ODST: Inferno mod for Halo: The Master Chief Collection

ODST: Inferno (Version 2.8)
By: King Feraligatr
Nexus Mirror

What this mod is about:
ODST: Inferno is a remake and a rebranding of my old mod ODST: Feet First into Hell using the official mod tools. With these tools, I’ve been able to do things that where a pain or just nigh impossible beforehand. I can also support Firefight to a much better degree than before, which was rather problematic before.

Now, what exactly is ODST: Inferno you may ask? ODST: Inferno is a mod that covers the entire Halo 3: ODST campaign and Firefight experiences. AI, both friendly and enemy, has been improved and are generally more competent. Honestly, this is a huge part of the mod and where a lot of my effort went into. The Brutes are much more threatening and competent, being much more able and willing to chase you down. Your allies are much better at keeping themselves alive and being less of a nuisance --- they’ll actually look like they’re trying. The Flood, while only in Firefight, have be made quite a bit more threatening and durable. In general, all actors have more varied behavior and should appear to be trying more.

But that’s just AI… what else has changed? The sandbox has been changed and rebalanced. “Reviver allies” will assist you on the first four flashback missions and in Firefight (if you have boons on). Covenant in the campaign can wield human weapons. Some encounters have been tweaked, added, or restored. Some continuity issues have been addressed. And Firefight has been expanded upon and has some new surprises. Among other things. All without being the craziest on the changes.

I hope you get the same enjoyment I do from this mod. I learned more things about Halo modding, especially in the Halo 3 era. Some of which I can use (have used) in my Halo 3 mod (which is bigger in scope). It was one hell of a ride. But now it’s time to drop into hell, Trooper. I’ll see you on the streets of New Mombasa.

This mod does not have a Steam Workshop release yet. This is because others and I have had trouble putting the ODST campaign together using Excession at the moment. Other games are fine, but ODST is not. When it becomes possible to do so, expect this mod to land on the Wokshop. For right now, you'll just have to use the classic map replacement method. Sorry. :(

Recommended difficulty (and the one I playtested/balanced for): Legendary

Summary of Changes:

• Drastically improved AI, both friendly and enemy. Brutes are noticeably improved.
• More diversified AI. Actors have a bit more defined personalities and more variance in behavior.
• Rebalanced "sandbox" and general game. Elements that weren't so great have been buffed or changed in various ways. Elements that where too overpowered have been nerfed in various ways.
• Some added or revised encounters. Notably, there are more Hunters and some Covenant troops in the campaign can be found wielding human weapons. Some cut encounters have also been restored.
• Some continuity changes. Some simple continuity errors have been fixed and/or addressed.
• Reviver allies will assist you in the first 4 flashback missions and most Firefight maps (with boons on). These are allies that act like the Arbiter or Johnson in Halo 3. The Firefight revivers are from my Halo 3 mod Yet Another Halo 3 Revamp (or YAH3R).
• Generic allies have been added to Firefight maps that lacked them. (If you have boons on).
• A mod that isn't generally too crazy on the changes.
• Balanced and intended to be played on Legendary.
• Etc.

More detailed changes can be found on the mod's standalone readme (Because it wouldn't all fit here...).

(Only the latest version's changelog will be here. Check the documents for more complete ones.)

2.8 Changes:
General AI/Actor changes:
⦁ All AI have a bit less maximum firing distance with the Needler (greater than vanilla still, though).
⦁ All AI have a slightly lowered minimum firing distance with the Beam Rifle and Sentinel Beam.
⦁ Added a slight surprise delay time to AI using the following weapons: Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, and Beam Rifle.
⦁ All AI do a bit damage to non-player sources with the Plasma Pistol and Needler. Should be around the same damage as before against the player.
⦁ Marines/ODSTs, Elites, Brutes, and Combat Forms have a bit less max delay time for their first burst(s) with the Plasma Pistol and Needler.
⦁ Etc.

Enemy AI/Actor Changes:
General:
⦁ All enemy AI have less target tracking with the Ghost and Shade.
⦁ Brutes, Jackals, enemy Elites, and Combat Forms have less target tracking with the Battle Rifle.
⦁ Covenant do a bit less damage with the Shotgun. Combat Forms do a bit more damage with the Mauler.
⦁ Etc.

Covenant:
⦁ Made Drone jumping properties consistent between all ranks.
⦁ Drone Captains can't regenerate as much body health.
⦁ Hunters have a bit longer health recharge stun time.
⦁ Brute Captains and Chieftains take a bit longer to regenerate their health.
⦁ Decreased enemy SpecOps Elite body health a tad.
⦁ Etc.

