How to Make a Halo Map
*{KaS}
Korori*
In
the video game industry, I can talk about this many pages but I hit the high
lights. This industry uses the knowledge as in the movie industry. Since I know
how to do this I will try to give a short tutorial compared to my other ones
that I have made.
First
thing, I would do is a rough sketch of the environment or the object that you
want to go into the game. Without this you would be going in insecurely, which
that is very bad thing to do specially in this field.
Bitmap Creation
Second,
after knowing the shape of the land and objects, I would start making bitmaps
(Textures) for it. You will need an image editing tool for this. You can use
Paint or Gimp (gimp.org) which
are free or you can use Adobe Photoshop CS2 or Paint Pro Shop 10 which you can
download a trail of each from their respected website. (For Adobe Photoshop CS2
adobe.com and Paint Pro Shop
10 corel.com). If you are
making wall to make it look like it is 3d. You need to make a two layer bitmap (texture).
The first layer is called the Alpha layer which is the main layer. It is where
you see the color or design. Then next layer is the Emboss layer. The Emboss
layer is to make an image look like it has depth in. So you do not have to do
this later you need to make your directory (what the file or object would be
called). Then you need to make subfolders in side the directory that you just
made called bitmaps, model, collision geometry, sound and animation.
Example:
PC-level> *Bitmaps
*Model
*Collision
geometry (on used for vehicles\ scenery)
*Sound
(Discussed later)
*Animation
(Used for weapons really)
Now
in Tool (a free program that you can download along with Guerilla and Sapien)
that you use to compile the information like bitmaps and models. Then you need
to type this in the tool.
Tool
bitmaps (Folder directory)
Example:
tool bitmaps level\pc-level\
In guerilla, you need to go to the .bitmap that you just
complied. Next you need to change the format for the normal to “Compressed with
Explicit Alpha.” Save the bitmap also if you want it to look 3d then you need
to continue editing the .bitmap in Guerilla.
Do not close Guerilla yet, you now need to go to file then
click new. A selection box should appear. Scroll down and choose
shader_envirnment a new window appears. Go to the very top and click simple
parameterization next to flags. Next scroll down to physics properties and
choose if you want dirt, metal (thick), metal (thin), and about thirty others
that you can choose from. I will use dirt for the example and you can take a
look in the back to see what I am talking about.
After that, you need to go to diffuse properties. Click on
the three “…” button next to base map. You need to locate the bitmap that you
just compiled. Next to “Primary Detail Map Scale”, Secondary Detail Map Scale”,
and “Micro Detail Map Scale” set them to 30. In the blank next to “Primary
Detail Map” you need to locate a bitmap that will is the primary one used. Most
set this for the grass, which is located in levels, a30 folder, bitmaps, and
last click on detail grass.bitmap. The “Secondary Detail Map Scale” you need to
locate the next one you need, again most people would use a dirt bitmap. To
locate this file it is in levels, a30 folder, bitmaps, and click on detail
ground.bitmap.
Now you need to make a folder in data\levels\ (folder
name) and call it shaders. Call the file the same as the base map that was used
and you need to make a shader tag for every bitmap that you have.
Making the Map
The third step, the most complicated step of them all. You
now have to make the object. There are many programs you can use to make
models. The top two are G-max (located at turbosquid.com/gmax) and
the 3ds max series (at autodesk.com/3dsmax).
This is a quick run through the
placement of the tools
The very first thing you need to do is
make a box that has the measurements 5000x5000x2000.
Then right click on the object and go to
“Convert to” then click “Convert to Editable Mesh.” This will allow you to edit
the figure that you just made.
On the right, you will have “Soft
Selection” you need to locate”Surface Properties” while having the entire faces
selected click “Flip.” You are now looking inside what will be a level.
You must now click on all the faces but
one. The one will be the ground that will be implemented. Set the high-lighted
faces to “1” for bitmap purposes.
