[RELZ]Calradia Map Refinement

Great Map
love the different heights and the new lakes
found a bridge snarl  on the north side of the bridge near NORMA i think it is
there were  4 parties stuck either side of the bridge
but only if they crossed north to south
if they ran they could still move
maybe move the bridge a little south ??

with your permission i would love to use this map for my The Pagan Way mod. With credit for a great looking map of course.

Tulga is taking a swim on my version. Copy of Native, No other mod things like custom settlements installed.

After extracting the rar to the module again, Tulga's nice and dry.

Servitor

Would I screw my character up if I went ahead and loaded a save game after changing the map files?

no, as far as i know the game will run fine so long as the mod your playing didn't have any changes in the map.txt  and parties.txt files.

but if for whatever reason you find everything screwed, simply exit the game without saving and put your original map.txt and parties.txt files back in your module folder for the mod... which you backed up! af course 

Okay, so I tried it! It looks awesome, but for some reason, it doesn't load up correctly. As for Servitor, Tulga ends up in the lake nearby, and well, many other locations clearly are out of place (especially Wercheg, I can see a road leading to some kind of mound overlooking the sea, and it looks like its intended location).

I have no reason why some settlements seem in the right spot and others not. Some castles end up hanging off cliffs, etc.

I tried redownloading the files, replacing with the original files, rewriting the files a couple times, etc. Nothing seems to work. I wonder what the problem is. MnB is vanilla on my comp except for some light cosmetic mods.

Martyran said:

there were  4 parties stuck either side of the bridge
but only if they crossed north to south
if they ran they could still move
maybe move the bridge a little south ??

Click to expand...

Just backup your original map.txt files, chase the blocked partys until they're out of the range of the new cliffs and mountains, and put the Calradia Map Refinement map.txt files back again. It can take you some time to clear the way and check for the remaining areas, but it works. 

Narduiran said:

I have no reason why some settlements seem in the right spot and others not. Some castles end up hanging off cliffs, etc.

I tried redownloading the files, replacing with the original files, rewriting the files a couple times, etc. Nothing seems to work.

Click to expand...

Err.... o_o'' Another one who really don't read. ;X 

Aldwen said:

Yeah, unfortunately this will not work with CS

As you noticed some of the settlements will be in odd or unreachable places. Reason being that I did changed some of the locations of settlements and castles to reflect the changes in terrain I made. Since I changed some locations you need the parties.txt to see the changes. Otherwise you get what you saw...

I will however be releasing a save-game compatible version soon. The save-game compatible version will also be compatible with CS because I will not be moving any settlements around, instead I will be making changes to the terrain only (the map.txt)  so that the SGC version will be compatible will all previous save games, CS, and any other mod that does change the parties.txt.

Click to expand...

Hope this helps!

- Z

Aldwen said:

Those bugs I mentioned earlier should be completely fixed now. Like I said earlier this update is completely save-game safe. No locations were changed and the "Minor cosmetic fixes" were just a few sharp looking surfaces here and there which I smoothed out...

Click to expand...

Please STFU Zetos, I was going by that exact quote (which describes the 1.1 patch in an earlier post). So I guess it was only in respect to save games which were started on the tweaked map already, not on save games which were started on the vanilla map. It clears things up.

Narduiran said:

It clears things up.

Click to expand...

Yeah. Simple like that. Lol?

- Z

ok, love the map and all, but now it seems that almost all my battles  take place in mountain ranges...

ive had next to none on a plain or even slightly flat area...

i suspect it has something to do with your elevation changes...

Narduiran, yes even the update doesn't make this mod save game compatible with games started on the vanilla map. You were right in that I meant the update was save game safe with new games started with the new map. Sorry about the confusion, glad you figure it out though.

If you're waiting for a save game compatible version for games started with the vanilla map, as I said earlier that is going to take some time. Work is finally slowing down so I should have a chance to sit around and mod in the next few days (hopefully.) Naturally I'll let everyone know when I'm finished with it so keep you eyes open.

