EDIT: I case anyone in the future is wondering, after a few days of thinking about it with no replies I decided on trying to use the DE editor, with all of its effects options, with giant rather than ludikris maps. Combining this with the idea of doing the water last it looks like I’ll be able to do the things I wanted to do. It takes away from the feeling of a huge open world a bit, but for the battles themselves it might actually be better to not have too much space. Thanks for reading.
I am in the early stages of creating a campaign, which I was planning to create on Definitive Edition (DE). However, my plans involve using the largest map size combined with having lots of water on the map. The editor in DE seems to be unable to handle that at the moment (even with 3D water turned off in settings), at least without the use of a significantly more powerful machine than my less than 4 month old laptop. (I had to have Steam verify the integrity of my installation and I seem to have lost my event mods, that’s how not the editor currently handles it, but I’m not here to complain, I’m here for advice.)
So now I’m facing a dilemma. I’ve looked, and it seems like the editor in the 2013 version (HD) can handle these kind of maps, due to that version not having the new water physics. It also seems like HD scenario’s can be ported over to DE (but not the other way around, because the new scenario’s use the fully expanded data set and this can’t be changed). This means I can edit my scenario’s in that editor and then port them over and publish for the DE crowd, which would be nice. If indeed all scenario’s can be ported over. If I missed something I could end up creating my campaign for an effectively discontinued version of the game. It does seem however that this editor overall offers less functions than the new one. Using triggers and effects I had figured out how to make suitable hero units for my scenario, the effects I was using are simply not present in HD, which would mean I’d be required to do some proper modding, which could very well prevent me from porting the finished product over to DE.
My other option is to try and do this on the Wololo Kingdoms (WK) userpatch. That version uses a different file type for scenario’s, meaning I probably won’t be able to publish for DE, but I will be working on a famously stable version with lots of editor options and a semi-timeless community. But it’s not really where new players get drawn in, and I kind of like the idea of appearing in everyone’s DE mod menu.
So, if you happen to be someone who knows a thing or two about the editors, or have an opinion for any other reason, help me pick: design for DE using HD, possibly switching over if the DE editor gets an update, or step away from DE altogether and write the project on WK? Or is there a clever option I’m missing? (Now that I think of it, I could try creating the full scenario with as little water as possible and then adding it ones I’m sure I thought of everything, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.)