Halo Wars Tools for Blender

Anders

Edit models, materials, animations, attachments and damage for both Halo Wars games.

Anders imports game assets into Blender and exports your edits back to the game. It supports Halo Wars: Definitive Edition UGX v4 and Halo Wars 2 UGX v6, including static props, skinned units and custom models.

Install And Update The Extension

Requires Blender 4.2 or newer.

1. Open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.

2. Open the repository menu and add a remote repository with this URL:

   https://github.com/newarcadia/anders/releases/latest/download/index.json

3. Synchronize, search for Anders: Halo Wars Tools, then install.

Use the same repository to receive updates through Blender. For manual installation, download the extension ZIP from the latest GitHub release and choose Install from Disk. Install the complete ZIP. Remove older duplicate installations if menus appear twice.

Game Asset Folders

Open Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Anders and set:

• Halo Wars Asset Folder: your extracted Halo Wars: Definitive Edition files.
• Halo Wars 2 Asset Folder: your extracted Halo Wars 2 files.

These folders let Anders find textures, shaders, animations and linked models. Mod files take priority over game files. For HW2, select the dump root or its data folder. The shader folder is found automatically.

Import A UGX

Choose the matching option under File > Import:

• Halo Wars: Definitive Edition UGX (v4) for HW1.
• Halo Wars 2 UGX (v6) for HW2.

UGX import loads the model only by default. Enable Load Associated VIS for its visual definition and attachments. Enable Load Linked and Nearby UAX for animations. Import a VIS directly when you want the assembled unit.

Models appear as meshes, materials and an armature in their own collection. Available UV maps, vertex colors, weights and LODs are retained.

Select a mesh or its armature and open Object Properties > New Arcadia UGX for model settings.

Edit An Imported Model

Use Blender's normal editing tools for:

• Mesh shape, topology, normals and material assignments.
• UV maps, including UV0, UV1 and UV2 when present.
• Vertex colors and alpha, including color seams.
• Vertex groups and bone weights.
• Armature rest positions, bone names and parenting.
• Shape keys, with the evaluated shape baked into the exported model.

New Arcadia UGX also exposes section settings, rigid bone assignments, mesh bindings, LOD ranges, sorting, bone bounds and skeleton LOD settings. Select a bone to edit its exported name, bounds and LOD error.

Keep skinned meshes connected to their armature. Bone names must match their vertex groups and animation tracks. Keep imported objects together so they retain their export settings.

Export A Completely New Model

1. Create your mesh and assign materials.
2. Add an Anders HW1 Material or Anders HW2 Material node to each material.
3. Connect its BSDF output to Material Output > Surface.
4. For a skinned model, add an armature and weight the mesh.
5. Export with the matching game's UGX exporter.

Static meshes do not need a Blender armature. HW1 custom rigs need a top-level GrannyRootBone, matching vertex groups and nonzero weights on every vertex. HW2 vertices without matching bone weights attach to the model root unless an explicit bone attachment is set. Use no more than four bone influences per vertex.

Materials

Edit materials in the Shader Editor or Material Properties > Surface. Imported materials already contain the appropriate Anders nodes.

• Change diffuse/albedo, normal, specular, emissive, player-color and mask inputs where the material supports them.
• Edit HW1 opacity, blending, specular, environment and texture settings.
• Edit HW2 material parameters and shader passes.
• Set the player color to preview team coloring.
• Use Validate Material to check texture connections before export.

Shader previews load automatically. Blender lighting can differ from the game. A blue normal-map preview alone does not mean the texture is wrong.

Replace One Texture

Choose another image in its connected Image Texture node. You can also use File > Import > Halo Wars Texture (DDX, DDS, Images).

Anders supports native DDX, DDS and referenced XPR textures, plus Blender-supported images such as PNG and TIFF. Normal maps, specular maps and masks use Non-Color data.

Use Discover Textures on the material node to find compatible missing textures. Existing connections stay in place. Slots unused by an HW2 shader do not require images.

UV Tiling And Animation

Use the material's coordinate nodes to edit UV maps, tiling, clamping and scrolling. Connect UV Animation connects the animation controls.

HW1 stores separate U/V/W speeds and flags for each map. Standard HW2 materials use shared UV speeds and texture-scale parameters. VIS texture offsets are grouped under Object Properties > Halo Wars > Texture Offsets.

Bake A Texture Input

For procedural textures or combined channels:

1. Select the mesh in Object Mode.
2. Click Bake Texture Input on its Anders material node.
3. Choose the input, resolution and UV map.
4. Disable All Meshes Using Material to bake only the active mesh.

