In order to use this guide to its fullest potential, you will need three things: Notepad++, whatever faction reskins you intend to use, and a level to work with. I would recommend using an empty or unwanted level for testing things out, just in case you insert a wrong number and accidentally cause the level to crash.

Notepad++ download: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
HM2 mod archive: http://hotlinemiami.wikia.com/wiki/Level_Editor#Sprites

If you are unfamiliar with using Notepad++, here's how it works: when you place down an item or enemy, its IDs are listed in the level.obj file for that floor. There are two main types of IDs to look for: the sprite ID and the object ID. Sprite ID determines how something looks, while object ID (located two lines below sprite ID) determines how it acts in-game. Between those two spaces is the direction (0-360 degrees) it is facing. By changing the sprite and object ID of an item you added to the level, you can add virtually anything to the Level Editor that isn't there by default. Everything below has its IDs listed as (sprite ID, object ID).

NOTE: Changes from Notepad++ will not stay unless you save the level again in the Editor before playing it. Playing the level without saving it from the Editor will not show anything you just added.

Getting tired of enemies using the same weapons over and over again? Ever wanted a specific faction to use a different kind of weapon?

Well, good news! You can work around this problem with a combination of Notepad++ and sprite modding. It isn't a perfect solution, but it still works well, and it's the closest you'll get to weapon additions without making a mod for HM1.

To start off, follow the steps in the guide below using The Hammer for the enemy template. His wide range of usable enemies means that you will not have to deal with enemies not loading while doing the next steps. While his enemy template isn't necessary to use, it will open up a ton of options.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=606967176
(When modifying an existing level, just change the character to The Hammer in the Level Editor and use Notepad++ to switch him with whatever character you actually want to use.)

From there, create your level as usual. When placing enemies, choose a faction with the specific abilities you want. If you need them to catch fire, add Soldiers as the main enemies. If you want them to be able to be knocked out by The Writer, use Gang or Mafia enemies.

Once you're happy with the layout and enemy placement, pick out the faction mods you want and decide on your level's "theme." All enemies on the map will use the corpses and executions of your main faction, so you'll have to keep that in mind. For example, a reskin that makes the Mafia look like another faction would work, as would a reskin that would another faction look like the Mafia.


From there, open your level's .obj files in Notepad++ and search for your enemies' sprite IDs. Using the lists below, change their sprites into the sprites of whatever weapon-carrying enemies you want.



Here's an example: changing the sprite ID of a Soldier with a Kalashnikov (1117) to a Colombian with a Shotgun (2293) would have that enemy use the traits of a Soldier faction with a weapon he normally wouldn't use. This means that the Flamethrower can kill him and he won't be knocked against walls when hit by a door.

What are the benefits to this trick? Well...

• You can give enemies different weapons without adding more factions to your level. If you ever wanted Beard/The Soldier to battle enemies with pistols and shotguns, this can make it happen.
  
• Executions won't break when fighting them, meaning that killing an enemy with a normally-unobtainable gun (like the Henchman attacking a Mendoza-carrying enemy) won't turn him into a black box.
  
• They will also have the same traits as your intended enemies, so faction-specific quirks like the knife throw deaths or flame kills will work on them.

There are some drawbacks to this, though.

• When enemies drop their special weapons, they will not attempt to pick them up, instead backing up or going for a regular weapon.
  
• Unless you use The Hammer's enemy template, most enemies won't appear for certain characters. The only exception to this are Prisoners, who always load regardless of what character's enemy template is used. You can also get around this by replacing furniture and other items with enemies through Notepad++.
  
• Using The Hammer's enemy template creates another issue: the player may not able to choose abilities when doing this trick. Excluding Beard/The Soldier's weapon table, you may have to place a character with a fixed mask or ability.

• Enemies with changed sprite IDs will follow the behaviors of their original object IDs. If you replace the sprite of a patrolling Colombian with a Guard, he will still patrol around.
  
  
• Replacing items with enemies allows you to get around character restrictions. This means that taking an item like AcidBath3 (2198, 1295) and changing it into a static Mobster with a Kalashnikov (1500, 877) will still let that enemy appear for characters like The Cop/Pardo and The Soldier/Beard.
  
  
• Make sure to include a decent amount of regular enemies alongside the sprite changed enemies. That way, if any changed enemies get knocked down, they can grab the regular weapons instead of standing around.
  
  
  
• Check that your reskinned enemies match your main faction when using this guide. When enemies get knocked down or die, they will appear as that main faction. By making the changed enemy already look like the main faction, it won't be clear during gameplay that they belong to a different faction.
  
