Youtube link: https://youtu.be/oSMWY0ywXh8
ForgeHub link: http://www.forgehub.com/maps/accursed-9.1146/
First things first. Without trait zones and shield doors in H5 Forge, this map cannot have low gravity on the outer deck or have shield doors separating that area from the rest of the map, hence the map’s name “Accursed”, doomed, lol… (I worked around that though and found a way to make it work in H5, see below.)
Here’s a faithful remake of Anchor 9 from Halo: Reach titled “Accursed 9”. This is a 1:1 remake made with accurate measurements using hard kill zones (the skulls themselves, not the actual zones) which are the same between the old and new forges. I used them to pinpoint positions all over the map to insure accuracy.
Accursed 9 supports all main game types, equipped with lights, decals, named zones, camera shots, sound effects, symmetrical spawns and more. This map was made to scale with the original on the X’s and Y’s, but the Z’s (up/down) were altered to sync with H5’s jump height and clambering. This is a v2.0 and I plan on adding new game types as 343i releases them. My map was made under budget too, which is great for adding new stuff or making changes per feedback in the future. Objects: 656, Lightmap: 98%. Everything else is way under that.
Weapons are the same as the original except for the Needle Rifles, which I had to swap out for Carbines, since Needle Rifles are not in H5 Forge. Weapon spawn timers are the same.
I based Strongholds off of the original map’s 3 Plots locations. I also figured out how to conceal the Strongholds terminals to keep them out of play while their zones are still active which keeps those areas more open.
My biggest concern while making this map in H5 is the fact that there aren’t any trait zones to use for the outer space area like there were in MCC. I tried a hundred different ways to make use of man cannons and clambering to get it to work properly and finally settled on one. I like what I did, but I need feedback on it. I used strategically placed man cannons to get from platform to platform while using clambering to get up from the bottom. Watch the video and you’ll see what I did there. I think it will create some interesting new gameplay. This map is not recommended for classic play, because of the clambering.
Since I built this map on the space canvas, lighting was an issue at first, but I believe I resolved it by carefully selecting just the right color palette for the job. I went with Beige for the walls and Grey [20%] for the floors and ceilings. Two light colors that don’t look the same, but don’t clash either.
I’ve made this map before in MCC, but decided to make it again in H5 since nobody else has really ever remade it before. It’s a great map to commemorate too since it’s the very last small/medium sized map released under Bungie for Halo.
I looked through all of H5’s Forge for shield doors for this map. They don’t exist in this game. This map will just have to currently serve as the “Unanchored” variant, Bungie’s non-shielded version of Anchor 9 that replaced the original in Team Slayer. Not sure why they replaced it though. I liked the shield doors, but anyways…
Happy forging people. Enjoy!
GT: Larry Tanng