Harder Treasure Map mod

[jlangsdo]

This very simple mod removes the coastline and water markings from your treasure maps, to make the game a little bit harder.

It may force you to hunt down Raymondo more times, because you won't be able to locate your relatives from the first scrap of map.

Harder_Treasure_Maps.zip

Your maps will look like this:


rather than like this:

[sparticus]

[sparticus]

Took a year to find this thread again without the coastline to guide me

[jlangsdo]

I have a follow up!

treasure_hint_swap.zip replaces all of the hints on the treasure map (stone head, arch rock, etc) with marked palm trees.

You can combine the two mods, or use just one or the other.

The mod part replaces the nif files for the 3-d hints, and replaces the icons in the treasure map. The executable patch removes the text under the hints on the treasure map.
Apply the patch like this:
smp_patch.pl -patch treasure_hint_swap.patch -multi

Here's what the hints look like:



Here's what treasure map look like:

[/b]

[sparticus]

Very Nice Indeed

[Mr. Blue]

Are there any mods to make the maps easier? I'm not complaining about the pirate treasure maps, but I don't like wandering over half the new world looking for a lost city or for Monty Python's lair.
_________________
" ... the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. " George Eliot

[jlangsdo]

Mr. Blue,

If you go to the thread "Mods for world map background", the second mod in it is a world-map background that has coastline with the same nooks and crannies as the treasure maps. That makes it much easier to place a piece of coastline, especially when it is hidden in Mexico somewhere. Once you study the coastline, you will find that many features are unique.

The thread "The center of a treasure map" shows you that there is a relationship between the location of the X and the location of the Pirate Landmark on your map - that can let you find the lost city with fewer pieces of the map.

[jlangsdo]

Mr. Blue,

I'll keep thinking about your challenge. I think I know how to make an executable patch that would affect where Pirate Landmarks can land. For example, if I set it so no Pirate Landmark could land west of Panama, that would prevent any treasure map from being placed out there. I'll see what I can do.

Let me know if you have any other ideas of what "easier" or "harder" could mean.

[jlangsdo]

wimpy_maps.zip

This mod changes piratemapz.dta to prevent Pirate Landmarks from landing anywhere on the Spanish Main from about Santa Marta to Louisiana. Otherwise it should be almost unchanged. Without a Pirate Landmark, a treasure map cannot be placed, so this means no more gulf of Honduras, no Yucatan, no need to visit Villa Hermosa. It takes effect when you start a new game (that's when the landmarks are placed).

If you would prefer to hack a game in progress to prevent future treasure maps from landing in the west, that could be done in similar style using the pirates_savegame_editor.pl. Unpack the savegame, pull up the pst file in a text editor, then wipe out any FeatureMap...(Landmark) lines that have the first coordinate below 200 or so.

I really looked into this because I wanted to see if I could do the reverse, to make the maps harder by allowing Pirate Landmarks up in Texas... but I haven't figured that out yet. There must be another file involved in preventing landmarks out there.