How to Modify Forge Maps [Tutorial]

Modding tutorials for Halo 3.
TheEazyB





Posts: 108
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2007 11:55 pm
Location: Florida

How to Modify Forge Maps [Tutorial]

Post by TheEazyB »

Ok, this tutorial is written to help you gain a better understanding and to teach you the process involved with editing Forge Maps, which will be referred to hence forth as 'Usermaps'. Before we begin, you will need the following things:
1. A method of transfer.
2. A usermap editor, the best out there so far is called 'Forge', it can be found here: http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.php?t=78473
3. The HaloMods container tool: http://forums.halomods.com/viewtopic.php?t=78149

Section 1 - Transferring
This section deals with the transferring of files to be modded. This process will require some extra hardware, your options will be described in the following list:
1. XSATA. This is a device that sits in between your hard drive and Xbox 360, and can be used to transfer files from said hard drive to a PC.
2. Xport 360. This is a device made by the same company, but is more flexible in terms of mobility options. It is a USB connected dock for your PC, that can have a hard drive or memory card attached to it. This is the device i recommend for this tutorial.
3. Memory Card Transfer Kit. This device is made specifically for users who do not have a hard drive and use a memory card.

Next you will need one of two transfer software's made for these devices:
1. Xplorer 360 ( found here : http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php)
2. Xport 360 ( found here : http://us.codejunkies.com/support/suppo ... ?prodID=32)



Now that you have an appropriate set up for transferring content, you will need to of course get some content to transfer. Start up Halo 3 with the appropriate storage device connected to your Xbox 360. Go into the Game mode called 'Forge', and place objects you would like to change. An example of this would be as follows:
I placed this grenade
Image
And modded it into this clone
Image
Once you have placed all the objects you would like to change, press start and save the map. Once the map has finished saving, turn off the power to your Xbox 360 console and remove your storage device. Connect it to your PC via aforementioned transfer hardware, and open the software. It should look like this:
Image
Hard Drives:
Now, if you are using a hard drive you will want to go to 'Partition 3', then there should be a folder called Content, then one for your profile next, beginning with E000. Next you click the Halo 3 saves folder, which is labeled as '4D5307E6'. Next go inside of its subfolder which should be '00000001'. This will display all of your saved content. Find a file named UserMapxxxxxxxx, this will be the map we saved earlier. Highlight this file, and drag it to your desktop. You are finished transferring.
Memory Cards:
If you are using a memory card, you may have to install additional drivers for it to function correctly. Check you user manual. Now once you have installed the appropriate drivers, the software should display the following two partitions:
IMG
This process is very similar to the hard drive, go to Content, your profiles folder (beginning with E000), then '4D5307E6', and finally '00000001'. This will display all of your saved content. Find a file named UserMapxxxxxxxx, this will be the map we saved earlier. Highlight this file, and drag it to your desktop. You are finished transferring.

Section 2 - Modding
This section deals with modding your transferred file. Open up the program called 'Forge'. Go to the top left of the program, click open, and select your file like so:
Image

Forge should now display a list of tags that are currently spawned in the map.Look for the item you spawned on the map, in my case a frag grenade.
Image
Select the tag, then the editor should appear on the right.
Mod the tag as you desire, in my case I will be changing it into a Spartan Clone. This will be done by going to the the tag swapper in the middle of the window, changing the class and then the tag like so:
Image
Once you are done modding your map, click the save button for each section modded, and close the map & program.


Now that we have modified our map, it needs to have its hash tables and signature fixed. Luckily for us, the HaloMods Container tool does this for us. Open the HaloMods Container tool and open your map like so:
Image
It should have your unique IDs for your profile and Xbox 360 in it, save these IDs and press the resign button.

Now all you have to do is transfer it back to your storage device, do this by going back the folder you transferred from, and dragging it into the window and dropping it. After the transfer is done, hook everything back up to your Xbox 360 and play your creation.

Credits for this tutorial:
Supermodder for the Forge app
Grimdoomer & Staff for the HaloMods Container Tool

If you have any questions, feel free to post them below or contact me on AIM at : xxTheEazyBxx
Image
They cant keep a good man down
Always keep a smile when them want see me frown
They will never ever take I&I crown
User avatar
bballaplaya4life





Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:01 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Post by bballaplaya4life »

Great tut. This should help put a bunch of beginners.
Senor_Grunt: Okay, so, I was playing CoD4 earlier, and about 30 minutes into playing, the screen went black, then flashed, then the 360 gave me red rings. Only, they weren't rings, they were half of the ring. Like, only two of the controller light thingies were light up red. WTF does this mean? Like seriously. My 360 still works, but it does that like once every week at the least, and it's getting annoying getting to round 16 in the zombie mode for CoD5 (so totally not bragging ), then suddenly blacking out. :[
tucker933: Pour some liquid nitrogen on it.
User avatar
Argon





Posts: 167
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:05 pm

Post by Argon »

Good job Eazy.
User avatar
wo0ts





Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by wo0ts »

great tutorial
one question, if you change the name of the usermap will it still work on the console?
Image
User avatar
unknownv2





Posts: 1041
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:31 am
Location: Florida

Post by unknownv2 »

wo0ts wrote:great tutorial
one question, if you change the name of the usermap will it still work on the console?

