Meropis Sea Map via Mudlet Mapper

Tirac

A while ago on the old forums, @Zulah posted an impressive ASCII map of the Meropis sea map. I've been working on a fun sea mapper project which I've integrated into the Mudlet mapper, and which automatically reads the sea map into the mapper as-you-sail. I took a ship for a whirl around the Meropis chops and I've posted an image of the output below. The output was a fully interactive map with 34,239 rooms:





The design for the Meropis chops is really quite nice and it's something that most people probably don't notice while sailing around. I don't have Zulah's map, but I imagine the results are similar.

The script used to generate maps also does pathfinding and automatic sailing via clicking on nodes of the map to indicate a destination, which made sailing through these chops less painful. It's my hope that projects like these will make sailing less tedious, more interesting, and more popular. There are still a few bugs, but if there is interest, I may try to package up and release the code in the next couple of weeks.

edit: zoomed in version here: http://i5.minus.com/ib129zlCD1vBRD.PNG

Iphis

Eld

Nice looking map, though I'm sure @Penwize will be disappointed that you left out Prasset.

Dakuan

Woah, didnt expect its so wast

Nizaris

Looks really cool, but: don't the chops change from time to time?

Tirac

Nizaris said:

Looks really cool, but: don't the chops change from time to time?

Probably. It's not a map, it's a mapper.

Jonathin

The meropis chops have stayed pretty much the same since uhh... as far back as I can remember.

Rinzai

I really dig this. nice work.

Iocun

Jonathin said:

The meropis chops have stayed pretty much the same since uhh... as far back as I can remember.

The main change I remember is the passage between the Northern Vasnaris and Orilla widening into a real channel.

Ruth

This is pretty awesome!

Veldrin

I'd like the code, might actually get me to sail if I don't have to control the ship around all those bloody chops manually

Nizaris

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, your code takes the text sea squares from the wilderness map, parses them, and models them into a mudlet map on the fly? Regardless of the present layout of the chops? Were we to download this system, we would receive a current database of rooms, along with the capability to update it simply by sailing? If so, that's pretty cool.

Tirac

Nizaris said:

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, your code takes the text sea squares from the wilderness map, parses them, and models them into a mudlet map on the fly? Regardless of the present layout of the chops? Were we to download this system, we would receive a current database of rooms, along with the capability to update it simply by sailing? If so, that's pretty cool.

That's correct, except that I won't release a database of existing "rooms". There are a lot of problems with doing that because it's impossible to track ship movement on open ocean for the following reasons:

• There is no GMCP support for seafaring,
• Thus far, nobody has come up with a reliable scheme for how NNE-type movements work, and the admins will not release the code or the scheme,
• There is a bug where ships drift without any message,
• Mapping the entire world would be upwards of 200k rooms, and the mudlet mapper gets slow with too many,
  
• Supposedly chops change? I wouldn't know.
  

Until the above things are addressed, making a 100% accurate map is going to be extremely hard. I use the mapper by resetting it every time I board a ship and just remap wherever I go, and since pathfinding depends on map accuracy, I find this to be better. I'll go into more detail if I release the script.

Rispok

Tirac said:

some cool things

I think we all want this, yell at the Admin until the issues are addressed and you can share it.

Sena

Ships drifting without a message is apparently intentional, not a bug.

Tanaar

The obvious answer to the above "problems" is to sail your ship manually like a big boy or girl using a simple still-photo map like Zulah's. Real men use their own notes, scribbled on the backs of taped-together napkins and loose leaf paper. Pizza/rum stains are not mandatory, but can be a plus.

Tirac

Sena said:

Ships drifting without a message is apparently intentional, not a bug.

Any idea why on earth this would be intentional, if true? Seems to just cause headaches (for me).

Eld

Sena said:

Ships drifting without a message is apparently intentional, not a bug.

This is one of those posts that I wish I could WTF without the negative point for the poster. Drifting at least sometimes gives a message, so you're saying it's intentional for it to give a message sometimes but not always?

Sena

Not sure of the reason, maybe to hinder auto-sailing?

Here's the thread with the bug response.

Eld

Chance to notice drifting being a chance depending on skill in Vision, similar to success rates on Secrets, actually makes me feel better about it, whatever the reason. I'd never noticed drifting without a message before, so I was thinking of it as just something that happens that you get a message with, with the no-message ones just being tossed in randomly to mess with people.

Cardan

Tirac said:

Nizaris said:

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, your code takes the text sea squares from the wilderness map, parses them, and models them into a mudlet map on the fly? Regardless of the present layout of the chops? Were we to download this system, we would receive a current database of rooms, along with the capability to update it simply by sailing? If so, that's pretty cool.

