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Halo 4 Forge |OT| Crafting a better tomorrow; one Brace, Large at a time

External Memory

Neo Member
It's not misguided. 343 has their own tools they use to customize personal ordnance per map. We don't. And 343 (nor bungie) has ever accepted map/gametype pairings for matchmaking - so at this point, you basically have to Forge towards the default set of "everything".

Testing without PO at all makes sense as it'll give you a better idea of map flows under ideal conditions instead of people hanging out on one part of a smaller map because the game keeps giving them Rocket Launchers.

They could/should add it in a TU. We have the Pause menu options for Trait zones, add another category for Allowed Personal Ordnance.

Then tweak it by gametype, like I said. Otherwise, you're testing on the assumption that 343 will either drop PO from the playlist or add map-specific tuning with a TU, which is a big if, ideal conditions or otherwise. PO is THE main condition of Infinity Slayer, and the entire new scoring system. For anything other than initial tests, again, I find not using tuned PO when you can set it up by gametype to be pointless. Approximate the tools the devs have by whatever means needed, the Forger or his pals are typically the ones running the playtest so it's not as though adding the variant to the specifications is that hard for playtests.

You either misunderstood my point about the map maker suggesting the tunings for personal ordnance, or you really think 343 won't take the community map and tweak according to the designer-suggested personal ordnance options, and will instead wait until we also have the tools to set map-specific PO for whatever reason. Either way, whether you're reccommending a map to be used without PO, or with PO that has been tuned, you're asking for players to use variant settings, so why not get the best approximation of how you would tune the PO if you had the map-specific tools? And what better way to recommend to cartographers and 343 sustained producers what the map PO should be, since they can tune it, than just putting it in a bloody gametype for your map? Throwing out the proverbial baby with the situational bathwater here just seems the sort of stubbornness and obsessiveness symptomatic of many Forgers. The workaround seems clear enough here.

Whatever the fix people decide to use to make their maps work, I do sincerely hope 343 plans to incorporate community maps before a title update; if not, I hope it's not far off. People won't want to play community maps with messed-up Fiesta ordnance, but they will want to play them with tuned PO just as they do judging by population in the default playlists.

Any one elses having issues with manual weapon placement (NOT Ordanance drop spawns)....

Weapons are placed in the level keeping default settings (just as I did in Reach), but when the map is tested in actual War Games mode.... nothing appears (This also happenend with Vehicles placed in the level when not using the specific "Spawn Pad" for a vehicle)

Player Spawns/Respawns work properly
Vehicle Spawn pads work
All added level building peices/scenery/bulding appears properly


What am i missing.... ??? Help Master forgers.. your my only hope

afiak the gametypes don't allow the weapons to actually spawn. You have to do them as Ordnance Drops.
Hard coded: Weapons on map: [None]
Wow. This is fucking dumb. Wow.

No, they definitely do. At least vanilla Infinity Slayer does. There's no option in-gametype for Slayer to turn weapons on-map off, actually.
I just played an Infinity Slayer game (default on-disc gametype) with weapons on the map. I have the film in my share if you need proof.

What gametype were you using? Did you save the MM gametype from temp. history, for example, or use the one on disc? Or were you using Dominion off MM/on-disc for example? Were the weapons set to phased or fixed physics, or normal/drop placements? It's possible that some on-disc gametypes or MM gametypes are hard-coded not to spawn weapons on map, but definitely not on-disc Infinity Slayer.

There's a bit of misinformation and miscommunication (and resulting uninformed butt-frustration) happening because people are heading off to post at the drop of a hat, first problem, and then also not leaving repro info for their given problem. In the game I played, the weapons were set to fixed, so any normal-physics placements likely just de-spawn a few seconds after shifting in the start of the match. Check your temp history in films to confirm, and we can test whether the same fixed-physics weapon spawn issues in Reach are still in Halo 4.

EDIT: Actually, just tested this in on-disc Infinity Slayer, and all weapons, whether set to normal, fixed or phased, spawned just fine, and swapping one fixed or phased weapon for another didn't result in the dropped weapon floating mid-air like in Reach. Same goes for off-host, if that makes any difference. Some gametypes, like Flood, do override weapons on map and are hard-coded as such, unfortunately. Just another thing on the long list of missed custom game opportunities for 343.
 

Hey You

Member
That explains so much... I thought they didn't work in War Games, only forge, because I was trying to use them in Flood, and the Flood aren't 'base'.

