Does anyone know if 343 are planning to add that Diamondback map from Halo Online to the MCC? It’s a remake of the BTB map Avalanche from Halo 3, and it looks really cool. Instead of the snow themed original, Diamondback is in the desert. I would love to play this version of a great BTB map, as I’m sure many others would as well. I really hope 343 are planning to add this to the MCC in a future update!
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while there is an entry for it in the Halo 3 Mod tools alongside Reactor, Skybridge, and Powerhouse; the official developer statement on it is that its unlikely but not off the table.
even though the devs have expressed that they would love to add it and the rest if given the opportunity, it’s likely the thing halting them is Microsoft and 343 themselves, as the studio likely wants more returns on the game from a financial standpoint to justify continued development. its also likely why they suddenly began considering microtransactions recently after having stated they never would do so with MCC (in my opinion the MTX pitch was dumb, they should have just pitched selling the maps as a pack since that would have been an easier pill to swallow, especially with the CGB existing)
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Why would they need to? It’s literally Avalanche with a different coat of paint. Last I checked, players don’t like having the same map twice in one game.
I would rather not have Diamondback included in H3. It’s twice the memory for what’s essentially the same gameplay experience. They could throw it into Reach which would probably work out better.
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I, too, am in the “please bring Diamondback to Reach” camp. While the porting process would not be trivial, it has the right visuals and the gameplay would mesh VERY well, with cool options to parallel 3’s weapon placement. A Halo Online DLC pack for any Halo 3 remakes (Avalanche’s Diamondback, and supposedly Cold Storage) to be ported to Reach, with the rest to Halo 3, would be awesome.
No matter the game, its preservation would be great, the artists who created it did a wonderful job and deserve to have that work immortalized. I feel like Reach would be best, but 2: Anniversary or 4 would also be incredible. If it was only the left or right half, even ODST would be a good fit, though that’s definitely reaching. I
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I’m in the boat that it gets added to the collection in general, and not specifically Halo 3 or one title over the other. I think visually it fits the Reach aesthetic like mentioned above, but I would love to see it as a map in any eligible title. Whether that’s H2A, 3, Reach or even 4, as long as all the maps from Halo Online make it into MCC I’ll be happy. I agree the design artists deserve to have their creative work immortalized, and these maps are some of the few remaining pieces to bring MCC to a fully content complete experience. Of course micro transactions suck, and adding them to MCC does go against what 343 said they would do in the past. However, if they can promise us the MTX system would directly fund continued dev support, which includes adding all remaining content like these Halo Online maps, I’ll bite the bullet.
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its for three reasons really:
- being the only BTB map that could make decent use of the AA Wraith and ODST weapons without completely angering the playerbase for changing the legacy Avalanche gameplay
- being made in the modified Halo 3: ODST engine used for Halo Online, making it the only viable game port that wouldn’t require basically remaking the map entirely just to get working
- being the direct goal of the devs to keep Halo Online content together under the same title (as it should be)
Its also already in the files for Halo 3, so its a likely map to get added in the future.
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I don’t know about 343i But I plan to see about making Diamondback Map. That was one of my Favorite Maps In ElDorito Halo Online! We will see if I can as soon as we get Forge.
Here is my Modded Version Of ElDorito Halo Online! Diamondback. I was able to remove most of the Soft and Kill Barriers.
( I just hope we can do the same with forge for Halo Infinite )
I had all the weapons in the map on each team. You will see some trees in the center of the map. Inside those trees was a teleporter that would get you on top of the center mountain to snipe. There are a few good places I put in for sniping. There are alot of Teleporters in my map. Lots of stuff in that map and more!
Here is a video of my modded version of Diamondback Linky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl0YhjAqCk
Peace! 
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I’d love to see the remaining exclusive Halo: Online maps get ported into MCC. Reactor and Diamondback would be cool, the map Sky Bridge was never released however there’s screenshots of what looks like a completed map so that’s probably another option.
I see a lot of people talking about bringing some of these maps into games other than H3 - is that even possible since H:O engine was just modified H3?
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Not that I know. It would have to be made from scratch. I just hope we get a lot of different “PREFABS” in Forge For Halo Infinite.
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Short answer is probably not, they would effectively have to remake the map from the ground up like Halo Online appears to have had to do for Powerhouse, instead of just porting and cleaning it up like they’ve been doing. Its generally just better to leave H:O content in Halo 3 where it belongs.
The reasoning behind people pushing for it not to go to Halo 3 is largely due to Avalanche making it slightly redundant, regardless of the free pass it has to utilize ODST weapon and vehicle changes.
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As we all know Avalanche is a Sidewinder map and Halo Online made Diamnondback. Now rumour is they may have a Avalanche map soon. Now if we get forge and we can change the texture and colors and terrain we can remake the new Avalanche map to look like Diamondback.
( as long as we can get rid of the soft and kill barriers like we can in Halo Online )
Peace!
