Japan Map

[Thisted87]

Hi everyone,

I recently posted in the discussion forum about a map of 10000x10000 Japan that I've made. I have no idea if this is of any interest to anybody, but as it didn't gain any traction there, I'm guessing it isn't. Nevertheless, I decided to post it here as well to see if anyone can give me some pointers on how to create better maps (e.g having a greater than 3 block depth in a flat world)
(mountains and rivers still largely need to be drawn, apart from one small section in the south)

Overview - It's more "Japan-shaped" really, as I was unaware of proper climate settings when I made the map.

 

[Mongster]

That's quite impressive. Sounds also like a massive undertaking. 

[Thisted87]

I appreciate your kind words. It is a big undertaking, but I've always done odd stuff with games to see what can/can't be achieved

[SunshineSea]

I really like that tatami matt! How did you do it? Chiseling? What wood is that? I'd love to see more of your interiors.

[Thisted87]

6 hours ago, SunshineSea said:

I really like that tatami matt! How did you do it? Chiseling? What wood is that? I'd love to see more of your interiors.

Hello! It's chiselled ebony wood coupled with a plain creative block from memory. Very glad you like it, maybe I'll make some more interiors :))

[SunshineSea]

5 hours ago, Thisted87 said:

Hello! It's chiselled ebony wood coupled with a plain creative block from memory. Very glad you like it, maybe I'll make some more interiors :))

That would be lovely to see! This building really makes me think of a lovely tatami room - that sliding door to the right feels like there's a little courtyard garden just outside. 

[BlackMoonHowling]

My god! That is a huge project, very impressive

[Thisted87]

6 hours ago, BlackMoonHowling said:

My god! That is a huge project, very impressive

Thank you! I'll update periodically. I've started to make a map of Europe 50000x50000. Yes, I am completely insane

[Shoom]

Lovely! I've always wanted to build a Japanese style castle but just thinking of the roofing part makes my right eyelid twitch. 

[genovefa]

How did you make the map to begin with? Do we have something like worldpainter for VS? awesome project

[Thisted87]

16 minutes ago, genovefa said:

How did you make the map to begin with? Do we have something like worldpainter for VS? awesome project

Hello!

Unfortunately there's no dedicated worldpainter tool as far as I could find. I had to literally overlay a grid onto the game world and refer to another reference map to make it accurate.

 

[Professor Dragon]

45 minutes ago, Thisted87 said:

Unfortunately there's no dedicated worldpainter tool as far as I could find. I had to literally overlay a grid onto the game world and refer to another reference map to make it accurate.

And then what? Please tell me that you didn't build this block by block. 

[Thisted87]

1 minute ago, Professor Dragon said:

And then what? Please tell me that you didn't build this block by block. 

Not exactly,

The worldedit tools make doing large things easier than physically placing every block individually. But this is also a huge work in progress.. mountains and rivers still need to be placed. I'm hoping at some point to somehow open the map up to everyone so that people can build Japanese themed stuff all over it. But I'm very new so I don't know how to do that, or if it's even possible.

[Professor Dragon]

2 hours ago, Thisted87 said:

Not exactly,

The worldedit tools make doing large things easier than physically placing every block individually. But this is also a huge work in progress...

You're awesome.

Completely mad.

But awesome!

The world needs more people like you.

Professor Dragon.

[Thisted87]

3 minutes ago, Professor Dragon said:

You're awesome.

Completely mad.

But awesome!

The world needs more people like you.

Professor Dragon.

Thank you kindly!

[Zarathustra]

On 11/2/2025 at 9:06 PM, Thisted87 said:

Hello!

Unfortunately there's no dedicated worldpainter tool as far as I could find. I had to literally overlay a grid onto the game world and refer to another reference map to make it accurate.

