Halo 3 Foundry Port By Jesse & DSalimander.

[azjesse]

This thread is to serve as it's own for the subject Halo 3 Foundry at Modacity.

Many of you here at Modacity may not know me (and others do), but as far as you're concerned, my name is Jesse this is the first time I post here in years (not counting my previous post in another thread just now.)


Original thread started: http://forum.halomaps.org/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=30343&start=5286
Original thread ended: http://forum.halomaps.org/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=30343&start=5566


The level is H3MT Foundry with Jesse's updated tagset (which has been mostly replaced with Zteams' extracted assets.)


http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/125955858-4.jpg
Old BSP model, old shaders. Fans and light objects are new. Lighting is debug using a temp sky.


http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/125831853-4.jpg
The red lights flash with vibrant lens flares. The fans turn too.


(video of fans turning)
http://www.xfire.com/video/5b91c2/


Deflectable rockets (not Foundry specific, but you know...)
http://www.xfire.com/video/5b90ee/


http://i46.tinypic.com/inqqgp.jpg
I really don't think it's good to show off the BSP until we get it working right, but you can still look at the renders. Up until recently, the BSP was still separated by material because to get it, we had to rip it from the H3MT map. This is the revised model that we've been working on. Those are Halo 3 textures on a custom model. (Modeled by Arbiter, tagged by HDoan; remodeled by Jesse, retagged by Sali.)


http://i47.tinypic.com/oqa7tj.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/34g56qf.jpg


Those fences: If we were to model them in correctly, the poly count would be huge (and it would take forever). The fencing also cuts into the metal bars, this causes BSP errors such as phantom BSP. Since they also have tons of little details on them, we made parts like the fencing/grating into BSP and the other parts like the pipes and junctions into a scenery object.


The cranes are movable, SYNCING device machines that move forward\backward, left\right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHpaVLl71cg




Submit Your Forge Items:
I hope you guys have a general idea of what you may want to "Forge"** in the end result. Layout AND objects. Any ideas for things to add as Forge-able objects, mention them. This would be the time to be heard and have your items be available universally. THESE ITEMS WILL BE PLACE-ABLE SCENERY. Things like bridges, barricades, generic decorations, ammo crates, or even a lego style building system if you design it well. All these things would NOT be PLACED in the classic release, but will be AVAILABLE in the PALETTE to Forge**. Things like the soccer ball (unenterable sphere vehicle), even though that would be a pain to do in HCE (you're doing the physics for your own model if you want this). Provide (a) good idea(s) with models and bitmaps and we'll probably say yes instantly. Ideas will be considered and weighed against other ideas to find the best. We are not looking for easter eggs. We srs.






The model was made by H3MT's The Arbiter and DEEHunter, and then Jesse's been making geometry, ID, and UV changes recently. DSalimander has been combing through all the ripped Halo 3 bitmaps we've been starting to use. The Halo 3 bitmaps posed the following problems:


-Most of them are not ^2 size. (2,4,8,16,32,64,128,512,1024,2048,etc) This doesn't really matter, though. Locate the nearest ^2 size and stretch the bitmap- just compensate with the UVs if it isn't a simple perfect tiling texture.
-Some bitmaps are still not obtainable. We can get cube maps though! We'll manage without the rest.


-A good majority of the specular maps provided would not work in Halo CE without some modifications. It's easy but takes time.
-The organization and naming schemes of the freshly ripped bitmaps used will give you a headache. So many folders. :|


-Most of the bitmaps are much larger than they need to be. We scaled down until you notice it losing the level of detail it needs and stop just before that point. This works most of the time.


Pictures for the sake of pictures (some are older):
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126345242-4.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126437031-4.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126390892-4.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126358722-4.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126478461-4.jpg

Modeled and textured my own TV just for fun:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126531330-4.jpg
http://screenshot.xfire.com/s/126531332-4.jpg

I'll try to edit out any formatting errors as I see them, sorry about any.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm gonna go rotate my couch cushions.

[1bobsam1]

Sauce.

[jcap]

That's kinda cool actually...nice job

[Donut]

wow jesus, i think i remember sali working on this years ago. it looks pretty good

[DarkHalo003]

Neat! Can't wait to play around with it with some Modacity folk. :)

[azjesse]

Good luck finding people from here to play with, this place seems like a ghost town.

The map itself is nearly done, I just need to create collision models for some of the extracted Halo 3 scenery items.

