FAQ: Basic Modding For Newcomers (Halo PC Edition)

[Edwin]

well, we don't seem to have one that covers a broad range of MODing yet, so here goes:


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Section One: The very basics, terminology, and tools

What is MODding? MODing is short for Modifying, which is any change, large or small, made in a given something.

How does this apply to Halo? In any way you can imagine, if you can think of it, it can probably be done.

Are there restrictions? Of course. There are a few things which are flat-out impossible, at this point in time, to do with Halo PC. The most common example is adding a new model to the game, it is just not doable. The game has no way of interpreting the new model you have given it, it won't know what to do if you try and it will crash. However, existing models can be modified.

I made a mod for multiplayer, but my friends don't see it when they join, why? In order for a mod to work properly, all people connected must be using the same mapfile for that mod, so make sure you distribute your mods to your friends before inviting them on for a game.

What does 'bla bla bla' mean? There are a large number of acronyms used here, and sorting them all out can be confusing at times, so here is a list of the most common 'what's that' terms:

HMT: Halo Map Tools, a program used for editing Halo PC

HHT: Halo Hacker Tools, provides different functionality from HMT.

SE: Spark Edit, a tool used for moving things around in a map and adding teleportors.

.PPF: A type of patch file, used when minor changes are made to a map so as not to waste space on the whole map, applied with PPF-O-MATIC. PPF Studio is used to make these patches

.DDS: The type of texture file used by Halo PC, you will need this plugin for Adobe Photoshop to edit them.

Campaign mapnames, why are the filenames so wierd? what do they mean? the filenames are just codenames for the maps, i don't know why but i can supoply a list.


A10 - Pillar of Atumn
a30 - Halo
A50 - Truth and Reconciliation
B30 - Silent cartographer
B40 - Assault on the Control Room
C10 - 343 Guilty Spark
C20 - The Library
C40 - Two Betrayals
D20 - Keyes
D40 - The Maw




Section Two: Swap MODding and other basic techniques

So, now you have all these cool new programs, what are you going to do with them? How do you use them, hold your horses, i'll explain about a little something called swap modding, the most basic kind of modding you can do.


Part one: make your pistol fire rockets

Ok, let's try something cool for starters, something a little James Bondish, how about a Rocket Pistol?

There are two ways to do with, with HMT or HHT. Both ways work perfectly fine but with HHT you can reverse your changes, so that's the way I will explain.

Step One: MAKE BACKUP COPIES OF YOUR MAPS!!
before you procede any further, open up your 'my computer' and navigate to your Halo PC folder, from there go to /data and make a copy of the Maps folder, store this copy somewhere safe so if you screw up you have backup copies of your clean maps.

2: Open HHT
3: Open the map you wish to modify (ex. C:\games\halo\data\maps\b40.map)
4: In the large, center box, navigate to the Pistol .weap tag, click on it.
5: In the right-hand box (labled 'Dependencies') are a bunch of tag types and filenames, select the .proj tag that points to /projectiles/pistol/pistol_bullet (or whatever it's called) and select it.
6: In the bottom-right box (swap box) there are two dropdown menues and a button labled 'swap' One window has the tag type, the other has the filename of the tag. Click the filename one and select projectiles/rocketlauncher/rocket (or whatever it's called) and hot the swap button.
8: Hit save (left-hand side)
9: close HHT and play the map you modded in this case it should be Assault on the Control Room, your pistol now shoots rockets

Part One B: homing pistol rockets

Ok, let's spice up our rocket pistol a bit, we'll make it fire homing rockets

1: Open HMT and the map you modified earlier.
2: Navigate to the Needler .proj tag.
3: in the right-handBox (editing box) scroll down to 'homing.'
4: copy that numberand post it in the corresponding box in the pistol .proj tag.
5: Close HMT and enjoy


Part Two: Making the AR fire grenades

1: open HHT and a map you wish to change (b40, or whicher map you changed in the last tut)
2: navigate to Weapons/Assault Rifle
3: swap the .proj tag for a plasma grenade and save the change
4: close HHT
5: open HMT
6: go to plasma nade proj
7: scroll to the 'starting velocity' and 'final velocity' settings
8: change starting velocity to 20 and final velocity to .333333333
9: close HMT and enjoy