Mega :/

The Player Trait Zones do affect the Flood...sorta. I used them to remove the ability to use their armor abilities.
 
Then tweak it by gametype, like I said. Otherwise, you're testing on the assumption that 343 will either drop PO from the playlist or add map-specific tuning with a TU, which is a big if, ideal conditions or otherwise. PO is THE main condition of Infinity Slayer, and the entire new scoring system. For anything other than initial tests, again, I find not using tuned PO when you can set it up by gametype to be pointless. Approximate the tools the devs have by whatever means needed, the Forger or his pals are typically the ones running the playtest so it's not as though adding the variant to the specifications is that hard for playtests.

You either misunderstood my point about the map maker suggesting the tunings for personal ordnance, or you really think 343 won't take the community map and tweak according to the designer-suggested personal ordnance options, and will instead wait until we also have the tools to set map-specific PO for whatever reason. Either way, whether you're reccommending a map to be used without PO, or with PO that has been tuned, you're asking for players to use variant settings, so why not get the best approximation of how you would tune the PO if you had the map-specific tools? And what better way to recommend to cartographers and 343 sustained producers what the map PO should be, since they can tune it, than just putting it in a bloody gametype for your map? Throwing out the proverbial baby with the situational bathwater here just seems the sort of stubbornness and obsessiveness symptomatic of many Forgers. The workaround seems clear enough here.

Whatever the fix people decide to use to make their maps work, I do sincerely hope 343 plans to incorporate community maps before a title update; if not, I hope it's not far off. People won't want to play community maps with messed-up Fiesta ordnance, but they will want to play them with tuned PO just as they do judging by population in the default playlists.

Here are the options:

  • Give Forgers the capability to edit personal ordnance on a per map basis post-TU
  • Communicate with Forger and tweak map personal ordnance accordingly in-house
  • Tie specific map based gametypes with preset personal ordnance options (by the forger) for said map
  • Disable personal ordnance setting in Community Slayer hopper


The first option is stretching it the most... the chance of us getting a whole new feature that may have not been intended or coded for forge maps is highly unlikely. While there is a chance that the code is scalable enough to allow for the addition, the inclusion of map based personal ordnance selection doesn't seem like an easy addition unless the code was prepped for it in all custom map loading processes. Not only that we would have to wait for a TU. So things would be chaos until then.

The second option requires quite a bit of overhead. Either every map submitted needs to come with a list of personal ordnance options for the map, or every map accepted needs feedback from the forger of what personal ordnance should be there. The first is just a hassle for every community member involved in the process (forger and CC). The second breaks the black box mold and basically tells forgers that their maps are getting in and also requires that the forger actually respond back, and this can get hairy if the map has age and the forger has moved on. Not including the time that needs to be put in on the 343i side of things to setup the personal ordnance and that is assuming they have the tools to adjust it for community maps. The system may be baked into each on-disc map with the only way built to tweak it being through gametypes.

The third option also requires a bit of overhead. This means that every community map must travel with a respective gametype. In terms of filesharing, most of us that have been part of the custom game world know how well people downloading maps from your fileshare download the respective gametype. I'd say it is fair that about half of the people who download a map with a custom tailored gametype don't download the gametype. Especially those that just browse most recommended and most downloaded. In addition we don't know if the internal playlist system even supports multiple gametypes anymore behind the scenes, since playlists are now based on gametypes.

And the final option involves flipping a switch that every playtester has access to. It creates a standard for map testing among the community. Every custom gamer would get into the habit of playing with no personal ordnance. There are people that play maps that don't have the designer around. Sometimes it is hard enough getting the latest version of a map by somebody let alone trying to get the gametype tied to it. What if both are ever changing like how I tweak stuff? Setting a standard of no PO works out better for everyone. It is a simple flip of a switch for everyone, it is a single gametype for a playlist, it requires no additional overhead past the first switch flip for the gametype. Not only that... but we don't have to wait for a TU to put this into affect.

It is more feasible that the community suggest that any community content be tied to a gametype with no PO. It can become a standard for community content... no PO on forge maps. This does have a few downsides. More than likely means that a playlist for forge maps to create consistency should exist and that it is just a matter of adding to the description "no personal ordnance". In the Infinity Slayer description there is a comment about personal ordnance existing, so it doesn't seem unfeasible.

