Posted by angrycamel at September 21st, 2006

CXE (Custom Xbox Edition v1) and NMP2 (New Map Project v2) with HMPi (Halo Map Pack Installer)

Well it’s been months of work put into these two MapPacks. This is an unbelievable set of maps separated by modded maps and new maps. As you have probably already seen, NMP is the new map project for maps that are new in most all regard. However this time NMP has gotten together with team CXE to bring you Custom Xbox tradition a game focused on the best of the best of modded xbox maps.

New with this release is HMPi, an automated Map Pack installer. No longer will it take the inexperienced people hours to install interfaces. With an FTP connection and fresh copy of Halo, anyone can quickly and easily install both NMP and CXE at the same time automatically!!!! If you were ever scared to get into the Halo modding scene. Now’s your chance to easily get some of the greatest mod on your xbox with a few buttons.

Both CXE and NMP are fully compatible with both xbox connect and xlink Kai. So you can enjoy playing maps without having to worry about version numbers of each map.

Reddog, UM, and myself (AngryCamel) have been up for so many hours working on this I cannot count. I will tell you this; all of us saw the sun go down and the sun come up… then get hot. We have been awake for a very long time and we really wanted to get it out before we crashed but it just wasn’t happening. UM became MIA, presumed fallen asleep at the keyboard. While I was beta testing, I was presumed fallen asleep as well. Until I heard the jingle of AIM messages flooding my screen. It was Reddog throwing in the towel

BitTorrent Download: NMP2-CXE1_With-HMPi_Final.rar.torrent

Direct Download: NMP2-CXE1_With-HMPi_Final.rar





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FAQ
1) How to install
2) Installing over NMP1.1
3) Is not having the original SP Maps going to cause the installation to fail?
4) HMPi seems to loose connection with the xbox about half way through, is this ok?
5) Can I access just the compression part of this tool via command line?
6) Can I use HMPi to install other MapPacks?
7) This FAQ sucks, can someone help me?
8 ) What are the build numbers in case someone wants to change some of the maps?
9) Will it work on Pal?
10) Will it work for Halo PC?
11) Do I need a modchip?
12) How much space will this take up on my xbox hard-drive?
13) Will I still be able to play regular Halo after installing this?
14) What is the CXE Roster for? Everytime I click on one of the names its gives me a dirty disc error.
15) Will there be more MapPacks? How is that going to work?
16) Error:Remote “default.xbe” not found in : /F/games/Halo
17) I still want to be able to play NMP 1.1. Will this hose it?
18) What maps come with this package?
19) Why are my files failing to transfer using MXM as a dashboard?
20) NMP’s Cathedral is not working. How do I fix it?
21) Why isn’t Fire in the Sky in there? I thought it was a good map.
22) Where are all the 1337 Haxxors?

How to install
Make sure you have not modded any of the original compressed maps in your /maps/ folder on your xbox as they are grabbed by the installer to be used as originals when making the NMP and CXE maps. Once you are sure of that, then launch the installer. (run setup.exe) This is what you should see…


Hit the ‘continue’ button. This is what you should see…

Fill in your connection settings for ftp’ing into your xbox. Then also provide the path, on your xbox, to your backup location of Halo. This is what you should see…

Sit back and enjoy the show, while HMPi installs your copy of CXE1 and NMP2. When it is complete you should see this…

If you get an error screen for any reason, this is what you should see…

Just fix whatever it says is wrong then continue on. If there is an error that you cannot get past then save the debug.log file and get in touch with Reddog or myself online to try and resolve the issue.
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Installing over NMP1.1
As long as you have not modded any of the /maps/*.map files or the default.xbe with anything other than the ui.map from NMP1.1 and default.xbe from NMP1.1 then you can install right over top of it.
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Is not having the original SP Maps going to cause the installation to fail?
No, not at all.
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HMPi seems to loose connection with the xbox about half way through, is this ok?
Yes. HMPi will only connect to the xbox when it needs to download a file or when it needs to upload a file. So in the middle, it has finished downloading all of the original maps from you xbox and is just doing the modding work to them. You should see it reconnect to the xbox once the work is done and it is ready to upload the final package.
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Can I access just the compression part of this tool via command line?
No, but Reddog will soon be releasing a suite of wrapper apps that will make not only compression and uncompression a lot easier and stronger, but also PPF applying and creation, and UI editing. We used his tools to make CXE’s and NMP’s PPFs about 40% smaller than the orignals made with PPF-Studio. Keep an eye out for his release soon.
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Can I use HMPi to install other MapPacks?
Yes. We will be releasing HMPi as a seperate app with a full manual on how to setup the MapPacks for use by HMPi very soon. Stay tuned.
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This FAQ sucks, can someone help me?
Sure…. try some of these forums where the package is posted:

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What are the build numbers in case someone wants to change some of the maps?
These are the current build numbers of the released kits:

  • Original= 01.10.12.2276
  • NMP1.1= 01.10.12.2275
  • NMP2= 01.10.12.2274
  • CXE1= 01.10.12.1181

