We tried to do that in the past.
https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=64058.msg880784#msg880784Short of a long story, Raz wasn’t in agreeance with the idea.
Initially our plan with the now “Forbidden Patch” was to find a way to get both the old maps and new maps into the game without also having the game just be filled up with a ton of extra empty maps. One of the reasons why the old maps were initially removed in Red’s 2016 update was due to them being absolutely massive. They caused issues with the server and Raz wanted the new maps downsized so they’d be better “optimized” to work with the server.
So when my group of staff and I started this Forbidden Patch project we had to take into consideration the immense size of the old maps and not recreating the same old mistakes that caused them to be removed in the first place. We however wanted to make sure that the old maps weren’t remade entirely or changed in a way that they’d be unrecognizable or not “feel” the same. After a lot of work and playing around with the map maker we managed to downsize the beloved old maps but in a way that didn’t disrupt the way they “felt”. Fluorite was the trickiest unfortunately since it was the BIGGEST, and no matter what way we resized it we ran into issues so we ended up just cutting the map in half and keeping the side most people hung out on (Most of the middle and west side that included N/Z, Stone Bridge, L Island, and the strictures etc).
Some other things done was that we built Bonfire Island into Seaside Grove, built in Old Ficho to the New Ficho Tunnels, built in the Temple of Dreams into Flourite, etc.) By building the old maps into the new maps we hoped it would bring some more love and life into the new maps and be a nice way to embrace new and old. It also reduced the number of separate maps so the community wouldn’t be separated and scattered through so many map. So basically if you wanted to hang out in Bonfire it was built into Seaside so everyone could enjoy being together on both those maps.
We didn’t just slap the old maps back into the game either, we had sat there refining each map, and adding more details to make them even better. We kept old beloved land marks and objects where they were and added in more, as I always have believed “don’t fix what ain’t broke” & “if something is good just make it better, don’t change it.”
There were so many other wonderful details and fixes that were being done and were to be done with that Forbidden Patch but as said it never came through because it wasn’t approved by Raz. It was a huge let down and heart break and resulted in the whole October debacle but that’s that. This isn’t to get upset at Raz either as Raz believes it’s not what the game needs and in the end it’s his server and he decides what he pushes through. He’s expressed before that he believes the community just wants the feelings the old maps have and not the old maps themselves. Don’t go off on Raz or anyone here. What is done is done. I’m just trying to explain that many of us staff feel the same but there’s only so much that can be done in regards to this topic, with this version of FH...
I’m sorry.