by Felix Hermansson, Tsunami Studios (hoodncloak@hotmail.com)
24 December 2005
This huge map provides the players with an abundance of resources and treasures, but the dense forest also makes moving around difficult, especially for bigger armies. There is no trade route, but up to six hidden Tupi or Carib villages. Players and natives are placed randomly, so scouting is essential here!
To install the map, copy both files 'Rainforest.xml' and 'Rainforest.xs' into the game folder '..\My Games\Age of Empires 3\RM' (NOT into '..\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires III\RM'!).
You can then play it both in single player or multiplayer mode by checking the 'Custom Map' box on the map selection screen and then selecting it from the pulldown menu.
Note: It takes much longer to build this map than it does for most others, due to its size and the huge number of objects. So don't restart your computer just because the status bar remains at 80% for a while!
I would appreciate any honest feedback, good or bad. Please tell me what you liked, what you disliked, and especially, tell me why. If you have any ideas on how to improve it, all the better.
I would appreciate it even more if you did not modify this script without contacting me first.
Please send any comments or questions by e-mail to hoodncloak@hotmail.com. Oh, and add 'Age of Empires' to the subject and use proper language, otherwise your message will probably be deleted by the spam filter.
Have fun!
Felix
UPDATE, March 11 2006:
As patch 1.05 has become available I have updated this script to include a tooltip description for the map selection screen as well as a proper description for the game loading screen.