Vurhonga Savanna Repair/Modernization

[alpine umbra]

Vurhonga Savanna is the 4th oldest map in Call of the Wild and unfortunately, has not seen any real updates or changes to the map or its animals in recent years. In my opinion, Vurhonga feels old and broken and needs some fixing. I plan to address some of the issue than can be fixed on Vurhonga.

There are some issues with vurhonga that probably aren't economically viable for EW to fix (like the maps geography, biomes and background sounds) so I'll exclude those for this thread.
The main issues with vurhonga that can be fixed all have future value and aren't anything too radical.

This is the list of fixes I suggest
• Revise all animal models on Vurhonga (this includes size, proportion, colouration & texture)
• Revise some animal sounds
(Lesser kudu, warthog and Jackal don't sound right)
• Redistribution & population rework
(Some animals are in areas they should not be and some animals are too abundant or too few)
• Revise some animal behavior
(This includes some animal movements and vocalization/vocalization tendencies)
• Backfill/replace some animals
(Lesser Kudu should have been Greater Kudu and Impala should have been common throughout the map)

Due to character constraints, I will further elaborate my points in the thread itself. I truly hope EW picks this up and brings Vurhonga up to speed with maps like EM coast and Suderparten.

[alpine umbra]

Revision of Animals

Most of the animals (except Eurasian Widgeon) are in need of reworks. Their body shapes are off, their textures are dated and their colours are wrong.

Here's what each animal needs.
• Cape Buffalo need: complete rework
• Lion need : complete rework for males, colouration fix & texture update for females
• Gemsbok need: Model tweaks, texture update & colouration rework
• Bluewildebeest need: Model tweaks, texture update & colouration rework
•Lesser Kudu need: Complete rework
•Warthog need: Complete rework, including a size increase
•Springbok need: Model tweaks, texture update & colouration rework
• Side striped Jackal need: complete rework
• Scrub Hare need: Complete rework

[alpine umbra]

Revision of some animal sounds

Some of the animals of Vurhonga sound pretty great (like lion) whereas others sound really off (like lesser kudu) and are in need of fixing.

Here's what each animal needs.
•Cape Buffalo need: Mating call rework
Here's how buffalo actually sound
https://youtu.be/umBGlmSAaeY?si=pf_s29W9JPx3MMq-

•Gemsbok need: complete sound rework. Their vocalization should be rare.
Here's a rare example if gemsbok vocalization
https://youtu.be/LfULq9Qsq_I?si=UW_vkiJ7SoJSx1Z6

Bluewildebeest need: reworked mating call.
Here's how a Bluewildebeest mating call should sound (and where it got its name)
https://youtu.be/n1y_xYFqcm4?si=daM211sLC_KpDY8k

Lesser Kudu need: Complete sound rework. Kudu only make alarm calls and deep sounds when with a female and trying to breed.
Here's how Greater Kudu sound when Alarm barking, so this put higher pitched for the smaller Lesser kudu would do
https://youtu.be/yc3yldMnuKU?si=_JWkck_qBV6z3qdo

Warthog need: Complete sound rework
Here's a warthog mating call
https://youtu.be/GbSiZVOk3Bo?si=4qP2ws19m67w5I3q
Here's a warthogs general sounds and alarm call
https://youtu.be/_9OgwuY6xXA?si=I3d246TUaWy8mlKT

Springbok need: Mating call rework. Springbok are quite animals and don't often make noise. A low pitched bellow is a mating call and when alarmed they make higher pitched snorts

Side striped Jackal need: complete sound rework. Side striped jackals make gruff calls as mating calls and yelping barks as warning calls

[alpine umbra]

Redistribution & Population rework

Most of the animals of Vurhonga have good home ranges, but some need work. Most of them also need their numbers changed as there are too many or too few of some of them.

Here's a suggested for changes for animals that need correction.

Cape Buffalo: Distribution is ok, just need some more in the fevertree forest and less in the open savanna. 50-100 per map should be suitable

Lion: Distribution is ok, they can be all over the map. 25-50 per map should be suitable

Gemsbok: Distribution is good, they should remain concentrated in the open grass savanna but the odd one on the verhonga plateu would be good. 50-100 per map would be more realistic and suitable.