Then the bitmap that you did not select
you need to set it to “2” in order to do that you need to check the “ignore
background button.”
To set the bitmaps you can press “M” for
the “Material Editor,” now click on the button that says “Standard”. After that
you need to double click on “Multi/Sub-Object,” this allows you to have more
than one texture implemented.
A pop up that says “Replace Material”
hit Ok.
Now you need to click on Set number and choose
how many bitmaps you are going to have also kept in mind that you need one more
for the sky.
Once you set how many you need click the
first one. This one will be the sky, rename this to “+sky” and also hit the
dark grey box next to diffuse select any color that you want. Hit close after
you are done with your selection.
You now need to click the checker box 
then after
that click the box that has a circle pointing to a cube
. After
that you need to click the box that has an arrow pointing up
.
Now hit the second box. You need to now
hit the box next to the dark grey box from the previous bitmap
. Click
bitmap and you have to locate the ground texture that you made.
You need to rename it the same as the
bitmap that you are using also scroll down until you find “Alpha Source” click
“none (Opaque).”
Same as before click the checker box, circle
pointing to a cube, and arrow
pointing up, you will
also have to rename this one as well to the bitmap that you made. You can now
close the “Material Editor
If you wan to add cliffs you can select
“Select Object” and have “Polygon selection” on. Also when you are selecting
faces make sure you hold down “Ctrl”
Then you can use your “Select and move”
key and move them up
Due note I use “soft selection” before I
added the mountains. Recommended to do the mountains first though incase of
errors. And you can twist them up to look like mountains.
Like so
If you wanted to add hills you can select
material id two and go to Tessellate (change it to “0” first) and hit where it
says “Tessellate” and click it about 4 times and that should give you about 512
faces.
Next under “Soft Selection” check “Use
Soft Selection” all I can say is play with the pitch and falloff and use the
select and move tool on a given vertices. But make sure you have vertex
selection mode on and “Select and move” highlighted
Note: once you understand this you can
start extruding faces and make bases and caves
Now you need to create a second box and call
it frame.
Next you need to link each object by using the
linking tool which is in the top left corner that has chains
. You now
need to high light your level left click and drag it to the box you just made.
Last you need to go to File then Export.
Locate the directory that you made earlier and save it as a .jms in the “model”
folder.
Compiling your JMS File
Use “Tool” again to compile the model
this time the command is tool structure levels\ (Name of Map Folder) (Name of
.JMS File)
Example:
Tool
structure levels\pc-level pc-level
When
you are finish compiling it should look like this
Editing in Guerilla
Next
you need to open the model you just compiled with Guerilla. The file will be in
tags, level, the name of the map, and then you will see files that have
extensions like .scenario and .scenario_structure_bsp. Open the .scenario tags,
under sky’s hit add. Next to the open box that sky click “…” and navigate to
tags/sky/ and choose one but make sure it has a .sky extension. Now still under
“Skies” click the box next to type and change it to multiplayer.
Next
scroll about half way down until you get to “Starting Equipment” and hit add.
Under type0 set it to all games and under the item collection1 locate you item
collection folder under tags and choose an item that has an .item_collection.
Now you need to click on simple weapons and choose one. This will be the weapon
you will start of with. You can now click save.
Editing in Sapian
The
forth step in this process is to open the .scenerio tag in Sapian. Which should
be in your tag\levels\ (name of map)\ (Name of .scenerio)? It will take a while
to load up so give it some time. At this time all you are going to see is the
sky so you need to run radiosity.
Once
it finishes loading you need to hit ”~” key and it will bring something up in
the lower left hand corner “halo(.“
Type
in “radiosity_quality” 1
And then type “radiosity_start.”
Right
now it is calculating the RBG’s or red, blue, and green. It will take a while
depending on the size of your map and the complexity of it.
Once
that is through with that rigorous task still with “halo (“ in the lower corner
type in radiosity_save. This will now allow you to see the map you created in
color instead of a black and white scale with a colored sky.
