Halo: Combat Reformed
The Reformation is finally complete.
This mod seeks to tweak and fine tune Halo Infinite's gameplay, sandbox and visuals to the best of my ability and what the tools can offer to make Halo Infinite the best it can be, and in many ways make it more consistent with prior entries in the series. Making the experience of Halo Infinite a more fun, challenging and yet fair for the player.
Many of my changes use the design philosophy that Ruby, famous for his halo CE rebalanced, and his other rebalanced campaigns, uses for his projects.
This mod isn't "perfect" meaning that their are a lot of things I cannot change or are difficult to alter, or I just flat out don't know how to alter with the tools present. consider this a prototype of sorts, or a proof of concept, what Modding and mod tools could give to Infinite's campaign.
DISCLAIMER:
I feel like this goes without saying but, should you decide to play multiplayer, make sure you just reset you game. Just fully exit Halo Infinite so everything goes back to normal, turn off the RuntimeTagViewer so their systems don't think you are cheating by having the Tagviewer change the tags.
Playing the mod:
Now because the InfiniteRuntimeTagViewer isn't an official mod tool kit, playing the mod is gonna be a little tricky.
To get the changes to take place you have to load up Halo infinites campaign, and get into a level or the open world
(sometimes when entering a level the tool just won't listen and poke the changes so you'll have to exit the game and re-enter then reload the tags then poke all for changes to be made during a mission, and for visual changes like Chiefs armor, enemy armor colors, or weapon colors to take effect you'll have to enter a level "reload" -> "poke all" and restart the level, for the open world do the same but instead find a mission like a marine squad rescue and "replay mission" for changes to take effect.)
click "Load" for the tool to load up the tags currently spawned in your game then click "poke all" not everything is going to be loaded so you will see XXX amount failed, don't worry about that its just that some tags aren't loaded and so the changes can't be made. There's an "auto poke" feature but I don't feel like it works a lot of the time and I just end up pausing the game whenever I'm going into a new area or level with new stuff hitting "reload" and hitting poke all again.
Like I said the conditions aren't great but its all we got.
General Changes:
I have changed how many grenades and grenade types the player can hold, rather than 2 of 4 types, I opted for a more classic approach giving the player 4 grenades per type but only being able to carry 2 types at one time, so the player will have to decide what grenade is useful to the type of engagement they are going into much like the weapons they carry.
The UNSC weapons can now no longer be resupplied by the kinetic ammo crates. Given how plentiful they are to find, and how they can be spawned at a captured F.O.B I felt this change was justified. Open world games like Breath of the Wild for example have you scavenging and constantly changing weapons and play style, getting the player to use weapons they normally wouldn't use or be creative with the tools they have. I wanted to bring more of that style of gameplay to infinite given that it is open world.
Because these crates are so common the player may only stick to 2 specific weapons (commonly the Battle rifle) and have no issue just using that weapon because it can be constantly refilled. Now the player will have to use whatever weapons are available to them should they run our of ammo. This change also makes the F.O.Bs have more presence in the gameplay as they can go back to one to resupply if they cant find any dropped weapons.
I have adjusted the movement speed of the player to match past games. Infinite had the player able to accelerate in any given direction on a whim being more inline with typical shooters like Call of Duty, I've lowered the movement and strafe acceleration a bit so its more inline with the very weighty spartan feel of past games.
I have also adjusted the behaviours of the Grunt minors and Brute minors respectively. In vanilla low grunt ranks like the minors would very commonly firing overcharge shots of the plasma pistol, sometimes back to back. I have removed that ability leaving it solely to the jackals and Grunt Ultra. I would have preferred to tailor the ability per rank so the Grunt mule and upward could overcharge but sadly I am unable. In a similar vein I also removed the Minor/Majors ability to throw grenades leaving that ability to be held by the Grunt Ultra who does so much more often, like the charge shot I wanted to make the ability on a per rank basis but could not
As for the Brute minor change, I have made it so they will Berserk and charge the player should the leader die within range of them or they are the last man standing. The Berserk trait is something that is unique and very important to the Brutes characterization as species, much like the elites getting enraged and charging the player when shields go down. In base game the minors COULD berserk but you'd seldom see it occur because the rate was incredibly low, whopping 0.02 chance.
Now the typical Brute minor sporting Blue armor will stow their weapon and charge you like the Berserker class, very dangerous in a firefight. and the armored minors will become enraged like the elites do and charge you but unlike the base minor they will still hold their weapons. (Note: The animation seems to be a bit janky with armored minor)
The Skimmers have also seen a few changes as well. Before being able to take way to much damage for being the new Bugger analog, I have reduced their health to match that of the Buggers of past games, I have also given the white Skimmers Shock Rifles instead of Commandos as I felt them using Commandos was a bit odd.
