Tyrian Tour Guide! (Cartographer Tips and Questions thread)

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

Helpful Explorer Hints:

Please try these before requesting help:

1) Always Hug the walls!!! Every single area you go to, including outposts. Hug the Walls! This means that you need to travel around the edge of each and every area you come to.

This will not only uncover most of the fog within the area, it will also uncover bits of fog that are outside of the explorable area, including water and small islands close to the coast. Most areas that people miss are found by extreme wall hugging. So no matter what area you are in, grab a wall and show it some love.

2) Make sure that you enter every mission area to explore within it's borders.

3) Most "Enter Mission" areas have an explorable area that you can only access once you have completed the Enter Mission. Make sure that you explore these as well, as they will often have areas that were inaccessible during the mission.

Also, do not be content to simply do the mission and leave the exploring for the explorable area, as some missions may not have explorable areas, or may have areas that are not accessible within the explorable areas. To be sure you must Explore Everywhere!

4) When hugging the walls, Walk Slowly! If you run it, you can easily skip over little corners and juts that you would have hit had you walked, and these are usually the places that people miss. Slow and steady wins the race!

You can also accidentally skip over these areas if you are not using the keyboard to move, as mouse walking is extremely inaccurate. If you are not facing the wall that you are exploring, then you are doing it Wrong. Facing the wall (at least a 45' angle) will ensure you hit every nook you can. Otherwise you can pass them up even when going slowly.

Originally Posted by the_jos

I've decided to make a seperate post of this, since the " Tips and Maps for 100% Tyria Exploration" is moving quite fast.
The list is a slightly modified version of what I've posted there, not the locations, but some extra specification.

First of all a comment I made in the same thread on comparing maps:
Quote:
The method I surgest for maps below 98% is saving a 100% map and the non 100% one in an empty folder and use the 'Image and Fax viewer' (think it's called that in English) to switch between them.
You can see slight differences on the map.
For maps > 98% this does also work if the explorer has done a good job and has a lot still covered in one area.
Only two pictures in the map speeds up the loading a little and makes sure you are always looking at the right maps.
I use this method when I don't have my graphics program available. (not in original post).

The only method I use at home is visual compare.
I use a graphical program that supports layers (GIMP in this case).
I load the map and my 100% map as a layer.
Then zoom in to 200% and switch one layer on and off.
I use the 200% zoom since this makes it easier to see the difference


The maps I use to compare are:



Still unexplored (except Lornar's) are:
- a spot on the east side of Sanctum Cay missing.
- a small spot in Grent's Footprint near the entrance of Sorrow's Furnace.
- a spot in Ice Dome
- South area of Divinity Coast mission
- a spot below Borlis Pass (explore from the mission, in the bonus area)
- a spot in The Wilds mission (final battle, there is a exploration trick on wiki)
- desert might not be clean (hard to compare this area)
- a spot on Iron Mines west wall


Maps with the 17 July update can be found here:
1280x1024
1024x768

Spots I know are missing on those maps:
- Sanctum Cay east side, 2 spots
- Grent's Footprint near SF entrance
- Lornar's Pass, small spot on the east wall in a corner.
- The Wilds, end area (did not use the NT trick yet)


I mention these for people that want to do their own compare for 2 reasons.
First of all, they should look if their map is better on those areas, to prevent exploration on those spots.
Also, you can see how differences look on a map.
For example, the spot in Borlis Pass is quite obvious when you have wexplored it yourself. This is how most of the differences will look like.
The area in Divinity Coast is a lot harder to see. That's the kind of difference you can expect some areas in Kryta and Talus Chute / Withman's.

Now the frequently missed spots list.
I've taken those of the maps I've been comparing for the last month.
Those were (almost) all 98% or higher maps.
All spots were on at least two different maps I compared.

