Map size and Turrain question

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Hello there, I have a game idea that might require the map to be huge, or at least I’d like it big, the map would have a lot of inspiration from the Canadian Rockies/Icefields Parkway highway etc, Jasper and Banff National parks. I’d be building up mountains to be scaled to look tall etc and then many locations around the map, like some towns, and various other things
A big factor in the game is driving to locations, exploring, off road overlanding, even ATV back woods trails, so getting around the map won’t be like one big walking simulator as your mode of transport will always be accessible. I want it to feel big and there be a sense of always finding new things to see, however I am not going into full detail of the game idea for obvious reasons.

So I am wondering how huge maps do or how big have developers managed to get their terrain based maps so that it isn’t too much of an issue, currently I set up 4 max size of 2,048x2,048 base plates for a total of 4,096x4,096 square.
I may go bigger as from centre I was able to walk for a maybe 2 mins to the edge and it just didn’t feel big enough since, I want to fit various things into the map.
That said I still am in early stages of planning and its mainly acting as the canvas so I may not even use all of it, and also things could change as things progress.

Also there will be lots of assets like trees, rocks, under growth etc, but the main detailed areas would be the player accessible areas, ideally players are free to explore the map at free will, but there will be areas that you can’t go. So finding balance will be one thing I work on, as well as making sure the assets will be made to not be too detailed etc.

If streaming is enabled doesn’t that only spawn in parts of the map in certain radius so that the player gets better performance?
2nd edit: so this is the case, so I’m wondering if I did a much much bigger map if it wont be an issue if the streaming enabled helps only render what needs to be.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to reading what people have to say.

edit: while I am on this subject how can you create different colors of water, like for example in the area there are lakes and rivers that are glacier run offs and are a turquoise blue, and other areas where the water is not this color. So how would you go about creating these different colors of water.

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Yes, streaming enabled will make it so that players (even with low-end drives or slower connections) will only load certain parts in a radius instead of all together in large maps. StreamingRadius defines the radius that the player will load at all times. The default radius is 512 studs, but you can change it to however you want. (Assuming you haven’t already, you should implement a slider or setting for the user to choose their radius for players with higher or lower devices).

As for colors, I’m not sure if it is possible depending on what your doing. If you are using the built-in water terrain, you cannot change the color detailing in some areas of it like certain gradients or textures. You could mimic the effect by adding some textured parts or terrain under or near the water to make it look muddy for example, but I don’t think custom color blotting like that is possible.

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good to know and I’ll have to put a slider in my notes, as for the water I figured that was the case, I’ll have to try to come up with some way to make the illusion of the colors. I kinda did it before using particles under water but it was a small area and wouldn’t be a great option for a large area.