HPC: 56 Questions Answered Here

Discuss general issues about modding HaloPC. Post ideas for mods here.
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Aztec




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HPC: 56 Questions Answered Here

Post by Aztec »

Update:
Type of questions allowed:
  • Networking
  • Modeling/Models
  • Sound
  • General Modding
  • HaloMapTools/SparkEdit
End of Update.


Okay everyone! I want you all to post any and all questions you have about halo modding, and I might try to answer some of them to make a faq! Who knows, maybe some of the other knowledgeble people will too.

Here's how I want your posts formatted:
Q: Question here.
and if you have an answer to your own question:
A: Answer here

Now, if you are answering somebody else's question, Quote them, and then put the answer below
Quote:

How do you do this?
Answer: First, you blah blah blah.

Any non Question/Answer posts will be deleted!
Got it? Let the questions begin!
Last edited by Aztec on Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:26 am, edited 6 times in total.
Aztec




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Post by Aztec »

Okay, the FAQ will be compiled in this post as questions are answered.

Newbie Faq ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Question: How do I put AI in to MP?
Answer:
1. Batch extract a MP map, checking all check marks. I'll use Blood Gulch as an example.

2. Recursively extract elite major plasma rifle, into the batch extracted MP map's folder.

3. Put Bloodgulch.map into the extracted folder, and rebuild the map
(Making sure to add the new elite actv)

4. In HMT, save the meta of a vehicle as VEHINAMEHERE.vehi.meta
(Non Recursively) into a folder somewhere.

5. Open up the Elite Actv, and at the top you will see ID then a bunch of numbers. Well, thats the ID of the tag, just in Decimal format.

6. Open up Calculator, and go to view, and make sure Scientific is arked. Go to Dec, and type in the numbers after the ID: from HMT.

7. Now click on Hex, and copy what's in the answer bar. Go into HMT, and click on the Utilities section.

8. Paste the Hex ID into the left Util. bar, and press Swap Endian. Now you finally have a useable ID! (note you must do this for ALL ID's you ever want to use)

9. Open up that Vehicle meta you saved earlier in a hex editor. You need to look for a vtca reference (an actv reference, but backwards) Skip the first one, as it won't do anything. For you advanced people, only use the ref's in the seat chunks. For you New guys, just skip the first vcta you see, and use any after that.

10. Once you have a good vtca to use, you will see FF FF FF FF in the hex window after a few zeros. Guess what?! It's the perfect size for that Elite actv ID!!! So put it in.

11. Save and inject the new Vehi meta, and Now you have crappy looking elite bots!

12. Uncrappifying - Save the elite biped and open in a Hex editor. Go find the ID of the cyborg_mp model, and look at the top of the bipd meta. You will see 2dom, that's the tag reference to the elite's Mod2. Replace the ID of the elite mod2 with your cyborg_mp ID. When you're done with that, take the antr ID from Cyborg_mp biped, and paste in the elite's bipd, You should be all set! Enjoy!

2. Question: What is Capture the Grunt gonna be like?
Answer: It will be the flag model replaced with a perfect Grunt Model.

3. Question: How do you rebuild a map?
Answer: http://www.halomods.com/tutorials/Mappi ... ebuild.php
4. Question: How do I skin?
Answer: With photoshop: http://www.halo4pc.com/index.php?showtopic=219

5. Question: How do I remodel (make a gun, vehicle, etc) something:
Answer: http://www.halo4pc.com/index.php?showtopic=27

6. Question: How do i turn a sp map into mp?
Answer: Not answered yet

7. Question: How do I rename something?
Answer: Open up your UI.map with Hex Workshop. Then click on find and check "text string" Next search for whatever you want to rename. Ex. "Warthog"
Keep looking until you find something that looks like W.a.r.t.h.o.g. Now replace those letters with whatever you want it to be. To delete, just put a space where the letter is. (The name can't be longer than the original)

8. Question: How do I change individual things in a map, such as making one rocket hog shoot plasma grenades, and another shoot frag grenades?
Answer: Better Answer coming soon

9. Question: Where can I find HMTv3 Plugins?
Answer: Find them here http://www.halo-mods.com/index.php?show ... &hl=modder

10. Question: Is there a specific topic here that has a downloadable AI mod in it (For any level but DI)?
Answer: As of yet, No

11. Question: How do I find the identifier (ID) of something?
Answer: Open up calculator and HMT, and in HMT go to the tag you want to find the ID for. At the top, you should see ID: then some numbers (ex: ID: 3872982373 @ 0x302DE5C (The numbers in bold would be the ID)). These numbers cannot be used as is, because they're in decimal format, and anything you'll be hexing needs to be in hex. This is where Trusty-McCalculator comes in. Go to View > Scientific, then click on the "Dec" radio button. Type in the numbers after "ID:" from HMT, then click the "Hex" radio button, and calculator will convert it to Hex. Still can't use it though, Why? It's not quite right yet. Copy the converted ID, and go back to HMT. Expand the Utilities section, and you will see two bars. The left bar is for swapping endian, which is what we want to do with our ID. So Paste the ID in the left bar, and click "Swap Endian." You can now use this ID anywhere you want, It's in the correct format.

