Outpost 49.

[Moxus]

In War, Truth is the first casualty.

Background:

For those of you who haven't seen the map before, here is my current Halo Demo project, Outpost 49. For those of you who remember back about 2 years ago, Outpost 49 should ring some bells; after finishing Crossing I quickly announced that I was working on another new map to follow my first: Outpost 49. However, as time passed, the map that was promised never materialized, and had in fact fallen far, far back into the cold storage of old modding projects. The reason for it's decline lay in several factors; first, I was frightened that the map was going to become too video-lag intensive, second, various technical issues were beginning to crop up, third, I was unsure of the prospect of the map, and fourth, I was becoming increasingly attracted to Halo 3.

After finishing Isle and Night, I was inspired to do what I had done in Isle, and finish up other old projects that I had left behind. Out of these old projects, Outpost 49 stood out. So I dusted off the most recent backup that I could find and started working with it again.

This is the product.

Outpost 49 is a battered and broken space station in Earth orbit. After taking some abuse and boarding action from the Covenant, and fire from a friendly Frigate, the station is dark, messy, and overtly damaged. In this environment, players have the unique opportunity to battle both in the dark, and in the POA-style geometry seldom seen in Halo Demo.

Screenshots

Please note that, since the map is symmetrical, only Blue side shots were posted. The Red side is just the same, but redder.


Base Entrance.


Blue Base (Bridge).


Primary Base Corridor.


A Covenant Section.


A Standard Inter-Base Corridor.


Central room (Armoury).


Non-Functional Elevator Lobby.

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Download

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-=Moxus=-

P.S. There's a rather substantial backstory that I've worked up for the station, which is included in the download. Might be worth a look.

[zapconquest]

Nice! you released the final version. I've yet to play this against anyone and am itching to do so. It looks very cool.

[Amy]

I am tearing.

[2310]

Nice work!

Bad points:

1. I don't usually like playing in the dark, though that's just a personal preference.
2. The teleporters (not layout) seem a little confusing, to me at least; in the actual POA, there are arrows on the floor showing which paths go where. You might want to consider something similar, unless they're meant to be that way.

Good Points:

1. The darkness encourages carefulness to avoid being seen, especially for assaulting teams.
2. Bases are relatively safe for teams to spawn in.
3. There's enough blue/red lights to know where you are.

Suggestions:

1. If the station is damaged, and the Mjolnir suits are airtight, there should be some holes for players to fall out of if they're not careful.
2. Sniper rifles don't seem to be a good weapon for this map. You might want to change them to mid-range weapons.

[Amy]

^ called flashlight, it's very intense so it works like an awesome. And you don't like the snipers there because your not good at close range sniping.

The only thing that annoyed me (very little annoy) is how some of the scenery is black. Like pitch black. But of course that doesn't effect anything.
Oh and i felt really claustrophobic, have you heard of this thing called windows : P


In all, one of the best mods i have ever seen, once again from the legendary Moxus.

[Moxus]

Nice work!

Bad points:

1. I don't usually like playing in the dark, though that's just a personal preference.
2. The teleporters (not layout) seem a little confusing, to me at least; in the actual POA, there are arrows on the floor showing which paths go where. You might want to consider something similar, unless they're meant to be that way.

• Since floorplan of the map is somewhat basic, I used the darkness to add another dimension to the game-play. If you're looking for a leg up on the deep black, I'd recommend you turn your screen brightness up; I find that if you play with a high brightness, the only places you might need to use your flashlight would be in the bases. And even then, once you get used to the map, you shouldn't have a problem navigating.

• Once you have a few runs 'round the map, it should become quite intuitive as to where the teleporters go; with one exception, the map geometry flows as if a given teleporter was a door to the next area. That is:

Where the green boxes are teleporers, and the arrows indicate where each goes. From the diagram, you can see that only two teleporter sets don't flow directly into one another, like a door. And note that all teleporters were put in not because I like them, but rather because they were the only way to get players into and out of certain geometry pieces.

