[TuT]Mod Basics 101

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G[v]N
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[TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:11 am

Changelog wrote:
13/8/09: Added "Bugs" section.
3/7/09: Added "Publishing Your New Mods" section, contributed by Sparky.
17/3/09: Added The Bitmaps section, corrected a small error in Defenses section.
9/1/09: Added The Bsp section, and updated the Projectile section.
5/12/08: Updated Defenses, and Originality and Presentability sections.
2/12/08: Updated Vehicles section.
30/11/08: Posted Mod Basics 101.

As I haven't been really active lately in the forums, or contributing for that matter, I decided to write a tut; a tut which would further progress of later generations of modders. Thus I present Mod Basics 101.

Since I can't possibly complete this in an hour or less (covering all topics and such) this post will be regularly updated, with a changelog to log progress.
I would appreciate it if you guys suggested more topics to write on, to make the tut more complete. (I wouldn't mind if you wrote a section either :P )
SPAMMING OR OFF-TOPIC POSTS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

Thank you. Now on to the tut.
Mod Basics 101 by G[v]N
This mod is aimed at beginners who are anxious to make their first mods, and could serve as tips for the upper tiers. It will not tell you how to make a mod, there's the tutorials topic for that, instead inform you on the basics of all good mods, and what to keep in mind when making one.

1: Balance
Balance, as in fair gameplay. All good mods have no advantage to either side, enforcing equal gameplay that can only be tipped by the skills of the players. More detail in the subsections below.

===============
1.1: Weapons
What you will probably learn first is projectile swapping, ammo editing, and many more modding skills involving weapons. Thus, when making weapons, you must keep in mind the factor of balance.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Guns which rapid fire tank shells, rockets, or any other 'nooby' projectile of the sort are NO. Just no.
~ If the gun fires a 'nooby' projectile, you can balance it by tweaking the ammo and ROF (Rate of Fire), or maybe making it a 'secret weapon'. Even so, if you chose the latter, it would need to be a little balanced as anyone who got hold of the weapon would most probably ruin the game.


===============

1.2: Terrain Layout
In more advanced modding, you can make entirely new maps by the use of scenery. Similar to weapons, all good maps have equal obstacles and advantages to both sides. For example, Red side may have a high structure serving as a sniper tower, but Blue side has a teleporter leading to a key Red position.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Cover is crucial to all maps, specifically the larger ones. Remember that placing of cover is also important, it can make or break a mod. Most bases almost always have good cover.
~ Higher ground, teleporters, weapons, ammo and vehicles are also key factors.


===============

1.3: Vehicles
Also similar to weapons, vehicles can be 'nooby' or pro, depending on how it is modded. Key factors are the vehicle's weapons, movement type, handling, and passenger limit.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Flying vehicles are always a big advantage. Remember that aerial support can change the outcome of all but the imbalanced fights. It can also bypass all obstacles leading to the other base, so make sure the bases have ample defenses to counter this.


===============

1.4: Defenses
In CTF mode, players must capture the other team's flag and return it to their base. To prevent this, defenses are essential. Defense is present in the form of weapons, vehicles, cover, turrets, and placing of the flag.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Cover is obviously what helps you keep your life. You recharge your shield behind it. You reload behind it. You strafe behind it. As such, cover is what bases are for. Higher ground, a strategic location and the flag defense point.
~ Turrets, no matter what type, are able to keep all but the greatest assaults away from your base. Use them and place them wisely.
~ Placing of the flag is vital. If your map is designed for CTF, then the flags are almost always placed in the best defense point possible, normally the highest point of the base, or a point easily protected, such as a room with a single entrance, near at turret.


===============
2: Originality and Presentability
Originality is what separates your mods from the rest. A good imagination is required, or you could ask some friends for ideas.
===============
2.1: Projectiles
All weapons fire projectiles. Invisible, flammable, stunning or just deadly, projectiles require a reasonable amount of work and imagination to make them, well, work.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ The effe tag is particularly effective (lolz pun) for magnificent projectiles.
~ BALANCE.
~ No, simply swapping projectiles is not enough. Good weapons have custom projectiles of their own. Make use of the effe tag, tweak the damage and force, etc. USE YOUR CREATIVITY!!


===============

2.2: The Bsp
The basis of any map. In Blood Gulch, it's the soil beneath your feet. On The Island, it's the sand and surf. In your map, depending on what you want it to be, it can be (almost) anything you want! If you have CE, all the better; since you can make whole bsps by yourself without using scenery! :O

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Although CE is useful, it ain't everything. A good idea is more than enough to make an awesome map. All you need is the right scenery, tools, and a brain.
~ Balance applies to this too. Keep cover and strategy in mind whenever you are making your bsp.


===============

2.3: The Bitmaps
This is what breaks or makes a mod. One weapon with crappy bitmaps, and your mod fails. Don't even think of calling it 'complete' unless your bitmaps are fixed, let alone a good mod.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ If you are inexperienced in GIMP or Photoshop, it is best to leave the custom bitmapping to the better GFXers. Try swapping the soso of the weapon, or if you want more detail/variation, dive into the mod2 tag and alter it there. Experiment till you get something nice.
~ Be realistic, and keep with the theme. If you write ">your name< was here" or something like that on a bitmap, I will personally slap you.