Bluewildebeest: Distribution is ok, they can be all over the map and found in small groups in the Vurhonga Plateu. 75-120 per map should be suitable

Lesser Kudu: their distribution is mostly good, but they need to be in the vurhonga plateu. 50-75 per map should be suitable and more realistic

Warthog: Distribution is ok, they could also be everywhere, concentrated to the edges of the map and should also be in the Verhonga plateu but in limited numbers. 150-200 per map should be suitable

Springbok: Distribution is mostly good, they should be rare in the vurhonga plateu. 100-120 per map should be suitable

Side striped jackal: Distribution is good, they can be literally everywhere. 130-170 should be suitable

Scrub Hare: Distribution is great. Current numbers are perfect

[alpine umbra]

Revised animal behavior

There are much better explanations for some of the animals behavior that need to be fixed in other threads, but here's the basics.

Cape Buffalo: Should be more confrontational, more aggressive after being wounded. Buffalo are well known for their charges at hunters who have gotten too close for their liking, resulting in a charge and goreing. Buffalo are also well known for their tendency to hide in dense bush and ambush their pursuers, especially after being wounded by a poor shot. It would also be nice if Buff got a speed increase to a realistic level to make them actually dangerous

Lion: Lion should form prides like they do Irl. It would also be nice if they acted like tiger from sunderparten in the sense that they might stalk and attack you.

Gemsbok & Bluewildebeest: they have a odd pacing animation where they pace towards and away from the player afew times when alert. Way of the Hunter portrays their alert movements/animations better and should be referenced.

Lesser Kudu: Lesser kudu should avoid open areas like the plague as far as they can and after being spooked should dart back into dense bush. They should also be browser's, so feed on bushes and trees. When alerted to the player, Lesser kudu should freeze and stand did still and make very small little movements untill they are calm (again similar to WotH's Greater Kudu but with less movement)

Warthog: warthog should go down on their knees (front knees) when feeding and when they trot or run off, their tail should stand up straight like an antenna

Springbok: they're mostly ok as far as I'm concerned really, just need the improved alerted behavior, again, like WotH

Side striped Jackal: they should have a bouncy galloping animation when being called in. They should be skittish and flee into dense bush. They could share alot of animations and movements with Coyote

Scrub Hare: Scrub hare should lay down flat flat when frightening and jump up and run when fleeing

[alpine umbra]

Backfilling/ replace some animals

Vurhonga is supposed to be based in Southern Africa, but really it's an amalgamation of various parts of Africa. Lesser Kudu and Eurasian widgeon are Kenyan aswell as the general terrain, but Cape Buffalo, Bluewildebeest, Springbok and Gemsbok are Southern African animals. I suggest that we just keep vurhonga a fantasy Africa map thing and maybe improve on it in the spots where it's really lacking.

In terms of replacing animals, I suggest replacing the Eurasian Widgeon with the Yellow billed duck (basically a mallard reskin) and/or Egyptian Geese.

In terms of Backfill animals, I suggest the following.

East African Impala
These impala are the largest of the 3 subspecies, they would be found in the more southern part of vurhonga, the vurhonga plateu, fevertree forest and all long the edges of the map. They are the most abundant ungulate on the map (200 per map). They'd be a Class 4 animals similar to Sika deer.

Cape Bushbuck
This is a small Class 3 animal exclusive found in dense bush like along the banks of the outskirts of the map and the vurhonga plateu.

Common Eland
This is very large, class 8, antelope. They would be found although the map but are not in large numbers (give or take 50-75 per map)

Greater Kudu
This is a fairly large, Class 7, yet elusive antelope, being known as the grey ghost of Africa. They are only found in dense bush like along the edges of the map and in the verhonga plateu. (Note. If Greater Kudu were to ever come to virhonga I only have them to fill weapon Class 7, also I would expect for them to be very slightly more numerous than lesser kudu, and to have no drink time, as to make them worthy of their elusive title)

Burchell's Zebra
The Zebra is a heavy but fairly weak animal, making it a good class 5. It can be found everywhere on the map but is concentrated to the more open areas. The number of Zebra per map should be between the Gemsbok and wildebeest

African leopard (C7) and Hyena (C5) are also on the list seeming that they literally can't be kept in or out of anywhere

And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the main idea of what I belive might help fix Vurhonga Savanna and make it feel at least a little bit newer without changing the whole map to make it realistic

[alpine umbra]

I think the need for animal rework is apparent

[fallow harbor]

The Mustache hat cape always saddens me ... ☹️

[late juniper]

Lions definitely need some TLC

[wind dust]

Real thought and effort has gone into this!

