Hey guys. I wasn't sure if this was the right forum to talk about modding Halo 2. I assumed since it was named "Software" forum, Halo 2 is considered software, and my topic is related to modding, I guess I'll post here. If this gets moved, no worries! lol
Ok, so here's my problem:
I'm modding Coagulation, and I have "skinned" the moon. In other words, I replaced the moon in the sky with a picture of Saturn instead.
So, I installed the latest DDS plugin for Photoshop from NVidia.com. Then, I load up the picture of the moon I exported from DotHalo into Photoshop. That was easy as cake.
I easily replaced the moon picture with the saturn picture (I simply resized the saturn picture with the same dimensions as the moon picture, then pasted over it.) Then I go to save it as the proper DDS format. In DotHalo, the original moon picture was in DXT4/DXT5. So, I go to save it as a DXT5.
Then I reopen DotHalo and inject the picture back. Problem is, I see the picture of Saturn in the window is a bit cut off (the edges of the rings on two ends are cut off). I ignored it, thinking the window couldn't display the image fully. So, I go through the process of changing the signature, Encrypting it, ect.
So, I FTP it and load up the map. Sure enough, I see that a lot of other skinned items I skinned where there (The Halo was a cool glowing magenta color, and the sky was completely black with stormy clouds and red stars). I then looked up at the sky and saw Saturn, but the rings were still cut off, just as they were in the window in DotHalo! I was completely frustrated.
I thought the picture should have been saved in DXT4, perhaps to make it more clear and fit the constraints I set it in. Then I tried to save it in DXT4, but apparently DXT4 was not a save option. Here is a snapshot to show you what I mean:
(The picture seems small, but there are two Moons in Coagulation, as this happens to be the smaller one. The same cut-off thing happened when I resized the Saturn picture bigger to match the dimensions of the large Moon in the sky.)
Any explanation? Perhaps I need to find a different picture of Saturn or something. I don't get it though: I set the dimensions exactly the same as the Moon picture...
well from i have learned in modding is the halo game dds tag has more than one file in it your just opening the first file for the moon you might need to go to the other files in the moons tag and play around with them
