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How to take HUDless Screens
Posted By: XLNC <hboxlnc@yahoo.com>	Date: 3/3/04 5:51 p.m.
In Response To: Beginner's Guide to Halo PC Hacking *TUT* (XLNC) How to take HUDless screens For this tutorial, you will need: - Xhzjang's no HUD patches - Xhzjang's Halo Font Editor (optional) - Halo Map Tools 3 - PPF-O-Matic 3 - Sheep's Trainer (optional) - BOLL's PC Retail PPFs - Fraps 1.9D - Halo PC, preferrably ver 1.0. This is it. This is the tutorial that all the other were leading upto. I decided to explain all those programs because they are required to take good HUDless screens. This section of the tutorial was once ridiculously long, consisting of several steps you had to go through to make sure you had the least HUD possible. Also, the methods differed for every level since you had more options in the later levels than in the beginning ones. There is no need for any of that anymore. Xhzjang of Halomods.com has created a simple to install HUD removal patch, which removes all HUD from every single level in just one step. I will walk you through step by step how to install it, and once it's installed, I will attempt to give you some insight on what it takes for a good "photo shoot." You will need a good understanding of HMT3 and PPF patches to be able to understand this tutorial. Removing the HUD Inside the .zip file, there should be 21 PPF files, and one readme.txt. Unzip all of them where the rest of your PPFs are. There are three main types of PPFs: 1) nohud_bitmaps.ppf - You need to apply this patch to bitmaps.map. You can only use PPF-O-Matic 3! HHHT 1.3 currently does not support patching bitmaps.map file. This patch removes all HUD from the screen. You will still see text messages such as chat, and items that you pick up. 2) advcam_bitmaps.ppf - This patch gives you an advanced camera mod which makes the Banshee and Master Chief invisible. This enables you to fly around as if you had a free roaming camera. To use, apply patch to bitmaps.map. 3) mplevelname.ppf - In these patches, Xhzjang has created a 1x zoom for the assault rifles, so that they disappear from the screen when you zoom. In my opinion, it's best to have a 0x zoom, but you could apply this patch with the corresponding map for the 1x zoom. I will no show you what I do to remove the weapon from the screen. You will need to use HMT3. - Open up any map in HMT3. - Goto Weapons section. - Pick any weapon that does NOT have zoom already on it, like Assault Rifle. We do this because all zooming weapons have a blur effect when you zoom. - On the right side, you will see Zoom Levels. Set it to 2. - Set Minimum Zoom = 0, and Maximum Zoom = any number you like. I recommend 2. - Click Save. End result should be like this. Now, when you press the zoom key once, the Assault Rifle will disappear from the screen. Zoom again, and you will have pistol-like zoom. I feel this is a lot better than having 1x zoom as your first choice. Removing In-game Chat Text In multiplayer, there is the obnoxious text that seems to have a mind of its own. Xhzjang was also kind enough to create a Font Editor that you can use to change the color, style, size and positioning of the fonts. Of course, we are not interested in all that, we just want it gone. Installation is pretty simple, unzip in any folder. Warning: Before you attempt this, if the changes aren't made properly, Halo will not start up. If this happens, you may have to re-install. If you follow the steps properly, you should be ok. In the program, you can play around with the colors to make it transparent, or you could simply shrink the box area where the chat text is displayed. To do this, follow these simple steps: - Halo Directory: Specify where your main Halo folder is located. Ex: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo. - Now, click Load Data. This will load your current font settings. - Before you make any changes, Backup KSML Files! - Now, select Position Chatbox under Positioning. - You will see a red box, and a blue box. Ignore the blue, we want the red gone. - To remove it, you need to adjust the left most bar so that it's all the way on top. You will be closing the box onto itself, so to speak. - The end result should look like this. - Click Accept. You should be back to the main window. - Click Apply