Have fun exploring

- Ascalon Arena outpost
- Great Northern Wall mission, south west part (explore in mission, from Old Ascalon and The Breach, see wiki for how the explored area should look like)
- Old Ascalon, tar lake
- Regent Valley, tar lake
- Fort Ranik mission, south west part
- The Breach (breach itself)
- South wall Diessa Lowlands (from Breach entrance)
- North wall of Eastern Frontier
- Ruins mission, the river east on the east side.
- The tar at Ruins of Surmia (top), start explore from near bonus area
- South wall Nolani mission
- Diessa Lowlands west wall (below the Ascalon Foothills entrance)
- Yaks bend, Arena outpost
- North wall of Borlis Pass mission, also north part near starting point
- Borliss Pass west wall (also explore a part from Frost Gate outpost north)
- Frost Gate east wall and low south east corner
- North and west wall Anvil Rock
- Deldrimor Bowl central rock formation
- Deldrimor Bowl south wall (explore near the little building halfway)
- Top and west wall of Deldrimor Bowl
- Beach above Gates of Kryta outpost
- Gates of Kryta outpost (forgot area name): spot outside the outpost, below entrance to North Kryta Province
- Gates of Kryta mission,the area with undead in Gates of Kryta (behind Oink)
- Gates of Kryta mission, north west from first boss
- The lighthouse in Lion's Arch
- East side of D'Alessio mission (I think you can hit the spot from the boats in Lion's Arch).
- Rock formation west of D'Alessio Seaboard outpost entrance
- D'Alessio west wall (where you deliver bonus item)
- North Kryta beach (west side)
- North wall Nebo Terrace
- South wall Cursed Lands
- The wall above Beetletun (west exit)
- Black Curtain south east corner (east of Kessex entrance)
- Wall near entrance Kessex Peak
- Kessex Peak south west corner (near the floating fort)
- Divinity coast far north-west corner (hug the wall in the swamp), also explore behind the bonus-reward person (east side)
- the lake near the bonus area in The Wilds mission
- The Wilds outpost (north side)
- Bloodstone mission, area behind last boss
- Wall between Reed Bog and The Falls
- Mamnoon Lagoon, south wall.
- Silverwoods, west wall near entrance to Ettin's Back
- West wall Sage Lands
- Aurora Glade outpost, behind merchant
- Aurora Glade bonus area
- West side of Henge of Denravi ( I think where the collectors are)
- Tangle Root east and south wall
- Riverside mission outpost, west side
- Riverside Province: south-west corner (at 'bonus area', walk behind the obstacles)
- Riverside mission, kill last east tower, walk to water and on pier
- North wall Riverside Province mission (near where you get the scepter)
- Sanctum Cay mission, far east side (run past the end-point,
without triggering and move east), same for south east corner.
- Recently I also noted people miss the north side of Sanctum Cay (explore the beaches)
- south of Amoon Oasys, keep hugging the wall on your right side all the way down to you reach a couple of large bones.
- Outside Amoon Oasys is a collector on the rocks (near first portal).
- the west wall above Heroes' Audience.
- Elona Reach south site (just below the point where you enter).
- Dunes mission, bonus area
- The Scar west wall
- Thirsty River south west corner (ranger boss building)
- Spot inside building of the monk-boss Thirsty River (east side)
- Tombs outpost
- Spot between Droknar's and Ice Caves outpost (explore from Droknar's north east side)
- Ice Caves of Sorrow, Evinia's cell.
- Talus Chute east side, between Ice Caves outpost and Icedome
- Talus Chute, north wall (near Icedome entrance)
- Witman's Folly, get outside Drok's and expore the area just south of the exit
- Port Sledge west wall (inside outpost)
- Iron Mines west wall
- East wall Iron Mines mission
- Thunderhead, south wall (just after mission starts, probably inside outpost)
- Upper side Thunderhead Keep
- Mineral springs north east corner (Ice Imps)
- Mineral Springs east wall
- Snake's Dance, south west corner
- Grenth's Footprint, north-east corner
- Grent's Footprint, white area 'above' SF entrance
- Spearhead Peek, spot on the wall (explore from Spearhead and Tasca's Demise)
- spot on the low east wall of Spearhead, I think you can reach it from the Copperhammer outpost (north side).
- North East wall of Icedome (could also be in Frozen Forrest)
- Hell's mission : You get into the water near the 'river' and with right
position you should be able to uncover a small piece connecting to Abaddon's.

Places you can't visit anymore, but are uncovered on some old maps:
D'Alessio Arena: the island south west of Lion's Arch
Fort Koga: Henge of Denravi Arena, east of the outpost
Amnoon Arena: North west of Amnoon Oasis
Deldrimor Arena: west of Droknar's
The Crag: island south west of Ember Light Camp
Lion's Arch: the water south was accessible for a short time (the Amnoon bug: December 15, 2006).

Changes:
5 July 2007: added places you can't visit anymore
24 July 2007: added the 17 July change to the main posting
22 September 2007: added Lion's Arch to the can't visit list.

