Top SWBF1 Maps (and some skin mods)

[Michaeluj]

This list is not in particular order. I will, however, have three separate lists, one for "The best" maps, one for "The best" SWBF2 conversion maps, and another for maps that just don't quite satisfy personal standards. My goal is to create a comprehensive list of the best mods for people to enjoy, but I'm sure that I'll miss some. So, please look at the first list, then the list of okay maps, and make any suggestions.

Top Mods:
1.   Everything by Sereja:
a.   Otoh Gunga
b.   Quarzite Subtram
c.   Naboo: City of Theed
d.   Polar Express
e.   Kohlma: Moon of the Dead v2
f.   Nar Shaddaa: Vertical City
g.   Tatooine: Mos Eisley Spaceport
h.   Endor: Brighttree Village
i.   Umbara: Shadow Forest
j.   Santa's Home
k.   Fairy Tale
l.   WIP: Raxus Prime: Scrap Yard

2.   The following from Rend:
a.   Coruscant City
b.   Coruscant Streets
c.   Kashyyk: Wookieeland
d.   Bounty Hunters: Tibana Gas Depot

3.   Cargo Hold. It uses a good mix of assets to produce a generic but high-quality map. Unfortunately, the in-game title is "Needs a name."

4.   GGW Cantina v1.1. Very charming map layout, with some fantastic implementation of Jawas, droids, and vehicles to make the place seem friendly and lively. AI doesn't know what to do, but that's fine because this is supposed to be a multiplayer mode for screwing around and racing (with cars even!). Textures in caves are the only thing that looks terrible. Also has some amazingly hilarious skins, like Ronald McDonald!

5.   Ginev's Tatooine. It has great skin implementation, destructible environments, impactful weapons, ships that periodically swoop, and I think there's some scripted explosions. It's also huge while feeling just right.

6.   Tatooine: Mos Anek V2 (Tusken Hunt). The only problem is that the announcer for the Tuskens is the Imperials – Sounds wrong. Still, though, this map has a fantastic concept: Tuskens are aiming to capture a city, totally outnumbering the Rebels. Feels epic.

7.   Return to Hoth (Wampa Hunt). It's Wampa hunt, so that's a plus. But it feels like it's not living up to its potential, like having a skin of Luke which looks no different from the pilot that's also on the map, plus there being 2 indistinguishable classes of Wampa.

8.   Theta Squad – Objective 1. This is sort of like a thematic Wookiee Hunt, in which a few Republic Commandos fight a larger force of Wookiees on the base map. Some of the clones look a bit glitchy, but a cool concept and cool weapons make up for the issues.

9.   Hyperion 1: Ancient Excavations. Zombie mode! Great models too, very atmospheric map design with a lot of new models, including mushrooms, dead Stormtroopers, doors with bloody handprints, and even a statue that the zombies seem to congregate at. Plus, fantastic zombie-killing weapons. Unfortunately, many of the names are silly, like all zombies having a "lightsaber" despite only using the swing animation to kill.

10.   Hyperion 2: Tunnels of Death. Even cooler skins. Same naming problem as before.  Really hard to navigate because it's pitch dark and there's no good minimap. Probably less fun than the first map, but definitely spookier. Also, the zombies don't technically have a command post, so they can spawn from anywhere!

11.   Froggy's Paintball Arena v1.1. A well-executed arena design with very simple classes (just 1 blue and 1 red on each side) that's made utterly amazing by having the BAM effect with each shot. This is epic paintball! No doubt a great time to have with friends!

12.   Froggy's Snowball Valley. The map itself is a bit plain, but the concept is so charmingly innocent that it's worth playing. Plus, piles of snow acting as ammo restocking stations is brilliant! AI pathing is also quite nice, with AI capable of using defenses.

13.   Serpentown. Santa and "elves' vs cowboys. Weapons are also thematic. Have fun!

14.   Eddie's Dantooine 1.0. Nothing special, but competent.

15.   Eddie's Death Star 1.0. You fight on the surface, either on foot or in ships. Plenty of turrets from the ground, including some apparently new pillar-shaped ones. Overall, it's interesting.

16.   Gamorrean camp. The map itself is rather basic, basically a symmetrical forest with an aquatic center to fight over, but the addition of Gamorreans is a decent twist.

17.   Tatooine: Imperial Ground Assault 0.9. It is a fun, chaotic map, with very good pathing mixed with a high number of AI creating some scenic preludes to battle as you watch enemies come from a distance en masse. It has every Tatooine asset, apparently. Issue: X-Wings have some glitchy models.

18.   Battle of Albridon City. Intense aerial combat, large outdoor invasion to the city, blue Theed guards. Overall, decent.

19.   Crazy Water Arena. ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR MULTIPLAYER. Psychedelic background with a theme around combat with jump troopers over platforms. Fun, but the AI is terrible at landing.

20.   Naboo: The Phantom Menace. While not an exact replica of the Gungan battle, due to Gungans having rocket launchers and such, this is a very intense mode as the Gungans rush up the hill to the MTTs (which can be piloted, but the droids have no initiative to enter).

