Halo Custom Edition Map Ports

A brief how-to when it comes to porting Halo Custom Edition maps to the MCC Workshop.

Foreword and Greetings

Hi. I'm Philip. Better known as Bookkeeper.Troy. How are you?

First things first, let me start with a boilerplate disclaimer. I'm not a professional modder, map-maker, scripter, programmer or anything of the sort. I'm an avid video game lover with virtually no experience in those areas. I would have loved to be involved with the map making scene back in 2003 - 2013 when Halo: Custom Edition was at its peak, but there was no way I was gonna get there. But some of the best years of my life were spent playing Halo: Custom Edition with friends on my old Gateway desktop. I remember the 8v8 rounds in Hugeass or playing CTF in Yoyorast with my brother and a group of friends. Good times.

Times have changed a lot since then. We have the Master Chief Collection. We have Halo Infinite. Hell, when I was back playing games we had 3 Halo titles. Now we have eight (and that's just for the mainline games). And with Halo: Custom Edition having faded away with its last map being uploaded back in 2016, I thought it might be nice to figure out how to bring some of the maps I used to play on to the workshop.

Boy. Let me tell you. That was fun to figure out. There's not a lot of documentation out there, which is part of why I'm writing this guide right now. I'm going to show you how *I* did it. Maybe there's a map YOU played on that you want ported. Maybe there's a better way and you just need a starting point. I'm not arrogant enough to believe that this is the *only* way to port these maps.

Now, that's enough yammering. Let's get down to the real reason you're here.

Tools & Programs

First and foremost, you will need the Halo Editing Kit + which can be downloaded from halomaps.org (http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=1542). This is an invaluable tool because it will allow you to look at the individual tags within a map. There's one specific tag we need for this (the scenario tag) and this lovely little program will let us see it.

You will also need to download the Halo MCC Mod Uploader from the Steam Tools page. It's what we'll be using to port these maps (it's called Excession when opened).

Lastly, you'll actually need the .map file you want to convert.

Configuring the Layout

Configuring your workspace is going to make this a lot easier for you. I created a simple folder on my desktop called "Halo CE Maps". For the purpose of this guide and example, I'll use that as an example.

Once you have your .map folder and at least one screenshot, you're ready to go. Open your "Halo CE Maps" folder and create a new folder inside it with the name of the map you're porting. In this case, I'll use Yoyorast Island as an example because it's one of my favorites, so you'll make a folder called "Yoyorast Island".

Inside that folder, make another folder called "maps".

Drag your actual .map file into the "maps" folder but put the screenshot in just the "Yoyorast Island" folder so you can see it along with the "maps" folder.

That's it. You're done.

Checking the .scenario File

Next you'll need to check your .scenario file. This is important because it's the "true" name of the map and you'll need it once we get into Excession.

Run the Halo Editing Kit +, which should open in a new window. At the top, click on "open" at the top of the screen and locate your .map file (which should be in your Halo CE Maps/Yoyorast Island/maps folder).

If the map does not open and the output box at the bottom gives you an error, the map likely has a type of protection preventing you from accessing the files. As of the writing of this guide (12/22/22) I haven't found a way around either kind of protection. This is the first kind and we'll touch on the second in a moment. For now, though, we'll assume that it loads fine.

In the Explorer window, you will see numerous files that all start with a bracketed abbreviation (e.g. [actv], [antr]). Scroll down until you see one that says "[scnr] - scenario" and double click on it.

This should show you the actual Scenario file next to a little gear icon. In the case of Yoyorast Island, because it's our guinea pig map, it'll say "levels\test\yoyorast\Yoyorast_Island.scenario" Just remember that this is different for each map. All you need is the part that says "Yoyorast_Island.scenario" - if you can see that, great. Write it down somewhere EXACTLY as it says. If you can't see it and it has a string reading <protected>.scenario, that's the other kind of protection I mentioned and I haven't figured that sucker out either.

Once you have established the name of the scenario, go ahead and close the Halo Editing Kit +. We're done with it for now and it's time to move on to Excession.

Setting up Excession

Once you've loaded Excession, click on "Configure". You'll want to add the directory in which your uploaded mod is sitting. In this case, it's the folder "Halo CE Maps". click on "Add Folder" and then click on "Browse". Navigate to it, then click "Select Folder" once you've found it. Then click "Save" or press Ctrl + S. Once you're done, close the "Configure" tab at the top of the screen.