Only faces using that material contribute. The baked image is packed into the Blender file and connected to the input. The original graph remains available.

Change A Halo Wars 2 Shader

Use the connected Anders Shader Passes node. Click the folder icon beside a pass and choose its .ufx file. Anders fills in the shader name and matching hash.

Keep surface, depth/shadow and other populated passes compatible with the material and rig. The selected shader must also exist in the game or mod's data/shaders/dx12/asset_shaders folder.

Import And Export UAX Animation

Use Blender's Animation workspace, Action Editor, Graph Editor, timeline and NLA tools.

To add animations manually:

1. Import the model and select its armature or a connected mesh.
2. Choose File > Import > Halo Wars UAX Animation.
3. Select one or more .uax files.
4. Choose a clip in the Action Editor, then play or edit its keyframes.

Clips load editable curves when selected or used in NLA. Selecting a main model action also synchronizes matching animations on linked parts.

Edit bone position, rotation, scale, timing and curve handles with Blender's animation tools. In the Action Editor sidebar, Action > Halo Wars provides loop count, boundary clamping, motion extraction and loop translation settings. Initial Placement provides location, rotation and scale/shear settings.

To export, select the armature, make the intended action active and choose File > Export > Halo Wars Animation UAX. Save the Blender project to retain imported clips and their settings.

Animations require compatible bone names and rigs. Importing a UAX does not automatically retarget it between games. Initial placement, finite loops and extracted root motion have limited Blender previews.

Linked Visuals, Points And Damage

Use File > Import > Halo Wars Visual (VIS) to load a visual definition, its linked models and animations. Wheels, turrets, weapons and other attachments appear at their assigned bones.

Attachment points are visible by default in their own collection. Select a point to edit its bone and properties under Object Properties > Halo Wars. Use Add Attachment Point to create one. Points follow their assigned bones; edit the bone to change the attachment position.

VIS settings include model links, animation references and texture offsets. For a custom model, press F3 and choose Create VIS Document. Choose Edit VIS XML to edit the full definition in Blender's Text Editor.

Damage

Open Object Properties > Damage on the vehicle or its rig. Both games support editable damage regions, stages and part actions.

You can configure:

• Health thresholds and impact regions.
• Part replacement, detachment and visibility.
• Replacement meshes and impact bones.
• Effects, sounds and detachment settings.
• HW2 weapon filters, delays and damage mask settings.

HW1 and HW2 damage templates stay separate. Use Load Matching Damage Template when the panel reports a template from the other game.

Make A Vehicle Part Detachable

1. Keep the piece as a separate mesh.
2. Select it and choose Right-click > Make Detachable or Object Properties > Damage > Make Detachable.
3. Choose the vehicle and Health Level or Impact on Part.
4. Set the threshold or impact stage.

Anders creates the required VIS and damage entries. It can add a shared root rig, missing root weights and an impact point when needed.

Preview Damage

Enable Preview Damage, then lower Health or select a region and stage. Mesh replacements, detachments and visibility changes appear in the viewport.

For HW2, choose Weapon to preview its damage filter. Enable Preview Timing and change Event Time to inspect delayed events.

Use Show Detached Parts and Separation to inspect removed pieces. Restore Vehicle returns the preview to its intact state. Preview objects are excluded from export.

Blender previews geometry changes. Game debris physics, particles and sounds require the game.

Port An HW1 Asset To HW2

1. Select the imported HW1 mesh or rig in Object Mode.
2. Open Object Properties > New Arcadia UGX > Cross-game port.
3. Choose Port HW1 Asset to HW2.
4. Review Port Report on the new copy.
5. Export the copy as Halo Wars 2 UGX (v6).

The port creates a separate collection with the rig, materials and actions. It converts player-color and occlusion masks, chooses compatible shader passes and includes emissive inputs when used.

The HW1 skeleton remains intact. HW2 animations need matching bones or retargeting. HW1 damage templates do not become HW2 templates automatically. Unit definitions, specialized effects and other gameplay setup remain separate.

Texture mappings outside UV0 are baked at the selected resolution. Scrolling is frozen at its initial position during that bake.

Remove UGX Data for Cross-Game Port is available for manual conversion. It removes imported UGX settings only from objects directly in the active object's collection. If the object belongs to multiple collections, it uses the active collection when that collection contains the object, otherwise its first linked collection. It keeps geometry, weights, materials, images and actions, and preserves shared data used by objects outside the collection. Assign the target game's material data before exporting.

