V2 of Reach Classic Sandbox is now out! Featuring an even greater Emphasis on playing like Combat Evolved, there is an included soundpack and now it offers full campaign coverage including Lone Wolf! Full Changelog is in the readme.
Are the maps supposed to be on workshop? I don't see them there and the file description on here says "Steam Workshop installation of Reach - Classic Sandbox V3"
This mod's very promising and I like the concept of making Reach more like the superior Halo game: CE - Too bad I'm not able to play it :D Tried everything thrice; followed every provided instruction down to a Tee, even ignoring the Assembly's update. I know I suck when it comes to moderating something that's as technical as this mod's installation, but it would be nice to provide the files that should already be converted into map files, like every other mod. Idk, I suck, but I can't say I wasn't thorough on trying to get this mod working.
Yeah. For the final version (2.5 I'll prolly call it) I'm gonna include Firefight. After that, I can't see myself working on it any further, not until we see more powerful mod tools anyway. (hopefully from 343)
My main issues are the limited sound editing and ease (or lack of) editing scripted events on maps. I didn't originally want to remove Noble Team entirely, but rather replace them with killable marines, similar to other Halo games; but the Noble Team invulnerability is hard-coded into the map scripts, so I can't do much about them. You also can't implement sounds longer than what's in the base game, which caused me trouble with vehicle sound loops and the shield recharge sound (from CE) that I was trying to implement.
But yeah, the Plasma Rifle is a shader edit. You need to take the shell shader for the PR and set the "asset datum" to -1, which nulls the reference. Doing this allows you to edit the rifle. You'll still need to duplicate the shaders as they still use inheritence, so editing the Plasma Rifle will change the Pistol and Repeater from what I remember.
Don't do it by trial and error buddy, the youtube link I sent before explains how the arguments work. 9 is the specular tint shader (which controls specular lighting). 10 is the fresnel colour, which controls minor colours. and 20 is the environmental tint shader, which controls how the environment affects the weapon.
These can be at different argument numbers for each weapon, but you need to actually look for them in the base shader template that these shaders inherit from; its in the YouTube video I posted before. :)
As said before, you will also need to set the asset datum to -1 when editing the Plasma Rifle as otherwise it wont work. It might also be worth checking that you have the most up to date version of Assembly, as that has some bug fixes though I don't think they're related to shaders; the references for different objects has been fixed in some cases.
For some reason, after patching each of the map files as the installation guide says, nothing seems to have changed about the campaign. Any Idea as to why that could be?
I believe this -might- be down to accidentally setting it to the "stable" update after installation? Rather than Dev. (Of Assembly) When you download the version of Assembly I gave (for Reach PC) it instantly asks you to update to a (incorrect) more recent version, though its not actually more recent, as the developer build that I linked is. Basically you need to ignore that message after installing Assembly, else you end up with a 2016 build that can't patch maps correctly.
My friend did this by accident when playtesting the mod so I assume its probably the same cause.
The new version of Classic Sandbox that's coming, V2, will use a version of Assembly released recently that no longer asks to be updated, fixing that issue. (And you have to use the new version as otherwise the new changes wont work)
Unfortunately buddy I can't right now. The data / tag changes are independent for each mission, so I'd have to go back and change every mission which would be pretty tedious.
It might be something I do in the future, but its not on my priority list atm. :)
for multiplayer at least? the extra space on the right would be cozy enough and handy, as well as just help the game feel more nostalgic and not a separate reality from CE. it'd go a long way if i could just use the weapon placements on and on in gametypes like forge and zombies
Sadly no, for the most part. EAC is a bit of a jerk towards viewmodel mods as it has no way of distinguishing between full-blown tag editing and the viewmodel position; so it'll detect the maps and prevent you from joining.
It would work on custom games and forge, but you wouldn't have access to the regular matchmaking system and would have to rely on friends.
I've got a HUGE update coming soon to the mod which probably makes Reach the closest to CE as its ever been, but I'm still working on things currently. There's a full sound overhaul, more graphical changes and I was looking at trying to replace the Focus Rifle with the Beam Rifle, but I'm not sure how to go about it yet.
Fantastic mod! I just finished playing through the campaign a second time with it, and I'll definitely recommend it to some friends of mine. One question though: Are you planning on altering the HUD count for the Assault Rifle? Small QoL thing, I know, but it keeps bugging me that the HUD counter for the AR doesn't match the display counter for it
For the AR, that's a known issue that does kinda bother me too. The HUD as far as I know is texture based, but I will have a look into making the ammo counter bigger if its possible. Its why I generally tried to avoid editing clip sizes of weapons, the AR was just unavoidable because of wanting to replicate the CE Assault Rifle behaviour. :)
V2 will attempt to address several points, I'm currently trying to figure out how to make Noble Team vulnerable to being killed, as I'd like to replace their models with Marines or ODST's for certain missions (but still have voices ofc), just to give you a more "Combat Evolved" lone wolf feel.
Awesome! Would really love it if there was some way to get rid of the AI teammates or have them hold back instead of running forward and getting into fights while I'm trying to find ammo... I really dislike how it's so busy and chaotic with AI teammates in Reach that I can't focus on or control the battle like in CE.