And who knows... the one minor detail of no PO on a map may be enough to sway people to stick to a community playlist over regular infinity slayer. Squad Slayer was great for leaving behind Armor Lock, so perhaps Community Slayer could be great to leave behind Personal Ordnance. Some people are not a fan of PO (especially with its similarities to killstreaks) and this could be a place to get away from them next to Team Slayer Pro that also allows for custom loadouts.
 

Mitsurux

Member
There's a bit of misinformation and miscommunication (and resulting uninformed butt-frustration) happening because people are heading off to post at the drop of a hat, first problem, and then also not leaving repro info for their given problem. In the game I played, the weapons were set to fixed, so any normal-physics placements likely just de-spawn a few seconds after shifting in the start of the match. Check your temp history in films to confirm, and we can test whether the same fixed-physics weapon spawn issues in Reach are still in Halo 4.

EDIT: Actually, just tested this in on-disc Infinity Slayer, and all weapons, whether set to normal, fixed or phased, spawned just fine, and swapping one fixed or phased weapon for another didn't result in the dropped weapon floating mid-air like in Reach. Same goes for off-host, if that makes any difference. Some gametypes, like Flood, do override weapons on map and are hard-coded as such, unfortunately. Just another thing on the long list of missed custom game opportunities for 343.

How did you place your weapons on the map?

I was unable to place any weapons (ala how weapons were placed in Forge maps in Reach) and have the weapons appear in ANY game type....

I was able to place weapons on the map by placing them as Ordinance drop points (initial, etc.).. the correct weapon spawned, and respawned based on what ever the settings were.


During this whole process i took a few of the default maps into forge to see how CA handled weapon placement.... all of the maps i checked out handled initial weapon placement with Ordanance drops. (There were no weapons just laying around in the level, like how it was in Reach Forge).

But i did discover that CA, based on gameype, allowed for vehicles to spawn without the use of Vehicle Spawn Pads, simply by labeling the vehicle to the specific game type. (I was then able to get this to work in my forge maps as well. But oddly enough this same process would not work with weapons).


Still can't figue out a way to turn the waypoint markers off for the weapons.... (personal preference).


Seems like to get the most control over your map you have to pair it with a Specific game type as mentioned by a few others already....
 
I wonder if you can use Trait Zones to stop people calling in Ordinance anywhere they like? Set the Initial Ordinance to drop the heavy stuff and then put a Trait Zone over the map that inhibits Personal Ordinance.

Had this idea too, but was sad to find out that it doesn't work.

I thought it would be an awesome fix to require map control and movement. Put a trait zone somewhere on the map and have it be the only place where players can call in ordinance drops. It would force teamwork and communication to make the team aware of when an ordinance is up and it would require map control and movement to control the area. If you didn't do any of that you would be completely screwed by the other team having power weapons. I think it would be a good a fix for no longer having much forced map movement and weapons on map while still encorporating the new features without just throwing it away to go back to the old way.

I really hope they can include the option in a patch or something down the road.
 

oktarb

Member
I'm super new to this so please forgive the almost embarrassingly noob question: Where are all the parts? i started up a basic map, set it to Slayer and went in to start building. Hitting X brings up a list of items but it seems laughably limited. Boxes, crates, terminals ect. Where are the walls, floors and items to actually built things?
 

FyreWulff

Member
I'm super new to this so please forgive the almost embarrassingly noob question: Where are all the parts? i started up a basic map, set it to Slayer and went in to start building. Hitting X brings up a list of items but it seems laughably limited. Boxes, crates, terminals ect. Where are the walls, floors and items to actually built things?

Scroll to the bottom of the list on the first menu for the 'Structure' category. This only exists on Ravine/Impact/Erosion.
 

oktarb

Member
Scroll to the bottom of the list on the first menu for the 'Structure' category. This only exists on Ravine/Impact/Erosion.

Ahh so that's the key, select maps. Perfecto, thanks.

Also which of the many sites would you recommend for the basics? Like how to magnets and snap even work?
 

External Memory

Neo Member
How did you place your weapons on the map?

I was unable to place any weapons (ala how weapons were placed in Forge maps in Reach) and have the weapons appear in ANY game type....

I was able to place weapons on the map by placing them as Ordinance drop points (initial, etc.).. the correct weapon spawned, and respawned based on what ever the settings were.


During this whole process i took a few of the default maps into forge to see how CA handled weapon placement.... all of the maps i checked out handled initial weapon placement with Ordanance drops. (There were no weapons just laying around in the level, like how it was in Reach Forge).