That's correct, except that I won't release a database of existing "rooms". There are a lot of problems with doing that because it's impossible to track ship movement on open ocean for the following reasons:

• There is no GMCP support for seafaring,
• Thus far, nobody has come up with a reliable scheme for how NNE-type movements work, and the admins will not release the code or the scheme,
• There is a bug where ships drift without any message,
• Mapping the entire world would be upwards of 200k rooms, and the mudlet mapper gets slow with too many,
  
• Supposedly chops change? I wouldn't know.
  

Until the above things are addressed, making a 100% accurate map is going to be extremely hard. I use the mapper by resetting it every time I board a ship and just remap wherever I go, and since pathfinding depends on map accuracy, I find this to be better. I'll go into more detail if I release the script.

I'll break my response down into sections to match your dot points where I can:

GMCP

Getting brand new, distinct things (i.e. seafaring, date/time, etc ) added to GMCP can be difficult because it generally would requiring updating code in the section that is maintained across all the IRE games whereas simple things like a new attribute from an existing system, (Mayan Crowns and Bound Mayan Crowns as a recent example) can generally be handled within the single game. There's a fair amount of logistical work involved in ensuring that adding something for one game will either work or not break anything in the other games. This isn't to say it's impossible, just that it can be somewhat molasses-like in speed whilst we coordinate with the other games. If there's things you would like added to GMCP, start up a separate Dais thread with what you'd like added, what data you'd like it to show, etc, and we can discuss it from there. Note - date/time is already on the list of things we want to do so we don't need a thread for that. 

Non-Cardinal movements

I'll see what I can decipher out of the code and if there's anything easy to pass on, I will. (As in it doesn't take me three pages to explain it style easy)

Ship drifting bug

This isn't a bug. There is a percentage chance (off the top of my head, about 25% for those with trans vision) that there won't be a message seen when the ship drifts that is factored on your level of Vision. There's also a subsequent check that you are in certain rooms on the ship that it would be logical to see these messages where it will show the map after movement (if you have the auto map show configured - quarterdeck, crow's nest, main deck, or on the bow and shipmelded. If you do see the message about the ship drifting, it may also be getting missed as "movement spam" since you're seeing the map displayed straight after the message.

Chops change

Chops have been known to change. I don't believe there is a defined timeframe/pattern/restriction of area for this sort of thing though.

Tanaar said:

The obvious answer to the above "problems" is to sail your ship manually like a big boy or girl using a simple still-photo map like Zulah's. Real men use their own notes, scribbled on the backs of taped-together napkins and loose leaf paper. Pizza/rum stains are not mandatory, but can be a plus.

I have louvres on my study window so I just use post-it notes for a map and, depending on which direction I'm going, flip the louvres. 

Tirac

@Cardan

GMCP: GMCP would be the ideal solution, but I can see how that would take a long time to implement.

Non-cardinal/ordinal directions: If you figure out anything in regards to this, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Ship drifting: Is reducing the chance to 0% at trans vision on the table? In my opinion, it doesn't add much complexity to manual sailing but does hinder mapping.

Tanaar

@Cardan - When I was living in a single-person dorm room, I used to have poster-sized maps plastered over parts of the walls. Consequently, I am now able to scoff at all those who can't find places without Mudlet mapper or an autowalker. Monks without wings (I'm saving up, I swear) walk EVERYWHERE. My entire list of transportation abilities: shipreturn, prism tattoo, mind travel. Ayup.

Eld

Tirac said:

@Cardan

GMCP: GMCP would be the ideal solution, but I can see how that would take a long time to implement.

Non-cardinal/ordinal directions: If you figure out anything in regards to this, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Ship drifting: Is reducing the chance to 0% at trans vision on the table? In my opinion, it doesn't add much complexity to manual sailing but does hinder mapping.

Sounds like the point, if anything, isn't to hinder manual sailing (which it doesn't particularly) but rather to make it harder to autosail.

Nellaundra

good god I scrolled down and thought that the Meropis sea was Giygas

Tekk

Drifting isn't a bug. Depending on how the wind is, what direction you're facing, you're going to go off point. That's Achaea's way of doing it. Until we get the ability to hoist other sails to compensate for it. 

Eld

Tekk said:

Drifting isn't a bug. Depending on how the wind is, what direction you're facing, you're going to go off point. That's Achaea's way of doing it. Until we get the ability to hoist other sails to compensate for it. 

No one was saying drifting was a bug. The discussion was about drifting without getting the "Your ship drifts to the x." message.

Delphinus

Tekk said:

Drifting isn't a bug. Depending on how the wind is, what direction you're facing, you're going to go off point. That's Achaea's way of doing it. Until we get the ability to hoist other sails to compensate for it. 

We do. Stationhold, in Seafaring.

Tirac

I've posted the source for my sea mapping system:

forums.achaea.com/discussion/950/sea-mapping-release

It's free, enjoy.

Tirac

I don't know how to link.

forums.achaea.com/discussion/950/sea-mapping-release

Damn it, just copy and paste it.