I have also fixed the rank structure of the Elites as well. Before being Minor -> Major -> Warlord/General -> Ultra now changed to the correct Minor -> Major -> Ultra -> Warlord/General.
While on the subjects of Elites, I have retooled the "Spec-ops" elites to be more like Halo CE Stealth Elites, The way they are used in the game are more like Stealth Elites, used to catch the player off guard and surprise them, rather than the Spec-ops who are more like top-tier Elite infantry. Thus I have given them the appropriate Health and shields and changed their appearance to match the CE Stealth Elites.
I have also made it so you'll be able to see your legs even at the max FOV
Difficulty:
Difficulty changes include the games damage table, A.i behaviors, and difficulty based multipliers.
To start, the most impactful change that you will notice is the relationship between the plasma and bullet damage types. Prior Infinite Plasma and bullets did the same amount of damage toward shields 1x, HOWEVER against and enemies unshielded flesh Plasma did 0.3x damage while Bullets did 1x. This was because they depended on headshot hit bonus multipliers for plasma weaponry to be effective. I have scrapped headshot hit bonuses as a whole and made it so bullets are less effective on shields, but good against an unshielded enemy or enemies flesh, and Plasma excels at stripping an enemies shields but while not optimal for securing kills on flesh still being effective against unshielded enemies without the required headshot.
This change makes it so the weapon type system is more prevalent as it was in the past, giving the player reason to use different weapons of different types for various situations and engagements.
I have also made it so characters have the same health they have across all difficulties, so difficulty isn't based on how much health the enemy has.
Weapons:
Almost all of the weapons with a few exceptions have had their recoil completely removed, Halo historically never used recoil to temper a players firing patterns (with certain exceptions like the smg) and Infinite's usage of it made the guns in my opinion feel very uncomfortable to use. I have opted for the typical "bloom" system Halo has used, carefully implementing it onto each gun so that they function like they do in past games, and being careful not to make bloom function like they did in Halo Reach. Although some weapons like the Mangler and Cindershot still have some recoil albeit somewhat reduced.
I have slowed down the speed of the weapon animations so they have more time to breathe and feel natural as opposed to the hyper fast style they were before to seemingly fit an e-sports environment. reload full and empty animations, overheat and vent animations, initial ready and put away animations have been tweaked to varying degrees based on the weapon for more natural and "human" movement befitting of each weapons identity.
UNSC Weapons
The Assault rifle:
Now carrying on the legacy of its ancestor the MA5B of Halo CE. The Assault rifle of Halo infinite sports a shiny silver finish mimicking its predecessor along with a 60 round magazine and 600 total rounds. Being the jack of all trades like its past versions, the assault rifle if burst fired can be used to take down enemies at range or if at medium range or up close and personal can spray enemies down with a hose of bullets.
The Battle Rifle:
The battle rifle hasn't undergone any major changes, but has been given an accuracy decrease so its bullets aren't fired in a laser straight line.
The Commando:
In vanilla I always felt the commando felt like a weird amalgamation of guns, never having its own identity or performing its given roles quite right, a DMR-esque rifle with full auto capability like an Assault rifle combine that with very intense recoil and the weapon just felt odd to use.
The commando now has a defined role as a tactical rifle, firing in a 2 round burst (inspired by Mass Effect 3's Valkyrie rifle)
The Pistol:
For a weapon called the "sidekick" it sure doesn't act like it, able to out fire most semi-automatic weapons and comparable damage. Using that experience as a base I tried to reel in the Pistol so it doesn't out shine the Battle rifle or Commando (but no so much that it's useless). Sporting a new black Halo 2 like coat, I increased the time the player has to wait before another shot can be fired a bit so its less "spammy" and more methodical, Excelling at taking down Grunts, Jackals or Skimmers with a quick headshot, or finishing off a brute or elite after taking down shields or removing their helmet. While it does excel at its role it is able to perform reasonably well on its own like the Halo 2 magnum.
The Bulldog:
The Bulldog shotgun was meant to fill the role of the old shotgun but visually and functionally didn't quite do so. Instead I did what I did with the Commando and tried to make the Bulldog its own unique weapon. instead of slow hard hitting shots, the Bulldog takes inspiration from the real world AA-12 shotgun. Given the drum mag this felt appropriate. The Bulldog is a fast firing full auto shotgun, pelting enemies with a barrage of shells, but beware its a drum mag so if you dont spend the entire mag and reload you will be wasting ammo.
The Hydra:
The Hydra didn't undergo to many changes, but to make its firing modes more unique its main fire barrel which shots "dumb rockets" which don't track can fire much faster allowing the player to bombard a target with missiles with good aim.
The Sniper Rifle:
Just a simple rate of fire change to match its CE functionality.
