Map Mods That Create Maps that can be loaded unmodded

This is a plea for help. I've recently taken over hosting of the DCL (Deity Challenge Line-up) and would like to find ways to make it easier to roll maps that satisfy the conditions for the game.

But the problem is that the DCL games are unmoved (and should be), so I can only use mods that leave the game able to be loaded unmodded.

'Less Ice on Maps' does not appear to satisfy this condition, nor do many of the other mods.

I've looked through 100s of mods on the Workshop but can't find anything.

Does anyone know of any suitable mods or am I doomed to roll every map 100 times before I find a map that:-

- has AIs at the right distance
- has CSs at the right distance
- isn't too hard or too easy
- doesn't have ice blocking the way for those people who want to go naval
- doesn't have Skilldorado within 5 tiles
- doesn't have a mountain impasse that allows one AI to turtle to a T215 SV
- doesn't have Brazil on a continent of their own with coastal cities and lush jungle
- doesn't have all the CSs clustered around Alex

etc.

Many thanks in advance for help.

ADMIN: Please don't move this to the mods forum, because I doubt it would be read as many times, and this is only for the purposes of the DCL, not normal play.

I find myself thinking that it would not be too unreasonable to ask people to download a map like PerfectWorld for the purposes of playing one DCL. But I admit I'm not too sure of the reasons for stipulating "no mods". I can see that it would get far too complicated to manage if there was a free-for-all on mods, but would a couple of carefully selected map mods improve things without creating chaos?

You would know the problems better than I, but I thought it would bring it up. I find most of the maps I roll lead to more frustration than enjoyment.

I would LOVE it if people would all use the Mods that I love and used before I became DCL host. I honestly can't think of a single good reason people would not all WANT to install Enhanced UI, Fixed Prophets, and Historical Religions, but I can think of LOTS of reasons people might not BE ABLE TO.

So to make the DCL open to anyone who has ALL the DLC (not counting map packs), it has been kept mod-free.

So, I agree with you about the frustration, hence this thread asking if anyone knows of a solution (a mod that makes non-mod friendly maps).

I see the plea not to be moved didn't work! ;-)

You probably already know this, but I thought I would mention it. I noticed that the information in PerfectWorld stated that it didn't affect saved games, so I rolled a map with it, saved it, then disabled the mod, and loaded the saved map. It loaded OK. I didn't play any of it, but from this experiment it would appear that you can roll a map with certain mods, but those who play the saved game don't have to have the mod. Communitas seems to be another script that will do this. It might be worth experimenting with a few others.

Another possibility might be altering nearly suitable maps with IGE, though I can see that it could be a lot of work.

Cheers,
Martin.

Map scripts never affect game saves. Also DLC like Explorers Map Pack and Scrambled Continents is user friendly, because they are just map scripts. They only get used to generate the map, after that they are not needed anymore.
I've just been scanning some challenge series threads, and it seems to be a widely spread misunderstanding that you need to have all DLC that a game was generated with to be able to play it. That's not true. Yeah, as a rule it's true, most DLC adds content that needs to be used throughout the game, but you can safely generate a game with some pack and even people without that map pack can upload the save, regardless of the save being tagged as needing that DLC, really, I've even just tested it myself to be sure.

With mods I think it depends on whether the mod maker has tagged the box 'affects saves' or not. Many mods, like mods that give some extra info in the interface, don't need that box ticked at all. Some modders just leave that box ticked to be on the safe side, without thinking the consequences through, while it would be better unticked. As a user I think you can often change it by going into the mod file and change the 'affects saves' statement from 'true' to 'untrue'.
But it's been a while that I played with these things, I'm speaking from memory on this bit. It could be worth it checking this out, though.

Thanks for your help and suggestion, guys. I'll experiment and report back here with my findings.

Consentient, would you be willing to try if you can upload attached map? It's a Small Continents Plus map, but it isn't tagged as needing any of the map packs. I would like to suggest this map as a challenge map, so I'd like to be sure it is indeed okay for everyone, even people who don't have the map packs.

Optional said:

Consentient, would you be willing to try if you can upload attached map? It's a Small Continents Plus map, but it isn't tagged as needing any of the map packs. I would like to suggest this map as a challenge map, so I'd like to be sure it is indeed okay for everyone, even people who don't have the map packs.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry I didn't see your message before. Coincidentally, I chose an Indonesian map for the last DCL. Nevertheless, I'll try your map. Cheers.