Just leave the begging usermap part and it'll work.
User avatar
wo0ts





Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by wo0ts »

unknownv2 wrote:
wo0ts wrote:great tutorial
one question, if you change the name of the usermap will it still work on the console?

Just leave the begging usermap part and it'll work.
oh ok so what part of this usermap00000000487EBFFB1 counts as the beginning?
Image
User avatar
unknownv2





Posts: 1041
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:31 am
Location: Florida

Post by unknownv2 »

wo0ts wrote:
unknownv2 wrote:
wo0ts wrote:great tutorial
one question, if you change the name of the usermap will it still work on the console?

Just leave the begging usermap part and it'll work.
oh ok so what part of this usermap00000000487EBFFB1 counts as the beginning?
usermap...
User avatar
wo0ts





Posts: 186
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:27 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by wo0ts »

haha thanks
sorry for the stupid question
Image
User avatar
Ringleader





Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 am

Post by Ringleader »

I did exactly like the tutorial did (adding the grenade to high ground, transferring it, changing it to a biped in Forge, Container, transferring back, playing) and it didn't work, there is still just a grenade on top of that roofing thing on the bridge.

I think it may have something to do with the console info on my Container settings, even though it said it resigned the map successfully, I'm not entirely sure I put the right information in.

you know how some props can freeze if not in motion when being forged? can you swap those frozen objects to ones that can be moved while still retaining there unmoving disposition?
User avatar
Zora





Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:34 am
Location: *snoore?*

Post by Zora »

Ringleader wrote: you know how some props can freeze if not in motion when being forged? can you swap those frozen objects to ones that can be moved while still retaining there unmoving disposition?
this works in a way, not entirely though.
it is highly unnecessary to do it in a modding tool anyway since it can be done with Halo 3's Forge mode. the object freezes in midair until you bump into it in some way, then it falls down.
Image
Veteran Halo 1 and 2 Mapmaker and Modder.
User avatar
vid30gameaddict





Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 5:26 pm

Post by vid30gameaddict »

You dont need the container tools, if you go under Tools on Forge it has a resigner tool.
User avatar
Ringleader





Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 am

Post by Ringleader »

vid30gameaddict wrote:You dont need the container tools, if you go under Tools on Forge it has a resigner tool.
even when I do this, there is no change, I put my hardrive back on to my system after modifying the map and there is no change, the grenade is just on top of that covered bridge.

however, when I open up that map again, in the Forge program, it lists the biped that replaced the grenade, for some reason, I don't want to keep pulling out my hard drive because I recently got the RROD after doing this and another error.
User avatar
Ringleader





Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 am

Post by Ringleader »

This is strange, to make sure that the modded maps were actually on my system's hard disk, I checked my settings blade, then navigated to memory, then Halo 3, and there are 116kb files that are listed as "corrupted", including a usermap that I got from a tutorial (which is certain to have no errors)

This may or may not be significant, but whenever I modify a map, and try to open forge, or custom games in Halo 3, before I can open forge or custom game, a pop up appears and says "retrieving game information files", and then it brings me to forge or custom games, but the modded map is not there, and this message only comes up when I have added a modded map to my hard disk and try to open forge or custom game in Halo 3.
Themandyou





Posts: 193
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 1:15 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Post by Themandyou »

USe the Halo mods container tool.
User avatar
Ringleader





Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 am

Post by Ringleader »

Can somone make a youtube video that shows what they did exactly please?
User avatar
Veegie




Socialist Architect Coroner Golden Age
Mad Hatter Acolyte Translator New Age
ONI

Posts: 3638
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2003 2:28 pm
Location: Redmond, WA

Post by Veegie »

That is absolutely unnecessary.
To think how many times I did all of this by hand, and to see people having trouble clicking a few buttons and following some directions, honestly...
Image
Hijikata wrote:The fact you love Jesus doesn't change the fact you're a *** mental patient. It just means you're a mental patient with a great imaginary friend.
User avatar
unknownv2





Posts: 1041
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:31 am
Location: Florida

Post by unknownv2 »

Veegie wrote:That is absolutely unnecessary.
To think how many times I did all of this by hand, and to see people having trouble clicking a few buttons and following some directions, honestly...
lol
Ringleader wrote:Can somone make a youtube video that shows what they did exactly please?
The tutorial is pretty straightforward and so is Forge. It's even unnecessary really. If you can't figure out how to do mod from looking at the tut, I suggest you invest your time in something else...
User avatar
XxPTLegitxX





Posts: 112
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:46 am

Post by XxPTLegitxX »

Nice tutorial.
Image
User avatar
M715ForLife





Posts: 555
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:12 pm
Location: Posts:9,001
Contact:

Post by M715ForLife »

Great Tutorial Eazy!!!!!

This should help me alot.
User avatar
Ringleader





Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 am

Post by Ringleader »

That is absolutely unnecessary.
To think how many times I did all of this by hand, and to see people having trouble clicking a few buttons and following some directions, honestly...
thanks buddy, I'll remember your over enthusiasm to help when you ask for something, and It will be met with generosity and eagerness to share knowledge in an equally friendly and courteous manner, particularly if you are somewhat new to the subject that you may need aid in.
Post Reply