reveal map spell useless ?

[Azzy]

Reveal map spell seems like a good way to make a detailed map of some important place, even if you don't have enough carthography skill. But unfortunately, when you pass this place again with lower carthography level, the map gets overwritten The same applies to sandals of carthography+2 and other similar equipment.

Is this intended ? It looks like a very stupid behaviour, especially for a character with intelligence of 18 )

[Martin]

Apparently rewriting the map is intended. Seems silly to me too. Once I've put the thing on paper I shouldn't need ANY cartographic skills to actually read it or to remember where I've been and what was there.

[BasiliskWrangler]

It was not really intended to work like that- it was just something that was never brought up during testing and thus was never addressed. In my opinion, yes, if you map something out with a boosted Cartography skill, the map changes should remain after the boost is gone.

Call it a bug; call it an oversight; call it a nuisance...but it's going to take more than just changing a couple lines of code to fix it. We'll definitely have it corrected for Book II but since it is not a critical issue we don't have plans to change the way it works in Book I.

[Martin]

Understood and appreciated, BW.

[Pye]

The map is not overwritten in the mac version. Seems odd that something that is this difficult to fix would work fine on another platform...

[Martin]

I'm afraid that mine was – running 10.4. I went wandering around with a pair of sandals and then took them off. Overwritten and erased. Bummer. Actually I finished the game with the Scout sandals on.
I did notice though that when I got an amulet that added two more points to my "talent" (up around 8 or 9 I can't remember) that it didn't seem to do anything. I guess there's a point where mapping becomes effectively pointless. I thought it was a great idea though - mapping as a skill.
Great game.

[Jude]

This is what I have discovered about Cartography (please correct me on any mistakes):

[SPOILERS!!!]

(Edited with corrected info from ThwockSplort)

1. 1 point will give you basic line map. That's all you really need to navigate, although water is not shown.

2. 3 points will color the land green.

3. 5 points shows the difference between walls, rocks, and trees, and water.

4. 7 points will show the difference between different ground textures, coloring them differently.

5. You can buy levels of Cartography from the depressed sailor in the inn at Aridell once you complete his quest to retrieve his sextant, up to level 5.

6. If you use an artifact or spell to gain a higher level of Cartography, then rewalk the area without it, the map will be redrawn at the lower level.

Jude

[ThwockSplort]

About number 2, I have 3 skill points and it doesn't show water. It only shows the difference between building walls and other barriers. I think it needs to be 5 for water, because it will do shore lines when I wear scout's sandal's

About number 5, Crap, I done sold that thing to some merchant. Maybe it's still there. I knew I should've hung on to that.

[Pye]

I'm afraid that mine was – running 10.4. I went wandering around with a pair of sandals and then took them off. Overwritten and erased. Bummer. Actually I finished the game with the Scout sandals on.
I did notice though that when I got an amulet that added two more points to my "talent" (up around 8 or 9 I can't remember) that it didn't seem to do anything. I guess there's a point where mapping becomes effectively pointless. I thought it was a great idea though - mapping as a skill.
Great game.

That is very strange. I absolutely believe you, its just that my experience has been different. I have only 1 point in cartography and when I use reveal map it works as expected. When the spell runs out, my map remains unaltered, even when walking over areas previously mapped. Before I had the 1 point in cartography, however, my map disappeared completely when the spell wore off. Additionally, I am wearing no cartography enhancing equipment.

The plot thicks...

[Jude]

About number 2, I have 3 skill points and it doesn't show water. It only shows the difference between building walls and other barriers. I think it needs to be 5 for water, because it will do shore lines when I wear scout's sandal's

About number 5, Crap, I done sold that thing to some merchant. Maybe it's still there. I knew I should've hung on to that.

Okay, I'll take your word for it, since I may have misremembered. I corrected my list accordingly.

Jude

[BasiliskWrangler]

Jude- I don't have my chart in front of me to tell you the exact levels, but one thing you didn't mention was that at higher levels Cartography also marks doorways and chests, and at it's highest level it also shows the location of NPCs/enemies actively in your area.

[Jude]

That's because I never got my skill that high! Thanks for the further info.

Jude

[Krafen]

At 2 points, the line map is colored based on the type of border.
Green for trees, brown for walls, etc.

[sarvadi]

The map is not overwritten in the mac version. Seems odd that something that is this difficult to fix would work fine on another platform...

Good to know!

[Jude]

The map overwrites under OS X 10.3.9. too.

Jude