I modded Halo 2's MASSIVE SCARAB into Halo 3

The Metropolis Scarab from Halo 2 never got much love beyond the short encounters during Halo 2's campaign. Years later though, I've decided to port it over into Halo 3 and make one of the scariest and challenging boss battles possible. Oh, and you can drive the Scarab as well.
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PATREON 🡺 / rejectedshotgun
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[@CylixTheGamer]

The scarab’s particle cannon should leak coolant when its destroyed

[@nofacedgoldfish6216]

True, but liquid is one of the harder things to animate and make look good. Sure, one could add small drops, but other than that, it could be quite difficult.

[@tturi2]

maybe have a puddle of coolant underneath that damages player health without shields

[@IGoTNoAiMBoT]

Literally doing what every 12 year old at the time dreamt of lol

[@ryanlowe6753]

I wish I could go back in time and show my 13 year old self this lol

[@assistantmagus5213]

Those montages with powerpoint text slides from 2009 showcasing someone flying phantoms and seraphs set to breaking benjamin or The Pretender

[@aloche2]

@@ryanlowe6753 me too bro.

[@SHARPSPEED]

Seeing the H2 Scarab actively and aggressively go after a player instead of being a glorified set piece is terrifying.

[@kevinhardy4397]

He's seriously got the skill and talent to live out all of our childhood fantasies. Great work man!

[@vaniellys]

Thank you so much for making it a PvE mission and not just a PvP map ! Reminds me of the awesome Halo Custom Edition map with the H2 Scarab and the Longsword. Great job with the textures and animations too !

[@Nazder711v1]

One thing I always loved about the Halo 2's Scarab is how the light of the cannon being a bit forward and a solid bright light makes it look like it's watching you from every angle. It always felt a bit more intimidating that way. Reminds me a bit of a zelda boss in a way too

[@RyanA136]

6:29 Just seeing that thing eyeing you down through the fog as it lumbers Those lights and the way it turns is so intimidating. Fantastic work.

[@Marcheziora]

I love those THICC beams! I remember the Halo 2 Scarab was featured on the back of Halo Wars case only to be disappointed that it was replaced by the Halo 3 version. 😢

[@asimplepie2279]

I’m glad someone remembered this. There is gameplay of the halo 2 scarab in the E3 demo they showed off of hall wars, it looked awesome.

[@DepressedCrow]

I imagine that the halo 2 version is more of a siege weapon while the halo 3 scarab is better for assaults since it's much smaller, has a better turret, and is much more maneuverable

[@UNBROKENONYX]

Yo a real video that’s not a stream!

[@vulpesinculta3478]

ikr, crazy bro

[@Marzaezone]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@darthplagueis7851]

Whoop whoop

[@greenbean2222]

HOLY SHIT YOU'RE RIGHT

[@BlueLightningHawk]

A relief for sure.

[@sinisterisrandom8537]

Imagine if Rejected made a variant of this scarab which brings back the side guns. Which vengeful Vadam did a video on. Related to cut Halo 2

[@kigyar_pirate6598]

Man I was thinking that too, considering it's more cannon than a mod. Make all the turrets operable by other players too for btb

[@magdalenusrex346]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@Jose_Doe]

Which specific video was it

[@kigyar_pirate6598]

@@Jose_Doe wym?

[@Jose_Doe]

@@kigyar_pirate6598 the video where vadaam showcases the scarab

[@Professional-Gamer]

I liked as soon as I heard “but no one would be that crazy right…….?”

[@SHCPD]

What I find satisfying about the Halo 2 scarab are the pistons inside the legs going up and down while it’s moving

[@greenbean2222]

I can tell he's very proud of this scarab. Good job man.

[@nkvdcomradeorion7336]

This is amazing! Would love to see this thing take on an army of UNSC Marines

[@pumaman7072]

Ok, now make the Halo 2 scarab and the Halo 3 scarab fight.

[@dalekbumps]

This is incredible, the amount of work that has gone into this is very impressive! The upscaled textures, the custom HUD reticule, the animations - it's all perfect! Excellent stuff!

[@vatz1151]

Beautiful work, man. this reminds me of when I first discovered the Halo Custom Edition version of the drivable Scarab (Found on Extinction, Coldsnap, and various other maps all over Halomaps). I thought *that* was crazy, but this is perfection right here

[@hardtmannn8804]

surreal seeing the halo 2 scarab fight dynamically like the halo 3 one. incredible work as always

[@DeathByJetlag]

Good to see shorter dedicated content like this again. I've tried but my monkey brain can't handle skimming through old streams for the good bits - even if they're worth watching.

