War in the East : Map Mods
There’s a frantic moment where you try to find something only to realize it’s gone. Keys maybe? Or a credit card? Or, god forbid, your passport! This happened to me when I reinstalled War in the East and realized that Jison’s WitE mapmod is no longer on his website.
Uh oh.
In our digital age information is both infinitely permanent and intensely fragile. Luckily I was able to find someone who had it mirrored on the Matrix forums. But still, this is a damned well done mapmod and I thought it needed another home. I’m not entirely sure why Jison halted, the only post I can find is rather cryptic.
Jison did an amazing job and this is one of the best looking maps I’ve ever seen for a PC wargame. Matrix should really take note for any future games on how much a good map can do for a game. The map for War in the West was a bit of a disappointment especially after seeing how good a map can look.
The second version was Jison’s modified by Chemkid and posted on October 13th 2016. See Chemkid’s post here.
I have two versions along with a fix for the Rainy Day map. One version is the original while the other is darkened slightly. Both look pretty good. Here’s some comparisons from one to the other.
(Click here for a full zoom comparison)
(Click here for a full zoom comparison)
And finally get the mods here! All credit goes to the original creators. I did not create these, I’m just making sure they don’t disappear into the dustbin of the internet. Please thank Jison and Chemkid.
Fix for A Rainy Day in Russia (corrects a hex that is marked one type when it’s another)
Marco
Nice, do you know if there is a mod for War in the West? the map looks a little dull and more if you compare to this gem.
Casey
No unfortunately. The map in WitW is detailed by individual hexes instead of areas of map like the WitE map. You can browse to your WitW folder, go to/Dat/Art/Tiles/ and see the individual tiles for forests or mountains or bocage. I’m assuming the game calls one of these art effects and then layers it over a generic color.
As a programmer I’m sure it’s more dynamic, just call a list of files and change it on the fly regardless of scenario. New scenario, new map, no need to redraw it all. But in our case it doesn’t make for a pretty map. I’ve browsed the tiles list but I can’t think of a good way to really spruce it up.
Great question Marco, thanks!
Marco
Oh that’s a bummer, I know is a wargame and the least thing to think is the aesthetic, but man, you get tired to see the same joyless hex colors eventually.
Casey
I totally agree. There’s so much to be said for a good looking map.
Steve B
I’m not entirely sure why Jison halted, the only post I can find is rather cryptic.
I think Erik Rutkins at Matrix scarfed up Jison and his talents.
Casey
Well, hopefully we’ll see more polished grog maps in the future.