  
• Aside from rare cases like the Silencer for The Henchman, most "new" weapons will disappear when you attempt to pick them up. One strange exception is the Magnum for The Writer, which changes the color of his clothes and cannot be fired or unloaded.
  
  
  
• Getting tired of switching between this guide and Notepad++? A simple solution is to move one against the left side of the screen and the other against the right. Windows will even them out so they'll both be visible.
  
  
  
• The sprite IDs of Dodgers work alongside the proper object IDs of enemies (Colombian and Gang Dodgers = melee, Soldier Dodger = gun). However, this could cause some confusion for players, as they might not realize those enemies won't dodge gunfire or punches.
  
  
  
• Unarmed enemy sprite IDs work best with the gun random or gun static object IDs.

This strategy still works with the different fat enemies of Hotline Miami 2. The Fat Soldiers with MP5s can be given the guns of regular enemies, and the other fat enemies can be given melee weapons.

The same rules apply: replace the fat enemy's sprite ID with the sprite ID of an enemy holding a specific weapon. You can also do this for different fat enemies, such as giving a Fat Mobster the Taser of a Fat Inspector. Remember that not all characters have taser death sprites, though!

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=915715258

Also, make sure that the faction you need is loaded. Creating a level for The Hammer and replacing him in Notepad++ is a good way to ensure that all enemy sprites will work for you.

You can see how this works with my video below. Using this technique, I made Fat Soldiers use a number of weapons, both melee ones and firearms. They still behaved like normal and weren't affected by my melee attacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlG2DPFARVk

A massive sprite sheet collection containing fat enemies with different weapons can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aacb1b4tjpiowbs/Fats-With-Weapons-Pack.zip?dl=0

The full list of fat enemies and their sprite/object IDs is included in one of the sections below this one.

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 68 (Double Barrel), 69 (Shotgun), 70 (M16), 75 (Silencer), 1500 (Kalashnikov)
  
• Melee Weapons - 66 (Club), 67 (Bat), 73 (Knife), 74 (Pipe)
  
• Unarmed - 1453

Object IDs...

• Guns - 876 (gun random), 877 (gun static), 878 (gun patrol)
  
• Melee Weapons - 875 (melee random), 938 (melee patrol)

Demon Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 3217 (Uzi), 3223 (Shotgun), 3231 (Kalashnikov)
  
• Melee Weapons - 3219 (Golf Club)
  
• Unarmed - 3218

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 201 (9mm), 206 (Shotgun), 208 (Uzi)
  
• Melee Weapons - 202 (Bat), 203 (Chain), 204 (Knife), 205 (Pipe), 3973 (Chainsaw)
  
• Unarmed - 207

Object IDs...

• Guns - 183 (gun random), 184 (gun patrol), 186 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 170 (melee random), 941 (melee patrol)

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 2288 (FAMAE), 2291 (Mendoza), 2293 (Shotgun), 2294 (Silencer)
  
• Melee Weapons - 2289 (Knife), 2290 (Machete), 2292 (Pipe), 3287 (Katana)
  
• Unarmed - 2295

Object IDs...

• Guns - 1356 (gun random), 1358 (gun patrol), 1357 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 1354 (melee random), 1355 (melee patrol)

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 1551 (9mm), 1558 (Shotgun)
  
• Melee Weapons - 1553 (Baton)
  
• Unarmed - 1550

Object IDs...

• Guns - 932 (gun random), 933 (gun patrol), 934 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 931 (melee random) 939 (melee patrol)

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 2679 (Magnum), 2680 (Shotgun)
  
• Melee Weapons - 2681 (Baton)
  
• Unarmed - 2682

Object IDs...

• Guns - 1532 (gun random), 1534 (gun patrol), 1533 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 1530 (melee random), 1531 (melee patrol)

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 1117 (Kalashnikov), 3977 (Dual 9mms)
  
• Melee Weapons - 1118 (Machete)
  
• Unarmed - 1116

Object IDs...

• Guns - 674 (gun random), 696 (gun patrol), 697 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 672 (melee random), 2396 (melee patrol)

Sprite IDs...

• Guns - 3576 (Magnum), 3674 (Shotgun)
  
• Melee Weapons - 3575 (Big Pipe), 3577 (Glass Shard), 3578 (Baton), 3632 (Brush)
  
• Unarmed - 3579

Object IDs...