[@theunderdog9353]

One thing that would be cool is a togglable perspective for the Scarab. Like it's also be cool to be able to drive it in first person

[@JaycodaJr]

I remember when you were making Minecraft Horror Roleplays 12 years ago. Look at what you’re making now. It’s weird to think we’ve all aged and grown since those simpler days.

[@WackaMei]

That was pretty damn good. Some suggestions though: -Add some AI to crew the scarab. Snipers, Hunters maybe. -Perhaps tweak the visible damage to more clearly indicate that the vehicle is being damaged by your gunfire. Perhaps add a downing-mechanic like in H:3? -To circumvent the possibility of cheese tactic like in H:3, perhaps it would be wise to give the legs some manner of defensive capabilities. One idea I had in mind was to add Mglekgolo worms that swarm to damaged portions to protect them with their raw, sturdy flesh. Maybe import some Huragoks from H3:ODST to act as healers. Perhaps they can be stored inside portions of the armor, or underneath the scarab. -If you'd like to improve on the battle, maybe add some Locusts or shade turrets on the ridgeline/mountains as support? If possible, having the locusts flicker with partial invisibility or camouflage features would be neat. -Add a mounting feature. This way, the Scarab would be able to lay somewhat flat, be able to supercharge its canon like in HW, and maybe even extend some ladders or other geometry to make it a valid, believable non-moving covenant platform. This element of the scarab could even be used as a final stage in a boss fight. Whilst boarding it or pounding it to oblivion are valid ways of taking it down, it would be neat to force it down like in H:3, not for the purpose of just boarding it, but to maybe call in a MAC-strike / Longsword bombing run whilst it remains immobile. Feel free to tell me what you think about these ideas! Some sound ludicrous perhaps, but what isn't modding for eh?

[@Finger112]

Really awesome job on this. My only suggestion is could you make it similar fighting the Halo 3 version by making the legs destructible, then it should squat its center basket thing to the ground, be able to hope on it and get inside to destroy a power core of some sort? The problem with destroying it from the outside totally and only using just the Pelican is it limits your sandbox options is all.

[@Redsentinel27]

Excellent job once again and I absolutely love the 0.4 build of Ultimate Forge! I know you probably edited the Halo 2 Type 47 A Protos Scarab's speed to be slower for balance reasons, but seeing as how the maps are huge (which is awesome) and the Halo 2 Scarab didn't actually move that fast to begin with, could you please edit the speed to be equal with the ones in Halo 2 which was just a bit quicker? No complaints, I love driving it! That's probably the only thing I could think to mention that I noticed. Again, super great job! I can't wait to see what comes next. One other thing just out of pure curiosity and you likely mentioned it in a stream I missed, but are you planning to include the Halo 2 Anniversary version of the Scarab? I see it in a couple of your stream thumbnails, it just kind of got me wondering.

[@donkeldoothedapperdog]

Is this a return to regular videos or is this just a one off? Still dapper either way

[@gideonhorwitz9434]

Love the work bro just incredible do u plan to add destructible parts like the halo 3 scarab. What would make fighting the halo 2 scarab much more enjoyable to fight is the dopamine rush you get seeing ur hits take chunks off give u a sense to what it’s health is rather than just a bullet sponge. I wish halo 3 and reach was available in pc back in the day if we had access to mods customs games would be awesome and more creative and the availability of programmable ai enemies and access to campaign and custom made assets would have made the machinimas so much more large in scale instead of working within the confines of the base game.

[@loganatori6117]

holy shit an actual video for once. are the dark ages over?

[@CloudyNebula]

God, imagine modding this into the New Mombasa E3 demo that 343 is preparing to finally make it playable on the MCC. All of my teenage dreams combined in one glorious build!

[@micmac3144]

I just absolutely LOVE the way you made it walk. It just feels so realistic and amazing in general. Honestly, amazing work right there.

[@SalvagedCowboy]

It makes me happy to know that despite all the controversy revolving around 343 Studios and their _questionable_ status as the bearers of the mantle of responsibility when it comes to Halo, the community has basically endless mod resources at their disposal to make based Halo content themselves.