[BobtheGreatII]

We're hardly a ghost town. I just think ripped content being thrown in to a map gets exhausting to look at. It's more interesting to see something new or different being done. All the same I'll download and look at this and maybe play a few rounds.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Bob, you just pointed out why CMT needs to stop making remakes and to do they're own SP!!!

[azjesse]

Yeah my bad, I was mostly basing that idea off the recent works on the front page from 2011.

I need to fix some open edges on the MAX model and light map this thing with Aether.

[BobtheGreatII]

Bob, you just pointed out why CMT needs to stop making remakes and to do they're own SP!!!

I think we at CMT have plenty of custom things going on. It's just very time consuming to do. Our own singleplayer isn't feasible at this point in time, but it's certainly something we've thought about. I think at this point it's more of doing SPV3/Evolved and finally putting it all to a rest. That way we can move on to better things. It really sucks having SPV1 (back when we hardly knew anything) and then SPV2 which ultimately was an abandoned project. It's nice to finally tie up loose ends.

[Higuy]

I think we at CMT have plenty of custom things going on. It's just very time consuming to do. Our own singleplayer isn't feasible at this point in time, but it's certainly something we've thought about. I think at this point it's more of doing SPV3/Evolved and finally putting it all to a rest. That way we can move on to better things. It really sucks having SPV1 (back when we hardly knew anything) and then SPV2 which ultimately was an abandoned project. It's nice to finally tie up loose ends.

So, modifying single player levels is custom? Creating weapons based off of previous ones is custom? Hardly. I've been telling Masterz for years to make custom single player levels and you guys are perfectly capable of it. How many people do you have on your team? Killa's has had barely any in the past years and was still able to produce custom single player levels, and TM only had about 2 or 3 main people working on the project at a give time. "Custom Mapping Team" doesn't really apply anymore, not sure if it ever really did.

[Nero]

You can tell the community is still alive, when you enter a halo thread and find drama.

[BobtheGreatII]

So, modifying single player levels is custom? Creating weapons based off of previous ones is custom? Hardly. I've been telling Masterz for years to make custom single player levels and you guys are perfectly capable of it. How many people do you have on your team? Killa's has had barely any in the past years and was still able to produce custom single player levels, and TM only had about 2 or 3 main people working on the project at a give time. "Custom Mapping Team" doesn't really apply anymore, not sure if it ever really did.

Wow holy crap dude. I was just saying something. No need to freak the fuck out. As for how big our team is. One guy does sound. I do modeling and texturing. One guy is on the BSP and that's it. Other than iffy and lag and masterz. To be honest. I wouldn't ever create a "custom" single player level in halo because what you're describing requires us to go all the way to the roots and not use anything halo related. If we were to put that much effort in to it. I wouldn't waste my time with a 10 year old game.

Edit: Oh wait. You're the Lumoria guys. No wonder you're so asshurt. Lumoria gets a hard on for bashing CMT.

[Masterz1337]

So, modifying single player levels is custom? Creating weapons based off of previous ones is custom? Hardly. I've been telling Masterz for years to make custom single player levels and you guys are perfectly capable of it. How many people do you have on your team? Killa's has had barely any in the past years and was still able to produce custom single player levels, and TM only had about 2 or 3 main people working on the project at a give time. "Custom Mapping Team" doesn't really apply anymore, not sure if it ever really did.

Tell me again how custom your maps are when all you use is Halo 1 and crappily ported Halo 2 content. Oh well I guess there's always those areas and vehicles that are designed off of Halo betas.... That's custom. Oh and the voice acting that isn't acting. Oh and what do you know, Lumoria reused Halo 1 bsps as well as CMT BSPs. :allears:

The truth is you and Lumoria team are the last people to tout about how custom you are. CMT at currently not only has our BSP add ons to the stock game (which currently stand at about 9 new areas to explore), but also an entirely custom version of b30, with an all new layout, where the only thing recycled from the original is the story and dialog. You guys have two things that CMT doesn't that are "custom", voice actors and a story, neither which were the highlights of your campaign, and neither which are "exclusive" talents of your team. That said, your level design is great as well as the work and attention paid to the cinematics. The ending tank run was pretty amazing as well. Just because you've gone where no one else has before with those doesn't give you the right to rip on anyone else who has a single player project that rivals your own in attention. In the end we all love modding H1, and we all love working on the projects we do work on, so what exactly is the issue here?

Custom is in our name because when we changed it to that, it was a time when 99% of all CE work was ripped, and our content was custom, as it was made from scratch. Unfortunately people like you like to twist that into "they should do things never ever done and made before:, when clearly the heart and soul and the success of CMT is because we have always done our best to integrate the best of all the Halo games and EU into what we believe is the most fun game of the series, Halo 1.