12. Question: What is a tag reference? (tag ref)
Answer: In Hex, when looking at a tag, you will see Tag Ref's everywhere. They're pointers to other tags, like in Bipd, they point to the model that biped needs to use, the animation trigger, and a lot more.
So whats a tag ref look like?
vtca 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 12 65 34 88
^^^ This is made up, but a tag ref can also look like
2dom 56 43 23 78 00 00 00 00 12 43 75 37.

These are both tag references, and a tag reference is a pointer to another tag. So how does it point to a tag? by the Identifier. For example:
in either
vtca 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 12 65 34 88 or
2dom 56 43 23 78 00 00 00 00 12 43 75 37
The bolded numbers would be where the tag ID goes. So whats with the numbers at the beginning, or: 2dom 56 43 23 78 00 00 00 00 12 43 75 37?
Don't even worry about those, you won't need to do anything with 'em. Hopefully if you understood this, you now know what tag ref's are.

13. Question: How do I activate the console? (Be able to kick, ban, etc)
Answer: On your desktop, right click on your Halo shortcut (make one if you don't have one) and click properties. Go to Target. In that, there should be something like "[harddrive]/[other directories]/Halo/halo.exe"
All you have to do is put a space at the end, then you can put your flags after that.
The flag to activate the console is -console. To use it in-game, press ~
The 3 basic commands for a non-dedicated server are:
sv_kick (player name/number)
sv_ban (playername/number)
sv_players to retrieve the player numbers.
Note: If you use the playername type of sv_kick, names with spaces need to be in quotations.
PS: for more help with the console in-game, press ~, then TAB

14. Question: How do I make Grenades explode so they throw objects across the screen, but do no damage?
Answer: Make sure that youre modding the right values, ex: you wouldn't want to make the force of the Grenade itself high, 'cause that would make anything the grenade bounces off go flying. Instead, make sure you change the Grenade explosion/shockwave info. Another way to do what you want is make the damage extremely low, something like .00001

15. Question: How do I make a Grenade shoot out of my gun, instead of just dropping out of my gun?
Answer: Change the speed to something like 0.0001. If you just edit the speed then it will constantly move and will never blow up. What you should probably do is just change the arc/weight tag to something smaller, like 0.001, - this will make it go farther, but it will still drop and explode.

16. Question: In the AI tutorial, do you have to add every last file that was recursively extracted for the Elite, or are there just specific ones you need?
Answer: Only one file, the actv, is all that's needed. Any other tags that that tag needs to use are automatically added.

17. Question: I've seen many mods that have a completely round log with flat ends in BG. Where is it?
Answer: scenery\trees\tree_leafy_fallentrunk\tree_leafy_fallentrunk However, you must swap this tree trunk into the map with some other scenery object.

18. Question: What are the names for all the Single Player Maps?
Answer:
A10 - Pillar of Autum
A30 - Halo
A50 - Truth and Reconciliation
B30 - Silent Cartographer
B40 - Assault on the Control Room
C10 - Guilty Spark
C20 - Library
C40 - Two Betrayals
D20 - Keyes
D40 - The Maw

19. Question: How do I swap Scenery in?
Answer: Just use SparkEdit3.

20. Question: How do I put vehicles in maps that don't have any vehicles?
Answer: If the vehicles are already in the map file, just swap one with a scenery object. If not, just rebuild the map with vehicles, and then swap.

21. Question: How do you get the models to be coherent?
Answer: Not Answered Yet

22. Question: I know how to duplicate a vehicle or a weapon etc. and change it, but what I want to know is how do you place it?
Answer: Your best bet would be to replace a scenery object with your duplicated object, then move that in SparkEdit.

23. Question: How do you change the MC's color in SP, not just by changing the texture, because some mods like general camo are hardly noticable under the green color.
Answer: Try removing all of the Blue channel in the Cyborg_Multipurpose bitmap.