[quote author=Martyran]there were  4 parties stuck either side of the bridge
but only if they crossed north to south
if they ran they could still move
maybe move the bridge a little south ??[/quote]
Ah damn, I had thought I worked out all these bugs...

Thanks for posting that though you got me to double and triple check and indeed your right, if an NPC approaches from a certain southern angle they get stuck... still, even in v1.1   These bugs are particularly annoying. Seems as soon as you stamp out on another one pops up because of what you just did. I'm working on it as I type though and checking in game every few adjustments. Thanks to that Ctrl + T I can debug with ease now.

There are still a number of stick points though. The bridge near Nomar (still amazes me as I didn't touch that) there is a point near Emer and a few completely random ones here and there. As of right now the Nomar bridge is fixed this time for real, the Emer stuck point is also fixed"ish" (the Rhodoks and Khergits are at war so I haven't had mass caravans to stress test it) and most of the random ones are fixed.

I'm going to hold off on throwing up a new version until I can be at least 99.9% these bugs are squashed. I have tomorrow off though so I'll have extra time to work. With any luck I can have a new version up in a few days. until I'll ask you to bear with me and just chase/talk the stuck parties out of their positions. I will get this fixed, I wanna actually play again damnit!!


@Oddball
Hum, that's interesting. I have noticed a substantial increase in mountainous battle maps, especially and mainly in the steppe and Vaegir ranges but elsewhere everything seems pretty normal since elevation changes in other areas were pretty minor. However I'm pretty sure that increase you're seeing has to do with the new elevation. IIRC Calradia Map Makeover also had problems with an increased in mountain battle maps.

There really isn't much I can do on my end to change that though if it is directly linked to elevation. No one seems to even be able to change the elevation snow appears at.

There are still flat maps out there. Any place off of the mountains, naturally, is pretty flat, I haven't seen much change there personally. When it comes to the steppes and mountains though things did get bumpy. However there are still flat"ish" maps even in the mountains. If you noticed the steppes are a bit more of a plateau , with the large majority of it being flat, this was designed specifically to counter act the mountainous battle maps. Seems like it hasn't worked out 100% as planned... 

Wish there was more I could do or say but the only real fix for this would be to lower the terrain back down to vanilla levels... which would pretty much make my map pointless.



*Edit*
@Pagan
I'd be honored if you used my map Do feel free. I'd suggest however you hold off until I work out all these sticky bugs, that way your mod releases with a good, clean, working map.

I've run into a few settlements that are inaccessible, but Tulga is the worst so far as its inside of a lake. Did I install the mod wrong or is it a bug?

Edit: So I downloaded the map editor to try and fix it myself and the the map it loads has the town placed correctly, but in my save game its in the middle of the lake. I tried to edit the files anyway, but had no luck.

Phosphene, that's because you're trying to load up a save game made before you added this mod.

This mod is not save game compatible yet. Currently you have to start a new game in order for all the changes to take place. A save game compatible version will be out in due time though.

Aldwen said:

Phosphene, that's because you're trying to load up a save game made before you added this mod.

This mod is not save game compatible yet. Currently you have to start a new game in order for all the changes to take place. A save game compatible version will be out in due time though.

Click to expand...

Now I feel dumb, I obviously missed that. Thanks.

Version 1.2 is up!!!
DOWNLOAD: Calradia Map Refinement V1.2
Please redownload for important bug fixes. Update is completely, 100%, save game compatible (Only with games already started on the new map.)

[quote author= Calradia Map Refinement V1.2 Readme]
1.2
-Fixed more "sticky" bugs where NPCs could become stuck indefinitely at a crossroads and other random locations.
-Bridge near Nomar actually fixed this time.
-Smoothed out the map removing almost all jaggedness and unusual changes in elevation.
-Flattened the steppes out creating more of a plateau over the somewhat hilly and mountainous older version. This is an attempt to fix the battle maps from always appearing as mountainous. Fix also applied to the Vaegir mountains. [/quote]

Ok folks, I just uploaded the latest and hopefully last version of Calradia Map Refinement, version 1.2.

