Halo: Combat Evolved/Custom Edition

Halo: Custom Edition (often called Halo: CE or just CE) is a version of regular Halo: Combat Evolved for the PC whose main use is the creation of custom maps.

What is Halo: Custom Edition?
CE's main function is to allow the use of custom maps. Now players can make their own maps, or own weapons, or own vehicles.

Most of the maps made for Custom Edition are multiplayer. On the main menu, you'll notice that there is no option for selecting Campaign; only Multiplayer. You'll also notice, that when you load the list of servers, there are a lot of map names listed that you probably don't recognize. Those are custom maps, and if you install the map too, you can play the custom map with them. Awesome, no?

In addition, some maps are made for Custom Edition that are single player. You can load them and then play through a Campaign-like mode. Some are complete with cutscenes, Pelicans, the Covenant, the Flood, and the works. You may use Custom Edition and never touch a single-player level, but I'll talk about it in this guide for people that want to know how to install and play one.

Though the main addition of Custom Edition is the ability to play custom maps, a few subtle things are changed as well. The rules are displayed when you join a game, and are available all throughout the game. The code has been changed, to better support online play. There are a few other changes.

The game plays exactly the same as the Halo PC that you know; the menus are navigated the same way, and the gameplay is given the same controls. The most notable difference is that you'll be playing custom maps and picking up weapons you might have never seen before. You'll have to adapt to the new weapons and vehicles and terrains you don't know. It's less scary than it sounds. Don't worry.

Installation
Before you start installing, make sure that you have a copy of Halo PC, and a serial key. If you don't have both of those things, you won't be able to play Custom Edition.

So here's how you install Custom Edition.


 * 1) Go to the following URL and download the Halo: Custom Edition installer. Save it to your computer, and then be patient; it's a big file! Download Halo: Custom Edition
 * 2) Once it's downloaded, open the installer. It's very similar to the original Halo PC installer, and is easy to navigate. If you install it to a directory other than the default, make sure to remember which directory that is; you'll need to know it to install maps.

That's all you need to do to start playing anything with Custom Edition!

After you run the game, you'll notice it's not too different if you haven't installed any new maps. So read on to learn how to install new maps.

Where to get maps
You need to download maps onto your computer before you can play them; they don't download automatically.

You can get maps from a lot of different places. I'll list some URLs here, but please let me know if they die and don't go anywhere. I'll be sure to change it.

My favorite resource for getting maps is at Halo Maps dot org. They have maps for other games as well, but it began as one for Custom Edition. Most maps you see or want are on this site.

There are a number of others; look around these sites for some good maps.


 * Halo Mods
 * ModHalo maps

Sometimes, when you download maps, they come in a strange .7Z format. Just get 7-Zip, which is free and lets you open any of those files. It also lets you open .RAR, .ZIP, and some other popular formats.

Installing maps
Once you've downloaded some maps, get the .MAP file somewhere onto your desktop; it'll only be there for a second.

Now find your Halo: Custom Edition maps directory. There is a folder somewhere on your computer with the maps in it. If you installed Custom Edition to a special location, go there now. If not, the default is right here:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition\maps

Press Windows + R or go to Start > Run, and type that in. It should take you to a folder with a lot of files already in it. Some of them have names of maps you already know, like "bloodgulch" or "sidewinder."

Take the file from your desktop and put it into that maps folder. When it copies, you're done installing that map! You can now get to playing.

Playing multiplayer maps
It's most likely that you downloaded a multiplayer map. If that's the case, it should play just like any other multiplayer map you've already installed. To play it on your own server, simply go to Create Game and select a map. If you scroll around, the map you installed should be there.

If you want to play on someone else's server, just join a game that's playing that map.

It's fairly easy.

Playing single player maps
To play a single-player map, you need to "install" the Console. See the next section if you want to learn more about enabling the console.

After you've turned the console on, hit the tilde (~) key. If you want to set the difficulty, you need to type "game_difficulty_set", a space, and then the difficulty. Here's what you need to type for each difficulty.


 * Easy - "easy"
 * Normal - "normal"
 * Heroic - "heroic"
 * Legendary - "impossible"

So, if you wanted to play on Normal, for example, you would need to type "game_difficulty_set normal" and hit Enter.

To start playing a map, type "map_name", a space, and then the name of the map. So if you're playing a map called halo3campaign.map, you would need to type "map_name halo3campaign.map" and then hit Enter.

And now you'll be playing single player!

Console
If you have ever seen someone ban a player, they were using Console. Console is a set of commands one can use to do certain things in the game, most notably kicking and banning people from your own server.

NOTE: This works in both Halo PC and Halo: Custom Edition.

