Faster Terrain Sculpting In Lush Map Editor

The brand-new editor for creating Farming Simulator maps is Lush Map Editor. For clarity, the AI tool that corrects my writing here doesn’t yet know what to make of Lush Map Editor. This new tool will probably become map modders’ best friend in the years to come.

As an amateur modder and game engine explorer, I’ve had my eye on Ola Haldor’s creations since he got into modding for Farming Simulator years ago. In a sense, he pushed the limits of what was possible in Farming Simulator map-making. It’s no surprise he got attention for that, making probably one of the game’s largest maps based on real topographic terrain data, though it was surely demanding to run on some systems.

Since then, this Norwegian guy (as I’m a born-and-bred Norwegian myself) has developed a new tool for map modders. This tool takes a simpler approach to map modding, so users don’t have to dig through XML code or use slow-loading tools that at times crash the old GIANTS Editor…to desktop *COD they call it…*

Last month, GIANTS Software launched another update to their editor: version 10.0.14. The same issues with the slow terrain sculpting brush are still present. Surprising huh? I’m not that surprised anymore. In fact, their editor is starting to get old. It needs some simplifying touches to perform well on Windows 11. Perhaps also a better user interface than something that looks like an old-school, 1990s software application skin. Now what beats that?

Lush Map Editor does. I loaded my 8192 x 8192 meter sample map into this tool with no problems. You can even use a dark-mode interface without all these white and grey panels distracting your eyes. In fact, the terrain sculpting tool doesn’t have a loading delay like in GIANTS Editor. A fun fact: some of us like to sculpt all terrain by hand *even if it takes a long time* without waiting five seconds for a tool to load each time.
That tool itself (in GIANTS Editor) makes my CPU fans blow out, then drop back to normal. That isn’t present in Lush Map Editor, which makes me happy. It also makes my computer happy…I suppose.

Lush Map Editor offers plenty of new features, mainly in spline editing, but also the familiar GIANTS Editor features. It’s also a good blend for managing placements, roads and much more. And for a game engine, it has a user interface with panels that are pretty much the same as in GIANTS Editor…just with a few variations and tweaks, and a better application skin.

So if you are interested in this tool, please check out the website: https://olahaldor.itch.io/lushmapeditor

And please consider donating to his development work, even though you can download this tool for free.

Also, have a look at his latest videos below, featured on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHfi5ZAlrtU

More Reading…

The new editor comes with panels organised in more readable ways. Let’s just take the window for terrain textures:

And we also got a clear and good selection GIZMO *such a fancy word, right?* And you can click directly on the placeables and the vehicles (associated/linked XMLs) directly in the viewport, and they will display an icon for which vehicles will be spawned on the map’s terrain surface.

In the Assets browser panel, you can drag and drop assets directly into the viewport. This applies to any asset, such as placeables, props, decals, trees, vehicles, and audio.

You can expand or collapse all these panels however you want. And you can also fast-switch to nighttime, which can be pretty neat when working with lights, lit assets, or just doing visual debugging.

This editor has so many things that simplify the working environment that are missing in GIANTS Editor. So for now it’s a great alternative, and hopefully the tool will also be well-documented for those who aren’t familiar with the old GIANTS Editor approach.
Personally, I think Lush Map Editor is a better starting point for newcomers who just want to mod a Farming Simulator map or explore how a map is put together.