But i did discover that CA, based on gameype, allowed for vehicles to spawn without the use of Vehicle Spawn Pads, simply by labeling the vehicle to the specific game type. (I was then able to get this to work in my forge maps as well. But oddly enough this same process would not work with weapons).


Still can't figue out a way to turn the waypoint markers off for the weapons.... (personal preference).


Seems like to get the most control over your map you have to pair it with a Specific game type as mentioned by a few others already....

The weapons I placed had absolutely no gametype labels, and gametype-specific was set to false. I wonder if you tried placing the weapons first, without messing with any advanced options, then tested in flood and, after noticing they didn't spawn, decided to set them to "gametype specific: true" and labeled them for flood. Using that, if you remembered to remove the "gametype: flood" label but not reset the "gametype-specific" setting to false, this would explain why those weapons aren't even spawning in Infinity Slayer. If they have gametype specific settings but no gametype label they wouldn't spawn even in gametypes that aren't hard-coded for no weapons on map.

Now, I spawned the weapons on Impact, and again, the weapon settings were all default save for the physics settings I altered for some weapons whether old bugs were carried over from Reach's system. It seems they weren't thankfully, but maybe only Impact, Erosion or Ravine allow for the weapons to spawn on map, and not the default maps? I'll test this when I get back from work.

If none of the above is the case, I truly have no idea what the deal is with your weapons.

Is there any way to place OS, Camo, and custom power-ups? I'm not finding them in the list...

With Initial Ordnance, I believe you can set a timed powerup spawn at least for the 3 default powerups that show up in Personal Ordnance.
 

External Memory

Neo Member
"Here are the options:

  • Give Forgers the capability to edit personal ordnance on a per map basis post-TU
  • Communicate with Forger and tweak map personal ordnance accordingly in-house
  • Tie specific map based gametypes with preset personal ordnance options (by the forger) for said map
  • Disable personal ordnance setting in Community Slayer hopper
"

...

"It is more feasible that the community suggest that any community content be tied to a gametype with no PO. It can become a standard for community content... no PO on forge maps. This does have a few downsides. More than likely means that a playlist for forge maps to create consistency should exist and that it is just a matter of adding to the description "no personal ordnance". In the Infinity Slayer description there is a comment about personal ordnance existing, so it doesn't seem unfeasible.

And who knows... the one minor detail of no PO on a map may be enough to sway people to stick to a community playlist over regular infinity slayer. Squad Slayer was great for leaving behind Armor Lock, so perhaps Community Slayer could be great to leave behind Personal Ordnance. Some people are not a fan of PO (especially with its similarities to killstreaks) and this could be a place to get away from them next to Team Slayer Pro that also allows for custom loadouts."

That's the big question, right? Whether no-PO (ha!) type Slayer will take off with a community map playlist when the precedent for no-PO is mainly in Objective playlists with larger teams and therefore more weapons on-map, or in games with tweaked movement or damage and default loadouts only.

It doesn't intuitively follow to non-forgers (the majority of the population) why a community map playlist would be no-PO, so really, any pull would be as a matter of necessity and not by design, which isn't the best approach to making a playlist. A bit like max local party of two (no 4-way split screen) in community-content-inclusive playlists, except on a more extreme scale.

Some want to play no-PO slayer, but hate community maps, for example; especially as the playlists begin to be populated by DLC maps.


In any case, without PO, I feel RO would need tweaking for more frequency and/or the encounter times would need to be pushed lower so that players can scavenge enough ammo to sustain combat without necessitating the ammo support upgrade in their loadout.

It's definitely an either-or proposition, as those tweaks are map-specific; PO, with or without some kind of tweaking, changes base Slayer gameplay too much for the map to not need to change accordingly (which is why Slayer Pro, SWAT, etc., aren't base player settings). Testing out default maps with no-PO Slayer would be really instructive in this regard, especially with straightforward maps like Haven or Adrift.
 

Mitsurux

Member
The weapons I placed had absolutely no gametype labels, and gametype-specific was set to false. I wonder if you tried placing the weapons first, without messing with any advanced options, then tested in flood and, after noticing they didn't spawn, decided to set them to "gametype specific: true" and labeled them for flood. Using that, if you remembered to remove the "gametype: flood" label but not reset the "gametype-specific" setting to false, this would explain why those weapons aren't even spawning in Infinity Slayer. If they have gametype specific settings but no gametype label they wouldn't spawn even in gametypes that aren't hard-coded for no weapons on map.