Yup. I'm currently working on a version 2. (Had a bit of a break as I manage another mod for an older game, so I went back to working on that for a while)
V2 will see a range of changes to make it feel even more like CE, and you bring up an excellent point. Sometimes the members of Noble Team can literally do everything for you... which honestly can make the gameplay seem lackluster. I'd -personally- like to remove Noble altogether (where possible, and excepting missions like Nightfall etc where you only have one AI teammate) and just have you and marines start each mission, but I'll see where I go with that. I've figured out how to make shader changes, so I've been recoloring guns to be like their CE models. I still wanna do something with the DMR as I still feel its too strong and reliable, despite the fact that I've nerfed it technically. :S
So yeah, lotta things that I still want to do. I'll see into doing something similar to what you ask in the next version. ;)
This is awesome! Planning on playing it right now!
Anyway, i'm working on a mod too (A Multiplayer one) ad i would love to know how you edited the viewpoint of the weapons, since i still can't do it myself :c
Hi buddy. :) To edit the viewpoints of the weapon models, simply type in the weapon you want to edit in the search, go to the .weap tag for the weapon, and scroll down right to the very bottom. You'll see a set of 3 tags, called: First Person Weapon Offset I: 0 First Person Weapon Offset J: 0 First Person Weapon Offset K: 0 Note that the tags might have a different number than 0, depending on the gun. Basically, I, J and K edit the X, Y and Z axis position of the gun (and your spartan hands), you'll have to find out through trial and error which one does what for each gun I found, as though I do have a "universal" set of numbers I used for most of the guns (for the CE viewmodels) some guns this didn't work for. (Mainly the sniper rifle, Magnum, Plasma Rifle and repeater).
The general one though that I used which works for mostly all weapons except the ones mentioned above is: I = 0.03 J = 0.01 K = -0.02 Which puts most guns into a position not unlike what you'd see in Combat Evolved. :)
You need to edit the ones and tens colour glow value argument of the DMR shader, which is an rmsh tag. The only problem with this is you pretty much have to duplicate shaders for other guns (for example, the assault rifle) and apply the duplicated versions to the model, because otherwise the AR will use the same shader values as the DMR and both look identical. The reason for this is due to the fact that shaders use inheritance in some cases, so editing the DMR will change the colours of the Assault Rifle too.
Its kinda a headache, but there's a video a guy made that explains how shaders work in relation to textures, so you can edit them yourself. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpPLQ1JOBAs At around the 9 minute mark is a basic explanation of shaders.
Also, bear in mind that if you decide to delve into it, currently some of the shaders are actually broken. For instance, sadly you can't currently change the colour of the actual gun mesh, like you can on the Xbox 360. I hear this is being worked on / is a known bug though so hopefully it'll be fixed at some point.
This is like the only campaign overhaul that actually not only has most of its features implemented but playable on basically all levels. Will definitely try it out
Yup. ^^ My mod is probably a bit simpler in scope compared to the other Overhauls, but I just really love the feel of Halo CE; been working like a madman since I got Assembly working. Next update I hope to be able to recreate the "floaty" feel of the physics in CE and also rebalance any of the weapons if anyone has complaints, I don't plan on adding any other Halo features (like those from Halo 2-3); but I do plan on attemping to create a CE-styled Overhaul to each game in the franchise as they release... so kinda like a series. (except for Combat Evolved itself) The hardest to create will likely be Halo 2, kinda dreading working on that game. :P
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Featuring an even greater Emphasis on playing like Combat Evolved, there is an included soundpack and now it offers full campaign coverage including Lone Wolf!
Full Changelog is in the readme.
The URL link in the audio replacement download just leads to an error page.
Confused Travolta.gif
Tried everything thrice; followed every provided instruction down to a Tee, even ignoring the Assembly's update. I know I suck when it comes to moderating something that's as technical as this mod's installation, but it would be nice to provide the files that should already be converted into map files, like every other mod. Idk, I suck, but I can't say I wasn't thorough on trying to get this mod working.
Btw, how dod you change the color with the Plasma Rifle? I guess you have to change a shader, correct?
After that, I can't see myself working on it any further, not until we see more powerful mod tools anyway. (hopefully from 343)
My main issues are the limited sound editing and ease (or lack of) editing scripted events on maps. I didn't originally want to remove Noble Team entirely, but rather replace them with killable marines, similar to other Halo games; but the Noble Team invulnerability is hard-coded into the map scripts, so I can't do much about them. You also can't implement sounds longer than what's in the base game, which caused me trouble with vehicle sound loops and the shield recharge sound (from CE) that I was trying to implement.
But yeah, the Plasma Rifle is a shader edit. You need to take the shell shader for the PR and set the "asset datum" to -1, which nulls the reference.
Doing this allows you to edit the rifle. You'll still need to duplicate the shaders as they still use inheritence, so editing the Plasma Rifle will change the Pistol and Repeater from what I remember.
PS: I tried editing all of them and i see no change at all, are you sure that's the right way to edit shaders? D: What am i doing wrong?
