
XBOX: The link to the DLL to use this format seems to be long lost,
but i use this format and recommend it.

When tool finishes, open Guerilla, in your tags folder, go to sound\Bobert.
Now click on Bobert.sound, go to the bottom and press play. You have
just imported your first sound. To hear it ingame, replace it with another
sound thats ingame, like the Assault Rifle fireing sound for instance.

For Music Sound, you would do the same thing, except after you compile,
check off the flag "split long sound into permutations" and recompile.

Console:
In Sapien press ~ for the console.

Scripting:
Scripting is the main key for single player maps. Single Player maps will
turn out like garbage without them. You can get the list of script commands
by going into sapien, opening up console and typing script_doc. This will
give you a list of script commands in your Halo Custom Edition folder, called
HS_DOC.TXT. That or just look below.
http://www.freewebs.com/desphm/HS_Bible.htm

The Ghost's: Project BlueStreak
The Ghost has been nice enough to make some 3ds max scripts to benefit
the community.

GBX Model Importer: http://ghost.halomaps.org/bluestreak/gbxmodel/ This Allows us to Import Halo's GBX Models into 3ds Max
Animation Importer: http://ghost.halomaps.org/bluestreak/animation/ This Allows us to Import Halo's Animation Graph's into 3ds Max
JMS Exporter (Region Fix): http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10588 This allows us to Export any type of model to JMS format and
import it into Halo. This Also Supports Rigged Bones, and Region, thanks to CtrlAltDestroy

FireScythe's Aether

Halo:CE Lighting Helper

Program Features:
*Scenario object marker export
*Perfect bsp extraction including all bitmaps and correct smoothing
*Perfect bsp lightmap extraction including lightmap bitmaps assigned to the mesh
*Portal and fog plane extraction
*Bitmap injection into BSP lightmap

3ds Max/Maya Script features:
*Fixes bsp materials to show in viewport and ignore alpha channels (Not in Maya Script)
*Places marker spheres according to marker positions exported by Aether
*Instances meshes and places them according to marker positions exported by Aether

http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13450

Thanks to FireScythe we can now make lightmaps using 3ds max. Which means
we could use VRay.
DeeHunter's Advanced Lightmapping Tutorial: http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13546



List of tags that can be made for Halo CE

keep note that some of these, like multiplayer map description,shader,
lightning, and a few others will not work properly, or just crash Guerilla.

More Tutorials can be found at http://ghost.halomaps.org/tutorials/

Ok two hours of typing this was not that fun. Anyways, I know Halo CE
is a relativly oldish engine, but this community is alive, much more then
Halo 2 PC, I thought i'd be nice and post pointers. If anyone wants to add
anything, just post it then ill add it in the original post. As you can see there
is some things i have left out, I will maybe add some more tommorow
So yeah. Enjoy.

P.S http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1480

http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14265

[diamondbackk60]

WOW.. lots of info lots of help thankx