HOW DO YOU MAKE A GMAX? lol no my topic is not about that, i just said that as a little joke.

my topic here is about a mod i am working on that i want feedback for

A_Salting_Action

The title is a play on words.

The mod is of the map boarding action.

Map Elements:
The weapon set is designed for going on the assault. (hence the play on words for the title)

Color Coordinated Teleporters: Each set of teleporters has a different color assigned. to them.

The giant ships hover above a large forest, makes the map a bit lighter as well. I decided to change the sky of the map.

Weapons:
Duel Smg’s
Single Smg
Plasma Pistol (limited placement)
Brute Plasma Rifle (limited placement)
Duel Combo Smg and Plasma rifle (starting weapon in slayer)
Assault rifle
Flamethrower (limited placement)
Needler (limited placement)

Just sort of trying my hand at making a decent mod to a map as I wanted a map to play with shorter ranged weapons, I really wanted something where playing with duel SMG’s might be fun. I am not finished as I am working on scenery placement but I wanted some feedback or ideas.

Does anyone think this might be fun when finished?

Does anyone got ideas or suggestions for me?

Please don't suggest i put pistols, battle rifles or sniper rifles in the map (cause i won't)
dont suggest i put vehicles or nukes in the map (i won't)

anything else is welcome.

Is there salt?

Sounds fun though, and no one has modded boarding action so this is a first.

no salt, the map title is a play on words (assaulting_action, read it like that)

the mod is without long ranged weapons so people just can't camp in a corner with a sniper rifles, i also want this map to have no nades. (but i have not decided on that cause i think i remember someone said that it causes encriptions, i have not tried it on my own yet).

but yea i just want something that people may play and that duel smg's would be fun in. I needed to pick a map that can support a decent number of players as boarding action can.

but the different collored teleporters kind of add an artistic touch. I am still playing around with adding scenery

Sounds interesting, maybe you could tweak the shaders a little too?
Edited by Nugga117 on Jun 20, 2007 at 12:21 AM

punned? wd*?

so anyway.......good luck with the map.....

Boaring action is actually not that big of a map to even need a zooming weapon really. You can see pretty clearly across if a fire fight is going on. Think if you have 16 people in a game, it can even almost seem crowded. I am not nearly done with what i want to do but i will consider adding zoom to a weapon (maybe the standard assault rifle or the single smg). I am trying to make the assault rifle slightly stronger and have a higher rate of fire so it's clip will empty on someone faster. Though i can't find in gurilla how to reduce the spread of the weapon. I put the single SMG and assault rifle in there so people could use a mele attack. cause of course with the duel smg set you can't do that. Maybe ill add zoom to the single smg and leave the rest unchanged to ballance it out a bit and give it a purpose.

oh and Nugga117 said something about the shaders, umm i don't really plan to change them. Cause with standard halomaps alot of times just swaping textures, shaders whatever don't work right without editing the whole bsp.

I would like to find some working magnum tags for slayer mode, can't find any at the moment that work when i HEK+ some out of a map.

i also would like to lighten the map up more by adding light tags or something, i am looking more into this.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 07:49 AM

A pun is a play on words...



In the BSP tag, go to the section called lightmaps and there you can change the shaders. You'll have to save the BSP as something else and change the BSP used in the scenario tag.
Edited by SiMuLaCrUm on Jun 20, 2007 at 09:26 AM

omg mod?mod?????MODDDDDDDDDDD?Whatz ansMODZ??lol Good luck whit whatever it is.

ROFL still i never heard someone use the term punned before, i quite enjoyed that.

I changed the bitmaps on a50 (through shaders), and it looked nice and had no errors. I did have to redo lightmaps (changed the map from night to day). I'll experiment with boarding action's shaders and report back.

that would be nice of you.

I changed the sky to lighten it up a little more than it was but i would love to get some areas even a little lighter. Anyone know of any scenery objects that give off light? like something that may actually look okay in the map.

I changed all of the shaders and it all looked fine (I didn't change bump maps, too much extra work, but they will function fine if you change them :P)
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8479/sapien2007062009142101dd3.png
however keep in mind that the original uvw coordinates will be in place so it's possible that some textures will be stretched.
Edited by Nugga117 on Jun 20, 2007 at 10:19 AM

Capiche.
Personally, I *gasp* have never played Boarding Action. I immediately went into CE when I bought Halo, after I saw my friend playing Yoyorast Island. Mostly I can be found playing Yoyorast or Coldsnap. Occasionally I go into the Grinder, but they are normally playing Death Island or Blood Gulch.

Bording Action really is not played much outside of sniper and pistol games. But it's quite fun and different than the other maps. It's really the only map where you spawn and directly see the enemy across from you. it's great for close up battles like rifles, machine guns, plasma weapons and shotguns. It's really fun without nades.

