Mantrid's Large Scale USA (On Hold)

[Vinnie Terranova]

To play the Dalton 1:1 you don't have to mess things up... You only have to create a new profile, and with this new profile you only have to load the Dalton 1:1 map files. No other mod files. So it really isn't that difficult.

And about the amount of files: Dalton 1:1 just uses 6 (or 7 with the chains mod) files. Load order is in the first post. And even if Dalton 1:1 would use 20 or 30 files, just load them and rearrange them in the mod manager as depicted in the load order. There are tougher things in life.

[bobgrey1997]

The idea of making a 1:1 map suitable for those who don't have time to drive said map is... well... useless. If they don't have the time to drive it, they shouldn't download it. Simple as that. Alternatively, they can take shorter jobs within a single city or to a neighboring city. For example, it would take about 40 minutes to drive across a 1:1 Little Rock metro area in a 1:1 Arkansas map. A similarly timed job in the base map might take you from Los Angeles to Redding on Interstate 5.
However, if you do have the time and you want to take a longer run, on a 1:1 scale Arkansas you could spend 3-4 hours driving from Pine Bluff to Fayettville, similar to a Seattle to Dallas job in the base map (when we get Texas).
A 1:1 scale ANYTHING offers more jobs by default. A shorter job (across a single state in the base map) may keep you in just one city or town in a 1:1 map. Then you have the longer jobs (such as across many states of the base map) which will take you access the entire 1:1 state. These job lengths already exist in the game, so time is not an issue. A 1:1 simply offers more realism and routes in that time.
A 1:1 also offers even longer jobs, if the player is up for it, such as across many 1:1 states (if the map covers multiple states).

I do have an idea which could incorporate this train-ferry system rather well, though:
1:1 takes an extreme amount of time to create. We can hardly hope to have a single state completed in 1:1, much less many states!
My idea is this: have a team of mappers who each work on their own state (much like C2C is doing now) and map out the sectors so everyone knows where to start. Each mapper could start in the capital city of their state, which would include a ferry/train station to be used to get to the other states (as the roads would not be linked up yet). Upload these states individually (much like SCS does with DLC). This would allow the players to download only the states they are interested in (keeping the file sizes smaller). It would also be possible to upload bundles based on region for the users who want either entire regions or the entire map without having to go download countless things. If the files have to be split due to size, an automated system could be used (you check the states/regions you want and it automatically downloads and imports the needed files into your mods folder).

Eventually, when the states are completed and linked up, the train/ferry system would still be there. This could be expanded further by having mappers on each region of a state, and thus having multiple stations in each state while also speeding up development time.

This is something I started thinking about a while back when Kegan (who is doing a 1:1 Oklahoma project) approached me about working together with my 1:1 Arkansas project.

Perhaps if Mantrid's project takes off and it turns out to be 1:1, we can use this system and my Arkansas project will be compatible.

[hawkbs]

Regardless of what you believe it will be "Mantrids" map and decision if he puts in trains/ferry points. If he wants to make a map thats for "everyone" to enjoy or limit it to a few people.
Yes folks can just park by the road and save and continue later, but if they only can play for an hour or 2 per week due to real life i.e. wife, kids etc etc etc then without such a feature they might not bother.
My idea gives him a choice to make it playable for everyone.

Not going to bother commenting further in regard to this as the idea and suggestion is for Mantrid as its his map
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@bobgrey1997 Interesting idea and quite feasible as you'd just need the connection sii's modified to do it and yep an automated web page or even a small program to do that is all that would be needed. Kinda like ProMods do with the Def file generator on their downloads page.
Yes people could also take shorter local journeys. Using a Train/Ferry System in a full blown map or one with individual states as optional extras would enable those people to own garages and trucks in other states if they are limited on time as well thus increasing their income. Im sure that there are even people that might drive my map who dont go further than between Fairbanks and Pump Station 7 or from Deadhorse to maybe Chandelar or Coldfoot, and just drive those only.

Not a useless idea either for folks to drive a 1:1 Map if they have limited time. Take a look at Flight Simulator one of the largest selling franchises. Its all 1:1 and there are people that only fly Cessna's to do short trips. They sometimes might decide to do a flight from Honolulu to the Big Island or LA to San Fran or London to Paris or even shorter trips.

Also if Mantrid did do a 1:1 scale I would then make a connection available to be able to make my map connect with it if people wanted it.

[Vinnie Terranova]

Although I love 1:1 maps, like the Dalton 1:1, an 1:1 USA with reasonable quality is not going to happen. Never.

Take a look at the Dalton 1:1. Is is of reasonable, or even decent, quality, but it's still a very small part of Alaska.

Arkansas 1:1 was 3 years ago promising, but as bobgrey1997 said himself, progress is very slow and motivation wasn't always there, so progress was even slowing down.

Project South Plains 1:1 has even a slower progress, so that's not quite promising.

And then there are some relative small 1:1 county projects.

For an 1:1 USA with reasonable quality you need a lot of people who will work on different states. Otherwise it will take literaly a lifetime. Or the quality will be really bad, like in unplayable.

[TexasWhirlwind]

Yea I was until I found out it would not be compatible with C2C..

[bobgrey1997]

Why does it have to be compatible?
C2C is mostly not detailed. There are so many maps that are far better (no offense to the C2C team) which are not compatible.
You restrict yourself to a poor quality game...

[Blackspots]

I for one have never run dalton map. Way to many file to contend with just to use it. Like that mexico map mess. If it doesn't fit with C2C then I wont even download it..

If you had ever taken a look at the load order thread, you would know that the Mexico maps work quite well with C2C.
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[TexasWhirlwind]

Like in the picture You have 8 things that we can see loaded just to play Mexico. I will not bother with trying to download all that just to play this game. If they would put all that in one maybe 2 file then I might give it a try. But C2C and Canadream is good enough for me now..

[Vinnie Terranova]

@TexasWhirlwind You really don't know what you are missing regarding Mexico. It is such a wonderful map addon. But if you don't want to download just 5 (not 8) files, I don't mind. All I wanna say is, that sometimes you have to put a little, tiny, amount of effort to get something beautiful. But it's up to you, whether you want to put that little amount of effort into the download and installation of those files, or not.

[davidhicks1994]

Also if Mantrid did do a 1:1 scale I would then make a connection available to be able to make my map connect with it if people wanted it.

You have now given me a dream lol. I didn't know I needed this until now. Regardless, thank you for all the work you've put into the Dalton Map. Hopefully someday we can figure out the FMOD issues.