ALiVE-Compatible Maps and Descriptions
Thought it would be useful to have a thread on here with a list of people's favourite maps and how well they work with ALiVE, along with descriptions. The wiki is really good but can involve a lot of trial and error if you aren't already familiar with the maps.
I'll keep this post updated with everybody's suggestions. Let me know if you see any errors.
Temperate (Europe / North America) Maps
Caribou Frontier
Medium (8x8) Eastern / Northern European bleak / cold weather map. Plenty of industrial areas, coastline and forest. Rugged, hilly terrain. Hard to find a more detailed map with great frames. Small main island with a few land masses around it for starting bases. Naval port and airfield. Map has built-in ambient sounds module which adds the sounds of distant battle.
Good for: conventional operations, armoured operations. COIN could also work.
Notes: Works well with ALiVE. Made for Arma 2.
Gunkizli
Large (20x20) Eastern European (?) warm-weather themed map. More than 100 villages and hamlets, 3 Airfields, heavy wood cover and vast expanses of shalow marshes. One main airfield. Dense object count. Really quite beautiful. Mostly flat.
Good for: conventional operations, armoured operations.
Notes: ALiVE indexing works well, throws up an error if used with CUP (not tested yet with AiA TP). Released recently but not sure if it's still in development. Made for Arma 3.
Koplic
Medium (8 x 8?) meditterrannean plain, clustered with villages, hamlets and towns, and lots of wide rivers. Mostly flat. Great frames! Very 'symmetrical' map - even distribution of villages and military objectives. No finished airfield but huge section (clear and flat) at the top of the map to create your own.
Good for: conventional, asymmetrical and waterborne operations.
Notes: Works well with ALiVE. Made for Arma 3.
Tropical / Sub-Tropical Maps
Isla Duala
Medium (10x10) Sub-Saharan Africa-themed savannah / desert map. Numerous towns and villages, airfields, military installations, islands and rivers. Some forested areas. Not particularly dense object count, high FPS. Mixture of hilly / flat terrain.
Good for: conventional operations, armoured operations, counter-insurgency, counter-poacher.
Notes: ALiVE indexing works well. CUP-compatible. Updated for Arma 3.
Lingor
Medium-sized (10x10?) equatorial map with a South American theme. Lots of islands, mangrove areas, jungle / forest, numerous urban areas ranging from small hamlets to large towns. Multiple airfields. Dense object count. Undulating, hilly terrain. Frame rates can suffer a bit, especially in towns.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, counter-narcotics, jungle operations.
Notes: Map still in development, ALiVE indexing works well. Seems to work with CUP (some buildings not enterable). Updated to Arma 3 standards.
N'ziwasogo
Large (20x20) equatorial map with a central African jungle theme. Large areas of coast, islands, rivers, thick jungle / forest (with some pretty convincing custom jungle sounds), numerous urban areas ranging from small hamlets to large towns. AI uses roads well. One main airfield on an island to the south. Mostly flat.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, counter-narcotics, conventional jungle operations.
Notes: Map updated recently, ALiVE indexing works well. Seems to work well with CUP. Made for Arma 3.
Sahrani SMD
Large (20x20) central Atlantic island map. Two main islands and one outlier, numerous urban areas, plenty of vegetation, undulating. One large airfield and two smaller ones. Loads of coast. This map doesn't get enough pub. Huge graphical improvements over the A2 ported Sahrani. Great terrain variations and Alive works wonderfully on it as well.
Good for: counter narcotics, coastal / maritime ops, conventional operations. Good all rounder.
Notes: Map made for Arma 3.
Central Asia / Afghan Themed Maps
F.A.T.A.
Medium (10x10) Pakistan-themed hilly map. Very detailed map with good frames (was originally designed for PR for Arma). A few decent sized towns in the centre of the map - other villages spread throughout. No airfield. Pre-built FOB in the south for starting point. Excellent for asym.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, Afghan / central Asian themed operations.
Notes: ALiVE indexing works fairly well, but filters need to be turned off in placement modules for all military locations to be recognised. Some villages may not be picked up by civ mil placement modules, so custom mil placement modules are advised. Use debug to check. Made for Arma 2.
Isola di Capraïa
Medium (10x10) coastal central-Asian / Takistan-themed island map. Could also pass off as Mediterranean. Mostly rural. Some forested areas. Rugged, hilly terrain. Floating airfield base in the top left of the map. Excellent frame rate. One medium town with a bunch of smaller villages. Naval port.
Good for: 'carrier-like' assaults from the floating airfield.
Notes: Works well with ALiVE. Made for Arma 2. Untested with Asym mode.
Kunduz, Afghanistan
Small (10km squared), highly detailed Green Zone-themed map. Numerous compounds and small hamlets, a couple of towns. Flat fields in the east and centre, hilly desert to the west. Plenty of natural cover and very authentic. Frame rates can be lower than other maps.
Good for: counter-insurgency, Afghan themed ops.
Notes: Map still actively developed. ALiVE indexing works but does not pick up military / civilian locations all that well (military bases are lacking - best to place custom FOBs). C2ISTAR tasking sometimes places tasks outside map area. Made for Arma 3.
Reshmaan
Large (20.4 x 20.4) central Asian-themed (Afghan / Takistan) map. Some large towns with mosques, as well as forested areas, rivers, agricultural land and hamlets. It has 3 airports and apparently some coal mines. Not particularly object-dense. Mixture of hilly and flat terrain.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, Afghan / central Asian themed operations, conventional warfare.
Notes: ALiVE indexing not completed. A couple of the larger cities and even small towns can't organically spawn civs. May work better with multiple civ placement modules. Made for Arma 2.
Takistan
Medium sized (12x12) mountainous Afghan-themed map. Lots of small towns and hamlets, mostly desert, two airfields. Not much vegetation or cover.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, Afghan / central Asian themed operations.
Notes: ALiVE indexing works well. Recently updated for Arma 3 by CUP.
Sangin
Small (5x5) map based on Sangin Province, Helmand, Afghanistan. Relatively flat, includes winter and summer variants. Absolutely phenomenal layout for insurgencies. Varied terrain, outstanding city layout, brilliant prebuilt FOBs, poppy fields, etc. not too big, not too small. FPS can be quite low.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, Afghan / central Asian themed operations. CQB / hedgerow combat.
Notes: ALiVE indexing works well. Made for Arma 2?
Tora Bora
Medium sized (10x10) mountainous Afghan-themed map. Lots of small towns and hamlets, some coniferous forest, no airfields. Not hugely object-dense.
Good for: insurgency / counter-insurgency, Afghan / central Asian themed operations.
Notes: ALiVE does not pick up many civilian objectives, so many of the smaller towns need manually placed custom objectives. Civilian placement mostly works. Seems to work well with CUP. Made for Arma 2.
