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Halo |OT13|

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Ah thats right, 343 made the game. How dare i give them some positives. Sorry gaf.
I've never understood the hate for Complex. I play it in slayer all the time and have no problems with it. There is no one winning strategy like people seem to believe.

That's what you take out of it? No. It's an asymmetric map and you're playing 2 Flag on it.
This is HaloGAF, its an easy mistake to make, especially when the post is just a lol.
 
9.png

There's a pretty great article about Ken Levine and Bioshock Infinite up on Polygon, well worth the read in my opinion: http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/1/10/3853198/ken-levine-bioshock-infinite-vgas
 

Havok

Member
I've never understood the hate for Complex. I play it in slayer all the time and have no problems with it. There is no one winning strategy like people seem to believe.
Slayer has always been different. A team isn't locked to a side because of objectives and spawns, so any power location on the map is viable to either team. It's quite different when the bases mean something.
 

Computron

Member
That looks like it solves part of the issue but I believe the other part has to do with the pieces being that flat white color. Anyways, your solution seems to be best there is short of a new map maker.

It would be interesting to see forge pieces with a truely flat white color, as an option.
This, along with the option to use more filtering on the light map, or take more samples, could almost look like an AO pass.
I posted some examples a while back of why this might be an interesting aesthetic in the PC Low Settings Screenshot thread:

I would love to play a game that has no textures or fancy shaders, just High-Res Geometry (or normal mapped low poly geo), basic colors and GI as an art direction. Or at least the options to achieve this look

So, something like this Lighting+Normals (Or detail Lighting mode as it's called in UDK) only version of the UDK Showcase map:

YblGF.jpg
iRm1e.jpg


eRoZG.jpg
pDgns.jpg



The lighting makes this pretty simple scene really stand out.

But anyway, It's too bad that even if you try to work around it's shortcomings;

iUaUF2jNLfzvI.gif


...the lighting will still look all splotchy, dirty and somewhat flat, although I still think they could somewhat fix this by ratcheting up a couple parameters in a TU at the cost of a little longer baking times.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
is there any forgeGAF presence any more? the thread on the gaming-side is dead. still meet up to play test maps? i overhauled my map based on feedback and would like to be able to at the very least play it with a full 4v4 game some day...
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
is there any forgeGAF presence any more? the thread on the gaming-side is dead. still meet up to play test maps? i overhauled my map based on feedback and would like to be able to at the very least play it with a full 4v4 game some day...

Count me in.
 
Slayer has always been different. A team isn't locked to a side because of objectives and spawns, so any power location on the map is viable to either team. It's quite different when the bases mean something.
Yeah, this I can understand. I don't really play objective though, as I'd rather do that only with a full team of regular players.
 
Give me a break. Symmetric gametype on a blatantly asymmetric map, how dare we think it's not the second coming of Christ?

CTF on that map is a travesty, blue has a distinct advantage over red by virtue of the layout. One base allows for carriers to exit with plenty of cover, the other carrier has to travel through a killing field. Make a setup with 2 blue guys on top of the central building (the lone power spot on the map which is far more accessible from blue side), and red team is fucked.

Sorry, I must hate 343 too much to see how that's a good thing.

Please show me when you played 2 Flag on Zanzibar.

You didn't. Because that would be asinine.

http://halo.bungie.net/Stats/GameStatsHalo2.aspx?gameid=43939001&player=SillyMikey

How easily they forget when it suits them.
 

Computron

Member
is there any forgeGAF presence any more? the thread on the gaming-side is dead. still meet up to play test maps? i overhauled my map based on feedback and would like to be able to at the very least play it with a full 4v4 game some day...

For reasons I have posted above as well as several times before, forge in Halo 4 doesn't really interest me, personaly, anymore.
Going by the gaming side thread, its probably safe to say the same for GAF.

Also, your talking about a thing that is used by, at most, 2% of the Halo population, which doesn't seem to be doing that well in Halo 4, right?

