Modding, Mapping, ETC

I am planning on making mods, maps, and skins for Crysis, Cod4 later on.All i need to know is what do i use to make those things?i already got websites that can teach me and later on i will mess around with stuff, but i need a program to make them.thanksModding, Mapping, ETC
for Crysis...the program will come once the game comes out.Modding, Mapping, ETC
so there are programs for each game?
and hwat should i get first to learn the basc of modding and mapping?
[QUOTE=''blacksorrow07'']so there are programs for each game?[/QUOTE]sort of....Games come with special editing programs, but to create your own textures and Objects your gonna need programs like Maya and Photoshop, but those arent required.
oh ook
games come with SDKs (software dev kits)usually, some just come with mapping tools and maybe a few other tools to make some custom content. The SDK for Crysis is already been released to 2 select mod teams the rest will get it on launch.Modelling is usually done in something like 3DSmax, Softimage, or similar and games have exporters so that's one type of program that's not unique per game.Source is out and has a pretty good mod setup, if you want to learn the basics it's a good place to start, it comes with Hammer (map editor), texture tools, cutscene tools, code and has a huge resource center with plenty of mods. The original half life was also very big but it's old atm so start with Source. Level design is the most common form of modification, things like textures, models, code all come from that but if you can map you can release missions, mp maps, map packs, updated maps and other cool things so start doing some level design work.If you are more artistic and skill with the brush then making skins for models or textures is a bit less work. For example reskinning is also very popular in some games, for example CS:S has many skins for weapons/players and that's probably another good way to start without sacrificing weeks of time.For textures you'll want to use programs like GIMP. Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro etc.
thanks!