There is a Mod/script that turns minecraft worldpainter maps into VS maps, you can apparently even do some amount of temperature/humidity setting there

 

[Thisted87]

7 hours ago, Zarathustra said:

There is a Mod/script that turns minecraft worldpainter maps into VS maps, you can apparently even do some amount of temperature/humidity setting there

 

Thank you very kindly for pointing me in the direction of this fine mod. For me, this sort of thing is a game changer. Get it? Get it? Game changer.. cause it's a mod

[Loosebearings]

This is amazing. Reminds me of some earth servers on minecraft I used to play

[Zarathustra]

On 11/26/2025 at 9:03 PM, Thisted87 said:

Thank you very kindly for pointing me in the direction of this fine mod. For me, this sort of thing is a game changer. Get it? Get it? Game changer.. cause it's a mod

Please let me know when you have finished the world. I've been trying for hours to get a decent japanese-esque landscape with alpine story mod plus the ingame terraforming, to build heijo-kyo 

[Thisted87]

1 minute ago, Zarathustra said:

Please let me know when you have finished the world. I've been trying for hours to get a decent japanese-esque landscape with alpine story mod plus the ingame terraforming, to build heijo-kyo 

I absolutely will. I'm going to start over from scratch with the new worldpainter mod, though. It'll enable the map to be more than 3 blocks deep and I'll make the new one with proper climatic zones so that Hokkaido is cold and Kyushu is warm (I can even extend down to Okinawa thanks to the mod!)

As soon as it's done I'll let you know - I'll have to work out how to upload it or put in on a server. If you know how I can do that, please tell me

[Thisted87]

Behold! The *new* Japan map. (not furnished, just the landscape so far)

I was able to completely re-create the entirety of Japan thanks to the worldpainter mod by Hugo Cortell. 
I've uploaded pictures to help showcase the mod and what can be achieved with it. The world size is now 20000x20000 blocks and includes the southern Ryukyu islands (Okinawa and surroundings). It's climatically *semi* accurate. It's cold in the north, and warm in the south... But it's a little too cold in the north. You can see the aurora borealis from Hokkaido which I don't think is possible in reality. And Okinawa is almost nearing the equator... So it's extremes, but kinda fun anyway. Winter cannot be noticed anywhere in Kyushu and most of southern Honshu, and definitely not in the Ryukyu Islands. It only gets cold and foliage-ey in Tohoku and further north.
The land is now also 111 blocks deep at sea level, so plenty of room now for underground activities!


Overview, "satellite" view:

Spring time scenes:

Summer time scenes:


Autumn/Fall scenes:

Winter scenes:

[Zarathustra]

oh my god I love it. Is there any way you could share the save or something? I lived in Japan for a long time, now I'm back in my homecountry for a couple months, I really would love to try to build Heijo and Heian. There are some areas that would need a little polishing, like the Towadako is really really steep, I still remember how frightening it was to drive up from the lake, and the view from the top, and I don't see any bamboo, but other than that it is magnificent! 

[Zarathustra]

Regarding the vegetation I think it needs a lot more expecially on the mountains. The mountains are very dense forest, expecially in tohoku and the central alps. Also the winter/snow line should be more like in the middle of Japan. Last year we had a lot of snow in the Mountains near Kyoto (naturally not so much down in the Kyoto plain), and the northern part of Chugoku (Matsue) and Hokuriku get a lot of snow as well.

Sorry if I seem overly critical, your map is the most amazing thing i've seen regarding VS in a long time! 

[Eric Bullock]

If you DO manage to get the altitude automated, ... why not go for Life Size?  About 3mil by 3 mil? 
Beautiful work, by the way!!

Oh!  And didn't they just 'FIND' 700 new islands? Don't forget those!!   

 

Edited December 3, 2025 by Eric Bullock

[Thisted87]

8 hours ago, Zarathustra said:

Regarding the vegetation I think it needs a lot more expecially on the mountains. The mountains are very dense forest, expecially in tohoku and the central alps. Also the winter/snow line should be more like in the middle of Japan. Last year we had a lot of snow in the Mountains near Kyoto (naturally not so much down in the Kyoto plain), and the northern part of Chugoku (Matsue) and Hokuriku get a lot of snow as well.

Sorry if I seem overly critical, your map is the most amazing thing i've seen regarding VS in a long time! 

So basically what it is (in regards to the forestry), is the worldpainter script isn't quite perfectly translating the painted meta layers. This map is the 4th iteration where I've tried to get the mountains completely covered in forest but was unable. This means it'll have to be hand painted on. So I'm regarding that as furnishing... 

Like you, I myself am still kind of dissatisfied with the incorrect latitudes. I have to work within the confines of the way the game sets the latitudes, so this may mean a total re-do. I'm happy to do that, but the post I made still displays what the mod can do

In any case, here in Australia we've got a long period of Christmas holidays just around the corner, so lots of time to get the perfect map done. I can find a place to upload the map once I get everything right, and you can have at it