Setting up Console

 * 1) Find your Halo: Custom Edition shortcut. (If you play without a shortcut, you need to make one.)
 * 2) Right-click on it and select Properties. Go to the Shortcut tab if you're not already there.
 * 3) Find the Target field.
 * 4) Add " -console" after the quotes. The default should look like this: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition\haloce.exe" -console
 * 5) Click OK and run the game.
 * 6) At any time during the game, press the tilde (~) key to bring up a pink prompt in the bottom-left of the screen. Type a command to execute it, or press Tab for a list of commands.

Kicking and Banning
NOTE: You can only kick and ban people as the server host.


 * 1) Enable console (see above).
 * 2) Press the tilde (~) key.
 * 3) Type sv_players. This will bring up a player number, along with a lot of statistics about the player.
 * 4) To ban someone, type sv_ban [player number], player number being from the previous list. Kicking someone is the same, but it's sv_kick [player number]. Banning will never let them join the server again, where kicking will let them, but it quits them out of the current game and they have to re-join it to play on your server again.

Devmode
Devmode is another set of Console commands (read above to learn about it). It is enabled in a similar way, but it allows for tons of other commands to be executed. Unfortunately, you CANNOT use them online (without an impossible-to-find mod). You can have a lot of fun with Devmode; you can create an endless fountain of vehicles if you want. It's fun.

Setting up Devmode
This is very similar to the setup of Console; most of it is copy-pasted.


 * 1) Find your Halo: Custom Edition shortcut. (If you play without a shortcut, you need to make one.)
 * 2) Right-click on it and select Properties. Go to the Shortcut tab if you're not already there.
 * 3) Find the Target field.
 * 4) Add " -devmode" after what you have. The default should look like this: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition\haloce.exe" -devmode. If you already have console enabled, it may look like this: ...haloce.exe" -console -devmode
 * 5) Click OK and run the game.
 * 6) At any time during the game, press the tilde (~) key to bring up a pink prompt in the bottom-left of the screen. Type a command to execute it, or press Tab for a list of commands.

Common Devmode Commands
There are LOADS of commands (see them all by pressing Tab). These are used for map development. I will assume that people reading this FAQ don't know how to make a map, and tell you the ones that are more "user-friendly."


 * cheat_active_camouflage - Gives your player permanent active camo.
 * cheat_all_powerups - Drops a health pack, an over shield, an active camo, and two other powerups. These two others are customizable by the map creator, but in default Halo maps, they'll be weird things.
 * cheat_all_vehicles - Drops all vehicles around you; normal Warthog, Rocket Warthog, Shade, Banshee, Scorpion, and a Ghost. If the map has modified vehicles, it will drop those instead.
 * cheat_all_weapons - Drops all weapons around you; drops a flag, an Oddball, a Sniper Rifle, a Shotgun, a Rocket Launcher, a Plasma Rifle, a Plasma Pistol, a Pistol, a Needler, a weird weapon (explained in a second), a Flamethrower, an Assault Rifle, a second (different) Needler, a Fuel Rod Gun, a Plasma Grenade, and a Frag Grenade. The "weird weapon" gives no weapon HUD and is invisible. It claims to be a gravity rifle. It is for map makers to modify. Also, the two needlers cannot exchange rounds. If you're playing on a map with modified weapons, the weapons may be different than those listed.
 * cheat_bottomless_clip # - 1 makes no weapons ever have to wait; human ones need not reload, plasma ones do not overheat. 0 makes weapons normal.
 * cheat_deathless_player # - 1 makes your player take damage, but cannot die. 0 makes your player normal.
 * cheat_infinite_ammo # - 1 gives you infinite ammo, but you still need to reload and weapons will overheat. You also cannot run out of grenades. 0 is normal.
 * cheat_spawn_warthog - Spawns a regular Warthog next to you. If you're playing on a map with a modified Warthog, it will spawn that instead.
 * cheat_super_jump # - 1 will allow you to jump very high - in Blood Gulch, you can almost see over the walls. Careful - you will take regular damage when you land. 0 will give normal jumps.
 * cheat_teleport_to_camera - If you're in 1st-person mode, this will just pop you up a little bit, doing very little. If you're in a vehicle, however, typing it will move you and the vehicle to where the camera is.
 * show_hud # - 1 shows the HUD. 0 hides it.

FAQ
Q: What are some changes made between the regular Halo PC and Halo: Custom Edition?

A: Many things:
 * Support for custom maps
 * Better online play
 * No built-in campaign
 * F2 (default key) displays rules
 * F3 (default key) displays names over heads of teammates
 * If someone has your flag in CTF, shows where it is on your screen.

Q: How do I make my own map?

A: I've tried (and failed) twice, but there are loads of tutorials on the web. Here's a link to a lot of them: Mapmaking tutorials