Greetings. Since both current Lumoria threads were flooded, I elected to start a new one with the express intent of praising the epicness that is Lumoria. In all honesty, this one map trumps CMTs mods in terms of making a lively, fun-filled campaign, and trumps just about every single map I've played on (mp and sp) in terms of scenery, and more importantly, LIFE.

By life, I mean that the entire map looks like an actual Forerunner establishment/environment. I mean, you have 'extra' (but locked) doors to add realism so that the whole map isn't some sort of galactic funnel for the player, various extra things that just pop out, such as the patrolling Enforcer and Sentinel, the sky model (the BEST sky model I have EVER seen) with it's new and exciting planets (moons?), and especially the beam emitters that actually shoot beams! I mean the sky alone has me drooling! The various other small things that, taken individually, don't mean much at all, but taken all together as a whole, amount to a campaign experience far superior than any I have taken part in thus far. Those things are what I look for in every map, because it just makes it that much better to immerse yourself in.

The life of the map fascinates me. As I build Requiem, I aim to put in some of those lively additions to add a bit of zest to the experience. It makes the map seem legit and busy and/or functional. With Lumoria's various Forerunner structures setup intelligently and magnificently, the life of this maps surpasses that of Halo: CE, and possibly Halo 2 in some instances. I haven't seen any map (CE wise) offer animal AI before, except in Halo's early E3 years (but even those were canned).

The bitmaps are mapped nicely ,and unlike some of the CMT ones, they do not pop or have a harsh effect on the eyes (in my opinion). By that I mean an over-metallic feel to it, such as the majority of the interior bitmaps on their SPV2 b40 rendition. The ground bitmaps are likewise detailed and mapped excellently; you can't really see any easy repetition (when you scale the mapping to a small enough size that you can easily see it's tiled), and the stream-ground joining is wonderful.

The flow of the level is still fairly funnel-like, but I don't see how that can be avoided without sandboxing the whole thing. That said, there are still a couple of options available to the player in terms of getting from point A to point B. The vehicle-foot balance is pretty even, and a pleasant experience, and homing rockets on the missile hog make for a nice change of pace. And of course, all along the way, there are plenty of things for the player to look at while in between massacres.

Pelicans: my favorite vehicle. It is awesome to see someone add in some realistic flight paths to these lovely birds at last! They have wonderful flight paths that aren't so rigid; they appear ot have slight drifting, especially when landing and taking off. They come in and get out quickly, like any sensible dropship pilot would do. They aren't clumsy, slow, or predictable. It is just amazing. Same applies to the Spirits.

The weapons and vehicles are pretty much stock, so I'm not going to comment on those. I think it'd be nice to see some custom ones tossed in to add a more plentiful palette to the player, but at the same time, it was fun to relive the glory days of a clean, untainted (aka unmodded) Halo: CE campaign.

Now the Forerunner structures: breathtaking. Their design is custom enough to break the monotony of seeing countless recycled elements taken from the stock campaigns, yet consistent enough with Forerunner design specifications to keep it in par with Bungie's own work. The mapping is likewise incredible in many areas, also fitting with design specs. There's enough sub-structures protruding from the main ones to add even more life to this map, as well as some nice inspiration for me as I continue to construct Requiem.

A few things I'd change: more exterior Forerunner scenery, particularly one or two BIG structures. I've always admired the Forerunner's construction technology, specifically their ability to build elegant yet massive structures that just force you to see just how big you are in the grand scheme of things. The large wall encountered before heading into the interiors and to the other side of the canyon before clearing an LZ for the Pelican is an excellent example. Some more structures like these would add more life to this map.

Some, though not much, of the Forerunner sub-structures, particularly those encountered in the cavern area, with the several bridges, shortly before finishing the level, seem, in my modest opinion, not very Forerunner-esque. I can see some resemblance, but not as much as is displayed in the other components of the area. Also, the a30 style tunnels are, in my mind, not quite up to spec, with all the ups and downs. I think they just need to be a bit more level (instead of level, down a little, level, down a little, level, down a lot, level, etc) so that as you travel through the tunnels in a hog, you're not always getting airtime or nosing over. A couple of mapping errors here and there, but really not much in the way of problems or changes I'd make.

Episode 1 foreshadows an Episode 2, which I eagerly await, more so than I did SPV2 a30 after playing SPV2 a10. I must say, CMT has serious competition. I have a lot of respect for CMT and their members, past and current, but they also featured their spectacular vehicle and weapon tags on modded maps. Lumoria has stock tags but on a pretty much custom BSP. Getting a BSP and environment of this epic quality was previously unheard of in the CE community, and I was actually hoping to be the first to release a map with this much life in it (minus the AI). My goal is to give the player an exhilarating multiplayer experience AND plenty of eye candy, but you guys beat me to it.

So, to sum this all up, fantastic job on this map! I enjoyed walking through every square inch of your BSP, studying your construction, mapping, and flow techniques. I have learned a lot. Keep up the outstanding work! Brownie points for you.

Wow thats... alot. Out of all of that you didn't mention the buggy cinematics? At least that I read. Surprised face

cool man!

Wow. Big review.
Someone likes this map.
But I agree with most of this posts, except that the bugs weren't listed. But that's ok. This post considers all of what this map has that was envisioned by TM. So it is indeed a good review of their good work.

I'm currently doing a walkthrough for it, eh I got bored still need to edit though because I died a few times when I fought the zealot with the shield.

