Hi there. I'm new, and have a few questions.

[Jonathan]

Hi everyone.

I'll cut to the chase. I want to mod Silent Hill 2 for the PC. I downloaded all the tools from this website (thanks by the way!). I want to mod it in a way that will change the overall feel of the game. I want to correct some of the typos in the text (example: A pile of junk from the spider web). I also want to change locations of health items, ammo, and monsters.

Is it possible to change ammo/health locations?
Is it possible to change where and how often monsters spawn?

Thanks!

[Ratiocinator]

Hello,

As far as I'm aware you cannot do what you're looking to do. All the available hacks/mods out there for SH2 are pretty much all cosmetic. Meaning you can change textures, change the camera location, play in wireframe mode, etc. These don't affect the game code or game play in any way.

What you're looking to do requires changes to the source code that runs the game. Something of which I don't think anyone has successfully hacked in to more or less been able to successfully understand the code and edit it.

[nur_ein_tier]

Hello and welcome.

No, there is no way to change the item and monster locations, to my knowledge. You can change the text with the SH Resource Editor, but that's about it. I've seen people take models from SH and put them in other games and engines, which could of course allow you to do whatever, but it's probably a bit ambitious of a project.

[Wren]

Hello, and welcome!

Sorry you can't do what you were planning, but I hope you have fun discussing here anyhow.

[Jonathan]

No, there is no way to change the item and monster locations, to my knowledge. You can change the text with the SH Resource Editor, but that's about it. I've seen people take models from SH and put them in other games and engines, which could of course allow you to do whatever, but it's probably a bit ambitious of a project.

I see. Shame. I've beaten the game probably a good 20 times. I wanted to create a different feel to the game. It would have been nice to have way less ammo, and much fewer, more powerful enemies. I found I got used to seeing the monsters since they pop up so often. I think it would have made seeing a creature a lot more frightening. It would have also been cool to put the red pyramid creature into different locations. Since you cannot kill him, it would have been really tense to have him hunting you in more parts of the game.

So, from what I understand, I could import the models and textures into another game engine? I have experience with the blender game engine. The programming has to be done in python. Its easier to learn than C++, so I've heard.

Does anyone know what kind of code the game is written in?

[nur_ein_tier]

No idea about the code actually used, no.

As for importing, there are some models in the model thread, also some tutorials for dumping models on your own. I've opened them in Milkshape and some other programs to mess with them. People have put them into other games, can't recall which offhand though, but then, I don't do much with other games anyway. I've imported them into the 3dgamestudio engine, but haven't done much with them there either.

[Jonathan]

As for importing, there are some models in the model thread, also some tutorials for dumping models on your own. I've opened them in Milkshape and some other programs to mess with them. People have put them into other games, can't recall which offhand though, but then, I don't do much with other games anyway. I've imported them into the 3dgamestudio engine, but haven't done much with them there either.

I see. Well, Blender 2.5 is comming out sometime in the near future. It comes with a pretty powerful game engine. However, one would have to totally re-write the game from scratch in Python... something I am not experienced enough to pull off.

I do have plans to create my own game once 2.5 becomes available. It will be a horror game that focuses more on solving puzzles. Thats all I can really say about it, I don't want to give out any details to the story since it may change. Its not really inspired by Silent Hill. Though I would like the game to "feel" a bit like it.

I do have a lot of experience in 3D studio max, mudbox, and blender. I took computer animation at my local college. So I can model, texture and animate. Coding is a different thing altogether though. I'm going to have to get a few books on Python (which is the coding language that Blender uses).

[nur_ein_tier]

Yeah, I feel your pain there. The first time I went to college, it was for film and computer animation. I started a fan game but gave it up because I am not a coder and couldn't find any. I've seen videos and screenshots of people putting Maria and other characters into other engines, but have no experience with that myself.

[Jonathan]

I would never go back to college a second time unless I was SURE I needed it. Post secondary is mainly a scam in my opinion... As for animation. I should have just learned it on my own. I don't really want to work for any studios as I am more interested in making my own art. I'll die poor and hungry, but hey, in the end the rich man and me will be on the same level . He can't take all that stuff with him when he goes hahaha.

I think if you were going to make a game, id say steer away from a fan game, and do something of your own. With all the effort it would take to import, rig, animate, and code a fan game, you might as well just make something original (or as close to original as you can muster). I highly recommend Blender. Even in its current form, it is very powerful. And I find it easier to use than 3DSmax. Texture baking and creating normal maps is waaay easier in blender. Its open source, and comes with a built in game engine that is perfectly suited for a horror game with puzzles and such. Give it a shot.

[nur_ein_tier]

I went back because I was bored, and it wasn't post-secondary. I just went for animation for a couple years, then dropped out for a few years, then went back for six more years in a few different countries because I had no other plans in life. I agree that, in many cases, doing it on yr own would be a better choice. And that's why I dropped out and made it a hobby.

We worked on the fangame for five or six years before I realized that no one was going to come along and help with the coding, so I am working on my own scaled-down projects now to teach myself other areas of game making. Before that we were going to use the locations for an original game involving zombies, but again, I'd still need coders and those people disappeared as well. I've been using 3dgamestudio for so many years now that I am not really into the idea of learning anything else at this point. i think I have blender on a disc somewhere. I haven't had the extra time lately to do any 3d stuff.

[cameroncrogers]

im sure if you asked the team who made the GTA map editor to help, i bet then we all could change the locations of items.