One of Halo's biggest features has been its Forge Mode. With it, you can completely modify and recreate the game modes and maps to have fun with your friends in personalized lobbies.
With The Master Chief Collection, 343 Industries brought back shared maps from the original games, and you can now use Forge in Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo: Reach. Maybe you don't want to make your own mode or restructure a map, though. What should you do then? Fortunately, you can download custom maps and modes shared by other players. Here is how you can do it.
How to make custom maps and modes shareable
Before you know how to download other people's maps, you should know that 343 at one point promised to create a custom modes and maps browser in The Master Chief Collection, which makes it much easier to find personalized content. Yet, as of this writing, no announcement has been made for this. Additionally, you will only be able to download maps and modes that the player has moved to their shared filespace, so if you have a friend with a mode or map that you want, have them move it by going to Options & Career, My Files, by selecting the file and pressing Download.
Save custom files
There are two ways to find new custom maps and modes in The Master Chief Collection. The first is to simply play a custom match, and the map and mode (if usual) will appear in your temporary files. As the name suggests, these won't stay here, so be sure to download the ones you want when you're done playing or between matches. To do this, open Options & Career, select Game Types or Map Variants, and the first section that will appear will be your temporary files. Select Save to place them in your private files or Download to add them to your shared files.
A particularly good way to find and try out custom maps is through the Xbox One's group finder utility. Many Halo players love to play custom matches, and there are constant messages from people looking to fill their lobbies. Get lucky and you might make some new friends.
The second way is to just look at the files people share. Fortunately, they don't have to be on your friends list to see them. This can be done by browsing the leaderboards, pressing A, then opening File Share, or looking for their gamertag. We recommend the latter, as finding a gamertag from a community builder is a sure-fire way to find the best maps and modes available. To do this, press X in the main menu to display the list. Scroll to your gamertag and press A to display a submenu. Select Find a player. Enter their gamertag and you'll have access to all of their content.
This spreadsheet has a huge list of some of the best creators in the community with a wide variety of maps and modes for you to try out. Until the custom browser is added to the game, be sure to search online and see what community builders you can find.