Has all my backing💪

[alpine umbra]

The only thing about lion that doesn't irk me every time I see them in game are some of their animations and their sound

[simple python]

I'm not fond of the chase animation bc they are literally chasing nothing. Between that & the behavior ai doesn't feel natural. Not too mention on my reserve specifically (not sure if its everyone) but they are everywhere.

[umbral bramble]

All I want is there to be animals on the far west/northwest side of the plateau, there’s absolutely nothing from the one outpost then traveling to the north on the west side of the plateau. ( beside it not on the plateau )

[alpine umbra]

Their trot and walk are pretty decent. Their run is fine but they stop randomly like black bear do, and like you say, the chase animation makes it chase nothing and then they are too common as well

[floral oxide]

After tiger appearance I don't hunt at lions because they non dangerous and boring.

[simple python]

Yea when it comes to predators I'm alittle nit picky about it esp. when I hunt them irl & I have a deep respect for them as well. Though I'll confess I've only hunted US Predators but I have worked with Big Cats & other predators in captivity & breeding programs when I studied Zoology at Henry Doorly.

[alpine umbra]

It's been bugging me for a while how that side of the map is practically just useless.

In the image I've attached, I've highlighted the area where nothing really happens. There's Scrub hare, Jackal and Springbok, but there all usually within the borders of the yellow areas I marked and aren't good trophies.

The way I hope EW fixes this area and make it viable to hunt is by either redistributing the Springbok and Lesser Kudu populations (so that Springbok aren't found in the platue area anymore but it's prime tophy Kudu hunting land) or by performing a redistribution to remove Springbok from the area and backfilling Cape Bushbuck/Common Duiker/Steenbok/ East African Impala to that plateu area. The plateu area is perfect in terms of vegetation for all these small-medium ungulates and because they're relatively small, it won't affect the maps storyline much if at all.

P.s sorry for the book, I'm just rather passionate about all the African hunting stuff lol

[grand chasm]

i wanna get on the vurhonga mountain

[alpine umbra]

One of those animals that really need a full rework is the Lion. They have a peculiar orange hue in CotW compared to their more tan colour irl. I'd also love to see EW perhaps link the lions mane to it's level, so the more impressive/beautiful the mane, the higher the lions level.

Also, it seems that EW initially intended to make lions move in prides but for some reason didn't end up doing it (coding issues maybe ?). I base this off of some of the photos they put out from the lions launch where lions are sitting or moving in prides. Either way, I hope EW does rework the Lion and change their behavior to make them form prides.

[alpine umbra]

Here's an animal that needs a full rework, to model, sound and some animations as well, the Springbok

Currently it's hard to see why the model of the Springbok is off without a side by side but you can see it if you look carefully. Also the coloration of the Springbok in game isn't that great. The "Tan" fur variation should be as orange as they get seeming that they don't really actually get very orange irl, also the frequency of the black brown variants 1 & 2 need to toned down. On a fenced farm that specifically breeds these variations it would make sense, but on vurhonga it's too frequent. Also the last 2 thing I must nag about are their horns and Mohawks. The Springbok horns currently in game are waaaay too thick, especially for males, and lastly, I'd love to see it if EW could model the Springboks "Mohawk" of white hair on their back/rump that stands up during mating displays, dominace displays and most importantly for game context, at the moment of death after being shot.

Vurhonga Savanna Repair/Modernization

[umbral bramble]

I think you used the legacy horns, they got truracs in 2023 and are a lot smaller. heck the diamonds are way smaller than the bottom middle irl photo.

