Over the period of the last three weeks, I have been diligently forging, testing, retesting and tweaking the map Stronghold. From the beginning I knew I wanted to recreate Stronghold with the new forge, and the Forgotten Treasures contest got me into gear. I spent the next week balancing my forge and school efforts, struggling to meet the due date. By the end of the contest, I had managed to finish the map--but it was not perfected. The map was not enough like Citadel, and it was completely untested. I was forced me into uploading a broken, unfinished work to my fileshare. But with the pressure of a deadline gone, I was able to polish this gem. Version after version, Stronghold became a relic to the original and a blast to play. To ensure utmost accuracy, I had a second xbox sitting right next to mine Halo 3 in its tray. I persistently had to switch back and forth between inputs, as I was trying to forge every detail and every jump back into the map. It took 15 different versions, innumerable playtests and almost three weeks to perfect the map. With absolutely no z-flashing, epic gameplay and beautiful aesthetics, I present to you, Stronghold: YouTube - Stronghold Prievew - Citadel Remake The map plays best with objective and free for all gametypes. I personally recommend 3 plot, Multi-CTF, and Team/FFA Koth. Slayer on FFA is fine, but was only tested a few times. Weapons (Spawn is 10, Clip is Default unless otherwise stated) Weapon Layout Overview (Note: You may need to scroll/zoom out to see this image, roll over mouse to see spawns, spawns are mirrored for red side) Spoiler [mouseoverimage="http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8610/compare1fin2.jpg"]http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3853/compare2.jpg[/mouseoverimage] Why Should You Download THIS map? In comparison to many Reach remakes, this map does not feel too small or too big. It maintains all past trick jump, plays great for objective and FFA, screen lags only slightly in the shotgun corners, and is quite the eye-candy. Please, download and share. Structural Pictures Spoiler Gameplay Pictures Spoiler EDIT: It has come to my attention that there are two jumps missing. Unfortunately, this will not be fixed, this is the final version. Version 1 Info: Spoiler The map below is a religious remake of Citadel from H3's mythic map pack--every jump intact and every spawn the same. 'Stronghold', the map in the DL link above, is Citadel optimized for H:R gameplay with very fast-paced CQB gameplay. Citadel 2.7 (Weapons + Spawns H3 Exact) Why Should You Download THIS map? In comparison to many Reach remakes, this map does not feel too small or too big, and at the same time maintains all past trick jumps. It plays well, and feels much like its predecessor, it has an open feel in the main room, as well as other rooms, yet has a CQB feel in rooms that were also smaller in H3. I worked a week and a half on this, so please download and share. The map was made with two Xbox 360 consoles connected to one TV, leading to a 98% exact remake, with adjusted weapon spawns to optimize the gameplay for Reach. Stronghold Images: Overview, RL replaced with PGL for balancing purposes Red base: Two FFA players fight over an AL kill Blue Rafter: GL, 2 DMR, 1 PP, 2 NR, 2 Frag Rocks act as cover Struts recreate the detailed walls of citadel. Only map error seen here: No cover for the Blue Base entrance (map is symmetric, error is true for both sides) Longjump required to reach this spot, just like in H3 Map overview (from Red Base) View of 'tunnels' Map supports many gametypes but is quite untested, it took a week + to make, so has only seen 4 games. Help me test/dl/feedback. Preview of Version 2: Teleporter now glows; it represents the Silent Cartographer Holo-disc. Wall inserted, struts removed, a fair trade to increase accuracy. View 2 of this change. Stockpile flag spawn near hammer moved farther away. And most importantly, spawn times adjusted so that this: doesn't happen as often.