[@TrainTruckWorld]

Can you just imagine a halo campaign level where the first part is a walk and the end is a scarab driving battle.

[@charlestheblacksummoner7816]

Seeing as you were struggling with killing it maybe make it so if you shot its beam as it's charging it would stagger it ? Idk just a idea.

[@IllusiveDuck]

Have been watching but not subbed but this definitely earns my sub. Halo 2 is my fav halo game and seeing more possibilities with its scarab in halo 3 is beautiful. Hell seeing it in H3 alone and custom A.I and custom Death animation is beautiful. Keep it the work dude

[@totalnerd5674]

Hey I got an idea for a H3 gamemode: Have two teams on a huge canyon map, and in the middle is either a Lich or a scarab; each team has a base that has a certain amount of hitpoints; the objective for each team is to board and hijack the scarab, and take it to the enemy's base, to use the Scarab's gun to blow the base up; but, it is always possible for one team to capture it from the other, and visa-versa. This would be like a Scarab Tug-O-War, each team trying to assert dominance to destroy the other.

[@Kingdrakeable]

I have no idea if this works in MP, but in my mind I pictured a mode where one team needs to detonate a bomb on the scarab and another team needs to defend it, with very limited respawns on the scarab. It would be amazing.

[@adamspeiser6449]

Wow this scarab looks amazing

[@zachcunningham7607]

im so glad they added modding tools to MCC. Halo community was already going strong for 20 years, and just by adding the games to PC and adding mod tools, all of the classics are getting a new lease on life. Didn't think i'd still be seeing machinima style halo videos in 2022 but here we are

[@mad_juggernaut_3547]

Bro i just remembered rejectedshotgun im so glad hes still posting

[@Halomainaic1234]

Would be cool to see battle damage on the scarab when it receives enough damage. Like the top & back turret get mangled and shoot slower maybe so it can still hurt you if airborne. Legs getting messed up when destroyed enough would be cool. Basically like the halo 3 scarab does in vanilla halo 3. But still, this is really excellent work either way on this, rejected!

[@RejectedShotgun]

I actually do plan on doing this in the future, so no worries there. I've just been sitting on this thing for so long I figured it was overdue for a showcase.

[@Halomainaic1234]

@@RejectedShotgun Nice.

[@TEX474]

Ok this is probably one of the best Halo videos I have ever seen (excluding the official Halo vids) it’s nostalgic, original, amazing and I can tell the love you put on it. I honestly dream whit it. Kinda be a worth element for gameplay if the production team of 343 put attention, they can add this element to a sandbox or an open world mission or game mode like war zone. One thing I would add is a way to neutralize momentarily the movement so it can be boarded, like a overcharge or overheating for shooting it’s belly or lateral areas. Another thing I notice is that the hit box of the beam is extremely huge and go looots of damage. Maybe for gameplay, change it into a more accurate and reduce the damage will do just fine. Over all, the work is 10/10, and hope this project get enough diffusion so 343 watch it and add this to future projects, since this scarab is meant for mining and it would be interesting to use for future events because right now Halo events take places in huge areas like the Halo rings and the Ark Greetings from Guanajuato Mexico man, great work! Congratulations!!! I love it!

[@Bone220]

That's exstreamly cool. I would say what would be cool is to actually make a mod we can install that has all scarabs. It would be very cool to see the banished scarab in a fps halo game. Btw I would say add damage models, like have armor plates break off, be able to destroy the turrets, stuff like that do you can see it's heath visually

[@dylans482]

My jaw dropped watching you fire that Scarab cannon. Incredible

[@_Xerota_]

Finally, a video that isn't a stream, I really don't like streams.

[@mikejs6216]

Obligatory "yay a video, not a 3 hour stream I will not watch" The map you constructed is also beautiful. I love the idea of a less claustrophobic arena better simulating a battlefield

[@declanthomas7159]

This gives me throwbacks to getting to pilot the AT-AT in the OG star wars battlefront games. Massively slow and cumbersome but massively destructive

[@jimmytheslime]

I was missing the amount of actual vids and not streams I don't have time for all that it's nice to see short updates for your modding content it's a relief

[@zacrybigboy9930]

Oh man imagine how fun it would be to have 2 teams fight with 1 scarab per team. With like 8 players on each scarab ready to shoot the other team scarab.