Part Three: Driving the Covenant Mortar Tank (wraith)

1: Open HMT and a map that has the Wraith in it (b40, AOtCR)
2: Navigate to the Banshee .vhei tag
3: In the edit window, scroll down to seat, select 'seat 0'
4: Copy the seatname
5: Navigate to the wraith
6: Paste into 'seat 0' the name you copied
7: in the meta window (top left box) there is a hex value in a field beside 2 buttons, this is called the meta value, copy it.
8: Navigate to the Scorpion vehicle tag and paste the meta value you copied, hi the save button beside the box.
9: Close HMT and open Halo PC, start a new game on Assault on the Control Room, the scorpion is now a Whraith and you can drive it.



That about wraps it up for Section two, i will not go into detail on more advanced forms of modding such as rebuilding a map, if you wish to know how, however, this is a tutorial included in the HMT readme.




Section Three: Skinning

Skinning is a very useful skill, there is alot you can do with skins, you can edit the hud, change colors of anything, etc.

there are a few things you need to skin, Adobe Photoshop, the .dds plugin i mentioned in section one, and Halo Map Tools.

Lets add a smiley to the Warthog hood

01: Open bitmaps.map in HMT
02: Select the primary warthog bitmap
03: hit 'export' and select a destination
04: close HMT
05: Open Photoshop
06: open the file you exported
07: paint a smiley on the hood of the warthog, you will want to do this on a new layer so as not to mess up the main bitmap if you screw it up.
08: Copy and scale the smiley down to each repitition
09: Make the layer you smileyed on slightly transparent (so as to show texture under the face better, make it look more realistic)
10: Save your work and close photoshop.
11: open HMT and bitmaps.map
12: navigate tothe main hog bitmap
13: import the editeed file
14: enjoy


Section Four: Modelling

Modeling is tricky in Halo PC as it is not possible to import new models. All you ca do is move around the vertices in existing ones.

You will need HMT and Milkshape 3D (http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/)

1: open HMT and a map to edit a vehicle on
2: Navigate to that vehicle's mod2 tag
3: Export that .mod2 to a .obj file, make sure to export all the bits and pieces and LOD (level of detail) sub-models
4: open the model with Milkshape
5: Move verticies around to your likeing, make sure you repeat these moves in all the various levels of detail.
6: save
8: import the model back into the map with HMT.


Well, that just about covers it for basic, all-round modding, for more specefic tutorials, go to the forums dedicated to those areas of expertise.
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[X1OA Freedom]

i cant get the ppf o matic or the spark edit link to work.

[Waverunner]

Links updated. All you have to do is take out the "2" in files.

[PIPBOY]

you couldnt be ferther from the truth about importing new models into halo PC with HMT, i have done it, its just harder to do i sent my exported .obj's to a friend that had a mac and he converted that file into somthing HMT could read, granted it took a few trys but we got it. ohh and if you want proof heres
a link http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h93/P ... flight.jpg and yes this is a modified battlestar galactica viper, instead of the banshee. its hard to mod halo pc ill grant you that but never say its "impossible", anything is possible you just have to know what to do

[JK-47]

Title says "Basic Halo modding"

Besides, this was made when new tags in Halo PC was still a new deal. Don't bump tutorials unless you have a question.

[PIPBOY]

what i posted wasnt a tutorial... i was stating a fact or saying that this so called "tutorial" isnt complete..

[JK-47]

what i posted wasnt a tutorial... i was stating a fact or saying that this so called "tutorial" isnt complete..

Ayeugh! You don't get what I'm saying, this tutorial was made when new tags in Halo PC was still kind of an underground skill. I know what you posted wasn't a tutorial, I was saying that this tutorial was only for basic modding. And then, I was saying that unless you have a question, it's un-needed to bump a year old tutorial.

[Dominatr]

In other words, people didn't know how to do it a year ago.