The Mothergoat Conversion Project Options

[BobInDaShadows]

I believe he mentioned that the process is not exactly "easy", nor very friendly. Complex and painful processes are also extremely difficult to set down on paper in a way that people could follow a tutorial and not swamp the author with a bajillion questions about.

But I would be curious as to the number of steps and the apps involved in performing the task and whether or not it involves the sacrifice of a small electronic device to the great digital gawds...

The first CE convert took 3 weeks of research, experimentation, about a dozen little realbasic programs (since it's really easy to handle little endian with RB). The final map had a lot of bitmap issues.

I then learned something by mistake that changed everything. Namely, Mac Halo already supports xbox-style bitmaps and sounds. CE maps store the custom bitmaps and sounds made by the map creator as xbox bitmaps and sounds.

As a result, converting a map now takes 45 minutes. Fixing the UI and strings takes about 15 minutes. Making the bitmaps.ppf and ui.ppf patches takes about 30 minutes. However if I really sat down and tried to work fast I could probably cut the time in half, I usually work while talking on AIM or watching TV.

I use the following programs:
C#MT for doing the entire port. I don't use any other programs until the map will load in mac halo. (this is that map rebuilder i gave out, a modified version)
HMT for looking up meta addresses and injecting in the new bitmap
HexEditor for fixing vehicle name strings
HexEdit for changing map name + data string in the ui.map and ported map
SubEthaEdit for modifying xml but any text editor works
BBEdit for using the "Add from list" feature, but any text editor works
GraphicConverter for making the new bitmaps and masks

I convert on a Dual 2.0 Ghz G5, 1 GB DDR, 9600. These are 100% pure mac mods, no PC or Virtual PC use.

[Boardndave]

actuly dmk ive never played coldsnap due to my ignorent firend not wanting to have it on his pc..

You said you had a PC, liar.

[durandal]

The first CE convert took 3 weeks of research, experimentation, about a dozen little realbasic programs (since it's really easy to handle little endian with RB). The final map had a lot of bitmap issues.

I then learned something by mistake that changed everything. Namely, Mac Halo already supports xbox-style bitmaps and sounds. CE maps store the custom bitmaps and sounds made by the map creator as xbox bitmaps and sounds.

As a result, converting a map now takes 45 minutes. Fixing the UI and strings takes about 15 minutes. Making the bitmaps.ppf and ui.ppf patches takes about 30 minutes. However if I really sat down and tried to work fast I could probably cut the time in half, I usually work while talking on AIM or watching TV.

I use the following programs:
C#MT for doing the entire port. I don't use any other programs until the map will load in mac halo. (this is that map rebuilder i gave out, a modified version)
HMT for looking up meta addresses and injecting in the new bitmap
HexEditor for fixing vehicle name strings
HexEdit for changing map name + data string in the ui.map and ported map
SubEthaEdit for modifying xml but any text editor works
BBEdit for using the "Add from list" feature, but any text editor works
GraphicConverter for making the new bitmaps and masks

I convert on a Dual 2.0 Ghz G5, 1 GB DDR, 9600. These are 100% pure mac mods, no PC or Virtual PC use.

Thanks. So to summarize and paraphrase: All the neat bits are in a common format. So you need to import/inject the neato stuff into your base map and then polish the result to taste by changing names as needed and dolling up the bitmaps etc.


Does that cover the high spots?

[shadowkhas]

Quote.

Alright, awesome. Now that there will be more maps being converted, we should probably coordinate certain "map packs" that would be used, so that maps by, say, the same author won't overwrite each other.

But I'm also getting ahead of myself, let's wait for when there's a lot more maps coming out. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[BobInDaShadows]

Thanks. So to summarize and paraphrase: All the neat bits are in a common format. So you need to import/inject the neato stuff into your base map and then polish the result to taste by changing names as needed and dolling up the bitmaps etc.
Does that cover the high spots?

Well it's wrong, but it's close. I don't "import/inject the neato stuff into a base map", i rebuild a bunch of tags into the original map. The nature of map rebuilding takes care of all the differences in the CE format.

[Shadow]

*twitch* Solitude... I...love you

[durandal]

Well it's wrong, but it's close. I don't "import/inject the neato stuff into a base map", i rebuild a bunch of tags into the original map. The nature of map rebuilding takes care of all the differences in the CE format.

hmmm... Now I am wondering how you get the new tags into the map..perhaps you are using rebuilding in the way I was using importing.. no matter it gave me the jist of the operation which is what I requested.

[BobInDaShadows]

hmmm... Now I am wondering how you get the new tags into the map..perhaps you are using rebuilding in the way I was using importing.. no matter it gave me the jist of the operation which is what I requested.

In theory HHK could be used to convert CE to Mac. However you would have to fix several hundred 1-character values that happen to get fixed as a side effect of hexing. You would also have to extract several hundred metas from single player and multiplayer maps and import them to the map one-by-one. I just converted Corrupted in 12 minutes using my map rebuilder. That method would take a very, very long time.

[durandal]

In theory HHK could be used to convert CE to Mac. However you would have to fix several hundred 1-character values that happen to get fixed as a side effect of hexing. You would also have to extract several hundred metas from single player and multiplayer maps and import them to the map one-by-one. I just converted Corrupted in 12 minutes using my map rebuilder. That method would take a very, very long time.

okay.. so that is what the batch and add from list buttons are used for in part?

[BobInDaShadows]

okay.. so that is what the batch and add from list buttons are used for in part?

Yes, and custom modifications I've done since i released the code.

[Brevity]

In theory HHK could be used to convert CE to Mac. However you would have to fix several hundred 1-character values that happen to get fixed as a side effect of hexing. You would also have to extract several hundred metas from single player and multiplayer maps and import them to the map one-by-one. I just converted Corrupted in 12 minutes using my map rebuilder. That method would take a very, very long time.

You converted Corrupted in just 12 minutes???? HHK can be used to convert CE to Mac???? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) *shakes himself out of shock* Thanks for converting these last two maps!! They're great, too!

[BobInDaShadows]

You converted Corrupted in just 12 minutes???? HHK can be used to convert CE to Mac???? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) *shakes himself out of shock* Thanks for converting these last two maps!! They're great, too!

I've gotten very good, plus Corrupted is a very small map, with a very low tag count, so I didn't spend much time looking for tags to rebuild into it. And actually HHK might not be able to convert without some modification.

P.S. by converted in 12 minutes, I mean the map opened in halo after 12 minutes. Making ui.ppf and bitmaps.ppf files takes an additional 10 focused minutes or so.

[erivkarahna]

awsome im still thinking of all the things you did with the tools to convert the map also
boardndave i have a pc also it has a crappy vid card that wont support halo

[Pooploaf13]

can some one plz make this filefront links or savefile.com? cause i cant veiw halomods links ...forever.....

[DMK447]

can some one plz make this filefront links or savefile.com? cause i cant veiw halomods links ...forever.....

Lolbant, mb?