[@sirstrongbones410]

“Nobody would have the hyper fixation on scarabs to do that” me slamming the like button knowing that’s exactly what my man did

[@Mystical_Ace]

This would be really cool and fun in multiplayer! Imagine one player controlling the Scarab (either the Halo 2 or Halo 3 one) and hunting the other players down. Meanwhile the other players work together, dodging the scarab and taking shelter in buildings, as they try to kill the scarab.

[@TheSangheili000]

Seeing the protoss and deutoros scarabs side by side at 0:47 was really nice too.

[@thefallengallery6459]

Dude, you should have been made team lead on creating Halo Infinite's sandbox map. Plus, Halo 3 aesthetics were made with so much love.

[@iowaclassbattleship7215]

The scarab originally was going to have two phantom turret arms on either side - literally phantom turrets - right where those two indents are on the side of the body. Vengeful Vadam modeled them into his halo 2 uncut mod and I think it’d be really cool if you did the same here.

[@lightweightjive]

Dude that’s badass. Bud and I were just remembering how awesome that version was and why it never made it into a multiplayer mode or something.. really undersold and muddied that franchise the corporate types did.

[@kcdodger]

You know, those sections between the legs are actually supposed to be doors that open from the center-out, top to bottom. Do you have a way to use that?

[@omartistry]

I’m actually in college for animation so I warmed my heart seeing you in blender making this mod. I suck btw I’m getting there

[@ThatOneTemptation]

Wooow this is amazing, halo comm is blessed to have you thank you so much honestly 🙏

[@antilad5584]

It would be great if the weird green glowly thingy on the bottom was some sort of fuel container so you could run under and blow it up or fly on to and hyjack it like you do in halo 2 just so it dosnt feel like a bullet sponge. Can’t wait to play this mod tho great work

[@GTKO427]

Ngl you make halo fps look like halo wars and I'm loving it

[@DalithaMW]

My long penance of waiting has finally been rewarded An actual fuckin video

[@kazooin]

the music sync you did at the end was so nice

[@chieftain20]

GOLD WARTHOG Honestly can't tell you how many hours I spent in my childhood searching for that non-existing vehicle in Halo 2.

[@rilius7138]

I had an unhealthy obsession with the scarab in Halo 2, the same applied to the Halo 3 scarabs but not to the same extend.

[@ugoboom]

All those memories from custom edition extinction And now its that but actually awesome! you are the best

[@ghostmiyu]

Was there no way to pop off those Scarab turrets like in the original?

[@marblesavenger8442]

This deserves so much more recognition, for the effort alone but also for the awesome quality! im glad he did this, i know i couldn't and ive Alway wanted to drive a scarab :)

[@MetaVizions]

FINALLY!!!! It’d be super interesting if H2 Scarab got the H3 Scarab back Turret in addition. Just 2 enormous beams of plasma laying waste to whole assault invasions.

[@KBergs]

We need a big team battle with one of these on each team. Another option is an assault variant with one team capturing the other team's scarab.

[@luisd.mancilla8169]

Now I want to see a Halo 3 scarab fighting the Halo 2 scarab!

[@killatortilla8276]

This is simply amazing. I fantasised about this as a kid playing halo 2 so many times! Great work man, made a dream become reality.

[@markmiranda9461]

The head movement while talking is giving me 2008 red vs blue vibes.

[@rowanedy123]

This would make a KILLER king of the hill objective.

[@cpMetis]

Imagine a T shaped multiplayer map with this and the Halo Wars vehicles. Two-layered. Bottom valley set up for vehicle combat with Cobras fending off attacks. Neutral third area spun off from the main valley in the middle has the scarab. You can take the scarab then walk it through the valley to attack your opponent's base breaking through their defenses. But that's where the second layer is important. There are small ridges along the side of the valley that locusts can navigate but too small for tanks and too bumpy for warthogs. Those ridges give infantry a way to climb on the scarab or locusts a place to shoot at the scarab from. That way the whole team has to work together to take down or keep safe the scarab driver. A proper "assault platform". Could also be a neutral bomb game, where the bomb is attached to the scarab itself and the goal is the front door of the enemy base. Basically that last mission from Halo 2 but mirrored with two teams.

