DOWNLOAD LINKS ADDED IN THE POST - 4/13/09
Read this in red before adventuring forward..
As some friends know I have completely cut Halo modding out of my life now. It was great in it's prime but I have now moved on like many others. My YouTube profile is killed and so is the "Halo" PepNess website. If you've adventured here looking for a copy of the mod then I suggest asking around or if someone has a copy they would like to upload/host then feel free to and i will change the links on this post to point to the new download. And no, I don't have a copy myself, I totally cleaned my whole comp of any Halo related material/programs so don't ask. There is a ton of reasons why I have done what I did and those who needed to know why do know already.
-Shawn
The Beginning
So after about a year now I doing another public download for FTW. I have this mod also posted at Modhalo's website cause Halomods was down for the past week =/.
Back Story
For 2 years Team PepNess (Pepsi+Nessa) tried to strive for a way to enhance Halo in a way to rekindle a new light in a game we both have played for over 4+ years by giving out something away from the same scenery and look we had come accustomed to for so long. Each map has its own style, theme and its own look due to the EOF trick that was taught to me by DeadHamster awhile back.The EOF technique allowed us to skin each map so that no two maps would have to share the same textures anymore and would allow a bigger diversity in what you seen and how the game was played. We began all this with numerious versions of simple mods called "PepNess Project's" till finally the release of "Halo: Redux"". "Halo: Redux" was reworked with alot of suggestions after release and that in turn turned in "Halo: Redux - Directors Cut". During the working on the "Directors Cut" we noticed how the mod was taking on its life of its own with then turned into "Halo: FTW" what your seeing now. We choose the name FTW ( For The Win) due to FTW symbolizing that "FTW" in internet slang meaning that its the best you can get. Top notch and above all. At the time of release this was the best we could do with the knowledge and tools available without having to resource to Halo: CE modding programs to which we both like to stay away from to keep a PC mod and "True" Halo: PC mod in its entirety.
On January 3, 2008 the mod was recognized by halo.bungie.org with a little fly through demo of the mod. both features can be seen below.
H.B.O. site link - http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=21526
Fly through demo of mod - Link Dead
Also a good friend Andrew_b made a demo vid for the mod also on google that can be located below this- http://video.google.com/googleplayer.sw ... 6895562&hl
About the Mod Itself
Im simply going to break this down into 2 sections with a description for the multiplayer map going into more depth since most game play for people is focused there. We tried to toss things around as much as we could at the time by making campaign harder with tougher AI and better more stimulating visuals. Alot of the lighting has been tweeked along with making things more dynamic and vibrant. As many know this mod was originally based of the working by Halo2Rules and SilentKnight with their mods being "Halo made better" and "Halo DX". we liked the ideas they were trying to convey and took the mod a few steps forward from adding a few skins to trying to totally reinvent the game itself. Halo2Rules is no longer in the modding community but at the time SilentKnight was briefly quoted as saying.. "Someone finally finished what he had envisioned for "Halo DX" to which were were pleased to be apart of. I would venture to say that over 95% of their skins were removed from our mod so we created something different but we did leave a few things from thoes original mod to pay homage to them for their hard work and inspiring us to do what we did in the first place. The main skins being the HUD which is SlientKnights and the Sidewinder cliffwalls that are Halo2Rules.
Single Player - Campaign
Campaign now has alot to offer as far as new skins everywhere you look. Youll also notice a highted effect of the AI and tougher enemys from the start. Were only offering one playing mod called "EPIC" to play on so you get the feel for the mod right from the start. The game play is balanced by making some the of weapons more accessible when you need them and also bring up the damage of thoes weapons when you encounter tougher enemys. No more days of running grunts and elites who just sit there and watch you. Now being sneeky and playing on your toes will get you to your final goal. During beta testing some found it more harder and simply some went through it no problem. I guess in the end it all depends on your skill level and your knowledge of the game. One key thing people during beta noticed is that now as Cheif progresses through the game he now becomes more damaged and "beat-up" like he should during any combat battle. From the beginning hes all nice and shiny and by the end hes a worn out mess. You'll see if you decide to venture through campaign again.
Multiplayer
As before the main goal was to "reinvent" Halo for thoes and for ourselves. To give you something new and exciting to a game we all have grown to love over our time playing it. We have also PMI'd items into game to add some extra scenery to look at while still trying to keep the main theme of each map present best we could. Each map that has been through the PMI process also has the biped featured in campaign mode being Jahrains biped he did for a few of his Halo: CE maps. The tags for the biped were converted to PC and offered to the community to which we used them to add a new style for the old existing Chief many have grown to love. Some maps simply could not have the PMI process done to them and still have the mod "joiner friendly" so for thoes map we spent some extra time on the map itself to try to add a little more to them.
Here is a brief description of what to expect from each map -
Battle Creek-
The map now has the feel of a hidden jungle inset in a canyon. The sky and fog levels were redone to reflect this even more by playing with values of green and rust to add a more worn feeling.
Sidewinder-
The lighting was lowered to add more of a "dark/baron" feeling to the map. The textures were also reworked to give the feeling of more of a isolated place. The main attention is reflected into the "aura sky" to add that "northern lights" feeling to it while still making game play accessable without to much to the eye.