Killa's has had barely any in the past years and was still able to produce custom single player levels,
Weren't you just complaining the other day that he has very little to show and went on a rant in his thread about just showing ripped content?

[=sw=warlord]

Put the handbags away ladies, we all know SVG was the king of custom content.

[Higuy]

Tell me again how custom your maps are when all you use is Halo 1 and crappily ported Halo 2 content. Oh well I guess there's always those areas and vehicles that are designed off of Halo betas.... That's custom. Oh and the voice acting that isn't acting. Oh and what do you know, Lumoria reused Halo 1 bsps as well as CMT BSPs. :allears:

The truth is you and Lumoria team are the last people to tout about how custom you are. CMT at currently not only has our BSP add ons to the stock game (which currently stand at about 9 new areas to explore), but also an entirely custom version of b30, with an all new layout, where the only thing recycled from the original is the story and dialog. You guys have two things that CMT doesn't that are "custom", voice actors and a story, neither which were the highlights of your campaign, and neither which are "exclusive" talents of your team. That said, your level design is great as well as the work and attention paid to the cinematics. The ending tank run was pretty amazing as well. Just because you've gone where no one else has before with those doesn't give you the right to rip on anyone else who has a single player project that rivals your own in attention. In the end we all love modding H1, and we all love working on the projects we do work on, so what exactly is the issue here?

Custom is in our name because when we changed it to that, it was a time when 99% of all CE work was ripped, and our content was custom, as it was made from scratch. Unfortunately people like you like to twist that into "they should do things never ever done and made before:, when clearly the heart and soul and the success of CMT is because we have always done our best to integrate the best of all the Halo games and EU into what we believe is the most fun game of the series, Halo 1.


Weren't you just complaining the other day that he has very little to show and went on a rant in his thread about just showing ripped content?

It was not a personal attack, don't know why your making it one. It was a statment of my opinion on your team and content. You guys focus all of your attention straight to tag work and nothing else, and the issue is that it disgusts me that you guys have such great talent but don't use all of it to try new things. Even the tags are based on things that everyone has seen from later Halo games, and even though they are great looking, they are not new or refreshing. You still focus on just taking old levels that every person has played a billion times, add the tagset too it, make it 3x longer then it has to be, and call it done. It's a shame that you can't just simply make new maps and new tags and use the talent that your team has and actually do something with it. Your still doing things the same things that you've always done (3rd try now), why not actually try to do something new for once. If you can make all these new bsps for the stock maps, why not actually produce a whole new level then wasting your time and trying to copy something that's already been done?

And no, if you actually know the community you would know Killa has produced plenty of single player levels in the past, the reason I was complaining in his thread is that he should have more to show off for an actual single player level since that was his focus. Even with that being said however, hes still doing more then you guys are by making new levels and being creative.

[Masterz1337]

Dude, we ARE making new levels, that use our new tags. So what is your complaint? The things we like doing (modding the game) are what CMT is known for, and why people play our maps. SPV3 is not the same thing as SPV2, or SPV1, it's a whole different approach about enriching the levels rather than tacking on or adding more (SPV2) or just making a cool tech demo (SPV1).

I know Killa very well, and I'm well aware of his SP maps in the past. You were attacking him in that thread for not showing anything that was "custom". You just seem to have a hard on for complaining about anything that isn't done the way you would do it.

[Arteen]

This is the dumbest thing to be arguing about.

[Pooky]

This is the dumbest thing to be arguing about.

This is Modacity.

[Siliconmaster]

*Enters thread*
*Looks around*

Yup, Modacity fo shure

*Leaves*

[FRain]

Welp. This place is just like it was two years ago.

Yup.

[itszutak]

Welp. This place is just like it was two years ago.

Yup.not exactly much room for growth in this halo 2 vista fan forum

[azjesse]

Significant progress has been made in the recent weeks. After a small hiatus due to OS\DLL compatibility errors, we have finally started steaming ahead on the map. I'm happy to say we are at most, a half month away from release.

Notable progressions include:

- All scenery is from H3 and has proper LOD and collision models for performance and practicality
- Shaders have been improved for BSP and scenery, including detail maps and the like.
- Details have been added to the model, such as vents that actually (sort of) lead somewhere)
- A new material (technically engineer skin) is being used for fences so when you melee them, you hear a custom fence impact soud + all projectiles (excluding grenades, rockets, ect) penetrate through without issues, just like in H3.

