Majestic Map Mod -- Terrain & Climate Overhaul -- UPDATED TO 2.1!

[cherryfunk]

Majestic Map Mod -- UPDATED TO 2.1!
Terrain and Climate Overhaul for Third Age: Total War

Majestic Map Mod is a graphical enhancement mod that adds detail and diversity to the Third Age: Total War campaign map, including new forests and other terrain details, as well as snow and ice textures to give a suitably frosty look for the northern regions of Middle Earth during winter turns.

The goal of this mod is to simply and efficiently enhance the campaign map and make Middle Earth even more grand and exciting.

Only five map and climate files were modified to create this mod, so it should be compatible with most other mods.

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New With 2.1

Version 2.1 has been refined slightly from 2.0 to increase the number of river crossings and reduce choke points to increase strategic movement options.

2.0/2.1 includes all the terrain and climate improvements in 1.0 with the following updates:

• Over two dozen new rivers added across the entire map, from Umbar to Dorwinion

• New swamps, forests and hills added for greater terrain detail and tactical possibilities when positioning armies (also -- eye candy )

• The extend of winter snow has been lessened somewhat in the southern half of the map, though winter remains a cold, hostile time in much of Middle Earth!

For screenshots of 2.0, look in the spoiler tags below.

If you already have 1.0 or 2.0, here's how to update:
2.1 is attached at the bottom of this post, the ZIP file named Majestic Map 2-1. (Version 1.0 remains available for those who don't want to add new rivers.) 2.1 is installed exactly the same as 1.0 (see INSTALLATION section below), with the exception that the map_features.tga file must also be installed to your data\world\maps\base folder with the other .tga files (always back up the original file!). Note that if you're upgrading from 1.0 to 2.1, you must re-install all files in the Majestic Map folder -- everything has been significantly updated since 1.0. And, as with any map changes, you must delete map.rwm before starting the game to see the new changes.

2.1 may be save game compatible, but a new campaign is recommended due to the many changes in terrain.

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Features of Majestic Map Mod:

1. ENHANCED MAP TERRAIN

Third Age: Total War features a beautiful and vivid map of Middle Earth -- a truly marvelous piece of work, among the best ever created for any Total War mod. However some areas of the map can seem rather empty and desolate, so Majestic Map Mod adds new terrain such as forests and swamps to add more variety and detail to Middle Earth.

The map has been gone over carefully, pixel by pixel, to add this new level of detail. No new mountains, rivers, or other major barriers were added, so faction expansion will not be affected -- this is a visual enhancement purely for immersion and atmosphere, to make Middle Earth "come alive" more completely as you play. A few of these enhancements are posted below -- many more wait to be discovered as you play....

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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Western Rhun, before enhancement:




With Majestic Map Mod 1.0:




With Majestic Map Mod 2.0:





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The Dwarven Stronghold of Azanulimbar-Dum, without the mod:




Enhanced with Majestic Map Mod 1.0:




Enhanced with Majestic Map Mod 2.0:




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Annulond in southwest Gondor, in vanilla TA:




Enhanced in Majestic Map 2.0:




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Dorwinion on the Sea of Rhun, without the mod:




Dorwinion in Majestic Map 2.0:




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Umbar without Majestic Map:





With Majestic Map 2.0:






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Isengard before enhancement:





With Majestic Map Mod 1.0:

2. WINTER IN MIDDLE EARTH

Third Age: Total War uses a system of three summer turns followed by one winter turn, which works extremely well in the game -- but unfortunately it uses no winter map textures, meaning that winter looks exactly like summer on the campaign map. One problem with this is that during a winter turn you maneuver armies around a green map, but then when battle begins you find your troops fighting in the snow!

Majestic Map Mod fixes this problem by adding winter textures to the map, making northern Middle Earth a frigid, frozen world during winter, as it should be. The combination of the beautiful Middle Earth map with these wintry textures is quite impressive:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Durin's Tower looks out over the Misty Mountains:




Isengard:




The wild hills and forests of the Trollshaws:




The Lonely Mountain towers over the town of Dale:




The Golden Wood of Lothlorien, protected against the winter cold by Galadriel's power:




The Halls of the Elf Lord Thranduil, in the cold northern reaches of Mirkwood:




The Hornburg looks out over the plains of Rohan:

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INSTALLATION

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Download the attached ZIP file, and extract it to your desktop. Inside the ZIP are four files -- these are all you need to install Majestic Map Mod.

Now there are three steps to installing:

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First -- Install the two .txt files

1. Find the data file of your Third Age installation. Its location will look something like:

Medieval II Total War\mods\Third_Age\data

2. BACK UP the two files you're about to overwrite:

descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt
descr_climates.txt

You can back them up by copying them into a new directory, or simply rename them (for example descr_climates_BACKUP.txt).

The only way you'll be able to unistall this mod is if you back up these files, so make sure to do it!

3. Copy these same two .txt files from the Majestic Map folder you just downloaded into the Third_Age data folder (overwriting the existing file if needed, but only after you back it up!)


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Second -- Install the three .tga files

1. Navigate to your Third_Age data\world\maps\base directory.

2. In this folder are three .tga files that you need to back up:

map_climates.tga
map_ground_types.tga
map_features.tga *

*Note that map_features is not included in Majestic Map version 1.0 since that version adds no rivers.

