Bigger Huge Maps for Communitu_79a

[jarcast2]

This is a fork of the latest version of Communitu_79a mapscript I edited for personal enjoyment and I'd like to share to fellow lovers of exploration and big maps (and whose computer hopefully won't fry and crash because of it).
Basically I added an option to generate a larger Huge map (and huge map only, other sizes were untouched and remain the same if selected).
You can select 4 additional huge map sizes with the same width-height proportion of the original one:

• x1.25 (109x74), that is 25% bigger in terms of area than normal Huge map.
• x1.5 (119x81).
• x2 (138x93).
• x2.7 or Giant Earth-like (160x108), the same area size of namesake map from YnAEMP.

The number of foundable religions is raised to 9, which becomes 11 if you are using the New Beliefs modmod.
As the original number of religions is 8, I added the Historical Religions Complete mod as requirement (it's a great VP-compatible mod you should be using anyway :^).

Instructions for use:
1) download from attachment below and unzip in the Mods folder as usual
2) before starting a game check the UserSettings.sql file with notepad and input the map size you intend to play.

/*    Options
    Change Value to the preferred map to adapt core database settings to greater map sizes
   (for example minimum distance of cities, trade route range, etc.)
    0: normal Huge map (97x66)
    1: Huge x1.25 (109x74)
    2: Huge x1.5 (119x81)
    3: Huge x2 (138x93)
    4: Giant Earth-like x2.7 (160x108)*/
INSERT INTO COMMUNITY
        (Type,                        Value)
VALUES    ('JAR_COMMUNITU_HUGER_MAPS',    4);

3) setup your game and select JarCommunitu map with the desired size.

Current version: 5 (12/07/2024)
Reference build: Communitu_79a v3.1.0 included in Vox Populi 4.13.
Edit 28/02/2025: Compatible with VP 4.19

 

[Tekamthi]

would love to see a 43-civ version... tried just now but it hung on map gen

 

[jarcast2]

Map generation loading time obviously raises with both map size and number of civilizations to house, so I can imagine that some computers especially those years-old ones may get upset by that and stall or crash.
I did tests beforehand with 43 civ dll with EUI version and I had no problems, maybe because I use a some-year-old gaming laptop (Lenovo Legion 5 Pro for specifics).
The only (mild) discomforts have been manually adding the civ slots after the 22nd while using Really Advanced Setup and waiting around 6 minutes for map generation. So I expect the loading would take around 10 minutes for slower machines.
While playtesting I noticed the Giant Earth map size format can accommodate around 36 civs with ease; 43 civ option is still doable but it gets a bit cramped giving the moderately anxious feeling of a battle royal for survival that warmonger players may like, especially in terms of fierce competition for strategic and luxury resources.
The crowdedness can be abated by increasing mglobal.landPercent beyond the standard value of 0.40 in the JarCommunitu_79a.lua file.

Screenshot

Spoiler :

 

[Tekamthi]

Okay I'm probably just impatient then, I let it sit for about a minute or two, had firetuner open and the console window looked like it was stalled but I only checked the main one. I was under the impression that 43 civ needed a different assignstartingplots.lua but not certain.

Running on 11th gen i5 (laptop).. no speedster of a rig by today's gaming standards but not a slow system either. I'll give it another shot later and leave it for a bit.

As for crowded maps, I think it's been over two years since I played anything less than 43 civs in a real game, not counting games where I'm primarily testing and developing a mod simultaneously anyway, and just on normal huge map mostly (I did occasionally set larger). Lucky to get a 3rd city down before territorial wars begin, it truly is battle Royale from the get go, and by mid game we're usually down to nearly half the starting civs. CS competition is cut throat. The wide open spaces of 22-civ just feels like training wheels at this point, but a little more breathing room over default huge would be nice.

edit: you are correct -- I went for a walk for about 30 mins after starting game, came back and game was ready to play! Not sure how long it took, probably not as long as I was afk for, but to anyone else thinking their system is hung, just be patient!

 

[N.Core]

You should try to add a size modifier and map ratio like I did with my map.
Already told azum to add it, but he doesn't want to do it since "the map already has too many options".

 

[BornDownUnder]

Okay I'm probably just impatient then, I let it sit for about a minute or two, had firetuner open and the console window looked like it was stalled but I only checked the main one. I was under the impression that 43 civ needed a different assignstartingplots.lua but not certain.

Running on 11th gen i5 (laptop).. no speedster of a rig by today's gaming standards but not a slow system either. I'll give it another shot later and leave it for a bit.

As for crowded maps, I think it's been over two years since I played anything less than 43 civs in a real game, not counting games where I'm primarily testing and developing a mod simultaneously anyway, and just on normal huge map mostly (I did occasionally set larger). Lucky to get a 3rd city down before territorial wars begin, it truly is battle Royale from the get go, and by mid game we're usually down to nearly half the starting civs. CS competition is cut throat. The wide open spaces of 22-civ just feels like training wheels at this point, but a little more breathing room over default huge would be nice.

edit: you are correct -- I went for a walk for about 30 mins after starting game, came back and game was ready to play! Not sure how long it took, probably not as long as I was afk for, but to anyone else thinking their system is hung, just be patient!

What I used to do when I had an i5 2500 non-k is I would make a cuppa. By the time the kettle had boiled the map would be loaded.

Back then, the larger the map & more civs seemed almost a linear increase in load times. Now with a r5 5600x it's a case of fill the kettle up and light the jet and it's ready to play.

