(SP-MP) BSP Conversions

[Zone 117]

BSP Conversions
Written by Zone 117 of Team Remapped 5/22/07





Stuff Needed:

• Entity 1.3.9
• H2Core and H2Guerilla (H2C/H2G)
• A somewhat general knowledge of Halo 2 modding terms.
• The maps:
  • A campaign map
  • A multiplayer map
  • Mainmenu.map
  • Single_player_shared.map
  • Shared.map
• The Entity BSP Viewer Controls.
  
  Quote: Originally Posted by Zone 117

  BSP Viewer Controls:
  Camera:
  W is go forward.
  A,D is go sideways.
  S is go backwards.
  X is up.
  Z is down.
  Hold right click down to change the angle.
  + increases the camera speed.
  - decreases the camera speed.
  Selecting:
  To make a certain object show, go to edit, then select:
  Collection (for vehicles and weapons).
  Players (for player spawns).
  Scenery (for trees and such).
  Death zones (for deathbarriers).
  Machines (for machs).
  Objectives (for game types).
  Obstacles (for blocs).
  Left click on an object to select it.
  To move objects:
  Left and right arrow is moving the object sideways.
  Up and down arrows move the object forward and backwards.
  Page up and page down move the object up and down.
  To tilt objects:
  Left Click(hold) + shift + move mouse=Tilts Item North/South.
  Left Click(hold) + ctrl + move mouse=Tilts Item Rotates Object.
  Left Click(hold) + alt + move mouse=Tilts Item East/West.

(You have to register on most of those sites above to download. Don't f*cking complain, the creators of those programs spent months and months creating these programs to help you, the least you can do is register at there site... kthx. And the site hosting the maps spends lots of money making sure their server is always up, fast, and reliable.)

Information:

• You need a decent computer for this, H2C really needs a lot of ram. The better the computer, the faster. (Don’t try this on your grandma’s Commodore 64…)
• I've spent a while creating this very detailed tutorial on BSP Conversions fixing the common H2C problems, and finishing up the map with some other stuff.
• This tutorial looks huge, but it's just super nub-friendly, meaning it shows each and every step in detail.
• This takes all together about 30 minutes, depending on how fast you read, how fast you are on computers, and mostly how good you computer is.
• This is a very professional type of mod, if you complete a BSP conversion mod, try out for Team Remapped, you have a pretty good shot at getting in.
• Credit to Detox for being such a pimp and helping me with a lot of my questions about H2C and H2G.

Step 1: Getting Ready

• First off, you need to choose the BSP you want to use.
• Open your favorite campaign map in Entity.
• Go to the SBSP tag, select one.
• Click the blue plus button to the upper right, click "View BSP"
• Use the Entity BSP Viewer controls and look around, see if it's the BSP you want.
• If it isn't the BSP you want, then exit, and select a different BSP tag, then view it.
• When you have found the single player BSP you want to use, make sure you remember it, then close Entity.

Step 2: Extracting the BSP

• Open H2Core.
• Go to "Edit," then "Settings."
• Click browse on "Decompiled Tag Path."
• Select an area to extract your BSP, remember it, hit "OK."
• Select the mainmenu.map, single_player_shared.map, and shared.map, then exit that window.
• Go to "File," then "Open."
• Select your campaign map, click "Open."
• Go to the "SBPS" tagclass, select the BSP you choose in Entity.
• Go to "Meta," then "Decompile," then "Decompile Recursively."
• H2Core is now extracting the BSP to the "Decompiled Tag Path" location you set.
• Depending on your computer, this should take around 2-5 minutes.
• H2Core will display a message box with "Done." after it is completed extracting. Click ok.
• Then go to the "ltmp" (lightmap) tag, select it.
• Go to "Meta," then "Decompile," then "Decompile Recursively."
• H2Core will display a message box with "Done." after it is completed extracting. Click ok.

Step 3: Decompiling the Multiplayer Map

• On H2Core, go to "File," then "Open."
• Select your multiplayer map, hit "Open."
• Go to "Map," then "Decompile."
• H2Core is now decompressing the map to the "Decompiled Tag Path" location you set.
• Depending on your computer, this should take around 5-25 minutes.
• H2Core will display a message box with the amount of time it took to decompile. Click ok.
• Now kick your computer for taking so long, then close H2Core.

Step 4: Adjusting the Multiplayer Map's Scenario

• Open H2Guerilla.
• Go to "File," then "Open."
• Go to the "Decompiled Tag Path" location you set.
• You should see the folder "H2."
• Open it, open the folder "scenarios."
• Open the folder "multi," then the next folder, and then the next folder (if there is another one, it depends on the map.)
• Open the maps ".scenario" file.
• When the new window opens, scroll down to "Structure BSPS."
• Press the plus symbol to extent the options.
• Where is says "BSP Structure" press the "..." button.
• Open the folder "solo," then the folder with the name of the BSP you choose in Entity.
• Open the ".scenario_structure_bsp" file.
• Where it says "Light Map," press the "..." button.
• You should see the ".lightmap" file, if not, it's in the same folder as the ".scenario_structure_bsp" file was in.
• Go to "File," then "Save."
• Good job, now close H2Guerilla.

