ALERT! Mission Begins in Sixty Seconds!

[English Mobster]

I have begun the first in a series of experiments with the Halo engine.
I am trying to transform it completely from a typical FPS to a completely custom class-based shooter, using the game Team Fortress 2 as a base.
This is more of a way to prove its POSSIBLE than a serious undertaking, and I understand that it may not get done, due to the massive amounts of content I have to create.
In other words, I'm expecting to release it, but I know it might die since there's a shitload of custom content I have to make and I'm working alone. :p
If It DOES die, I promise you guys that I will release anything I have, both map-wise and tag-wise.

Currently, I have gotten some sounds and all of the textures from TF2 ingame (Yes, ripping them from TF2. I know. Bad Mobster. Bad.). I've also gotten a quick TF2 testbed ingame called Not2Fort. It looks and is laid out a lot like 2Fort, but, well, it isn't 2Fort. It was something I made really quickly (as in I got it from a single plane in Max to an entire map over the course of maybe 4-5 hours) without looking at references/bothering with complex underground tunnel systems like the sewers in 2fort.
But you don't care about walls of text, you want pictures.
I apologize about the... darkness of the interiors, but that's because I forgot to install a lighting system.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/3f392adaeb06303911afdbaa92b088ceac52da6f.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/910872c36f7b0be1250a28276634356439273e0e.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/3fa0375b4b7752ade66e82bf5de232fcb8eab421.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/c6dbd793ff155d7da47da597d848f12c7a668d29.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/0184d34eed13c9345d4f61e6ed6f7b1ab89815c0.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/28bb2414d8ee3511a58d308be9de6c712791e0ea.jpg
Remember, this is a testing map which I completely finished over the course of 4-5 hours. It's a bit crappy.
Currently, this is the way I have solved some of the problems:
Choosing a class:
Players spawn with no weapons in a room outside of the map itself. This box room has teleporters with pictures of the TF2 characters/names of the characters. You walk into a picture of a character and get teleported to ANOTHER box room, where you pick up the weapons for that particular class. It is here that I will use trigger volumes to TRY to alter movement speed, and, if I can get all classes to use the same animations (sigh), player model. Walking forward teleports you to a respawn/resupply room which can be found in TF2.
Different FP views per class:
My idea for this one is simply make the different FP hands for each class part of the weapons themselves. That way, I don't need to screw around with trying to figure out how to make every class use the same FP view.

Game setup time:
For some gametypes with a setup time (KOTH and Team Slayer), you spawn in a different "class room" which looks identical to your regular class room. However, when you walk through the final teleporter to your respawn/resupply room, you spawn in an alternate dimension exact copy of the regular map, except that there are sealed doors for the setup time. These doors open after 60 seconds, allowing the teams to say hello with the barrel of a gun.
Team-specific doors:
This one is going to be a difficult one. Currently, my idea is simple: place a trigger volume on one side of the door and, when a player enters it, open the door. This is a crude method which will lead to its own problems, but it's a start.

There are many problems I haven't got a clue how to solve yet. Namely things such as the Engineer's Sentry gun, or cloaking the spy with right-click/placing sappers. I admit that there will probably be many things which are impossible to do currently, and so I will use OS to get different aspects of this map ready to go.

It'll be a massive undertaking, and probably will become a side project after a while, since this is a huge project for a single person. I have already gotten plenty of content ingame, and I promise I will release ANYTHING I have by the end of it, in the hopes that someone will pick up on my little experiment.

[t3h m00kz]

Nice posts number bro.

Also pretty legit.

[Gwunty]

Just implement your fp idea into your 3rd person.

[ThePlague]

Sounds pretty cool.

[Agnaiel]

I have an idea for the cloaking with left click. Would you be able to make it so that whenever anyone goes into the spy area, their grenade type gets switched? If so, maybe you could make it just drop an active camo instead of a grenade. Though, that doesn't solve the issue of turning it on and off when you want.

[Ro0ster]

....where you pick up the weapons for that particular class...
If you could pick up the weapons in the room of the particular class wouldn't you be able to pick up weapons outside?

Edit: Oh wait I just remembered that weapons can be destroyed when droped like the energy sword in campaign.

[Rentafence]

I have never toyed with scripting at all, but could you add some buttons with options for each class in the escape menu, and just have the weapons\equipment spawn on top of you?

[Inferno]

Don't do class based weapons it won't work well in halo. I have a concept of class based weapons I was GOING to do one time but never perfected it.

The destroy when dropped won't work properly.

Just use standard halo weapons sytem. Lay them throughout the map. Put rockets in the center. Snipers at each base in the place were everyone snipes in tf2. Pistol AR spawn.

[Sel]

How about, instead of modding something that takes forever to balance, let alone get working in this shitty engine, you learn tf2 modding and then save yourself a shitload of trouble!

[English Mobster]

Actually, Selentic, I tried. Before I came here, or even before I came to Gearbox a while back. I can't use the Hammer editor. I've tried, everything looks like a piece of shit. I can work a million times better in Max.

And Inferno, you make a good point. I'll have to think of something, this is really a challenge to see what people can do with the engine.
Maybe Open Sauce can make it possible? Or isn't there a script to give a player a pair of weapons? I seem to remember something in the hs_doc about a command which grants a player a certain weapon set. I don't know, I'll have to look into these things.

[Inferno]

Open sauce probably can't do this and you can't really script players very well in MP since they are constantly changing (player) #'s.

[English Mobster]

But couldn't it work like:
If (volume_test_object "scout" (players) #)
then (player_add_equipment (players) 0 "scout" true)

OR, I could just use (unit_doesnt_drop_items <object_list>).

[Inferno]

But couldn't it work like:
If (volume_test_object "scout" (players) #)
then (player_add_equipment (players) 0 "scout" true)

I tried something like that a while back. Didn't work.


But couldn't it work like:
OR, I could just use (unit_doesnt_drop_items <object_list>).

That would work though.
(unit_doesnt_drop_items (unit (players) ) )

[p0lar_bear]

Different FP views per class:
My idea for this one is simply make the different FP hands for each class part of the weapons themselves. That way, I don't need to screw around with trying to figure out how to make every class use the same FP view.Fun fact: that is exactly how viewmodels work in Source.

All I can say is, good luck. Halo is way too limited to do a lot of this, so expect to be making cuts and whatnot to get something playable.