[honest stag]

It reminds me of East Asian depictions of the lion… just way less elegant

[alpine umbra]

The trurack springbok are generally an improvement over legacy but they still look a bit odd to me.

I've got a flinter thumbnail here with some example of the truhorn springbok compared to some irl males an the last 2 are females. I still think the horns taper and shape look a bit off

[severe veldt]

If I could rework Vurhonga's map itself, I'd lean into making it based on Western South Africa/Namibia since that's where gemsbok and springbok rly live

I think a really scrubby map like WotH would be great since the Kalahari has lots of plains game species and it'd contrast with a theoretical big 5 African map

[alpine umbra]

Eastern Namibia would be ideal imo

[severe veldt]

Yeah I'm picturing an arid savanna map with really wide open sightlines
Stuff like buffalo would be rare, concentrated around water

[alpine umbra]

Ja that sounds right. Eastern area is more bush Savanna and transitions to the Arab srcubland you find just west of the kalahari

So, Scrub Hare. They're a little odd in CotW, where they tend to be found in large groups and fairly active in the day and they display stange alerted behavior.

Now photo 1 and 2 are just for coloration comparison, as you can see its pretty much perfect, just in need of a texture update I think. As for their behavior, there's alot of potential room for improvement. Scrub hare are basically completely inactive at day and just lay like in picture 3, all day, in long grass and or under a bush. Now photo 4 shows what they do when frightened, the drop, tuck their ears and hide, they literally sit there until you just about step on them and then they dart off to bushes or something. Lastly, one change I'd like to see on their model...the crazy eyes

[severe veldt]

Yeah IMO, the eyes are the most important part of an animal model and the ones in CotW don't have that hare look

[obtuse oasis]

Since vurhonga is my least favorite map I really want to see this happen the map needs it BADLY

[alpine umbra]

In my descriptions I said that Lesser Kudu should be concentrated in more densely vegetated areas of Vurhonga and that the Vurhonga plateau region is perfect for this. I went and got some examples while hunting some Springbok in the region. In my opinion, if there were just more animals in this region (and the surrounding region with similar flora), it'd be the only side of the map I really want to hunt.

[daring crypt]

Please add Impala

[alpine umbra]

The Blue Wildebees is mostly pretty good in CotW, it just needs some touch ups with reference to colour and texture. The sounds they make are mostly ok, they just need some work on the mating call.

[tall wagon]

A simple and less complex idea than the one you propose would be to make a remastering and remodeling of all species, changing the lesser kudu for the greater kudu, the Eurasian wigeon for the Egyptian goose and adding the Nile crocodile.

This would be done with the idea of making an Africa 2.0 in South Africa and a 3.0 in Tanzania and Africa would be completely covered by different locations and many species such as lesser kudus, hippos, elephants, etc., in Tanzania and rhinos, impalas, antelopes, blesbok, etc., in South Africa, plus all the species that we already have from Botswana.

[tall wagon]

Tanzania Reserve 🇹🇿

• African Bush Elephant ( class 10 ) - New
• Common Hippo ( class 10 ) - New
• Lion ( class 9 )
• Cape Buffalo ( class 9 )
• Common Eland ( class 9 ) - New
• Waterbuck ( class 7 ) - New
• Sable Antelope ( class 6 ) - New
• Blue Wildebeest ( class 6 )
• African Leopard ( class 6 ) - New
• Lesser Kudu ( class 4 )
• Common Warthog ( class 4 )
• Side-Striped Jackal ( class 2 )
• African Savanna Hare ( class 1 ) - New

13 Species

South Africa Reserve 🇿🇦

• Southern White Rhino ( class 10 ) - New
• Lion ( class 9 )
• Cape Buffalo ( class 9 )
• Greater Kudu ( class 7 ) - New
• Gemsbok ( class 6 )
• Black Wildebeest ( class 5 ) - New
• Spotted Hyena ( class 5 ) - New
• Common Warthog ( class 4 )
• Blesbok ( class 4 ) - New
• Impala ( class 4 ) - New
• Springbok ( class 3 )
• Black-Backed Jackal ( class 2 ) - New
• Helmeted Guineafowl ( class 1 ) - New

13 Species

[tall wagon]

These would be my concepts or ideas about an Africa 2.0 and an Africa 3.0.

