Regional Maps: Easier Loading and Pre-defined Maps

Before, playing on a custom regional map took two steps: load the map, then load its map script (the file that places its cities) with a second button. Now the game comes with pre-defined maps of real countries, and the map window has two tabs: Pre-defined Maps and User-created Maps. When you choose a map, its script is loaded with it. Each map is listed by its title, not just its file name.

Requires the City Economic Simulation DLC. Regional maps are part of the City Economic Simulation DLC. You choose a map when you set up a new game, on the Regional Map page of the DLC’s settings.

What’s new

Before	Now
Only maps you made or downloaded yourself	The game comes with pre-defined maps of real countries, ready to play
One list of map files	Two tabs: Pre-defined Maps and User-created Maps
Load the map, then load its script with a separate Load Regional Map Script button	Load the map. Its script is loaded with it. The script button is gone.
Maps listed by file name, with a file date and Sort by buttons	Maps listed by name, showing each map’s title. No date column and no sort buttons.
No way to tell from the list how many cities a map has	On the User-created Maps tab, each map with a script shows its number of cities

Loading a map

Start a new game and turn on the City Economic Simulation DLC.
Open the Regional Map page and click Load Regional Map.
Choose a tab: Pre-defined Maps for the maps that come with the game, or User-created Maps for your own.
Pick a map and confirm. The setup shows the files you chose, for example File: France.MAP, France.TXT. The second name is the script that was loaded with the map.

To go back to a randomly generated map, click Cancel next to the file names. This clears both the map and its script.

The window remembers your tab. It opens on the tab you used last time. If that tab has no maps, it opens on the other one.

The two tabs

Tab	What it holds
Comes with the game: Pre-defined Maps	Maps of real countries, installed with the game in the `MAPS` folder next to the game’s program file. Each one is listed by its title, such as the country’s name.
Your own maps: User-created Maps	Maps you made or downloaded, in the `MAPS` folder of your save game folder (for example `Documents\My Games\Capitalism Lab\MAPS`). Each map with a script shows its title and its number of cities.

How a map is shown in the list

The map has…	Pre-defined Maps tab	User-created Maps tab
A script with a `Title=` line	The title	The file name, the title, and the number of cities (for example 15 cities)
A script without a title	The file name	The file name and the number of cities
No script	The file name	The file name

About the pre-defined maps

The pre-defined maps are made from real-world elevation data and real coastlines. Mountains, hills, plains, lakes and coasts sit where they do in the real country. Each map comes with a script that places the country’s largest cities at their real locations.

Populations are scaled to the game. Each city starts with 100,000 to 500,000 people. The biggest real city gets the most, and smaller cities get less.
Real differences between cities carry over. Wage levels follow how rich each city’s region is, population growth follows the city’s real growth, and port cities get seaports.
The biggest cities come first. When you start a game with fewer cities than the map lists, the game uses the cities from the top of the list, so the largest ones are always in play.
The climate is random. As with any regional map, the game picks the climate itself.

For map makers: how a map finds its script

A map and its script are now one pair. The game looks for a script with the same name as the map, in the same folder:

MAPS\Bavaria.MAP     the map
MAPS\Bavaria.TXT     its script, loaded with it

A .TXT file of the same name that places no cities is not treated as a script. The map then loads on its own, without an error message.
The map you pick is always the one used, even if the script’s Regional Map= line names a different map.
Add a Title= line to the script’s [HEADER] section to give the map a readable name in the list:

[HEADER]
Title=Bavaria
Regional Map=Bavaria

[CITIES]
City=Munich
...

Updating an older map? There is no separate script button any more. If a script’s file name is different from its map’s, rename the script to match the map (for example Bavaria.MAP and Bavaria.TXT), or the game will not find it.

At a glance

Question	Answer
What do I need?	The City Economic Simulation DLC
Where do I choose a map?	New game → Regional Map page → Load Regional Map
Where are the pre-defined maps?	On the Pre-defined Maps tab (the `MAPS` folder next to the game’s program file)
Where do my own maps go?	The `MAPS` folder in your save game folder. They appear on the User-created Maps tab.
How do I load a map’s cities?	Load the map. A script with the same name in the same folder is loaded with it.
How do I go back to a random map?	Click Cancel next to the file names

See also: Version 12.5 new features.