Transfer A Halo Wars 2 Mesh Between UGX Files

1. Import the target and donor HW2 models into the same scene.
2. Select one donor mesh.
3. Select a target mesh last so it is active.
4. Open Object Properties > New Arcadia UGX.
5. Choose Adopt Other Selected UGX Mesh.

The copied mesh joins the target model with its materials, weights and LOD range. Weighted donor bones must exist in the target rig. Repeat for additional meshes or LODs. Use Blender's material slots to assign existing target materials if needed.

Export

Select a model mesh or its rig and choose the matching UGX option under File > Export.

• Export Loaded Material Textures is on by default. It writes loaded texture dependencies.
• Export VIS, Damage and UAX is off by default. Enable it to write the associated visual definition, damage data and loaded animations.
• For imported HW1 rigs using existing animations, keep Z Forward / Y Up consistent across the body and attachments.

Imported models export their associated parts and LODs. Exporting a new model builds a new UGX from its meshes, materials and rig. Shape keys export the evaluated shape, not animated morph tracks.

You can also export a VIS or active UAX separately from File > Export.

Companion exports use the target game's formats: HW1 .vis and .dmg, or HW2 .vis.xmb and .dmg.xmb.

Where Textures Go

The UGX contains texture references. Image files remain separate.

HW2 exports retain the shared data/textures layout. When exporting inside a data tree, textures go into that tree's texture folder. Otherwise, copy the exported texture folders into the mod's data/textures directory.

Unchanged native textures retain their original data. Edited textures export updated pixels and mipmaps. Packed 2D images can export even when their original files are unavailable. Missing images keep their references and produce a warning.

Before Using The Export

Keep the original files. Export to a new location, reimport the result and check it in the target game. Deploy the model with its required textures, shaders, animations, VIS and damage files.

Anders does not build a complete playable unit definition or reproduce the full game renderer. Use Cutter and Forge for the rest of your mod workflow.

FBX conversion

In the Anders > FBX Conversion sidebar, import an FBX and select its meshes or armature. Choose UGX v4 for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition or UGX v6 for Halo Wars 2. The exporter prepares materials on temporary copies and writes the model, textures and optional VIS together. Batch Export creates one folder per model. Blender 4.5 or newer supports ASCII and binary FBX; Blender 4.2 supports binary FBX.

FBX must contain usable geometry and texture references. Supply the Texture Folder when exported image paths are unavailable. Principled materials support native conversion of color, tangent-space normals, specular response, opacity and emission. Metallic response is approximated with native specular materials. Unsupported surfaces require baking or simplification. Rig conversion preserves the source bones and adds an unweighted origin root when HWDE requires one. It does not create unit behavior or retarget animations.

Player-color masks and animation cleanup

HW1 materials read the XF texture’s green channel as the player-color mask automatically. For a new material, add Anders HW1 Player Color Mask in the Shader Editor and connect the XF image.

Animation preparation and full-model export reuse native samples and source data. Deleting an imported rig or collection removes its unused imported actions, including actions waiting for curve preparation. Actions used elsewhere or marked as assets remain available.

Toolkit terrain authoring

Terrain authoring uses the separate Blender terrain bridge shipped with the Halo Wars toolkit. The Anders extension provides its asset codecs; the bridge is not included in the extension ZIP.

1. Install Anders and the toolkit. In Anders preferences, set Halo Wars Toolkit Folder to the folder containing Cutter, Forge and cutter_blender_terrain.zip.
2. On Linux, select the appropriate Cutter Launcher and Forge Launcher when the toolkit uses launch scripts. Set Halo Wars Project and optionally Cutter Scenario for project integration.
3. Click Enable Terrain Authoring. Enable Enable Terrain Authoring on Startup to restore it when Blender starts.
4. Use the terrain controls in the Anders sidebar to create terrain, add texture layers and send terrain to Cutter. File > Export > Halo Wars Terrain (.xtd) exports native terrain through Cutter.

The bridge and native tools must come from a compatible toolkit build. Native terrain creation and export require Cutter; installing Anders alone does not provide these operations. Keep a copy of your source project before exporting into a mod.

For HW1 FBX exports, Add to Forge Project creates project objects through Forge after the UGX files are written. Select the project in Anders preferences first. This option supports UGX v4; it does not create a complete playable unit or retarget animations.

Contribute and report problems

Use GitHub Issues for bug reports and feature requests. Include the Anders and Blender versions, target game, reproduction steps and exact message. Do not upload retail assets or private data.

Focused pull requests are welcome without a prerequisite issue. See contribution guidance. The source and releases are public on GitHub; this page is the canonical user manual.