3D Map Showcase

[PDX Ryagi]

What is a Map Game without its Map? In today's in-development showcase video, We take a tour of EU5s 3D map. Join as we soar through the skies of Europe and showcase the various terrain, weather, units and environment details!

Please note graphical textures may not be final, and that camera angles are not representative of gameplay, with most visual elements taken at unnatural angles for the purposes of the showcase.

We hope you enjoy! Feedback is appreciated as usual.

 

[PDX Ryagi]

I'd have loved to see more than Europe but I assume it's still under development

Don't worry, we'll show off more regions in future map showcases to come

We just picked Europe because we had to start somewhere and well... it did seem fitting.

 

[Johan]

Can I assume, the final zoom implies, that we can finally zoom in again without losing the political map mode?

Of course. If you are in the political mapmode it will keep it.

The "papermap" when zoomed out and "terrain" when zoomed in is one configurable mapmode, and does not affect any of the other 50+ mapmodes we have.

 

[PDX Ryagi]

Next Thursday Middle East 3D map showcase?

Could you at least confirm that thursdays will be 3D map showcase day for a while

Next week is something different but 3D map showcases will return though at a currently unspecified future date. (Don't wanna make any promises when dates are so subject to change)

 

[Johan]

Aren't castles way too big?

Testers want to see where forts are when you zoom out.. its kind of vital

 

[PDX Ryagi]

I thought you said it would be less good than the music ?




Could you clarfiy which camera angles will be possible ? Does this mean "only zooming with some automatic tilt, always north on top" like in EUIV ? I'd guess more should be possible in the 5000-ish days since...

Glad you enjoy it so much

So on the camera angles, it's similar to how CK3 works. 99% of gameplay will be zooming in, with automatic tilt (The tilt is toggleable btw!), north on top. You can do some camera rotations but camera will snap back to this default configuration.

Zoom levels and camera tilts for this video are entirely for the purposes of the showcase. Nothing here is actual gameplay pans/zooms.

 

[Johan]

can you have always papermap?

yes. its basically like playing an old-school game with counters on a 2dmap

 

[Johan]

Glad you enjoy it so much

So on the camera angles, it's similar to how CK3 works. 99% of gameplay will be zooming in, with automatic tilt (The tilt is toggleable btw!), north on top. You can do some camera rotations but camera will snap back to this default configuration.

Zoom levels and camera tilts for this video are entirely for the purposes of the showcase. Nothing here is actual gameplay pans/zooms.

you can turn off the "snap back" though in settings.

 

[Johan]

Aww I was hoping you were gonna showcase the volcano erupting... I assume it does do that, like in Imperator, right?

it does

 

[PDX Ryagi]

Dont get me wrong: there's nothing offensively bad anywhere; this is a product that can be shipped. However, I have some concrete suggestions:

• The Scandinavian mountains in the Nordics and Iceland simply just don't look like the Scandes. These look more like the rockies. The mountains in Scandinaviawere sanded down by Ice Age glaciers, so they typically aren't as jagged as some more southernly ranges. The Icelandic mountains are especially bad here. They don't resemble the real deal even the slightest. You couldn't point to the Jökulls even if you knew where they were.
• On a related note, the archipelago around Åland is missing a some islands. I know that there's a lot of them, but it's what makes the region special!
• There not being even the gentlest hint of differences in elevation anywhere in Eastern Europe makes the region look very flat and uninteresting. Even some slight hills would go a long way.
• Finland and similarly lakey places need more lakes. This has been said before.
• Colourwise it all looks very, very smooth. Like lime-green clay. Some simple textural variation would go a long way. Darker marshes, coarser cliffs, more patchworkey farmlands, Etc. (I'm not the biggest fan of the trees being amorphous blobs either, but I understand why they look like that.) The I:R map is of course a good example of this, and, IMO, Crusader Kings II as well. The boreal forests were dark and musty, and the european plains were much lighter.

So... While bespoke topography looks nice, it isn't terribly accurate and mischaracterises plenty of iconic european geographical features.
Please, since you already have a simple orthodox projection, why not just start with a NASA heightmap and tweak it where it looks strange?

Most paradox games have some mod that redoes the map to fit a real projection and uses real height data. These—with almost no exceptions—just tend to look way better.

Thanks for the detailed and constructive feedback it's much appreciated!

 

[Johan]

Why not use the earths heightmap and tweek it like with imperator rome, as opposed to making a whole heightmap from scratch that isn't up to snuff? Can the game not handle a 16k by 8k real earth heightmap?

The heightmap is not 16k x 8k, its 32k x 16k. This is needed to get the resolution up.

 

[Johan]

I wonder if its relational to say the alps, the alps is higher than everything there so they do not look as domineering. It's the same in Ireland the tallest 1038m mountain in Ireland looks like this

Its relative to heights, and also been smoothed out in many places, to make so that locations can handle cities and buildings properly, instead of looking crazy.