One weekend I got bored and decided to actually do what I've been thinking to do in Halo for quite some time now...make the graphics appear better. On a very crappy coincidence, once I finished it, I looked around in the Halo: PC section, and Pepsi and Nessa's total conversion was eating everyone's minds out of the sheer awesome of it. So, that sucked.
But I finished it up anyway, and what came out is like PepNess Lite, I guess. No major skin overhaul, but no gameplay changes (technically). I messed with shaders, lens flares, lights, and some minor textures, just to get an effect that would make what I thought would accent the graphics-y things about Halo more. It really IS what Pepsi did as well...make Halo look better than it is. I don't know if I'll tackle more maps, but for now, it's everyone's favorite box canyon. It started out as a sandbox, but grew into "Hay, dis could be kewl," and so it stuck. Don't hurt me.
SO. On to the mod. It's Bloodgulch, but darker, for one. This is done to highlight things like the dynamic lighting on plasma bolts, better grenade lighting (both Covenant and Human), and little things like brake lights that actually illuminate things. Wait, what's that? There's a glow under your feet? Might be the lighting given off by the plasma pistol and plasma rifle to their surroundings, making you stand out and think twice about running around with a glowstick of a weapon.
There's other small changes, like a different texture on the ground, and proper bitmaps for the moon and planet so that you suddenly don't have daylight on Threshold. Fog was going to be added, but it ruined the whole effect, so it's not there. I'm not going to screenshot every single thing, or else I'd be featured on National Geographic, but I hope what I did get works out and some people actually like this. So have fun, and maybe expect some more things of this style from me.
Hope for a weekend when I'm bored.
Props to Explosive American for the shader fixing pack, which is included.
