I have been designing a map in Halo 4 for some time now, off and on. Knowing the frame rate restrictions in Reach, I have tried to be conservative in selecting a high number of normal pieces and especially the more detailed items. But yesterday, my Impact map was finally ready for testing and to my dismay, was absolutely unplayable in split-screen due to major frame rate drop. Furthermore, nearly every other map (on Impact, at least) I have downloaded from this site suffered from similar problems. I am way under budget with my map, and a similar map in Reach (with more detail to boot) performed acceptably in split-screen. I'm guessing the dynamic lighting is to blame. I don’t know about everyone else but my goal, however unrealistic, is to have my map featured in Halo 4 matchmaking. But I think it is safe to assume that 343 is very unlikely to allow such maps into the official rotation if the frame rate is significantly low, especially considering their very party-friendly playlists. Am I wrong in this assumption and have others encountered the same problems with their maps?
I heard people complaining about this in the first few days of Halo 4. I've also experienced framerate drops in maps like Complex when splitscreen. You may be able to reduce the drops by disabling the shadows (set all objects to spawn in at 1-2 seconds).
Well any map worth making has to be atleast a 4v4 or regicide since that's the lowest-player-count gametype in halo 4 right now and making a map of atleast that size will probably result in frame rate drop in split screen unless you make the map incredibly boring. So I wouldn't worry about split screen and very few people use split screen anymore. If it runs great with just you on the screen, I think 343 would consider it.
Nobody really knows what 343's matchmaking criteria for forged maps will be - or if there will even be forged maps added to matchmaking at some point, since it hasn't happened yet. However, it's fair to say that the existence (might as well change that to "prevalence") of framerate lag in Halo 4 is disappointing, and as you point out, it's SO prevalent in splitscreen that most forged maps just aren't playable that way. Fullscreen FRL seems to be slightly better in this game than it was in Reach, but splitscreen is probably a little worse. Hopefully, when and if 343 starts incorporating forged maps, they'll just dump splitscreen support from those playlists entirely. Otherwise, you can expect very few maps to make the cut, and the ones that do will be very basic in design and object use.
I have also wondered if 343 may just remove splitscreen support for forged maps, but if you look at their track record with Reach especially, my pessimistic nature suggests that is unlikely. For example, Relay (the Impact map designed by 343) is not what I would describe as a typical forge creation; it is way under budget, uses a relatively few number of items, and while the splitscreen frame rate is not ideal, it is definitely playable. Most of the forge maps in Reach matchmaking, to my knowledge, followed a fairly similar structure. I fear that 343 will continue this method in Halo 4, and feature only maps that are indeed "very basic in design and object use". When Reach first began to incorporate forge maps into the rotation, anyway, I know for a fact this was the case. Regardless, I sincerely hope you guys are right. Not just because it ruins any chance for my map, but also because I look forward to seeing all of your truly great creations from this site featured in matchmaking down the road. Thanks for replying!
I believe 343 was trying to give the fans what they wanted and really pushing the limits of the xbox. I think they were probably rushed and the game came out unfinished but overall I think they did a pretty good job since this was there first attempt @ one of the most famous games of all time and keeping the series alive. The forge could have been better but it's still pretty good I think and offers very gorgeous maps. They just need to "work out the kinks" and I think we'll be in for one hell of a ride come H5 & H6. Hopefully H5 comes out with the new xbox that will open up a lot more options for forge.
I wouldn't bother trying to make your map function in split-screen as smoothly as it does with just one player. Split-screen lag is just something that is going to happen in Halo 4 no matter what you do. I was playing in 2 player splitscreen in SWAT on release day, and every game had FRL. It gets increasingly worse when you try and add more players on the one console. The XBOX 360 is now a dinosaur in terms of its hardware. Halo 4 maxes out all cores on the CPU and the GPU when you play it. Of course when you try and play split-screen its going to lag. For now, with this console just focus on getting smoothness when you aren't in split-screen. I heard they are going to put out a patch for Halo 4 when the next XBOX comes out that will bring it up to the standard of that console; i.e, smooth gameplay in 1080p with more AA and AF.
Implying that they won't just implement maps that have a horrible framerate. A bunch of the disc maps are already littered with framerate issues, what's to stop them from doing the same with Forge maps? Have Bungie and 343 ever even acknowledged framerate issues on multiplayer maps at all in the past? I don't think Bungie ever said anything about the framedrops on a map like Asylum. Same with 343 and the Anniversary maps and now the Halo 4 maps.
splitscreen sucks, I wouldn't even take that into consideration when designing a map. xbox technology is old so with good looking maps expect some framerate drop especially in big battle areas where alot of people are on the screen. I have seen Exile drop to 5 FPS in big team battles in certain areas of the map when too much was going on. And that is an official map. Granted, it only happened about 5 times to me but that wasn't even splitscreen.
Yeah well this is to be expected on a game that completely maxes out the XBOX 360's hardware. I have had some frame drops on Halo 4 but the worst frame drop that I have experienced on an "official" map was in the Classic variant of Solitary on Reach. If there are more than 3 people battling in front of blue spawn it lags far worse than anything I've experienced on Halo 4. The fact is the current console isn't going to cut it anymore. Hopefully when this happens all these issues will be resolved.
I am working on a 4v4 map on Impact myself. I have used about 4k budget. My blocks are very carefully picked for several factors, especially aesthetics. When I play 2LP split screen, there are a few places where I notice the frame rate drops a little - but just a little. Given the few places and the amount of degradation, I would say that my map is split screen comparable to the playlist maps today. But the map I was building before it on Impact had no hope at all... It depends... The specific blocks, spacing between them, the amount of interlocking of blocks, etc.