This page is incomplete! You can contribute information using GitHub issues or pull requests.
Welcome to the guides hub! Here you'll find links to various guides ranging from basic map-making to more advanced topics. This hub is a work in progress and will grow over time. Until it is more complete, we recommend the official HEK tutorial as a starting point.
External tutorials list
The content of these external tutorials has not been vetted and they may contain outdated information. Always use the latest available versions of any tools used to get the benefits of bug fixes since the tutorial was made. Please report any dead links encountered.
Beginner
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Halo CE MCC: Mod Tools Tutorials #1 - Starting With The Basics | A guide to setting up and getting started with the H1A-EK. | RXK1NG | 2021 | |
How to easily share tags/assets | gbMichelle | 2019 | ||
Mo's Halo tutorials | A set of tutorials on how to mod with the legacy Halo Editing Kit for H1CE and the MEK. | MosesOfEgypt | 2019 |
Level creation
See also the Blender level guide here on c20.
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BSP errors explanation | An image illustrating common geometry errors encountered during structure compilation. | ? | ? | |
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 | |
Saving space by making portals fully coplanar | How to stay under the BSP portal limit by optimizing the amount of data Halo needs to store them. | MosesofEgypt | 2014 | |
Custom lighting in 3ds Max using Aether (video version) | A slightly less detailed 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 |
AI and scripting
See also the scripting information here on c20.
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Halo CE campaign scripts | With these you can see how Bungie scripted things, if you want to compile them in a scenario though you'll have to rename their extension to .hsc. | Z-team | N/A | |
Scripting tutorial | A deep dive into the value types, control flow, and script types of HaloScript. | Nickster5000 | 2017 | |
Dropship tutorial - custom animations | A tutorial that teaches you very basic animation, combined with how you can make a dropship fly into the level without having it use a recording of you flying it in. Also teaches you how to load a dropship with enemies and how to make it open and close it's doors. | MattDratt | 2016 | |
Using TSC:E and SPV3 scripting features in your own map | A tutorial that goes over a lot of things to help you set up the TSC:E abilities and vehicle scripts. | FtDSpartn | 2015 | |
OpenSauce scripting interfaces | Describes the scripting capabilities special to OpenSauce. | The OpenSauce Team | 2015 | |
Making Marine AI more agressive and useful | Allowing Marines to fire more aggressively at close range. | Rododo | 2014 | |
AI that follow the player | A tutorial that teaches you how to set up AI that follow you. You'll also learn how to make firing positions and some basic scripting to make it work. | MattDratt | 2014 | |
Setting up a singleplayer map and scripts | This is a starting tutorial for those who are getting into SP mapping for Halo: Custom Edition. | MattDratt | 2013 | |
A few scripting tutorials | A few tutorials by the person considered the master of CE scripting. | Kirby_422 | 2012 |
UI and HUD
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Create basic lineart from photos | A tutorial covering how to make lineart for HUD weapons. | Melissa Evans | ? | |
Scope masks | This video will demonstrate the rules and settings applicable to scope masks used with zoomable weapons. | Jesse | 2019 | |
UI Overview | A simple overview to get you started with making menus and such. | Giraffe | 2015 | |
Custom Reticle tutorial | A simple tutorial explaining how to make a custom reticle for your weapon. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
HUD tutorial | A tutorial that covers a lot of the basics about creating a HUD for Halo CE. While this covers a lot, it does not cover everything. | Jesse | 2010 |
Objects (bipeds, vehicles, scenery, weapons, etc)
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
LODs | A short and simple tutorial on how to import LODs (level of detail models) into CE. | aLTis94 | 2016 | |
Physics/vehicle tutorial | Explains how to make physics tags for vehicles in Halo CE. | aLTis94 | 2015 | |
Scenery tutorial | A basic tutorial covering how to create a static scenery piece. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
Custom FP arm rig tutorial | Similar to the Custom Character tutorial, but specifically for custom FP arm rigs. This is not a tutorial for an animation/IK rig, check the animation section for that. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
Custom character tutorial | A playlist of 3 videos where Yoda skins, imports and makes a model work as a character in CE. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
Custom projectile tutorial | A simple tutorial on how to make a projectile for your weapon in CE. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
Custom weapons tutorial | A playlist of 29 videos where Yoda models and makes a weapon fully functional in Halo CE. | Yoda73811 | 2012 |
Animation
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dropship tutorial - custom animations | A tutorial that teaches you very basic animation, combined with how you can make a dropship fly into the level without having it use a recording of you flying it in. Also teaches you how to load a dropship with enemies and how to make it open and close it's doors. | MattDratt | 2016 | |
About animation types | A little explanation on how certain animation types were used in TSC:E | t3h lag | 2013 | |
Recorded animations tutorial | Tutorial for recording you playing the game for stuff like cutscenes. | {NP} Final | 2012 | |
Automatic forearm Twist | A technique to automatically rotate forearms when animating wrists. | ImBrokeRU | 2012 | |
Link constraints in a reload animation | Helps you get to know more about link constraints, a technique to animate multiple bones together for the duration of their movement together. | ImBrokeRU | 2012 | |
t3h lag's FP animation tutorials | A playlist of multiple tutorials which should get you to know all the basics of first person animation. | t3h lag | 2010 | |
IK controllers for FP arms | A tutorial on how to set up simple IKs for the halo FP arms. | t3h lag | 2010 | |
Animation export types | Helps you export animations with the right file type. | CtrlAltDestroy | 2009 | |
Third person overlay name and frame schemes | Useful for setting up vehicles that have turrets or completely custom bipeds that need new aiming overlays. | Advancebo | 2009 |
Effects
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Custom muzzle flash tutorial | This tutorial covers how to get a custom muzzle flash into halo custom edition. It does not cover the creation of the bitmap itself. | Yoda73811 | 2013 | |
Creating a custom muzzle flash bitmap | This tutorial is how to create a custom muzzle flash, or anything else that can be applied to this. | Advancebo | 2009 |
Other
Name | Description | Author(s) | Last updated | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Colorchange mask explanation GIF | An animated representation of how color change with shader_ | Giraffe | ? | |
Aim assist explanation | An explanation about how aim assist in Halo CE works. | t3h m00kz | ? | |
World units explanation | An explanation of the size of world units and their equivalents. | Ki11erFTW | ? | |
Shader transparent rundown | An extensive explanation of how shader_ | MosesOfEgypt | 2019 | |
Halo CE bitmap compression | Statistics and tips for people who want to get the most out of their bitmaps. | gbMichelle | 2017 | |
Tag manipulation in SAPP | How to edit tags in SAPP, the dedicated server mod. | 002 | 2016 |
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following individuals for their research or contributions to this topic:
- gbMichelle (Gathering the list of external tutorials, originally on halocetutorials.tk)