12 replies to this topic

[Yacomo]

Hi,

I wonder if anybody around here knows a source for more 'scientific' maps of faerun. What I am mainly looking for is a height map. Botanical and political maps would also be cool.
I was hoping that something like the 'middle earth atlas' exists for faerun, but so far my search has been in vain

Thanks in adnvance for any hints

[hlidskialf]

There actually is a program called FR Atlas or something similar. It's likely exactly what you're looking for. I have a copy at home, although it's not installed atm. I'm not sure how much it's currently selling for, or even if it's mainstream available anymore. (I did see one selling on ebay the other day for about C$24.00 though.)

[Yacomo]

There actually is a program called FR Atlas or something similar. It's likely exactly what you're looking for. I have a copy at home, although it's not installed atm. I'm not sure how much it's currently selling for, or even if it's mainstream available anymore. (I did see one selling on ebay the other day for about C$24.00 though.)

Hmm, I have read about that one before, but from the description on the publisher's website it sounds more like a collection of maps from various modules. I would however be very grateful if you could install your copy and check if there are other maps available apart of the typical campaign maps, as mentioned before, a height map would be extremely valuable for me B)
I'd love to hear that my impression of this product was wrong and would be running out immediately to hunt down a copy

[hlidskialf]

I installed it to take a look for ya'. There's quite a bit of detail, and you can specifiy the layers of info. eg) Political, roads, mapnotes, etc... There's oodles of maps (with patches there's around 700 or so.) But I don't know if the worldmap details are enough for you. Here's a sample, and you can zoom to an extreme in or out as well. (From global to individual buildings.) Hope this somewhat helps, if it does, I can look up a few maps for you.

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[Yacomo]

I installed it to take a look for ya'. There's quite a bit of detail, and you can specifiy the layers of info. eg) Political, roads, mapnotes, etc... There's oodles of maps (with patches there's around 700 or so.) But I don't know if the worldmap details are enough for you. Here's a sample, and you can zoom to an extreme in or out as well. (From global to individual buildings.) Hope this somewhat helps, if it does, I can look up a few maps for you.

Thanks a lot hlidskialf!
This looks promising, so I'll try to give you some details on what I want to do: As you may know, I have been working on a revision of the BP-BGT map. That map is nice and all, but it is seriously lacking in terms of correct geography and it could also show a lot more details. My current goals are twofold:
- fix the geography of the BP-BGT map
- make the map nicer to look at and more detailed by either redrawing it completely or by turning it into a 3D model

Obviously the second task is a long-term project. To ease transformation into a 3D model I was hoping to find a greyscale (or DEM) heightmap of Faerun, guess something like that is not within the atlas, so I'll have to create one myself

As for the first task, I purchased the FR Campaign Setting and am using that one as main source, it is however not very detailed. Maybe you can help me out with details here? This is (in correct order) what I want to do in the next couple of weeks (months?):
- fix location of cities
- fix coastline and lakes
- add rivers and main roads
- add missing hills and mountains / fix existing ones
- diversify plains according to their region - Which are real plains, which deserts, swamps, wastelands etc?
- put the right plants into the right regions - unlikely that all trees in Faerun look alike
- change style of city icons to match the local architecture
- finally: add special locations and other props

As you can see, essentially I need a lot of info. I already ordered a couple of source books and have gathered the maps pinned in the sticky above. For the near future I will stick to the area covered by the CtB map. So if you want to help me and think you have maps with more of the details mentioned above than the FRCS has to offer, then I would be very grateful, if you could mail them to me

[hlidskialf]

BTW, there's something of note Here.

Might keep you busy in the meantime.

[Yacomo]

BTW, there's something of note Here.

Might keep you busy in the meantime.

Yes, the new version of Rabain's site is much better than the previous one :thumb: Unfortunately, and this seems true for all FR material I have seen so far, it is also missing the (greyscale) height map I am so desparately looking for

One more thing that would be of great value to me: Anybody happen to have a climate zone map? This would help me to select the correct plants for the correct areas B)

[hlidskialf]

I've done some looking into this proggy. It seems that there's nothing like a topographical or climatic map in the archive. What truely sucks is that anything besides the default viewing zoom can only be saved in .prn (ie. Print to file, non-viewable but ready to print to paper) format. There are a few options on being able to view .prn files, but most are hacky. Obviously this was done intentionally to prevent sharing as we are trying to do here, but still make it possible to print out large maps for gameplay. *sigh*
Aside from sending you the program (now discontinued & unsupported remember?) there's not much else I can do. Unless you need a specific point checked or scale check, etc...
Let me know.

[Andyr]

If you can't find a climate map you could look at the regional info in the FRCS to get a clue.

[Yacomo]

I've done some looking into this proggy. It seems that there's nothing like a topographical or climatic map in the archive. What truely sucks is that anything besides the default viewing zoom can only be saved in .prn (ie. Print to file, non-viewable but ready to print to paper) format. There are a few options on being able to view .prn files, but most are hacky. Obviously this was done intentionally to prevent sharing as we are trying to do here, but still make it possible to print out large maps for gameplay. *sigh*
Aside from sending you the program (now discontinued & unsupported remember?) there's not much else I can do. Unless you need a specific point checked or scale check, etc...
Let me know.

Thanks for checking this for me Hlid! Sorry to hear that none of the information I am most interested in is included Like Andyr suggested, I'll refer to my FRCS and the other FR material I gathered in the meantime then. Will try to use my imagination and common sense (well as much common sense as I have ) to fill in the holes. I'll post any specific questions that will (surely) arise here - somebody will always know the answer I guess

[Waywocket]

I've done some looking into this proggy. It seems that there's nothing like a topographical or climatic map in the archive. What truely sucks is that anything besides the default viewing zoom can only be saved in .prn (ie. Print to file, non-viewable but ready to print to paper) format.

Does it use the standard printer dialogues? If so, maybe you could use some software which sets up a virtual printer, such as PDF creator, and save it that way (if you're still wanting to).

[hlidskialf]

This is one of those "hacky" options I was talking about. It also uses the Ghostscript conversion, (as most do) which will either work great, or choke your comp. depending on your luck. This one looks easy enough to try so I'll take a look at it on my days off. *Tosses the dice.*