Expanded Maps

[RaustBlackDragon]

From my experience, the mission statement of Better Than Wolves can be summed up in 3 basic points:

1: Make no mechanism easy, but make every mechanism possible.
2: Flesh out the (innumerable) systems implemented by Notch, which are full of potential, but have been all but abandoned (redstone, for example).
3: All the while, maintain a morbid and darkly hilarious sense of humor, leaving people guessing just what addition might possibly be in the future.

It is regarding this 2nd point that I propose a revisit of the 1.6 addition, the map.

It held a great deal of promise, but had various issues, namely a lack of depth. It could only be centered at the point where it was crafted, it only had one zoom level, there was no way to give it a custom title, or make it map underground.

Around the time of 1.6's release, many people in the community held the position that these were critical-yet-simple additions that we should expect Notch to add in a patch to 1.6, or at the very least the next update.

This, of course, has not happened. Like with wolves, maps have not seen a single update in any way, shape or form since the version it was released in, and we can safely conclude that Notch considered them a finished project. They are not. I propose a few simple features that would make maps as useful as we had hoped they would be when 1.6 was just around the corner.

1: Variable zoom level. There is coding to accommodate this addition already in the game's source, as the "scale" integer is indeed a variable, and not a fixed value. However, there's currently no way change it from its default value of 3. This could be as simple as adding different crafting recipes for high and low zoom maps.

2: Locking the map. Basically, a way to make the map stop refreshing when you approach modified areas in its territory. Why would this be useful? Well, you could make a high-zoom map in the center of your house-in-progress, and then lock the map once you start building the roof. Your map will have become a handy floor plan for the 1st story of your house, one you could take out and consult without permanently refreshing the contents.

3: Make them mountable on a wall or floor. Not only would this be a cool thing to place periodically to make your factories look more realistic (with wall-mounted "you are here" maps here and there), but when combined with a variable zoom level, you could create your own tapestries by building the design on the ground, and capturing it on a max-zoom map. However, this would also depend, for maximum effectiveness, on a 4th feature:

4: Making wool appear on the map as its color. Currrently all wool is greyish on the map. If it corresponded to the wool's color, you could use wool for handy color-coded map-markers.

Altogether I don't think this would be overly difficult to implement, and I think it is very much in line with the goals of the BTW mod. If I am mistaken, I apologize.

[Stormweaver]

I know I wouldn't mind being able to set the zoom level - as things are, the map is useless for long-range exploration and too far zoomed out for any decent form of village/town map. The inbetween...isn't really good for anything, unless you somehow manage to get lost. 2-4 seems like a (potentially) large amount of work, which may be invalidated by jeb somewhere down the line (he is getting things done, after all) but (1), if it is just a case of changing a variable depending on a crafting recipe, I'll be in full support of.

[Husbag3]

Number 3 would take up another block ID and I'm not sure if it's worth it. Having said that, you could make it so that when you fill up a map of a specific zoom, it over-rites a painting texture so that you can place it on the wall.

[Mr_Hosed]

A customizable zoom would actually make maps more useful. The other expansion ideas don't really seem they'd be worth the effort. Instead, what would be even more useful is waypoint creation/editing on the map. Unfortunately I know nothing of MC's codebase so I have no idea how plausible any of this would be.

I can say this. I've made 2 maps since their introduction and found them to be completely useless both times. I expected something useful like the old map system from the Ultima Underworld series. Unfortunately they're not that.

[Shengji]

I would love wall mountable maps, though I'm not sure how much work that would involve to implement. Instinct tells me too much. I guess though that it wouldn't only be aesthetic as you can get a better overview of your surroundings at the expense of portability.

[walker_boh_65]

1. I cannot think of a time when this wouldn't be useful.

2. Seems really useful, but I wouldn't know about the time/effort - reward for this thing is worth it..

3. I have wanted maps to be place-able blocks since the day they implemented.

4. Ehh, I am not really sure of this, it could cause quite the confusion with red/blue wool (lava/water), and I am not seeing really any need for it.

My question to you would be, would doing this require base class edits, or would it be something you could do?