Now, I spawned the weapons on Impact, and again, the weapon settings were all default save for the physics settings I altered for some weapons whether old bugs were carried over from Reach's system. It seems they weren't thankfully, but maybe only Impact, Erosion or Ravine allow for the weapons to spawn on map, and not the default maps? I'll test this when I get back from work.

If none of the above is the case, I truly have no idea what the deal is with your weapons.

All weapons were placed on the map in forge (my custom Ravine edit) basic editing, no options adjusted. (Just like if i was making a map in Reach)

Go to test the map in War Games - Slayer pro - no weapons appear on map.

I'm working with basic game types, Slayer, CTF, Oddball, KotH....
 
That's the big question, right? Whether no-PO (ha!) type Slayer will take off with a community map playlist when the precedent for no-PO is mainly in Objective playlists with larger teams and therefore more weapons on-map, or in games with tweaked movement or damage and default loadouts only.

It doesn't intuitively follow to non-forgers (the majority of the population) why a community map playlist would be no-PO, so really, any pull would be as a matter of necessity and not by design, which isn't the best approach to making a playlist. A bit like max local party of two (no 4-way split screen) in community-content-inclusive playlists, except on a more extreme scale.

Some want to play no-PO slayer, but hate community maps, for example; especially as the playlists begin to be populated by DLC maps.


In any case, without PO, I feel RO would need tweaking for more frequency and/or the encounter times would need to be pushed lower so that players can scavenge enough ammo to sustain combat without necessitating the ammo support upgrade in their loadout.

It's definitely an either-or proposition, as those tweaks are map-specific; PO, with or without some kind of tweaking, changes base Slayer gameplay too much for the map to not need to change accordingly (which is why Slayer Pro, SWAT, etc., aren't base player settings). Testing out default maps with no-PO Slayer would be really instructive in this regard, especially with straightforward maps like Haven or Adrift.

My point wasn't the perceived effects on the changes, but the necessity and feasibility of the changes. The other three options aren't as feasible as just straight removing PO as a gametype setting. People have been without PO for the whole Halo series up until H4. And of course RO would be tweaked to have a slightly quicker frequency.

You can't meet everyone's needs. I feel like the removal of PO or the inclusion of PO is a minor detail for most people. As you stated, objective playlists are already without PO so the lack of PO is not a foreign concept. If PO was in every gametype then I could agree, but there are playlists that already exist without PO so whether it exists or not isn't really a question of its familiarity, but more a question of why or why not. In this case why not is because we have no control over the PO options. The community doesn't need to know why... why is PO out of CTF? Not really a common question. The misconception can easily be addressed with it being called Community Slayer over Community Infinity Slayer. It is "Infinity Ordnance" and designated as "Infinity Slayer". It isn't too far-fetched to have people tied to the fact that Infinity means PO exists. If it was truly the new standard then "Infinity" would need to prefix "Slayer". But it is still a new addition and having it absent from gametypes isn't really that unsuspecting. SWAT and Slayer Pro don't have PO.

But again my point wasn't the anticipated effects... instead on what is actually a feasible solution. It doesn't matter if PO should be in or not if it isn't really feasible to have it in. Expecting that maps should adapt to regular PO is nonsensical since you can't expect every map to support a Shotgun, Sniper, Laser, etc as some weapons are just too good on some maps. That is why most maps don't include the whole sandbox of weapons, because not every weapon may be suitable for a map.
 

FyreWulff

Member
I remade Uncongealed, the Infection variant I have in Reach matchmaking, the alpha is in my file share under "Unconcealed". No scenery yet, but it is being built solely for Infection.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Just made a map, calling it Central right now

Video

Pictures:

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iMmKf5yACcquB.jpg


iby2fpDs2CyPl1.jpg
 

External Memory

Neo Member
My point wasn't the perceived effects on the changes, but the necessity and feasibility of the changes. The other three options aren't as feasible as just straight removing PO as a gametype setting. People have been without PO for the whole Halo series up until H4. And of course RO would be tweaked to have a slightly quicker frequency.

