[Tutorial] How to Make a MD Mod

[nil]

1. Download Eschaton 0.8.1 - we'll be using this tool for modding.

2. Download MDRenamer and launch it.

3. Pick a short mod name: this is not visible to most players, and will affect how the .map file is named. I will pick fastermc for this example.

4. Pick a build number. Use 1 when first creating a mod. More on this later.

So far, this is what we have:


We don't actually create mods from "scratch" in Halo. We start off with a base map, and modify the map from there. Most people will start off with bloodgulch.map, so that is what we will use here in this tutorial.

5. So, hit the "Rename..." button in MDRenamer. An open file dialog should appear. Leave the dialog open for now.

6. Launch HaloMD. Go into the Mods menu up in the menubar, and select "Reveal Mods in Finder..." A finder window should pop up. Find the bloodgulch file and drag it from the finder window, and drop it into MDRenamer's open file dialog window. The bloodgulch map should now be selected in the open file dialog:



7. Hit Open. fastermc_1 will now show up in your Maps folder in Finder (this is named by the short name combined with the build number). Keep this Finder window open.

8. Open the fastermc_1 map file with Eschaton. One way is holding control and clicking fasetermc_1 map and going to "Open with..." and selecting Eschaton. Another way is dragging the fastermc_1 map file into Eschaton's icon. In Eschaton, expand the Maps (Read/Write only) folder. Find the "matg: Globals" folder, expand it, select "globals\globals." On the right, expand Reflexives -> Player Information -> Player Information 1 -> Floats and select "Speed Multiplier." On the right you will see that this value is "0." Let's change that to 3 and press Return/Enter to apply those changes.



9. In HaloMD, launch Halo by hitting "Start" button. Go to Multiplayer -> Internet (under Create Game) -> browse all the way down with the down-clicky arrow to select your fastermc_1 map. Select whatever gametype you want, and start the game. Congratulations, your mod is a success!

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Now I will talk about build numbers. The build number is an integer that refers to the map's version and this largely deals with distributing your map. Each time a map changes for distribution, the build number should increase. A map with a higher build number is more recent. The build number is also incorporated in the map's filename on disk. Note this doesn't relate to human version numbers such as "1.0", "Alpha 1", "1.4b3", etc.

Like I said, build numbers are used for distributing maps to others. When you send a new version of a map to a person, or when you request for it to be submitted in the database, you should modify the build number. This way, you will never get version and CSS conflicts. To increase the build number, you simply have to use MDRenamer again with the base map being your own mod and increase the build number by 1.

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Now I need to talk about hosting a bit. If you create a mod and host a game, only people that you have sent the mod to will be able to see your game on the lobby. You can use this for "private" testing. If you want everyone to be able to see it, it needs to be on the mod database. To submit the mod onto the database, submit it in the submissions forum

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Visit this thread for more information on modding with Eschaton, or the tutorials section, or search the forums, or ask a question on here for help.

[rEsTnPeAcEz]

Nice tutorial and this should be a sticky.

[rEsTnPeAcEz]

There should be a HaloMD mediawiki, like HaloDemoMods.com.
Some people might now be able to use MediaFire, for any reason whatever.
You might understand. It also needs to be easy to post mods and not only apply mods.

[nil]

There should be a HaloMD mediawiki, like HaloDemoMods.com.
Some people might now be able to use MediaFire, for any reason whatever.
You might understand. It also needs to be easy to post mods and not only apply mods.

http://www.halomd.net/wiki

The overall site is kind of slow in loading for some unknown reason. And MediaWiki sucks for uploading files like this, it always has, which is why I'm not going to strongly recommend it over another host like MediaFire currently.

[rEsTnPeAcEz]

Is a space considered a character when someone is writing the Mod name and Short name?

[nil]

Is a space considered a character when someone is writing the Mod name and Short name?

A space is a character.

I'd avoid using spaces for short names. Mod names are fine.

[TaxiService]

if you really have to use a space use an underscore?

[rEsTnPeAcEz]

if you really have to use a space use an underscore?

There is no difference with using a space or an underscore, because there are both characters (not taking the fact that a space is looks different then an underscore).

[TaxiService]

Yeah i know. : ) i'm saying that if you have to use a separator character probably the best choice would be an underscore, 'cause spaces might give problems in some circumstances.

[Darth Vader]

When we rebuild MD maps in eschaton, will the map rebuilt for MD? Or we will have to convert the rebuilt map?

[2310]

The map should retain the original format when rebuilt. There is no need to convert a rebuilt MD map.

[Sparky]

The map should retain the original format when rebuilt. There is no need to convert a rebuilt MD map.

A Halo Demo map is not exactly the same when rebuilt, but slightly larger by like 0.1 MB. I'd suppose the same is the case with Halo Full maps also.

[Darth Vader]

So, try to reduce rebuilding as much as possible?

[nil]

Updated tutorial to reflect the latest version of MDRenamer that 002 wrote.

[HunterDroz]

When I opened Eschaton, I received this message: An Exception of class NilObjectException was not handled. The application must shut down.

what does this mean? please help. thank you.