And yea i admit i got punned, though i think he watches too much anime lol. with anime alot of series has nothing but one pun after another.

I am going to try testing my mod with my bro later today or tommorow, i need to test the weapon placements on him. He will murder me like always though, it sucks when your younger brother is better at games then you. OMG the kid plays Clay Figher for the SNES like a pro, yes i said clay fighter lol.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 12:40 PM

Pellet amount???

i can try to find a h2 shotgun tag on halomaps i guess

i never said i was doing the first BA mod nor did i claim to be the only one to ever do one. If you just look at odds people have mods of BA before and will do after me. I am not acting all high and mighty just cause i want to make a mod, most likely even if i get it finished people may not want to play it. Only time will tell at this point.

I could add a turret in a corner or something, ill just have to place it somewhere that it can't cover the entire map. I most likely won't do that cause alot of times turrets ruin gameplay. Keep in mind turrets are a long range weapon when i am not going in that dirrection.

ok i see what you mean. If you find me some h2 shotgun tags from a map i can correctly rip then i will put that in instead of the h1 shotgun. thats up to you, i don't want to go searching for something that i do not really need to put. the h1 shotgun is fine enough unless you find a h2 one.

CMT protects their maps, i have no way of extracting tags from their maps. HEK+ can't extract their tags and i am unwilling to try any other method. If i can't get tags with HEK+ then oh well. Sorry i can't use CMT stuff.

If you got other ideas feel free to suggest them

make your own?or get a friend to help you?

I could care less about using a h2 shotgun, he suggested it so i just said if he finds me some tags that i would use them instead. He did not know CMT maps were protected.

I won't put an energy sword in or use any type of grenade if i can help it, if i cant have no grenades then i will reduce the count total someone can have or just use those smoke nade tags i seen on halomaps. Also this mod is more for shorter range to mid range combat so no brute short or rockets or sniper weapons.

thanks for your suggestions, i am glad you are looking forward to it. I need to test the weapon placement with my bro, after that progress will speed up. I am not rushing things, no mod ever turns out even slightly good if the maker rushes.

maybe something less powerful for a starting weapon. the duels not only have too much power, but they restrict you to shooting. if your in a situatuon where you need melee or grenades, your in trouble. please, single smg for start weapon



edit: or for the scope issue, add in an assualt rifle, make it more accurate at a range and give it a scope
Edited by iron clad on Jun 20, 2007 at 04:31 PM

Iron clad i understand your concern about the duel weapon as a starting equipment, however you did not realize my reason for having it that way. the point is for people to go on assault and not sit back and conserve ammo shooting at people. the point is to shoot and not mele the person. the object of the mod is to pick up another weapon so can can mele. the mod is being built on not using any nades at all, i am going to try taking them all out. That way you don't get those noobs who can only kill you with nades. Plus BA is too close quarters for nades, it's no fun when the enemy can throw a nade right where the flag is.

from the start you can pick up an assault rifle, single smg, or brute plasma rifle if you need the mele. But i might make it so you start off with the duel SMG and a normal plasma rifle, but i am not sure of that.

the assault rifle fires alot faster now to ballance it out to the duel SMG. I can't find the right place in gurilla to tighten the spread of the assault rifle yet.

the single SMG will have some zoom to it, but no other change. the zoom is there to make it of some use.

Update: Change the sky to that of the map mystic, now the two ships hover over a large lake surrounded by a mountain rage. this has lightened the map up a little more and it looks nicer. I added a very light fog and a flying lighting bug particle system (from that swamp level). It just adds a artistic touch.

ah i see. i was only intending to keep the halo style (weapons+grenades+melee=win) but thats the beauty of CE, you can make things whatever you want. this sounds like a fun map, and i will definitly try it out

(edit: the way you described it sounds cool, an atmosoheric battle, but mind posting screenshots ?)
Edited by iron clad on Jun 20, 2007 at 04:54 PM

I do got a degree of this planned out, i am not just sloping together a mod. It's more designed to play like H2 with a focus of duel smg. I remember seeing a video were the people from Bungie were talking about how duel wielding changed the way people play. I rather liked seeing people play duel smg's matches and it's something i want for myself. I can't get h2 for PC or xbox so i am trying to emulate that style. I hate nades in maps, i get so sick of people only getting kills cause of them.

problem with boaring action is it's hard to get angle shots to show off the map. I can post a Screen Shot i guess though i would like to finish scenery placement. So i can take a screen shot later and maybe post a link to it either later tonight or tommorow. I can at least take something to show off the color of the teleporters or something.

