Victoria II News

Forget Victoria 3, this Victoria 2 mod can give you an (almost) 3D map

PDXCon Remixed is next week, and everyone is hoping that Victoria 3 will be the new grand strategy game announced by Paradox Interactive during the show. Maybe it will be, or maybe we're looking at Europa Universalis 5 or even a new fantasy-themed game, which would be quite cool.

But let's be honest, you don't need Victoria 3. Victoria 2 is right there, and it's still pretty boss (if a little old-school by now), and now you can take it to the next level with this Victoria 2 mod that can almost give you a 3D map.

It's called Mish Mash Map Mod, and it's a visual mod that attempts to uplift Victoria 2's campaign map so that it looks less flat. Terms like "parallax occlusion mapping" are thrown about a bit, as are "pixels". It all sounds very technical, but the end result is that you get a 2D map that's still a 2D map, but it doesn't look like a 2D map, which is the important thing.

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Paradox fans are desperate for the new grand strategy game to be Victoria 3

As you may remember, during Paradox Interactive's recent Paradox Insider event, the company announced that a brand new grand strategy game was going to be announced during the annual PDXCon event in May. Naturally, I joked and said that it could be Victoria 3, but fans on Reddit are now hotly debating whether it actually will be Victoria 3 or not.

The main thing that's got everyone worked up is a bunch of information that's been brought up by user LocalPizzaDelivery in a reddit thread. Essentially, someone potentially affiliated with Paradox trademarked the victoria3.com domain back in 2014, as well as a bunch of other domains. I have my own reason to believe Victoria 3 was genuinely being worked on back then - the question is whether it's still being worked on, and whether or not it will be the next game to come out.

What LPD goes on to highlight though is how the domain information for the Victoria 3 domain is different from some of the others registered, hinting that it was perhaps a more genuine registration as opposed to a land grab. User hesseb is supporting this theory, and has started their own lengthy thread on the subject as well, mainly looking into the company that owns the Victoria 3 domain and the implications that has.

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The best Victoria 2 mods and how to install them

Writing this roundup of Victoria II mods is like stepping back in time. It's off to ye olde ModDB (along with a jaunt or two to the Paradox Forums) for all your Victoria II modding needs. Steam Workshop has spoiled us with its handy library and easy integration, but there's no such luck here despite the game being available on Steam.

Despite the meme amongst Paradox's fans that every soon-to-be-announced Paradox game is Victoria III, the fact remains that Victoria II has never had the broad following that its younger siblings maintain. For all the dedication of some, we are dealing with a game that's over ten years old. A large number of worthy mods are untraceable due to any number of broken links and forgotten websites.

What follows is an all in one guide to installing Victoria 2 mods, troubleshooting those same mods if you're having issues (which you probably are) as well as a list of some truly stand-out candidates that really help spice up this iconic grand strategy game.

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Six games to play while we wait for Victoria 3

Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun and its sequel Victoria II have always felt like the black sheep of the Paradox family. Despite a dedicated fanbase, Victoria fans have been waiting over seven years for a sequel. Imperator: Rome showed that there is at least some willingness to look back at some of these more niche grand strategy titles, but that game also betrayed perhaps a reluctance to commit any serious resources towards such a project.

This got me thinking, in the absence of the sequel everyone knows we deserve, what other Victorian games can we play whilst we wait?

As I sat down to write this list, it became clear that there is a distinct lack of strategy games set during this period. The era is dominated by action/adventure games and RPGs such as Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Red Dead Redemption 2 or This Land is Mine. We managed to find some gems that are worth checking out regardless. It's worth noting that we haven't mentioned Victoria II itself- it's a valid option but if you're like us, you've probably played it a lot already by now.

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The Best Victoria 2 Mods (and how to install them!)

Writing this roundup of Victoria II mods is like stepping back in time. It's off to ye olde ModDB (along with a jaunt or two to the Paradox Forums) for all your Victoria II modding needs. Steam Workshop has spoiled us with it's handy library and easy integration... but there's no such luck here. The game's modding landscape says everything really.

Despite the meme amongst Paradox's fans that every soon-to-be-announced Paradox game is Victoria III, the fact remains that Victoria II has never had the broad following that its younger siblings maintain. For all the dedication of some, we are also dealing with a game that's ten years old. A large number of worthy mods are untraceable due to any number of broken links and forgotten websites.

What follows is an all in one guide to installing mods, troubleshooting mods as well as a list of some truly stand-out candidates.

What are the best Victoria 2 Mods?

Cold War Enhancement Mod (Total Conversion)
New Era Mod (Total Conversion)
...

How to Mod Victoria 2

You'd think that each and every mod would tell you precisely where the files should go in your Victoria II folder. Turns out, a fair number don't. The following is the procedure for most mods:

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