Cold Storage

Cold Storage is a Halo 3 multi player map. It is a remake of the Halo: CE map, Chill Out, and was released for free at 2am PST on July 7th, 2008 (Bungie Day). The map was announced by Bungie at MLG San Diego on June 14th, 2008. During development, it was codenamed Smuggler. Bungie has also stated that Cold Storage will be featured in all play lists that previously required the Legendary Map Pack. In these play lists, it will say that all DLC are required.

Bungie made an official statement online about the level in their Bungie Weekly Update on June 20th. It was first shown in an exhibition game between Bungie members; Lukems and Shishka, and MLG Pros; Karma and Legend, which served as the map's debut. It was then revealed in the Weekly Update on July 3rd that the map will be released, for free, starting July 7th.

It is set in a Forerunner Flood Containment Facility, which has had a Flood outbreak, evident by the Flood Biomass. By the "transmissions" revealed in several Bungie Weekly Updates, it was speculated that Cold Storage was somewhere on Delta Halo. This was confirmed by the in game description of the map.

The true developer of Cold Storage was a 16 year old with the gamertag "redhomie55" from Austin, Texas. He used a modded version of the Halo 3 Forge to build a map, resembling the original Halo map Chill Out, completely from scratch. The time that was taken to construct the masterpiece was about eight months. After completion, the map was placed on "redhomie55's" file share. After about a month the map had only been downloaded once. The download was, in fact, made by Bungie. Later on, "redhomie55" signed a contract with Bungie Software that would give him full copyrights to the map. "Redhomie55" decided that he did not want any attention from the public about his masterpiece, so he gave Bungie Software permission to display that all rights were reserved by Bungie.

Design
Cold Storage is a Forerunner Flood Cryogenetic Containment and Research Facility located on Delta Halo that has had an outbreak of the Flood Super Cell, possibly the origin of the massive Flood outbreak on Installation 05, in fact you can see in the windows of the infected area infection forms running and passing side to side. Being derived from a Halo: CE map, many changes needed to be made to Cold Storage to bring it into line with Halo 3's updated physics and graphic design. Many of the jumps and railings have been tweaked, like those on Blackout, but they stay well within the layout of Chill Out.

The "Monitor" in the ceiling follows your movements if you stare at it for a while, but will stop once you leave the room. It should be noted that the Monitor on the ceiling can't be 2401 Penitent Tangent, for it's far too large. It has been speculated to be a "local caretaker," designated to watch over the facility like a prison guard, similar to a "dumb" UNSC AI. When a player enters the room it will turn and look at them. The monitor will look at people even if they have active camo. This can be used to your advantage.

The Tank Form in the cryo-container will sometimes have small spasms in his tube. The room containing the Flood Pure Form is apparently where a handful of containers are brought out of storage to be examined, as several empty containers can be seen behind windows. Beyond the windows, Infection Forms can be seen running free. Being a Cryogenic Containment Facility, the temperature is low, shown by the mist at several places in the map.

The map's mood is considered "competitive", and it is best played with small FFA (Free-For-All) Slayer games or Team Doubles. Combat tends to be rather chaotic, and because of the multitude of teleporters, it is very easy to get from one area to another and smite your opponents. The only noticeable change to the map's weapon layout is that the Halo: CE Pistol that was in Chill Out has been replaced with a Battle Rifle.

Forge
There is only a handful of new objects available for Cold Storage, among them are three new Energy Blockers, each with their different shapes and sizes, similar to the ones on Avalanche. There are also the various Forge Filters that effect the color and overall tone of the map. The Soccer Ball is once again included, and the Mongoose and Ghost can be placed in as well, though the map is not especially designed for the vehicles.

The Flamethrower is available for use, but can only be added in Forge. Teleporters have a new design to them, as they now have a circular base, instead of the three-pronged base, like in other maps. They also have purplish-blue color, and not the usual green color theme.

Transmissions
Before the map was revealed, it was known as Smuggler. Two transmissions about it were posted on Bungie.net.

In the Bungie Weekly Update 5/30/08, the following transmission was shown:

Part 1
"REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE

LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE

Waiting for maintenance and security detail. [32 minutes, 9 seconds] elapsed since request.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE

Still waiting for maintenance and security detail. [24 hours] elapsed since request.

REPORT: SECURITY BREACH

LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced a security breach via emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits. Emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been placed in recursive mode to contain unauthorized hostile lifeforms. Request emergency security detail. Still waiting for primary maintenance and security detail. [2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds]elapsed since initial request.

REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY

2401 [PENITENT TANGENT] has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security."

Part 2
A new conversation was given in the 6/6/08 update.

LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility [alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, and kappa sites] have all replied [systems normal] within expected constraints. This would tend to signify that the containment failure was purely mechanical in nature; perhaps a manufacturing flaw. As no [outside agent] has accessed [delta site] in the past [874068942 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds]—[allowing for a 61360 hour, 54, minute, 2 second margin of error]—sabotage would seem unlikely.

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [.01 atm] / [184K]. Local maintenance and security hubs have failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request up] to [quadrant oversight].

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [1 atm] / [278K] as atmospheric seals were showing signs of stress. [Quadrant oversight] has failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request all the way up] to 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT].

LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been accessed by unauthorized parties.

LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT], monitor of Installation 05, has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security. Requests for aid in said areas have gone unanswered by both 2401 and [subservient] systems well beyond expected constraints.