Changes, and Exit. If you have any errors or trouble running Halo, replace the KSML files from the back you made. The modified will be in Halo\CONTENT, and the backups are in Halo\CONTENT\KSMLBackup. The backup files will have a .bak extension on it, remove it and replace the modified ones in the Halo\CONTENT folder. If this doesn't work, reinstalling again should fix the problem. If all goes well, you won't be seeing any "Sniper was betrayed by New001" or "your mom: WTF LAG!" How to take Screenshots There are two options for taking screens in Halo. - Use the built in screenshot feature in Halo. - Third party screenshot software: Fraps 1.9D. To take screenshots in Halo, you will need to make changes in the shortcut to the file. - Right click on the short cut icon and goto properties. - Goto Shortcut Tab. - Add a -screenshot at the end of the Target line. - It should look like this. - Click ok. Now, this enables you to take screens within the game. To take a screen, press the Print Screen key. When you do, the screen will be saved in the Halo\screenshots folder. It will be in Targa (.tga) format, and you will need a good image editing utility to view it. If you are using the trainer, you won't be able to edit the tag line to take screenshots using this method. You will be using the trainer shortcut, not the Halo shortcut. You will need third party screenshot software to take screens. Third Party Screenshot Software: I recently tried Fraps 1.9D upon BOLL's suggestion. It works great: - Takes full 1600x1200 resolution screens. - Does not overwrite files like built in function does. - Can assign any key as the designated screen capture key. I've kept it as Q. - Seems to have less delay taking the screen than the built in feature. It's a winner. Go get it. Tips and Hints for photo shoots. Now that the HUD is completely gone, there are a couple of neat cheats and hacks that allow you to get great screens. I've shared some of the things that help me out here. Flying Master Chief: This cheat gives you essentially a free flying camera. This is necessary for high, overhead shots of the environment. This is particularly useful for maps that don't contain a Banshee. Be aware that the MC does not stop on command, but rather keeps moving in the direction you tell him to. Due to this erratic movement, I do not use this cheat often, but you could if you like. To install this cheat, you need to apply a PPF patch: - Open PPF-O-Matic 3. - Select desired map for the image file to be patched. - Select the appropriate mc_fly.ppf from BOLL's pack. - Click Apply, and you're done. Walk on Walls and Super Jump: Both of these cheats let you move around a lot more with the MC so that you could get a lot better angles. I'll show you what I mean, in the following shot, Walk on Walls and Super Jump made it very easy to get this angle. I made a super jump and walked on the walls to get up top to acquire this great angle for this shot. Makes life very easy. There a couple of ways to turn these cheats on: one using PPF patches, other using HMT3. PPF Method: If you choose to use PPF patches, BOLL has offered walk on walls and super jump patches for all levels in his PPF pack. Apply the map of your choice with the appropriate PPF. For example, if you wanted walk on walls on level Halo = a30.map, this is what you do: - Open PPF-O-Matic 3. - Load a30 for the image file to be patched. - Choose a30_halo-mc_climb.ppf for the patch file. - Click Apply and you're done. Do the same for super jump by applying the super_jump patch. BOLL has offered plenty of height choices, I'd recommend 5x as it is the most useful for shots. Be aware that landing from a 5x jump will kill you if you are not using a trainer. If you are not using a trainer, also apply the no_fall_damage patch to that map. The alternate way to do this is through HMT3. - Open HMT3, and load a30.map. - Goto Bipeds Section. - Select characters\cyborg\cyborg. - You should see two checkboxes: "Walk on Walls," and "No Fall Damage." Check both, Click Save. - Now, we need super jump. Look a little further down, and you will see Jump Height = 0.07. - I recommend changing it to 0.30, as it is the most useful for taking screens. - Click save again. - You're not done yet. Repeat all these steps again with characters\cyborg\cyborg_unarmed. Once you're done, that