Pics:
3158

3159

3160

3161

3162

[Btcc22]

Looks great but what's with the first person weapons being extended out so far? Assuming it's not just a deceptively wide field of view and OS positioning jiggery, taking up so much space is a distraction and for whatever reason in my humble opinion it makes aiming with them feel flimsy.

[Amit]

Looks nice, but the floor shaders look like they need some work.

[DarkHalo003]

Make that shit look sexy. OS lets us do that now :P

[=sw=warlord]

I spy with my left eye, a TARDIS. (http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=6213)

Needs more Daleks. (http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n599/cobby87/Editor2013-01-2604-11-27-13_zpsaa866953.jpg)

[BobtheGreatII]

Make that shit look sexy. OS lets us do that now :P

They don't want to use OS. Halomaps is full of hatred for Open Sauce. Go figure.

[Tnnaas]

To be fair, I like OS for all the things it can accomplish, but the only thing I'll likely use it for is auto-downloading maps.

[DarkHalo003]

They don't want to use OS. Halomaps is full of hatred for Open Sauce. Go figure.
Can anyone explain this to me?

[Masterz1337]

Most people use and enjoy it, but theres a vocal few who don't want anything to do with it.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Can anyone explain this to me?

It is unlikely the truth, like masterz said, there are a few people out there who have whatever maps/projects already released on default engine restrictions. Open Sauce seems to bring a rise out of those people.

[=sw=warlord]

Can anyone explain this to me?
Because it's Halomaps and Halomaps is filled with ignorance and stupidity.

[Amit]

It's mainly the people who are using systems from pre-2005. Their PCs can't handle the visual fidelity, so they resort to rebuking and chiding OS in their jealously.

^ I made that up, but I'm sure that is a very real case for a number of people.

[azjesse]

I don't use it because I'd rather have more people play it (assuming we use .YELO) My other reason for not using the shader extensions is because not everyone uses OS, which means they won't see the effects and if I assumed they DID use OS, then there is nothing to compensate for a lack of OS visual extensions. (Fake-bumps.) I'm probably contributing to this problem by not using OS, but it's not all my fault. I'd use it if everyone and their grandmother had OS installed, that way I could be sure everyone got the same pleasant experience. If I were to swing the other way and use OS, the map would either look really good, or really bland (depending on whether OS is installed.) The way I have it set up now ensures that it will at least stay consistent.

[Amit]

I don't use it because I'd rather have more people play it (assuming we use .YELO) My other reason for not using the shader extensions is because not everyone uses OS, which means they won't see the effects and if I assumed they DID use OS, then there is nothing to compensate for a lack of OS visual extensions. (Fake-bumps.) I'm probably contributing to this problem by not using OS, but it's not all my fault. I'd use it if everyone and their grandmother had OS installed, that way I could be sure everyone got the same pleasant experience. If I were to swing the other way and use OS, the map would either look really good, or really bland (depending on whether OS is installed.) The way I have it set up now ensures that it will at least stay consistent.

Designing maps with OS in mind doesn't automatically make the map a piece of crap without OS extensions. The map will look great still, which is why there are .map versions for people who want better visuals, but can't run it. But I don't think we'd even get that far because I doubt MP servers will be able to run .yelo versions. OS is mainly meant for contained SP experiences.

[Masterz1337]

You can use a lot of the shader upgrades in a standard .map file, you don't need to be .yelo for a map to use OS features.

[Cortexian]

I can't wait to see a Yelo server come out to enable multi-team vehicles and stuff. Would be cool to see it finally polished enough to push out an Open Sauce Client/Server to the entire community as a package, with updates and map downloading, and enhanced server administrative features and multiplayer features like MTP.

If it works as well as the normal server/client I'm sure people would switch in droves as a direct upgrade.

[Amit]

Didn't someone get map downloads working recently? Albeit, in a very limited way?

[Btcc22]

Didn't someone get map downloads working recently? Albeit, in a very limited way?

HAC 2 and OpenSauce both fully support it. No buses for 9 years and then two at once.

AwE_USt_lx4
R-nVbexrN5M


I can't wait to see a Yelo server come out to enable multi-team vehicles and stuff. Would be cool to see it finally polished enough to push out an Open Sauce Client/Server to the entire community as a package, with updates and map downloading, and enhanced server administrative features and multiplayer features like MTP.

If it works as well as the normal server/client I'm sure people would switch in droves as a direct upgrade.

Given the demographics of the current day HPC community, getting OS spread around enough to make this viable could prove to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Not only do you have to bridge the gap between two disparate communities but you'd have quite the challenge on your hands to dethrone the current server mods. SAPP alone has around half the CE share, with Gandanur installed on a respectful number of the remainder.