Banished Weapons
The Pulse Rifle:
Halo Infinite sorely lacked a proper Plasma rifle, the Pulse Carbine seems to have been made to fill that role but it doesn't quite fill the shoes the Plasma rifle left. Thus I converted the Pulse Carbine from the 3 round homing burst to a full auto plasma rifle filling a hole the community very much wanted filled. This new creation I have dubbed the "Pulse Rifle" functions very much like the Plasma Rifle from Rubys Halo CE rebalanced.
The Plasma Pistol:
Not much has changed about the Plasma Pistol but I have made it function more like its Halo CE counter part. Because the weapon no longer has EMP capability and is more used for infantry and shields it made sense for the weapons charge shot to have its tracking heavily reduced. Making usage by the player more meaningful and usage by the enemy less aggravating.
Given how common the weapon is on the battlefield the charge shot has a heavy cost to battery life so keep that in mind.
The Ravager:
Despite being labelled a Plasma weapon the ravager did explosive damage, I corrected that so it primarily does Plasma damage with a small amount of explosive damage fitting for the Brutes using it to bombard enemies from range.
The Stalker rifle:
The Stalker rifle suffered the same fate as the Commando, being called a "sniper" but not really performing as one. I have made the Stalker perform like the Beam rifle from Halo 2 and 3 so watch out for those Sniper Jackals. While not able to one shot you like those in Halo 2 they can get very close finishing you off while you are fighting other enemies and not paying attention to them or weakening you before you engage the enemy.
The Needler:
The Needler had its projectiles required for a supercombine reduced to 7, and its projectiles adjusted to behave like past games both for you and the enemy. However one thing I couldn't figure out how to change was to remove the enemies ability to supercombine, making an enemy up close with a needler a deadly threat. The needles detonate after 0.75 seconds so its not to easy to get a super combine for both the enemy and the player.
The Mangler:
Only received Reduced recoil.
The Shock Rifle:
The Banished received weapons from the Brutes more technological past, but the Shock rifle as a sniper felt unfulfilling to me. Killing an enemy with a piddly "zap" or being one shot by the same sound felt very underwhelming for how a sniper should feel not to mention introducing a new weapon class with a pistol and sniper just feels weird. As such I have converted the shock rifle into a fully automatic shock assault rifle great for chaining shock damage to nearby enemies while you barrage a target with electric zaps.
The Disrupter:
The Disrupter was an interesting weapon, having a super combine effect like the needler, but the way it delivered said projectiles felt very boring a weak. It was a pistol that could fire automatically but did so pretty slowly or energetically, so I made the Disrupter a 3 round burst pistol that fires pretty fast, landing all 3 shots will net you an electric supercombine where the weapon holds most of its damage capability.
Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword:
These weapons have only undergone small changes, the Gravity hammer having increase physics effects so things will go flying with the swing of the hammer like past games, and the sword having reduced aging given how its damage is somewhat nerfed.
Weapon Variants:
With some of the weapon variants I took the liberty of using them to recreate other weapons or making variants more unique but with enough drawbacks so they don't completely over shadow the regular versions of the weapon.
Assault Rifle variant:
Since the the base Assault rifle behaves more like the Halo CE Assault rifle, the variant functions more like its Halo 3 and Halo Reach version, sporting 32 rounds instead of 60, and having smaller spread.
Battle Rifle Variant:
The Battle rifle variant rather than being "Battle Rifle but faster" instead functions like the Reach DMR or Halo 2 E3 Battle Rifle. Semi auto firing, 15 rounds.
Pistol Variant:
The tools only allow me change whats there so I have to work with what I have, the pistol doesn't change to much, it's projectile is a bit slower and does more damage.
Commando Variant:
Mag has been cut in half from 20 to 10 but does MUCH more damage but with more spread
Bulldog Variant:
Larger mag and reserve ammo for pelting enemies with shells
Rocket Launcher Variant:
Unfortunately I had to cut the ability to track individual characters as it made fighting the boss to obtain the weapon on Legendary insufferable, now fighting him with a vehicle is more perilous but on foot having the advantage on not being able to be tracked but having much less protection from the rocket.
Sniper Rifle Variant:
Going in the opposite direction of the base game version, the sniper variant has 2 rounds and fires them much slower than the base sniper, however they hit very hard.
Plasma Pistol Variant:
The weapon now fires a 3 round burst of plasma and the charge shot projectiles has been increased, however they do not track the target whatsoever.
Pulse Rifle Variant:
The variant is what I like to refer to as the "Brute Pulse Rifle" it fires red plasma bolts much faster than the base version and the bolts are much stronger but has a lot of spread if you hold down the trigger, and the weapon must be vented or it will overheat and the overheat is much longer than the base version.