window should look like this: Object swapping: Say you want to take some screens of a warthog. Rather than going around the level and collecting them one by one, you could swap one of the bullets for the vehicle instead. You can use this method for anything that you are planning to take screens of. Keep in mind, if you swap characters with bullets, they don't come with AI. Which means, they'll stand still, or in the Grunt's case..fall asleep. Follow the Projectile <-> Object tutorial in the HMT3 section, to have the pistol shoot Warthogs. Pistol bullets are your safest bet since no one else in the level uses them, so your level won't be filled with Hogs. In the shot below, I used super jump to get up top and shoot out a new hog, rather than do a grenade jump to get up there. Super Crouch: Super crouch enables you to do just that, get a lot closer to the ground by crouching. This is what I used to get angles like in the shots below. Kind of makes the shot a bit more fancy looking, doesn't it? To do this, there is again two different ways: PPF patch and HMT3. PPFs, Just as before: - Select a map in PPF-O-Matic3 - Select the appropriate super_crouch.ppf file - Apply. HMT3: - Open desired map in HMT3. - Goto Bipeds Section. - Select characters\cyborg\cyborg - Change Crouching Height to something less than 0.1. Your choice. - Save. - Repeat again with characters\cyborg\cyborg_unarmed. Invisibilty: Sometimes it's best to be unnoticed so that you can take screens without being shot at. You can use Infinite Invisibilty from the trainer, or hack the map to provide your self with a Active Camo whenever you need it. You can swap a certain projectile to shoot out Active Camos. I recommend a grenade type to be replaced. To do this, follow the Projectile <-> Object swap tutorial in HMT3. - Load map in HMT3. - Goto Equipments Section. Locate powerups\active camoflauge - Copy its offset value. - Goto Projectiles Section. Locate weapons\plasma grenade\plasma grenade - Paste camo's offset value on top of plasma's offset. - Save. Freeze Universe: Here is my savior for great screens in single player. Very often, you'll see a nice action shot happening with marines and enemies, but it might be at a distance or at an odd angle. The Freeze Universe cheat, part of Outcast's trainer, allows you to pause all characters, bullets, and objects, so that you can move around and find the best angle. This cheat is very easy to use once you have the trainer installed. Simply press K during the game to freeze universe, and L to unfreeze. Unfortunately, you cannot use this feature in Multiplayer since this trainer needs Halo PC ver. 1.0 to run, while to play online you need the latest version. Vertical Limits Ammo: This is another cool feature from the trainer that sends any object(trees, rocks, vehicles, characters, loose objects) very high into the air when you shoot at it. Why is this so cool you ask? Many times you have extra enemies in the background, ruining a shot. Or, maybe you don't want that tree in the middle blocking the view. To use this feature, simply Freeze Universe first by pressing K, then press "7" to enable Vertical Limits Ammo. Shoot the object don't need, look up, it should be high in the air. Shoot it again to move it further up into the air. That's all I can think of for now. Now, when someone comes to the forum requesting screens of this and that, you can refer them to this post. :) [/HUDless Tutorial]

Message Index

Beginner's Guide to Halo PC Hacking *TUT*	XLNC	3/3/04 5:49 p.m.
PPF Patches	XLNC	3/3/04 5:49 p.m.
Re: PPF Patches	L3FTY	3/3/04 10:00 p.m.
Re: PPF Patches	XLNC	3/3/04 10:16 p.m.
Re: PPF Patches	L3FTY	3/4/04 9:48 p.m.
Re: PPF Patches	L3FTY	3/4/04 11:01 p.m.
Need Help	K-Twizzy	3/27/04 1:18 p.m.
Re: Need Help	halofan141	3/27/04 1:25 p.m.
Halo Map Tools 3	XLNC	3/3/04 5:50 p.m.
Question	Neo-genesis	3/3/04 7:00 p.m.
Re: Question	XLNC	3/3/04 7:26 p.m.
And a problem	Neo-genesis	3/3/04 7:31 p.m.
Call me stupid, but...	Pico	3/3/04 8:06 p.m.
Re: Call me stupid, but...	XLNC	3/3/04 9:32 p.m.
Trainer	XLNC	3/3/04 5:50 p.m.
How to take HUDless Screens	XLNC	3/3/04 5:51 p.m.
I'm Impressed *NM*	Silvergrunt	3/3/04 9:19 p.m.
Credits	XLNC	3/3/04 5:51 p.m.
:)) I'm looking forward to some serious hacking! *NM*	'Nosolee	3/3/04 6:21 p.m.
Very nice, thanks! *NM*	Dr. Nick	3/3/04 7:35 p.m.