I was thinking about magic mapping and how it seems minimally useful. It feels like it had a use at some time, but the use seems to have since passed.
First off, what is the purpose of magic mapping? I've never found it particularly useful.
Second, is the purpose of magic mapping made obsolete by a newer feature within the game?
Third, if magic mapping is obsolete, should it be removed from the game?
What exactly is magic mapping used for?
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SilverNexus
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What exactly is magic mapping used for?
That SilverNexus guy? You needn't worry about him.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
It was never particularly useful - it would show walls and floors as blocks of color, so could be somewhat useful on large maps that were largely mazes to figure out areas you had missed, secret areas, etc.
With current clients, this feature has diminished considerably. Fog of war lets you more easily spot unexplored areas (hmm - a large black area here - maybe there is a destroyable wall, etc). But also, when magic map was actually in use, the viewable map was only 11x11, but the spell might reveal the enter map. Current protocol allows up to 25x25 map size, so more often you can see most of the map.
IIRC, some clients also let you scroll the map window itself, so you can move around and see where you haven't been, etc.
Magic map could be made more useful now - have it fill in the floor/wall of the map (eg, pre-fill in some of the fog of war areas), which is probably why it hasn't been removed. This would require implementing a new protocol command, and probably some level of support added to the client.
And there may be a few maps even now, which are large mazes, where magic map may actually have some use. But for the above reasons, it tends not to be as useful as it once was.
With current clients, this feature has diminished considerably. Fog of war lets you more easily spot unexplored areas (hmm - a large black area here - maybe there is a destroyable wall, etc). But also, when magic map was actually in use, the viewable map was only 11x11, but the spell might reveal the enter map. Current protocol allows up to 25x25 map size, so more often you can see most of the map.
IIRC, some clients also let you scroll the map window itself, so you can move around and see where you haven't been, etc.
Magic map could be made more useful now - have it fill in the floor/wall of the map (eg, pre-fill in some of the fog of war areas), which is probably why it hasn't been removed. This would require implementing a new protocol command, and probably some level of support added to the client.
And there may be a few maps even now, which are large mazes, where magic map may actually have some use. But for the above reasons, it tends not to be as useful as it once was.
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SilverNexus
- Junior member
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:33 pm
- Location: Planet Earth
It would require a new protocol command? Sounds like it could be made to work somewhat like many of the detect <x> (monster, magic, cursed) spells work, except it fills in map tiles indiscriminately, instead of only tiles with an item on it with a specific property. Unless, of course, it isn't supposed to reveal monsters and items in the process.mwedel wrote:Magic map could be made more useful now - have it fill in the floor/wall of the map (eg, pre-fill in some of the fog of war areas), which is probably why it hasn't been removed. This would require implementing a new protocol command, and probably some level of support added to the client.
Changing the magic map behavior could clean up the arches a bit, though. It would obsolete the magicmap color designation.
That SilverNexus guy? You needn't worry about him.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
Depends on how it is done.
The protocol itself allows for maps up to 31x31 I think. So magic map could reveal an area up to that size with no changes.
However, the current magic map logic can show maps much larger than that - in practical terms, there is no limit, but I think there is some size that is enforced.
Magic map was not meant to show monsters, treasure, and so forth - it was really meant to just show walls and floors (information that is largely static), but there is nothing that says it can't show more.
However, doing this correctly requires some thought. It would be a simple matter to basically allows a 1 tick 25x25 x-ray vision type thing - the problem is there is lots of stuff that should not be revealed (hidden workings for some more sophisticated door setups.
Although it would perhaps be interesting to see if magic mapping could just fill in the area that would normally be visible to the player and if that would be useful. I certainly could imagine it would be in some circumstances - if it is a map that has not been played, it might let the player sort of know a safe area (corner or something) to minimize attacks once through the door.
It would also perhaps be reasonable that at higher levels, it does reveal more stuff (monsters, treasure, etc) - for better or worse, players could then see if a particular treasure spawned and if not, skip that section, etc.
The protocol itself allows for maps up to 31x31 I think. So magic map could reveal an area up to that size with no changes.
However, the current magic map logic can show maps much larger than that - in practical terms, there is no limit, but I think there is some size that is enforced.
Magic map was not meant to show monsters, treasure, and so forth - it was really meant to just show walls and floors (information that is largely static), but there is nothing that says it can't show more.
However, doing this correctly requires some thought. It would be a simple matter to basically allows a 1 tick 25x25 x-ray vision type thing - the problem is there is lots of stuff that should not be revealed (hidden workings for some more sophisticated door setups.
Although it would perhaps be interesting to see if magic mapping could just fill in the area that would normally be visible to the player and if that would be useful. I certainly could imagine it would be in some circumstances - if it is a map that has not been played, it might let the player sort of know a safe area (corner or something) to minimize attacks once through the door.
It would also perhaps be reasonable that at higher levels, it does reveal more stuff (monsters, treasure, etc) - for better or worse, players could then see if a particular treasure spawned and if not, skip that section, etc.