TRANSPORT
FEVER 3FIELD GUIDERELEASE NOTES
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FREE GAME / MAP SETUP

Enable experimental map sizes

TF3 release manual checked September 30, 2026. PC feature; performance depends on map and hardware.

Close TF3, then enable the TF3 setting in settings.lua

In your user data folder, open settings.lua while the game is closed and set experimentalMapFeatures = true,. Save, restart TF3 and check the free-game or map-editor size menu. TF2 guides use a different key, experimentalMapSizes; it does not name the TF3 setting.

Large coastal Transport Fever 3 landscape with a city and road network
Official TF3 landscape for orientation, not an image of an experimental size setting. Urban Games press materials ↗

Enable and check the extra sizes

  1. Check your platform. The official manual lists experimental sizes for PC. Console choices are Small, Medium and Large; this file-edit procedure is not a console setting.
  2. Find the user data folder. In the game's Settings → Advanced controls, use Open User Data Folder if available, or consult the platform-specific user data paths. This is the folder containing settings.lua, not the installed game's program files.
  3. Quit the game before editing. Make a copy of settings.lua, open the original in a plain-text editor, find experimentalMapFeatures and change its value from false to true. Preserve the surrounding Lua syntax and the comma. Save it as the same .lua file.
  4. Restart and inspect the menu. In a new free game or the map editor, look for Tiny, Huge, Megalomaniac and Gigantomaniac in addition to the standard sizes. The largest 1:1 Gigantomaniac option is listed as 28.672 × 28.672 km in the manual; other aspect ratios differ.
  5. Choose within your machine's capacity. The manual says experimental large maps require at least 16 GB RAM and increase CPU load. Save before trying a very large map; the menu being available does not mean a given save will run smoothly.
WATCH THE GAME

Tycoon Gameplay Overview

Shows the game world, not the settings.lua edit.

Watch on YouTube ↗

How to tell it worked

After a full restart, the PC new-map menu offers the additional experimental names. You do not need to start a huge map just to verify the setting.

If the option is missing or resets

  • The value reverts to false: close TF3 completely before editing; a running game can overwrite settings.lua on exit. Save again, restart and recheck the value.
  • Still only standard sizes: verify the exact experimentalMapFeatures key in the actual user data folder. Do not paste a TF2 experimentalMapSizes recipe into TF3.
  • Windows hides extensions: enable file extensions in Explorer and confirm the file is really settings.lua, not a new .txt copy.
  • The game struggles after selection: go back to a smaller map; experimental sizes carry memory and CPU costs. The setting is not a performance fix.