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Will it work on Pal?
No. The new kit — and the old kit for that matter — require original NTSC source maps. Changing the region type on your xbox won’t help. Either find a conversion kit (which I’ve never seen include all of the required maps), or purchase an NTSC copy online.
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Will it work for Halo PC?
No. This is a mod for XBOX only.
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Do I need a modchip?
You must have FTP access to your xbox. If you do not know what I am talking about, then you are in over your head. Take a deep breathe and a trip over to xbox-scene.com to learn the basics of modding your xbox.
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How much space will this take up on my xbox hard-drive?
A set of multiplayer maps takes up about 300 MB. You have to copy the Retail Multiplayer Set to your HD to at least install it, but then you can delete them if you don’t want to play Retail Halo off of the HD.So, Retail(300) + NMP(300) + CXE(300) = about 900 MB
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Will I still be able to play regular Halo after installing this?
Yes.
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What is the CXE Roster for? Everytime I click on one of the names its gives me a dirty disc error.
To start with there are no single player maps to launch. CXE, and NMP for that matter, are multi-player MapPacks only. You will not be able to launch the campaign maps, or cooperative from either of the modded UI’s. If you want to play single player then you must do so from the original UI.The roster is just a roster of the members of the team. Since the single player maps are not supported, I put everyone on TeamCXE’s names in there instead. It is not meant to be clicked… just viewed.
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Will there be more MapPacks? How is that going to work?
There will be more MapPacks as different people choose to release them. I cannot say for sure, but I can tell you that I (angrycamel) am currently working on a bsp conversion MapPack. When that is complete for example, it will be released as a packaged MapPack to be installed with HMPi. HMPi will be released on its own very soon. So you will download HMPi and install the downloaded MapPack with it.We’ll have a tool and a tutorial out before too long that will make this very easy. Sneak peak:
Drag and Drop functionality for the following:

  • 1) compress/decompress maps (no more caching maps on your xbox)
  • 2) make ppfs (they’re smaller and faster than ppf-studios - this dropped a ppf of a SP->MP cache file from 63MB to 49MB)
  • 3) apply ppfs (if well named, it can figure out what map to apply them to)
  • 4) optimize old ppfs (remove garbage at the end of the map file, and use better ppf algorithm)
  • 5) unpack and repack the UI (MP map names/descriptions/icons, SP names/descriptions - when packing the names, the letters are pooled so that the new name of each map does not have to be smaller than the name of the old map.)
  • 6) use this to make map packs and patches (to swap maps) compatible with the new “Halo Map Pack Installer”!It may even have a jazzy UI or two

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Error:Remote “default.xbe” not found in : /F/games/Halo
This error means that you have not given an accurate path to the Halo backup directory. FTP into your box to find the correct path to your copy of Halo. The default is not meant to work for everyone, but is a common path.Check to make sure that you do not have a “:” colon after your drive letter in the path. Here is an example of a bad path: /F:/games/Halo/

Positive that the path is correct and it still will not work? Try this:

  • 1) Create a directory called “~original” in the installer directory.
  • 2) Grab original copies of the following files off of your XBOX and put them in that directory:
    • default.xbe
    • beavercreek.map
    • bloodgulch.map
    • damnation.map
    • hangemhigh.map
    • prisoner.map
    • putput.map
    • sidewinder.map
    • ui.map
  • 3) Run setup.exe again

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I still want to be able to play NMP 1.1. Will this hose it?
No, add the following to your EvoX games section. Make sure you correct the F:\Games paths to what your halo path is.
Item “Halo NMP 1.1″, “F:\Games\Halo\halonmp.xbe” If you would like to directly link any of the other versinos, just add any of the following:
Item “Halo Retail”, “F:\Games\Halo\default.xbe”
Item “Halo NMP 2″, “F:\Games\Halo\halonmp2.xbe”
Item “Halo CXE 1″, “F:\Games\Halo\halocxe.xbe”
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What maps come with this package?
NMP 2.0 comes with:

  • ANABG
  • Cathedral
  • Chapel
  • Crossfire
  • Fissure Fall
  • Galite
  • Hanger
  • HostileTakeover
  • SkyTore
  • SpeedBall
  • Vengeance

(and a patch to include Fallout and FoxFire will be coming soon)

CXE 1.0 comes with:

  • ACDIBG
  • Flood Gulch
  • GT Damnation
  • Hog ‘Em High
  • Inmate
  • Jungle
  • Leffy Creek
  • Nightwinder
  • Over the Creek
  • Plateau
  • Springwinder
  • StarWars
  • World War 3

Although you have seen many of these maps before, a number of them have been updated. For example, Galite, SkyTore, SpeedBall are brand new versions and Plateau now supports KOTHill and no longer spawns you in outside the map. Many CXE maps were tweaked specifically for this package. Before you write off a map you recognize and didn’t like, you should try it out in the new pack.
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Why are my files failing to transfer using MXM as a dashboard?
Not sure about this, but all testing was done with the latest version of EvoX as a dash. So if you have it available, use it instead.
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NMP’s Cathedral is not working. How do I fix it?
The Cathedral crash is because of a bug in HHT. We put a work around in for new downloads via the torrent, so they should not have this problem. However, if you are one of the unlucky ones who has a broken Cathedral installed you can manually correct an invalid value by doing the following:

  1. Ftp to your XBOX
  2. Snag Halo\nmp20\chillout.map.
  3. Open it in a hex editor
  4. Bytes 8 & 9 currently read 80 BD. Change them to 00 BE.
  5. Save and upload it back to your XBOX
  6. Clear your cache by deleting all cache00x.map files on either the x, y, or z drive.

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Why isn’t Fire in the Sky in there? I thought it was a good map.
UltraMagnus said a patch including a new version of Fire in the Sky should be out soon.
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Where are all the 1337 Haxxors?
At HXBDev!
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