Malachor V - v2

Description
Ahhh, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, that infamous unfinished game... It really was unfinished you know, due to time constraints whole quest lines and even an entire planet had to be chopped out of the final game, leaving many bugs and quests which you couldn't finish properly. [url=http://www.team-gizka.org/]Team Gizka[/url] is a KotOR 2 modding team that is attempting to restore as much of the content as possible that was removed in an effort to make the game play better. When they will finally finish and release that mod, nobody knows, but its something to look forward to for KotOR fans!

Here today though we have a little piece of KotOR 2 in our very own JKA, the Trayus Academy on Malachor V! :D

JamyzGenius's mapping skills are progressing nicely and he has made a pretty good representation of the Trayus Academy on Malachor JamyzGenius here. I wouldn't say that it is a replica of the original KotOR level (though I could be wrong), but it has the main features, including the Trayus Core, which was where the climax of KotOR 2 was played out. The various corridors and rooms do look like the ones from the KotOR 2 level, including the grey texturing with those red lights on the floor and walls. There were a few areas in these corridors where the wall brushes did not appear to be aligned properly, allowing you to see through the gap into the void causing the HOM (hall of mirrors) effect. This is definitely something that needs to be fixed for next time around.

The overall architecture of the map was good, but a little simple; I would have liked to see some more architectural detail in the map, especially at the Trayus Core itself, which didn't quite look like its KotOR 2 counterpart in architecture or scale. One thing that needs fixing in the Trayus core room is the room itself, which is so huge that the game engine actually culls parts of the walls because they are so far away from the player. This definitely needs to be fixed for next time, since large portions of the exterior walls disappear when you walk into this room, again creating the HOM (hall of mirrors) effect, since you can see the void. Despite those annoying little areas where you get the HOM, overall the map is pretty well built. Although custom textures are always preferable in a map like this, JamyzGenius has done a fantastic job of using base JKA textures to give the look and feel of the Trayus Academy and the result is pretty effective!

The layout is somewhat sprawling however and coupled with the low lighting it is easy to get a bit lost. I would definitely suggest making the lighting a little brighter. Not a lot brighter, since that would spoil the Sithy mood of the map, but just a little lighter so it is easier to find your way around. Lastly I would suggest working a bit more on some of the doors, specifically the ones that open into four pieces. The problem is the sections of the door don't all open at the same time. To fix this what you need to do us select all the pieces of that door in Radiant and then open up the entity window for that door by pressing the N key. Then put in the key box 'team' (without the quotes) and then in the value box put a name for that door, like 'door_one' (again without the quotes). Add that to the list in the entity window and when you get ingame, all the sections of the door will open at the same time!

Despite the few flaws here and there, this is overall an enjoyable and pretty well built map. I certainly enjoyed all the glowy lights! ;) If you are a fan of the KotOR series or Malachor V and the Trayus Academy in particular, then you may enjoy this map, so give it a download! Keep up the good work JamyzGenius, I look forward to seeing more of your maps! :)

[b]New Textures:[/b] Yes
[b]New Sounds:[/b] No
[b]New Music:[/b] Yes
[b]Bot Routes:[/b] No
[b]Game Types:[/b] FFA, Duel, Power Duel

~Nozyspy~