And, no fileshares.



RIP In Peace.
 
Slayer has always been different. A team isn't locked to a side because of objectives and spawns, so any power location on the map is viable to either team. It's quite different when the bases mean something.
I've changed my tune about that map mainly by playing lots of Team Regicide. CTF is fun if you're on Blue team. I still feel like the map is about 1/3 bigger than it should be, but it's rather enjoyable in small doses.
 
I just want to clear something up that seems to be confusing to some.

The hate for Complex is because it's in a 2-Flag CTF playlists, not because of the map (which is another discussion).
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
^

It just can't take anymore Halo 4.

Well the funny thing is I took Halo 4 out of the Xbox to let my cousin who visited me play it on another Xbox. And now, the original Xbox won't open to let me put Halo 4 back in :lol

Really Monkey? I thought that was only PC drives...
 
My 360's disc drive refuses to open.

What can I do?

If there is no disc in the drive, press the eject button, and (assuming your Xbox is horizontal) literally hit the top hard a few times and it will open. This happens when the magnet inside becomes too strong somehow. If there is a disc in the drive with Xboxes that have this problem, it will usually open fine, due to the disc weakening the magnetic field between the tray and drive.

Otherwise, you can use the pin method said above.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Well the funny thing is I took Halo 4 out of the Xbox to let my cousin who visited me play it on another Xbox. And now, the original Xbox won't open to let me put Halo 4 back in :lol

Really Monkey? I thought that was only PC drives...
I get like a million people that trade in broken disc drive 360's that really dont know that so its like an auto response from me lol
 
It would be interesting to see forge pieces with a truely flat white color, as an option.
This, along with the option to use more filtering on the light map, or take more samples, could almost look like an AO pass.
I posted some examples a while back of why this might be an interesting aesthetic in the PC Low Settings Screenshot thread:



But anyway, It's too bad that even if you try to work around it's shortcomings;

...the lighting will still look all splotchy, dirty and somewhat flat, although I still think they could somewhat fix this by ratcheting up a couple parameters in a TU at the cost of a little longer baking times.

Forge lighting isn't true lighting but even still Halo's lighting in general seems a bit dated compared to other games.
 
Forge lighting isn't true lighting but even still Halo's lighting in general seems a bit dated compared to other games.

So are we just hating everything about this game now? The lighting was praised for weeks after release, did some patch come out I don't know about make it worse?

It's okay if you don't like it, but calling it dated is a stretch. I think it's impressive despite it being on the 360.
 
I feel like games such as Dead Space, Far Cry, and Crysis surpassed Halo though.

I guess my use of the term dated refers more to its implementation than the actual system they are using. Some parts were great like Requiem. Halo 4 has good lighting but it is no Uncharted. Halo does not do dark environments well, see Adrift. I'm not sure if that is the lighting or the the design though.
 
I feel like games such as Dead Space, Far Cry, and Crysis surpassed Halo though.

I guess my use of the term dated refers more to its implementation than the actual system they are using. Some parts were great like Requiem. Halo 4 has good lighting but it is no Uncharted. Halo does not do dark environments well, see Adrift. I'm not sure if that is the lighting or the the design though.
Does the multiplayer of Uncharted look as good as the singleplayer? I never played it. Just the campaign.
 
It may just be me. I played part of Uncharted 3 again recently and the lighting in that game was phenomenal.


I agree with you. In terms of graphics Halo 4 is one of the best games on the 360.
 

Rev3rb

Member
It may just be me. I played part of Uncharted 3 again recently and the lighting in that game was phenomenal.


I agree with you. In terms of graphics Halo 4 is one of the best games on the 360.

I heard they have wizards working in the programming depts at Naughty Dog.
 
Does the multiplayer of Uncharted look as good as the singleplayer? I never played it. Just the campaign.

