55 replies to this topic

[BlueDevilspawn]

Ah but you see, I actually DO know the map editing capabilities. Describing them as lostech is actually appropriate.

And I know meep isn’t the op, it doesn’t change my view of his seemingly “easy” comment (to merely and so simply "strip away the faction elements") in the context of past technical “experts.” /s

Edited by BlueDevilspawn, 10 February 2026 - 09:22 PM.

[Moldur]

Gimme more maps so I can keep picking Frozen City Classic.

[Meep Meep]

BlueDevilspawn, on 10 February 2026 - 05:41 PM, said:

"strip out the faction play elements from the faction maps and toss them in" - Your choice of casual words (which makes things seem so easy) and position of new maps in trying to place yourself in the right (because what player wouldn't want new maps) belies straight up ignorance of what he just said or a bad faith proposal.

Even modifying maps for game modes they were never intended for means moving spawns, checking sightlines, adjusting dom circle accessibility and coverage, placing and adjusting conquest cap points so they are fair..... ALL of which is tedious and time consuming to do on a lostech map editor that Tiyos barely has the knowledge to operate.

If a map, new or old, is not ready to literally drop into the game, it's probably not going to happen as priorities stand. He would need to clear off his MW5 work, he regular MWO work, and any other higher priority unique projects to dive into the morass that is the map editor.

Goodness all I asked was if it was possible? But thanks for answering!

[LordNothing]

kalashnikity, on 10 February 2026 - 07:38 PM, said:

Is there a legality issue with simply changing MWO to use MW5's UE5 engine and assets?

M

as i understand it they would have to make another deal with ms, who hold the rights to mechwarrior games. but ms has always been open to that sort of thing.

[LordNothing]

kalashnikity, on 10 February 2026 - 07:34 PM, said:

Here is a wild idea, use topographic maps from the real world, I get tired of the artificially contrived "LRM protection", arches, bridges, etc.



Great idea!

back when i was modding freespace, i grabbed a bunch of nasa datasets for various planets in the solar system, as part of an attempt at a newtonian flight model with atmospherics. i did some test runs generating massive game breaking model files, of the ones that worked, the results were horrible. i gave up when kerbal space program came out.

also its obvious that grand ideas require the effort of more than one person, what is the size of the maintenance staff for mwo? i bet i have more fingers.

Edited by LordNothing, 11 February 2026 - 05:51 AM.

[Herod]

Saved By The Bell, on 07 February 2026 - 09:25 PM, said:

We have good old maps, bring them in rotation.

Seriously. Bring back old HPG in to the rotation. It can easily co-exist with the new.

[pbiggz]

Vetal, on 08 February 2026 - 07:47 PM, said:

First prompt to gemini ai to generate mwo map idea.
Response:
If I were designing a map for MechWarrior Online, I’d want to break away from the "big bowl with a center spire" meta (looking at you, Terra Therma and Canyon Network). I’d want something that forces players to think about verticality and sensor management.
​Here is my concept: "The Aurora Shipyards."
​Map Concept: The Aurora Shipyards
​Setting: A massive, atmospheric orbital elevator base located in a polar region during a solar storm.
​1. The Environment
​Low Visibility/High Drama: The sky is a swirling curtain of neon-green and purple auroras. Because of the solar storm, sensors are toggled: Long-range locks are harder to maintain, making "brawling" and "ambush" builds much more viable.
​Thermal Dynamics: It’s a cold map (great for your Laser Boats), but there are "Heat Vents" near the central elevator. Standing over them gives you a massive cooling penalty but offers a tactical high-ground advantage.
​2. Key Landmarks
​The Gantry (Center): A massive, multi-level scaffolding structure. Unlike most maps, this has three distinct "floors" accessible by ramps or Jump Jets. Heavies can hold the ground, while Lights can harass from the rafters.
​The Frozen Drydock (Flank): A series of half-finished DropShip hulls. These provide perfect "L-shaped" cover for firing lines and shielding from LRM rain.
​The Ice Tunnels (Flank): Subterranean maintenance tunnels that are just wide enough for an Atlas to squeeze through. It’s a high-risk, high-reward flanking route that bypasses the main firing lines.
​3. Tactical Gameplay Shift
​Dynamic Cover: Huge mechanical arms move across the map on a timer, carrying cargo containers. This means a "safe" sniping spot might suddenly become blocked, or a previously open field might get temporary cover.
​Destructible Lights: Small generators power floodlights around the base. Destroying them plunges an area into near-total darkness, forcing players to switch to Thermal or Night Vision.
​Why this works for MWO
​Currently, MWO suffers from "The Nascar"—where both teams just rotate in a circle until they hit each other. By placing the Gantry in the center with multiple vertical levels and the Ice Tunnels underneath, rotating becomes dangerous. You have to clear your "up" and "down" just as much as your "left" and "right."
​The Vibe: Dark, industrial, and claustrophobic, punctuated by the blinding beauty of the aurora overhead. It’s a map where a Commando can actually feel like a predator in the shadows.

