Posted July 9, 2013 Halo: Revolution This is a project that I started originally for Vanilla Halo: PC (Combat Evolved), and was initially Join-Friendly. It featured an updated tagset from the original Halo, with new models, textures, effects, etc. The original project was intended so that you could replace your original .map files with the new ones, and join any regular server simply to see newer graphics. There had been mods like this in the past, such as the FTW projects, or RTE (relive the experience). I did figure out with this original side how to expand texture sizes to make the same reference call a higher resolution texture without adding bitmaps, which was pretty neat. I also figured out (independently, however I don't claim to be the first to use this method at all) how to use cubemap reflection and specular alpha channels on diffuse texture for scenery environments to get bump maps to show independently of dynamic lighting (explosion, light volume tags, etc) . These maps ranged in size from 200-300MB/map, which I found unacceptable. Not only this, but the BSPs must be the same in order for a join-friendly map to work, which limits what you can do creatively very much. -Detail Objects -upgraded level geometry -baked lightmaps -balanced and variable gameplay ...to name only a few drawbacks of join-friendly. I've decided to release the completed version one maps, that should work fine, on here now. Of these, some are open source, the others I could not find the originals to, however if I do stumble across them, I'll update this post with links. Join Friendly .map files for Vanilla Halo PC (.zip) Complete(ish): Derelict (carousel) Chillout Damnation Prisoner Chiron TL34 (putput) Wizard Incomplete: Bloodgulch *if any links are wrong, let me know so I can update* I do not claim to have made any of this stuff from scratch, except for some textures. A lot of particle effects I have made from scratch, or have made use of others' high resolution sprites and sometimes re-used particles used elsewhere in the mod. However, every asset that I did use has been tweaked and customized. I don't remember all the credits that are due, but here's the list I can remember: Godlike Shiro CMT Moses Kirby Tucker933 Sceny Waev [TMM] zteam altis Gaigher zteam NOS guys for helping me test these. and others I can't remember. If you use the content directly from Rev, please credit, this may not be all 100% custom, but it took some damned hard work to get it all together and working that way. That includes the original authors of the stuff, mainly because I ripped a lot of it without permission (sue me). Nothing in the protected versions should be absent from the open source maps, so all of the tags should be available in some form or another. Obligatory update of current progress All of this is WIP and most of it hasn't been finalized visually (or even functionally until testing is completed) Ghost Warthog Carbine **WARNING** The following spoiler is here as an archive of the original post at the start of this project - it's an OLD download, and doesn't reflect current progress. It was left behind in favor of the new version because it is large, buggy, and cumbersome to play. View and read, but download and install at your own risk. Howdy everybody, I know I'm a new poster, and what I've done as a compilation of the works of many people is generally frowned upon and seen with no small amount of animosity, I'd like to ask that you bear with me on this. I started out as a tag editor, and texture editor modding halo PC. I moved to CE, but grew tired of the constant circlejerking surrounding custom projects. When I saw the original FTW/FTW2 projects, I was inspired - the halo PC community is still relatively strong, and active, as well as competitive. What I wanted to do was bring some of the amazing custom/ripped work that people have spent much time and effort to produce - but what good are these tags if they aren't used well? We needed a wall, we had bricks, and I decided to lay some mortar and construct it. I'm not going to go into how "good" of a modder this makes me, because it doesn't. I just wanted the average player's experience to be better than that of a 10 year old game. {Ñا} Industries™ Presents the Halo: Revolution overhaul mod 3 pack Beta release! (Sehe's optic mod may be flagged by antivirus as a trojan (Optic.dll) THIS IS NOT THE CASE, the file is fine, but the hooks register like a trojan to some antivirus programs. I use Kaspersky and have not experienced this, however I know McAfee and Avast have been known to throw up this problem) DOWNLOAD LINK (.zip) = https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzduXlpi-Nqwc0FlNk9XWTVSZzQ/edit?usp=sharing DOWNLOAD LINK (.rar) = https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzduXlpi-NqwWnVabUxnM21sMXM/edit?usp=sharing INSTALLATION: 1) Select the Halo: Revolution .zip file, and hit "Extract All". Once the files are extracted to a folder of your choosing, open the newly extracted folder. Inside you'll see many folders and files, highlight them all (ctrl + A) and copy them all (ctrl + C). 