[Maps] Name all the random areas?

sandmanCCL

Something that's always bothered me about all the random areas in Baldur's Gate is there are no official names or descriptions for them.

It's not a big deal, but I'd like there to be some sort of set description. As an author of an online strategy guide for the name, I'd like the area to the right of Beregost to be named "The Basilisk Pit" rather than always needing to call it "that area with all the Basilisks to the east of Beregost Temple."

Not a big deal if it never happens, but at the very least I'd the code to allow modders to name areas if that's not already possible.

Jalily

I really like this idea, but I think the names shouldn't be put on the map until you uncover, say, 90% of the black fog or read a sign or something. That way you still get the feeling of exploring a wilderness without any foreknowledge or expectations.

Cloutier

BG1 areas have a name already. It didn't show on the map, but now it will.

The basilisk area is "Mutamin's gardens".

sandmanCCL

@Cloutier: Awesome. Where did you hear this? That's pretty awesome.

Cloutier

Have you played Tutu? Names show on the map.

I assume they would have been extracted from the game data, but they could have been made up by modders too. In any case, they will show.

Jalily

@Cloutier Do they appear right away, like the labels for the Friendly Arm Inn, etc.?

sandmanCCL

I played Tutu quite a bit, and areas that didn't have names still didn't have names. You may have had that modded in without realizing it.

Cloutier

@SandmanCCL

What areas didn't have a name?

I have seen screenshots of the EE, and the main world map had names on it.

sandmanCCL

This is what the original BG1 map looked like.

As you can see, there are a LOT of areas without names. I count at least 16, assuming we don't bother naming each section of Baldur's Gate (the city, not the game).

Where's the screenshots of the EE world map? I haven't seen one.

Jalily

I think @Cloutier is talking about this: http://www.farseek.com/bg/

As far as the names showing up in Tutu.

sandmanCCL

Considering I went through BGtutu this summer, I'm going to have to say that's a third-party mod or simply that site's own added-in names for the maps. They are not labeled in any way for BG1 and BGtutu.

Rabain

While the idea of naming area's appeals to me I also think it might detract from the random exploration feeling of BG1.

Adding names is relatively easy but I'm not sure if it is possible to hide the name until X event has occurred (such as exploring some of the map or finding a particular person).

Calling a map "The Basilisk Pit" would be bad in my opinion if the area gets called that the second you arrive in it and can only see some trees.

Calling an area Mutamin's Garden's is also bad, how can you be wandering aimlessly in the wilds of the Sword Coast and suddenly know some guy call Mutamin is here hiding in a corner.

Tanthalas

The vBG1 areas never had names, I'm pretty sure that those names were introduced by mods.

Personally, I'd also prefer if every area had a name that appeared on the map.

Miloch

@sandmanCCL @Cloutier @Rabain etc.

There is a mod for this - Sword Coast Map Labels
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/46634-sword-coast-map-labels/

It uses canon area names where possible and avoids spoilers. So there is no "Mutamin's Garden" a la Dudleyville but you will find "Wood of Sharp Teeth" and such instead.

Edit: it is so small and changes so little that personally I think it should be included in BG:EE but that is not my call...

sandmanCCL

@Miloch: Neat. I like that. If it's not included in BG:EE, I'm for sure going to install that mod.

Most the areas in BG1 had names, technically. There were almost always little signs you could click on that gave the area some name, like the Woods of Sharp Teeth.

kiros

I don't believe every location on the map needs to be named if the area does not hold any significance i.e you're likely only to visit and explore this area once or walk through the location to get to another region, then a name is kinda unnecessary.

LMTR14

Jalily said:

I really like this idea, but I think the names shouldn't be put on the map until you uncover, say, 90% of the black fog or read a sign or something. That way you still get the feeling of exploring a wilderness without any foreknowledge or expectations.

that would be a nice reward for uncovering all the fog of an area, very good idea!

Miloch

I don't know about 90% but yes, maybe it could be linked to discovering a certain milestone within the area or something. I suppose that could be scripted in the engine. I've been playing through a rerun of BG1 lately and what bugs me is that the non-labelled icons on the map look pretty much the same. So it is easy to click on one area and end up in a completely different one. Now let's look at this... this is *your* map that you've been keeping. It has to be since, for example, the Bandit Camp doesn't appear until someone tells you about it, after which you write it down on your map. So by the same token, all the areas you discover should be notated. Now along similar lines, I suppose you could call them whatever you want... if you find a gnome named Mutamin in some area you could name it after him. So there could be some sort of "annotate" option for the map, but at the same time, there should be more than just non-descript icons on your map. There should be labels.