It has been a while since I've played the MP but I remember there being a level with some sort of hanger that was well lit; or at least the lighting was better than adrift.

Here is a video of the map from the Beta


Edit: I think a lot of you think I'm talking about the lighting in campaign. The Campaign lighting was pretty good in H4, the MP not as much.
 

Computron

Member
Forge lighting isn't true lighting but even still Halo's lighting in general seems a bit dated compared to other games.

If we're talking about Forge;Well, what even is true lighting? If we are talking physical accuracy, there isn't a single realtime lighting system that accurately accounts for all physical phenomena and GI, especially given console hardware. Even many prebaked or offline systems can account for everything.

I think that their Forge lighting is using a somewhat novel method. Either way, what they are attempting with the forge lighting is a very complex problem. Baking Radiosity in half a second for hundreds of pieces is no small feat. I don't know if its the best fit for Forge, it definitely has room for improvement and some of it seems like low-hanging-fruit, but it likely makes sense over the alternatives, given their audience and the fact that it has to be usable on a console. They have made a solution that is automatic and that anyone can use to get decent results without having to know anything about lighting. Also, it literally takes half a second to generate.

If were talking non-forge stuff;
I disagree that the Halo series' lighting is dated. prebaked lighting still has a lot of life in it, and their methods for doing it this console lifecycle have been unique and genuinely impressive. Plus, they have had the underappreciated benefits of really complex shading models because of the way they do their lighting. A lot of the games you mention have mostly realtime, dynamic lighting systems, but they tradeoff quite a bit in terms of shading. Halo 3's directional lightmaps and multi-layered materials are excellent examples. An don't forget its awesome HDR, for which they ended up using 2 framebuffers.

I feel like games such as Dead Space, Far Cry, and Crysis surpassed Halo though.

I guess my use of the term dated refers more to its implementation than the actual system they are using. Some parts were great like Requiem.

Halo 4 has good lighting but it is no Uncharted.

Well, from the subjective standpoint of the games aesthetic and the actual art, there is no point in arguing.

I think Halo games have excellent lighting from an aesthetic standpoint and they make some pretty smart and unique tradeoffs from a technical standpoint.
Hell, Halo 3 is one of my favorite games in both of those aspects.
 
Well, what even is true lighting? If we are talking physical accuracy, there isn't a single realtime lighting system that accurately accounts for all physical phenomena, especially given console hardware, and even many prebaked or offline systems can account for everything.

I think that their Forge lighting is using somewhat novel method. Either way, what they are attempting with the forge lighting is a very complex problem, baking Radiosity in half a second for hundreds of pieces is no small feat. I don't know if its the best fit for Forge, it definitely has room for improvement and some of it seems like low-hanging-fruit, but it likely makes sense over the alternatives, given their audience and the fact that it has to be usable on a console. They have made a solution that is automatic and that anyone can use to get decent results without having to know anything about lighting. Also, it literally takes half a second to generate.

Also, I disagree that the Halo series' lighting is dated. prebaked lighting still has a lot of life in it, and their methods for doing it this console lifecycle have been unique and genuinely impressive. Plus, they have the underappreciated benefits of really complex shading models because of the way they do their lighting. A lot of the games you mention have mostly realtime, dynamic lighting systems, but they tradeoff quite a bit in terms of shading.

Halo 3's directional lightmaps and multi-layered materials are excellent examples. An don't forget the awesome HDR, for which they ended up using 2 framebuffers.



Well, from a subjective standpoint of the games aesthetic and the actual art, there is no point in argueing. I do think Halo games have excellent lighting from an aesthetic standpoint and they make some pretty smart and unique tradeoffs from a technical standpoint.

Hell, Halo 3 is one of my favorite games in both of those aspects.
Halo 3 had great lighting. One of the best examples of it this gen.
 

Dirtbag

Member
roommate has anniversary edition and I never realized it all this time. Downloading the mappack now. Pretty excited to play some classic CE MP
 
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