• Guns - 2111 (gun random), 2113 (gun patrol), 2112 (gun static)
  
• Melee Weapons - 2109 (melee random), 2110 (melee patrol), 2146 (melee static)

Also known as Victims, Teenagers, and Enemy_PigButcher in the game files. More info on them is included in my "Adding Demon Mobsters and Prisoners as Enemies" guide. This section just lists the two enemies that can hurt you.

Sprite IDs...

• Melee Weapons - 40 (Blue Hoodie Teen with Bat)
  
• Unarmed - 32 (Blue Hoodie Teen), 230 (Shirtless Guy)

Object IDs...

• Melee Weapons - 2308 (Blue Hoodie Teen randomly moving)
  
• Unarmed - 42 (Blue Hoodie Teen idle), 126 (Shirtless Guy running at player)

• Soldier Knife - (1163, 698)
  
• Soldier Gun - (1161, 704)
  
• Police Inspector - (1570, 937)
  
• Gang - (2194, 1289)
  
• Mafia - (2596, 1464)
  
• Demon - (3226, 1854)
  
• Prisoner - (3680, 2148)

GANG ENEMIES

• Gangster with Pipe: (195, 229)
  
• Gangster twirling Knife: (211, 230)
  
• Gangster smoking: (210, 231)
  
• Gangster loading money into bag: (1927, 1114)

SOLDIER ENEMIES

• Soldier smoking under poncho: (1178, 706)
  
• Soldier checking Kalashnikov under poncho: (1179, 708)

MAFIA ENEMIES

• Mobster talking on phone with Silencer: (1521, 916)
  
• Mobster talking on phone: (2081, 916)
  
• Mobster with Pipe: (2078, 2408)
  
• Mobster smoking: (2077, 2407)

COLOMBIAN ENEMIES

• Colombian with Pipe: (2324, 1359)

POLICE ENEMIES

• Police talking: (1336, 2409)

GUARD ENEMIES

• Guard with Baton: (3650, 2168)

PRISONER ENEMIES

• Prisoner beating up Fat Guard: (3733, 2167)

TUTORIAL ENEMIES

• Green Shirt Teen pulling on door: (41, 40)
  
• Blue Hoodie Teen dancing (174, 42)
  
• Pink Hoodie Teen smoking (38, 41)
  
• Glasses Teen nodding head (389, 233)

UNASSIGNED IDLE SPRITES

Most idle enemies still work if you use another sprite instead of theirs. For example, using the drinking sprite instead of the regular sprite for the "Mafia with Pipe" enemy will still make it pull out a Pipe and attack you when it spots you.

Note: These idle animations do not correspond to one object ID or another. You can use their sprite IDs in place of any of the above entries' and they should work. I would recommend testing out combinations before placing them in major projects.

-POLICE-

• Police pointing - 1335
  
• Police knocking - 1601
  
• Police sliding open door - 1602
  
• Police shaking pig mask - 1603
  
• Police unlocking door - 1615
  
• Police eating - 1673
  
• Police standing without hat - 1674
  
• Police taking food - 1675

-MAFIA-

• Mobster sitting - 2089
  
• Mobster drinking - 2806
  
• Mobster drinking with black bag - 2807
  
• Mobster flipping Shotgun - 3202
  
• Mobster throwing arms around and panicking - 3208
  
• Demon Mobster with Club - 3209
  
• Mobster playing with arcade - 3233
  
• Mobster eating corpse - 3261

-GUARD-

• Guard standing - 3651

-PRISONER-

• Prisoner pointing and talking - 3597
  
• Prisoner cheering - 3598
  
• Prisoner shaking fist - 3599
  
• Prisoner slamming Big Pipe down - 3633
  
• Prisoner petting other Prisoner - 3638
  
• Prisoner pumping fist - 3639
  
• Prisoner Dodger slamming fists - 3677
  
• Prisoner Dodger shaking head - 3678
  
• Prisoner Dodger eating corpse - 3679

DODGERS

• Colombian Dodger: (3287, 1886)
  
• Prisoner Dodger: (3672, 2145)
  
• Gang Dodger: (3973, 2286)
  
• Soldier Dodger: (3977, 2287)

HIDERS

• Soldier Hider: (2589, 1460)
  
• Colombian Hider: (3009, 1737)

The full sheets for sprite and object/behavior IDs can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pb1jtorihy4o4b2/sprites.html?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1br7tkh4nrt9u0e/objects.html?dl=0

If you want to go the extra mile when making a level, this guide can spice up the weapon variety of enemies. Hopefully, you will find it useful in your coming creations! Thanks for reading, and good luck with your next HM2 workshop project!

The levels featured in this guide are modified versions of Hardcover (by huey lewis) and Evac (by BroccoliWalkway).