Better layout, the background makes my eyeballs bleed.
I think what i don't like in this "new world map" is the stylistic 2 colors, which made it very much more monotonous in my eyes.
Yesterday, even if i thought this change would not be a big deal for me, i was still quite confused at travelling between one region to another... In fact I somewhat miss the colors : i was used to the old map and the colors were also helping my eyes spotting immediately the general region where I needed to go/clic. Now that colors are mostly gone, i'm a bit lost ^^
It's probably only a matter of time before I get fully adapted to this new worldmap though .
The top icons are what I don't like at all . I wish it would be on the side - and most importantly, without the scroll effect.
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plasticbatMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 12,218Arc User
I think I like to adjust (besides the colour scheme) is the default map should be the one I am in and not always be 'Sword coast' map.
For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast. If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
*** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
> @plasticbat said: > I think I like to adjust (besides the colour scheme) is the default map should be the one I am in and not always be 'Sword coast' map. > > For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast. > If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
Are you using Travel Signpost? I get the local map from Icewind Dale and Undermountain when using standard travel points. Signpost has always summoned the Sword Coast map.
"We have always been at war with Dread Vault" ~ Little Brother
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plasticbatMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 12,218Arc User
> I think I like to adjust (besides the colour scheme) is the default map should be the one I am in and not always be 'Sword coast' map.
>
> For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast.
> If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
Are you using Travel Signpost? I get the local map from Icewind Dale and Undermountain when using standard travel points. Signpost has always summoned the Sword Coast map.
Yes, I am using signpost. I want a smarter signpost then. Thanks for pointing that out.
*** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
> I think I like to adjust (besides the colour scheme) is the default map should be the one I am in and not always be 'Sword coast' map.
>
> For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast.
> If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
Are you using Travel Signpost? I get the local map from Icewind Dale and Undermountain when using standard travel points. Signpost has always summoned the Sword Coast map.
Yes, I am using signpost. I want a smarter signpost then. Thanks for pointing that out.
This could be a limitation of using the VIP fast travel method? I use a script to pull it up with hot key. They would need to add code to cross-reference your current location with the associated local map, and then pull up the correct local map.
I think the new maps are a roll back. What was wrong with the colored map? Why not make them all colored maps? Why the drawn map with one colored map? It seems messy and a step backwards. IF the game had started with drawn maps and then moved towards colored maps it would have seemed like an improvement. This just seems odd. The navigation isn't very clear, it seems more complicated than before.
not sure why they made it that bright maybe they are trying to replicate the maps in the forgotten realms novels? But a screen is quite different from a hard cover book, it doesn't "age" and is much brighter. I like @sandukutupu 's version quite a bit but the other issue with the new map is the text on the locations is too small to read
<div align="center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/YH9QCXK.png" alt="" /></div></img> ▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░ Drac ░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂ There is supposed to be an image here, but the hamsters took it. <div align="center">AKA Draconis of Luskan</div>
Take a backseat boy. Cause now I'm driving. ~ Give it up - Elizabeth Gilies ft. Ariana Grande
RIP Foundry: On that day, when the sky fell away, our world came to an end. ~Lifelight
I think the new maps are a roll back. What was wrong with the colored map? Why not make them all colored maps? Why the drawn map with one colored map? It seems messy and a step backwards. IF the game had started with drawn maps and then moved towards colored maps it would have seemed like an improvement. This just seems odd. The navigation isn't very clear, it seems more complicated than before.
No the map hasn't changed all that much over the last 7 years. "Sword Coast" map they just kept adding more icons and more magnifying glasses to the map. Eventually they added Icewind Dale, Well of Dragons was a much larger icon but never a map. These were to point out that they did not exist on the "Sword Coast". But Barovia is regular icon on the "Sword Coast" map, when it is not even in the same plane of reality. Barovia is a small part of another universe. Demiplane of Dread is a collection of lands called "domains", brought together by a mysterious force known only as the Dark Powers. Each domain is customized to and mystically ruled by a being called a Darklord who is forever trapped and surrounded by magical barrier surrounding their domain. I would not have it on any map, unless I was planning to visit other places and then it would have a map of its own.
@auron#6793 I did a simple 30 minute cut and paste job in the GIMP for the image. I believe this is what @zimxero#8085 was talking about (roughly) when they said, "fixed position icons". I could do a more detailed easy to read map, but I am no longer working for Cryptic.
