Just to confirm, that 37,200 is what: ToTPP, ToT regular or Gold, or all three of them?
I believe the limit is actually 32,767 tiles, in both MGE and ToT. (In FW and older versions, it's apparently only 10,922.) Note that for MGE I use
CIV2UIA and for ToT I use TOTPP, and I would highly recommend both of those programs. I'm honestly not sure about the native (unpatched) limits in each Civ version.
The other thing is unless TOTPP has changed this (please say you have!) all the maps have to be exactly the same size.
If you're referring to the four maps that JPetroski mentioned:
You could of course multiply that by 4 as ToT allows up to four maps, and lua allows for a much more natural progression from map to map than the base game.
... then yes, they are all the same size. But of course you could use a smaller portion of any of them... each map supports its own terrain definitions and graphics, and you could make an impassable terrain and use it to cover as much of a map as you'd like to make it inaccessible.
ToT intends these to be "stacked" maps -- picture them in (up to) four layers, one above the other, not placed end-to-end. As JPetroski said, it's possible for a Lua script to allow units to move "across" the maps horizontally, e.g., from the right edge of one map to the left edge of another. But I doubt the AI would understand how to take advantage of this, so they won't necessarily send their units "towards" another map like you might wish. Don't count on being able to stitch maps together side-by-side unless you can verify, by thorough testing, that units behave the way you want.
Is there a way to take map parts and expand them. I'm talking about being able to copy portion of one map and paste them on another or use the map editor to add dimensions on chosen sides, creating ocean that can be filled it?
Not with the map editor, AFAIK. With TOTPP, it would be possible to create a Lua script that would back up a map to text though -- basically creating a table with the terrain type of each tile. Then you create a new larger map, and use a second Lua script to read in that table and overwrite the correct portion of the new map. You'd have to write the Lua script to support "offsets" so the proper portion of the new map is replaced. Then you could manually edit the edge(s), i.e., the expanded area. Note that Lua scripts only run in the game itself, not the map editor, so if you want to use the map editor you'd have to bounce between tools.
One shortcoming of Lua scripts, though, is that while they can tell whether a tile
has a river, they can't
add or remove a river from a tile (at least in the current version of TOTPP, 15.1).
Are there map tools where you can plaster terrain all over the map, except for terrain you designate? I tried to make a Fallout scenario once but failed because while I need to make all the grassland into plains, plains being the wasteland features, I didn’t want to touch the swamps and the mountains and hills, just the grasslands.
A Lua script (again, TOTPP only) could easily "search and replace" one terrain type with another, if that would be helpful. The map editor itself is pretty limited.
Also if there are more terrain types, how can I load those maps into the map editor without a crash?
The map editor will only support 11 terrain types (10 land and 1 water), but if you edit the base rules.txt and terrain*.gif files, you could customize their names and graphics. TOTPP supports an additional 5 land terrain types, but you would have to place/edit them in "cheat mode" within the game itself, not the separate map editor.