3. Once you've backed up these files, copy the same files from the Majestic Map folder you downloaded into this folder.

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Finally -- Delete map.rwm

1. The final step is to delete the file named map.rwm, located in your Third_Age\data\world\maps\base folder. Don't worry about backing this file up -- the game generates it automatically every time you start.


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Now you're ready to play!


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Uninstalling

Delete the all files you downloaded, and restore the original files that you backed up. Then, make sure to delete map.rwm and start the game again and you'll be playing on the 'vanilla' Third Age map once more.

I anticipate that this will be the last Majestic Map update until the next version of TW:TA is released. I like the way the map looks and plays now; the only further refinements I would make involve heavy editing of climates and I don't want to go there until TA is in a more finished state.

Any modders who wish to use part or all of this mod are welcome to do so, just give me credit or I will haunt your dreams. Any modders who are curious about what specific changes were made to which files can PM me for clarification.

[GrumpyBean]

Awesome this is what ive been wanting throughout the whole mod +rep dude!!!!!

[RomanGuy]

Good work, I assume compatible with RR+RC?

[cherryfunk]

Good work, I assume compatible with RR+RC?

But of course! How else do we play Third Age?

[RomanGuy]

I tried it and it's great. There are a few patches of trees and hills that get snow that just look kind of weird when they are surrounded by land that doesn't have snow. Not much of a problem though.

[cherryfunk]

I tried it and it's great. There are a few patches of trees and hills that get snow that just look kind of weird when they are surrounded by land that doesn't have snow. Not much of a problem though.

That's intentional, since higher ground maintains snow cover more readily -- if people dislike it we can remove those patches.

This is great! Can it be included in next RR/RC? Will credit you of course

Absolutely!

impressive

only critique would be to have a texture between full snow and no snow terrrain just to break the white to green/brown effect if it could be done to look good but regardless very nice

I'd like to do that, but it would require some 'heavy lifting' with new textures and deeper changes to the climate system. Possibly for a future release.

I'm working on removing the palm trees from the Mordor terrain, that's the next step. That, and adding more rivers and hills to some of the emptier stretches of the map.

Is it combatible with Nevada's Smoother Coastlines???

Yes, although I believe Smoother Coastlines was added to 1.2 so it's no longer necessary -- at least the map looks like it has Smoother Coastlines now.

[Burke]

Very nice. Good work!

[Point Blank]

This is great! Can it be included in next RR/RC? Will credit you of course

[VooDoo]

impressive

only critique would be to have a texture between full snow and no snow terrrain just to break the white to green/brown effect if it could be done to look good but regardless very nice

*hopes for rc/rr implementation due to laziness*

[Beorn]

Is it combatible with Nevada's Smoother Coastlines???

[major]

Great work! +rep
I hope that Point Blank is going to include this submod in his next RR/RC release.

[Point Blank]

Great work! +rep
I hope that Point Blank is going to include this submod in his next RR/RC release.

I'd say this is a must-have.

[Hellenikon]

Amazing work, +rep

[STELLover]

GREAT JOB + Rep

This is surely going to be a mod that will be incorporated in the next patch

[KozCDVI]

I like the winter half of the mod, but from the pictures it looks like you've only added trees to the strat map...

[cherryfunk]

I like the winter half of the mod, but from the pictures it looks like you've only added trees to the strat map...

Trees are the only feature that's been added, but more extensive and subtle changes were accomplished by modifying the ground_types and climates maps to create more realistic and varied terrain across the whole map.

For example:

• Gondor now has a balmy Mediterranean climate and gets no snow in winter
• Rohan is now a dry, temperate climate, most of it remaining snow-free except for the hills to the north and south
• Lothlorien is now warm and temperate year-round due to Galadriel's enchantments
• Areas of Harad and Khand have been made greener along river valleys, while other areas have become more arid and desolate (as the river patterns would logically indicate)

The whole map has been carefully updated this way. Version 2.0 will include new rivers and swamps and further terrain/climate refinements, but 1.0 does completely overhaul the map, even if some changes are not immediately visible.

[KozCDVI]

Trees are the only feature that's been added, but more extensive and subtle changes were accomplished by modifying the ground_types and climates maps to create more realistic and varied terrain across the whole map.

For example

• Gondor now has a Mediterranean type climate that gets no snow in winter
• Rohan is now a dry, temperate climate, most of it remaining snow-free except for the hills to the north and south
• Lothlorien is now warm and temperate year-round due to Galadriel's enchantments

The whole map has been carefully updated this way. Version 2.0 will include new rivers and swamps and further terrain/climate refinements, but 1.0 does completely overhaul the map, even if some changes are not immediately visible.

I see...

Its rather nice looking anyway
Bravo!

[axnsan]

...and added winter to the strat map.

[KozCDVI]

...and added winter to the strat map.

Lol.

[Jean=A=Luc]

Hey Cherry, great stuff!

Would it be possible to replace the trees 'round Isengard with burned versions or possibly even tree stumps, not sure if vanilla has something that can be used for this.

The reason is obvious. We know that Saruman cut down most of the trees around Isengard to fuel his furnaces and turned the area into a kind of an industrial desolation.