What you need to know
- Unlike previous iterations of the map-making tool, Halo Infinite's Forge requires an internet connection to the game's servers in order to play. This means that players will experience issues whenever there are problems with the servers or their connection to them.
- 343 Industries' Forge Lead Designer Michael Schorr has explained that the online requirement is necessary for security since Halo Infinite is available on PC. Additionally, it also speeds up the map baking process and allows for continued play even when a session's host disconnects.
- The developers have advised Forgers to save their work frequently in order to mitigate loss of progress during sudden internet outages or server problems, noting that there's an autosave functionality in place for crashes. Additionally, the mode's idle boot timer has been raised to 12 hours.
Halo Infinite's Forge mode has finally arrived thanks to the launch of the game's large Winter Update, and players are already creating a wide variety of incredible maps, modes, and prefab structures using the map editing and creation tool. However, unlike any previous iteration of Forge, Halo Infinite's requires an internet connection to the game's servers, meaning that it's not possible to work on or save projects offline. Following the discovery of this limitation, many have asked the developers why it was put in place, expressing concerns that server or internet connection issues could cause progress loss.
In response, Forge Lead Designer Michael Schorr recently took to Twitter to address the situation and explain why Halo Infinite's Forge mode is online only. You can read Schorr's full statement in the embedded Tweet below, but in short, here are the reasons for the connection requirement:
- Since Halo Infinite is on PC, 343 Industries needs to maintain a server connection to ensure players can't tamper with Forge files before sharing it to the Content Browser.
- Using dedicated servers speeds up the process of the map baking process for lighting, navmeshes, audio, and more.
- Once Forge's join-in-progress functionality is fixed, the use of servers will allow Forge sessions to remain active even if the original host disconnects for whatever reason.
We've seen a lot of discussion around why Forge relies on an online connection. Here are some key reasons for this. Thanks for reading and keep the feedback coming! 👊⚒️ pic.twitter.com/4HP6P1R304November 10, 2022
The studio has also advised players to save their projects frequently to avoid progress loss, and have increased Forge's idle boot timer so that disconnects due to inactivity are much less likely to happen. "If you're Forging, remember 'ABS'. Always be saving," wrote Sr. Community Manager John Junyszek. "If you have to leave unexpectedly though, we've extended the idle session time to 12 hours. We hope this helps!"
On top of this, Junyszek confirmed that there's an autosave function in place that's designed to kick in whenever a game crash occurs. Though it can currently bug out and not work properly, the developers are working on a fix for this so that it's more reliable.
Overall, while it's unfortunate that Forging offline will no longer be possible like it was in previous games, the reasons why a connection is required are completely understandable. As long as players save often and are mindful not to leave an active Forge session idle for more than 12 hours, they shouldn't have to worry about losing progress much.
Halo Infinite is available now on Xbox and PC. Despite its issues, it's one of the best Xbox shooters on the market right now for fans of arena-style FPS combat, and since the multiplayer is free-to-play, there's zero barrier to entry. The campaign is fantastic, too, as it features exhilarating gameplay and an excellent story.
