First thread for the idea

This is a finely crafted project to demonstrate the detail and realism of Dwarf Fortress to non-players. It menaces with spikes of high-resolution and is encircled with bands of 3rd party utilities. On the project is an image of crowdsourcing.

In more 'normal' terms, the thing about DF is that the interface is actually pretty terrible at exposing the awesome depth of the game. For example, world gen - the default map is a resolution of a 16x16 tile to represent a 768x768 area; and the default maps aren't much better with a 1 pixel = 48x48 tiles (each tile ingame is usually 16x16, odd graphics packs aside). Everything is also presented in 2D, which makes it difficult to realise just how 3D the DF world really is.

Fortunately, there are workarounds. The specific utility we're using for this is Isoworld, which renders the world maps in isometric 3D (thanks to an elevation map). It can also hook in through dfhack, and create a more detailed presentation at 1 tile=1 pixel resolution if you choose the 'Oversized' map display, and connect to DF while running. It then saves the local map fragments it creates - and these can be aggregated for an identical world.

This is the project.

The Legendary Planes save is provided, as are the detailed maps to work off. Use adventure mode to explore the world with Isoworld open, connected, following, and set to Oversized mode (it must fit all these criteria!). Once you feel that you've explored a significant amount, send me a link to the files (stored in \The Legendary Planes\data\save\region9\isoworld\) and I'll merge them into the main download - tell me what you want to be credited as, I'll default to a username - you might be best off striking out deep into the far wilderness so we don't explore the same places a thousand times.

Once the world is largely explored, the images will be stitched together to form the first ever full-resolution map of a DF world - in 3D! Back of envelope, it'll be ~340MP. Lets go!


Credits so far:
This is a massive project, and would be impossible without:

Co-ordinator:    PeridexisErrant
World-Generator: Tevish Szat
Isoworld creator:   Japa
DF Developer:    Toady One (Tarn Adams)


Map-making adventurers:
- PeridexisErrant (look, this is the first upload)