2) Find your C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo folder. (for those of you on 64-bit systems, this will be in "Program Files (x86)") 3) Once you're in the Halo directory, paste all the files and folders from the Halo: Revolution folder into the Halo directory. NOTE: You will be asked if you want to merge folders with the same name, or replace pre-existing files with new ones. Select YES TO ALL! This mod is taking the new data and mashing it together with the old Halo data. If you don't replace and merge, Halo: Revolution will not work, and Halo may experience crashes due to lacking specific data. 4) Once the files are all copied and completed, run the game, and enjoy the new graphics! THIS GRAPHIC MOD CONTAINS: - NOS Industries intro vid - Halo: Revolution UI file (User Interface, main menu, etc) including new menus, music, and more - Three High Definition Multiplayer Maps: -Battle Creek -Rat Race -Longest - Halo Reach Optic Mod by sehé°° - this mod keeps track of your stats in multiplayer, and features a new killstreak system from Halo: Reach. -press F1 to see your stats -press F2 to see your medals -press F3 for settings - Halo AntiCheat 2 by BTCC22 - This is the future of Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer gaming. Although this current version that comes with Halo: Revolution does not feature any actual anti-cheating measures, it has an auto-update feature, which will keep your hac2 up-to-date at all times, meaning never another download or installation needed by you. A breif summary of hac2: - Allows caching for a smoother, quicker game load - Server bookmarking system; save your favorite servers and join them instantly by hitting "alt + #" (alt+1 would connect you to the first server in your bookmark list, alt+2 the second, etc etc) - Built in SightJacker to catch those pesky aimbots, or just to spectate a game. Press F7 to engage and filter through players in a server. - FOV changer. To change your Frame Of View in-game, simply press F6 and move the mouse until you're satisfied. Then press F6 again to save the settings. ABOUT THE HD MAPS The HD maps will completely replace their original counterparts in your Halo/MAPS folder. Because of this, all 3 original versions of the maps released in the Halo: Revolution project will be included, and can be found after installation in your Halo directory in the folder "Original Maps". The maps included in the pack feature a cohesive blend of High-Poly models, new particle effects, sounds, and High resolution texturing. All of the weapons and vehicles have been calibrated to blend seamlessly with the original maps hosted by most servers. Because of this, once you have a Halo: Revolution map installed, such as Battle Creek, any server you join running Battle Creek will be in High Definition, instead of the original. The HUD has been altered from CMT's SPV3 HUD to include the original Halo weapon set, and ammo amounts, so that the only thing that changes is the graphics, not the gameplay. The entire goal of this project was to update the game to better graphics without sacrificing the feel of the game we've all fallen in love with. This project was started in June of 2013 by {Ñا}_«NêX» and {Ñا}GØÐLIK3™. The overarching theme being that Halo: Custom Edition's modding community had produced a lot of wonderful tools and tags for Halo; however, all the best work was scattered and divided, and most new maps featured unoriginal gameplay resulting from unoriginal assets. «NêX» and GØÐLIK3™ decided that to build a wall, all you need is the mortar, if the bricks are already fired. That decided, they began to search through all the maps and tag packs they could find, searching for the best weapons, bipeds, vehicles, sounds, effects, and scenery to fit the bill. After finding the necessary components, these components had to be DRASTICALLY altered in order to fit the original purpose of the Revolution project, requiring hours upon hours of tedious work editing tags, references, sounds, and the like. Once a general tagset was completed (headed by GØÐLIK3™), the project hit the texturing stage (headed by «NêX»). The texturing stage involved resizing the original bitmap files that Halo used to a higher resolution, and then tweaking the shader tags so that when all the new textures came together, it didn't look like a jigsaw puzzle of high-res sloppiness. Along the way «NêX» found a way to get the engine to display bump maps without needing a dynamic light source, which is what gives these maps a unique feel to them. This Revolution project is the result of a lot of consultation, back-breaking work, and dedication, and we'd like to thank everyone that explicitly (and sometimes inadverdently) helped us along the way: Consultation and Information help: - The guys and gals of {Ñا}! Couldn't have done it without the moral support and all the help testing maps. - [HBC] and «RG», you guys agreeing to help test the alpha and beta maps was invaluable to their timely completion. Thanks! - The community at Halomaps.org - you guys are a fantastic wealth of knowledge, at the same time sympathetic and despicable, hororable and unscrupulous. You guys made this possible. - Pepsi and the FTW/FTW2 teams - you guys were the first to inspire any kind of revamp of Halo's graphics, and you gave the initial push to us to undertake this endeavor. - [GsC] Gallavant for helping me realize that slapping a bunch of high res textures just looks sloppy, and giving me the push to succeed where you have failed! Nihil Nequius Est Te. - PÕQ~iBloxman - you always pushed things to be better than they were, which was infuriating, but hell if it didn't make it look better in the end. From finding the UI to making biks, thanks. - Waffles from halomaps - your concise tutorial on the ins-and-outs of halo's shader system was invaluable to us, I always love reading your posts Models and Tag-related contributions: - CMT. I dont even know where to start, you guys are fantastically talented and motivated, and we were elated when we got the go ahead to modify the Spv3 HUD to include the classic weaponset, along with any of the tags from the spv3 a50 map (Truth and Rec.). Don't stop doing what you do, we're all waiting for more spv3 with bated breath. - TMM, your work porting the vehicles and