Flood:
⦁ Added special vehicle variants for Human Combat Forms that spawn in vehicles that have a bit more health. Should help them last a bit longer.
⦁ Flood Combat Forms do a bit less damage with the Assault Rifle.
⦁ Etc.

Allied AI/Actor Changes:
General:
⦁ All allied AI have a bit longer health recharge time. Stun time is the same.
⦁ Allied AI do a bit less damage with the Ghost.
⦁ Etc.

Humans:
⦁ Alpha-9 is a bit less effective with their better weapon usage. This includes Buck on Coastal Highway, though not by much.
⦁ Etc.

Covenant:
⦁ Allied Elites take a slightly shorter time to regenerate their shields.
⦁ Etc.

Weapon Changes:
General:
⦁ SSMG, AR, Spiker, Automag, Shotgun, and Mauler, and Spike Grenades do slightly less damage to player body health than before.
⦁ Adjusted Sniper and Beam Rifle damage to the player.
⦁ Beam Rifle and Sniper Rifle damage against Flood increased quite a bit (though it's still low) and can now get some slight bonus damage against Flood weakpoints.
⦁ Edited the Frag Grenade's and Wraith mortar's visual effects to better fit in with what I know now.
⦁ Etc.

Human:
⦁ SSMG has slightly more maximum spread.
⦁ Rocket Launcher explosion has a slightly larger maximum damage radius.
⦁ Splaser is back to using "spike AoE" damage instead of an impact damage to restore its old lethality. I made a mistake here.
⦁ Etc.

Covenant:
⦁ Plasma Pistol standard shot does a bit more damage. AI still do around vanilla damage. Its EMP now also does a bit of bonus damage to Hunter flesh.
⦁ Mauler has a bit less damage falloff.
⦁ Increased Brute Shot damage a tad. Also increased its melee damage a tad as well.
⦁ FRG explosion does a bit more minimum damage.
⦁ Energy Sword damage increased a bit again (except against Tank Forms). More so for the player.
⦁ Main hammer swing melee damage for the Gravity Hammer increased for players.
⦁ Increased Beam Rifle maximum shots from 16 to 18. Decreased damage vs. Elite shields slightly.
⦁ Spike Grenade fragments do a bit more damage.
⦁ Etc.

Vehicle Changes:
General:
⦁ Edited the Frag Grenade's and Wraith mortar's visual effects to better fit in with what I know now.
⦁ Scorpion and Wraith do a bit more maximum damage with their explosions. Damage vs. vehicle occupants still the same.
⦁ Etc.

Human:
⦁ Eased the projectile velocity nerfs on the Warthog's chaingun and Gauss turrets, the Scorpion's gunner seat, and the Hornet's machine guns and missiles. This change is very much subject to be looked at.
⦁ Decreased Scorpion's projectile velocity a bit.
⦁ Etc.

Covenant:
⦁ Ghost has a bit faster projectile velocity.
⦁ Chopper does more damage vs. "solid" hard metal (i.e.: tank and Hunter armor).
⦁ Shade does more damage and has a bit faster projectiles.
⦁ Wraith gunner has a bit less maximum spread.
⦁ Etc.

Campaign Level Changes:
Uplift Reserve:
⦁ Edited allied AI objectives/task to allow infantry to keep up better and allow revivers to teleport ahead better. Hopefully.
⦁ Etc.

Data Hive:
⦁ Prevented the cop from teleporting back up top if you have 29 or 30 audio logs.
⦁ Etc.

I am certain I missed some things. :(

Installation:
All campaign levels are included in this mod, even the cutscene ones. Even though I didn't edit the cutscene levels, I'm still including them so you can have a full experience with this mod (though they are optional). Due to the nature of how Firefight works in ODST (the FF maps are literally the campaign maps repurposed), you don’t have to download separate maps for Firefight. You get the full experience in 9 levels.

Now, as for actually installing this mod:
1. Backup all your vanilla ODST maps. Extremely important if you want to play the vanilla campaign and/or do Firefight matchmaking in ODST.
2. Extract all the maps included in the main archive to your ODST maps folder.
3. (Optional) Extract the maps in the cutscene map archive to your ODST maps folder as well, if you want.
4. Load up MCC with Easy Anti Cheat off. Standard fare stuff.
5. Enjoy the mod. Again, I recommend Legendary for the best experience.