===============
3: Publishing Your New Mods - Sparky
===============
3.1: Screenshots
Play through your mod and take screenshots. To do this, use cmd-shift-3. The image will show up on your desktop, by default. You can upload your images to the Diner Gallery (see the next paragraph), or Filefront.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ The images should be resized before you post them. You can use GraphicConverter, Gimp, or some freeware apps found at PureMac to do this. Alternatively, upload them to the MGM Diner Gallery, click on "Last Uploads", then click on your image. The image will show up in a resized version. Cntrl-click the image and copy its link. Paste these links into a new text file to save them for the next steps.

===============

3.2: Upload Your Mod to HDM
You can upload your file to filefront.com or mediafire.com. Copy the download link and save it in a text file for later.

After you've gotten better at modding, you should publish your mods to the Mod Database at HDM: Visit our partner site, HaloDemoMods, register on the wiki, send Sparky or nil a PM here at the forum requesting to join the HDM modders group, wait for one of them to add you to the group, then visit the Mod Database and edit the field that falls alphabetically behind your mod's name and use the same format to insert your mod. You can use the upload.halodemo.net page to upload your mod. Read the Mod Database discussion page so you know the rules for using the database.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Some people can't download from MediaFire or FileFront.

===============

3.3: Create a topic
Finally, create a topic for your mod at this Halo Demo forum here at MGM. If you've uploaded your file to the Mod Database, you can use the description from that entry. Your topic title should be something like "[MOD] Turrets of Glory" so that it can be identified as a mod topic. In the post, use the image links you saved from the previous steps: place the link between image BBCode tags. Post the file's download link that you saved in the text file.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ Always give your mod a title suited to its theme. The best idea is to develop the title right after you come up with the theme.
~ When you post your mod, be open to suggestions for improvement. This is a forum meant for discussion.


===============
4: Bugs
===============
3.1: Alpha and Beta
Now that your mod is customized, skinned, and what not, it should be almost complete. Now, however, is the less creative part- ironing out the bugs. You should all know the procedure- PM a few members you know and trust, link them to the map, hold some games and have them comment on it. Then it's back to the apps, to stop people from involuntarily crashing, falling through the map, etc.

Important Stuff To Keep In Mind -
~ There's not much to say, but there is one point I would like to stress about. When you're organizing your mod tests, don't post them in public topics. This preserves the potential surprise factor of the mod, the community's time, and sometimes, your reputation.

===============
Last edited by G[v]N on Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:18 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

Løki
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Løki » Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:58 am

I like this Idea
When you're done with it all, you should make a downloadable version for people to look back at...
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>Shadow<
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by >Shadow< » Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:38 pm

Want me to sticky this topic until such time when it is completed and can be moved to the Halo Demo tutorials section?
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pakar45 visiting

Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by pakar45 visiting » Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:46 pm

Hey Shadow go ahead and sticky it for now so people can get a general idea and get some help plz



-Pakar45

G[v]N
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:23 pm

pakar45 visiting wrote:Hey Shadow go ahead and sticky it for now so people can get a general idea and get some help plz
-Pakar45
Um..yeah. I now give you the permission to do what pakar just said as if it was his topic.
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

Sparky
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Sparky » Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:52 am

And also please post the final version at our partner site: tutorials.halodemomods.com
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

Rofldonutburger
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Rofldonutburger » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:36 am

Are you gonna update this?
Dead. derp

Noodle
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Noodle » Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:38 pm

G[v]N wrote:
pakar45 visiting wrote:Hey Shadow go ahead and sticky it for now so people can get a general idea and get some help plz
-Pakar45
Um..yeah. I now give you the permission to do what pakar just said as if it was his topic.
>.<


But this is a good tut. Hopefully we will be seeing less bad mods because of this.

G[v]N
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:50 am

Hahaha, yeah. Didn't update it for awhile since I didn't know what to write..but I will now. :P
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

Mota-Lev
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Mota-Lev » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:49 pm

Criticism.
Oh me I got one. You put wayyy to many words in your post. Took me ages to read :(.
Stupid tinypic removing my images

G[v]N
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:56 am

How long is your shortest class in school? Hmm?
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

seabeast
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by seabeast » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:03 am

^Lul. YOU SAID THAR WUZ NO SPAMMING. So now to make this relevant... Yea, write more, so there's more to read.

G[v]N
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:03 am

I asked him what was his shortest class in school, to associate it with this tut. Chances are it's much longer. It's meant to be like a modding class, lol.
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

Rofldonutburger
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by Rofldonutburger » Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:15 pm

Any updates? I've been looking forward to this!
Dead. derp

G[v]N
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Re: [TuT]Mod Basics 101

Post by G[v]N » Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:01 am

Weeeeelll..I've been busy lately..but I'll try to update this. Thanks for reminding me xD
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Moxus wrote:Many thanks to the people who have made my years on MGM and on Halo Demo so memorable.

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