Map variants not appearing & map repetition-prevention failing (v9.1, PC, Steam)

Adngel

SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE:

Since recent patches, map randomization no longer includes alternate map variants; only the primary variant loads. Also the map repetition-prevention introduced in a previous patch appears broken, recently played maps are spawning far more often than expected. (No offerings were used during these observations).

Affected maps:
Ormond Inn, Yamaoka State, Bradham, McMillan, etc only the first variant appears in live matches.

Expected behavior:
Alternate map variants should appear in the random pool as before. Maps played recently should have a reduced spawn probability per the repetition-prevention measure.

Suspected cause:
A recent change to the map-offering system (how offerings affect selection) may have altered or bypassed the map randomization / repetition-prevention logic.

PLATFORM:

PC (Steam), current version 9.1 (Walking Dead chapter).

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW THE ISSUE OCCURED:

Playing more of 100 matches in 1vs4 mode and seeing the alternative maps are never happening, and maps that we played recently keeps reappearing,

AcesSpeedo

im pretty sure map variants got removed to allow for more diverse map selection

CompetitifDBD

@AcesSpeedo said:

im pretty sure map variants got removed to allow for more diverse map selection

Was gonna say the same thing. This is fortunately not a bug. Having a higher chance if getting a realm with 10 maps in it is not fun

MarbleThrone

Not a bug.

Map variants have been removed.

Adngel

I think this is a bug. I didn’t see this change listed as an intentional feature in any patch, so it looks like something slipped through.

There’s no reason for alternative maps to reduce the spawn chances of other realms. There are 20 realms in total. Here’s an example of how the probabilities could work:

Probability per variation= (1 / number of variations) ​× (1 / number of maps in the realm) ​× (1 / number of realms)

Realm	Map	Variations	Probability per variation
Silent Hill	Mildiwitch School	1	1/1 × 1/1 × 1/20 = 0.05
Racoon City	RPD West	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Racoon City	RPD East	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Ormond	Lake Mine	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Ormond	Resort	3	1/3 × 1/2 × 1/20 ≈ 0.0083
SpringWood	Badham Preschool	5	1/5 × 1/1 × 1/20 = 0.01

Explanation:

• Each realm keeps its total 1/20 chance to spawn, regardless of how many maps or variants it contains.
• Maps inside a realm divide that 1/20 chance among themselves.
• Variants inside a map should only split that map’s share, without reducing the spawn chances of other realms or other maps within the same realm.

Based on this way of distributing probabilities, alternative maps variants wouldn't necessarily change the total spawn chances of any realm. Each realm could keep its 1/20 chance to appear, with variants only redistributing the map’s share internally. If the game worked like this, having multiple variants in a map like Ormond or McMillan wouldn't reduce the spawn chances of smaller realms like Silent Hill or Gideon Meat Plant.

MarbleThrone

Buddy, map variations were removed. They can still be played in Custom Game but on live, they're gone. Badham has only 1 variation now (Badham I to be precise), so do Ormond, Yamaoka, MacMillan, etc.

This was mentioned in a livestream, not in patchnotes iirc.

MarbleThrone

Source:

https://www.youtube.com/live/9pR607LNhGo?feature=shared&t=3923

SoGo

@Adngel said:

I think this is a bug. I didn’t see this change listed as an intentional feature in any patch, so it looks like something slipped through.

There’s no reason for alternative maps to reduce the spawn chances of other realms. There are 20 realms in total. Here’s an example of how the probabilities could work:

Probability per variation= (1 / number of variations) ​× (1 / number of maps in the realm) ​× (1 / number of realms)

Realm	Map	Variations	Probability per variation
Silent Hill	Mildiwitch School	1	1/1 × 1/1 × 1/20 = 0.05
Racoon City	RPD West	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Racoon City	RPD East	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Ormond	Lake Mine	1	1/1 × 1/2 × 1/20 = 0.025
Ormond	Resort	3	1/3 × 1/2 × 1/20 ≈ 0.0083
SpringWood	Badham Preschool	5	1/5 × 1/1 × 1/20 = 0.01

Explanation:

• Each realm keeps its total 1/20 chance to spawn, regardless of how many maps or variants it contains.
• Maps inside a realm divide that 1/20 chance among themselves.
• Variants inside a map should only split that map’s share, without reducing the spawn chances of other realms or other maps within the same realm.

Based on this way of distributing probabilities, alternative maps variants wouldn't necessarily change the total spawn chances of any realm. Each realm could keep its 1/20 chance to appear, with variants only redistributing the map’s share internally. If the game worked like this, having multiple variants in a map like Ormond or McMillan wouldn't reduce the spawn chances of smaller realms like Silent Hill or Gideon Meat Plant.

It was confirmed by the devs.

All of the additional map variants have been removed from normal matches, and can only be accessed in custom games.

The reason behind it were maps like Ormond Lake Mine, which was infamouly rare, and the fact some of them had pretty wild spawns.