21.   Rancor's Lair. It's a forest with a lot of pathways and dotted with rancors. Unfortunately, the rancors do not move, so they're mainly just an aesthetic contribution.

22.   Naboo Grassy Plains. Vehicles include MTT, Flying Rancor, Flying Acklay, Flying Flat Board, a custom CIS vehicle, and more. It's very weird.

23.   RancorLand. It's whacky, with some great skins, including a Wampa with a gun and Cyber-Maul. Some AI rancors too.

24.   Execution at Geonosis Map Pack

25.   The Battle Royale. Really whacky, even includes a nuke! Plus some funny kill-text. One problem: the folder name has to be skmc2.

26.   Everything in the Gogo12-Ginev Best Maps pack
a.   Behind enemy lines. Republic Commando in tight corridors and involves destroying droid dispensers.
b.   Dantooine. Thrawn!
c.   Delta Hunt. Republic Commando, linear trek through Geonosis. Allies spawn in background to add immersion.
d.   Dxun Moon: Mandalorian Camp. Vanilla units, but a huge and detailed forest/ravine.
e.   Geonosis Lair. Poor implementation of unit names, and AI is bad at destroying Techno Union ships, but there's AT-TE droppers (that don't seem to actually drop, oh well)
f.   Geonosis Hills. Republic Commando, linear, lots of allies. A bit of a grind, so better with human allies.
g.   Korriban. Vanilla units, no new units (although there is a suggestion to "hide in the dark" in the menu), but the music and cave-based design and models are neat. Plus, command post in tree.
h.   Moon Dxun. Linear escort mission with AT-TE to rescue allies. Awesome, even cinematic! AI is dumb when crossing bridge, though. Ending is about dealing with a huge rush of CIS.
i.   Planet Morishim. An "epic" battle across a very rugged landscape. Bases are too difficult to capture until AT-TEs arrive.
j.   Nar Shaddaa: The Roof. City with maze and lots of cover, but vanilla units.
k.   Raxus Prime. Most beautiful pile of junk. May have been remade into Battlefront 2.
l.   Naboo Invasion 1. Space Naboo, but the planet is just a square water texture. Sides favor droids 3:1.
m.   Naboo Invasion 2. Awesome MTT escort mission into Theed! Tank did get a little wonky at one point, though. Ends with destroying starfighters.

27.   Attack of the Piggies.

28.   Tatooine: Boonta Eve. A well-designed map because it has little arrows pointing you in the right direction and there's periodic healing droids to help keep you going. There's also a Tusken camp.

29.   Raka's Adventure (Beta). I don't have the patience to play it, but it has custom units, an "adventure" theme, and apparently some puzzles. Sounds original, if nothing else.


Top Conversion mods:

1.   Side pack. Unfortunately, it doesn't add the officer class, Rebel sniper looks distorted, weapons don't seem to change (e.g. Wookiee has no recon droid). Really, it just seems like a reskin pack.

2.   Mos Eisley Assault. It's missing a lot of cool characters and, for some reason, has a Rebel Commando.

3.   Battle over Coruscant.

4.   Return to Hoth for Wampa Hunt.

5.   A list of converted maps with links, as of Apr 2015.
http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=4591.0