Stalker Rifle Variant:
This variant works similarly to the sniper rifle variant, being very very powerful, but can only firing one shot before overheating, making the HVT that has it a very deadly opponent and enforces the narrative that he is a expert sniper who only needs one shot.
Mangler Variant:
Very powerful hand cannon, however while its projectiles are much faster and much more powerful its rate of fire is very slow.
Shock Rifle Variant:
Shock rifle has been overclock and will spool up to a high fire rate
Disrupter Variant:
Has a much more powerful super combine and projectiles explode doing more damage but only fires 3 shots (1 burst per mag) at a time.
Ravager Variant:
Rather than uselessly bouncing off the target, the projectiles travel much faster and can be used like the Fuel rod to bounce off the floor into the target or if at a slightly longer range can explode in the targets face.
Jega's Energy Blade:
Uses less energy per hit
Escharums Gravity Hammer:
Does WAYYY more damage befitting that of the bosses signature weapon.
Dynamo Grenade:
The Dynamos always felt way to powerful than they should be, they were able to slow your movement and give a pretty substantial amount of damage with very little skill involved due to the aoe damage. This was especially annoying when fighting Skimmers.
So I got a bit creative and aimed to give Halo its first neutral grenade type, a sort of Flashbang equivalent for Halo. Now rather than outright damage, the grenade will slow movement speed to a crawl leaving you vulnerable to attack (watch out for skimmers and Berserkers using them).
Armor Abilities:
The armor abilities while fun undercut what makes an engagement or exploring the openworld fun thus they have had their cooldowns increased.
The grapplehook for example ruins open world exploration, why get in a vehicle or walk around and explore when you can zip around like Spider-Man. The other abilities have had cooldowns extended so that using them in battle is more deliberate and meaningful it also give the player reason to find the spartan cores to upgrade the equipment to lower the cooldown times.
The visor scan similarly ruins puzzles, what little thinking the player has to do for a puzzle is undercut by the scan ability to tell you immediately and repeatedly where everything is and what to do. So I treated it like Samus's scan pulse in Dread and Samus Returns, giving it a 2 minute cooldown giving the player more agency to look around and figure out what to do rather than have something tell you.
I have also fixed the flashlight so its focused more in the middle of the screen like previous entries, before it was way to wide and took up the whole screen feeling really weird, not like a flashlight but more like my head was a light bulb.
Vehicles:
Vehicles like the warthog and mongoose have had gravity scales increased so you are less likely to flip over when you so much as hit a pebble in the road. and the wasp and banshee have been altered as well to be a bit faster and more nimble.
The Ghost has seen changes to its movement and its dual cannons. The movement of the Ghost has been made to match that of past games for a more weighted floaty feel. and the Dual cannons have been changed to behave like their Halo CE version, firing 2 projectiles at once rather than alternating between cannons. The same applies to the Banshee.
The Chopper has also been adjusted to drive more like its Halo 3 version.
Visual Changes:
The designs of the enemies and characters while great and very refreshing from the very polarizing art style of Halos 4 and 5. left a little to be desired. Weapons and weapon variants also had odd choices I chose to tweak for better effect.
Characters:
Chiefs armor felt a little to pure green, so I changed it slightly to match the more yellow green of Halo 2 and 3.
The Elites suffered a similar problem, the material of their armor made it appear as if it were made of plastic as opposed to the very shiny metallic look they had in Halo CE. The Elite Major, Stealth elite, Elite Ultra, and Elite Warlord have all been changed to appear more shiny and regal like past entries. This also effected the Grunt Ultra and Skirmisher as well.
I have also made it so Grunts skin have their trademark blueish gray coloring like they were in Halo's CE and 2.
Weapons:
Most weapons in the game have had their appearance changed in someway to better fit them that can be simply removing grime and scratches for a more clean appearance or completely changing the coating. Weapons that have changed appearances (weapons with the * will have a changed appearance for the variant version as well, and those with a ** the variant was changed to be the same as the base model) include:
The Assault rifle *
The Battle Rifle *
The Pistol *
The Commando *
The Rocket Launcher *
The Sniper Rifle (Just the Variant)
The Pulse Rifle *
The Plasma Pistol **
The Needler **
The Ravager **
The Mangler **
The Energy Sword
The Gravity Hammer **
The Stalker Rifle *
The Shock Rifle **
The Disrupter **
The Skewer **
The Cindershot **
The Sentinel Beam **
The Heatwave **
I also changed the appearance of the Razorback, and removed the UNSC logo from the Spartan core, armor locker and weapon spawner at the F.O.Bs as they were unnecessary and for a more immersive experience.
And a big shoutout to the Ruby of Blue server and Halo mods server for helping me throughout making this mod, you homies are awesome
The Reformation is finally complete.
