Help Getting Started...and how to begin modding

[luckyshot95]

A couple weeks back, I finally got around to purchasing HL2:naughty:. After completely taking over my life for a while, i realized i wanted to mod this sweet piece of gaming excellence. I have always wanted to make a mod but i could never decide where or how to begin.

So if anyone could please give me tips and direction as to where to find a guide to learning the C++(where do i find it anyways?), what programs i might need to download or buy, and how to begin creating a mod for Half life 2, i would be much obliged

Thanks in advance, i'll post any other questions i might later have in this thread
.
btw i know other threads have been made on this but i want a thread focused on the evolution and development of MY homegrown mod.


FIrst Post

 

[crackhead]

well u need to buy visual studio 2003 .net it costs around a hundred pounds cheapest. u also need to get urself a boox on the basics of c++.

 

[luckyshot95]

So.....assuming i have this software and have learned the C++, how do apply it to the game? Also, do I really need the expensive software? I'd like to just start with the basics like changing numerical values and the like and move on from there as i get more fluent with the language and better accustomed to the software. I'm not trying to create a whole new mod on my own...just learning to code and perhaps experimenting with creating models and textures to see what use i could be to a modding team.

Please help...I'm only a n00b....;(

 

[crackhead]

well you can download a free compiler to learn the basics of c++. there are websites that explain the basics but i find it easyer learning from a book. as for applying code to the game i havnt got that far yet. but you need to read alot of the code from hl2. for instance if your going to impliment a new melee weapon then open up the crowbar and take a look.

 

[luckyshot95]

well you can download a free compiler to learn the basics of c++. there are websites that explain the basics but i find it easyer learning from a book.

Link plz?




Also, where do i find or look at the halflife2 code in the first place?

 

[crackhead]

well you can open it with visual studio.net i duo if u can with free compilers but when u make a new mod it adds a project file in your mod folder within that are all the cpp. files n stuff. sorry i dont know of any free compilers.

 

[TheSomeone]

Look up "dev C++" for a free development environment.

It's good that you aren't aiming to high like a lot of noobs out there who want to make a huge mod right away, because you won't get discouraged as fast. But I guarantee you that programming is not a piece of cake at all.

The best way to learn programming is to take a class really. A book helps, but you'll never have the dedication and help than when taking a class. Look up some after-work/school programs, if you're still a minor talk to your parents about it. Programming is a good career path these days and I'm sure they'll support you if you decide to start learning.

 

[Cyanide]

I'm not sure what your intentions are exactly, but if modding is all you want to do, maybe you should start on a game with easier to use tools. For all of Valve's talk about supporting the mod community, they sure haven't made much of an effort to make modding easier. The tools required for developing Source mods are not very newb friendly by any stretch of the imagination. If all you want to do is play around in a game engine to see what modding is like, maybe you should check out something like FarCry (CryTek engine) or UT2k4 (Unreal engine 2). They are much easier to mod than Source.

If you're really set on HL2, there are tons of tutorials out there for learning C++ so make use of Google. It's not easy though, and it's really intimidating if you've never done any programming before.

 

[crackhead]

yeh ut and ut2k3 was easyer but farcry seemed really complicated to me i never really used it though.

 

[Cyanide]

FarCry's tools are pretty freakin awsome actually. The map editor is all real time what you see is what you play. I mean, you can start a new map, paint on the terrain in the editor (it uses grayscale hieghtmaps), paint textures on the terrain, place objects on the terrain, and then go straight into the game and play it without ever having to compile anything. As much as I might get bashed for saying this on a HL2 forum, FarCry's world editor blows Hammer out of the water in every imaginable way. Did I mention you don't have to deal with leaks?

The scripting language they use (LUA) has a bit of an unorthodox syntax, but it's pretty powerful. They did the entire single and multiplayer game with it and you don't need any kind of development environment outside of word pad to edit the stuff. On top of that, they recently released a C++ SDK. So now you can mod in C++ and or the much simpler scripting language.

 

[crackhead]

yeh i did love the map editor i just found it only usefull for outdoor maps which isnt a big problem i guess. i just couldnt figure out how to make any indoor rooms or anything. prehaps you just have to model them. is there much documentation on farcry. also lua was the language they scripted the first monkey island game on how could they script farcry on it?

 

[Shinobi]

LUA's been used in countless different apps and engines, hell garry's mod 9 uses LUA scripts...

I thought monkey island was scripted in some custom scripting language on the SCUMM engine...

 

[crackhead]

yeh im pretty sure it used lua though coz theres a cafe in monkey island 4 called lua cafe or somthing and the reason was because of monkey 1 beeing scripted in it or something.

 

[Cyanide]

is there much documentation on farcry

There's a 180 page manual for the editor that comes with the SDK. It has walkthroughs and everything. There's a lot of other doucmentation that comes with it for general engine information and other things.

Doing indoor areas in farcry is similar to doing them in Hammer or pretty much any FPS world editor, except that you see what it will look like in game (and how it will effect your frame rate) without having to compile.

 

[Ennui]

LUA is actually becoming a lot more popular. Dawn of War is written in LUA scripting, and the latest Garry's Mod release has LUA support.

 

[Adabiviak]

Well, welcome to the forums, Luckyshot95.