Borrowing campaign maps to use

Hi,

With the advice of some very talented people on this board and others, I used to mod MTW when it was all the rage. I added factions, added a few units, changed all sorts of stats, and all that good stuff. Very fun. For my game alone and not for distribution, I copied some work from other modders. I made sure to thank them too, and I recommended that people should download their good work. They replied with many thanks.

Now I finally have M2TW and want to mod some stuff. Aside from adding factions, I want to add at least 25 new regions to the campaign map. After playing MTW and RTW, it's shocking to see so few regions! I want to add basic stuff like giving Italy, Greece, North Africa, and the Middle East more.

Questions:

1. Since I'm basically looking for factions and more regions, should I just download a mod like Stain Steel or another well known mod that includes these? What mod would you recommend?

2. Would anyone recommend a good stand-alone M2TW campaign map that is open for public use, and thus ready for me to copy?

3. If so, is there any no-brainer campaign map installation that does all the work, fleshing in positions, contents of new regions, etc? Accompanying files of what to edit in to the txt would be sweet.


P.S. I don't want to "steal" anyone's good work, and start calling it my own. Instead, I want to wade in to this big lake of creativity and find something that's just my style, then congratulate the hell out of you for making it and letting me tinker with it.


Thanks