Any help in general appreciated...

[Blood Elf]

Hi everyone. I am a long time game player, but I know nothing about modding. I would really love to be able to create a mod, but I really have no clue where to start. I understand that it can take enormous amounts of hard work and effort to make one happen, and I'm not saying that I'd be able to make one so easily. It would probably take me a long time to figure out even the basics. But I would like to try, or at least get my hands dirty because that's been one of my dreams since I was pretty young (making videogames). If anyone has any advice, like good points to start at or if anyone could direct me to any, I would very much appreciate it. And since Christmas is coming around, are there any types of programs that one could purchase to help with making a HL mod? Thank you for reading

 

[SilentKilla]

I see no one replied. Your best bet might be to start off using Maya or Blender, modeling studios. Once you learn how to do that, you could mod simple things, such as weapons, players, stuff like that. Mapping would be another good place to begin. HL2 gives you the tools you need to do that with. If you open Hammer you can start there, or find some tutorials online. Good luck. I'll leave the rest to the best :naughty:

 

[Blood Elf]

Hi Killa,

Well, I hope it's just too early for some people to reply, hehe. Thanks for the advice. Maya and Blender. I'll start reading about these...

 

[Tyguy]

I suggest learn how to map first....then model.....they are all related in a way....right now Im trying to make a "good" map and for a beginner, its pretty hard...but if you really wanna do this stuff, it takes alot of patience.....

 

[Dan]

i'd say the easiest is map and texture first, then modeling/skinning, then coding although you don't necessarily need to know how to code to make a sp mod, and most people working on mods can't do all 3

 

[Cunbelin]

Easiest is a relative term for every single person. If you have experience in any of the main fields of mod work modeling, mapping or coding, it's probably best to focus on what you know. I think if you want to learn how to mod, HL2 is a fairly difficult engine to learn it with. You might want to first try modding something like Warcraft 3 or Neverwinter Nights. If you want to do FPS work, I'd look at something like Marathon or Doom(the original). They both have fairly simple mapping and texturing, if you really want to go with a fully 3D engine and jump right into it then HL, or Quake 3 are probably good choices. I only dissuade HL2 because unlike the other engines, if you run into a problem it may very well be something nobody, or very few people have figured out. In any case learn the way you learn best, personally I like little bit of high level concepts and then let me screw with stuff, for you it might be better to try a video tutorial, or just jump right in and learn that way.

 

[Blood Elf]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Funny that you mention NWN, Cunbelin, because I have recently started playing that game for the first time. It's fun :cheers: hmm. Starting w/hl1 sounds like a good idea, since I have come across mapping tutorials of them in the past. Although, I do like to just jump into things.