Some okay mods:
1.   Geonosis: Sand and Rock. Nothing new, just 2 bases across a very long and empty plain. Somewhat entertaining for those who value a very grindy matchup.
2.   Seenland. Basically Naboo: Plains but bigger, no Gungans, and with an MTT.
3.   Octagon Of Death. It's a cage match.
4.   SlaughterHouse 2.0. It's a cage match with turrets and some decent cover.
5.   Eddie's Tynna 1.0. It's big, wide, green, and ultimately serviceable. Not very interesting, though.
6.   Real Hero Side – Order 66. Fantastic models of basic Jedi, Sith Anakin, but gameplay is designed around an intense grind (4 command posts too close together).
7.   Big Hoth Map 2.2. It's too big for its own good, and lacks any novelties to make it interesting. I spent more time looking at the skybox and background.
8.   Rend's Jundland 2.5. Command posts are too far apart without much interesting in-between. Vanilla classes. Kinda neat how there's a Tusken camp at the bottom of a very deep ravine.
9.   RHS: Battle Over Coruscant. It's not a space battle but rather a recreation of Anakin and Obi-Wan rescuing Palpatine. The sides are somewhat cool, including even R2 and Grievous, but the map textures are terrible and open to a bizarrely warped and open skybox of space.
10.   Emperor's Throne Room. Looks neat, could be great for some small duals. Has a great Maul, but no emperor. Also, confusing how you have to start the match in the Clone Wars.
11.   TAW Prinx Scrim. Really dull design, just a flat plain with random buildings in random places. No proper in-game title.
12.   =BW= Headquarters. Has some cool sides (Luke with a sniper, Plo Quoon as a counterpart with force choke). But it's really just the hallways of Cloud City build really short.
13.   Elevator. A platform was turned into a vehicle, which is funny to watch AI use because they toggle crouch rapidly. Unfortunately, it's very unreliable and won't even allow the player to exit, so it's rather useless.
14.   Tatooine Gulch (River). This is a 3-way fight divided into 2 separate maps: playable Tuskens and non-playable. Its scope is ambitious, but it's far too mired by awful AI pathing, in which the AI is often stuck and often seems to lack the capacity to properly push. It is crazy, though, how the Tuskens seem able to destroy an AT-AT.
15.   Kashyyk: Village. Basically a recreation of the campaign mission, except much larger, with more large bodies of deadly water blocking most pathways, and an empty minimap that makes navigation feel too difficult. Plus, the viewing distance is terrible.
16.   Kashyyk: The Beginning. Has some nice (if far too colorful) clone skins, and it's huge, but the minimap feels too plain for such a large battlefield. I guess it's sort of neat how there's torches outlining the safe paths through water.
17.   Mars Siege 3.0. Terribly plain, but with lots of vehicles. Very unstable.
18.   Naboo Forest Outpost 1.0. Basically, the rebels quickly climb a hill and then assault a heavily defended base. Custom vehicle. Interesting to see a giant turret used for defensive purposes.
19.   LOTR: Mount Doom. Has a really cool skybox (just still images of fire, though). It does come with custom sides (which you have to manually add, damn), which don't contribute much aside from switching some weapons and giving the Jet Trooper unlimited flight (so you can sit on top of the volcano, yay!)
20.   Death Star Trench Run.
21.   Eddie's Base 42.
22.   Eddie's Q City. Capital ships fly really close.
23.   Endor Confrontation. The only interesting thing is the skybox. Most infantry don't movie.
24.   Geonosis Battlegrounds. Far too wide and empty. Mostly just aerial combat. Has some cool but small caves and openings.
25.   Hoth Escape. Just space Hoth. Kinda janky. Funny how fighters spawn on top of capital ships.
26.   Ratooine 1.1. Basically just a long, outdoor hallway that requires so much time for the action to properly start.
27.   Sandcrawler's Maze Battle 1.1. Could have some appeal.
28.   Sandcrawler's Mountain Wars 1.0. It's just a plain surrounding a pyramid. Has some appeal for those who like to climb or shoot from above, but little else. I like the Geonosis skybox.
29.   TAW City 1.0. Basically Theed + Plains + Naboo Forest. Feels a bit empty despite having all of that, plus rather glitchy with some textures.
30.   Sexy Map (aka, Dude, where's my kart?). An arrangement of 4 differently-colored plateaus crossed by bridges and with half of the fighting happening at a lower level. A bit interesting.
31.   Kashyyk: Plains 1.2. Very plain.

[Red04SWBF]

Well, an user called Ryanoceros made a comprehensive map review some years ago, but I think it's outdated from the time he made the list. However there are still a lot of maps that you can base on your reviews.

So surely there are maps that don't have a review...

[Michaeluj]

Yes. I think I saw that list, but some of the ratings were rather questionable. I attribute that to the age of the rankings. Hence, I would like current feedback about this one.

[Isaac1138]

wheres the link for 7. Return to Hoth (Wampa Hunt)

[Triops]

wheres the link for 7. Return to Hoth (Wampa Hunt)

Hi,
Here is the link:
http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=738

(The Wampa-Hunt is only in the GCW-era)

Have fun Triops

[Michaeluj]

31.   Saga Battles – Geonosis: Catacombs. There's geonosians with spears, upgraded AI Jedi movement (jumping and force push!), and a lesser version of a republic commando. Basically, Republic attacks en masse against a more disperse droid army, gaining ground until they capture an AT-TE and then move even more. Not terrific, especially with some CIS pathing issues, but a very apt Geonosis map.

32.   RLCT Beachhead. Ewok with space barrage. Awesome.

33.   RLCT Hell Hall. Basically the coolest-looking hallway battle. Only worthwhile if you don't mind the grind. The bases at the end have neat defensive stations.

34.   Ord Mantell: No Greater Glory. Basically 3 narrow bridges and quite a bit of scenery beyond. Really cool to see AT-ATs nearly submerge into the water to cross the river. Too bad the AT-STs do likewise and apparently drown.

35.   Rhen Var Bridge. Another lane map, but very scenic. Issue: AI tend to roll off the edge, very immersion-breaking.

36.   Jai Nollan. The most adorable, modern, little town to wage war in, complete with tiny signs pointing to different buildings. Also, there's very explosive barrels lying around.

37.   Mos Nemado. Very quirky Tatooine design; small, but with a near use of narrow hallways, verticality, and even moving wall textures.

38.   Naboo – Kaadara Coast 2.0. Reps fight with both Gungans (with proper Boomas!) and Naboo Guard, and the CIS get IG-88 droids! The map design is rather simple (just a single line of defense), and I do wish that there was just a bit more AI (frankly, I think the engine is being tested to its limit), but it's neat and feels original. Plus, IG-88 again!

39.   Mustafar – Tying Up Loose Ends. You need the SWBF2 Mustafar map (and for it to be called mus1!). You may or may not also need this map to be called musup. Basically, there's some decent custom sides, and it's cool to see Maul shoot lightning.