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Halo Wars Community Mod Tools
Halo Wars Community Mod Tools is a free downloadable toolkit that allows you to create and manage mods for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2.

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Features
Includes level editor
Profile Features Limited 
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔

Early Access Software

Get involved with this software as it develops.

Note: This Early Access software is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to use this software in its current state, then you should wait to see if it progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Halo Wars Community Mod Tools works today, but it is not finished. We are still developing new modding features, adding support for more game files, improving Forge’s guided tools, and connecting Cutter, Forge, Serina, Anders, and Isabel. During Early Access, the community will help us decide which features and workflows are most important for version 1.0.”

Approximately how long will this software be in Early Access?

“We expect Early Access to last roughly 6 to 9 months. We currently aim to release version 1.0 in early 2027. This is only an estimate and may change depending on technical challenges and community feedback.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“We plan for the full version to support more Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2 file formats and types of mod content. We also plan to add more guided tools to Forge, improve importing and exporting, and make the five tools work together more smoothly. Project templates, validation, recovery, documentation, and build-and-test tools are also planned to improve. Community feedback will help us decide which features receive the most attention before version 1.0.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current version includes five usable tools:

Cutter provides visual scenario and map editing.
Forge creates and organizes mod projects.
Serina provides supported runtime mod features for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition.
Anders imports and exports supported Halo Wars models and animations through Blender.
Isabel works with Halo Wars 2 PKG archives, XMB files, and file manifests.

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition support is currently the most complete. Halo Wars 2 support is still being developed. Some file formats, Forge authoring features, and connections between the tools are incomplete or experimental. Users should keep backups of their projects.”

Will this software be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Halo Wars Community Mod Tools is free and will remain free after Early Access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Feedback will be collected through Steam Discussions, in-tool bug reporting, the New Arcadia Discord, and other community channels. Bug reports, compatibility results, documentation requests, and workflow feedback will help us prioritize development across Cutter, Forge, Serina, Anders and Isabel.”
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About This Software

Halo Wars Community Mod Tools is a free toolkit built by the New Arcadia community for creating mods for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2. It brings focused editors and utilities together in one place, helping you organize projects, create custom scenarios, inspect game content, prepare mod files, and test your work.

Cutter is the visual scenario editor for Halo Wars custom map making. Its workspace brings together a 3D viewport, scene hierarchy, property editing, asset browsing, terrain and lighting tools, and model and animation previews for creating and iterating on scenario content.

Forge is the mod project workspace. Use it to create and organize projects, manage game and content paths, launch Cutter for scenario work, validate project structure, and stage mod files for testing or sharing.

Serina is the Halo Wars: Definitive Edition mod loader and runtime patch layer. It extends the game where normal loose-file modding is not enough, with support for loose WEM and OGG audio, runtime-generated Wwise banks, source-backed loose scenarios, and detailed mod diagnostics.

Anders brings Halo Wars model creation into Blender. Import, edit, and export Halo Wars: Definitive Edition v4 and Halo Wars 2 v6 UGX models, work with meshes, skeletons, materials, textures, and UAX animations, and prepare assets for supported game workflows.

Isabel handles the data logistics behind Halo Wars 2 mod projects. Create and expand PKG archives, convert editable XML sources to and from game-ready XMB, rebuild file manifests, and process larger package collections with batch tools.

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and Halo Wars 2 © Microsoft Corporation. Halo Wars Community Mod Tools is an independent fan-created toolkit distributed under Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft.

A legally obtained copy of Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and/or Halo Wars 2 is required. The games and their assets are not included with the toolkit.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB / AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 100 MB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 11 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-12600K or AMD Ryzen 5 7600
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB / AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 100 MB available space
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