[MOD] De Atlas Orbis Terrarum - A Map Overhaul

[Burakuku]

v0.2.0 for Marius Update 2.0.*

What does the mod do:
- Tries to combat border gore in most areas of the map
- Changes map borders in various areas and regions adding smoother borders and more natural borders on rivers and mountain chains, etc. adding more historical borders.
- Changes most regions and adds a few historical regions like Noricum in the Alps, Dacia Felix, Sagarthia (in Iranian Plateau), Indike (Indus Area) and others (more to come)
- Makes most uninhabitable provinces colonizable in areas like Arabia, Punt Desert, Caucasus Region, Persia, Hindu Kush, Ferghana, etc. Soon Himalayan provinces will be integrated too
- It tries to better integrate most deserts (except the big ones like Sahara and Arabia) into a certain empire's borders (mostly for human players)
- Gives opportunity to the player to build more historically accurate and historically plausible empires with less fragmented borders
- Adds historical names to newly integrated (ex deserted) provinces and integrates them into regions
- Changes some names of existing provinces with historical accuracy in mind (ex. Assyria to Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia to Babylonia)
- Changes some faction colors - Carthage is now white and Egypt Golden/Light Brown
- Minor changes to ownership of provinces between starting factions
- Many other smaller changes to the map

Plans for the future:
- Tweaks to the A.I. with regards to a more 'natural' or historical conquest
- Tweaks to the A.I. in general so it prevents blobbing and border gore in general
- Future changes to the map and provinces/regions with historical accuracy in mind

Spoiler: Provinces

European provinces:

Egypt and Arabia:

Central Map:

Persia, Bactria and the East:

Roman West:

Roman East:

Eastern Border with Parthia:

Euphrates border with Osroene and Mesopotamia:

Spoiler: Empires and Borders

Historical Rome circa 1st century A.D.

Conquest of Armenia and Mesopotamia by Rome:

Atlas Rome:

Greater Bactria with all northern provinces habitable:

Greater Parthia:

Even Greater Parthia with Indus Valley conquered:

Egypt:

Carthage:

River border in Hispania:

Maurya's northern borders:

Old version (0.1.0) Download link
New Version (0.2.0) Download link
Steam Download

Installation Guide:
1. Download from the link above (will soon upload it on Steam)
2. Remove any old version of the mod
3. Extract the archive to: C:\Users\ouruser\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Imperator\mod
4. If there is no 'mod' folder, create one yourself
5. Run the game, enable the mod from plasets and enjoy

Compatibility:
- Should be compatible with most mods as long as they do not change the map

Tips:
- If you want to build good looking empires take a look at province and region map modes and make an idea of what you want to conquer and how
- Don't expect the A.I. to build decent empires in this state of the mod. The A.I. isn't touched yet. This is intended for the human player to build his/her sexy empire
- Take a look at rivers as some of them give an option for decent looking borders

If you want to help:
- I need help with tweaking the A.I. - this is the most important step I aim to take next. Trying to 'guide' the A.I. into more historical or plausible conquests. perhaps making the A.I. focus first on some areas of the map depending on country. Example: making Rome A.I. focus on lands West of the Rhine, South of the Danube, Armenia A.I. focusing on lands south of Caucasus, Maurya A.I. focusing not so much on conquering Persia every game, etc.
- Event writers - as they make my head hurt

 

[Burakuku]

Reserved

 

[omega20056]

Finally, an accurate map.

 

[Burakuku]

There are still regions that need more work, but thanks! Some areas are sort of a compromise though. I didn't want to make some regions too small due to gameplay and balance issues - like Corsica et Sardinia being one region of only two provinces. Others like Baetica being huge have been split into two regions. I did my best to find historical names for those, but I am open to suggestions. Like Dacia Occidentalis could have a different name. Maybe Iazygia or Iazygia et Costobocia. Dunno...

Also some of the missions might be a little confusing, but they are still doable from my testing. Some might tell you that a territory required to finish the mission is now in some other region. Like I said, should be doable by conquering whatever province the mission requires and finish it regardless of where that territory is now located. Just let me know if you guys come into any bugs I didn't take into account.

