World and zones
One seamless world, 100 by 100 kilometres, in the American Southwest: Cerbat County, where real-life Kingman, Arizona stands. It is hundreds of times larger than the GTA IV map. Crossing it in a straight line at 150 km/h takes about 40 minutes.
How the world is built
Real terrain. US Geological Survey elevation data (USGS 3DEP, 10 m spacing) became the landscape: from 137 m by the Colorado River to 2561 m on the top of the Hualapai Mountains. Sand, rock and gravel follow slope and height on their own.
Roads as they are today. Route 66 with its loop over the mountains, Interstate 40, US-93 and the railroad (in the game it is the fictional Desert & Pacific) come from OpenStreetMap. Dirt roads lead to 14 mines and 18 ranches, with power lines, fences and billboards along the way.
28 towns, two big ones. Kingston City and the mining town of Oatesville are built to GTA IV detail; the other 26 towns are smaller. See Towns and places.
There are no safe zones, but the law is stronger in towns and weaker in the backcountry. No teleports: you travel by your own car, the train, the bus or by hitching.
Zones
Each zone comes from real vegetation data of the county and differs not only in scenery but in what you do there.
| Zone | What is there | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston City | Where Route 66, I-40, US-93 and the railroad meet: neon, motels, villas on the hills | Story, jobs, businesses, bars, street chases |
| Route 66 east | Grassland, cliffs, ranches, prairie dogs; Hackland, Valencia Junction, Traxton | Cattle drives, museum gas stations, abandoned motels with stashes |
| Black Mountains | Volcanic rock, a switchback road with no guardrails, wild burros, bighorn sheep; Oatesville | Dynamite, gold mines, mountain races, saloon shootouts |
| Colorado River and Mohave Valley | Reeds, cottonwoods, alfalfa and cotton fields, the hottest place on the map; Laughton's casinos on the Nevada bank | Farms, crop dusting, boats, fishing, smuggling by water |
| Lake Mohave and the dam | Bare rock over clear water, coves, a concrete dam in the canyon | Speedboats, the marina, houseboats, stashes in the coves |
| Sacramento Valley | Creosote, dry washes, dust devils, a closed car-maker's proving ground with an 8 km oval | Races and records, testing combat cars, trucking on I-40 |
| Hualapai Valley and Red Lake | A dry lake bed, Joshua trees, pronghorn, vultures | Lake-bed racing, the smugglers' strip, car fights |
| Cerbat Mountains | Pinyon and juniper, the old silver town of Chlorite, a copper pit | Prospecting and mining, quarry machines, mining claims |
| Hualapai Mountains | Oak, pine, fir, aspen near the top, snow in winter | Hunting, forest roads, Fort Hualapai, stealth in the woods |
| Detrital Valley | Joshua tree forests, desert tortoises, the road north | Trucking, motels, running from the county |
| North Pole on US-93 | A roadside "Christmas" town in the middle of the desert, closed since the 1990s | Side stories, seasonal events, Christmas in July |
Weather and seasons
The climate of the real Mohave County. Up to +45 °C in the valleys in summer, while the Hualapai Mountains stay cool and get snow in winter. July to September brings the monsoon with afternoon storms; spring brings desert bloom, wind and dust storms. The server runs the seasons.
Weather changes the game, not just the picture. A dust storm hides you from witnesses but also from the road. A flash flood carries a car out of a dry wash. Without water in the heat you weaken, your sight blurs, then comes heat stroke. A canteen, a jerrycan in the trunk and the taps at gas stations save you.
Night
Street lights burn only in towns and at interchanges. Outside towns the night is truly dark: moon, stars and headlights. A car without lights can't be seen from afar, but its driver sees almost nothing either. More on night and stealth in Law and wanted level.
Animals
About 40 species, and each one does something in the game.
- Desert: coyotes (in packs, howling at night), rattlesnakes (venomous, you need antivenom), scorpions, tarantulas, roadrunners, desert tortoises, pronghorn, wild burros.
- Hualapai Mountains: mountain lions, black bears, mule deer, elk, javelinas, wild turkeys. Bighorn sheep live on the cliffs of the Black Mountains.
- River and lake: bass, striped bass, catfish, herons, beavers.
- Near people: cattle and horses on ranches, guard dogs, cats, bats in the mines. Wild burros walk right down Oatesville's main street and beg for food.
Vultures circle over bodies and show from afar where a fight was. Coyotes follow the smell of blood, dogs bark at strangers and wake the guards, and animals flee fire and sense a storm before people do.
Fire
Dry grass and mesquite burn fast, pines in the mountains burn crown to crown, houses burn room by room. Fire runs with the wind and climbs a slope faster: one tracer round in the dry season sets a valley alight. A forest fire in the mountains lasts for hours, its smoke is seen from Kingston City, and roads close. The city crew, volunteers and tanker planes fight it.
Source: design document, sections «Open world 100×100 km», «World zones», «Animals», «Weather and climate». The game is in development: what is described here comes from the design document and may change before release.