Damnation-
More bright, more shiny and glossy! This map was known as a FPS killer at the time with all the specular property's in place. Also we added waterfall mist here to compliment the waterfall actually in the map as well as the new Cheif biped.
Rat Race-
I will be the first to admit this map was rushed cause we both hate this map. Its known for being a "nade whore" map and alot of heavy weapon games being played here. So the main thing we could come up with at the time was to make it seem like a construction zone cause all there is are explosions and noobs. Have your hard hats ready.
Prisoner-
Reworked lighting and new textures. This map isnt played alot so we did what we could and moved on. We didnt slack on it thoe and made sure that it did in fact have a new feel to it.
Hang 'Em High-
Remember a little game called "Tomb Raider"? We tried to have that feeling in this map by adding some texture that only Laura Croft herself would love.
Chill Out-
New covie feel to this map will still keeping that "chill" feeling to it. Alot of scrims and matches are played here so we didnt want to add a ton visually to take away from thoes who actually compete in game.
Derelict-
Welcome to the dungeon! The map was completely redone for that feel of a creepy dungeon with fire an brinks and plenty. You could almost say that any emo/vamp would sit in this map and feel right at home.
Boarding Action-
POA re-bumped! Man this is hard on the video card for some making the ship stand out more as well as adding a fleet of pelicans and longsword fighteres there with you during the battle. Sorry the ships dont move and fly aound cause if they did you would except in game and thats no fun.
Blood Gulch-
the grand daddy of all the maps and we wanted to reflect that as well. The map looks darker, beaten and worn out. As one said during testing.. "Man BG looks like its old now". So the point of the theme was done correctly. We also have a few Pelicans here for added scenery as well as a lifeboat just for something else new.
Wizard-
New textures and darker feel to it. I always thought that Wizard was rather bland so I hope this worked out for some like it did for me.
Chiron TL34-
Its the same map but man it doesnt feel like it. Youll notice when you play it how a few simple textures can make a world of difference in something.
Longest-
This map has new lighting in it as well as new textures to reflect that a nice battle has ensued in the past here. Just shine your flashlight on the wall and youll see.
Ice Fields-
Now it IS IceFields. Just go play. I love how this turned out.
Death Island-
So much time was spent on the water on this map its unreal. Finally we got what we consider the best looking water we could trying to reflect realism at the same time. It also has the feel of a warm summer day now with pelicans and drop ships in the air to keep you company.
Danger Canyon-
If i was a canyon and I wanted to be "dangerous" I wouldnt be all nice and vibrant. So now the map is more rustic and beaten down like a base should be that sitting in the middle of a canyon. We also stuck out "PepNess" logo in this map in the main room where the tunnels meet just for kicks cause this is our favorite map to play.
Infinity-
I cant express enough how happy I am how this map turned out. Its so evil and dark its not even like the same map. Spooky!
Timberland-
Timberland was redone to look almost like a "Grand Canyon" ina sense. The trees were removed to open the map more to add a "vast" feel to it and the "taboo" "wood" bases are here as well. When you think "Grand Canyon" i immediately thought of the "Old Wild West" so im trying to show that here. Man did I catch hell for doing it thoe.. rofl!
Gephyrophobia-
Hell in Halo. Nuff' said.
Easter Eggs
Yes we added alot of easter eggs in this mod for people to find. Easter eggs to thoes who dont know are funny little things that people add to their work to personalize it even further being a funny pic or something that might be famular to you. Have fun hunting them down cause there are alot in this. Ill give you 2 right now so you know what im talking about. On the flamer is a outline of "charazard" from the pokemon series as well as it being called its own special name by the read out display on the flamer itself. Like I said.. there everywhere if you take the time to look!
Programs Used
Eschanton, HMT, Photoshop and SparkEdit. Various custom plugins we added or made for the mod to be more efficient. Thx Conure and ALT for the help and designing great tool to make a modders life more easy<33
Credits
Im going to try to remember everything but I i miss someone's name please leave a reply/pm so i can mention you. It's been almost a year so the memory is a little hazy..
"Halo 3" weapon skins - TAZZ
HUD Interface - SilentKnight
Main Menu Options and Curser - Caboose
Custom UI - Conure
Jahrain - CE Chief Biped
Ryder - AR skin that was revised
Personal thanks to DeadHamster, Andrew_b and Brightside for beta testing. Also thanks to Bcnipod for MAC conversions and MAC support.
Download - Install
The downloads can be located at the link below. Thx to sashankta for rehosting and providing new links to the mod.
FTW Bitmaps ONLY:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jmim3olam ... itmaps.rar
FTW Full Mod:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bmmninjfgyf/FTWMod.rar
DXTweaker w/ Surreal Preset
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zyfm5inljn3/DXT.rar
MAC Download:
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfil ... _id=259956
MAC users need to talk to Bcnipod for MAC related stuff.
The download is 405mb due to the fact that cause of maps being PMI'd and alot of new variants added the only way to 100% make this mod work is to offer my complete halo "MAPS" folder to you. The only file missing is the "sounds.map" cause we did not edit any of the sounds in this mod. To install you simply just swap my maps in the download for your stock maps in your halo maps folder and thats it. so fussy PPF's and such. If you have any issues installing this just leave a reply and someone is sure to help.
I'm looking forward to the release.
