Reach Variant Tool

ReachVariantTool

This utility can be used to edit settings in Halo: Reach game variants. Currently, only multiplayer, Forge, and Firefight variants are supported; Forge maps and Campaign variants are not. The program can edit both game settings and gametype scripts: you can access modding-only Custom Game options and even create entirely new game modes.

This tool was tested using content from Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC.

The source code for this tool is available to view on Github.

Basic things you can edit (non-exhaustive list)

You can modify all values for all player traits in a game variant. This includes values not normally shown in the game's menus, such as "drain over time" values for the Shield Recharge Rate, and a hidden "Cannot Die From Damage" trait that only allows a player to die from leaving a level boundary. It also includes entire sets of player traits not normally shown in the game's menus -- specifically, traits for the Overshield and Active Camo powerups.

You can edit configuration data for teams in a game variant, including overriding a team's species and colors. Bungie's official Halo Chess game variant used this functionality to turn the red and blue teams into black and white.

You can edit Title Update 1 configuration values. When 343i released the title update, which lowered precision weapon bloom to 85% and nerfed Armor Lock, they didn't hardcode all of the update's changes; instead, they allowed each game variant file to specify a limited range of options. This means that among other things, you can adjust bloom from 0% to 200%, enable a full-auto Magnum (so that holding the trigger fires the pistol repeatedly), and tune the Magnum's fire rate.

You can also edit option visibility. Halo: Reach allows game variants to hide certain options from the in-game menus. Infection is implemented as an FFA game mode with fake "teams," and it uses this functionality to prevent you from enabling real teams (which would break the gametype script); modes like Territories use this functionality to prevent you from disabling team play. Invasion uses this functionality to disable the normal round time limit, so that it can override that with the individual phase timers. ReachVariantTool allows you to forcibly show or hide most of the known gametype options in the menus.

You can create presets for Forge. When you go to the Forge lobby, you're able to edit a very limited range of options; these options come from 00_basic_editing_054.bin, a built-in game variant built specifically for Forge. There's no way to get these variants to load outside of the Forge lobby (Forge in Custom Games was a Halo 3-only hack, sadly). However, you can create new Forge-only game variants with built-in settings, including settings you're not normally able