Map Mode

[Cirerey]

I'd love to see a view mode of a map, seen from overhead. As one develops a mapping skill it would become more accurate and detailed and one could mark it up with item locations, and eventually publish maps based on it.

[LigH]

An "in-game automap" has been rejected several times...

A view from far above can be provoked by editing the camera.xml file in your private options sub-folder; but it works only until you change the camera distance again (e.g. with the mousewheel), if at all, and only in certain camera modes.

[Aiwendil]

You do it wrong Ligh...just change "MaxCameraDistance" to 500 for freerotation camera mode in ~/.PlaneShift/options.camera.xml. That way you can scroll with the wheel as much as you want and still don't reset the setting. And if you want an overview just go to free-rotation camera mode and scroll out as far as you want. The only time this gets reset is if you do some changes in the camera-options tab in the in-game options...what I think nobody ever does at all. And while at it...disable the camera collision by setting "UseCollisionDetection" to "off" in the general section of that file.

[Jawir]

Well, honestly I have wondered, since the first time I joined PS, why there isn't a useful map (not the one you get when you finish the tutorial...) in game... And Cyrerey idea seems very good to me. At the very first time it could be a blank sheet, then, the more you train the more it get detailed, perhaps it shows only the places you already visited... Why not?

[Caraick]

What Aiw said...

Also: There are several maps of PSland that have been made over the years.  Several of them are very good ones, too.

[RoberetGoldsmith]

Also  as a result of the game lacking of a map put in by the devs players have done their own and you buy and sell them  and collect em and they all look rather lovely and helpful when done well. Encourages player creativity

[RoberetGoldsmith]

What Aiw said...

Also: There are several maps of PSland that have been made over the years.  Several of them are very good ones, too.

 I like not reading over peoples points so I can just repeat in different words the exact same point. Sorry!

[Caraick]

>_> It's all good, Roberet.

[Gilrond]

Not really a minimap, but zooming hack - you change max zooming distance in the camera xml, and zoom out to the "birdeye view".

UPDATE: I see Aiwendil and LigH already mentioned this

[wherecat]

Holy racoons, i dunno about creativity, but focusing on "Where the f...ing God i am?" instead of roleplaying looks over9000 strange - this way I don't have enough time to focus on personality of my character!
Without minimap and automap I don't see any future of PS on the market. The character I play grew in this world and by frigging default can't have such navigation problems I have! So, dear developers, as it said - put up you trousers or put off your holy cross

Sincerely and so on!

[tman]

What about some sort of compromise?

What if we give new players a VERY rough map of just Hydlaa to go along with their "Letter from a friend."  This map can be pretty much exactly like an editable scroll except it will have a very rough outline of Hydlaa as the background instead of just a blank slate.  By editing this map like any other scroll, players will be able to add details to the map and mark important locations/NPCs/etc.  For a start, the map should have markings for people/places mentioned in the letter (aka Harnquists shop, the library, maybe the temple).

Personally I love the idea of RP cartographers.  I've bought an herbal wilderness map in-game and love it.  I wish there was more of this.  But the fact is I haven't seen it at all and I've been playing for a while.  New players aren't going to have a clue how to find one.

Cartographers will still be able to map out the wilderness for various purposes (hunting maps, mineral maps, herbal maps, general locations of interest) and would still be able to provide "completed" maps of the cities.  But a simple map of Hydlaa would make sense to be given to newcomers ICly and would help new players a lot.

[Candy]

I thought new players were being given basic maps of Hydlaa. I saw enough of them littered around Harn's...or have they changed that?

[tman]

Hmm... Might be true, I'm not really sure.  If so, the ability to edit these maps would be very useful.  To add locations of NPCs and points of interest.

[wherecat]

Hmmm, there's one more idea: basic, player's initial map (with "i'm here") can be upgraded through advanced maps, you've mentoined up there So, player will have two ways of opening uncharted areas or unknown details - firstly, go there and find out everything himself (long way), secondary - buying expanded or detailed maps from other players/NPC (expensive way). Amount of efforts should be about the same.

P.S.: There's a good idiom in Russian, that can be translated like "Rabbit cultivation manual". So ..

[LigH]

Already discussed