I’d like to see exactly what all maps look like, including Custom ones, but it’s a very cumbersome process. Would also like to do so on-the-fly when setting up a lobby
Right now, I’m needing to start a SP match, choose a map, make sure “All Visible” is selected, start the match, look at the map, quit the match, go back to main menu, start another match, choose a different map, start the match, and so on. Which, I will not be doing for 158 maps or however there are.
The tiny cartoony thumbnails do very little to show how cool, or not, maps are. Personal preferences make me want to evaluate things like how hilly they are, how natural/organic they look, what animals are in them, trees vs. ground ratios, grass vs. dirt ratios, and so on. This is impossible to effectively do with cartoony map abbreviations.
Being able to quickly preview the various maps would also help me preview my .RMS map after making a change to the file. I make an update to the file, then go through the hoops described above to view the tweak, quit the map, make an RMS update, launch a new match, look at the map update, etc. Very painful. I’ve had to launch and quit about 50 games the past two days to see my changes.
In the following thread, someone says to use the Scenario Editor, but that doesn’t work for me. I can’t figure it out. I see no way to generate the various maps there. Sure, you can look at terrain types where the entire map becomes grass, forest, or sand, for example, but that’s not what I want to do. I weant to see the actual maps that we can choose when setting up a match. Even if the Scenario Editor somehow is able to show maps quickly, it’s a workaround. No normal AoE player will ever see or use that, or know to go there.
So, I really wish a previewer tool could be made.