This mod seeks to tweak and fine tune Halo Infinite's gameplay, sandbox and visuals to the best of my ability and what the tools can offer to make Halo Infinite the best it can be, and in many ways make it more consistent with prior entries in the series. Making the experience of Halo Infinite a more fun, challenging and yet fair for the player.
Many of my changes use the design philosophy that Ruby, famous for his halo CE rebalanced, and his other rebalanced campaigns, uses for his projects.
This mod isn't "perfect" meaning that their are a lot of things I cannot change or are difficult to alter, or I just flat out don't know how to alter with the tools present. consider this a prototype of sorts, or a proof of concept, what Modding and mod tools could give to Infinite's campaign.
DISCLAIMER:
I feel like this goes without saying but, should you decide to play multiplayer, make sure you just reset you game. Just fully exit Halo Infinite so everything goes back to normal, turn off the RuntimeTagViewer so their systems don't think you are cheating by having the Tagviewer change the tags.
Playing the mod:
Now because the InfiniteRuntimeTagViewer isn't an official mod tool kit, playing the mod is gonna be a little tricky.
To get the changes to take place you have to load up Halo infinites campaign, and get into a level or the open world
(sometimes when entering a level the tool just won't listen and poke the changes so you'll have to exit the game and re-enter then reload the tags then poke all for changes to be made during a mission, and for visual changes like Chiefs armor, enemy armor colors, or weapon colors to take effect you'll have to enter a level "reload" -> "poke all" and restart the level, for the open world do the same but instead find a mission like a marine squad rescue and "replay mission" for changes to take effect.)
click "Load" for the tool to load up the tags currently spawned in your game then click "poke all" not everything is going to be loaded so you will see XXX amount failed, don't worry about that its just that some tags aren't loaded and so the changes can't be made. There's an "auto poke" feature but I don't feel like it works a lot of the time and I just end up pausing the game whenever I'm going into a new area or level with new stuff hitting "reload" and hitting poke all again.
Like I said the conditions aren't great but its all we got.
General Changes:
I have changed how many grenades and grenade types the player can hold, rather than 2 of 4 types, I opted for a more classic approach giving the player 4 grenades per type but only being able to carry 2 types at one time, so the player will have to decide what grenade is useful to the type of engagement they are going into much like the weapons they carry.
The UNSC weapons can now no longer be resupplied by the kinetic ammo crates. Given how plentiful they are to find, and how they can be spawned at a captured F.O.B I felt this change was justified. Open world games like Breath of the Wild for example have you scavenging and constantly changing weapons and play style, getting the player to use weapons they normally wouldn't use or be creative with the tools they have. I wanted to bring more of that style of gameplay to infinite given that it is open world.
Because these crates are so common the player may only stick to 2 specific weapons (commonly the Battle rifle) and have no issue just using that weapon because it can be constantly refilled. Now the player will have to use whatever weapons are available to them should they run our of ammo. This change also makes the F.O.Bs have more presence in the gameplay as they can go back to one to resupply if they cant find any dropped weapons.
I have adjusted the movement speed of the player to match past games. Infinite had the player able to accelerate in any given direction on a whim being more inline with typical shooters like Call of Duty, I've lowered the movement and strafe acceleration a bit so its more inline with the very weighty spartan feel of past games.
I have also adjusted the behaviours of the Grunt minors and Brute minors respectively. In vanilla low grunt ranks like the minors would very commonly firing overcharge shots of the plasma pistol, sometimes back to back. I have removed that ability leaving it solely to the jackals and Grunt Ultra. I would have preferred to tailor the ability per rank so the Grunt mule and upward could overcharge but sadly I am unable. In a similar vein I also removed the Minor/Majors ability to throw grenades leaving that ability to be held by the Grunt Ultra who does so much more often, like the charge shot I wanted to make the ability on a per rank basis but could not
As for the Brute minor change, I have made it so they will Berserk and charge the player should the leader die within range of them or they are the last man standing. The Berserk trait is something that is unique and very important to the Brutes characterization as species, much like the elites getting enraged and charging the player when shields go down. In base game the minors COULD berserk but you'd seldom see it occur because the rate was incredibly low, whopping 0.02 chance.
Now the typical Brute minor sporting Blue armor will stow their weapon and charge you like the Berserker class, very dangerous in a firefight. and the armored minors will become enraged like the elites do and charge you but unlike the base minor they will still hold their weapons. (Note: The animation seems to be a bit janky with armored minor)
The Skimmers have also seen a few changes as well. Before being able to take way to much damage for being the new Bugger analog, I have reduced their health to match that of the Buggers of past games, I have also given the white Skimmers Shock Rifles instead of Commandos as I felt them using Commandos was a bit odd.