The next thing you need to do in Sapian is to
place starting points for your character spawn points. In order to do this
their will be a menu called “Hierarchy View”. Now click the + box next to “
To
place spawns just right click on the “Game View” window and have “Player
starting points” selected.
After
setting up all the spawn pint go under your
“Properties palette” with all the player spawns highlighted go to type0
and set it to “all games.” Go back to the Hierarchy View window and select
about half of them and go back again to the Properties palette and set the team
index to “1.” You know have completed setting spawn points for the player to
start point.
Now
you can start placing vehicle placement and scenery placement.
Go
to objects, then units, and then vehicles
Now
you need to go to “Edit Types” and navigate to tags/vehicles
Select
the folder with the vehicle you want and select its .vehicle tag and if it has
2 .vehicle choose the one that has MP in the name
Highlight
the .vehicle tag and click “add tag”
Once
you are finish adding vehicles you can click done, but due note that you can
only have 6 vehicles in the game.
I
choose these but the ones I choose are custom made. So you need to choose
warthog, ghost, banshee, scorpion, and the ones that came with your CE
Just
like the “Player Starting Points” you need to click on the Game View Window.
And you need to go to the “properties palette” to change it to the vehicle you
want. And check off all the defaults and allowed boxes under spawn flags. But
if you want certain vehicles for certain game types go on head and select the
ones you want for the game type.
Ok
once you have the vehicle placement done you need to put in some scenery.
Under
the Hierarchy View go to mission objects then scenery
You
will have to do the same as the vehicles in adding them to your list
So
go to “Edit Type” While scenery is highlighted and navigate to tags/scenery
Note
make sure you choose a file that has a .scenery extension
Again
most of mine are custom so you may not have them but here is what I have
Now
all you have to do is right click on the “Game View” window and place them how
you want them
Just
like the vehicle you will need to go to the “properties palette” and switch
them when needed
Once
you are happy now we are ready for setting up teleporters (This is not
necessary)
In
the Hierarchy View go to missions then go to game data and select Netgame Flags
Since
we are doing teleporters we need to change it to that in the Properties palette
Ok
to set it up you need to have a teleport to and a teleport from
Place
the teleport from the place where you want the player to walk into it and it
will teleport you (in my case the h2-teleporter) and place it over the object
if you want the player to walk into the object in order to teleport
Also
I would just do two teleporters sets “0” and “1” that way you will not get an
error
Now
if you want to have a CTF Game type you need to set up the flag points
So
stay in the Netgame Flags this time we will just put ctf-flag instead of
teleport to and from
Note
make sure that the team index corresponds to the team that they are on
0=blue
and 1=red
So if you set it on the red side the flag should be 1
Weapons
OK now for the weapons that you will have lying around the
level
Navigate to game data and click netgame equipment
Ok now go to your properties palette click on type0 and
set it to all games
To put in the weapon click on the three dots “…” next to
item collection in the Properties Palette
Navigate to tags\item collection\simple weapons
A choose a weapon
Now you will have to go to the game view window and right click
to place it then right click where you want to place the next weapon and go
back to the property palette and change the item collection.
Note you will have to do this for each of your weapons
Do not worry about the team index with the weapons
Now Go TO File Save
Ok if you have a custom vehicle you need to navigate to
tags\globals\ and open globals.globals with guerilla
Now scroll about half way until you get to “Vehicles”
Click on the three dot “…” and open the vehicles that you
have put in the level
And if you do not get the vehicles in the level double
check if you have it checked allow and default in the vehicle properties in
sapian
Last
Compile
Now open tool and type in tool buile-cache-file levels\ (Folders
Name)\ (Name of .Scenerio tag)
This will also take a while depending on your computer and
also the size of the map as well.
If it gives you an error double check what you have done
in sapian or what you have modified in guerilla.
Now it is the fun part testing the level out in HaloCE
And here is a Quick over view of what I covered