[@olymbiabirda7131]

Dude this the best thing i have seen all day

[@Rathause]

I always wanted a scarab mode in Halo Multiplayer: one team is covenant most players are crawling on top of the scarab, but one of those covenant players gets to control the scarab, and the other team tries to take down the scarab.

[@thesouthforlife]

You sir have done what I wanted to drive since two decades ago.. this is truly amazing and I agree the Halo 2 Scarab was boss compared, and was always incredible to ride before it stopped itself in the city, I remember being in pure AWE when the thing charged up it's plasma beam, just outright jealous I can't have such a weapon!! Of course the hidden Scarab gun "slightly" satisfied that urge, but being stuck to having it for only a short moment in the mission.. just wasn't enough!!

[@KadiusFTW]

100% need a tsavo highway style map with 4+ ai scorpions fighting it

[@Boxfortress]

The headbobbing... you're too good too us RejectedShotgun.

[@TeamiTyphoon]

Bro you are actually so insanely talented I don't think people realise how amazing and impressive all this is. Love your work bro congratulations 👏👏👏

[@yecheats]

wow its surprising to see ur still uploading, i remember watching the admin chickens and the haunted series a few years back LOL

[@Take-Action-]

This would make a great BTB, where you destroy each home base’s AA gun with a scarab.

[@ForgedinPrint]

First video I've seen of you and my thoughts are, once you want something you stop at nothing (even if it's not practical) to get it. Definitely keep that attitude, served you well so far should keep serving you well later.

[@zombiekiller4yo495]

halo 2 will always be my fav i loved seeing this

[@WolfEpsilon]

Beautiful! beautiful. Subscribed.

[@therealdemen247]

I've been holding out for an update like this, I rarely get to catch your streams and it's been forever since I've seen anything about the Scarab.

[@ThatOneTemptation]

I don’t know if you love scarabs this much but honestly it would be sick to see the banished scarab in the game too

[@thehumandrive]

As many of you share this memory, I spent literally HOURS as a kid in Halo 2 looking for the golden warthog. Sword canceling scaling buildings in Headlong CERTAIN we would find it around the next corner or behind the next invisible wall. Seriously one of my most fond memories in a video game and it was a complete waste of time… wouldn’t change a thing 😂

[@Temmmpla]

that's superb, only thing I can think of is some kind of damage state so it's more satisfying to destroy, taking chunks out of it and such, seriously awesome work

[@tanukiwisp]

I love it the only thing is that it doesn't seem to have damaged spots that fall off or hang on by tiny bits

[@urnoobfreind]

"you just turn on in the drivers seat and you can hop in it like a warthog" reminds me of back in the day on spark edit for Halo CE. You could make pelicans drivable by just renaming the seat to "Warthog_Driver". And it had a weapon that had no projectile. So I modded it to shoot drivable warthogs 🤣

[@stormingisraphel]

I remember piloting this thing on the Extinction map back in Halo Custom Edition. It was super fun, but super weak to fighter jets and Seraphs, because its turrets couldn't turn fast enough to keep up with them.

[@Ares_gaming_117]

this is awesome. i loved the halo 3 fight of shooting the legs and grounding the scarab so you can board it. maybe you can script that for the h2 scarab. probably easier said than done though

[@The_cestelin_Holland]

Rejectedshotgun please please more this kind of video not all of us don't have hours to waste so please this kind of video

[@asimplepie2279]

Ahhh my favorite scarab.

[@-replay-6052]

Random question, do you think you could make the pelican and phantom sort of how they were in halo custom edition? with the fully explorable interior and cockpit? I always thought they were really cool and sort of immersive how you had to actually walk up to the driver seat in the cockpit to fly them, Custom edition was and is a very amazing game!

[@Hakuru15]

What's cool is that it has destructible turrets you can shoot at and the legs have animated hinges that goes up and down. It's a detailed scarab for its time

[@JR-kx3jr]

I think the lore explanation for the different Scarabs is that the Halo 3 is more of a combat model, while the Halo 2 one is meant for excavation.

[@johnreich1878]

Holy hell Gotta love the camera motions in tune with the scarab

[@kyleknight9686]

7:06 Jesus Christ, that's nightmare fuel.

[@jollobro2827]

If this was built into something resembling invasion from halo reach where the players have to hold off the scarab from reaching some destination to destroy an objective that would be awesome!

[@xanderthomas2318]

5:55 gives me massive Shadow Of The Colossus vibes. Specifically Quadratus.