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Requirements
Mandatory (for texture editing): Image editor - Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.Net etc. Some will require additional plugins, some ready out of box (like GIMP).
Totally optional (for messing with mod itself):
Mesh Editor - Nifscope
BSA editor - BAE + bsarch
Script compiler - PCA
esp editor - sseedit
vector graphics editor - Inkscape or similar
Prepared map (based on Tim Cook's topo map or any other to your liking)
Patience, a lot of it if you going to make 4k+ map.
Understanding flat map design
Standard Skyrim map menu mode is 3D as you know. Technically it uses worldspaces just like any conventional location with all associated assets - meshes, textures, weather, music etc. But it has nothing that allows us to pick and apply real flat map to flat surface.
Workaround that was found and used by modders primarily looks like that:
Lower object is a part of "mini skyrim" mesh in map menu, higher is flat mesh strictly above it. Looking from the sky point on flat mesh covered my map texture will allow player to see flat map instead of uneven terrain and with a bit of magic (projecting markers to flat mesh height) seeing game location markers as well.
Shown mesh above is only part of whole map menu space, and we need to gather them up in whole flat picture by properly naming them to reference in meshes.
Applying custom texture to framework
In case of versions 1.11-1.52 (chesko's approach) shown mesh is 1/24 part of 3d space used in map menu. That means texture with a map should be sliced to 24 equal parts, properly named and positioned.
Index matrix used in meshes for texture names right now is:
For versions 1.6+ where single joint mesh was used (nushu's approach), there is no need of such slicing. Only real requirements are:
1) wide enough fillers on left and right texture sides
2) max DDS size: 16384 x 16384 pixels
3) black fillers on sides recommended:
Effective map's part (non-black in this example) have to be properly centered to allow projected map markers be in their proper positions. Here is it, right in 50%/50% guides crossing:
Map textures names should be: classic.map.X.dds, where X is number on previous picture. Compression has be SSE compatible, most popular among them are BC7 and BC3/DTX5.
Considering background texture that appeared in 1.65: it should be default square multiple of 2, 16K max. Beside of main skyrim-themed background I've added small 512x512 black texture in case main wont be to someone's liking. Just rename it to back.dds.
Few words about map itself
While there are no strict requirements to map content itself, some things are adviced:
1) better leave some margins to allow player to see map's useful information while max zoom used.
2) for topo map service/immersive data supposed better be left (legend, scale, numeration etc)
3) effects and recoloring better be applied with markers size and color in mind.
4) (vesrions 1.3x-1.5x) map resolutions better be considered before picture editing. textures should be squares multiple of 2 only: ..., 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096, ... Skyrim will CTD on applying textures with other attributes. for version 1.6+ texture size is limited to 16K.
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