I am developer but i am not aware of the cryengine map editor and its abilities.

you melted a whole *** alpine glacier just to get ratioed and smacked down by a dev.

AI is a scam, feel bad, learn, be better.

Ilostmycactus, on 09 February 2026 - 10:53 AM, said:

There's also that upper bay area on forest colony that almost never gets seen, in my experience. Or the outside ring on Polar Highlands, but that's less useful. If we wanted more maps with less work they could just dump in the invasion maps without any turrets or gates/generators. They might as well put in the test maps that we got to play on for that one event or two a while ago. The ones with the grids and editor-like graphics. Just call it the enhanced-vision simulator map.

Personally I really like Luthien, I notice the lanes are less restrictive (besides the canyon). Players tend to push both sides instead of nascaring all the time. Maybe it's just the spawns.

Subdividing alpine peaks would be a great way to get mileage out of a map that goes maybe 80% unused.

[LordNothing]

pbiggz, on 18 February 2026 - 11:15 AM, said:

you melted a whole *** alpine glacier just to get ratioed and smacked down by a dev.

AI is a scam, feel bad, learn, be better.



Subdividing alpine peaks would be a great way to get mileage out of a map that goes maybe 80% unused.

you also have six barely used fp maps you can subdivide.

Edited by LordNothing, 18 February 2026 - 11:24 AM.

[LordNothing]

BlueDevilspawn, on 10 February 2026 - 09:18 PM, said:

Ah but you see, I actually DO know the map editing capabilities. Describing them as lostech is actually appropriate.

And I know meep isn’t the op, it doesn’t change my view of his seemingly “easy” comment (to merely and so simply "strip away the faction elements") in the context of past technical “experts.” /s

the irony is you can still make maps for '90s games.

Herod, on 17 February 2026 - 04:21 PM, said:

Seriously. Bring back old HPG in to the rotation. It can easily co-exist with the new.

that was my ace map and i miss it.

[pbiggz]

LordNothing, on 18 February 2026 - 11:23 AM, said:

you also have six barely used fp maps you can subdivide.

Do that too.

[Lanzman]

Herod, on 17 February 2026 - 04:21 PM, said:

Seriously. Bring back old HPG in to the rotation. It can easily co-exist with the new.

Yes. All the maps that were redesigned should still have their original version in the game. And some "new" maps could be made just by re-skinning some existing ones. Like Polar Highlands could be turned into Alpine Meadows by replacing snow and ice textures with grass and trees. Like that.

[Vonbach]

Just bring back old HPG.

[Moadebe]

BlueDevilspawn, on 10 February 2026 - 05:41 PM, said:

"strip out the faction play elements from the faction maps and toss them in" - Your choice of casual words (which makes things seem so easy) and position of new maps in trying to place yourself in the right (because what player wouldn't want new maps) belies straight up ignorance of what he just said or a bad faith proposal.

Even modifying maps for game modes they were never intended for means moving spawns, checking sightlines, adjusting dom circle accessibility and coverage, placing and adjusting conquest cap points so they are fair..... ALL of which is tedious and time consuming to do on a lostech map editor that Tiyos barely has the knowledge to operate.

If a map, new or old, is not ready to literally drop into the game, it's probably not going to happen as priorities stand. He would need to clear off his MW5 work, he regular MWO work, and any other higher priority unique projects to dive into the morass that is the map editor.

Dude.

That was a straight forward question from Meep. A rather pertinent one too. It falls under the idea "well we have the faction play maps already. Would it just take a little tweaking and add those in since they are already maps in use and functional. Just change the out of bounds boundaries or something?"

Its a perfectly logical thought process for someone who might or might not have dev experience, and a valid question. You read way into that and I think its stemming from frustration at constantly seeing these topics come up and repeating the same answers.

Welcome to new players finding an old game and seeing an issue or having suggestions that have already been asked. Its going to happen man.

[Moadebe]

Tiy0s, on 10 February 2026 - 02:53 PM, said:

I know there are some players that love the idea of community made maps, but I am not sure of the rules surrounding that. Since that’s a whole can of worms I don’t think anyone wants to dive into.

