*UPDATED*
v1.5 - 17th October 2010
Check homepage URL for more details.
*UPDATED*

The reason I made this map pack was because I saw alot of custom maps out there that people were saying "this is a good map" yet the map was a very generic open map with a few ruins plonked down with a few bushes, and to me, that just doesn't excite me, especially when those open maps have next to nothing in the way of cover for infantry against archers or horsemen.
So a little over a week ago I decided to bite the bullet and finally give map making in mount and blade a bit of a crack, with some much appreciated help from a friend "Aleczacool" who guided me through the set up process of python and the module system, aswell as giving me a few tips on how to use the map editor. (Thanks Alec! :) ).

My goal was to make a map per day. Which I would say I achieved if it weren't for having 9-5pm shifts at work just about every single day :(
Each map initially took about 7 hours to create. Add another 3 hours (give or take) for some minor exploit play testing by Aleczacool and Lord_Callum.

All maps include an AI Mesh, in case you don’t have anybody to play with.

So firstly, let me introduce the maps.

THE MAPS

DRY AS A BONE
Dry as a bone was my first map.
The scenario is basically one team has set up a little hideout in an old dried up pond.
The map was designed in favour of infantry combat, however ranged infantry do have plenty of spots to shoot from, but at the same time risk being ambushed. Horsemen aren’t the best in this map due to the tightly knit nature of the rocks around the map, however a good horseman could really do some damage using a charger to pummel through infantry running between the rocks.
I have made the rocks tightly knit to make combat more interesting, as players will have to watch to see if they are able to swing with their weapon or not. So players must choose their weapons carefully, as 2h weapons most likely will not dominate in certain parts of the map.

ON THE EDGE
After finishing the first map, I wanted to step my game up a little now that I had a good feel of the editor. I wanted to try and push the boundaries a bit more and make something a little more unique than what I’ve currently seen from other maps.
The scenario is that one faction is travelling along a mountain pass and must venture up into the mountain through a forest area, unfortunately there is another faction waiting in ambush after a spy informed them of the venturing faction.
The map is an all round sort of map, but more so orientated around infantry once again.
Archers can still have fun on this map, however it will be difficult to find and hit targets through the thick forest area and shrubbery. They can also easily be ambushed.
Horsemen have a bit more room to move on this map as opposed to the DRY AS A BONE map, however it may be difficult for horsemen to find and attack targets due to the many trees used for cover and hill to slow unit movement down.

The map features a rather long drop off a cliff face, which can be dangerous if fighting around the cliff top area.

NOTE: As entertaining as it may be to see a horseman ride over the edge of a cliff by accident during battle, I have prevented horses from running off the edge of the cliff as horsemen can survive just about any fall.

BATTLE FOR HHARKIN
I decided (and was influenced) to make a town map, and decided to get cracking on one.
Battle for Hharkin was the result. I could have probably added a bit more detail to grass textured areas, and also added a little bit more cover in the open areas, but I got lazy :(.

The scenario is that one faction has invaded a city called Hharkin (I know there is no such place in mount and blade....but there damn well should be :P). The attackers reach some stables, and a town garrison are forced out of their barracks to come out and try and fend the attackers off, or at least reduce their numbers.

The map is fairly balanced all round. Infantry have plenty of cover to move between, and plenty of different pathways to take to set up ambushes.
Archers will feel a bit more at ease in this map as there is a lot more open ground than previous maps, however horsemen also like open ground, and can just as easily pick off archers.
Horsemen do have plenty of open area to move around in, but most of it is cut off by close combat areas, which horsemen can easily be caught up in by clever infantry.

KNEE DEEP IN DEATH
Probably my favourite map because while it is open, it is also very closed.
What I mean is that there is no real physical cover, however there is plenty of grass to hide in which can allow players to sneak up to one another, and evade attack from other players.
Unfortunately this map took a bit longer than it should have due to a strange graphics limitation which seems to only affect Nvidia card users. What happened was the map was larger than it is now, and had smaller grass areas that were more thick and detailed. But for some reason on Nvidia graphics cards, the last 40% (give or take) of the grass in the map was culled out, yet ATI users could see ALL the grass perfectly fine.
This resulted in having to delete all the grass, reduce the size of the map, and make the grass objects bigger and crappier looking....but it’s a necessary sacrifice.

The scenario is there are two factions who just happen to come across one another in some swampland, and now are battling it out.

This map is an all round style of map, regardless of its’ openness.
Infantry may be exposed to ranged weapons and horsemen, however they can easily run and hide in a matter of a second or two, melee combat is both fun and difficult, due to the thick grass around the swamp which can block a players view and allow other players to make surprise attacks.
Archers are surprisingly not very dominant on this map (unless they are AI archers which can see through bushes perfectly) due to the large amount of cover for infantry and other archers to hide in.
Archers will need to keep a keen eye out for infantry popping out of cover otherwise they can easily be snuck upon.
Horsemen will find this map a little more fun, however infantry can very easily ambush horsemen from the grass, so horsemen need to be extremely alert.

