While searching for something else entirely I came across something amazing -- Microsoft is allowing use of many of their IP's (including Halo) likenesses and assets in non-commercial, non-profit settings such as Machinima and mods:
Microsoft's policy wrote:Here are the magic words from our lawyers: on the condition that you follow the rules below ("Rules"), Microsoft grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use and display Game Content and to create derivative works based upon Game Content, strictly for your noncommercial and personal use. This license is limited by the conditions and restrictions below, so please read them. We can revoke this limited-use license at any time and for any reason without liability to you.
If you share your Items with others, then you must include the following notice about the Game Content. You can put it in a README file, or on the web page from where it's downloaded, or anywhere else that makes sense so long as anyone who sees your Item will easily find this notice.
Wherever you put the notice, you also need to include a link to these Game Content Usage Rules, so people can find them.
Accordingly I have updated our Copyright rules:
Copyright Rules thread wrote:
Hidden/Spoiler:
Commercial Games (non-Star Wars)
[list]
[*]Microsoft Game Studios - According to Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules (see here and here) usage of likenesses and assets of characters/weapons/etc from certain Microsoft Game Studios games (including Halo, see second link) are free for use in non-commercial, non-profit settings[/list]
Maps
*Blood Gulch
*Installation 04 exterior (a la Halo Anniversary firefight)
*Requiem
*UNSC Infinity
*High Charity
*New Mombassa
*The Library
Core Modes *these would be the "era" of a map*
*Slayer (8 players max, one player for each of SWBF2's teams)
*Team Slayer
*CTF
*Firefight
Mode Variants *this is the "mode" of a map
*Rockets
*SWAT
*Spartan
*Covy (Elites)
*Spartan vs Covy
*etc
Classes and factions *not mirror images of each other, but still evenly balanced* UNSC
*Marine (standard soldier)
*Heavy weapons
*Sniper
*Medic
*Specialist
*HERO: Spartan (could be one of multiple characters)
Hm....This sounds interesting. I would be interested in a mod team for this if someone else wanted to organize it. (my intra personal skills suck, lol. But I can work in groups.)
There was a long while ago, but it fizzled out due to lack of production assets. Given the permissions MGS (Microsoft Game Studios) has given those walls have now become easier to overcome. It still requires conversion, rigging of models, etc (anything you'd do with even a major Star Wars mod) but the potential is there.
As always I would suggest a proof of concept first. And there are still Zero-based limitations such as the AI not understanding overlapping pathways. Still, the permissions MGS gives takes the potential mod project from nigh-impossible to only slightly-improbable.
Sounds cool! Given that I don't have halo (or any other shooter other than battlefront for that matter) and Im a pretty bad modder I don't know how I would contribute to a mod but it would still be cool to see a mod of this as long as there is that helicopter thingy and that huge tank
Also how would you get the assets from halo? I thought you couldn't do that.
Cleb wrote:Sounds cool! Given that I don't have halo (or any other shooter other than battlefront for that matter) and Im a pretty bad modder I don't know how I would contribute to a mod but it would still be cool to see a mod of this as long as there is that helicopter thingy and that huge tank
Also how would you get the assets from halo? I thought you couldn't do that.
Marth8880 wrote:The PC versions came with mod tools.
All I see are 3rd party tools. If it did come with official tools I don't think they would ship it with assets in their raw form.
Their first rule says:
You can't reverse engineer our games to access the assets or otherwise do things that the games don't normally permit in order to create your Items.
I think they're just saying you can recreate anything in our games and we won't say anything as long as you don't profit from or use the word 'Halo' in your mod title.
Microsoft's policy wrote:Microsoft grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use and display Game Content and to create derivative works based upon Game Content, strictly for your noncommercial and personal use.
I'm with Ace. They aren't saying we can rip the models out and use them. Just that we can recreate anything without them getting a cease & desist on you. As long as it's non-profit.
I'm not arguing, but where does it say you can't use the word "Halo" in the mod's title?
THEWULFMAN wrote:I'm not arguing, but where does it say you can't use the word "Halo" in the mod's title?
In addition, your Items may not use the name of the Microsoft Game in their title. For example, we don't object to "Red vs. Blue". We don't object to "Operation Chastity". But we do object to "Halo [insert the title of your Item here]". We want to make sure consumers don't get confused.