Step 5: Rebuilding the Map

• Open H2Core.
• Go to "File," then "Open."
• Select your multiplayer map.
• Go to "Map," then "Rebuilder."
• For "Scenario" click the "..." button.
• Go to the "Decompiled Tag Path" location you set.
• You should see the folder "H2."
• Open it, open the folder "scenarios."
• Open the folder "multi," then the next folder, and then the next folder (if there is another one, it depends on the map.)
• Open the maps ".scenario" file.
• Check the following:
  • Scenery
  • Machines
  • Skies (Does not work sometimes.)
  • Obstacles
  • Decals
  • Lights
  • Sounds Scenery
  • DECR
  • Looping Sounds
• Then click "Rebuild."
• Depending on your computer, this should be done between the apocalypse to when hell freezes over.
• When you think it freezes, get out of your chair, get a drink, take a piss, and wait, because it didn't.
• When it's done, it will display a message box saying "Done."
• Click "OK," then kick your computer for taking so long.
• Congrads, the hard parts are over, it's smooth goin' from here, close H2Core.

Step 6: Fixing the BSP Sound Issues

• For some reason, H2Core doesn't transfer BSP sounds correctly, the map ends up freezing, but it's no problem, very simple to fix.
• Open good ol' Entity, go to "File, then "Open."
• Reminder: maps use files from shared, single_player_shared, and mainmenu. So make sure those maps are in the folder your multiplayer map is in.
• Select your multiplayer map, hit "Open."
• Go to the "sbsp" tag.
• Right click the middle box area, "Display," then "Idents."
• At the top of the middle box area, it says "Points to Tag Type."
• Scroll down through the idents until you see an "lsnd" or "snde" tag.
• To the left of it, right click "ident," then "Swap."
• You will see a two drop down boxs, click the down arrow on the left one.
• Scroll all the way down and select "Nulled Out."
• Click "Swap Ident."
• Do this to ALL "lsnd" and "snde" idents.

Step 7: Fixing Player Spawns

• On the "sbsp" tag, click the blue plus button to the right, then "View BSP."
• To the left, click "Edit."
• Check "Player."
• Click "Select All Spawns."
• Look around to see a bunch of red highlighted little spartans.
• Use the Entity BSP Viewer Controls to move the little spartans (the player spawns) to about the center of your new map.
• To the left click "Main," then "Save."
• Now you have to individually select each spawn point (spartan), and move it to a spot on your map.
• Spread them out evenly to your liking, when finished, go to "Main," then "Save."
• Exit the BSP Viewer, at the bottom left of Entity click "Sign."

[ToaD]

Very nice, I just did my first one of these yesterday.

[Zone 117]

Thanks.

[ToaD]

Now if I could just figure out how to get them to work...
They load, but I'm like stuck in a wall.

[XxMoNkEy42xX]

^You have to change the spawns. Zone this is the tutorial you were telling me about? Good Job.

[ToaD]

That's the problem my friend, I don't know how to make a spawn.

[Carbon]

Very Nice Tut. We didn't have any good bsp conversion tutorials on the site. Thanks

[XxMoNkEy42xX]

Post in the entity help thread I'm sure Zone will help you out there. (I don't have the time to help right now. lol)

[AtomicBump]

its easy, move the little MC around on the map.

[samuelterminator]

Im trying this and everything goes fine until I get to decompiling the multiplayer map.
You say it should say "Done" when its finished but I get numbers like"00:01:16:9218750"
and I click "OK" and it goes downhill from there, I get error messages just about every step after that,
and It wont open in BSP viewer at the end.

(the maps are clean and I tried moving the bsp from deltatower to dune then I tried
delta tower to coagulation)

[Zone 117]

What step does it error at?

[samuelterminator]

step 3 where it should say done, it take a long time, like its doing something.
But as I said before I get numbers instead of "Done"

[Carbon]

I got that too. does that mean i just have to use a different bsp?

[XboxPlayer]

Finally its been like a week after you told me =X
Good Job.

[superaison]

H2Guirilla works for halo 2 xbox? or was that guirilla not the official one?

[Zone 117]

Quote: Originally Posted by samuelterminator

step 3 where it should say done, it take a long time, like its doing something.
But as I said before I get numbers instead of "Done"

Quote: Originally Posted by C4RB0N

I got that too. does that mean i just have to use a different bsp?

Decompiling the Multiplayer map has nothing to do with the BSP at that point, just make sure you are using a clean map, and the numbers are the amount of time it took, not an error.

Quote: Originally Posted by superaison

H2Guirilla works for halo 2 xbox? or was that guirilla not the official one?

It's for Halo 2 Xbox.

[samuelterminator]

ok, ignoring the numbers on step 3 , I got to step 7 and I clicked view BSP and I got an unhandled exception.

"Non-negative number required. Parameter name: value"

I have framework 1&2

[Zone 117]

You messed up somewhere along the line. I know it works because I've done it a hundred times before. The process is very delicate. You must do everything exactly right, even then 30% of the time it doesn't work because of some freak error.
Try it again, make sure you thoroughly read through what it says, and make sure you understand why you are doing what it says.

[samuelterminator]

alright, Ill keep trying.
This is f***ing frustrating, I dont know what it is, I have followed your instructions to the letter, I still get that error when try to view the map. And I tried to look at the gondola I wanted to add in the [mach] tag and I got a message saying

"There is a broken ident
Offset:256
Tag type:mach
Tag name:scenarios\objects\solo\deltatemple\gondola\go ndola"

[ToaD]

Make sure you're using the newest Entity.
Download the one he posted.