I have also fixed the rank structure of the Elites as well. Before being Minor -> Major -> Warlord/General -> Ultra now changed to the correct Minor -> Major -> Ultra -> Warlord/General.
While on the subjects of Elites, I have retooled the "Spec-ops" elites to be more like Halo CE Stealth Elites, The way they are used in the game are more like Stealth Elites, used to catch the player off guard and surprise them, rather than the Spec-ops who are more like top-tier Elite infantry. Thus I have given them the appropriate Health and shields and changed their appearance to match the CE Stealth Elites.
I have also made it so you'll be able to see your legs even at the max FOV
Difficulty:
Difficulty changes include the games damage table, A.i behaviors, and difficulty based multipliers.
To start, the most impactful change that you will notice is the relationship between the plasma and bullet damage types. Prior Infinite Plasma and bullets did the same amount of damage toward shields 1x, HOWEVER against and enemies unshielded flesh Plasma did 0.3x damage while Bullets did 1x. This was because they depended on headshot hit bonus multipliers for plasma weaponry to be effective. I have scrapped headshot hit bonuses as a whole and made it so bullets are less effective on shields, but good against an unshielded enemy or enemies flesh, and Plasma excels at stripping an enemies shields but while not optimal for securing kills on flesh still being effective against unshielded enemies without the required headshot.
This change makes it so the weapon type system is more prevalent as it was in the past, giving the player reason to use different weapons of different types for various situations and engagements.
I have also made it so characters have the same health they have across all difficulties, so difficulty isn't based on how much health the enemy has.
Weapons:
Almost all of the weapons with a few exceptions have had their recoil completely removed, Halo historically never used recoil to temper a players firing patterns (with certain exceptions like the smg) and Infinite's usage of it made the guns in my opinion feel very uncomfortable to use. I have opted for the typical "bloom" system Halo has used, carefully implementing it onto each gun so that they function like they do in past games, and being careful not to make bloom function like they did in Halo Reach. Although some weapons like the Mangler and Cindershot still have some recoil albeit somewhat reduced.
I have slowed down the speed of the weapon animations so they have more time to breathe and feel natural as opposed to the hyper fast style they were before to seemingly fit an e-sports environment. reload full and empty animations, overheat and vent animations, initial ready and put away animations have been tweaked to varying degrees based on the weapon for more natural and "human" movement befitting of each weapons identity.
UNSC Weapons
The Assault rifle:
Now carrying on the legacy of its ancestor the MA5B of Halo CE. The Assault rifle of Halo infinite sports a shiny silver finish mimicking its predecessor along with a 60 round magazine and 600 total rounds. Being the jack of all trades like its past versions, the assault rifle if burst fired can be used to take down enemies at range or if at medium range or up close and personal can spray enemies down with a hose of bullets.
The Battle Rifle:
The battle rifle hasn't undergone any major changes, but has been given an accuracy decrease so its bullets aren't fired in a laser straight line.
The Commando:
In vanilla I always felt the commando felt like a weird amalgamation of guns, never having its own identity or performing its given roles quite right, a DMR-esque rifle with full auto capability like an Assault rifle combine that with very intense recoil and the weapon just felt odd to use.
The commando now has a defined role as a tactical rifle, firing in a 2 round burst (inspired by Mass Effect 3's Valkyrie rifle)
The Pistol:
For a weapon called the "sidekick" it sure doesn't act like it, able to out fire most semi-automatic weapons and comparable damage. Using that experience as a base I tried to reel in the Pistol so it doesn't out shine the Battle rifle or Commando (but no so much that it's useless). Sporting a new black Halo 2 like coat, I increased the time the player has to wait before another shot can be fired a bit so its less "spammy" and more methodical, Excelling at taking down Grunts, Jackals or Skimmers with a quick headshot, or finishing off a brute or elite after taking down shields or removing their helmet. While it does excel at its role it is able to perform reasonably well on its own like the Halo 2 magnum.
The Bulldog:
The Bulldog shotgun was meant to fill the role of the old shotgun but visually and functionally didn't quite do so. Instead I did what I did with the Commando and tried to make the Bulldog its own unique weapon. instead of slow hard hitting shots, the Bulldog takes inspiration from the real world AA-12 shotgun. Given the drum mag this felt appropriate. The Bulldog is a fast firing full auto shotgun, pelting enemies with a barrage of shells, but beware its a drum mag so if you dont spend the entire mag and reload you will be wasting ammo.
The Hydra:
The Hydra didn't undergo to many changes, but to make its firing modes more unique its main fire barrel which shots "dumb rockets" which don't track can fire much faster allowing the player to bombard a target with missiles with good aim.
The Sniper Rifle:
Just a simple rate of fire change to match its CE functionality.