24. Question: How do you put human (warthog) turrets into MP maps?
Answer: Coming Soon

25. Question: How do you modify the size, length, etc. of collision models?
Answer: This data is all raw, just like models are, so find the raw data (with a hex editor) and go from there. This is the most I can help you on this, but I suggest coming on IRC to ask someone who knows more about it than me.

26. Question: How would you add the pistol scope to the assault rifle without having to swap the hud interface?
Answer: You don't have to swap the hud interface at all, it's just a bitmap.

27. Question: Whats the multiplayer covenant mod going to be like? Can you choose from all the species or just Elites?
Answer: Ah, I haven't really thought much of it, I may just drop the idea.

28. Question: I just downloaded a mod, how do I open it and insert it into Halo?
Answer: Usually there are instructions in the readme, but you can be sure if there are .ppf files, you will need ppf-o-matic.

29. Question: Is there a way to edit the weapon hud interface?
Answer: You are going in the wrong direction. Any graphical changes can be made by editing the proper Bitmaps.

30. Question: How come there is always an exception in AI maps?
Answer: Which maps, and who made them?

31. Question: How do I use the Halo dedicated server? Where can I get everything I need for it?
Answer: You can get it here. It is a standalone program that basically sets up your computer as a server that dedicates all of its resources to managing an online game, so that game is less laggier. the downside is that you cant play on a computer with a dedicated server, so the idea is to get a friend to set it up.

32. Question: How do I use ppf studio to make maps into patches?
Answer: You need the original map, and the modded map, and they must be the same size. Put the original map where it says in ppf studio, and the modded as well. Find a save spot, and press go. For a better tutorial, check this out: http://www.halomods.com/tutorials/Basic ... pfmake.php

33. Question: Has anyone made a mod where you can ride on the wings of banshees, kind of like you do on tanks?
Answer: No one has done this yet. And HunterXI, it is already quite possible, as seats are only chunks, just make a new chunk, update the chunk count, and recalculate chunk offsets.

34. Question: I've seen so many mods where you shoot MC out of guns. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how for all the guns
Answer: To shoot MC's, all you have to do is go to Bipeds> Cyborg (or MP_Cyborg) then copy the meta in the little bar. then go to projectiles, and pick a any. In the same little bar, paste in the value you copied above, and click 'save'... voila! you can shoot MC's!

35. Question: How do I make the Marines drop 8 grenades?
Answer: All you need to do is get a plugin for HMT and then make it from 4 to eight. Check here.

36. Question: If there's some way of linking a light bridge with another object, shouldn't it be possible in some way to replace a gun's projectile with whatever that link is and use it as a remote control?
Answer: In SP, this should be possible, but since Halo MP netcode doesn't allow scripting, you couldn't do it there. In SP, I myself wouldn't really know how to take the action from the bridge holo control and make a weapon activate it.

37. Question: I always get an exception error when I swap models using the model plugin. Why is this?
Answer: As far as I know, it's because the vertices and indices aren't swapped as well. I really have no idea on this one, tjc2k4 would be the one to ask.

38. Question: When I start a server on another computer... I can see it in the select game list, and so can everyone else, but I'm the only one who can join it. What causes this? If its the firewall I have built into windows then how do I disable it?
Answer:
* Open Network Connections (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double
Last edited by Aztec on Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:20 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by MasterNeoChief »

How do I insert Meta with the new HHT thing?
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Post by Aztec »

Shit, I'm soo sorry guys, I was moving this around, and I accidently deleted the topic! heres the repost, So sorry guys! :cry:
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Post by MasterNeoChief »

k, but can you answer my question?
Oh, wait!
HHT would fix the Meta's so I have to save the meta's with HHT, and then insert and rebuild with HMT, correct?
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Post by Blackcat109 »

how do you change the force? i've looked and looked. :(


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Post by seagoat »

force is a float in the damage meta. just go to the jpt tag in hmt3.
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Post by HunterXI »

MasterNeoChief wrote:k, but can you answer my question?
Oh, wait!
HHT would fix the Meta's so I have to save the meta's with HHT, and then insert and rebuild with HMT, correct?
no. for the ABSOLUTE last time (I cant believe how many times Ive repeated this :evil: ), HHT does DEPENDANCY swapping... if you dont know what that means, either actually dl HHT and look at it yourself, or stop asking questions... please :( ... Im begging on my knees... :cry:
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Post by New Age »