Also, I must say this again, if anyone used to modding A.I. wants to help, as this is the next step for the mod, to make the A.I. more lucid in its conquest in regards to 'natural' and historical borders, please let me know here or sent me a private message.

 

[Burakuku]

Update:
- Italia, Magna Graecia and Sardinia have been reworked

Corsica and Sardinia are now a new region and Magna Graecia's borders have been moved to the south to a more Pyrrhic Wars look.

Palestina and Arabia Petrea are now two different provinces:

More options for nicer borders between Judea and Egypt.

 

[Numahr]

Great work!
I have a suggestion. Himalaya region encompassing the Tarim bassin makes not much sense from a geographic and cultural point of view. The Tarim Bassin should be its own region.
Thanks for consideration!

 

[Burakuku]

I already had those things in mind . Tomorrow that's on the schedule. Will also make the deserted provinces habitable. And maybe the Tarim will be its own thing. If not now, for sure in the future.

 

[Burakuku]

Update - Tarim Basin and the Himalayas rework:
Tarim Basin now its own region:

Composed of 3 provinces:

Deserted provinces in the area are now habitable:

Added names, trade goods and pops:

Edit:
Reworked the Balkans, Macedonia, Epirus and Greece regions. Moesia Region is now split in two - Moesia Inferior and Moesia Superior. Epirus now its own Region. Macedon and Greece have undergone minor changes.

Added province of Dacia Ripensis south of the Danube.

 

[Kadanz]

How are missions being handled with these map changes?

 

[Numahr]

Great, thanks for listening!

 

[Burakuku]

How are missions being handled with these map changes?

Missions system in IR is awesome from a modding perspective. Firstly, there are more types of missions. Generic - like the ones that tell you to conquer and develop a certain region, and specific - Diadochi missions, some Greece, Rome, Carthage, Epirote missions, etc. There are other types of course, but they don't seem to affect the map afaik. What's awesome in IR is that the missions, generic ones at least, will adapt to the map changes, not the other way around. In other words, they have a way to generate data (mission content or submissions) depending on what's on the map, what you own or what is next to your borders.
Example: I made a the region of Moesia Inferior yesterday. Loaded as Odrysia and they had a mission to conquer and develop the new Region. All was in order.

That being said, I haven't yet take a look at all the missions in particular. There might be still some that missions or events that need to be reworked. I did rework the start event for the Seleucids so far to make small changes to the Seleukid-Maurya treaty. If there are more cases like that, I will do my best to remedy them. I'm just a one man team and these things take time. So far though, considering the Steam stats, people seem to enjoy the content. I also eradicated all bugs I was able to find before I uploaded this, but I can't say for sure the mod has 0 bugs. All I can promise is I will do my best to respond to everyone who encounters problems.

Edit:
Same as above with Moesia Inferior, the game 'generated' a new generic mission for the new region of Tarim Basin:

 

[JimmySplodge03]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I noticed a small issue that should be easy to fix. Province ID 6910 (in Southern India) is classed as part of malayas_area, but is completely isolated from the rest of this area (which is actually in an entirely different region). It's probably more fitting for this province to be part of north_satiyaputa_area or south_satiyaputa_area. Hope this is useful!

 

[Burakuku]

Thanks a lot, mate! Very useful. Solved!

You most probably know how to do this, but in case other people don't want to wait until the new update, this is how to solve it in 3 min:
Go to: C:\Users\'youruser'\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Imperator\mod\DeAtlasOrbisTerrarum\map_data. In the 'map_data' folder open the file called 'areas'. 1st one up.
Here is where all the provinces are assigned to areas. Search for 6910, cut it from its current area and add it to north_satiyaputa_area or south_satiyaputa_area.

 

[Idontlovevanilla]

OP, are you able to change the borders of the provinces on map/rename provinces/make hollow spaces like deserts etc.? If yes I have plenty of ideas to change things with ahistorical features (as I see that) in vanilla all according to sources available on the internet (Digital Atlas of Roman Empires for example)

 

[Burakuku]

OP, are you able to change the borders of the provinces on map/rename provinces/make hollow spaces like deserts etc.? If yes I have plenty of ideas to change things with ahistorical features (as I see that) in vanilla all according to sources available on the internet (Digital Atlas of Roman Empires for example)

Yes, most of that changes are done in a file called provinces.png - regarding borders and the shape of provinces in general. I use a program called GIMP for that. Every province has a color code, and you basically paint its shape and borers.
The names of provinces/regions, populations, trade goods, etc. are changed in other files. It isn't hard or complicated, it's just quite time consuming.