Uninstallation:
When you feel like playing vanilla, playing another ODST mod, and/or are just done with the mod, I recommend you follow these steps:
1. (Optional) Backup all this mod's maps to another folder for latter use.
2. Restore all your backed up ODST maps from before. Overwrite all maps in the current ODST maps directory. Put high emphasis on the "all" if you want to go back to vanilla.
3. Enjoy that experience.


Permissions:
You are free to use anything from this mod at your discretion without asking me for permission.

You are free to make your own versions of this mod and upload them at your discretion without asking me for permission.

You are free to use the ideas from this mod as you wish without asking me for permission.

You are free to look at this mod's internals as you wish without asking me for permission.

You are free to edit this mod for personal use as you wish without asking me for permission.

If you do any of this, credit me and those who’ve helped me. Only condition.

TLDR; this mod is basically free use and you don't have to inform me that you're doing things with it and don’t have to get my permission to use if for your own ends. My only condition is that you credit me and those who’ve helped me if you do so (basically credit those I credited in the credits section below.).


Musings and Miscellaneous:
Well, for a mod on the simpler side, this still took two months to remake and expand on. While it was fun to work on, I’m just glad to finally be done with this 2.0 release. It’s taken longer than I wanted. And this readme was a pain to write. I just want it to be over.

What’s next for me then? Well, I've a Halo 3 mod called YAH3R (or Yet Another Halo 3 Revamp) on the Steam Workshop I released as a 1.0 recently. YAH3R and ODST: Inferno use similar balance, AI, and design principles, but YAH3R is bigger in scope and is "crazier" on the changes. I've also a Halo 2 mod in private alpha that isn't really anywhere close to a public beta. So when that'll come out is anyone's guess. I also released my Halo 1 mod a while ago, but that’s for Custom Edition with Open Sauce. I also mod other games --- Divinity: Original Sin 2 currently. So yeah.

Thank you for reading this long ass readme and I hope you decide to play it. :)

I have a Discord server now that you can join: Discord.gg . Here you can discuss ODST: Inferno and my other Halo mods. :)

On the name change:
Now why the name change/rebranding, you may ask? Well, I don’t feel my old name was doing the mod any favors in terms of clarity, recognition, ease of mentioning, or publicity. It had some thematic appropriateness, but just didn’t seem to “click” with others. With me remaking the mod with official mod tools, I thought it was a prime time to change the name. ODST: Inferno sounds a bit generic, I admit, but it’s still cool sounding in my opinion. And it still fits thematically in a sense and keeps the idea of having a “hell” theming in the mod’s name. And what might be that connection? Dante’s Inferno, which ODST has some connection to via structuring, story, etc. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Anyways, that’s enough for this section.

Credits
Playtesters:
⦁ Markel
⦁ GreppiM
⦁ Kavawuvi
⦁ Silentgamer64
⦁ Dex
⦁ The Fluffies
⦁ Bio Goji
⦁ Byzantine is Roman
⦁ Sean T
⦁ Ludus
⦁ The Vengeful 'Vadam
⦁ Everyone who played my submitted map for the Open Carnage map contest.
⦁ Etc.

Special Thanks:
⦁ My playtesters
⦁ Byzantine is Roman
⦁ Markel
⦁ Crisp
⦁ The Fluffies
⦁ TheKaiserOfChaos
⦁ Greenknight
⦁ AStickTree
⦁ Rosy
⦁ Ruby of Blue
⦁ Kralich/David
⦁ xM
⦁ IIIJohnIII
⦁ Ebony McCloud
⦁ Lord Zedd/Assembly Team
⦁ Gravemind2401/Reclaimer Team
⦁ Halo Modding Reclaimers Discord
⦁ H20 Discord
⦁ Halo Haven Discord
⦁ Open Carnage
⦁ VKMT
⦁ ModDB
⦁ Halo Mods Discord
⦁ Dopeh Orange (old mod name suggestion)
⦁ Halopedia
⦁ Bungie
⦁ 343 Industries
⦁ Saber Interactive
⦁ Microsoft
⦁ You, the player. :) Or just for reading here in the readme.
⦁ Etc.

People represented in the Firefight reviver ally cast:
⦁ TheVengeful’Vadam (Steel colored Elite Ultra who specializes in Needlers.)
⦁ GreppiM (Differently colored Elite Major who specializes in blue Plasma Rifles.)
⦁ Markel (Purple striped female ODST who specializes in Assault Rifles.)
⦁ Myself (Assault armor clad Elite Ultra who specializes in Carbines.)