Strategies

 * Maintaining control of the top of the map is key to victory. But make sure that you have one of your team mates watching your rear. Due the many teleporters on the map, it is easy to be flanked.
 * Having the high ground with the Sniper Rifle is very effective on Free for Alls.
 * Predicting your opponent's spawn is very important, especially for Team SWAT.

Trivia

 * This is the first Halo 3 Map to be featured on Delta Halo.
 * In the Q&A on Bungie.net, one of the level developers said "Don't get too close" to the Tank Form, although this is likely a mock by the developers answering the questions.
 * It was mentioned in the ViDoc, And On the Seventh Day, that Bungie had wanted to call this map Cold Sore. Bungie said, however, that this name wouldn't work.
 * Cold Storage is the first multi player map to feature Flood forms. There is a Tank Form in suspended animation near the Shotgun spawn, and Infection Forms are seen crawling through the Flood infested area. Several tentacles can also be seen outside the window, which probably belong to Gravemind. The Flood Pure Form is an object and even if you are in the test tube if shot at it bleeds but will not hurt you.
 * This is the only map not to feature scenery by default.
 * The first time stamp '2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds' is the equivalent of 290 years, 7 months, 14 minutes, 6 seconds. The second time stamp is equivalent to 99,779 years, 204 days, 6 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds.
 * It is also possible that the "slipspace transportation conduits" is referring to the teleportation grid on the Halos, which 343 Guilty Spark and Cortana used on Installation 04, and that the Gravemind took control over via 2401 Penitent Tangent on Installation 05.
 * LF.Xx.3273 is the Forerunner term for the Flood Super Cell.
 * Cold Storage is the second map in Halo 3 to include teleporters by default. The teleporters are blue, however, instead of common green. The Halo 2 multiplayer map, Gemini, also contained blue teleporters.
 * It appears that one of the cryo-containers had burst, leaving behind Flood Biomass where the base used to be.
 * The map's weapons layout is the same, or close to, the weapon layout on Chill Out. One adjustment being the pair of grenades removed from the southwestern half and the northeastern half in the curved hallways. Originally, four grenades spawned there. The Pistol has also been replaced by the Battle Rifle
 * A ViDoc concerning Cold Storage was released on Bungie.net soon after the Weekly Update of July 3rd was posted.
 * Cold Storage is the first and only Halo DLC to date to be released alone.
 * Cold Storage is the seventh Halo 3 DLC map.
 * Cold Storage is one of two Halo 3 multi player map to be Flood themed, the first being Isolation.
 * Cold Storage is the first map to reveal what the bottom of a Flood Growth Pod looks like.
 * Using the Turret Glitch, it is possible to get inside the Tank Form's cryo-container. Once inside, your player model will pass through the Tank Form, yet when you melee it in the mouth, it will make squishing noises. Shooting it in the mouth will make "Flood blood" come out. Shooting anywhere else will give you the same effect as shooting a wall. Plasma Grenades can stick to the Tank form, as well, except the head.
 * The Flood Biomass on the roof of the level reacts to explosions.
 * The empty blue room with the Sniper Rifle and Active Camo appears to be a freezer of some kind. If you float up the crack, you will see mist.
 * Unlike the map The Pit, when you get out of Cold Storage, you die instantly, regardless if you are in either Monitor or your Spartan/Elite form.
 * The large Monitor may be a reference to GLaDOS from the game Portal.
 * The Monitor is completely invincible, even to the Spartan Laser. Not even Spike Grenades can be stuck onto it.
 * The Monitor shows up on your radar as a friendly contact.
 * Just like 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor has the Marathon symbol in its "eye".
 * The big monitor is referred to as Quadrant Oversight (From Smuggler Transmissions). He was probably a "lesser" monitor, tasked with monitoring the facility.
 * Currently, a part of this map's "Walls" are used as Bungie.net's wallpaper. These walls also appear to move in a 90° angle. As the ledge with the rocket launcher on it is being held up by a movable pillar with tracks under it. These are probably storing units.
 * The Unauthorized parties in the Smuggler Transmissions may refer to SPARTAN IIs and Elites used to test, and eventually play, in the Research Facility.
 * The small tentacles hanging from the flood Biomass near the Shotgun move on their own.
 * When shot, the Biomass excretes "blood".
 * When shot, the Monitor's shields fluctuate much like a shield door. This is most easily viewed through the scope of a Sniper Rifle.
 * This is the second-to-only completely "sealed in" map--as in, completely in a large complex of rooms. The only other completely sealed off map in Halo 3 is Foundry.
 * If you zoom on the Quadrant Oversight on the left hand side of its casing is a picture of a caveman.
 * It is possible that Cold Storage is located somewhere near Lockout because they are both Flood Research facilities, they are both on Installation 05, and they are both cold. The Flood outbreak in Cold Storage could also have been caused by the open cryo-like chamber in Lockout.
 * You may not be able to get into the Flood room but it is possible to get behind it. Use the turret glitch on the top left window panel in the room.
 * Cold Storage is the only other Halo 3 map besides Blackout that does not spawn a Brute Shot by default.
 * The player can reach a hidden area above the Tank Form. This cavernous area can be reached in Forge mode.
 * The Monitor in the main hall will follow the player as long as he/she stays in the room.
 * Cold Storage is the smallest map in Halo 3 that contains a Sniper Rifle by default.
 * It is possible to get out of the map. The glitch is found to be very difficult by players. See Youtube for videos.