Banished Weapons
The Pulse Rifle:
Halo Infinite sorely lacked a proper Plasma rifle, the Pulse Carbine seems to have been made to fill that role but it doesn't quite fill the shoes the Plasma rifle left. Thus I converted the Pulse Carbine from the 3 round homing burst to a full auto plasma rifle filling a hole the community very much wanted filled. This new creation I have dubbed the "Pulse Rifle" functions very much like the Plasma Rifle from Rubys Halo CE rebalanced.
The Plasma Pistol:
Not much has changed about the Plasma Pistol but I have made it function more like its Halo CE counter part. Because the weapon no longer has EMP capability and is more used for infantry and shields it made sense for the weapons charge shot to have its tracking heavily reduced. Making usage by the player more meaningful and usage by the enemy less aggravating.
Given how common the weapon is on the battlefield the charge shot has a heavy cost to battery life so keep that in mind.
The Ravager:
Despite being labelled a Plasma weapon the ravager did explosive damage, I corrected that so it primarily does Plasma damage with a small amount of explosive damage fitting for the Brutes using it to bombard enemies from range.
The Stalker rifle:
The Stalker rifle suffered the same fate as the Commando, being called a "sniper" but not really performing as one. I have made the Stalker perform like the Beam rifle from Halo 2 and 3 so watch out for those Sniper Jackals. While not able to one shot you like those in Halo 2 they can get very close finishing you off while you are fighting other enemies and not paying attention to them or weakening you before you engage the enemy.
The Needler:
The Needler had its projectiles required for a supercombine reduced to 7, and its projectiles adjusted to behave like past games both for you and the enemy. However one thing I couldn't figure out how to change was to remove the enemies ability to supercombine, making an enemy up close with a needler a deadly threat. The needles detonate after 0.75 seconds so its not to easy to get a super combine for both the enemy and the player.
The Mangler:
Only received Reduced recoil.
The Shock Rifle:
The Banished received weapons from the Brutes more technological past, but the Shock rifle as a sniper felt unfulfilling to me. Killing an enemy with a piddly "zap" or being one shot by the same sound felt very underwhelming for how a sniper should feel not to mention introducing a new weapon class with a pistol and sniper just feels weird. As such I have converted the shock rifle into a fully automatic shock assault rifle great for chaining shock damage to nearby enemies while you barrage a target with electric zaps.
The Disrupter:
The Disrupter was an interesting weapon, having a super combine effect like the needler, but the way it delivered said projectiles felt very boring a weak. It was a pistol that could fire automatically but did so pretty slowly or energetically, so I made the Disrupter a 3 round burst pistol that fires pretty fast, landing all 3 shots will net you an electric supercombine where the weapon holds most of its damage capability.
Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword:
These weapons have only undergone small changes, the Gravity hammer having increase physics effects so things will go flying with the swing of the hammer like past games, and the sword having reduced aging given how its damage is somewhat nerfed.
Weapon Variants:
With some of the weapon variants I took the liberty of using them to recreate other weapons or making variants more unique but with enough drawbacks so they don't completely over shadow the regular versions of the weapon.
Assault Rifle variant:
Since the the base Assault rifle behaves more like the Halo CE Assault rifle, the variant functions more like its Halo 3 and Halo Reach version, sporting 32 rounds instead of 60, and having smaller spread.
Battle Rifle Variant:
The Battle rifle variant rather than being "Battle Rifle but faster" instead functions like the Reach DMR or Halo 2 E3 Battle Rifle. Semi auto firing, 15 rounds.
Pistol Variant:
The tools only allow me change whats there so I have to work with what I have, the pistol doesn't change to much, it's projectile is a bit slower and does more damage.
Commando Variant:
Mag has been cut in half from 20 to 10 but does MUCH more damage but with more spread
Bulldog Variant:
Larger mag and reserve ammo for pelting enemies with shells
Rocket Launcher Variant:
Unfortunately I had to cut the ability to track individual characters as it made fighting the boss to obtain the weapon on Legendary insufferable, now fighting him with a vehicle is more perilous but on foot having the advantage on not being able to be tracked but having much less protection from the rocket.
Sniper Rifle Variant:
Going in the opposite direction of the base game version, the sniper variant has 2 rounds and fires them much slower than the base sniper, however they hit very hard.
Plasma Pistol Variant:
The weapon now fires a 3 round burst of plasma and the charge shot projectiles has been increased, however they do not track the target whatsoever.
Pulse Rifle Variant:
The variant is what I like to refer to as the "Brute Pulse Rifle" it fires red plasma bolts much faster than the base version and the bolts are much stronger but has a lot of spread if you hold down the trigger, and the weapon must be vented or it will overheat and the overheat is much longer than the base version.
