Homeworld 2: Tutorials

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some older tutorials were written before the 1.1 patch was released. Keep in mind that they may no longer work with post-patch data. For more information on this subject, see this thread

General

Tutorial Wishlist
Tutorials by evillejedi
Tutorials by FleetCommand
Maya Tutorials
The Newbie Guide to HW2 Editing This is a thread on the Relic Forums that contains all the information you need to get started modding the game.
Guidelines for Mod Development
Guidelines for Map Development
How to Develop Modding Skills
So You Want to Make a Mod?
PDS on the Mac - Installation tips Some tips on getting mods (specifically, the PDS mod) to work on the Macintosh.
Mod Data Precedence Discussion regarding the order in which mod data is overridden when using the "-overrideBigFile" command-line switch.

AI Related

Campaign and Gametype Scripting Related

Mapping Related

How to Make Maps for Homeworld 2 by Malignus. Discussion
How to Create Multiplayer Level Thumbnails by ÜberJumper. This tutorial describes an alternate method than the one in Malignus's mapping tutorial.
How to Add Reference and Reactive Fleets in Singleplayer
Making Maps Programmatically -- Part 2
Making maps programatically Some tips on using Lua scripting to your advantage when making maps.
Do-it-your-self RandomMap code here! -Copy & Paste- Directions on how to use random functions in your maps.
Homeworld 2 Background Tutorial

Ship/SubSystem/Weapon Related

How to Create a New Missile Type by Ranger. Discussion
How to Create a New Research Item by Ranger. Discussion
How to Create a New Weapon Subsystem (kinetic, ion, etc) by Multiplicity. Discussion
How to Create a New Ship by Hiigaran|SF (BlueTech on Relic Forums). Discussion
How to Change Unit Caps by rc mad. Discussion
How to Give a Ship Fuel-Burn by IWAssassin, Tamerlane, and Thought. Discussion
How to Make a Ship Spawn Debris by Bakuras. Discussion
How to Add a Subsystem to a Ship
How to Make a Ramming Frigate/Attractor Beam
Complete .wepn file info
How to Make a Ship Appear Via Hyperspace When Built
How to Change the Ship Color
How to Change Squadron Sizes
How to Change the Starting Fleet in Multiplayer
Defining ship stats via subsystems
How to Calculate Weapon Damage
How to Get the AI to Use/Build/Research a Newly Created Ship
Making the Keeper a playable race by Moe.
New Fighter Production Subsystem? The response made to this post by Deionarra explains what Display and Build Families are used for.
How to make weapons pick different target?
How to enable collision damage
How to build the same subsystem more than once
Adding the Kpr_Sajuuk to the player's fleet
How to make your weapons fire at the enemy missiles?
How to edit ships - the quick and dirty guide by Moe.

User Interface, Dialogue, and Audio/Video Related

How to Add Language Localizations to HW2 by IcePirate. Discussion
How to Create Custom Badges by Starfisher, Malignus, Wolf359, and Mikail. These tips can be applied to the creation of other game images, as well. Discussion
How to Import Sound Into Homeworld 2 by Slamoid, Age2uN, and Mikail. Discussion
How to Convert Homeworld 2 Music to MP3 by gorillaman Discussion
How to Create a New UI Screen and Main Menu Item by Mikail. Discussion
How to Unlock Hidden Characters by Mikail.
How to Create Multiplayer Level Thumbnails by ÜberJumper. This tutorial describes an alternate method than the one in Malignus's mapping tutorial.
How to Unlock Hidden Characters by Mikail.
How to Display Text on Screen Using ATI Templates by SunTzu
How to Display Custom Ship Icons in Game by SunTzu
How to Add New Icons for Build and Research
How to Play the Game In English If You Own a Version of HW2 That Is In Another Language
How to Add New Icons for Ships
Cut-Scene Tutorial by Rob C.
Tips for Background Creation by Rob C.
Making In-Game Movies Playable in Media Player
A Simple Way to Display Text on the Screen
Adding Custom Intro Movies
How to Bind an Event to a Key
NIS Tutorial by ZuiljiN.
New race voice setup by evillejedi.
Homeworld 2 Background Tutorial
Skinning the UI by iostream.
How to extract HW2 music and convert to WAV
How to add custom voice acting to singleplayer missions
Ingame radio interferance during voice acting. How is this effect produced?

Modeling & Texturing Related

How to Create New Ship Models by pipakin.
Modeling 101! by FluxX.
Kitbashing with MS3D by Slamoid.
Alex's "Nose Theory" Ship Tutorial by Alex Drake.
Maya Modeling Tutorials
maya import tutorial thread amoung other things by evillejedi.
MAYA3.0 - HW2- Step By step tutorial by starfleet.
MAD Animation Tutorial by Fokker
Madstate Tutorial by DeathWish.
Texturing and Photoshop Tutorial by Drthvdr12.
UVW applying tutorial by Vengence
Team Colours/Stripe texturing Tutorial by SnakeChiken.
Workaround for VLO in Game
Hardpoint Guide by Tel'Quessir.
Adding a Specular Layer to Your Texture by SnakeChiken.
A Simple Texturing Tutorial
How to convert HW and HW:Cata models to HW2 format

General Scripting Related

How to Retrieve Values from within Different Files by Mikail. Discussion
Lua 5 Tutorial Online tutorial for Lua version 5. [Note: HW2 uses Lua version 4; but, this tutorial may still be useful.]
Reading and Writing to Files by Appollyon470.
How to Introduce a Delay Between Running Scripts/Events
How to Compile LUAs

Tool Related

How to Use HardEd by fluffypuppy. Discussion
How to Create a ".big" File Using "archive.exe" by jpaugh78, FrankDark, and Mikail. "archive.exe" is a command-line utility that is part of the RDN Tools package. Discussion
How to Create a ".big" File Using ModPackager by ÜberJumper and Mikail. ModPackager is a simplified, GUI utility that comes with the RDN Tools December 2003 Update. Discussion
How to Use LuaC
How to Use the AIFR Encoder from a post made by TheMamboMan. Discussion
Text-based Dockpath/Hardpoint/Effects Marker Editor Documentation
How to Add the HW2 Root Parameter to Windows 9X by ZeroSF.
Adding HW2_ROOT permanently, in 2K/XP by Multiplicity. (The HW2 Root Parameter allows the RDN Tools and other modding utilities to know which directory Homeworld 2 is installed in.)
Maya Plugs and getting shaders to work right.