Suggestions:

1. If the station is damaged, and the Mjolnir suits are airtight, there should be some holes for players to fall out of if they're not careful.
2. Sniper rifles don't seem to be a good weapon for this map. You might want to change them to mid-range weapons.

• Putting in holes would be too costly in scenery and video lag for too small a benefit. And besides, I'm sure you can find one.

• Snipers were intended for close-range sniping and covering the main inter-base corridors.

The only thing that annoyed me (very little annoy) is how some of the scenery is black. Like pitch black. But of course that doesn't effect anything.
Oh and i felt really claustrophobic, have you heard of this thing called windows : P

The reason for the black scenery is that I would've had to either rip the bitmaps from Full, internalize the existing ones (which I didn't have access to), or make my own, none of which I was willing, able, or talented enough to do. As for the windows, it's like I said above: too great a cost for too little a gain.

-=Moxus=-

[Amy]

I was making fun of you about the windows, don't worry.


And i love the flashlight, it is like a personal lightmap patch.

Moxus, i could have made a custom bitmap for those! (another one of my plans to get into the special thanks box muhahha)

[kiddten]

is this map SCEN based? i suppose so.
looks sex. will download later.

[2310]

@Moxus: Ok thanks! It's clearer with the teleporter map. Also, I seem to notice that in some places (like the central room) the flashlight flickers a little. Is this a known problem or a problem with my computer?

About the windows, why would it lag?

[Moxus]

@Moxus: Ok thanks! It's clearer with the teleporter map. Also, I seem to notice that in some places (like the central room) the flashlight flickers a little. Is this a known problem or a problem with my computer?

Near as I can tell, it's an issue with the way Halo renders lights on Scenery: if there are too many lights being rendered in proximity, they tend to flicker. You might notice the same thing in the bases.

It's unavoidable, regrettably.

About the windows, why would it lag?

The number of scenery pieces invested in the map as-is is already enormous, to the point that Halo has difficulty rendering all of it. This causes video "lag" as players move about, in which motion becomes slowed and jittery, much like conventional lag. The number of scenery pieces which would be required to build the windows would simply cause too much lag on top of the existing, and leave the map much like Isle.

-=Moxus=-

[2310]

The number of scenery pieces invested in the map as-is is already enormous, to the point that Halo has difficulty rendering all of it. This causes video "lag" as players move about, in which motion becomes slowed and jittery, much like conventional lag. The number of scenery pieces which would be required to build the windows would simply cause too much lag on top of the existing, and leave the map much like Isle.

-=Moxus=-

I knew what causes lag ...

Anyway, would it be possible to just cut holes in the coll/mod2? That wouldn't need any extra scenery ... but it would need modeling and CE.

[Moxus]

The number of scenery pieces invested in the map as-is is already enormous, to the point that Halo has difficulty rendering all of it. This causes video "lag" as players move about, in which motion becomes slowed and jittery, much like conventional lag. The number of scenery pieces which would be required to build the windows would simply cause too much lag on top of the existing, and leave the map much like Isle.

-=Moxus=-

I knew what causes lag ...

Anyway, would it be possible to just cut holes in the coll/mod2? That wouldn't need any extra scenery ... but it would need modeling and CE.

Like I said, too much work for too little a benefit. And besides, with the damage capacity of Covenant and UNSC starship weapons, there wouldn't be small holes. There'd be entire sections sheared or melted off.

-=Moxus=-

[2310]

Like I said, too much work for too little a benefit. And besides, with the damage capacity of Covenant and UNSC starship weapons, there wouldn't be small holes. There'd be entire sections sheared or melted off.

-=Moxus=-

Well, I meant holes as in removing a whole piece of the wall ...

But I do understand about too much work for too little benefit, especially if modeling isn't your specialty.

[Kayar]

Whoa, you released! I don't check the Halo Demo section anymore... there's a lack of... interesting things. *hint hint to others who should be producing mods. As well as myself >.<*

Yay!

[Fortune]

This should be called station 69 cuz its so sexy