Oh I can imagine the felling. one thing I would suggest is to render the two sides diff. colors make sure to use object color and not team color, as team color only shows up when that team is playing. making these remakes takes a lot of time and effort and I give you credit for that. Keep those maps coming
The combination of blue base staying Neutral and red base being a subtle light brown is sufficient in addition to the difference in lighting (one side with blue lighting and the other side with windows and no lighting affects). No one I've played with had trouble distinguishing between sides, and I don't want the colors to be the focus of the map.
seems how you were kind enough to comment on my map i am going to return the favor. i think that the map looks like it was constructed with a lot of precision. is there much screen lag? other than that looks like it would be just as good as the original
Tbh I don't know what screen lag is. Are you referring to meshing issues? If so, I tried my hardest to completely avoid this, and every surface has one surface, none of those annoying flickering ones. If you are talking about local play, I haven't tested it for that.
Ooh, looks like I have some competition for Forgotten Treasures 2 =) This looks really good, I had a problem with space issues due to building in the Coliseum, I may move my entire map outside and use seastacks for some walls. The only concern I have is the middle platform where rockets are, it looks like you used a lot of geometry to build it while it is in reality a very simple structure.
You built yours in the Colosseum too? Half way through I was sure there was no way I could finish it but I managed to squeeze it in. My platform is a good bit smaller than the one from Halo 3, but I think it ended up working out. I did use a lot of geometry but I was trying to get it to look as close to the H3 one as possible (which is funny because it ended up being pretty different) overall I'm happy with it, and I'll make changes later, because I think the deadline is up (is it? I don't really know).
The Colosseum is 30x30 were Citadel is a little more like 31x32. What did you use to measure it? Also when I downloaded it I did notice the color diff. and it is effective. If you want to know a couple tricks that I have found when trying to get pieces to sit exactly were you want then message me privately or something.
Tbh I'm done with remakes for a while, that was a ton of work. In the far future I plan on remaking Longshore though--another one of my favorite Halo 3 maps. [br][/br]Edited by merge: Yeah, because of this the ramps/shotgun room on the sides of the map are a little smaller than they are supposed to be, but it isn't noticeable.
Very good remake. I loved this map in Halo 3, and this one gives the same impression. Everything is just how I remember it, and your version looks just like the original, thanks to Forge World's color theme. My only complaint is that your new weapon layout is, well, bad. You have 2 Gravity Hammers, 2 Grenade Launchers and a Plasma Launcher. That's a bit of a power weapon overkill, don't you think? I'll just stick to the classic weapon layout. Despite that one flaw, this is definitely the best Citadel remake to date. Nice work!
Yes, it is overkill, but that's just how I like to play. I recommend downloading the second version, it has classic weapon spawns including Overshields, the only change for that map is the lack of SMG's, where GL's are used instead.
This amazed me. When I looked at it I kind of did a double take trying to tell if it WAS a picture of the original. The Forerunner theme of Forge World fit perfectly with a Forerunner map, which only added to your accuracy. I liked the idea of two Xboxes on one TV, it was pretty clever. I'm downloading the map now, because.... Well it's Citadel. A perfect recreation from what I see in the pics.
Thank you, hopefully we can run another test on the alpha of version two. I want to get this fully polished off before I upload it to my share again, as you know it can be hard to filter out the old map.
Well I did say I would play and reply back with critizism. It...was...AMAZING! The map looks absolutely beautiful, yet no frame rate lag was encountered at all. The gameplay was also stunning, it was almost and exact replica of what you expect when playing on Citadel in Halo 3. From the first spawn I knew where I was and where I could go. It was amazing to be thrown into a completely new game yet still retain the feel of the original map. Also, the forgeworld palette suits this remake the best out of all the remakes. You keep saying the shotgun halls were a bit thin. I honestly thought they were a bit wide, but either way, the gameplay stayed spot on. Again, this map is amazing, recommend it for a feature!
This looks good, definitely downloading. One small bit of advise though - the floor area in this screenshot below looks very odd with all that texture overlap and pieces going different directions, and it's not befitting the aesthetics in all the other screens. Obviously you took a lot of care with making the map overall - maybe see if you can clean this up to match.
Yeah, I will clean that up--oh and crypocalypse, don't recommend this version! Version 2 will be posted tomorrow I believe, and that's version you played on, not the one in the link.