Add maps to the game.

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Strawberry, Jun 12, 2021.

  1. Nennius Curmudgeon

    You seem scared of many things. Sigh. Companies buy products all the time from outside sources and incorporate them into their products. It is true that they might not want to do it. The map makers may want too high a price. Given that they are available for free that seems unlikely though.

    In any case, maps are available here:

    https://eqresource.com/

    These are for the later expansions. Click on each expansion and you will find a link for maps.

    and here:

    https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Maps

    Gives links and descriptions. Also, basic instructions for making EQ maps.

    It isn't difficult. I watched a ten year-old do it quickly.

    It's just a thought and given (for me and many, many others) the ease with which I downloaded the maps and installed them the whole question seems almost silly anyway. But you keep finding those dark clouds. It is one of your defining skills.

    Edit: There are other sources for maps.
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  2. Smokezz The Bane Crew


    3rD PaRtY WeBsItE!
    Igniz, Duder and Gyurika Godofwar like this.
  3. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    Duder likes this.
  4. Nennius Curmudgeon


    Indeed! And I am certain I will read a pithy, but ultimately overblown comment about it that will castigate me with grossly overblown concerns and worries that sane folks will ignore. Silly me.

    Waiting.....................................

    P.S. Has anyone here actually gotten a virus or ever had a verified concern with any of the sites that make EQ maps available for download? If so, provide proof of it.
  5. Nennius Curmudgeon

    I have used a rogue. Works pretty well. In any case, I am very grateful to the kind folks who do this and then make it available for slackers like myself who could do it, but don't.

    THANK YOU!
    Skuz likes this.
  6. Jumbur Improved Familiar


    I once got a keylogger while looking for a WoW-macro guide... But I never had any problems with any EQ related material.
  7. Gyurika Godofwar Augur

    There are some real paranoid and strange people posting in here. If you are incapable of handling a simple download and file extraction it's ok to admit it.
    Skuz and Duder like this.
  8. Strawberry Augur

    Maybe start by not calling people ignorant, before you lecture them about respect. Just a suggestion.
  9. Strawberry Augur

    A priori, no, but no one can assume to know the answer to that question because these files being downloaded don't belong to software repositories, and therefore no knowledge about them is being shared. That's the problem, isn't it.
  10. Nennius Curmudgeon

    To simplify. You don't know of any. That was easy.
  11. Strawberry Augur

    Well, that's what I said. But that doesn't mean these files are safe, they live outside of repositories, and Daybreak doesn't have any control over them.

    I haven't played every MMO under the sun, but Everquest is the anomaly, other MMO have built-in maps and the add-ons they officially support are part of a repository, verified by the developer, and loaded in by the game. They're not unverified zip files that are downloaded and dumped into folder.
  12. Xyroff-cazic. Director of Sarcasm

    That's the thing though. The game developers are not relying on Good/Brewall to make maps. They don't care whether they make them or not. Since its inception, EQ has been presented to the players "as is" and there are many elements of the game that are not obvious simply by logging in. If Good and Brewall decided to stop playing EQ right before the next expansion goes into beta, that would not affect the game creators in any way.

    It's up to the players to collect information and share it amongst themselves. Zone layouts, rare spawn locations, the steps to complete quests, where items drop and how often, and many other facets of the game are not described in detail. EQ has always been a game intended for a player base that pools their knowledge and works together. We're all lucky to have these dedicated map making players, but if we didn't have them the game wouldn't just cease to exist. Others would document and share their findings. Others would make maps and share them.

    EQ essentially requires some type of social cooperation in order for a player to excel. Whether you cooperate by making and sharing maps, documenting rare spawn locations/ph's, writing zam guides for obscure quests, creating/maintaining performance tools like Gamparse/Kizant's thing, or you just benefit from others' contributions, you are still participating in EQ's social aspect. If you don't like that aspect of the game and you want it all to be presented to a solo player using no resources at all, that's fine I suppose. But that has never been EQ.
  13. Strawberry Augur

    Right, but this only works well with a vibrant community. Many EQ servers simply lack the needed population to support the exchange of knowledge. The old vet forum had threads spanning 200+ pages, even if it was mostly Battleblade arguing with everyone else, it was a giant community. This is no longer the case.

    What I see when someone starts Everquest on Twitch, is that they struggle with the UI, and struggle once they enter a zone without a map (which is pretty much every zone past lvl 10). I don't see them trying to reach out to EQ's community, they are lucky if they can figure out how chat channels work.