I've play tested this extensively (3 new games each lasting several months, one even went to a year) and finally after days of watching units buzz about the screen as I hid in forests I think I can finally say 99% of all the "sticky" bugs are gone. There was an alarming number of sticky locations but I'm pretty confident that I've tracked them all down. Hopefully. No new ones have appeared in any of my games for nearly a month so if there are still sticky locations they must be out of the "main" travel route of NPCs. If however you do run into one (I hope you don't) please remember to report it and until then just remember all you have to do is scare the NPC away or talk to them.

As for the bridge near Nomar, it's actually fixed now. Still not 100% sure on why that broke and no matter what I did I couldn't fix it so as a result I just completely removed the road leading towards it. Since doing that the bridge is back in working order. Still don't understand it as every other bridge has a road not only leading to it, but connected to it. Weird.

As for the minor map adjustments you may notice that the land appears "smoother." Still realistic and, honestly, I doubt anyone would have noticed unless I mentioned it. I was just trying to smooth out some of the nasty vertexes here and there and one thing lead to another eventually the whole map got a face lift. I think it looks better

That brings me to the next point. The steppes. As Oddball had mentioned there was a substantial increase in mountainous battle maps and I had noted I tried to plateau things out to counter act this. Apparently my previous attempts were not as fruitful as I had hoped. There were still steppe battle maps that were flat however and I noticed in game these tended to be mainly around Narra and Uhhun, the flattest parts of the steppes. Going on this I went about flattening much of the steppes and making them much, much more level.

Hopefully this counter-acts the mountainous battle map bug. I haven't had much time to test it much (as most of my time was spent watching for stick bugs) so we'll see how it goes. As I told Oddball though there really isn't much I can do about it if it really is dependent on elevation and not terrain detail. With luck, the mass plateauing of the steppes will make the battle maps less of a chore.



Anyways, good gaming and just a reminder...

Please, please redownload for important bug fixes.
DOWNLOAD: Calradia Map Refinement V1.2

Awesome.  Just went for a teleport tour around the 1.2 map and love it.  The textures, the care you put into siting towns with terrain features, the road net, it's greatness.

The only thing that bothers me is the height of the Vaegir plateau.  It doesn't seem right to ascend from Sungetche pass to get to the towns.  If the whole Vaegir plateau was as much below Sungetche as it currently is above it, like the level of Tismirr or a bit lower, it looks like that wouldn't conflict with any other major landmarks, would make the passes a little more normal (a pass is usually the lowest highest point if that makes any sense) and it would reduce the "Cliffs of Doom" effect going from Swadia to Vaegir lands.

Nice work. 

Just wanted to say how awesome this mod is. So far, it's the mod I consider to be the most "essential" for enjoying the game. The ONLY critique I have is that, as mentioned, the amount of overly hilly battlemaps is a bit disappointing. I do most of my fighting around the border between Swadia and Rhodok and probably 8/10 battles have either large hills or out and out mountains. I wouldn't care so much but for the fact that I'm playing a pretty pidgeon-holed lancer character. But anyway I just wanted to say that from what I can tell, it's not about elevation but more about map detail. I say this because I have YET to fight a battle in Khergit territory and I can attest to the LARGE percentage of hilly battles. Maybe sacrificing some of the realistic bumpiness of the non-hilly regions and making them EXTRA flat would help.

Is this compatible with NE?

Also, just wanted to point out that when you click to move somewhere far away, the pathfinding sometimes takes really wierd routes. This seems like it would probably be very hard to fix but I'm just throwing it out there. Also the snow on the lower elevation (like where Slezkh Castle is) is not showing up as snow in battle maps. You get into a fight right around that castle and it puts you in a grass field.

Other than these two issues (and the one stated above) this mod rocks and I hope you are still fine-tuning it because its like 95% on its way toward being perfection!