Halo Editing Kit: Difference between revisions

396 bytes removed ,  15 years ago
Stripped down additions to absolute basics due to lack of sources, possible opinions, etc.
(Stripped down additions to absolute basics due to lack of sources, possible opinions, etc.)
Line 3: Line 3:
{{Realworld}}
{{Realworld}}


The '''Halo Editing Kit''', often abbreviated as '''HEK''', was released by [[Gearbox Software]] along with the [[Halo Custom Edition]]. It includes, among other things, basic "tags" for bitmaps, [[vehicles]], [[weapons]], bipeds, and other necessary elements of a Halo map.
The '''Halo Editing Kit''', often abbreviated as '''HEK''', was released by [[Gearbox Software]] along with the [[Halo Custom Edition]]. It includes, among other things, basic "[[tag]]s" for bitmaps, [[vehicles]], [[weapons]], bipeds, and other necessary elements of a Halo map.


== Mapping Programs ==
== Mapping Programs ==
The kit comes with three programs designed to assist mappers.
The kit comes with three programs designed to assist mappers.


The first program is ''Tool''. Tool is both the backbone and the pain of CE. Although it is capable of everything from bitmap creation to the final map-building, its old-style command prompt methods have driven at least a few mappers insane. Tool is least likely(and almost never) receives an error. Usually it is something wrong with the input files.
The first program is ''Tool''. Tool is both the backbone and the pain of CE. Although it is capable of everything from bitmap creation to the final map-building, its old-style command prompt methods have driven at least a few mappers insane.


The second program, known as ''Guerilla'' and labeled with a gorilla (pun intended), opens tags and edits them. Tags are files that make up everything in a Halo map: weapons, vehicles, etc. Guerilla can edit them so that mappers can alter what a specific item, what it does and how it looks (such as change a vehicle's color). Guerilla automatically closes at times, although it is because some tags are corrupt, especially bitmaps.
The second program, known as ''Guerilla'' and labeled with a gorilla (pun intended), opens tags and edits them. Tags are files that make up everything in a Halo map: weapons, vehicles, etc. Guerilla can edit them so that mappers can alter what a specific item, what it does and how it looks (such as change a vehicle's color). Guerilla tends to crash wehn it encounters corrupted tags.


The third program is ''Sapien'', continues the primate naming scheme. ''Sapien'' opens scenario tags (the early map files) and creates a visual representation of the final map. Mappers can insert vehicles and weapons, place spawn points, and make camera points for cutscenes. Everything that can be positioned in the map physically is done with Sapien. This is widely considered the easiest program of the three, and is comparable to [[Halo 3]]'s [[Forge]]. Sapien is the most annoying, especially at startup, since it takes time to load. Then, at random times Sapien closes automatically after loading, due to missing/corrupt tags, unreadable tags, or simply denied access to some maps, often from third-party applications. The debug.txt file, which produces a status report, has proven very useful in such situations.
The third program is ''Sapien'', continues the primate naming scheme. ''Sapien'' opens scenario tags (the early map files) and creates a visual representation of the final map. Mappers can insert vehicles and weapons, place spawn points, and make camera points for cutscenes. Everything that can be positioned in the map physically is done with Sapien. This is widely considered the easiest program of the three, and is comparable to [[Halo 3]]'s [[Forge]]. Sapien is slow-loading, and crashes often; its ''debug.txt'' file is useful when attempting to diagnose such problems.


== Other Materials ==
== Other Materials ==
1,599

edits