Why are default maps always rubbish?

[TaintedBlackCat]

Hardly rubbish (My opinion), I agree with farmerjimbob..what is it about the default maps that makes them "always" rubbish? Be specific or at least tell us ONE reason why you believe this. I respect constructive criticism, but people bleating and whinging (ranting) is unhelpful and makes them look like the biggest tools...

[erict43]

They're not rubbish. I quite enjoy some of the Giants maps - Westbridge Hills, Sosnovka, and Felsbrunn. They are put together well, detailed, and everything works. They do lack realism in the size and shapes of the fields, sell points, etc, but that's what you get when you have to make a map that appeals to first-time players, kids, experts, and everyone in between.

[Rasping rabbit]

I am really enjoying estancia at the moment, never played it on 17 even though I had the expansion, but it appealed to me this time and am having a great time on it.

[Husqvarna TS 352]

^^same^^

[Tomazius96]

I find the maps quite well made. I love the details they made. Houses and buliding and assets, really makes good atmosphere. On the other hand they could invest a bit more time into actual farm bulidings, stalls and sheds could be more diverse and usefull, but thats not the problem now when we have a lot of placable modpacks by great modders ( at leas on pc). For example the one by BernieSCS form ModdingWelt, he is also making the american version of the pack, but is still WIP, you can see some pics here: https://www.modding-welt.com/forum/thre ... post187336

[niggle44]

How about Giants contract out some of the work to the communities modders, who generally do all this work for no financial reward, but by whose efforts the game actually improves ?.

[NSfarmer]

I really look forward to Giants releasing GCV. I enjoyed that map immensely and look forward to playing on it in FS 19 with the terrain editing tools. Now I can make the changes I want without opening the map in GE and having to start a new save game.

[this_is_gav]

The maps made by giants are as good of quality as you will see. Mod maps are no where near the quality as Giants creates.

In terms of graphics, that's true in areas (most textures and models), however GIANTS don't make realistic maps (not even remotely). Plenty of players want to play on maps that are more organic and natural, they want hedgerows, fences and walls and maps based on real farms, proper pastures for livestock and tracks and so on. GIANTS cookie-cutter maps are good for exploring the new features of a game, but that's about their limit in my opinion.

Some are better than others (Bjornholm and Felsbrunn in my opinion) but all suffer from the same issues and as a result they generally lack replayability, even with that being one of the advertisements of the new farm system. FS would quickly become extremely boring with mod maps.

I probably spent about 15 hours on Goldcrest Valley in total (including testing mods), yet I started two long-term saves each on Coldborough Park Farm (despite also playing it to death in FS15) and Oakfield Farm.

The limitation of GIANTS maps is due to the lack of flexibility in the hired helpers. They are flummoxed by telegraph poles and electricity pylons, walls and non-rectangular fields and so GIANTS are forced to make their fields and areas around them bland, sparse and unrealistic.

That said, with Lone Oak Farm BulletBill showed that you can make a realistic map (indeed a real map) which is largely helper friendly, so at least in creating maps from certain areas of the world there is no excuse for not coming up with better starter maps.

Without improving the helpers creating better maps from other regions is more problematic. We really need better AI in future games.

[redglasses]

Everyone has their own opinion on maps, I don't hate ravenport but its not the greatest. They do come out with a decent map once in a while though, keep in mind they have to make an entire game not just a map.

[JCByellowguy]

Giants did a decent job with the FS19 maps. As been said time and time again they can only go so far before the hired help feature holds them back. I would bet a larger majority of players especially on console wouldnt bother with the game if AI worker friendly maps were left out of the base game.

Just be thankful we do have mod maps that are based on real life areas and include all the detail left out of the base game maps.

Personally at the moment I am waiting for Oxygendavid's Marwell Manor map to be tested and released. Have not played FS19 for some time now as I dont personally care for either base game map but I cant call those maps trash because of my personal reasons. My two children have no issues with those maps and love FS19. In my house its 2-1 that the base maps are a success.✔

[Corstaad]

I actually liked the FS17 base maps. FS19 I only play Felsbrunn because the Ravenport map doesn't feel like anything American. Felsbrunn does suffer from a lot of the simple things that make it feel like it's created from a computer rather then real life. All of the drop points don't have access friendly spots for equipment. Field layouts are obviously made to be AI friendly. To many fields you get pushed into running the wrong directions. The map is also has a lot of dead area you can't actually farm on which is to bad because the map is great looking around the river. The map just feels much smaller and condensed then it should. I'm bored running the middle of the map.

[pingu]

@kevthedev

Just because you *think* they are rubbish does not mean they *are* rubbish. It's called taste. Ever heard of that? And why did you buy/play the game before there are other maps available if you know that the default maps are always rubbish? Does not make sense. And has it ever occurred to you that many people buying FS19 are (just like you once were) totally new to FS, and may benefit from a map that is a little bit of everything and easy to cope with? That those player would find (let's say) a genuine map depicting the UK (without a single square corner on any field and hedges everywhere along narrow winding roads) a bit tedious?

I think you have three alternatives:

1)
Don't play the game

2)
Make your own map

3)
Wait until someone else spends huge amount of hours on making one and then give it to you for free

[Smith Modding]

I don’t think giants maps are rubbish. Let me explain some stuff though:

As has been mentioned before, GIANTS has to make more than just a map, they have to make an entire game. Add to that the maps they make have to be accessible to ALL players, both new and returning. Making a super complicated and difficult map may be okay with us veterans, but those new to the series may be turned away from it. GIANTS also has to make the maps playable on ALL hardware. So there maps are simpler to make sure those on lower end PC’s can play them happily. Yes, some maps look better, but they take a ton of work to make them playable on lower end systems. Plus, giants wants to make sure you can learn all of the new features of the game on a map that isn’t super confusing. Personally, I think giants maps are very good. I really liked ravenport, GCV, and west ridge. They may not look as amazing visually, but the layout is really good imo. The fields are spread out along with the sell points, and I have no problems driving the streets, especially in ravenport. They’re layed out in a way that makes you explore the map.

[chedly_farms]

I was in the camp that desperately wanting a mod map after less than a week of the game coming out. I even went back to playing 17 for a week plus. I got excited with the terraforming update mid December. Now I've been playing Felsbrunn since Christmas. I have been thoroughly enjoying it. I think it's actually a really nice map. Ravenport was nice looking, but the farmyard being far from anything made it annoying ( yes I know I could build my farm anywhere ). The fun I'm having on Felsbrunn is buying plots of ground and transforming/merging fields. I do like smaller fields like Old Stream, but other than that I really appreciate Felsbrunn. It will be sad for me when a new mod map does come out, because I'll give in an start a new farm on it, but if not I could see myself really enjoying Felsbrunn.

[Husqvarna TS 352]

It's pretty good how in 19 we got 2 brand new maps. In previous games for example in 15 we got Bjornholm but Westbridge was carried over, in 17 we got Goldcrest Valley but Sosnovka was carried over, but in 19 we got 2 brand new maps and Estancia. So really you get a extra map at the release of 19 rather than the previous games