You can't meet everyone's needs. I feel like the removal of PO or the inclusion of PO is a minor detail for most people. As you stated, objective playlists are already without PO so the lack of PO is not a foreign concept. If PO was in every gametype then I could agree, but there are playlists that already exist without PO so whether it exists or not isn't really a question of its familiarity, but more a question of why or why not. In this case why not is because we have no control over the PO options. The community doesn't need to know why... why is PO out of CTF? Not really a common question. The misconception can easily be addressed with it being called Community Slayer over Community Infinity Slayer. It is "Infinity Ordnance" and designated as "Infinity Slayer". It isn't too far-fetched to have people tied to the fact that Infinity means PO exists. If it was truly the new standard then "Infinity" would need to prefix "Slayer". But it is still a new addition and having it absent from gametypes isn't really that unsuspecting. SWAT and Slayer Pro don't have PO.

But again my point wasn't the anticipated effects... instead on what is actually a feasible solution. It doesn't matter if PO should be in or not if it isn't really feasible to have it in. Expecting that maps should adapt to regular PO is nonsensical since you can't expect every map to support a Shotgun, Sniper, Laser, etc as some weapons are just too good on some maps. That is why most maps don't include the whole sandbox of weapons, because not every weapon may be suitable for a map.

To be clear, the post wasn't intended as a point-by-point response but as a continued discussion moving forward. I totally agree that no-PO is one feasible option, with tweaked RO, I didn't mean to suggest that it would break the map design process, just that a commitment to one standard or another is going to affect it. Having a response from 343 as far as planned integration would be immensely helpful here.

This line of inquiry mainly started from whether people's assumption was that the devs could tweak PO according to map-designer specs, in which case the second (?) option you brought up is somewhat feasible, but as you brought up would take more overhead on the part of both designers (custom game variant) and devs (working with scoring standards for variant designer PO specs), but would, as I tried to point out, make playtesting non-PO for anything other than initial rather pointless. That it takes more work and more switches to flip isn't lost on me, but the argument here isn't about the switches (they would be about the same if map-specific as was brought up with a possible TU) but about the gametype/map variant testing outside the forger playtests. I'll admit and you know I'm a bit out of the loop as far as spreading map-specific downloads and totally concede on your point that the entire community often neglects to download the paired variant; my assumption here is that a minority of the community really runs even semi-formal playtests when giving feedback anyway, but I'm due for an education on that point.

It's also true that the presentation would follow consideration and anticipation of perceived effects of there being one more version of Slayer. Community Slayer as branding works, whether alongside Community Objective if they decide to break the precedent of 1:1 gametype/map ratio within that community playlist to boost population within another 5v5 playlist, or of course there's the possibility of integrating compatible community maps into the normal objective playlists– though I know it was brought up in an HB that they were thinking of going in the opposite direction as regards Forged maps, as is evidenced by the lack of inclusion of Relay, or the Erosion/Ravine examples in any current playlist. I'm trying to add that there's several options here going forward, and many unknowns. The extreme example, of adapting to Fiesta-style PO, is one such potential unknown, however crazy that may be. Improbable, but not impossible. How I'd wish for map-specific

But lending more credence to your predictions, there's also the issue here of maps with no-PO tweaked Rand Ordnance frequency appearing in objective gametypes. Here the handy min/max Infinity Ordnance gametype settings come into play with RO– I believe (need to confirm when I get home) that RO is already tweaked to higher frequency in MM Oddball and CTF versus PO-using Infinity Slayer.

So actually there you may potentially have more consistency in those community maps as far as RO frequency across gametypes, as compared to PO vs. no-PO gametypes using the default maps. If Community Slayer would use the same RO frequency as in CTF or Oddball. It's certainly another element adding strength to the speculation(?) that Community playlists will be no-PO accross the board. Again, we need feedback from someone who can confirm, and folks will move forward whatever their fix. I just feel that discouraging tweaked PO settings in custom games playtesting right now is a missed opportunity, taken with a grain of salt; I guess now we're back to the "strong suggestion" from THC versus "you must do this for community testing".

That's another point: I really, really hope that cmaps are opened up to objective gametypes as well, especially early on. Designing around working with at least 4v4 and 5v5 gametypes adds depth and variety to these maps and would fight attrition/ familiarity-contempt in whatever community playlists come up. People who hate Rag KOTH still vote it in CTF and v/v.

Just made a map, calling it Central right now

Video

Good use of the inconsistently scaled station tubes as intended (Y 343/CA!?) and making them fit without dicking up their aesthetic.