Or other Forge changes too: Because limitations on barriers aren’t set in stone for the map, they could take creative freedom like adding Forge changes to the lower cliffsides to expand the arena, adding out-of-bounds layouts and using fences to close them off, weird tweaks like that similar to Hozer Dude’s video (albeit with less access to areas with visual errors). People who think it’d be redundant in Halo 3 (and I acknowledge the hypocrisy because I’m one of these people) are underestimating the creative liberties 343 can take. While a stretch of a comparison, it could very easily be a Guardian/Blackout situation, both of them feeling similar to Lockout with tweaks made so they both feel unique.
Do you have information on the Powerhouse remake? I always assumed it was just a similar situation to the current remakes we have being a pretty coat of paint, rather than a limitation.
there was little to go off outside of the level description openly stating it to be a retooling of the map from Reach, and the standard S3D_ prefix which was consistently applied as an indicator that the map was altered in some significant way. Both ported Reach maps in the games files had the S3D_ prefix, as did all of the new maps barring the Cold Storage reskin (which might have not started development by the time of the games cancellation), while none of the Halo 3 and ODST maps in the Halo Online files ever received the S3D_ prefix; they worked 1:1 with Halo Online (implied in ODST’s case, since none of them were ever actually ported over though the entries existed)
as a side note; it’s funny you mentioned Blackout, since there was also a Blackout reskin that changed it back to a forerunner themed area like the original Lockout, albeit with more of Halo 4’s aesthetics from the level Shutdown. it too got the S3D_ prefix, so that might actually have been a finished thing, however it isn’t listed in Halo 3’s tools last I checked though, same with Drydock, so maybe they weren’t finished or at the least they had the foresight to cut the Blackout reskin for redundancy. Diamondback was likely only included because of it’s history as one of the playable Halo Online maps, or because it’s the only map an AA-Wraith might work on.
something else I wanted to add was that it’s because of Halo Online and Halo 3’s shared DNA that I stand by the opinion that they should add the cut blocked out maps from Halo 4’s development to H2A. Sandtrap, Standoff, Shipyard, Strife, Fortress, Dish and the hilariously named “Peanut”. they generally used the Storm Revenant which Should be in H2A as a Specter replacement alongside the Gravity Hammer.
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And it needs to keep the name “Peanut” or I’ll riot.
For a small moment I wasn’t sure about the idea of moving them from 4 to 2: Anniversary, just because the two games are pretty drastically different despite the same engine and certain tweaks being carried over, kind of a parallel to how odd Edge feels in Halo 3 with all its space for sprinting and faster options… But then I remembered that it would double the 2: Anniversary map count and how unlikely the community dream of a 2: Anniversary Map Pack actually is. A few Forge props could resolve that minor issue for those maps.
It’s a shame that the only Halo Online maps that are reskins of Halo 3 maps are either huge for big teams, or super cramped with a lot of direction: My brain’s instinct goes to “since Halo 3 has it, might as well bring it to ODST”… But I think Firefight on Lockout, Cold Storage, and Avalanche could really suck (assuming the latter two were in a finished state, since Waterfall was never available for Halo Online but was good enough to be the first ported map to Halo 3). Other maps, like Zanzibar and High Ground would have worked well if they got that reskin process.
their description was accurate; "Spartans are nuts for this level. " indeed
the only downside is that most of the maps would be geared towards vehicles or BTB, however a lot of H2A’s complaints are directed towards a map selection lacking good BTB and Vehicle use in the first place. the funniest thing is that the ones with no Skyboxes could use the existing Forge Canvas skyboxes (if they aren’t already in Strife and Shipyards case; both use nebula by default). heck, the Sandtrap remake could be finished in a week tops if they really wanted to: it literally just needs the Skybox from Skyward as the textures for nearly every asset is in H2A already; all that might be missing is the outer ring towers and the downed phantom!
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Yeah that’s what I was thinking too which is why I’m always confused to read something like, “pUt DiAmOnDbAcK iN rEaCh!!!” I’ll be happy with just receiving the original port in the first place.
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It’d definitely be cool to see it get added, given that it is just a variant of a map that already exists in Halo 3 I’d put it at the bottom of the list of the remaining Halo Online maps. Port the other ones first, then give us the Avalanche variant.
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I almost want them to port it into Halo 4 instead, and let it be Halo 4’s version of Sidewinder.
Or BOTH H4 and H2A, since they are on the same engine.
In fact, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to port all or most of H2A and H4’s maps into one another’s games.
Maybe giving H4’s maps a chance to live a second life in a more traditionally Halo game engine would bring players around to some of them. Shatter comes to mind for me as a map that deserves a second chance.
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I agree completely. #1 on my list is Reactor since it’s unique and we know it exists. #2 is Sky Bridge since we’re pretty sure it was in a near-final build despite never being released. #3 is Diamondback because to my knowledge there aren’t any other maps left to port at this point.
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