I already stated before and I will bring this up again, in the Collaborative Development Program (CDP), we should have full control of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). These images are stored on our hard drive, in a library (Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs\texture.hogg) and pulled from it as you play. Other games offer their users, another folder to place modified images of their own design, and some even have ready made templates for you to edit. For example; if I don't like the maps, I could enter the mod folder and put replacements inside. The game would need to be told to look in that folder first, if the file don't exist, use the default image. People could share their custom designs in forums and the game gets the visual upgrade without a lot of work. The only drawback to allowing modding beyond the 2D icons and artwork is of course, all the infamous nude skins that pop up such as in Skyrim and the Sims 4. This could be curtailed by allowing access to only HUD icons and 2D artwork. Even then the other user never sees what they refused to install.
Was about to make EXACTLY the same as an example. I'm puzzled how they did not find it natural and easier to use.
While I like the efforts made to remove the clutter, the things I don't care for is the horizontal scroll of 6 map names. No matter what, it seems I end up thumbing through 2 or 3, before I find the one I am looking for to begin with. The loss of color on the maps was I suppose to make them appear aged but the color ones were just fine. Now the Undermountain stands out with all the color and looks like pink dress at a black and white formal. I give the art department credit for trying to do something with this, but it still needs a rework. People in PE are asking how to get to places like Bryn Shander, and we have to explain about the scroll bar and Icewind Dale etc..
I actually liked the old map better, the colors especially. I don't like having to scroll through the top menu to get to where I want to go, while the magnifying glass thing may have been a tad confusing for some, when you clicked on say Underdark, and it opened a new map, I had a little feeling of traveling through the cave into the UD, that's lost with the scrollable menu.
horizontal -vs- vertical seems to me to just be a matter of preference and personally I'm kind of partial to the horizontal at the top... That being said I do not like the necessity for having to scroll through the different areas and find myself confused and dismayed that anyone thought this would be a good idea instead of making the area avatars (or something) smaller, I'm not a fan of the scrolling
Perhaps someone thought they were considering how to more effectively add many more playable areas and thought the scrolling would be the easiest way to navigate to those areas once they were released, but still.... that will be then and this is now.
I do still like the new layout however... it looks more like an actual "map".
dionchi
Member Posts: 919 Arc User
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Yesterday, even if i thought this change would not be a big deal for me, i was still quite confused at travelling between one region to another... In fact I somewhat miss the colors : i was used to the old map and the colors were also helping my eyes spotting immediately the general region where I needed to go/clic. Now that colors are mostly gone, i'm a bit lost ^^
It's probably only a matter of time before I get fully adapted to this new worldmap though
For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast.
If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
o Put the top icons along the side of the map... preferrably in fixed positions.
o Add half greyscale to the colored icons. Have them slightly grow and gain full color when the mouse scrolls over them.
> I think I like to adjust (besides the colour scheme) is the default map should be the one I am in and not always be 'Sword coast' map.
>
> For example, if I am in PE, the default map should be Sword Coast.
> If I am in Icewind Pass, the default map should be Icewind Dale and not Sword Coast.
Are you using Travel Signpost? I get the local map from Icewind Dale and Undermountain when using standard travel points. Signpost has always summoned the Sword Coast map.
Hey there GUI department, something like this;
Also, I would like the color on the map, but you know, if we had control of our UI, there would be riots in the streets.
▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░ Drac ░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂
There is supposed to be an image here, but the hamsters took it.
<div align="center">AKA Draconis of Luskan</div>
Take a backseat boy. Cause now I'm driving. ~ Give it up - Elizabeth Gilies ft. Ariana Grande
RIP Foundry: On that day, when the sky fell away, our world came to an end. ~Lifelight
@auron#6793 I did a simple 30 minute cut and paste job in the GIMP for the image. I believe this is what @zimxero#8085 was talking about (roughly) when they said, "fixed position icons". I could do a more detailed easy to read map, but I am no longer working for Cryptic.
I already stated before and I will bring this up again, in the Collaborative Development Program (CDP), we should have full control of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). These images are stored on our hard drive, in a library (Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs\texture.hogg) and pulled from it as you play. Other games offer their users, another folder to place modified images of their own design, and some even have ready made templates for you to edit. For example; if I don't like the maps, I could enter the mod folder and put replacements inside. The game would need to be told to look in that folder first, if the file don't exist, use the default image. People could share their custom designs in forums and the game gets the visual upgrade without a lot of work. The only drawback to allowing modding beyond the 2D icons and artwork is of course, all the infamous nude skins that pop up such as in Skyrim and the Sims 4. This could be curtailed by allowing access to only HUD icons and 2D artwork. Even then the other user never sees what they refused to install.
Perhaps someone thought they were considering how to more effectively add many more playable areas and thought the scrolling would be the easiest way to navigate to those areas once they were released, but still.... that will be then and this is now.
I do still like the new layout however... it looks more like an actual "map".