Teancum wrote:There was a long while ago, but it fizzled out due to lack of production assets. Given the permissions MGS (Microsoft Game Studios) has given those walls have now become easier to overcome. It still requires conversion, rigging of models, etc (anything you'd do with even a major Star Wars mod) but the potential is there.
I think it's worth pointing out in regards to converting assets: I could be wrong, but my reading of their rules seems to indicate that unless the asset is in a non-proprietary format (like .upk), you're probably not allowed to convert it (the prohibition on reverse-engineering). Music may also be a no-go. I'm not a fan of using converted assets in any case, so I'm certainly a biased reader, but I'd take a look at that prohibition carefully.
The idea behind this was to keep Battlefront's feel while playing with weapons and characters taken from Halo. While I can agree with the "Marines vs. Grunts" style also working well, my version is based purely on a competitive multiplayer experience and attempts to keep as few imbalances between as possible given the source material.
Units:
Hidden/Spoiler:
UNSC:
Spartan Soldier (Mark VI Armor):
Battle Rifle (Award Rifle/Boba Fett Rifle)
M6G Magnum (Blaster Pistol)
Frag Grenade x4 (Thermal Det)
Spartan Sniper (Recon Armor)
Sniper Rifle (24 ammo)
M6D Magnum (Conversion Pack's Heavy Pistol?)
Heavy Machine Gun x1 (Stationary Turret)
Spartan Pilot (EVA Armor)
Assault Rifle (Blaster Rifle)
M6D Magnum
Type 14 Anti-Tank Mine x3 (Time Bomb)
Spartan Assassin (CQB Armor)
Shotgun (36 shots) [Stronger]
Combat Knife (Vader animations?) [Weaker]
Active Camo (similar to Bothan Spy's, can attack while invisible)
Covenant:
Elite Minor (Blue Combat Harness)
Covenant Carbine (I can't think of any already existing BF2 weapons that match, maybe a modified sniper that fires faster but weaker?)
Plasma Pistol (Blaster Pistol)
Plasma Grenade x4 (Sticking properties possible?)
Elite Major (Red Assault Harness)
Fuel Rod Gun (8 shots, less powerful and less tracking)
Plasma Pistol (Blaster Pistol)
Trip Mine x2
Elite Ultra (White Ascetic Harness)
Mauler (36 shots) [Weaker]
Energy Sword (Vader Animations?) [Stronger]
Active Camo (similar to Bothan Spy's, can attack while invisible)
Heroes:
Hidden/Spoiler:
UNSC:
John 117 (Mark VI)
Spartan Laser (High Damage Sniper that has a charge time)
Machine Gun Turret (Clone Commander Chaingun)
Frag Grenade x4
Believe (Rally)
Sergeant Johnson
Sniper Rifle (Infinite ammo, damage boost)
Smell of Hero (Rage)
Fred 104 (Mark V)
M6D Pistol (Infinite ammo, damage boost)
Combat Knife (Damage boost)
Active Camo
Covenant:
Thel Vadamee
Energy Sword (Damage boost)
Arm of the Prophets (Rally)
Prophet of Regret
Chair Defense Laser (High Damage Sniper that has a charge time)
Cleansing Beam (Orbital Strike)
Sermon (Rage)
Hunter
Fuel Rod Gun (same as Major version)
Shield Swipe (Vader animations?)
Vehicles:
Hidden/Spoiler:
UNSC:
Ground:
Mongoose (Unused Halo 2 version) [Speeder Class]
Chaingun (same weapon the Ghost will have)
Scarab (Whichever version is easier to make) [Transport Class]
1st Seat: Scarab Gun (Can use either the BF2 Beam Laser or do what Bungie did and just have it shoot a lot of projectiles really fast so it looks like a stream)
2nd Seat: AA Gun (Weaker Droid Bomber Weapon)
Maps really can't be the same as the multiplayer ones due to the player count being doubled and even quadrupled in some cases. Blood Gulch or Sandtrap could work, but it would probably be safer to use areas from the campaign instead. Or, even better, get creative and use some areas from the books. I would love to play on the Uneven Elephant.
I feel like this is relevant here- I have a decent warthog model sitting on my hard drive, but I can't texture or UV to save my life. If anyone's interested, feel free to PM me
