FORGING A HALO 3 GRIFBALL MAP (OR THANK HEAVEN FOR PHASING AND MAGNETS)

Forge guru NOKYARD has put together a 10 minute video showcasing some of the advanced techniques needed for building a Grifball court in Halo 3. Halo 3 Forge forced builders to be very creative and inventive in order to accomplish even the simplest of tasks.

Says NOKYARD:

This is a reconstruction of the Halo 3 Grifball court in The Master Chief Collection. We are unable to place objective items until a patch is released but i decided to get a head start on the Halo 3 court for GrifballHUB.com. This is a 2 controller build and i operate both controllers. Occasionally, Oracle operates the second controller. Top is C1.

The task at hand is to place the final piece of the main wall. Halo 3 Forge will not allow any items to be pushed more than half way into existing map geometry so we have to find another route and set it from behind the geometry.

Description:

00:25 This device is used to push C1 under the floor of Foundry (teleporters will not function under this floor). It locks you into position and a late spawning box squeezes you through the floor. You quickly switch to Monitor Mode and hold the right bumper (upward thrust) to stay above the kill volume.

00:45 C1 moves into position.

00:52 C2 performs part one of a Ghost Merge setup (No Clip Glitch) on a Double Box. This trick temporarily splits an objects image from it’s physics (or so i am told). You end up holding an image of the item (no physics), which you place on your map, while the doppelganger (solid with no gravity) floats away. Once you let go of the item it is restored to it’s former state.

01:25 C2 places the Double Box into the compression cage. The goal is to get both the Monitor and the Ghost Merge Double Box under the floor.

01:47 The first compression stage spawns. You get better results if you push in stages rather than all at once. Generally, you use similar items to push (Double Box pushes Double Box) but some items, like Fence Walls & Doors, push better than others.

01:50 C1 grabs the Double Box from under the floor. You have to ‘steer’ it straight down or it will pop out the sides or top of the compression cage.

02:17 The second compression stage spawns, and seconds later the Double Box is under the floor.

02:49 C1 takes over to perform the second part of the Ghost Merge but must first ensure the Double Box is PERFECTLY straight and square.

How this is done is difficult to explain because you go mostly by feel. Think of it like this. The monitor is holding a fishing pole which is attached to the geometric center of the Double Box by a fishing line which can pass through solid objects. You align the Double Box by placing it behind a jig and looking downward or sideways to tighten the line. Then you rapidly tap the right trigger which simulates plucking the taught line. This jiggles the Double Box and helps it settle into position. The other Double Box which is used as a square jig was embedded in the floor earlier using the same method.

As you can see this method can be extremely precise with patience and practice.

03:38 Once you are satisfied the box is perfectly square you complete the Ghost Merge by equaling the run times. For you newcomers, this is the technique which evolved into “Phased Physics”. The box will retain it’s perfect alignment so long as you do not touch the triggers.

Now for the hard part.

Maneuvering under the Foundry geometry is confusing and perilous. There are kill volumes everywhere and you have no visual references on one side (the side i am working on in this task). You also have invisible walls everywhere so knowing where to place the monitor is mostly done by feel.

07:30 The final piece of the wall is in place.

The wall took 2 to 3 hours to complete plus about 45 minutes each for the two end pieces. The first time i built this court, back in 2009, the wall took about a week to construct since Ghost Merging had not yet been discovered, and although perfectly straight, it looked like crap.”

Halo 3 Grifball is still not possible due to a bug in the Master Chief Collection that prevents objects from objective gametypes, such as bomb plants, from being placed on the map. 343 Industries is aware of the problem and has promised to fix it.