Long paths are long, though, and I don't imagine there's a way to limit some inital & random ordnance to spawn in Red v. Blue only as opposed to multi team, otherwise limiting stuff symmetric initial & random rolls to outside the yellow/green base (outside transitions) and just the middle limits the push for ordnance to only the very center, where you already have the incentive of also having the shortest route base to base. I've always felt "multi-team optional" design maps work a little better as rotational symmetry or solely bilateral than radial symmetry (like people might assume) for that reason.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Gotta admit, I am very curious to see if vehicles, especially big ones like the hog, work in a corridor-based map like that!

They are a bit hard to navigate but that was my idea when making the map, they are meant more to make the outer ring a danger area but also a good area to run the flag when playing CTF since going to the middle area is just asking for trouble.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
looks great! the lighting makes such a difference.

still hoping we get a forge-map playlist choke full of maps.
 

Insaniac

Member
So in all practicality, is it possible we can get a forge worldish map in Halo 4?

Also, why haven't we gotten infinite grenades back yet? :(
 
I'm still working on my 4v4 vehicle-safe map, and let me tell you it is hard to try and "stop" building so that the vehicles can roam a bit. I have to keep reminding myself that maps like Standoff were pretty simple map and that simple is often better.
 

nillapuddin

Member
Tunnel maps are the new walkway maps.

its an easy way for people not very familiar with forge to build maps, you shouldn't look down on them.

I'm at work right now, but how many units tall are each of the ramp walkways?

Small = 1.5
Medium = 2
Large = 2.5

:)


I cannot get enough of watching the dominion pieces "activate" so cool

So in all practicality, is it possible we can get a forge worldish map in Halo 4?

How do you mean?
 

FyreWulff

Member
The issue with DLC Forge maps is less than 100% of the online userbase is going to have the map, whereas a map built on the disc variants is available to everyone.

So while it'd be cool to have a super forge map as DLC, all that would result in is everyone being forced to migrate their maps over to the new map, obsoleting the old one (aka what happened to Foundry), and only DLC owners can play it.
 

MrBig

Member
The issue with DLC Forge maps is less than 100% of the online userbase is going to have the map, whereas a map built on the disc variants is available to everyone.

So while it'd be cool to have a super forge map as DLC, all that would result in is everyone being forced to migrate their maps over to the new map, obsoleting the old one (aka what happened to Foundry), and only DLC owners can play it.

Such a dedicated thing would obviously have to be free or any effort put into it by 343 or people wanting to make maps on it would be wasted.
 
The issue with DLC Forge maps is less than 100% of the online userbase is going to have the map, whereas a map built on the disc variants is available to everyone.

So while it'd be cool to have a super forge map as DLC, all that would result in is everyone being forced to migrate their maps over to the new map, obsoleting the old one (aka what happened to Foundry), and only DLC owners can play it.

Add to that how i cant fucking find them on their site and you've got a bang-up job right there.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Add to that how i cant fucking find them on their site and you've got a bang-up job right there.

Well this is the company that had a standard Forge map in Reach that had pre-built classic Halo maps on this Forge map, then for Halo: Anniversary declined to find a way to include Forge World on the Anniversary disc, which resulted in:

1) Forge World was no longer available to 100% of the Reach userbase
2) Halo 1 Anniversary was missing the premier Halo 1 map (Blood Gulch) + 2 more "free" remakes (Sanctuary and Ascension). So if you bought Halo Anniversary, you can't even play on the map that probably played a part in Halo 1 multiplayer being successful
3) The way they made the Anniversary disc meant that Reach disc variants couldn't even be marked 'optional' in an Anniversary disc playlist, which means they threw all the community classic remakes in the trash. So Team Classic now had even LESS maps than the Bungie era playlist of the same name in the same game.


Bonus: to this day you cannot play Blood Gulch in Reach matchmaking with the Halo 1 Gametype even though the map and gametype are both in the game and work with each other.
 
Well this is the company that had a standard Forge map in Reach that had pre-built classic Halo maps on this Forge map, then for Halo: Anniversary declined to find a way to include Forge World on the Anniversary disc, which resulted in:

1) Forge World was no longer available to 100% of the Reach userbase
2) Halo 1 Anniversary was missing the premier Halo 1 map (Blood Gulch) + 2 more "free" remakes (Sanctuary and Ascension). So if you bought Halo Anniversary, you can't even play on the map that probably played a part in Halo 1 multiplayer being successful
3) The way they made the Anniversary disc meant that Reach disc variants couldn't even be marked 'optional' in an Anniversary disc playlist, which means they threw all the community classic remakes in the trash. So Team Classic now had even LESS maps than the Bungie era playlist of the same name in the same game.


