[Tutorial] How to make ANYTHING completely transparent

[Sparky]

I think you would need to add a breaking effe to the coll tag, or something like that... not sure. At least a damaged state, like the singleplayer banshee and wraith have.

[Sparky]

Bump. To say that this won't work. But something else might.

Here is an excerpt from the Halo PC Editing Reference page:

Special Materials

The following table shows the list of special material names in Halo. These material names are hard-coded in the tools and game to be recognized as having specific or unique functionality.

These texture names should NOT be used or applied unless it is for the specific function for which they are designed. No data tags (.bitmap, .shader_environment, etc...) should use the name of a Special Material.



+sky
Applied to surfaces to render the skybox or sky model.

+seamsealer

Applied to temporary surfaces or geometry to "seal" the level. Most commonly used to seal holes or other open edged areas of the level during construction and testing. For multiplayer levels, +seamsealer should never be applied to a face in the final build of the level.





+portal
Applied to faces that are used to define general portals used in the visibility solution or rendering occlusion for the level.

+exactportal

Applied to faces that are used to define an exact volume or portal. Such faces typically cover exactly the opening of a doorway, passage, or hallway to define a very distinct volume that can be used to occlude the rendering of other areas of the level.





+weatherpoly

Applied to faces that are used to define a portal or portals to use as a volume for setting weather effects.

+sound

Applied to faces that are used to define volumes for sound.





+unused

Reserved special material that has many uses and can be used in conjunction with the special shader symbols to define its use and behavior.

For example, it can be used with the "$" Fog Plane Shader Symbol to make +unused$, which can be applied to faces to construct a fog plane that is used to define a volumetric fog region.

Shader Symbols

The following table shows the list of special material or shader symbols used to assign certain attributes or behaviors to a particular surface in the level.
These shader symbols are hard-coded in the tools and game to be recognized as applying their associated attribute when added to the end of a material name.

These shader symbols should NOT be used or added to the name of a material unless it is for the specific function for which it is designed. These symbols should not appear anywhere in the normal name for a material nor should these special symbols appear in the name of a data tag (.bitmap, .shader_environment, etc...).

The shader symbols are taken into account during the compilation of the .jms and affect the surfaces at this time.

For example, if a ladder is created using 2 polygons and has the material "ladder" (without the quotes) assigned to it. This ladder is able to be viewed from both sides. To make the ladder a true ladder with respect to the Halo engine AND to make it able to be viewed or rendered from both sides the "%" would be added as well as the "^". The resulting material name viewed in 3ds Max for the Sub-Material under the Multi/Sub-Object would be "ladder%^" (without the quotes). The data tag name would still be ladder.shader_environment.



%
Two sided property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface renders both sides of the surface instead of just the side that the normal is facing.

#
Transparent property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface allows the surface up to be rendered with transparency.

!
Render only property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface makes the surface only render the face, the face or surface will not have any collision.

*
Large collideable property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface sets the surface up to not be rendered and only have collision.

$
Fog plane property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface makes the surface not be rendered. The faces acts as a fog plane that can be used to define a volumetric fog region.

^
Ladder property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface sets the surface up to act as a ladder for the player. The surfaces is climbable.

-
Breakable property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface allows the surface to be able to be destroyed or broken. (e.g. glass)

&
AI deafening property. This property does not apply to multiplayer levels. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface allows that surface to inhibit AI functions.

@
Collision only property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface sets the surface up to not be rendered and only have collision.

.
Exact Portal property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface makes the surface able to be used to define an exact portal.

The "Special Materials" section will probably work by modifying the material names wherever they are found in the sbsp tag's meta data and maybe the shader names similarly. But as I pointed out in red text above, the shader symbols won't work.

[Monoman]

What part are you saying will not work? The stuff you quoted is the same as what is in the first post. Are you talking about the climbing part does not work?

[Sparky]

Since, "the shader symbols are taken into account during the compilation of the .jms and affect the surfaces at this time," which is done with Tool in the HEK, renaming the shaders or material names after they have been compiled into the model won't make a difference. But there are bitmask flags in the sbsp tag that you can check that might correspond to the events of this compilation process. I don't remember if there were similar flags in the coll model tag or mod2 tag. The "special materials" section I commented upon, thinking that you could rename the shader names or material names from within the sbsp tag's meta data, but these are probably only references to the shader / bitmap tags. So basically, if those flags I mentioned nor renaming the shaders works, then this trick won't work for us.

[{DKW}Drk]

Lol you could make a mod where EVERYTHING is invisiable! Lol Pure guinus no?