This series of guides will cover the creation of custom levels, including modeling, lighting, adding weather and sounds, and populating them with decorative objects like scenery. Once a level is completed, it can serve as the stage for a custom singleplayer mission or multiplayer map.
Some of these pages are intended for Blender users so 3ds Max users may want to refer to the classic HEK tutorial. Others pages are applicable regardless of the 3D software being used. These guides are also applicable to both the HEK and H1A MCC tools.
Overview
Creating a custom Halo level is an iterative process; you shouldn't try modeling a map to completion and only then trying to get it ingame. It's best to set up the workflow first, familiarize yourself with the tools and steps needed, and understand the engine's rules. Making repeated small changes to the level and testing them ingame will help you avoid getting overwhelmed by BSP issues, refine the layout and size of the level, experiment with lighting, and make any other changes early while it's still easy to do so.
The process of building a level. Your level may not require custom textures/shaders.
The above workflow may be part of a broader goal, such as creating a singleplayer mission, but we'll not cover that in this section. The main point is that you'll be repeating parts of this workflow many times as the level evolves towards completion. Sometimes you need to go back and remodel, adjust a shader then relight, or move objects after playtesting.
Given the iterative process, you should avoid polishing too much until you're confident that the level won't change drastically. For example, placing detail_
The guides in this section will be organized according to this process -- first we'll learn how to get a simple box map ingame, then further guides will expand on specific features you might want.
Guides
| Guide | Skill | Description |
|---|---|---|
| My first box level | Beginner | Introduces the basic end-to-end workflow of creating a custom level, including how to set up the needed folder structures, modeling a box level in Blender, exporting it using the Halo Asset Blender Development Toolset, then getting it in-game. You can use the output of this guide for other guides. |
| BSP troubleshooting | Intermediate | How to avoid and resolve some common and not-so-common errors you might encounter when importing a level BSP. |
| Advanced levels | Intermediate to Advanced | Covers numerous other features you might want in your level, such as sculpting terrain, adding bases, streams, and more. |
| Additional Info | Advanced | Covers some other advanced features you may not need for your level. |
External tutorials
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Weather poly tutorial | This tutorial will help you make weather polyhedra for your map. | Dsalimander | 2018 | |
Setting up OpenSauce 4.0 directional lightmaps (DLMs) | An extensive explanation on how to set up directional lightmaps/radiosity normals in Halo CE to give your levels more visual depth. This is an advanced topic. | The OpenSauce team | 2015 | |
Custom lighting in 3ds Max using Aether (video version) | A slightly less detailed version than the written tutorial, but is defenitly helpful for the people who are better at listening and watching than reading. This is an advanced topic. | MattDratt | 2014 | |
Intro to water | Explains how to make a water plane. Note that "water" is a shader from b30, but you can make your own water material. | Wildrender | 2013 | |
Phantom BSP tutorial | A simple tutorial to help you fix invisible walls that only block bullets and vehicles in your maps. | Siliconmaster | 2010 | |
Terrain modeling tutorial | An in-depth look at how Higuy (a Lumoria dev) models his outdoor terrain, using 3ds Max. | Higuy | 2010 | |
Detail objects tutorial | A tutorial on how to make and place detail objects like little grasses and tiny rocks. | ZexGX | 2007 | |
Complete mapping tutorial | An old, but still relevant beginners tutorial on making a map from start to finish for CE. | LlamaJuice | 2007 |
|
Halo Editing Kit official tutorial | The official tutorial that comes with your HEK install. | Gearbox | 2004 |
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following individuals for their research or contributions to this topic:
- General_101 (Writing this page.)