Please help a newbie: custom maps and engine question

[Draco Nihil]

Actually before you do 7b, do skytown reduxx. That way you will know the events prior to 7bullets.

[SteadZ]

Dayum... beat me to it man

I would also recommend Project Xenome; it has a great storyline, great build and is generally good fun to play - and Project Zephon can be a good one too if you like icy environments and lots of intense combat
Nali Chronicles is another favourite of mine, though people tend to have mixed opinions on it. If you can get past the controls "issue" (in other words, just learn the controls you set yourself) then you have yourself a very witty and fun map pack.
I really don't know what it is about it, but it's one of those few packs that I can play again and again without getting sick of it...
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SZ
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[Delacroix]

Ortican. The Ortican retrieval mission is mentioned in Xidia, at the very beginning. Play Ortican.

[ebd]

If you are looking for something different, try Chronicles of Weedrow: The Quest for the Chalice of Awesome Evilness. It is a light hearted collab campaign made a few years back with an emphasis on humor, storytelling, and puzzles over combat. It can be downloaded here.

There is also the excellent SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1 released very recently by GTD-Carthage. It is a bit short, but the architecture is really just fantastic. You can find it one the forums at: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3318

One I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet is Operation Na Pali. Of course it had some odd design decisions (You'll either love or hate the voice acting), but it is a massive SP campaign with most of the "greats" of old being involved in some way. Its review page can be found here: http://www.unrealsp.org/community/reviews/onp.html

Also The Last Fortress by Waffnuffly aka Bug Horse. It is one of those must-play maps. The review on USP can be found at: http://www.unrealsp.org/community/reviews/tlf.html

[pl1982]

Yeah, I am going to go through the map reviews page (that is how I found Xidia) and try all the decent ones; I am mostly interested in large campaigns, but there seems to be a few smaller campaigns that are must plays (like The Tower of Shrakith'a) that I will also give a bash. And of course, I have heard much of Operation Na Pali; I actually prefer more serious/moody (ala vanilla Unreal) campaigns so I can really immerse myself. I have heard that sadly ONP has some lame voice acting and scripts from time to time, but that the maps are excellent so I might just turn of the sound effects or possibly delete the sound file or something? haha. Nah, I'll probably just bear with it, can't be that bad right?

Either way, Xidia is very impressive so far. Will definitely play all the sequels and other related campaigns.

Also just a question: is the Unreal multimedia patch still needed? My current install for UT is base GOTY, D10 renderer, OU textures and then oldskool and xidia. Will the multimedia patch add anything worthwhile? Same goes for Unreal 1.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Teflon]

ONP's voice acting is so bad it needs to be experienced. I played ONP like 10 years ago and I still remember some of the awful lines and acting in it.

[TheIronKnuckle]

iirc weedrow ep 1 is still broken

[ebd]

iirc weedrow ep 1 is still broken

oh right none of us ever fixed it... It's just the battlebeasts portion though.

[SteadZ]

I like Operation Na Pali for most of the maps, and savour the ride up until rostivelt lake when I skip through to Ny Leve's Falls. Music is epic though, and there are some really nice new things, like flying a shuttle, followers (another love-hate thing) HUD and new texture packs to keep things fresh.

I personally don't find the Voice Acting too bad, I just find myself sniggering and imitating it

"OOOOOoooooooOOOHHHHHhhhh SHHIIT, THaA BoOoOmMB!!! RUUUUUuuuuUuUuUUuUuUuUNNNnnNnNnn!!!!!"

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SZ
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[salsaSkaarj]

Ortican. The Ortican retrieval mission is mentioned in Xidia, at the very beginning. Play Ortican.

Seriously, I have nothing against Ortican expect for the fact that it's very low on ammo (it's perfect for DP training though) and that there are section which are really unfair gameplay balance-wise).
I wouldn't recommend Ortican for the non-seasoned player.
But after you can beat Xidia on Hard (even Medium) ... yes, take on Ortican (but bear in mind there are sections which have "learn by dying" written all over them).

As for other maps (and packs), read through the forums about players' experience with the maps. There's a wealth of information about gameplay and tactics (even extrapolated to do's and don't in map development).

About ONP - as mentioned feelings about that mappack differ, but don't let that get into your way. It's one of the first large mappacks and (personally) isn't bad at all, far from it. Always remember how much planning, time and effort has gone into the production of such a campaign and accept the "errors" as part of the deal (yes, the voice acting isn't perfect but doens't bother me at all, ironically it sometimes just fits the character).

[TheIronKnuckle]

ONP is ace and the voice acting just adds to the charm. (Although don't play it in a room where other people can hear him talk, very embarrassing )

iirc weedrow ep 1 is still broken

oh right none of us ever fixed it... It's just the battlebeasts portion though.

Also the final outro; I could never get the music to play in that part, which was a key component

[Doublez-Down]

Definitely play all the packs mentioned in this thread, and I'll give a shameless plug for The Fifth Vortex as well. It hasn't received an "official" review as of yet, as I believe it's waiting on the new site, but you should enjoy it nonetheless.