Repositioning Halo 2 HUD Bitmaps

Tutorials for the Xbox version of Halo 2.
Post Reply
User avatar
NotZachary82





Posts: 644
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:15 am
Location: TX, USA

Repositioning Halo 2 HUD Bitmaps

Post by NotZachary82 »

Hello,

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: Now, DarkShallFall wrote a HUD editing tutorial (Link), which is a great tutorial, but lacks a lot of information on HUD placement, and the application supplied has coordinates that are just a tad off. This tutorial will fix that.

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.

----------------------------------

Open up your bitmap in Adobe Photoshop and select the alpha channel.

Image

Now open up a screenshot taken with Yelo.

Image

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:

Image

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.

Image

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.

Image

And ...

Image

...
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.

Image

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.

Image

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.

Image

These are your new coordinates. :P

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.

Image

Now, sign your map and play. :)

Here's our final result:

Image

(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.

----------------------------------
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
Last edited by NotZachary82 on Thu Dec 11, 2008 3:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Eaton




Enthraller

Posts: 1639
Joined: Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: USA

Post by Eaton »

NICE! :D I will try it soon!
Image
User avatar
Johannes
Readers Club





Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:18 am

Re: Repositioning Halo 2 HUD Bitmaps

Post by Johannes »

Thank you, for the photoshop trick. :D
Post Reply