Interested in HL2 modding.. but first... Thread

Hello everyone, I recently got to play HL2 and my interest in modding has been renewed, especially after seeing some nice Singleplayer mods. I've been playing FPS on and off over the last few years. Having and old Win98 machine and poor local internet connections severly limited my play... oh and not to mention work, eating and art college where ironically I am learning everything having to do with digital design.

When it comes to programming PCwise, I'm between intermediate and novice on Windows 98. There is a lot I'm sure I need to learn to catch up. So, even though I have a few wonderful ideas for HL2 mods, I can wait a few years if necessary to catch up and gain skills.

Before I can even think of making an HL2 mod or even one for Half Life 1, I need to learn the basics first. So...if I'm to learn mapping, programming and all that modding involves, I was thinking, trying something more simple and basic (even if limited) first. I have the Quake Trilogy pack, and I can pick up an old Windows box that's at least powerful enough to play Quake 3 at full settings tomorrow. I was thinking learning all the basics of modding and programming by building up a mod for Quake 1 or 2.

However I read recently that modding on the Source engine was not so difficult. So, this is the best place for an answer. Would the Quake engine be the best to learn modding on, or is there another game/engine that is best to learn the basics? Could I actually go ahead with the Source SDK, and learn with it?

Also if there are any other beginners reading this, I wouldn't mind meeting a few. Though it could be challenging, but learning to mod with a group of beginners is not a bad idea and a group effort such as building a mod for a current game could result.

If I'm being hasty and missed important documentation on this site for mod-making for newbs, I'm terribly sorry.

Feedback on any of this is totally appreciated.

--Snow.

Go Quake 1. It's extremely easy, plenty of documentation due to its age, and still has quite a strong community around it. And if you really want to get your hands dirty with Quake, due to the open source nature of the engine, there are plenty of engine mods which bring its visual quality up quite a notch. Most notable of this is DarkPlaces.

Stick with Quake1 to learn coding. It uses QuakeC a scripting language for all the client side game code and can be developed into nice mods relatively easy.

If you know at least one other language intricately, it won't be overly bad if you go straight into the Source SDK. Before I started modding Source, I'd only ever coded in VB and played around with a C++-baed scripting language in the Phoenix engine. After coding with Source for months now, I actually find all THREE Quake games all awkward to work with.
However if you don't, or would rather gain some knowledge first, Quake is definitely the way to go. Quake 1-based engines (Shorty mentioned DarkPlaces) use their own scripting language, which IMO is limited and slow, and isn't really much like Source at all. IMO the best engine would be something like QFusion, which is build on Quake 2 but is pretty much a juiced up Quake 3 engine because they use DLLs and therefore are more similar to Source than Quake 1.

I guess all this would also depend on how indepth your project is going to be.

If your relatively new to modding, maybe you can start modding by making your own map pack? Then you can use all the code, models, etc provided by the game.

If you got the experience though, go for it.

Hey thanks guys. I'm going to look into the two engines: Dark Places and QFusion. Yes I am very new to modding, and I figured once I've done enough research on the subject, found the right engine to work with, learned the basic coding languages needed (or just touch up on what I know), then I'd start with at least one map. A standard CTF map. If it worked well, and depending on the time it took to make the map, then build a small multiplayer map pack with models, possibly newer weapons (or just with new skin), add/edit sounds etc. If that goes well, try a bit of a single player campaign. After that I should be ready to learn coding and all necessary for Source.

By the time I'm finished the next two semesters at school, I'll also have more than enough experience building detailed 3d models. It's a nice little prerequisite to already have. Though, OMG 3DStudio Max is huge.

Well, thanks again guys, I appreciate it. I don't have any more questions right now, and don't know of anything else to put here. Oh... well there is one thing: If any newbs reading this, and you are also learning modding possibly on Quake 1 or 2 drop me a line. There are benefits, I mean I can make 3d objects and models.

--Snow.