"May I ask why this is? It's no fun to join the server, only to have to wait 15 minutes to be able to download the map. :/"
It's designed to reduce in-game lag. Halo 2 is a very network-intensive game and having serveral people downloading at once PLUS the server having to think about the game in progress would be packet-loss-hell.
"Is the example map, the only one we can open right off the bat of downloading both halo 2 and the map editor?"
Yes. Just like Halo CE, there will not be any default scenarios available to the end user. Isn't the idea to make your own custom maps? Why would you want to modify other people's maps?
- Christopher Gaffney
- Hired Gun - Map Editor Specialist