9 is the specular tint shader (which controls specular lighting).
10 is the fresnel colour, which controls minor colours.
and 20 is the environmental tint shader, which controls how the environment affects the weapon.
These can be at different argument numbers for each weapon, but you need to actually look for them in the base shader template that these shaders inherit from; its in the YouTube video I posted before. :)
As said before, you will also need to set the asset datum to -1 when editing the Plasma Rifle as otherwise it wont work. It might also be worth checking that you have the most up to date version of Assembly, as that has some bug fixes though I don't think they're related to shaders; the references for different objects has been fixed in some cases.
When you download the version of Assembly I gave (for Reach PC) it instantly asks you to update to a (incorrect) more recent version, though its not actually more recent, as the developer build that I linked is. Basically you need to ignore that message after installing Assembly, else you end up with a 2016 build that can't patch maps correctly.
My friend did this by accident when playtesting the mod so I assume its probably the same cause.
The new version of Classic Sandbox that's coming, V2, will use a version of Assembly released recently that no longer asks to be updated, fixing that issue. (And you have to use the new version as otherwise the new changes wont work)
It might be something I do in the future, but its not on my priority list atm. :)
It would work on custom games and forge, but you wouldn't have access to the regular matchmaking system and would have to rely on friends.
I've got a HUGE update coming soon to the mod which probably makes Reach the closest to CE as its ever been, but I'm still working on things currently. There's a full sound overhaul, more graphical changes and I was looking at trying to replace the Focus Rifle with the Beam Rifle, but I'm not sure how to go about it yet.
Its why I generally tried to avoid editing clip sizes of weapons, the AR was just unavoidable because of wanting to replicate the CE Assault Rifle behaviour. :)
V2 will attempt to address several points, I'm currently trying to figure out how to make Noble Team vulnerable to being killed, as I'd like to replace their models with Marines or ODST's for certain missions (but still have voices ofc), just to give you a more "Combat Evolved" lone wolf feel.
V2 will see a range of changes to make it feel even more like CE, and you bring up an excellent point. Sometimes the members of Noble Team can literally do everything for you... which honestly can make the gameplay seem lackluster. I'd -personally- like to remove Noble altogether (where possible, and excepting missions like Nightfall etc where you only have one AI teammate) and just have you and marines start each mission, but I'll see where I go with that.
I've figured out how to make shader changes, so I've been recoloring guns to be like their CE models. I still wanna do something with the DMR as I still feel its too strong and reliable, despite the fact that I've nerfed it technically. :S
So yeah, lotta things that I still want to do. I'll see into doing something similar to what you ask in the next version. ;)
Anyway, i'm working on a mod too (A Multiplayer one) ad i would love to know how you edited the viewpoint of the weapons, since i still can't do it myself :c
To edit the viewpoints of the weapon models, simply type in the weapon you want to edit in the search, go to the .weap tag for the weapon, and scroll down right to the very bottom.
You'll see a set of 3 tags, called:
First Person Weapon Offset I: 0
First Person Weapon Offset J: 0
First Person Weapon Offset K: 0
Note that the tags might have a different number than 0, depending on the gun.
Basically, I, J and K edit the X, Y and Z axis position of the gun (and your spartan hands), you'll have to find out through trial and error which one does what for each gun I found, as though I do have a "universal" set of numbers I used for most of the guns (for the CE viewmodels) some guns this didn't work for. (Mainly the sniper rifle, Magnum, Plasma Rifle and repeater).
The general one though that I used which works for mostly all weapons except the ones mentioned above is:
I = 0.03
J = 0.01
K = -0.02
Which puts most guns into a position not unlike what you'd see in Combat Evolved. :)
Enjoy. ^^
PS: Sorry to bother you again, but for the DMR ammo counter? How did you change his color?
The only problem with this is you pretty much have to duplicate shaders for other guns (for example, the assault rifle) and apply the duplicated versions to the model, because otherwise the AR will use the same shader values as the DMR and both look identical.
The reason for this is due to the fact that shaders use inheritance in some cases, so editing the DMR will change the colours of the Assault Rifle too.
Its kinda a headache, but there's a video a guy made that explains how shaders work in relation to textures, so you can edit them yourself. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpPLQ1JOBAs
At around the 9 minute mark is a basic explanation of shaders.
Also, bear in mind that if you decide to delve into it, currently some of the shaders are actually broken. For instance, sadly you can't currently change the colour of the actual gun mesh, like you can on the Xbox 360. I hear this is being worked on / is a known bug though so hopefully it'll be fixed at some point.
Will definitely try it out
My mod is probably a bit simpler in scope compared to the other Overhauls, but I just really love the feel of Halo CE; been working like a madman since I got Assembly working.
Next update I hope to be able to recreate the "floaty" feel of the physics in CE and also rebalance any of the weapons if anyone has complaints, I don't plan on adding any other Halo features (like those from Halo 2-3); but I do plan on attemping to create a CE-styled Overhaul to each game in the franchise as they release... so kinda like a series. (except for Combat Evolved itself) The hardest to create will likely be Halo 2, kinda dreading working on that game. :P