Originally Posted by Sab

Difference Map Tutorial

You'll need:
- Photoshop (any version will do)
- A 100% uncovered map:
1024x768 (thanks to Asrial)
1280x1024 (thanks to Leighwyn)

1) Take a screenshot of your zoomed-out map in Guild Wars. Be sure to press Shift+Printscreen to remove all icons.

2) Open up Photoshop and load in both the 100% map (link above) and your current map (found in your Guild Wars\Screens folder). (picture)

3) If your map is at a different resolution to either of the 100% maps, you'll need to resize it.To do this, go to Image -> Image Size..., make sure Constrain Proportions is checked, and type in 768 for the height. Click OK (picture). Go to Image -> Canvas Size..., click the centre square, make sure Relative is unchecked, and type in 1024 for the width. Now your map should line up perfectly with the 100% map. (picture)
(note: this step assumes you're using the 1024x768 map as reference)

4) We're done with your map. Press CTRL+A to select your entire image, CTRL+C to copy, move over to the window with the 100% map (you did have both maps open in Photoshop, right?) and press CTRL+V to paste. In the Layers box down at the bottom right, you should see two layers - the 100% map at the bottom and your map above that. (picture)

5) Now we'll compare the differences. In that same Layers box, you'll see a dropdown menu saying "Normal." Click on it, and select "Difference." Before doing this, make sure you have your layer with your map selected (by default it's called Layer 1). (picture)

6) You should now have a difference map, consisting of mostly blacks and little spots of colour. Dark areas denotes places which are the same in both maps (i.e. places you've uncovered), and bright areas shows the places which are different (i.e. places you haven't uncovered). (picture)

7) If you want to check on any area manually, just go to the dropdown menu again (in the Layers box) and select "Normal." In the same Layers box, you'll see an eye to the left of your layers. Clicking it will turn your layer invisible, and clicking it again will make your layer reappear. Just zoom in on the area you want to inspect, and click the eye over and over again in quick succession. This will toggle your map on and off and will allow you to see exactly where the difference is. (picture)

A note about the 100% map. There are a couple of uncovered areas I know of:
- Dunes of Despair bonus area
- A spot in Tangle Root, just west of Henge of Denravi
- North-west corner of Mineral Springs

If those areas show up as bright spots in your difference map, do a manual comparison described in step 7.

There ya go. If GIMP is anything like Photoshop, the steps won't be too different. The important things are: Resizing/cropping (if necessary), layering your map on the 100% map and setting the Blending Mode (as it's called in Photoshop) to Difference.

Let me know if you need help with anything (not GIMP though, I'm clueless about that!).

Edit: Added some pictures!
Edit2: Link to a 1280x1024 map (hope ya don't mind, Leighwyn )

Originally Posted by Taurucis

I have heard reports that there is actually about 101 or 102% of Tyria that is mappable. Is that correct? Because I am sorely hoping that I can leave out some areas that I really hate (Thunderhead Keep and Aurora Glade.)

Is it possible that I could still have some uncharted spots on my map and still get my 100%?

Originally Posted by the_jos

If am not 100% sure what you mean by "the south-east part of Thirsty River".
To do know you can explore a very tiny spot in that corner while hugging that wall at the Monk boss.
Other then that I would need a screenshot from that area with the spot marked.

What you could also do is make a zoomed-out screenshot and compare it to the one in posting #2.
If the area looks about the same, I would try to find an easier spot to explore.

Originally Posted by DynamiteGoesBoom

Hey jos, haven't talked to you in a while...

This is the area that he's talking about:
http://www.theyadas.com/images/area1.jpg
By the way, I got my Legendary Cartographer title last night.

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Anyone has any clue how to get that small square?
The rod dots are the ones in which I wall-hugged to try and explore it, without succes offc...

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Note: Whoever's idea it was to have all "request help"-posts in 1 thread, well he fails miserably... I have the slight feeling it will take around 1 year for this to be anwsered, for the 10 people that visit this thread a year... GJ!

Originally Posted by jiggles

You realise pvp areas have no effect on cartographer titles right?

Originally Posted by Hermy

Does anyone else have problems using Texmod? When I use Texmod to run only GW it runs fine, but with any mods to help my Cartographer title it simply gives me that dirty D'OH! error :O

Originally Posted by pumpkin pie

Players cannot go to that island anymore, right? 99.7% :`(

Originally Posted by Luminarus

I read somewhere that drok's explorable is one of the old arena's so u can now explore that area. Dunno if its true, but i remember reading that.