NOTE: During play testing, a game mode was created called “Swamp Monster†(I know...how original huh?), where one player would be kitted out will full armor and whatever melee weaponry he/she wanted. The other players have to run around with no armor and just 1 set of javelins in first person mode.
The hunters (naked people with javs), must try to survive and kill the swamp monster either by throwing their javelins or using their javelins in melee combat.
Just for fun, all players should jump on a voip program, and the swamp monster should make whatever swamp monster noises they deem fit their swamp monster character :P

NOTE 2: I am in the process of creation a separate “Monster hunter†style module, because of this idea. However all details will come upon release.

SMUGGLERS COVE
I blame the “You are a pirate†song by Crazy Town for this map -_-
I had the “You are a pirate†song in my head (urgh!) , and so all I could think of was some sort of pirate cave.
There is not much more I can say about making this map other than the fact that it started with a big idea, was cut down so that AI could easily navigate the map, and then after playtesting, the map was opened up larger again with an AI mesh that AI could easily navigate.
So in the end, it worked out quite well.

The scenario is one faction have found a smugglers cove while on a campaign, so they move in to investigate with an army, only to have a nasty greeting by smugglers/deserters of another faction.
This map is very infantry and archer based.
The map doesn’t have the openness that other maps have, it is fairly straight forward, however there are 2 routes to attack the enemy from. There is the one main route, and another side route that can be used for cutoff or ambush tactics by infantry. There is cover for infantry against archers, but not a great deal, however most of the map is indoors and will give infantry opportunities to slip into cover away from ranged weapons.
Archers will have a bit of an advantage on this map over infantry and especially over horsemen, but infantry can just as easily dominate archers provided they use common sense and tactics.
It is not advisable to be a horseman on this map as it is semi close quarters, and has plenty of sections where horsemen may find themselves feeling a bit slow and stuck. In saying that, smart horsemen can certainly help distract archers while infantry move in for the kill.

HEATED BATTLE

Ok....well.....I wanted to make a map that nobody else had seen in the Native module, and I figured “Why not create a volcanoâ€...
I also really badly wanted to make a map where players would need to fit on a bridge or two over a huge drop...or in this case, lava, fire and smoke :).
So yes...this map is a fight on some bridges and cliffy areas inside of a volcano.

The scenario is pretty straight forward; There is no scenario. This is just 2 factions who one day decide it would be cool to fight on bridges over firey smokey lava :) .

The map is balanced depending on the area of combat.
Infantry will definitely need to use shields on this map (unless they’re a naked suicidal maniac like me) to protect themselves against archer fire, or they can camp out and hide in cover, using their own teams’ archers for cover fire.
Archers will have fun on this map, however they too will not have much cover and will need to watch out for enemy archers.
Horsemen can do a great deal of damage on this map, especially if a charger goes across a bridge while infantry are crossing it. The horse will knock the infantry off the bridge and get a kill for each player that falls to their death. But horsemen may find it difficult to make such an attack and time it properly without being stopped mid charge, so archers need to keep infantry on the bridge distracted.
As seen in the screenshots below, there is an upper bridge and a lower bridge to come under and around behind the enemy, so tactics using infantry, archers and horsemen will determine who wins this match.

NOTE: Barriers are in place to stop horses jumping off the edge.

WATCH YOUR STEP

I was about to release the map pack because I simply was exhausted from both map making and my real life job, but I wasn’t happy with releasing the map pack with just 6 maps, and I had more ideas that I wanted to create, so I worked on one last map for the time being, just to get it done!
I wanted to create something that gave a feeling of vertigo, so I had the idea of fighting right on the edge of a cliff with nothing but a meter or so of footing to fight on, and so this map was born.
Initially the map was ALL going to be vertical, fighting on wooden scaffolding, but after looking at what objects I could use, I found myself limited to only using objects that had supports coming out of the right side of them, so I could not make stairs that zig-zagged upwards.
I ended up just making a map that curved around the outside of a cliff top area instead.

The scenario is that there is a castle on the edge of this massive sea cliff, with a secret passageway built into the cliff below it from many centuries ago. This castle has been a real nuisance for enemy factions due to the trebuchet on top firing on invading and passing boats, but now the enemy has finally cleared the secret passageway up to the cliff top to take over the castle from its’ weakest point.
The map is very infantry orientated, but also gives plenty of advantages to archers depending on the areas fought it.
Infantry have a large advantage along the cliff areas, however archers have an advantage on raised areas. At the same time though, there are several ways that Infantry can sneak up on archers and give enough time from distraction to allow other infantry to move up.
This map is definitely not for horsemen, however there are areas where the charger can do huge amount of damage by knocking players off the edge.

NOTE: Horses once again cannot jump off the edge.

INSTALLATION AND WHAT YOU NEED

- You will need to download and set up Python and the Module System.
You can download the Module system here:
http://173.192.225.169/mb_warband_module_system_1131.zip

You can download Python from here:
http://www.python.org/download/

To set up the module system and Python, go to this forum thread here for a guide:
(NOTE: When you ge