Welcome to my HUD Bitmap Relocation tutorial for Halo 2. This can be very annoying sometimes, but I will make as much sense as possible.
In this tutorial, I will be using the following:
- Entity Beta 1.3
- Xzodia's [nhdt] plugin
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 (any version will work)
- My H2 HUD Coordinate Converter
And finally, assuming you have already set up a bitmap for the HUD and injected it (if you haven't, use the link provided above), let's get started.
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Open up your bitmap in Adobe Photoshop and select the alpha channel.
Now open up a screenshot taken with Yelo.
Okay, the Xbox renders things at 640x480, and a screenshot taken with Yelo is the perfect base for moving your bitmap.
Copy and paste the entire alpha of the bitmap onto your screenshot as a new layer (if it doesn't already as default). Now, cut out the HUD image by removing all the black (this will make it easier to see where your bitmap goes), but KEEP A 1 PIXEL BORDER. THIS WILL KEEP THE TRANSFORM CONTROLS FROM MESSING UP THE COORDINATES.
It should look like this:
Now, use the move tool and check the box labeled "Show Transform Controls" up top. Now, move the top layer where you'd like your bitmap to appear.
The HUD bitmap coordinates pivot around the top left corner of the bitmap, so take the central focal point and move it to the top left. Then, it should display the coordinates.
And ...
...
Now that you have the coordinates, we need to do some converting.
Open up Entity and head to the [nhdt] tag that contains the HUD image you would like to move. Now, go to its chunk. Be sure you're using Xzodia's plugin. I will be using Master Chief's shield meter image.
Find its anchor.
The anchor is basically which set of 640x480 pixels are visable. This can be changed if necessary.
Now once you know which anchor your HUD image is under, open up my Halo 2 HUD Coordinate Converter and enter the coordinates we saw in Photoshop.
Then, check the radiobutton that represents which anchor you had in the [nhdt] tag. I have only two of the most common anchors completed (remember, beta application), but if your image is using a different, incomplete anchor, you can change it to either 1: Weapon HUD or 2: Motion Sensor. Also, feel free to contribute to the research of the other anchors in the application thread.
Now click convert.
These are your new coordinates.
Now, open up Entity, and head to the same [nhdt] tag, same Bitmap Widgets chunk, etc., as before when we were checking the anchor. Find the Fullscreen X and Y Offsets and copy and paste your new coordinates into their respected places.
Now, sign your map and play.
Here's our final result:
(Those are two bitmaps overlaying each other - shield meter and shield mask - and the meter is messed up on my part, not the tutorial's. Eh, it happens.
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Thanks for viewing this tutorial. If you attempt it and have some problems, please post them. I will help out as best as I can.
Now, enjoy!
~NZ
I will try it soon!