[severe veldt]

For East Africa, I'd do Ethiopia since that place has a lot of endemic species. You can have a mix of savanna lowland with stuff like lesser kudu and beisa and then the mountains for mountain nyala

[late juniper]

They made the warthog really tiny in this game

(Yes the one I’m showing is a rare hogzilla, but it’s to show how big they can get)

[severe veldt]

So what country/landscape do you guys would be best to represent Vurhonga Savannah?

React with a country flag below. I think 🇳🇦 ala WotH

[dusk fjord]

My take on a potential Vurhonga TLC Species list if it was in South Africa

• Cape Buffalo - Class 9
• African Lion - Class 9
• Nile Crocodile - Class 8 (River and Wetland areas like that Southeastern Corner)
• Greater Kudu - Class 7 (Wooded Areas)
• Plains Zebra - Class 7 (Grassland Areas)
• Gemsbok - Class 6 or 7
• Blue Wildebeest - Class 6 or 7
• Brown Hyena - Class 5 (Would be a rarer species)
• Impala - Class 4 (Replaces the Lesser Kudu due to that species being exclusive to Eastern Africa)
• Warthog - Class 4
• Chacma Baboon - Class 3
• Springbok - Class 3
• Black-backed Jackal - Class 2 (Replaces the Side-striped Jackal since those have a limited range in South Africa)
• Klipspringer - Class 2 (Vurhonga Plateau only)
• Cape Porcupine - Class 2
• Scrub Hare
• Rock Hyrax (Vurhonga Plateau only)
• Helmeted Guineafowl
• Egyptian Goose
• Cape Teal (Replaces the Eurasian Wigeon, they exist on 2 European Reserves anyways)

Maasailand, Tanzania Edition: Would be more arid in the savannah areas

• Cape Buffalo - Class 9
• African Lion - Class 9
• Nile Crocodile - Class 8(River and Wetland areas)
• Greater Kudu - Class 7 (Wooded Areas)
• Plains Zebra - Class 7 (Grassland Areas)
• Fringe-eared Oryx (Gemsbok don't live in Northern Tanzania) - Class 6 or 7
• White-bearded Wildebeest (They are present in Northern Tanzania) - Class 6 or 7
• Striped Hyena - Class 5 (Smaller population)
• Masai Ostrich - Class 4 or 5 (Savannah areas)
• Lesser Kudu - Class 4
• Warthog - Class 4
• Gerenuk - Class 3 or 4
• Olive Baboon - Class 3
• Thomson's Gazelle - Class 3 (Springbok don't live in Tanzania)
• Side-striped Jackal - Class 2
• Crested Porcupine - Class 2
• Harvey's Duiker - Class 2 (Forested Areas)
• Rock Hyrax (Plateau area)
• Helmeted Guineafowl
• Knob-billed Duck (Replaces the Eurasian Wigeon)

I didn't do a Botswana list since Botswana is well known for its elephant population and Vurhonga is said to have no elephants due to poaching pressure (Which is also why there is a dehorned rhino body on the map)

[severe veldt]

I'd do SW Africa with a Kalahari type map then make a big 5 map on the SA/Zimbabwe border

[severe veldt]

With current CotW, that's not an argument as they put in tigers, which are less legal to hunt than African elephants and rhinos

[dusk fjord]

I’m not against the inclusion of elephants to the game at all, I am one of the many people who support the idea on the basis that elephants are legal to hunt

Its more so the Vurhonga storyline that caused me to avoid making just a list of species at the time since a bit more research is needed on my end to better come up with a species list for Botswana that stays consistent with the reserve’s storyline

(At the time I am typing this I am looking at where the elephant population is concentrated in Botswana)

[severe veldt]

Oh then for Vurhonga, that's why I suggested a plains game heavy map based on the Kalahari

Very open and arid with lots of wide vistas and long range shooting

[dusk fjord]

Plus Africa 2.0 could come with Elephants

[severe veldt]

To me, it's more about each African map having a really unique biome

[alpine umbra]

Bump

[severe veldt]

Bumping this because, as such an old map and the ONLY African map we have, it deserves genuine love