Bringing back the older maps will at least satisfy that itch of more "maps" in rotation to pick from. Granted I think there are already alot. We just tend to see only a certain few because a few maps are seemingly "optimized" and so are preferred. You know that already. Just stating the support for a little more variety even if it is the older ones.

As far as community ran stuff. What would the higher ups possibly say about members of the community actually contributing to the further development of MWO in MWO as it is (not talkin 2.0 or anything.) Something like a community driven dev cycle with knowledgeable community members at the helm with a internal test server to ensure the code isnt gonna be bonkers.

I know the idea has been probably touted around awhile. While I am not a coder or dev.... I do have a small background in it and do understand things are NEVER as clear cut and dry with it. There is alot more than just typing out code and it "working."

Just kinda a thought of "12 year old niche game gets revitalized by dedicated community and is thriving while development company (our EG7 overlords in this case) shows it cares about said community while reaping rewards."

(Before it is said....i know i know. Idealistic and highly improbable. But in a game such as MWO in the state its in with the community it has....I gotta beg the question.... "why not at least try?" )

Just wonderin.

[pbiggz]

Tiy0s, on 10 February 2026 - 02:53 PM, said:

I wasn’t planning on chiming in but then some really spicy ideas got posted so I figured why not


At the moment, AI is not suitable for any assets being made for a modern video game. No rocks, no map concepts/layouts, no key art, nothing. Maybe textures of assets already modeled if you want sloppy nonsense with no visual theme or consistency. Personally, I hope it stays that way. I personally believe the proliferation of generative AI is nothing short of a profound threat to and dilution of the human experience and machines that cannot experience or feel should not be anywhere near any form of art. Putting my personal beliefs aside, the tech just isn’t there. The rocks assets you mentioned earlier that were generated would never be game ready. Anyone with any dev experience knows that. As for AI generating layouts, the AI could never take into account balanced sides, focusing player movements on certain points of interest on the map, making sure it has a good game flow, and more. The map would just be a jumbled mess. For your idea of AI generated ideas or concepts, a dev still has to make the map from that AI generated concept. A level designer to block out the map and make it viable. An environment artist to create the assets for the map. QA to rigorously check the map to identify any bugs or issues. After AI generating the “concept,” you still have 99% of the dev work left to be done by actual devs. So why loop in an AI at all?

Once again, I struggle to wrap my head around the idea of anyone with game dev experience positing the belief that AI can just make the map for you. It could not be further from reality. You’ll just get more slop, and there’s already enough AI slop in the world.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. There are uses for AI out there, some pretty amazing ones too. This is not one of them.

On a more practical and business oriented note, as the community is aware Krazzdaxx was laid off along with many other PGI staff. I do not have the knowledge to create maps in MWO, only edit existing ones. It sucks, but the remaining level designers are all pointed at MW5. I have been mulling over bringing back some of the older versions of maps as classic versions, such as Terra Therma, HPG, Polar Highlands, and Caustic Valley. But those aren’t new maps.

I know there are some players that love the idea of community made maps, but I am not sure of the rules surrounding that. Since that’s a whole can of worms I don’t think anyone wants to dive into.

Consider subdividing existing maps. The thing about MWO maps is the objectives make the game play out basically exactly the same every time. You're utilizing like 20% of a very large map because most of that real estate is useless. Some maps are better than others (canyon network, mining collective, rubellite oasis (for my money the best map in the game), and river city for example, get pretty close to full use, everyone goes everywhere which is good), but you could get like 4 or 5 different subdivided variant maps out of the outer areas of terra therma and alpine peaks that nobody ever uses. The base in south alpine peaks could be divided into its own map for some games of skirmish or assault. The same could be done for the lowland area (plenty of cover and lots of space that nobody ever goes to because everyone always goes straight for the mountaintops). The outer areas of Terra Therma are the same. You could use the closed in city area in crimson strait for a skirmish map. You could cut forest colony in two and use the forested back area away from the water as its own map. Also as mentioned before, factionplay maps like hellbore springs could have the outer area parcelled off for quickplay.

I dont know what effort it would take to move the out of bounds lines around, but is it worth exploring?

[scrapmetalmwo]

stop picking the same few maps over and over again there are maps that dont get played at all like river city crimson strait i havent seen thiose maps at all in last 3 days just the same old canyon alpine hpg and vitric might see a few of the snow maps here and there but always the same old maps over and over

stop picking the same few maps over and over again there are maps that dont get played at all like river city crimson strait i havent seen thiose maps at all in last 3 days just the same old canyon alpine hpg and vitric might see a few of the snow maps here and there but always the same old maps over and over