Halo: Custom Edition, sometimes abbreviated Halo CE, is a free stand-alone expansion for Halo: Combat Evolved by Bungie Studios, which was ported to the PC by Gearbox Software. Halo CE was released by Gearbox as an unsupported add-on, which requires the original game. To prevent confusion between Halo Custom Edition and Halo: Combat Evolved (which can both be expressed as Halo CE) the original version of Halo (Combat Evolved) is referred to as Halo PC.
Features
Halo: Custom Edition has the ability to load and play user-created content and maps created with the Halo Editing Kit. Many custom levels have been created by dedicated members of the modding community and have been posted for download at a plethora of websites.
Custom maps may contain entirely new content, including:
- Level geometry
- Weapons
- Vehicles
- Player character
- Sounds
- Game interfaces
- Level scripts & interactivity
- Objects
- Special effects
- Animations
- HUDs
Community
Several modding communities have emerged since the advent of Halo CE, such as Custom Map Team (CMT), who were the brains behind a revamped Halo: Combat Evolved Campaign mode, and consists of members with a wide range of abilities. Modders use the Halo Editing Kit to incorporate custom models, images, physics, and data into an easily distributed .MAP file. Such modifications (with step-by-step tutorials) to Halo and Halo 2 are featured on a plethora of websites (i.e HaloMods.com, HaloMaps.com, etc).
Halo Editing Kit
Halo Editing Kit, commonly referred to by its acronym, HEK, is a repackaging of the development tools that Bungie created and used in the development process of Halo. The Halo Editing Kit was released for the creation of custom content for Halo: Custom Edition. It is a free, unsupported add-on released by Gearbox Software.
This editing kit includes Guerilla, a game resource and tag editor, in addition to Sapien, a mapping and object placement editor, and Tool, a map resource compiler. Most original content must first be modeled in 3ds max (or Gmax) and then converted to a HEK friendly format using the Blitzkrieg exporter and Tool to be edited or added to a custom map.
There are also several updates to the core essence of Halo in Halo CE, which include updated graphics engines and other fundamental changes.