Lol, how do you die from the zealot?
It's so easy to kill him.

I only had a few shots left for my pistol(which is basically the weapon I use against zealots)
and my battery left from my plasma rifle. So yeah all I did was ran until he cornered me and owned me with his energy blade o' doom.

Lol but they give you a shotgun.

I ditched it. Besides I was being a lazy at the time, don't have my mind straight.

U also get a sniper. They should added some grunts or drones to help.

Dang son.

Glad you liked it!

He who posted replies on this thread shall remember the other few great campaign maps throughout the ages.

The areas - Enter a nightmare created by the Halo Hogger simply to scare the living out of us. Course, he also invited our friends so that we are still alive to face the next nightmare

Covert Ops - A not so old campaign that revived some very old maps from very different aspects and was still able to make itself work. He also add some additional interactivity and was able to craft more than just one "legendary ending". This map will stay my as favourite as it was my first campaign I had played which was actually good unlike the others.

Lumoria - nouf said. The best eye-candy I have seen...EVEH, here at halomaps. It was well thought out like covert ops(better maybe) and with a little more development, it may be as good as it. Fix those bugs guys, and invite in Noobyourmom and Halo Hogger.

-zekilk
Edited by cyboryxmen on Dec 5, 2010 at 09:12 AM

I also very much enjoyed playing this map!!!

Yes, bugs, I figured TM had gotten enough of them, and honestly, I'm much better at spotting flaws in design (like that 'Forerunner' structure doesn't look very Forerunner-y...) and construction than actual bugs, but now that you mention it...

The custom voices were a bit cheap, but I bet it must be hard to get some quality ones in. The cinematics were kinda choppy, not to mention there was no hard-drop scene (that I saw anyway). We just see May leave, then see her bust the door off her pod.

The Pelican flight animations were amazing most of the time, but did have some weird patterns in it that don't really fit well with the aircraft. Also, the main nacelle carriages turned to sharply and had too great of a radius; they should rotate from about +60 through -60 degrees (as a rough estimation), instead of like +30 through -80.

And one problem I've always had with maps that use similar construction techniques found in a30: I think it's a hearty load to make a map with these HUGE cliffs that hook up to a sky model that features additional ground scenery that looks too far away. By that I mean that you look down a cliff in a30, and you look at the terrain below (that's part of the sky model), and it looks like you're miles high. Far too high, in fact. Such a geological formation just does not seem likely, even if it was artificially produced. I would have simply made the terrain in the sky model appear to be closer to the player than it currently is, so instead of creating the illusion that you're 15 miles in the sky, you're only 5 or so.

But other than that, 9.5 out of 10 for this one.

PS: I haven't played on the Area 5# maps, but have played the Covert Ops. I forgot about them. They are the best custom campaign series in terms of taking existing maps and campaign-ifying them. The storyline is decent, the RP aspect is excellently scripted, and the maps used were all wonderfully designed.

i give it a 9.4 all of it was good Except the Cutscenes

This happened to me too.

Whose maps are more fun is a matter of opinion, especially since our campaigns are so different. As far as quality goes, there's no question TM is putting more work into Lumoria than I did into Covert Ops. All their custom bsp's were amazing, and they only borrowed two bsp's, I think.



I would love to be squeezed by any member of TM. ;)

Seriously though, I'm okay at scripting and I hope to learn modeling over Christmas break.

how the f- did you shoot and melee right next to each other?

by firing and meleeing

i thought you had to wait for firing animation to finish... nvm my memory's effed up.

One thing I didn't see anybody else point out yet... You can see the upper half of Scarecrow's body sticking out of the Pelican canopy

There is a sequel in the works, and has been planned to be so since production of part one.
That is why the map's name is tmc_a.

It's actually started off as tmc_a because the first bsp we did was named that.

I saw that, too. There are two bipeds in camo attached to the pelican. This is the poor way of making what we scripters call a "portable trigger volume", which is what we use to check how close vehicles and players are to each other.

Sooo-ry. There is a camo'd biped sticking out of the pelican. No need to call me dumb. Stop taking the internet so seriously.

He wasn't being serious, he was just stating that you shouldn't make assumptions when you have no idea why somethings there without clarification first.

Ok, ok. I see what I did there. Looks like I was wrong, should have looked at the script first.
As a side note, I disagree with your idea of 'If I don't like the "tone" I see in someone's post and it concerns me in some way, I will respond in the same tone that I interpreted in'. There's always letting it go.

so... what you're saying is somebody's level of skill in scripting makes a difference in the validity of their feedback and opinions

To prevent what will undoubtedly be a flame war; he was ineloquently saying that he interpreted the original posters meaning as an slight or insult.

Move on people.

Seconded. Can't I get involved in a forum without people going to extremes here? Just one? This is going to end up like the H3 Pelican request forum...I hated that. You guys are all submitting valid opinions and ideas, but it's an internet forum, for a game with a decent community. Just relax, and don't be too antsy about things.

Now, please stop talking about...whatever...you are currently discussing. Go back to the topic at hand (hint hint, it's in the thread name).

Ok, then... someone mentioned a multiplayer sequel?
I think that this is a great idea, after the second part is complete.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple multiplayer maps out that take place on Lumoria.

(HINT HINT)

i think its safe to say ur a pp

EDIT: I like the post above mine.
Edited by Corvette19 on Dec 8, 2010 at 10:55 PM

pics or it didnt/wont happen ^_^

(HINT)
('tis true)