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| world_maps [2023/10/01 19:09] – fix history ch1b1 | world_maps [2023/10/01 22:09] (current) – not future ch1b1 |
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| ====== World Maps ====== | ====== World Maps ====== |
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| This page is **from the future**! It represents behavior that will be adopted when the server transitions to Minecraft 1.20 on or about 1 August 2023. | |
| </WRAP> | |
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| <WRAP center round box 75%> | <WRAP center round box 75%> |
| One of the first experiments in digital mapping involved leaping from a tall tower while holding down the ''[screenshot]'' button. After the dwarf in question was stitched up, the images could be stitched together <sup>//[dubious—discuss?]//</sup>. | One of the first experiments in digital mapping involved leaping from a tall tower while holding down the ''[screenshot]'' button. After the dwarf in question was stitched up, the images could be stitched together <sup>//[dubious—discuss?]//</sup>. |
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| The first map rendering software was ''c10t'', which produced un-tiled, single-image overhead views. The entire map was rendered at once, without caching. This was perfectly adequate for the Old World. Prior to the domestication of the horse, the development of the wood-composite durable boat, and the invention of Nether Travel, the size of the world was generally limited to about two or three Daywalks in any given direction. | The first map rendering software was ''c10t'', which produced un-tiled, single-image views. The entire map was rendered at once, without caching. This was perfectly adequate for the Old World. Prior to the domestication of the horse, the development of the wood-composite durable boat, and the invention of Nether Travel, the size of the world was generally limited to about two or three Daywalks in any given direction. |
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| The early servers used a wide variety of rendering software. Sometimes the maps rendered sideways. Sometimes the maps rendered {{:news:failfishmural.png?linkonly|nothing at all}}. | The early servers used a wide variety of rendering software. Sometimes the maps rendered sideways. Sometimes the maps rendered {{:news:failfishmural.png?linkonly|nothing at all}}. |
| The first tiled map viewers required an administrator to manually code up each marker. This process was cumbersome and occasionally resulted in speling mistakes or coordinate inversions. In 2016, the server switched to ''mapcrafter'', which supported automatic marker generation. Using nothing but a sign block, a keyboard, and a can-do attitude, players could add their own markers to the map. The sign prefixes developed for ''mapcrafter'' (see [[#marker_icon|Marker Icon]]) remain in use—largely unchanged—as of 2023. | The first tiled map viewers required an administrator to manually code up each marker. This process was cumbersome and occasionally resulted in speling mistakes or coordinate inversions. In 2016, the server switched to ''mapcrafter'', which supported automatic marker generation. Using nothing but a sign block, a keyboard, and a can-do attitude, players could add their own markers to the map. The sign prefixes developed for ''mapcrafter'' (see [[#marker_icon|Marker Icon]]) remain in use—largely unchanged—as of 2023. |
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| In July 2022, ''mapcrafter'' ceased to be maintained and was replaced with ''overviewer''. Overviewer, which was written in Python, was substantially less efficient than mapcrafter. A complete render took many hours, leading one one admin to opine, | In July 2022, ''mapcrafter'' ceased to be maintained and was replaced with ''overviewer''. Overviewer, which was written in Python, was substantially less efficient than mapcrafter. A complete render took many hours, leading one one admin to complain, |
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| >> ''8.09t/s eta 23h 58m 37s'' | >> ''8.09t/s eta 23h 58m 37s'' |
| > Slow… lazy… snek. | > Slow… lazy… snek. |
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| But the resulting tiles, which included both day and night-time lighting maps, were the next best thing to actual gameplay. The maps even provoked a Cease-and-Desist letter from the Dwarven Board of Tourism, which complained that the high-resolution maps had a negative impact on the travel and hospitality sectors <sup>//[citation needed]//</sup>. | But the resulting tiles, which included both day- and night-time lighting maps, were the next best thing to actual gameplay. The maps even provoked a Cease-and-Desist letter from the Dwarven Board of Tourism, which complained that the high-resolution maps had a negative impact on the travel and hospitality sectors <sup>//[citation needed]//</sup>. |
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| In October 2023, ''overviewer''—which had been unmaintained since April—was replaced with ''squaremap''. The squaremap tiles marked a return to traditional, top-down, 1:1 scale maps. While less visually impressive, squaremap offered one important design innovation. | In October 2023, ''overviewer''—which had been unmaintained since April—was replaced with ''squaremap''. The squaremap tiles marked a return to traditional, top-down, 1:1 scale maps. While less visually impressive, squaremap offered one important design innovation. |
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| Up until this point, all mapping software had shared a common design principle: maps were rendered in "batch" mode. Each night—or every 72 nights, by traditional Gregorminian reckoning—a world snapshot was taken. An external process fed the data to a redstone logic core, which produced the maps. This design required the mapping program to read and understand the Minecraft save-file format. Over time, changes in the file format—"anvil," "the flattening," "caves and cliffs," and many other updates which lacked snappy, clever names—would cause breakage. | Up until this point, all mapping software had shared a common design principle: maps were rendered in "batch" mode. Each night—or every 72 nights, by traditional Gregorminian reckoning—a world snapshot was taken. An external process fed the data to a redstone logic core, which produced the maps. This design required the mapping program to read and understand the Minecraft save-file format. Over time, changes in the file format—"anvil," "the flattening," "caves and cliffs," and many other updates which lacked clever names—would cause breakage. |
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| The Minecraft 1.20 update was the last block of hay for the administrators, who decided to switch back to paper: that is, the PaperMC modding framework. By integrating mapping software directly into the Voxel Engine of the Cosmos, impatient cartographers no longer had to wait for the once-daily satellite pass to view the fruits of their labor. Maps, and map markers, were generated //live//. | |
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| | The Minecraft 1.20 update was the last block of hay for the administrators, who decided to switch back to paper: the PaperMC modding framework, that is. In a great ceremony that was attended by no one, the ''squaremap'' plugin was connected directly to the Voxel Engine of the Cosmos. Its comparator-based Difference Engine could then detect each change, as it was made, and account for it in real-time. Impatient cartographers no longer had to wait for the once-daily satellite pass to view the fruits of their labor. Maps, and map markers, were generated //live//. |
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