weapons from newer halo games was beautifully done, I hope you dont mind all the changes we made! - ZMT - r93 sniper for your modeling work. - Isaac for your wonderful biped ports - Mangenkyo for your beautiful UI. I tried to contact you but you're gone now, so I'll just hope and pray Chuck Norris doesn't actually find me - Jahrain for prime sky and shader effects VIDEO INTROS AND EDITING - {Ñا}§+ØÑ£® for all the hard work making and editing videos for this project - you did a hell of a job, man, keep up the great work. I'm sure there's some I've forgotten, sorry if I did. Let me know and I'll be more than happy to add a credit to you. ***CONTACT*** Questions or Concerns, contact {Ñا} Industries™ at nos.clanservers.com. or contact {Ñا}_«NêX» xfire = tofher3 Gametracker = nex- I'd be more than happy to answer questions, or help in any way I can. Feel free to just message to chat or leave feedback as well. DOWNLOAD LINK (.zip) = https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzduXlpi-Nqwc0FlNk9XWTVSZzQ/edit?usp=sharing DOWNLOAD LINK (.rar) = https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzduXlpi-NqwWnVabUxnM21sMXM/edit?usp=sharing *note* As this is a beta release, I'm sure there will be a few minor bugs that make it through my personal testing. Testing it myself (although vigorously) obviously lacks the magnitude of multiple testers, and I can't get everything, so let me know of any problems you encounter. *known bugs* - in the profiles tab of the main menu, currently you are unable to alter profiles or create new ones - this bug has been addressed and is currently fixed, although not included in this beta release, as the fixed UI will take some more work before it is finished. - Spartan717 tested this, and said it gave him issues with ENBseries artificial bloom, so just a heads up Project Suspended until further notice. Don't get your hopes up of it resuming, though I won't rule it out completely. Luke, EmeraldNite, Gallavant123 and 6 others like this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 9, 2013 Not bad at all. There's a lot of mods similar to this, but none that I can recall of this quality. However I'm not the biggest fan of that cliff texture on beaver, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the map. Anyway, keep it up dude! Oddly, this is familiar to you... as if from an old dream. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 10, 2013 If you need to speak with Mangenkyo, i can put you in contact with him. NeX likes this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 10, 2013 Shit, this is Halo 1? The cliff texture is too noisy, but the nebula is awesome. Lots o' Source Code: ➢ https://halo.tools/git/explore/reposGuides:➢ Mapfile Overview➢ Halo Versions and Converters➢ Read Halo's memory in 40 lines of C# Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 10, 2013 Sceny - I actually have talked to him since, and he's discontinued the project, so the UI will be where it's at indefinitely. That's the bummer about having it just 2 guys, just me for that stuff, when I really don't know much about UIs. WaeV - thanks, I love the Nebula/Broken ring concept for a sky, just so much more...awe inspiring when you can see space instead of just the blue of atmosphere Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 11, 2013 Alrighty, I've been working on a new spartan model that I was lucky enough to be given (shoutout to spartan717 and Jackrabbit), mainly updating its shader properties, and doing some texture tweaks to its diffuse and multipurpose maps to really bring it together. Since the model itself isn't my work, I like to have at least something custom about everything brought into this mod - not only does it make it all come together better, but makes it as a whole more cohesive as a project. *the cliffs were done second, so they're still the old ones in these biped pics. Also, I see where you're coming from with the cliffs, and so I have a few cliff options to display in the interest of feedback on which ones you guys like to most. Cliff type 1 Cliff type 2 Cliff type 3 (texture from Halo: Anniversary [CEA] Beavercreek map) Lastly, a little update to the creek water itself, mainly to the custom cubemap that reflects the nebula in the sky. Not to toot my own horn, but I really love the way this water turned out. Getting it here required a custom cubemap, new bump/normal maps, tweaking the swat tag, and increasing the flow speed *just* a tad. TCK and WaeV like this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 12, 2013 On a second look at this thread, I was going to comment on how the old MC visors look like crud, but the new models fixed that. Lookin' purdy. Also, I gotta say: Dat Water. Tucker, can we copy that into Phoenix 2? I like cliff texture #2 least. It's too knobbly like wood would be. In fact, they all look very busy and textured. I'm not sure how the effect looks in-game, but maybe a slightly more subdued texture would look good? Also, what texture are you using for the screenshot that shows off the water? I'm guessing it's #3, which is my favorite cliff texture shown by a slight margin. Lots o' Source Code: ➢ https://halo.tools/git/explore/reposGuides:➢ Mapfile Overview➢ Halo Versions and Converters➢ Read Halo's memory in 40 lines of C# Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 12, 2013 Not a fan of this reticle: What specifically? I dont particularly like the little hooks on the bottom, but i like the accuracy of it having the small circlet in the middle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 12, 2013 Its just not what i'm used too. Also, the outline is too thick. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites