How to alter the opaque black shroud on the campaign map

**Epistolary Richard** · 11-13-2006, 23:12

A new feature for M2TW is the opaque shroud on the campaign map that covers the edges of the map and the Americas.

This is controlled in the base/map_fog.tga file

NB - map_fog.tga is not incorporated within the map.rwm file (which appears to be unchanged in terms of how it is constructed from RTW 1.5/1.6) you can therefore play around with it as much as you like without deleting the rwm file.

map_fog.tga in the vanilla game looks like this:

As you can see, the extra black on the left is where it covers the Americas.

Additional black on this file will add to the shroud, so if you make your map_fog.tga look like this:

You'll get this:

Note that you can see everything in your units and settlements LOS. Your target settlement, Jerusalem, is also revealed in the bottom left of the minimap.

Something like this would be ideal for someone looking to create a 'Civilisation'-style approach to exploration.

As units travel, they unveil the shroud.

We don't appear to have a scripting command that will lift it however.

**alpaca** · 11-14-2006, 20:06

Maybe toggle_fow twice would do the trick?

I like that feature actually

**Merlin's Apprentice** · 11-16-2006, 23:39

Having it all black and not sharing map info with other factions
I noticed they dont expand as much.
great for turtling
side affect mongols and timiruds dont move from the spot their placed
there were some minor skirmishes between the main factions but no major incursions.
3 campaigns so far with same results.

**Epistolary Richard** · 11-17-2006, 00:22

Interesting results, should be able to get around that by placing AI spies and then killing them with a script right at the stop.

**The Blind King of Bohemia** · 11-17-2006, 01:06

I haven't tried yet but is it possible to just delete the fog file? I assume you've probably already tried this.

**Epistolary Richard** · 11-17-2006, 01:23

No, I haven't tried it. But if you want to get rid of all the fog just fill the graphic with white.

**Whacker** · 11-17-2006, 03:00

Originally Posted by Epistolary Richard

No, I haven't tried it. But if you want to get rid of all the fog just fill the graphic with white.

Ave Mr. EP

A short question if I may... I noticed that the original graphic you show with white had small black borders around it. Do we need to leave those when changing the rest of file to white, or can we just make the whole thing white without making any problems?

**Epistolary Richard** · 11-17-2006, 09:18

The black around the edges are just there to provide a smoother look to the edge of the map, rather than the sharp cut-off in the RTW map. You can leave them or lose them as you please.