Halo: Reach is now confirmed to be releasing on PC and Xbox One on December 3, 10 days from now, and in the latest development update blogpost, 343 Industries put some fears to rest regarding the PC version.
Although the latest Insider flight on PC had locked the frames per second to 60, the studio today confirmed that at launch, the game will support uncapped variable frame rates. The feature had been temporarily disabled due to it causing higher input latency and instability in the game, which is understandable considering it is a nine year old game that was originally made to run at 30FPS on a whole different platform.
However, with added refinements that have been positively received, the variable frame rate option will be included in the game at launch - still in its experimental state - letting PC players push well past 60FPS. The studio urged players to share feedback on how it performs, and added that it will also be keeping a close eye on it following the launch.
343 has been hard at work resolving other input latency issues as well, saying that "overall mouse input will be greatly improved over what many experienced in Flight Three," though more flights will be held post-launch for further optimizations if needed. It also mentioned ways for players to reduce input lag even further while playing, such as disabling V-sync, optimizing graphics settings to not cause frame drops, and removing unnecessary background processes and overlays.
Elsewhere, the developer reiterated that Forge and Theater will not be available on the Reach PC version at launch, and are planned for 2020. However, the millions of custom maps and modes that were migrated from the original game will be accessible on day one. 343 is also working on loosening the budget restrictions of Forge and adding new items to it, as more capable hardware will be powering it. This enhancement update is coming to both PC and Xbox One next year.
It was also confirmed recently that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition Insider testing on PC would be kicking off in early 2020, continuing 343 Industries' work on the Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the new platform.
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