Stalker Rifle Variant:
This variant works similarly to the sniper rifle variant, being very very powerful, but can only firing one shot before overheating, making the HVT that has it a very deadly opponent and enforces the narrative that he is a expert sniper who only needs one shot.
Mangler Variant:
Very powerful hand cannon, however while its projectiles are much faster and much more powerful its rate of fire is very slow.
Shock Rifle Variant:
Shock rifle has been overclock and will spool up to a high fire rate
Disrupter Variant:
Has a much more powerful super combine and projectiles explode doing more damage but only fires 3 shots (1 burst per mag) at a time.
Ravager Variant:
Rather than uselessly bouncing off the target, the projectiles travel much faster and can be used like the Fuel rod to bounce off the floor into the target or if at a slightly longer range can explode in the targets face.
Jega's Energy Blade:
Uses less energy per hit
Escharums Gravity Hammer:
Does WAYYY more damage befitting that of the bosses signature weapon.
Dynamo Grenade:
The Dynamos always felt way to powerful than they should be, they were able to slow your movement and give a pretty substantial amount of damage with very little skill involved due to the aoe damage. This was especially annoying when fighting Skimmers.
So I got a bit creative and aimed to give Halo its first neutral grenade type, a sort of Flashbang equivalent for Halo. Now rather than outright damage, the grenade will slow movement speed to a crawl leaving you vulnerable to attack (watch out for skimmers and Berserkers using them).
Armor Abilities:
The armor abilities while fun undercut what makes an engagement or exploring the openworld fun thus they have had their cooldowns increased.
The grapplehook for example ruins open world exploration, why get in a vehicle or walk around and explore when you can zip around like Spider-Man. The other abilities have had cooldowns extended so that using them in battle is more deliberate and meaningful it also give the player reason to find the spartan cores to upgrade the equipment to lower the cooldown times.
The visor scan similarly ruins puzzles, what little thinking the player has to do for a puzzle is undercut by the scan ability to tell you immediately and repeatedly where everything is and what to do. So I treated it like Samus's scan pulse in Dread and Samus Returns, giving it a 2 minute cooldown giving the player more agency to look around and figure out what to do rather than have something tell you.
I have also fixed the flashlight so its focused more in the middle of the screen like previous entries, before it was way to wide and took up the whole screen feeling really weird, not like a flashlight but more like my head was a light bulb.
Vehicles:
Vehicles like the warthog and mongoose have had gravity scales increased so you are less likely to flip over when you so much as hit a pebble in the road. and the wasp and banshee have been altered as well to be a bit faster and more nimble.
The Ghost has seen changes to its movement and its dual cannons. The movement of the Ghost has been made to match that of past games for a more weighted floaty feel. and the Dual cannons have been changed to behave like their Halo CE version, firing 2 projectiles at once rather than alternating between cannons. The same applies to the Banshee.
The Chopper has also been adjusted to drive more like its Halo 3 version.
Visual Changes:
The designs of the enemies and characters while great and very refreshing from the very polarizing art style of Halos 4 and 5. left a little to be desired. Weapons and weapon variants also had odd choices I chose to tweak for better effect.
Characters:
Chiefs armor felt a little to pure green, so I changed it slightly to match the more yellow green of Halo 2 and 3.
The Elites suffered a similar problem, the material of their armor made it appear as if it were made of plastic as opposed to the very shiny metallic look they had in Halo CE. The Elite Major, Stealth elite, Elite Ultra, and Elite Warlord have all been changed to appear more shiny and regal like past entries. This also effected the Grunt Ultra and Skirmisher as well.
I have also made it so Grunts skin have their trademark blueish gray coloring like they were in Halo's CE and 2.
Weapons:
Most weapons in the game have had their appearance changed in someway to better fit them that can be simply removing grime and scratches for a more clean appearance or completely changing the coating. Weapons that have changed appearances (weapons with the * will have a changed appearance for the variant version as well, and those with a ** the variant was changed to be the same as the base model) include:
The Assault rifle *
The Battle Rifle *
The Pistol *
The Commando *
The Rocket Launcher *
The Sniper Rifle (Just the Variant)
The Pulse Rifle *
The Plasma Pistol **
The Needler **
The Ravager **
The Mangler **
The Energy Sword
The Gravity Hammer **
The Stalker Rifle *
The Shock Rifle **
The Disrupter **
The Skewer **
The Cindershot **
The Sentinel Beam **
The Heatwave **
I also changed the appearance of the Razorback, and removed the UNSC logo from the Spartan core, armor locker and weapon spawner at the F.O.Bs as they were unnecessary and for a more immersive experience.
And a big shoutout to the Ruby of Blue server and Halo mods server for helping me throughout making this mod, you homies are awesome