With regards to historical accuracy, that's not as easy as people might imagine. There are a few problems that one might encounter regarding sources and maps in general:
- first of all, different empires had different (even if similar) ways or philosophies in establishing their own administrative regions. So there is always a compromise here. For example, in the West I use mostly the roman provinces, in the East, the persian satrapies. Even so, there is still some work that needs to be done;
- second, these administrative divisions suffer changes over time. Roman Empire is such an example, where provinces were sometimes merged together, or the other way around, depending on new conquest or the ideas of those in charge
- third, not all world was roman. Especially so in the start of the game. So even if we call this historical, in reality this is also a compromise. If I play the Antigonids and conquer all the Balkans for myself, I will still have a bunch of roman administrative units even if those come hundreds of years later, and they will never be roman in my game. But due to lack of a better solution, I opted for this type of division, with which most people agree with, I guess;
- fourth, there is always another component most people don't think of. Balance and missions. In the current state of the game, most missions adapt to the map. However, if a region is too small, some missions might not adapt to it. An example is Cyrenaica. If I make it what it was in most cases, which would be a 3 province region, the initial mission for the faction Cyrenaica will no longer appear into the mission tab. Also balance is another aspect. Even if most people play Rome and the bigger factions, there are other smaller factions that others might play and I have to take them into account too. Like I said before with Cyrenaica. The idea is that I try to strike a balance between those. I might find some better options for the future, and also redo some of the missions, but it takes time.

The general idea is that there will always be a compromise. The aim, however, is to make it as much as possible historical and pleasant to the eye. And most of the times that means natural. Like the Rhine and the Danube being natural borders for thousands of years between different kingdoms/tribes/factions. Or the Caucasus mountains. The Indus, the Tigris and Euphrates. Or other areas of the map. I also try to give more than one option of 'decent' conquest in most areas, depending on what direction you conquer it from (N,E,S,W). More changes will come, and people should tell me if I missed something or if something looks weird in some area (here or on Steam).

Anyway, I said all these things so people might understand that it's not as easy as just copying some borders from a map or atlas. These being said, I take into account suggestions and new ideas. And also any sort of new maps and sources in general are always welcome, and I am thankful for them. I searched ages for a decent map, on a decent resolution of the Kashmir area. The Digital Atlas is very helpful because it represents a lot of cities and smaller settlements which are not at all easy to find and this usually takes a lot of time. So special thanks for that, I appreciate it. And keep the ideas, suggestions flowing. I will take them into account.

 

[Idontlovevanilla]

Yes, most of that changes are done in a file called provinces.png - regarding borders and the shape of provinces in general. I use a program called GIMP for that. Every province has a color code, and you basically paint its shape and borers.
The names of provinces/regions, populations, trade goods, etc. are changed in other files. It isn't hard or complicated, it's just quite time consuming.

With regards to historical accuracy, that's not as easy as people might imagine. There are a few problems that one might encounter regarding sources and maps in general:
- first of all, different empires had different (even if similar) ways or philosophies in establishing their own administrative regions. So there is always a compromise here. For example, in the West I use mostly the roman provinces, in the East, the persian satrapies. Even so, there is still some work that needs to be done;
- second, these administrative divisions suffer changes over time. Roman Empire is such an example, where provinces were sometimes merged together, or the other way around, depending on new conquest or the ideas of those in charge
- third, not all world was roman. Especially so in the start of the game. So even if we call this historical, in reality this is also a compromise. If I play the Antigonids and conquer all the Balkans for myself, I will still have a bunch of roman administrative units even if those come hundreds of years later, and they will never be roman in my game. But due to lack of a better solution, I opted for this type of division, with which most people agree with, I guess;
- fourth, there is always another component most people don't think of. Balance and missions. In the current state of the game, most missions adapt to the map. However, if a region is too small, some missions might not adapt to it. An example is Cyrenaica. If I make it what it was in most cases, which would be a 3 province region, the initial mission for the faction Cyrenaica will no longer appear into the mission tab. Also balance is another aspect. Even if most people play Rome and the bigger factions, there are other smaller factions that others might play and I have to take them into account too. Like I said before with Cyrenaica. The idea is that I try to strike a balance between those. I might find some better options for the future, and also redo some of the missions, but it takes time.

