[WIP] Full State of Kentucky

[saltshaker]

I did a fair amount of modding for TES3: Morrowind, for all you Zoomers out there it was the one before Skyrim and Oblivion, and though dated it continues to have one of the most active and capable modding communities out there. I am part of a still-active project called Tamriel Rebuilt that is systematically expanding the world cell by cell, blending it seamlessly into the original game. Morrowind had an awesome alien world to explore, but it only shipped with a small part of the province playable so there was a shared dream to bring the rest of the world to life. It's really amazing what the TR team has managed to do. It's as if the original developers of the game never quit because we get these incredible expansion packs about once or twice a year from that modding team.

 

Anyway, I live in Louisville, KY so I really got a kick out of Zomboid when I started playing it. But naturally my wanderlust isn't satisfied with the tiny piece of the world we get to play with.

 

The modding community for Zomboid is smaller than TES3 but I thought, what if I could use what I learned from TES3 to lay the groundwork for a similar Zomboid project? I could create a functional basemap, divide it into groups of cells or "claims", and then invite other modders to claim parts of the state for full implementation. It would be the modders' responsibility to blend their work into that of their neighbors for a seamless result. Years down the road who knows, we might be able to explore in ENTIRE state of Kentucky. The freaking castle in Versailles. The capital building in Frankfort. Red River Gorge. Hopkinsville with its alien/goblin folklore. And a slew of bizarre roadside attractions and sleepy small towns, too many to list here. Imagine that kind of world to play in on top of all the features the devs have planned for the final game.

 

So this is something I've been working on quietly for a few weeks now. I have a large photoshop file divided into cells that are sized to match the game world. I pasted in the existing playable area. Then I painted in the rest of the Ohio River and filled in the rest of the state with grass. It's not perfect, but I think I'm getting somewhere. It won't be long before I have a full state map with major roads and cities painted onto the gridmap. Then I can slice them, export them as individual cells, and import into WorldZed.

 

I've run into a few snags. First of all, there are hundreds and hundreds of cells. I need to find some way to automate the slicing/exporting/importing workflow to make it viable. There is also a 100x100 cell limit in WorldZed that might mean I have to work in large chunks. Finally, the top of the game world is at x=0 and I'm not sure yet if you can have cells with a negative x value. I would need to do that to be able to implement any zones to the north of the current area.

 

Does anyone else think there is value in continuing this project? Better yet, does anybody want to help me get this off the ground? Very curious what others in the mapping community have to say.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by saltshaker
Fixed typo

[bot]

Seems very cool and ambitious, would like to see the entire state of Kentucky one day.