    Maybe the argument is that these people should be struggling to such an extent. I don't agree.
  14. Act of Valor The Newest Member

    okay, I loled
  15. Igniz Augur

    Google -> "Everquest maps" -> enjoy

    Hey, I found a map that's better than what EQ has supplied me with, Yay! Aaaaaaaaand it was patch day and it was overwritten to default .....

    This, I like best, but let me add a suggestion. You can have multiple maps for the same zone and swap them ingame in the map tool. You could swap between the supplied maps of Goods and Brewall (IF they get compensated for their efforts by DPG, but I don't see that happening) and can create your own map as well. Swapping through them by button so you can find the map that charted the area you're in best.

    Actually I did. While downloading the map pack for the very first time in one cold and windy night, fiddling with where to put them and how to get my EQ (which stupid me of course did not close) I cought a common cold because I forgot to close my window. But I somehow doubt that was what you were looking for ...

    I didn't either, but all the games I played which provided a map by themselves had the sad side-effect that they did not provide the tools to add to the map by default (like map markers, POI, etc.). Plus most of those supplied maps where also "run there to explore".
    The only thing different to EQ is that you get your map simply by running.

    You probably want to reconsider that, at least for WoW or ESO, etc...

    Just out of curiosity: You ARE playing with default UI, not trusting those fancy and untrustworthy .xml files from that shady and very-not-verified site EQ Interface, I hope? Oh, and don't get me started on GINA - hope your AT game is on par :)

    I don't know, but a twitch streamer who tries out a community-based MMORPG without even trying to showcase the community - at least in my opinion - is doing a poor job. Plus, I do think that a Twitch streamer specializing in showcasing games on his channel should be able to overcome some (very low) obstacles like "I don't know where to go" by himself.

    Yes, very basic maps (zone-border, zone-line, roads) would probably nice - but I'd prefer the little time our few remaining devs have be put somewhere more useful.
  16. Strawberry Augur

    Or enjoy ending up on a hacking site, since many of the results include hacking sites.

    [IMG]
  17. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.


    Serious question but are you employed as someone in disaster planning who is trained to think of the worst case scenario for everything?
    Gyurika Godofwar and Sissruukk like this.
  18. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Dear Goods,

    We think you do a great job making maps. We are open to the idea of including maps for all zones but only if they are user generated. Dev developed maps go against our design concept and are not part of our design budget. However, we would be willing to consider including a version of your maps. You will not be compensated financially in anyway for providing these maps and are forfeiting any claim to ownership of the maps you provide directly to us. Will will however allow you to include a Cartographer signature in the map to acknowledge your contribution to Norrath.

    The modified maps can only include the following, as we wish to maintain the spirit of adventure...
    Zone boarders
    Zone lines
    Roads
    Major topography features such as waters edge and mountain boarders
    Minimal use of labels, but some of labels are acceptable for city areas and camps, such as the wayfair camp in butcherblock or the crossroad camp in blightfire.

    We will then have our Dev and GM teams validate the accuracy of the maps and the compatibility with our design concepts.

    We look forward to what we believe can be a positive relationship with an upstanding member of our community by using them during their personal adventures.

    Sincerely,
    ....

    Most of the arguments of cost and legalities are pretty ridiculous. The spirit of adventure is ridiculous as completely blank maps are ridiculous. Almost every rebuttal in this thread has been about arguing nonsense for the sake of supporting a non-sense point. The idea that a basic map would have a negative affect on dev resources or the spirit of the game is every bit as ridiculous as strawberry's prediction of the e-pocolypse from downloading maps.
  19. Igniz Augur

    Ironically, the entry you censored is apparently approved by DPG as it is the source of an unmentioned 3rd Party software that DPG has announced to be "Ok" by their consideration ...

    Judging by his very non-careful screenshot, he is french or canadian. The canadians I know personally are way more chilled, though :p Most french I personally know are kinda paranoid with very few exceptions (Hey there Thancra!)
  20. Hayzeus Augur

    I remember back in the early 90s when I used to play Bard's Tale. I bought packs of graph paper in order to draw the maps square by square on paper. There were some zones in which each square forward would trigger a blindness spell. Without drawing the zones by hand on graph paper, I found it difficult to map my way through the zones.

    At the least, EQ maps is better than having hand drawn maps on graph paper.
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