You're now ready to begin porting maps.

The Actual Port

Back on the Home Screen in Excession, click "Create" at the top of the page.

First you need to choose the folder for your Mod. This is the "Yoyorast Island" folder that contains the screenshot and map folder. Click "Browse" and then navigate to that folder.

Next we'll input the information that will be visible on the Steam Workshop. I like to include the Game title and map (e.g. Halo Ce - Yoyorast Island) as the title. In the description, I also like to put the original creators and the date it was uploaded if available. Personally, I didn't make these maps. I just enjoyed them. I hope the actual creators get their brownie points.

Up next, make sure that "Mod Version" says anything other than zeroes. I used 1.0.0 as a default.

Ignore the two boxes about minimum and maximum game versions. I did nothing to those.

Lastly, under "Game Title", select "Halo CE". This will add two more options. One for "Campaign" and one for "Multiplayer Maps". Click "Add" next to Multiplayer Maps.

This is now the page where you will input the information that will be seen in the MCC while playing.

The map title should be the name of the map (Yoyorast Island)

The map description should be a short blurb about the map. (I used "Up and down and all around!")

Scenario file name is where you will put in the .scenario file name you jotted down earlier. Do not actually include ".scenario" - just type out "Yoyorast_Island"

Lastly, you'll want to click on the top three downward-facing arrows and open "Image for Thumbnail", "Large Image" and "Image for Loading Screen". If you have great screenshots, this is where to put them.

Thumbnail - the map image when selecting the map
Large Image - the map image prior to pressing "start" in the lobby after choosing options
Image for Loading Screen - the image that shows while map is loading.

These files need to be .png and the maximum/recommended sizes are listed in Excession.

Once you've added these screenshots, go to the top of the window and select File->Save All. This will save BOTH open tabs for the mod (which is needed). Close both tabs and go back to the home screen.

Click "Refresh" and you should see "Yoyorast Island" appear in the window. This means it's ready for testing.

Testing the Mod & Uploading to Workshop

Testing your new mod is fairly easy. Run the Master Chief Collection with Anti-Cheat disabled and then choose Multiplayer/Halo CE/Modded Maps. You should see Yoyorast Island available. I recommend running the map in a basic gametype and then walking around for a moment just to make sure everything ported properly. If it did, congratulations. You did it.

If not, close down MCC (or it will crash and do it for you) and start over. Trust me, it's easier than trying to figure it out. A few maps I've encountered have also simply had unexpected errors or just haven't appeared. I *think* that for the latter, when they don't appear, it's because the .scenario name is the same as something else in the game already (Suicide Gulch, for instance, has a .scenario name of "bloodgulch") and I'm working on figuring out a way around it. Other maps (Pit) just crash with no explanation.

If your map worked and it's ready to upload, close MCC and go back to Excession. On the home page, find Yoyorast Island in the inset window and click on it. Then click "Upload".

This gives you one final overview of the Steam Workshop page. Don't forget to add at least one screenshot before clicking Upload at the bottom.

That's it. You're golden. The map will upload to the Steam Workshop. Don't forget to set the visibility to Public if you want others to play on it.

F.A.Q

Q: What the hell is this map protection?
A: Map protection was a way old modders would stop people from ripping the tags for their maps out and using them in their own maps. Unfortunately, it has seriously inhibited the ability to port maps to other mediums. Some of the better maps out there (CMT Snow Grove, for instance) are protected and it's why I wasn't able to port them.

Q: Why upload them individually?
A: So people don't have to download gigs and gigs of maps just to play on one. Also, it's how the old Halo: Custom Edition worked. You could download individual maps instead of packs, which gave the player more control.

Q: Some of these maps look terrible.
A: Yup. And they looked terrible back in their prime, too. I did not make the maps.

Q: Don't you know that they're going to add Halo: Custom Edition support? It'll make your maps redundant and useless.
A: Yup. I'd heard that. But unless something's changed, I haven't heard *when* they'll add this. For now, this is a way people can experience some of these maps again. If my ports become redundant, so be it. I'm fine with it.

Contact Me

If you've got questions, comments or concerns that weren't addressed in this guide/FAQ, feel free to reach out to me at [e-mail]. Same goes for if you have a way to get around protected maps or a better way of doing this.

Have a great day/week/month/year and enjoy playing Halo.

-Bookkeeper.troy