On another note:


What kind of admin features do you feel the current tools lack?
What's MTP?

[Cortexian]

It wouldn't be hard at all, you target the CE server admins. Integrate the features they like from the other server apps, and then have all of the server admins switch their servers to Open Sauce. When the players realize all the servers are down everyone that runs servers can just post on HaloMaps and HaloMods telling them to download the Open Sauce client that will connect to the Open Sauce servers.

MTP = Multi-Team Vehicles.

With map-downloading people could even start hosting the original maps that everyone loves, but with boarding and other features of Open Sauce added for multiplayer.

Open Sauce server just needs to integrate all the features of existing server apps, but to it even better. Use a database of players and commands, allow command levels and scripting like SAPP, and include a graphical editor for all of these features that makes sense and updates the server remotely (and applies changes live). Then you have an app that does pretty much everything a server admin would want.

So:


Take base Halo server.
integrate popular server app features.
Include remote GUI editor for all features instead of config file modding.
Add OS features (MTP, map downloading, abiltiy to run OS-based multiplayer maps).
Release to server admins, point out how much better it is than the normal client.
News blast at HaloMaps and HaloMods.
Have an OS client that includes everything you need to get going in a simple installer.

[Amit]

Would it actually be that easy?

[Cortexian]

I know a lot of coders who have replicated and even provided code to sehe to integrate into SAPP. I'm confident that Kornman and the rest of the OS coders could do it just as easily.

If all the server admins switched over to OS servers and no servers but shitty user-hosted ones remained then all the players would wonder what's up and check the last remaining large CE sites. HaloMaps and HaloMods.

I'm sure the CE admins that run server apps would realize the benefits of this kind of server. Shit I know some people who would start playing again if this were the case. Another thing an OS client would let the OS team do, is implement their own updates through the game update system or something in OS. On top of that, they could host their own list server in case the official one ever goes down.

[Amit]

Assuming that it is possible to make all that happen (the hard part) and get server admins to switch to the OS-supported server app, then a new dilemma emerges. OS requires v1.09 to run. It's easy to get to 1.09 for free, but pirates are likely to be lazy and not install OS either. This means the vast majority of CE players (mainly the illegal ones) won't be able to join the awesomesauce servers. I've heard about super-compressed clients that probably most HCE players use (set to v1.00). A new package could be created to include v1.09, OS, Optic, and Halo Chat V2 (to permanently solve the no-text and text lag issues :iamafag:). However, OS still requires files that are installed to system folders, so I dunno if there's a way to have those extracted upon running the super-compressed package. I'm not familiar with the way they work, but I'd assume it's possible to have the OS system files silently extracted to the appropriate location before the game client is run. The shitty part is that even if we get over all those hurdles, it'd be illegal to distribute such a thing :shake:

Halo Open Source 2013, Microsoft! :lobo:

[Kornman00]

We don't have the man power to take on fully fledging out the dedicated server (albeit, we do have all the engine research necessary). There are just more important things we can do as a 2-3 man team right now, like adding new tool and gameplay features or extending the networking abilities.

Also, there is no 'P' in multi-team vehicles.

[Tnnaas]

like adding new tool and gameplay features
Like a text-to-speak program.

:-3

[Amit]

Also, there is no 'P' in multi-team vehicles.

Seriously, this. Where did the P come from?

[Kornman00]

Must be a Canandian Freelancer thing

[azjesse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVYHvfTepeQ&feature=youtu.be

Trailer for the map
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVYHvfTepeQ&feature=youtu.be)

[Amit]

Wow, looks a lot like Halo 3.

[Donut]

Like a text-to-speak program.

:-3
john madden?

[Tnnaas]

john madden?
Precisely.

Seriously though, someone get on that.

[azjesse]

Map has been released *fanfare*

Check out our release thread at halomaps for details:

http://forum.halomaps.org/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=42993

[Amit]

The colours for some of the bitmaps look a bit flat, but overall I'm very impressed with how this turned out. It looks very much like Halo 3 and I'm sure with some OS enhancements, it could definitely bring it up to a level where it'd be hard to tell the difference between the two in an intense battle. I like the extremely subtle health bar inside the shield bar, but since I haven't played the map, I don't know if the slimness of it would make it difficult to see how much HP you have left.

I look forward to playing this.

[Siliconmaster]

I haven't had time to check this out in game yet, but the pics do lok really nice. I'm definitely impressed by how much it resembles H3. Nice work!