Dear Devs.. plans for in game mini map?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Steevodeevo, Feb 10, 2019.

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  1. Steevodeevo

    Steevodeevo Avatar

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    Hi beloved Devs,

    I am aware of the evolution of the in game mini-map and broadly speaking it is excellent as well as it being an 'it is what it is' situation. Despite the game not being intended to have one (to keep it real) the QOL pressures and initiatives led to the adoption and enhancement of the map we have today.

    As a web based app I love that we can re-size it, move it around and edit our own markers on it out of game. However for me it has one huge issue... the 10 second screen freeze when you load it in game.

    Are there any plans to 'prebake' the map graphics and load them on the player side or other whizzy stuff to eradicate this freeze?

    It is for me the single most immersion breaking and frustrating remaining aspect as the freeze happens each and every time one enters a new scene. Usually the feedback from the HC/immersion crowd is, understandably, 'turn it off then and use your eyes', but we have a map, some find it handy as I do, so any chance of a re-work on this?
     
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  2. kaeshiva

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    Editing markers? I've never been able to get this to work. Please explain lol.
     
  3. Feeyo

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    Yes the first loading of the map is pretty annoying. Luckily it is just a one time launch per session issue.
     
  4. Feeyo

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    If you are logged in then go: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/
    You can edit it there, IF you have permissions to do so. I think you can add markers tho.
     
  5. kaeshiva

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    Yeah, right - I remember this a while ago when it was still sotamap.com they were charging money to get permissions or something? On the original map, before Port took over it.
    I will fiddle with this, thank you!
     
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  6. Woodchuck

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    @Steevodeevo it's a technical problem. Generally, the world layout is dynamic. You can't preload maps if the map layout can potentially change at any time. POT layouts can change. Players can claim/unclaim lots at any time. New buildings can be placed at any time. Therefore, when you open the mini-map, it has to load the latest layout data every time, and this takes time.
     
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  7. Astirian

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    Thanks for that, makes the issue a lot more understandable, problem is, noobies won't know this. They'll just see a "buggy" map and put it down to a lack of polish.
     
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  8. Katu

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    Yes, technical problem, but i does not have to be huge problem. It's not like scenes change all the time. Some scenes stay the same for weeks and even months.
    They could pre-render the scene to a simple image, everytime it changes and clients just download that image. That would be fast and then map could be loaded on scene change and it would open instantly when opening map.
     
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  9. Elwyn

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    Pre-bake the player lots into the map image as gray rectangles as the scene loads, that would probably be performant enough even for POTs. Or show only the house models for player lots, I'm sure you've noticed how they load first as you walk around, because they're pre-baked. Deco (and deco "houses") would be too much to expect. We need maps for the adventuring areas more than for towns.
     
  10. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I wonder if it would be better to have a camera in each scene pointed down from above and just remove from view players and mobs. Then you have a mini 3d render of the scene in its current state. To me this would be alot less work then to run the maps as they are now. They could also us the Database tags for deed owners and show that above each house. just a thought.
     
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