Halo Maps Forum

Kills Alone's notes for Halo 2 Vista Mapping

Random helpful H2V notes, perhaps when I get enough I'll organize em a bit better. Some of these tips could save you days, even weeks of work/research.

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GLOBAL WEAPONS

multiplayer_globals.multiplayer_globals

Additional weapons are added to all future compiled custom maps(!) whether they are placed in Sapien or not. This will, of course, increase map filesize.

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HALO 3 MODEL EXTRACTION

Q: Is there no script for going through a model and making sure they are all flipped the same way?

A: There is. In surface properties, go to the normals stuff. Press Unify. Only actually works for sealed models, so It's great for Bungie rips.

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PROPER CTF + SPAWNS

The following is the method I use:

*If you do not create all gametypes you may get errors when saving in Sapien.

For CTF to work you need:

1) The scenery that it sits upon; one for red team, one for blue and one for neutral.

2) The CTF Netgame Flags are set to one Spawn per red/blue base set to the correct team color, leave Identifier at 0. Check the first two flags (Multiple Flag and Single Flag). Then create one more spawn for the Neutral Flag at the Neutral location. Team Neutral. Identifier still 0. Check only the bottom flag (Neutral).

3) The CTF Netgame Flags are also set to one Return per red/blue base set to the correct team color, leave Identifier at 0. Check the all flags (Multiple Flag, Single Flag and Neutral).

4) Do the exact same thing for Assault.

http://www.monstrmoose.com/MMrepository/Halo_Tools/2_Vista/Tutorial/Halo_2V_Map_Editor/capturetheflag.html

Now for the spawns:

-Set Red and Blue spawns to CTF only

-Set Neutral spawns to All but CTF

-Do not put different types of spawns in the exact same area

-Each spawn (or group of similar spawns) needs a respawn or initial spawn set over it/them.

-Each respawn/initial spawn needs a weight, the higher the weight the more likely it will be used, (I recommend setting them all to 2)

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MACHINE DEVICE

There is a functioning device included with the example.map.

Its the purple rotating shine that surrounds the gravity lifts. In Sapien it needs a value of 1 or 0 to function which is an On or Off setting, I believe.

From Sapien:

Mission > Objects > Devices > Machines > high_lift_effect
(under Power and Position Groups its points to the following)

Mission > Objects > Devices > Device Groups > lift
(initial value of 1)

The nessesary files are located here:
tags\scenarios\objects\solo\highcharity\high_lift_effect\high_lift_effect.device_machine

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MANUALLY ADJUSTING NODES + MARKERS IN GUERILLA

X: +Forward -Backward

Y: +Left -Right

Z: +Up -Down

I:

J:

K: +Rotate to side -Reverse Rotate to side

W:

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RADIANS

Halo 2 uses radians instead of degrees for rotation stuff, so here's how to convert between them.

1 degrees = 0.0174532925 radians

Degrees = Radians * 180/pi

Radians = Degrees * pi/180

I think that 3.14 is as far into pi as you need to get...
So if in halo 2 you have 2.15 as the rotation of something, it's 123.25 degrees.

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ROTATION CONVERTER
http://www.onlineconversion.com/quaternions.htm

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BASIC COLLISION DETECTION
http://www.flipcode.com/archives/Basic_Collision_Detection.shtml

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CUSTOM WEAPONS QUICK TUTORIAL

-Get/Make a model

-Import it into 3DS Max (I prefer version 8 for Halo work)

-Set-up Nodes and Markers, Materials

-Turn off Backface culling and flip polys on model(s) so that model appears black

-Export to .JMS

-Compile to GBX_model

-Use Jahrain's GBX_model Upgrader (which only runs on certain systems)

-PRAY, A lot

-Setup new weapon in the Unlocked H2V Guerilla, tags, bitmaps, 1st/3rd person model, effects, etc

-" " Shaders, importing whatever else is needed to the editor

-Adjust messed up nodes/markers by hand

-Test and balance

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RESIZE MODELS BY HAND

Requires: H2V Guerilla Unlocked running in expert mode

.Render_Model
mode
Edit the values at the top of the file immediately under the section titled COMPRESSION INFO.

To resize your .Render_Model either multiply or divide the numbers highlighted in red.

*Leave the "-" where they are.

.Collision_Model
coll
Scroll down to the section titled PLANES.

To resize your .Collision_Model multiply or divide the values.

Next scroll down to the section titled VERTICES.

To resize your .Collision_Model multiply or divide the values.

Take note, some values will appear as the following: 3.40282e+038.

The "e" denotes scientific notation in a floating-point value. Basically when you see that, you multiply the decimal number
by that many powers of 10. So, 3.40282e+38 = 3.40282 x 10^38, or 34,028,200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

To double the value simply multiply the decimal number (before the e [3.40282]) by 2. If the result would be greater than 10,
move the decimal place over by one to the left, drop the last decimal place, and increase the e value by 1.

Thus 3.40282e+38 doubled would be 6.80564e+38.

*Leave the "-" or "+" where they are.

Further Example: When the Plasma Grenade's .Collision_Model is multiplied by a value of 10 it is about the size of a basketball.
And when it is multiplied by a value of 50 it is the size of a Bubble Shield.

.Physics_Model
phmo
To resize your .Physics_Model...

.Scenario
phmo
To scale your models from the .Scenario, select either the .Scenery or .Crate you you want to scale, then set the scale value.
This can also be done from Sapien by holding ALT then scaling up or down with the mouse.

Reference: http://www.rework3d.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=113&p=869299#p869299

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CHEAT ENGINE

Biped FP FOV: 1.22173 = 70

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.CRATES + .SCENERY

A crate can move (or be bumped) while a piece of scenery is static unless it is attached to a moving object such as a vehicle.

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GUERILLA UNLOCKED

In Guerilla go to Edit then Expert Mode.
(Make sure you are using this unlocked Guerilla: http://www.monstrmoose.com/MMrepository/Halo_Tools/2_Vista/H2EK_Unlocked/h2ek_unlocked.rar)

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FIXING WEAPON .ITEM_COLLECTIONS

The .item_collection should point to the .weapon file.

The .weapon file should point to everything else, so scroll through it and look for any tags that are red. If they are red you will need to find them. You can just use the built in windows search for this. Do this for every tag that is missing (in red).

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WARTHOG'S .RENDER_MODEL

Suspension material @ Section 60, 61 and probably 58, 59ish

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GRAPHICS FORMATS

When saving exported .DDS import as 16-bit and save as .TIF

a8r8g8b8 TGA 32-Bit

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Edited by Kills_Alone on Sep 20, 2010 at 09:29 PM