@V: Does that matter that much?

The maps author has no sens of symmetry - the columns below are placed too differently in the red and blue parts.

I have played this level years ago and gameplay is realy great... ID makes good levels...

i just got team arena from ebay, i'm so happy! i played this map and don't see much difference other than the hole and quad damage. p.s: delete comment below, it was me.

It's remake from CTF map Beyond Reality (mpq3tourney6_ctf), which is remake from Across Space (q3tourney6_ctf), which is remake of The Very End Of You (q3tourney6). As you can see, it's described in review (by half)...
Edited: 20 Apr 2012 AEST

Impressive. But it kinda looks the same as 'The Very End Of You' Map but just added an extra platform..

I remember playing beyond reality. Gotta reinstall Team Arena for some fun with nuclear testing. But I think Ive already played this map. But believe it or not, I think I liked the original Beyond Reality better. I kept falling in that darn hole.

A great improvement over the original Beyond Reality map. It`s too bad id decided to use the old version for Quake Live though instead of this map. :p

this map is really good, i don't know why got 6.57/10
at least if had a 7.5-8.0 but not under 7
i think this map is better than other team arena maps in there
i'd rate this 8.5

Tigger-oN, my guess is that I do have a PK3 file in my baseq3 folder with a corrupted shader file, because you say you think that the limit of PK3 files in your baseq3 folder is around 200 but I only have around 10 PK3 files in my baseq3 folder so the missing textures can't be from having too many PK3 files in my basq3 folder.

Thanks Tigger-oN.

PaN61
Edited: 20 Mar 2010 AEST

@PaN61: From memory, there are no missing textures on this map. My guess is you have a PK3 in your baseq3 folder with a corrupt shader file, or you have too many PK3 files in total. I think the limit is around 200. Either way, the best test would be to remove all but the ones you are playing and try again.

There are missing textures around the weapons (except for the BFG). I tried the map with both, the Mapmedia.pk3 and the ThreeWave.pk3 textures and still the texture around the weapons are still missing.

I have also found a missing texture below the quad damage with both the Mapmedia.pk3 and the ThreeWave.pk3 textures.

The blue flag above the lowest floor (Underneath the launch pad that launches you to the BFG platform) is not aligned perfectly like the other flags.

PaN61
Edited: 19 Mar 2010 AEST

Tetz, i've uncovered the "secrets" beyond Vortex portal and i'm planning a map like it but with more "action" why? vortex portal is a deathmatch map... flag can be TOO EASILY CAPTURED... bunny-hopping i can: fall down from central pad, bunnyhop to the 2 jumps, take the flag and with a bunnyhop reach the central pad that launch me in the vortex again... time? About 6-7 seconds... including the 2 secs of the last jump pod... the one directed to the vortex...

When I played this map I found some weird cones with a sort of checkered texture on. Looks like they tried to put a cone of light or something on it. Ruins the look.

They also own at making useful maps. Maybe they tried for a mix :P

id Software owns at making useless maps.

seremtan, bots always get minus scores on that map because they don't try to stay on the ground :) That is why id software shoved their best (supposedly) bot on it, so you could win just because he kept falling of. When ever I have played bots on that map (or any variants of it) I win against the best of bots just because they fall of the edge. Next time id software make a game like Quake 3 Arena, they'll need to severly improve the footing on the artificial intelligents.

Yeah, it's easy to bash space maps because there's so many things about them that can shaft the gameplay, especially in CTF. But I've played the first CTF conversion of this map, q3tourney6_ctf, on servers many times ( most memorably on a server which increases the player forwardspeed! ) and it is stupidly fast for CTF; captures can be scored from spawn->cap in about 5 seconds. No, it isn't incredibly tactical; yes, one's life expectancy is under 10 seconds. But it IS immense fun, and a cool interlude between more protracted and balanced matches on other maps. The fact that only those with experience of the map have any chance of capping shows it's more than a no-brainer to play.

This version basically adds more altitudes - effectively doubling the total player surface - which means it can carry more players overall, but I think the gameplay is still essentially the same. Best gametype is Harvester, because there can be more 'carriers' to have to deal with.

I also find the bots play this map a bit better than the earlier versions.

Bottom line is - it's FUN, nothing more. Take it or leave it.

my 2/-

At least they got rid of the train. The bots used to love that, and flag caps were simply a matter of air-controlling from the BFG plat launchpad down into the enemy base, grabbing flag, and doing the same thing back across the map. I mean, I how boring is that? And I was the only one with a plus score.

The main reason, IMO, that open space maps are becoming so unpopular is because:

1. It is too easy to die in the viod (the other day I was playing on Q3DM17 with my clan mates and we started shooting each other off the edge when we were on the same team, which I got bored of quickly).

1. Spawn fragging: no one likes getting killed before they can move. Shove a nightmare bot on an open space map with rail guns only, and 8 times out of 10 you get killed before you've moved 64 units.

Yet another wide-open space map - what else needs to be said?

3/10

I find the map has always been unsuitable for CTF because it is so small and has a direct line of site to the flags. I've found the same problem with the Q3DM17 conversions to CTF. It isn't so bad with the space CTF for Quake 3 (I think it is Q3CTF4) because the item placement and structure is OK. Personally I wouldn't go for a space CTF map uless you don't have a direct line of site to the flags.

Yes, seems like they prefer fast, uncomplicated deathmatches over everything else.

I believe the id guys like this map (and its different versions) a lot. Comes down to personal taste I guess.

I don´t know why id Software releases one of it´s worst "fun" maps from Team Arena when there are tons of better CTF maps in TA. This map hardly owns. I´m not a big fan of Space CTF maps (it´s always more like deathmatch and railgun train yard, and not like real CTF), though Vortex Portal from TA was a quality map. But this one is crap.

I only give it 4 points to reward that id releases something from TA for Q3 ;p