The general idea is that there will always be a compromise. The aim, however, is to make it as much as possible historical and pleasant to the eye. And most of the times that means natural. Like the Rhine and the Danube being natural borders for thousands of years between different kingdoms/tribes/factions. Or the Caucasus mountains. The Indus, the Tigris and Euphrates. Or other areas of the map. I also try to give more than one option of 'decent' conquest in most areas, depending on what direction you conquer it from (N,E,S,W). More changes will come, and people should tell me if I missed something or if something looks weird in some area (here or on Steam).

Anyway, I said all these things so people might understand that it's not as easy as just copying some borders from a map or atlas. These being said, I take into account suggestions and new ideas. And also any sort of new maps and sources in general are always welcome, and I am thankful for them. I searched ages for a decent map, on a decent resolution of the Kashmir area. The Digital Atlas is very helpful because it represents a lot of cities and smaller settlements which are not at all easy to find and this usually takes a lot of time. So special thanks for that, I appreciate it. And keep the ideas, suggestions flowing. I will take them into account.

The main idea I have basically is to add more provinces with putting some as deserted areas and in the same time make most of the provinces coloniseable (not taken by any fraction) since the start of the game, just like it was in history. I.e. depopulated areas that one should colonize. Also it is to be pointed out that food should have much more impact than it is on vanilla making different areas depopulate over time which will add to depopulation-colonization mechanism.

 

[Burakuku]

The main idea I have basically is to add more provinces with putting some as deserted areas and in the same time make most of the provinces coloniseable (not taken by any fraction) since the start of the game, just like it was in history. I.e. depopulated areas that one should colonize. Also it is to be pointed out that food should have much more impact than it is on vanilla making different areas depopulate over time which will add to depopulation-colonization mechanism.

I will probably make a separate mod in the future just with the provinces that were deserted, making them habitable.
Regarding food: I read a post these days about a mod that's going to do that. Two mods that merged together actually. I will wait for that to come out and maybe make a compatibility patch if necessary as long as I have permission from them.

Edit:
This one: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-realistic-growth-and-travel-merging.1460910/
Check out the 2nd post. About food production and such things.

 

[Idontlovevanilla]

I will probably make a separate mod in the future just with the provinces that were deserted, making them habitable.
Regarding food: I read a post these days about a mod that's going to do that. Two mods that merged together actually. I will wait for that to come out and maybe make a compatibility patch if necessary as long as I have permission from them.

Edit:
This one: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-realistic-growth-and-travel-merging.1460910/
Check out the 2nd post. About food production and such things.

I gave Ben785 a couple of ideas already but their mod is following another global idea rather than your mod.

 

[Burakuku]

I gave Ben785 a couple of ideas already but their mod is following another global idea rather than your mod.

That is not impossible to do, it's just above my skill. No matter how much I'd like to see the A.I. starve to death if the follows me into the heart of the jungle of south of Arabia (which is something I could try to make), I know next to nothing about modding the A.I. to make it 'understand' it is going to die of starvation. And without that it would king of become an exploit for the human player. Also making provinces uninhabited it's more like a random thing in this game state as far as I can tell. In my mod too, some of the new provinces (ex deserted ones) become uninhabited aka all pops die for some reason, and then the A.I. colonized them again, but I have absolutely no idea how to 'control' that. It could be done through events I guess. To simulate for example a German migration in Gaul or stuff like that, if that is what you mean. Like the Suebi took their stuff and went for Gaul because the weather is bad and crops failed.

 

[Burakuku]

Updated to v0.2.0. All the changes above plus Germania Inferior as a region. Some border changes in Germania, now called Germania Magna and other smaller changes.