13. Question: How do I activate the console? (Be able to kick, ban, etc)
Answer: On your desktop, right click on your Halo shortcut (make one if you don't have one) and click properties. Go to Target. In that, there should be something like "[harddrive]/[other directories]/Halo/halo.exe"
All you have to do is put a space at the end, then you can put your flags after that.
The flag to activate the console is -console. To use it in-game, press ~
The 3 basic commands for a non-dedicated server are:
sv_kick (player name/number)
sv_ban (playername/number)
sv_players to retrieve the player numbers.
Note: If you use the playername type of sv_kick, names with spaces need to be in quotations.
PS: for more help with the console in-game, press ~, then TAB

well i added "-console" at the end and then it said
blah\blah\blah\halo\blah -console" specified in tardet box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct"
how do i fiz this?
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Post by HunterXI »

New Age wrote:
13. Question: How do I activate the console? (Be able to kick, ban, etc)
Answer: On your desktop, right click on your Halo shortcut (make one if you don't have one) and click properties. Go to Target. In that, there should be something like "[harddrive]/[other directories]/Halo/halo.exe"
All you have to do is put a space at the end, then you can put your flags after that.
The flag to activate the console is -console. To use it in-game, press ~
The 3 basic commands for a non-dedicated server are:
sv_kick (player name/number)
sv_ban (playername/number)
sv_players to retrieve the player numbers.
Note: If you use the playername type of sv_kick, names with spaces need to be in quotations.
PS: for more help with the console in-game, press ~, then TAB

well i added "-console" at the end and then it said
blah\blah\blah\halo\blah -console" specified in tardet box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct"
how do i fiz this?
notice the
-console"
part... you have to put the

-console

outside of the quotes...
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Post by noobscape »

HunterXI wrote:
New Age wrote:
13. Question: How do I activate the console? (Be able to kick, ban, etc)
Answer: On your desktop, right click on your Halo shortcut (make one if you don't have one) and click properties. Go to Target. In that, there should be something like "[harddrive]/[other directories]/Halo/halo.exe"
All you have to do is put a space at the end, then you can put your flags after that.
The flag to activate the console is -console. To use it in-game, press ~
The 3 basic commands for a non-dedicated server are:
sv_kick (player name/number)
sv_ban (playername/number)
sv_players to retrieve the player numbers.
Note: If you use the playername type of sv_kick, names with spaces need to be in quotations.
PS: for more help with the console in-game, press ~, then TAB

well i added "-console" at the end and then it said
blah\blah\blah\halo\blah -console" specified in tardet box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct"
how do i fiz this?
notice the
-console"
part... you have to put the

-console

outside of the quotes...
is Aztec doing the answering here? or Hunter? kinda confused

EDIT: whoopsey do i forgot to ask a question...and the question is how do i make the marines drop 8 grenades? (i know i said thanx guys in my topic before by i had to make the weapons drop equipment nades...but i still dunno how to do it)
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Post by HunterXI »

I was doing the answering...

as for the grenade problem, I can't really say... I dont know if this is possible or not.
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Post by New Age »

thankyou i can actually ban people now!
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Post by HunterXI »

New Age wrote:thankyou i can actually ban people now!
yeah I know... now for another golden age of playing online :D

Q: (I know, I never ask the questions but oh well) if there's some way of linking when a light bridge with another object, shouldn't it be possible in some way to replace a gun's projectile with whatever that link is and use it as a remote control?
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Post by Paid Gun »

The link for the HHT 3 plugins is broken. Oh and a question is that I always get an exception error when I swap models using the model plugin.
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Post by HunterXI »

Paid Gun wrote:The link for the HHT 3 plugins is broken. Oh and a question is that I always get an exception error when I swap models using the model plugin.
as far as I can tell, you can't swap them... its always given me an exception...

but anyway, you mean "HMT"?

you can get the plugins in the HMT forum... they're in a sticky at the top.
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Post by New Age »

more about the dedicated server..

When i start a server on another computer... i can see it in the select geme list... and so can everyone else... but im the only one who can join it...

what causes this... and if its the firewall i have built into windows then how do i disable it?
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Post by Aztec »

Anyone can answer here, so please do if you can :wink:
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Post by noobscape »

well then answer my grenade problem! ive seen som1 do it on a warthog jump vidoe he got the marine out of his hog then shot him in the head and 8 nades came out...ive even seen a mod where you can drop certain things when you die! so plz help me out here its possible
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Post by kidrock0116 »

Question: i looked on the halo modding for dummies section and i got the hex workshop and put in the map i want but now i need iron forges offsets list to do the next part where should i go and what should i do(I know im an newb at moddin)
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