 

[dostillevi]

Excellent! I play on a very similar sized huge map 165x105, also with 11 religions on Epic. 18 civs seems good so far for me, although you could go up a bit if you like close neighbors. I like to play with abundant luxuries, scarce strategics, 0.32 or 0.33 land ratio, no ocean shapes, and stringy land. I significantly modified the atoll spawn behavior so they appear closer to the poles and equator (instead of in 2 bands either side of the equator) and have additional spawn rules so they are a bit more spread out when they do appear. I think I've also tweaked deserts to be a bit less common and mountains a bit less common as well, but only slightly. Attached my version if you're curious.

 

[jarcast2]

Update to Communitu_79a 2.7.0
See first post for download.

 

[HeroOfTheSword]

Question(possibly stupid): Is there just a difference on setting the map to huge or are the other map sizes tweaked as well? I ask because I like to play with 5 religions and 8 civs but I hate it when the other civs spawn too close to me and themselves. I'd just like to play a huge map with the 5 religions and 8 civs. Is there any way to tweak that in your version or will I have to do it myself?

 

[jarcast2]

Question(possibly stupid): Is there just a difference on setting the map to huge or are the other map sizes tweaked as well? I ask because I like to play with 5 religions and 8 civs but I hate it when the other civs spawn too close to me and themselves. I'd just like to play a huge map with the 5 religions and 8 civs. Is there any way to tweak that in your version or will I have to do it myself?

Only huge map is edited.
You can open Jar_Worlds_GameDefines.sql in the mod folder, search "RELIGION_MAXIMUM_CAP" and change it to 5 where it says 9 and 11.
If you want to play without my mod then open with notepad a sql file of a mod that loads after VP and that you usually have enabled and copy-paste the following line:

UPDATE Defines SET Value = 5 WHERE Name = 'RELIGION_MAXIMUM_CAP';

 

[Solidirio]

Hey fam, love this mod it takes the game to even more epic proportions.

Tho you may want to update it since it seems last couple VP patches apparently messed up with the map script, at least in my case it crashes whenever i start a game with this.

 

[jarcast2]

Hey fam, love this mod it takes the game to even more epic proportions.

Tho you may want to update it since it seems last couple VP patches apparently messed up with the map script, at least in my case it crashes whenever i start a game with this.

Thanks for notification.
Mod is now updated to the latest VP and Communitu versions.
I did also a quick test; the game started as usual after a while but without problems.

Download is in the first message.

 

[jarcast2]

Update to Communitu_79a v3.0.1 (river fix).

Also happy new year

 

[Solidirio]

Ay man amazing work, just wanted to tell you ive been doing a run on that massive map with 43 players. Very late game atm and obv face some crashes here and there but the loading times are not that big for me and is indeed something of epic proportions. Not to mention wars are way more tactic since some countries are pretty big.

 

[ryanmusante]

Ay man amazing work, just wanted to tell you ive been doing a run on that massive map with 43 players. Very late game atm and obv face some crashes here and there

Have you experienced a good medium with number of civs where there are no crashes?

 

[Solidirio]

Have you experienced a good medium with number of civs where there are no crashes?

idk, i mean this is the very first run ive tried with this map too lol

 

[jarcast2]

Wake up babe, new map update just dropped.

Download on first post.

 

[epicivfreak]

Would you consider doing this with PerfectWorld (the updated script)? Have you seen Iconian's Huge maps? I think they're only active on Steam, not on Civfanatics, but if you can, would you compare your version to theirs?

 

[jarcast2]

Would you consider doing this with PerfectWorld (the updated script)? Have you seen Iconian's Huge maps? I think they're only active on Steam, not on Civfanatics, but if you can, would you compare your version to theirs?

I checked PerfectWorld (updated) map script.
You can edit the map size yourself by opening the PerfectWorld3(v5b).lua file with notepad (notepad++ is heavily recommended tho).
At line 2880 you have the pairs {width, height} for each worldsize (just control+f "WORLDSIZE_HUGE").

local worldsizes = {
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_DUEL.ID] = {42, 26},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_TINY.ID] = {52, 32},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_SMALL.ID] = {64, 40},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_STANDARD.ID] = {84, 52},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_LARGE.ID] = {104, 64},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_HUGE.ID] = {128, 80}
        }
    if Map.GetCustomOption(6) == 2 then
        -- Enlarge terra-style maps to create expansion room on the new world
        worldsizes = {
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_DUEL.ID] = {52, 32},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_TINY.ID] = {64, 40},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_SMALL.ID] = {84, 52},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_STANDARD.ID] = {104, 64},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_LARGE.ID] = {122, 76},
        [GameInfo.Worlds.WORLDSIZE_HUGE.ID] = {144, 90},
        }
    end

For example huge size is 128x80, you can just input the numbers you want instead.
However, beware the maximum number of plots for a map (the product width*height) is around 20,200, larger sizes will just crash the game.
My biggest map is 160x108 = 17,280 plots, Iconian map is slightly larger 170x110= 18,700 plots.

 

[epicivfreak]

I checked PerfectWorld (updated) map script.
You can edit the map size yourself by opening the PerfectWorld3(v5b).lua file with notepad (notepad++ is heavily recommended tho).
At line 2880 you have the pairs {width, height} for each worldsize (just control+f "WORLDSIZE_HUGE").

Thanks for that info, however, I should have been much more specific with what the issue I was really having. If I play Gaia's Sapiens with Perfectworld(updated), I've had several games where I've started on a relatively small island. With Vox Populi, same script, I never start on an island. I actually like that possibly to be there though, as I don't mind the handicap.

With that said, I seem to recall reading somewhere that Vox Populi rewrites the CivPlacement algorithm, somewhere. Is that the case? Is that why I never have island starts with Vox Populi?