[RaustBlackDragon]

1. I cannot think of a time when this wouldn't be useful.

2. Seems really useful, but I wouldn't know about the time/effort - reward for this thing is worth it..

3. I have wanted maps to be place-able blocks since the day they implemented.

4. Ehh, I am not really sure of this, it could cause quite the confusion with red/blue wool (lava/water), and I am not seeing really any need for it.

My question to you would be, would doing this require base class edits, or would it be something you could do?

This would probably require base class edits in some form, and I prefer to focus on high compatibility. Since BTW is resigned to being highly incompatible, and that this seems to be in line with the vision of BTW, I figured I'd post it here.

[FlowerChild]

Just like the mod title currently contains "And Enderdragons", it at one point contained "And Maps".

I already think Notch wasted way too much time on the maps. I'm not inclined to repeat the same mistake.

[RaustBlackDragon]

Just like the mod title currently contains "And Enderdragons", it at one point contained "And Maps".

I already think Notch wasted way too much time on the maps. I'm not inclined to repeat the same mistake.

Well then, looks like I'll be making another "Take one of Notch's bastard children updates and reform it" mod.

[walker_boh_65]

Well then, looks like I'll be making another "Take one of Notch's bastard children updates and reform it" mods.

When you finish it, be sure to let me/us know.

[Kwilt]

I honestly would like to see someone do something with maps. They're a great feature for overworld exploration. They're just too damn fidgety. The zoom is great for far travel, but if you're looking for something specific that might be small, they're a horrid use. I couldn't eve see a ravine I once found on a map because it was too far zoomed out and the ravine was too narrow to show up.

Other than a zoom, to be honest, I could care less how they're used. For a game that does focus on mining underground, it is a bit counter-intuitive to even use them, since they only work on the top most Y cord of each block, basically making them rubbish for anything other than exploration. But for guys like me who love 'normal' worlds, they're pretty nice.

Edit: Ninja'd. Can't wait to see what you can come up with, Raust. If it's still nothing more than just the zoom feature, I'd love to use it.

[RaustBlackDragon]

Okay, yeah, this is WAY more in my territory than FlowerChild's, on reflection. Well FlowerChild, you clearly have no intention of messing with maps, or editing their base class to make them produce dung, so I'm assuming the mods won't be incompatible. Excellent.

I've finished up Doggy Talents recently, so I'm fairly sure this is going to be my next project :)

[morvelaira]

-snip-

or editing their base class to make them produce dung,

-snip-

Wait.... what? I almost want to know what map dung would be like now...

[Kwilt]

Whelp, glad to see you're keeping busy, Raust. Make sure to spread that topic so we can see the progress.

I know it'll be going into my 'keep an eye on these' list on my subs.

[MoRmEnGiL]

You have my support too my good man. And since item IDs are more plentiful, couldn't you use the same workaround you did with DT, make an advanced form of the map item and leave default maps alone?

[BinoAl]

I would love to see maps get some, well, love, but I don't think BTW is the mod that should worry about it

[BigShinyToys]

From what I Remember the maps were meant to have all those features added to them. I think the zoom function is the most needed but all the others could be useful to. like placing maps. ( is there any Chance you could make train lines show up better on a map. )

All in all I can't wait to see your Mod :)

[RaustBlackDragon]

You have my support too my good man. And since item IDs are more plentiful, couldn't you use the same workaround you did with DT, make an advanced form of the map item and leave default maps alone?

I guess I could, at that.

From what I Remember the maps were meant to have all those features added to them. I think the zoom function is the most needed but all the others could be useful to. like placing maps. ( is there any Chance you could make train lines show up better on a map. )

All in all I can't wait to see your Mod :)

Thanks, I'll get to work on it soon!

[The great randomo]

If you were going to have a block version of the map, why not make some sort of contours visible?

[rosstafan]

I agree with randomo
Some way to tell Height would be excellent
Like contours or peak markers (like proper maps)

[Sarudak]

One thing that would be very useful is a map that was more symbolic. Like it only showed certain features like say roads (stone slabs, configurable), rails, ad maybe user added symbols. This would make maps actually more useful in addition to being slightly more realistic.

[Mason11987]

Glad someone is taking up this idea. I'd love to see it happen. Please shoot me a PM when you get something working.

One option that you might want to consider is not having a border on a map, so that you could tile them to create a HUGE version when placing them.

ALong those lines, a way of centering them more easily in order to accommodate that tiling.