Charting the Depths of Tyria

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

So some of you might have noticed that Anet has been reusing a lot of parts of dungeons. I was starting to wonder how they would all fit in together, so I was photoshopping some parts of the maps I pulled from Wiki. And this was the result of combining Cathedral of Flames lvl2, Oola's Lab lvl 1 and Catacombs of Kathandrax lvl 1 and 3. The parts fit in perfectly, supporting my theory anet is using a Master Dungeon for the maps. I am wondering how this Master Dungeon would look like. The only problem is I need to have full resolution maps, not the downscaled versions of wiki. So I would like to ask anyone that can provide me with explored dungeon maps, preferably without the red dots (I dont know how to disable those, like some on wiki use)



(top left is the Master Dungeon, and clockwise it is Cathedral lvl 2, Oolas lvl 1, Kathandrax lvl 1, Kathandrax lvl 3.

It would really be nice if Anet released a Master Dungeon as a elite mission in the future, when the servers can handle that much area.

Antheus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

It's not master dungeon, but segments of dungeons.

large parts of caverns make a segment, and they are then glued together. While they might fit together into one big map, that's not strictly needed.

But most of underworld scenery is reused over several dungeons, quests and quests.

meat shield

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2006

holland , delft

[NL]

A/W

you can remove red dots by using the reconnect feature

Prowlinger

Prowlinger

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2005

Georgia, USA

[HYE]

E/

As a (mod) level designer, I can honestly say that there are many many aspects of GW that are reused... Outdoors are just not as noticable since most areas are wide areas and filled with foliage. Underground the pathways are tighter and more noticable... thus easier and cheaper to reuse common segments than redesign the same thing for 10 different needs.

The underground dungeons were kept fairly simple for many reasons.... GW2 is coming.... and why spend lengthy amounts of time making dungeons when you know you will be doing the exact same thing for the new engine. Anet possibly plans to include more dungeons in GW2 initially than GW1 initially based on the fact there is now a great desire for underground adventures. (This is speculation...)

It would not be unfathomable that we *may* get a master massive dungeon... or elite per say.. esp based on GWEN... but I would bet more odds on Anet saving them for GW2...

Will GW2 include reusable segments in dungeons? Possibly, it is a very common industry procedure. Anet may choose to beef up the dungeon development for GW2 and make underground section less obvious on the repeat usage by using heavier fills of objects and texturing with this... or the engine could be developed to never need repeatable segments.

A great example would be Fahranur in Istan / Nightfall.... this is comprised of inner and outer based level design. Imagine having a dungeon with the whole First City underground and explorable... It can be done, pending design time and memory limitations of the engine. I expect GW2 to really up the ante on ideas like this in comparison over GW1.

Also, Guildmaster Cain... if you want a mod that reduces or removes the red dots... and you don't mind using Texmod, I can create this request in a matter of minutes for you and send it to you. Just email me and let me know...

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Use texmod, yank the images out wholesale.

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

wots a Texmod? XD

Does this mean you can extract the maps from the game data? Well ill look into it tomorrow, kinda tired now...

Anyway, as my sample picture shows, they are not simply reusing art from dungeons, but they using small parts of a large dungeon. Most clearly this is seen by Catacombs of Kathandrax lvl 1 and Oolas Lab lvl 1, which clearly have the same start and endpoints, but not the same path. All pieces fit into eachother like a giant puzzle.

The dungeons sometimes differ, only because they changed some minor things, like different places for beacons, or spiderwebs like in Arachni's, which is the same as Shards lvl 3, except for those spiderwebs. They can add Spiderwebs, beacons, mobs, npcs and stuff, but they cant change the layout of the masterdungeon.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guildmaster Cain
Does this mean you can extract the maps from the game data? Well ill look into it tomorrow, kinda tired now... Absolutely. Run it in logging mode, enter the dungeon, open your u-map, run through +/- until the u-map goes green, save the image.

Actually, that feels like a pain. Better plan: Get to where you want to go without texmod/with texmod in package mode, disconnect, load GW using texmod in logging mode, reconnect, proceed as above. That way you don't have to endure logging mode while slogging to the map you want to save.