Revised World Map Test
Cerevant
Member Posts: 2,314
Hello All,
There are a number of issues with the Vanilla BG and BGEE World Maps:
* Travel times are inconsistent between areas
* Travel between areas seems to take convoluted paths
* BGEE: Areas were shifted east on the map, resulting in crowding of areas on the East edge of the map
* BGEE: Game text says that Adoy's Enclave is East of Firewine Bridge, but it is south
* You could travel directly from Ulgoth's Beard to Durlag's Tower and the Cloud Peaks
* Areas are not near their FR canonical locations: Ulgoth's Beard, Durlag's Tower, Gullykin, Nashkell, others
* Travel time to/from, location of the Cloakwood Mines & Bandit Camp near the main road didn't make sense
All of these items are addressed with this mod, plus a number of other inconsistencies have been corrected and general clean-up of the data.
For now this is a unzip to your override mod containing the updated worldmap.wmp and an updated AR0400 (zombie farm). You will need to start a new game to see the effects of this mod.
I welcome any and all testers, and please let me know what you like and don't like! Keep in mind that you won't necessarily find everything where it was before - below is a graphic showing where all the areas are and what links they have. Let me know if you have any questions!
The two graphs attached give some of the data about the map:
The area graph edges show exit direction:time/4:arrival edge (encoded)
The encounter graph edges show exit direction:encounter probability:encounter area
Dudleyville is a good reference for AR numbers.
0.3 update: new art for AR3200 and AR3800 courtesy of @Yovoneth to remove overlap with Beregost since those areas aren't really adjacent. Moved link to GDrive since the file is pretty big now.
0.4 update: changed link from Gullykin to Durlag's Tower to a north exit, since the east side of the Gullykin map is not accessible. Added the encounter graph - hard to read, but provides some good info.
0.5 update: all the Durlag's tower links fixed.
0.6 update: cleanup of links and map edges so that links can be followed. Shortened travel times along the Coast Way (N-S road from Baldur's Gate to Nashkell)
0.7 update: fixed entry point for AR1800 (Cloakwood Mine)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwOwEmwBQcTWVEFmSjVfRUI0Ukk/edit?usp=sharing
There are a number of issues with the Vanilla BG and BGEE World Maps:
* Travel times are inconsistent between areas
* Travel between areas seems to take convoluted paths
* BGEE: Areas were shifted east on the map, resulting in crowding of areas on the East edge of the map
* BGEE: Game text says that Adoy's Enclave is East of Firewine Bridge, but it is south
* You could travel directly from Ulgoth's Beard to Durlag's Tower and the Cloud Peaks
* Areas are not near their FR canonical locations: Ulgoth's Beard, Durlag's Tower, Gullykin, Nashkell, others
* Travel time to/from, location of the Cloakwood Mines & Bandit Camp near the main road didn't make sense
All of these items are addressed with this mod, plus a number of other inconsistencies have been corrected and general clean-up of the data.
For now this is a unzip to your override mod containing the updated worldmap.wmp and an updated AR0400 (zombie farm). You will need to start a new game to see the effects of this mod.
I welcome any and all testers, and please let me know what you like and don't like! Keep in mind that you won't necessarily find everything where it was before - below is a graphic showing where all the areas are and what links they have. Let me know if you have any questions!
The two graphs attached give some of the data about the map:
The area graph edges show exit direction:time/4:arrival edge (encoded)
The encounter graph edges show exit direction:encounter probability:encounter area
Dudleyville is a good reference for AR numbers.
0.3 update: new art for AR3200 and AR3800 courtesy of @Yovoneth to remove overlap with Beregost since those areas aren't really adjacent. Moved link to GDrive since the file is pretty big now.
0.4 update: changed link from Gullykin to Durlag's Tower to a north exit, since the east side of the Gullykin map is not accessible. Added the encounter graph - hard to read, but provides some good info.
0.5 update: all the Durlag's tower links fixed.
0.6 update: cleanup of links and map edges so that links can be followed. Shortened travel times along the Coast Way (N-S road from Baldur's Gate to Nashkell)
0.7 update: fixed entry point for AR1800 (Cloakwood Mine)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwOwEmwBQcTWVEFmSjVfRUI0Ukk/edit?usp=sharing
Post edited by Cerevant on
9
Comments
With quick testing I noticed I cannot reach Durlag's tower.
How were you trying to get there? There isn't a direct path any more - you need to travel through the areas in between. This is more consistent with the other quests in the game.
There is an issue with Gullykin in that there isn't access to the eastern edge of the map. I've made it a north exit in version 0.4.
I like the addition that opens up Beregost at the same time as High Hedge when moving south from the area Gorion died in (sorry, don't know the AR codes yet).
Thanks for your hard work @cerevant!
@mars0124: We mostly need to test that we can get from each area to each adjacent area on the map above. Watch the travel times - if there is a bad link, it is possible the game will route you through areas that have good links (that's what was happening to me with AR3500 above). Note that the time values on the map are multiplied by 4 in the game to give you hours. For a checklist, you can print out the area map above, and check off each arrow as you use it and check the travel time.
You can also check long distance trips (across multiple areas) and make sure the game is taking the shortest time route available, and that the reverse trip takes the same amount of time.
About the area3800, don't you think that 12 hours is little too much time to get there from Beregost? There is a kid from Beregost on that map picking fruits. I would suggest something between 4-8 hours.
A core problem that is beyond the scope of this mod is that the map artwork is significantly taller than it should be. This forces me to spread things out more N-S, while compressing things E-W.
Most of the original area art can be stitched together into a seamless area, but I think the original designers realized that had everything too close together.
Anyway, AR3800 is a problem without a good solution. I'm open to suggestions, but remember that any change has consequences across the whole map.
Also the Coast way (Nashkel to Friendly Arm) traveling time is quite an issue, because it is supposed to be much faster, than traveling in the wilderness. I'd like to look into it, but I just found out that I have some corrupted files, so it might be time to reinstall my game.
Anyway I really like this mod, I wanted to do something like this myself, but was too lazy. Keep up good work!
Looks like the search map updates (what determines if you can leave an edge or not) are more extensive than I expected. I'm going to do a review of all the areas to make sure everything is legit. I'll get an update together sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.
I'm feeling pretty stubborn about travel times, but let me think on this and run it by some of the others who have been giving me feedback. I may give on this point (faster travel by road) but I will likely not entertain discussion of whether it is faster to travel in woods or grassland or mountains, and which direction is uphill. I'm sure this is how we ended up with this mess in the first place.
To put it in perspective, using the Forgotten Realms atlas, It is over 300 miles from Baldur's Gate to Nashkell. There is no way to make that trip on foot in less than a week.
Minor thing. When I travel to Cloakwood mine I appear in the north, where trees block the edge of the map, so I can't travel back from that position and it looks a little weird. I would suggest another area art fix, with few of those trees deleted, so the edge of the map could be reached from that spot. Or make the traveler appear on the east side. Or nothing, it is really minor thing.
Would you consider adding names to some more areas?
Like: Lion's Way, Coast Way, Wyrms Crossing, Lighthouse, etc.
Not all wilderness areas need a name but some of them could have.
https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/FileUpload/59/38a65e8d210aeabe2388cb8c677e89.jpg