Halo: CE How To Edit Bitmaps (Re-Texture) For Halo: Combat Evolved Pc

[ozzycow54 17]

DOWNLOADS

HMT V3.5 by MonoxideC here: http://www.gamefront...ra+Plug-Ins.ZIP

PAINT.NET by the Paint.NET team here: http://www.dotpdn.co...nloads/pdn.html

PLEASE INSTALL PAINT.NET BEFORE CONTINUING (UNLESS YOU HAVE A PREFERRED IMAGE EDITOR THAT CAN READ DXT'S)

PART 1: Bitmaps and DXT

Bitmaps are basically an image file that is mapped across parts of a 3D model. They are stored in tags, like anything else in Halo. DXT is a graphic compression unit, including things like DXT1, DXT3, and DXT5 and such. This is what Halo uses for it's images, and we'll be using Paint.NET to edit the images because it already has built-in support for DXT compressed graphics.

Open up HMT v3.5 and you should get a window that looks like this:

Nothing is loaded, so let's fix that by going to "File" and then "Open" and clicking that. A box should pop up and you'll need to find your Halo: PC maps. The usual directory is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo\MAPS".

First, you should back up your "bitmaps.MAP" by copying and pasting it to a safe location on your hard drive, since that's the file we'll be editing from another .MAP that loads it. Confusing? Just read it over again and it should make sense a little more. Now we'll open the map of your choice in that box. I'm going to use bloodgulch.MAP, just because I personally love Bloodgulch.

After opening your map, you should see a bunch of things load:

The stuff we'll be editing is in the " + [bitm] Bitmap" dropdown box, so expand that. A ton more tags should load. I think I'll edit a weapon's texture, how about the plasma pistol? So scroll down until you find a tag called "weapons\plasma pistol\bitmaps\plasma pistol". In a box to the right, it should load the bitmap.

The texture is 512 pixels by 512 pixels and is in the DXT1 format. It's not a very detailed texture is it? Well, let's see what we can do with it!

Click the "Save Texture" button by the displayed bitmap. A window should pop up, you'll want to save the file to a common location so you can easily find it when editing it. I put it on my desktop, but whatever works for you is fine.

PART 2: Editing in Paint.NET

I've always found Paint.NET a powerful and easy free program. If you know how to edit images, you can use whatever you like, but I will be using Paint.NET. So open Paint.NET and it should look like this:

A plain old, white image is created for us. We want to get our plasma pistol in there! Go to "File" and then click "Open". A box should pop up, and you'll need to find your bitmap.

Ignore the weird weasel/monkey/dog icon from the GIMP. DXT's are set to load up in that program...

Click open. If you're using the plasma pistol bitmap, Paint.NET should look like this:

I'm going to let a video of me editing randomly take over here; I'm sorry if it's sloppy, I just wanted to get done quickly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DBQt_hBkTQ

Alright! After saving the .DDS, you'll want to go back into HMT and by the area where the bitmap is showed, you should see the "Inject Texture" button. Click it, and in the box that pops up find your texture and hit "Open". If it says that the texture is bigger, just continue with the injection. You should see your edited texture load.

You now have your texture inserted in place of the original plasma pistol's! You can edit other bitmaps, but make sure you save it in the original compression (DXT1, DXT3, DXT5 etc.).

TUT BY OZZYCOW54

Edited March 10, 2012 by ozzycow54

[[Iconoclast] 693]

whenever I try to load the map I get a error that says invalid map file. Is this because my maps are from ce?