Bonus: to this day you cannot play Blood Gulch in Reach matchmaking with the Halo 1 Gametype even though the map and gametype are both in the game and work with each other.

I dunno what i prefer, a game like BO2 that ships with everything up to date (site, ios app, game, etc) but is broken, or a game that ships with features i cant use (ios waypoint isnt even updated yet) and missing gametypes like Halo4.
 

Insaniac

Member
The loss of Forge World for me is overshadows what we've gained in this Forge. smh

It seems with every iteration of Forge, we gain something but lose something else. With Reach, the gametype options got severely nerfed. With Halo 4, Forge was barely improved much to my disappointment
 

FyreWulff

Member
The loss of Forge World for me is overshadows what we've gained in this Forge. smh

It seems with every iteration of Forge, they take extremely small steps in upgrading it, gaining something but losing something else. With Reach, the gametype options got severely nerfed.

The only thing I remember losing in Reach was the ability to separate the flag spawn from the flag cap point from Halo 3.
 

nillapuddin

Member
The only thing I remember losing in Reach was the ability to separate the flag spawn from the flag cap point from Halo 3.

he might mean having to back out to switch gametypes, which I can understand because of how many more gametype specific objects we have now-a-days, you would think it could just start a new round though

(shrug)
 

Insaniac

Member
he might mean having to back out to switch gametypes, which I can understand because of how many more gametype specific objects we have now-a-days, you would think it could just start a new round though

(shrug)

well, what I was referring to was the removal of a lot of editing options for gametypes. I remember wanting to remake a lot of fun custom maps from halo 3 but not being able to due to the restriction of gametype options
 

nillapuddin

Member
well, what I was referring to was the removal of a lot of editing options for gametypes. I remember wanting to remake a lot of fun custom maps from halo 3 but not being able to due to the restriction of gametype options

are you talking about forge related options, or custom game options?
 

NOKYARD

Member
I figured out Player Trait Zones.

It is based on hierarchy. Grif (Flood, Flag Carrier, Oddball Holder) > Player Trait Zone > Base Player Trait.

Or graphically:

Grif (Flood, Flag Carrier, Oddball Holder)
Map Player Trait Zone
Base Player Traits

Grif settings trump Player Trait Zones, and Player Trait Zones trump Base Player Traits. Any higher settings set to Unchanged will inherit the lower setting.

I haven't figured out why some settings in the Player Trait Zones do not stick but i did eventually manage to get them all to change. I believe some of them like Camo settings have an invisible 'Press A to select' tied to them.
 
I figured out Player Trait Zones.

It is based on hierarchy. Grif (Flood, Flag Carrier, Oddball Holder) > Player Trait Zone > Base Player Trait.

Or graphically:

Grif (Flood, Flag Carrier, Oddball Holder)
Map Player Trait Zone
Base Player Traits

Grif settings trump Player Trait Zones, and Player Trait Zones trump Base Player Traits. Any higher settings set to Unchanged will inherit the lower setting.

I haven't figured out why some settings in the Player Trait Zones do not stick but i did eventually manage to get them all to change. I believe some of them like Camo settings have an invisible 'Press A to select' tied to them.
Tank beats everything!
 

J10

Banned
The only thing I remember losing in Reach was the ability to separate the flag spawn from the flag cap point from Halo 3.

Scoring/player trait options for most of the gametypes got nerfed/changed in Reach (like in Halo 3 you could score kills in KOTH while using the hill only as a shield recharge area, or in Oddball you could disable ball holding scoring and set scoring for kills only, but kills made with the ball could score extra points, wacky shit like that). Some options also didn't work as labeled in Reach (like enabling AA use while objective holding didn't work for every AA, and Juggernaut lost a lot of versatility with regard to weapon usage). The use of Megalo opened up a lot of new doors, especially when combined with the new Forge options, but it also introduced a lot of new limitations, so it wasn't really a total gain. Many gametypes I took for granted in Halo 3 simply couldn't be made anymore. Made it almost seem like the game shipped with the wrong customs build.
 

FyreWulff

Member
I finished my first Infection variant. Check it out under "Unconcealed" on my fileshare (Gamertag: FyreWulff). To be played with at least 10 people like in matchmaking.
 
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