Update: added a few fusion cores around the map (limited placement, not final placement)

actually brute shot isnt quite as strong melee as the sword. there are three levels of melee strength

normal weapons

medium weapons (brute shot, rocket launcher, fuel rod cannon)

strong weapons (sword)


but anyways, fusion cores around the map will make a nice replacement for grenades, but it will still uphold your run and gun style because they will be gone once they explode. good planning

I understand what you are saying, but having a weapon with no ammo just for the mele attack kind of ruins it. People would be pissed to pick up a BS if it did not have ammo, especially if they did not know that. Swords don't belong in h1 or halo ce to me, so i won't add some eather. I will be adding a few shotguns around the map. Also there are two flamethrowers in the map, they have a pretty strong mele attack.

again the main point is to kill people by shooting them, not mele and not with nades. There are weapons that can mele in the map, just not as starting weapons.



I am still working on getting the right placement of the fusion cores, but i am glad you like the idea. I am not happy how i placed them now, i am changeing them. Might put one by each ladder.

How You All Can Help:
I would like ideas for scenery objects to include, i got most of the standard halo CE tags and assorted stuff from other maps. If you make a scenery suggestion please include a link to the map i can rip it from. that way i can consider useing it.

i would like for someone to tell me how i change the spread of a weapon in gurilla, i don't see in the weapon tag how to do that.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 05:24 PM

it depends on what you mean. do you mean the error angle? if you want it to be perfect, make the error angle 0, 0. im sure some experimentation will give you the angle you need. also there is a flag to make it so if your using a scope, shots go 100% straight but if not scopped they have error. (use error when unzoomed is the flags name) also, if you want my opinions and things add my xfire. ukironclad

Edited by iron clad on Jun 20, 2007 at 05:29 PM

error angle or whatever the term is, just whatever makes the bullets not spread so far apart. Error angle might be what i want, not sure though. Ill have to play with it. I also did not know of that flag, ill look into it.

i don't use xfire, nor will i use xfire. I hate that program lol. yes i know i am one of the few.

i think that is a good idea. also, once it is activated, maybe it will take some time to activate again? but anyways, thats cool if you dont use xfire. no big deal. but I still want to help you out in some way. i dont know squat about mapping, and not too much about modding but im an experienced enough player to help out with certain aspects if you need help.

I think a light bridge would throw off the feel and gameplay of the map. There are 4 teleporters on each side, they are at an angle from each other. That is a pretty good amount for a map, there are 4 ways to get across.



you may PM me on here.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 05:50 PM

UPDATE!!!: I am excited about this one really i am. The assult rifle recharges 5 shots per second so it never runs out of ammo, this rifle also has a fire rate of 30 rounds per second. It empties pretty quickly and recharges at a decent rate. I wanted to make the spread of bullets less wide but i am going to just leave it as it is. the spread is the same but the error angle is not, i change it but it does not seem to change in game. the single smg now zooms like the pistol but it does not fire any more accurate when zoomed. I added this because some of you wanted zoom. the single smg is the only weapon with zoom.

I am going to add the plasma rifle as a secondary weapon, it will have a recharge rate but it will be a slow one. this will be put in the map because with duel SMG's people may run out of ammo pretty quickly. So when you run out you got at least a weapon to use. no other weapon besides the assault rifle and the normal plasma rifle will have this abality.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 06:55 PM

i am learning alot doing this mod, i am really having fun.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 06:56 PM

the plasma rifle can't rechange rounds so thats out, but it won't matter. I also am adding the covie carbine to have another weapon in the map.

i will be redoing the weapon placement and redoing (again) the fuel cells placement. after that i will take a screen shot or two. I am adding a little something special but you have to use fly cam to see it.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 08:36 PM

Screen Shots: I was hopeing someone would post before i got screen shots but oh well. I am posting links so i don't streatch the page.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7403/bruteexplosionvw3.png
using a brute weapon to explode a fuel cell.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7770/duelsmgwd1.png
fireing away with duel smg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8547/skyhc3.png
a view of the sky

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1535/spawnpointsox2.png
A view of the spawn points for one side (both sides are the same), their are 2 more points the image does not show.
Edited by Rm860 on Jun 20, 2007 at 09:32 PM

im impressed by the idea of a recharging AR, and you picked a nice model of duel smgs, there are many models out there, most of them crap, so its good you picked that one. also the sky is very good. im sorry it took so long for me to respond, lol its a long story. lets just say i was out

Looks cool, although I highly recommend bitmap changes for the level, but it's your decision. Also, have you ran lightmaps on it yet?
Edited by Nugga117 on Jun 21, 2007 at 01:08 AM

ohhh My god. i love that sky. where did you get it? i MUST have it.

i believe it is ripped from mystic

its a pretty darn cool looking sky. "I like it ahhlot"- Jim Carrey, Dumb and Dumber. awesome movie

it is a nice sky. gives the map a final fantasy kind of feel i guess
Edited by iron clad on Jun 21, 2007 at 01:25 AM