i found this sometime ago and it's amazing http://www.yxklyx.com/thecolosseum/farcry2/Far_Cry_2_World_Map_v8.jpg (http://www.yxklyx.com/thecolosseum/farcry2/Far_Cry_2_World_Map_v8.jpg)
someone should really make one for this game! It would be so helpful, i dont want HUD, i really prefer the manual map in FC2
Actually, the author of this amazing map is right here.
We tried to convince him into doing the same for FC3 but no dice!! :-\\
Feel free to try though........ he won't take credit cards!! ;D
Part of the problem of attempting to map FC3 with that kind of detail is that in FC3 the nature of the patrol routes change in a completely random fashion.
In FC3 if you select any specific section of road in a part of the map that is still hostile (under the influence of nearby uncaptured outposts) and travel its length back and forth several times there is no predictable rhyme or reason behind the timing or the types of patrolling vehicles or the enemies on foot that you will surely encounter. Sometimes you can clear out a roadblock and in the time it takes you to turn to look away and back the game engine will respawn another roadblock in exactly the same place.
Sometimes a glider is perched in a specific spot high on a mountain ledge and then the next time you try to use it again the take off pad is there but the glider is nowhere to be found. ????
In FC2 If you wanted to drive around in a grenade launching assault truck there were specific patrols on set routes that were always somewhere along their routes where they were supposed to be. FC3 has a more aggressive nature where instead of you coming to it the game engine takes the initiative and comes after you and it wants to throw everything its got in the effort. :-D
Beyond that once you've purchased the different regional map upgrades for relics and loot to add to the game map you know where almost everything else is.
To both repliers, thank you! i haven't played FC3 yet(!) need to finish exams first, but I've replayed FC2 at least 5 times :P
and i wanted to be as prepared as possible :-D so... any thing you think i should know, i'd appreciate the advice :)
thanks again,
anything else you might want to know is to be found in stickied topics, such as Tips And Tricks or Useful Outposts or Hunter's List. :)
Hey rubberduckkiller, welcome to the site :)
I think all of us here would prefer a FC2-style in-game map to the HUD, but unfortunately it wasn't to be ::)
Regarding playing FC2 in preparation for FC3, that's a valid idea up to a point. In many ways FC3 is as different to FC2 as FC2 was to FC1 (dunno if you played that one). Some concepts from #2 have been carried over to #3 - lots of vehicles to drive/sail/fly, open-world nature (although the main missions are of a much more linear nature than those in FC2), and safehouses, although securing these involve a great deal more than just wasting two or three mercs. For the most part, it's like a completely different gaming experience. You'll probably love some of the innovations, but some of the other changes may make you cuss. They made me do so :-D
If you enjoy playing FC2, a game dear to the hearts of many of us here, I think overall you'll enjoy FC3. Just be prepared to rethink some of what you experienced with FC2. In some ways FC3 is better, in other ways it most assuredly isn't. The two games are like chalk and cheese, really.
There's a wealth of info and opinion here about it here, if you're willing to spend the time wading through it all :-()
I should have welcomed you too rubberduckkiller. Sorry about that. I do love to talk shop and I was too busy getting down to the brass tacks and jumped right over the amenities. :-[
In addition to the suggestion Art (a top go-to guy here at OWG) made of checking out some of the other threads for a goldmine of info we do like questions here too. Sometimes too much, as we often end up in something akin to a polite fistfight to see who's able to post replies the fastest. But we do try to restrict all the bloodletting to game time. :laugh:
One thing that I think you will appreciate in FC3 over FC2 when you get into it is that stealth while undiscovered under cover or that breaks the enemy's line of sight when you shift positions and the new feature of throwing a rock to create a distraction really works! Like anything in the FC worlds it's quirky but amazingly useful once you get the hang of it. I think you'll dig it. :-X
I must have spent too much time in the mind-numbingly ignorant world of YouTube comments, because I was sure common decency was non-existent in this world we call the Internet :-D so thank you for the warm welcome to the site (bookmarked form now on) and the replies.
Yeah, I was prepared for changes from game to game as we saw FC1 to FC2, but it was my fanboy wish since i finished FC2, almost 5yrs ago, that they just make a 1.5 version with predators, challenges and crafting and improved engine and graphic. This being a new game I fully understand the need to innovate.
Still, a friend of mine and I are counting down the days to our last exam, then like pair of kids, running to the store, picking it up, running home and getting on the game!
Once again thanks, and see you guys around :)
heh, nothing wrong with starting in the middle of it and then slip in the welcome and so forth, I like your last comment appreciating that this here is not YouTube :-D
Welcome to OWG, rubberduckkiller. ^-^
Quote from: rubberduckkiller on May 18, 2013, 01:08:15 AM
... I've replayed FC2 at least 5 times :P
FC2 is still my favorite game, and with mods it is even better. FC3 is a good game and there is much in the way of open world experimentation, bit I still prefer FC2.
^-^
Yeah, that's my map, but I think an older version, didn't I get up to version 14 or something? Whatever the latest one here is the newest, as long as PZ has it updated. Boy that's a slow site, too. Anyway, there are a couple reasons I never did one for FC3, the main one being I don't have the time anymore. Well, I suppose I could find it, but it would take away from actually playing the game. The other main one is there are no high resolution map graphics stored in the game that I know of. One of the other guys here can maybe answer if they have found any better graphics while poking around in the game files, but I kind of doubt it. The best you could get would be the map that's already in the game when you zoom all the way in. It would be nice if that could be extracted and you could then make a print of it to reference, but since it's already in game and you can mark all the items on it, there's not a real motivation to do anything more with it. The one thing I don't like about the in game map is the way the roads are drawn. Some of the roads look like they should be main roads but are little more than cow paths and the ones that look like cow paths are sometimes nice wide roads. Not to mention they sometimes fade in and out for no discernible reason.
Well, when I started playing FC3 I also thought about that there should be a printable map, just like the one that was made by Dweller_Benthos for FC2. Thanks again for that - made life in Africa a lot easier. ;)
But as you can buy the map in-game with all the loot crest locations, it seemed unnecessary.
Nevertheless, I did some fiddling with the available tools (extractor and converter), and this is what I found out so far:
The map can be found in fc3_main.dat, in subdir worldmap, in 4 different resolutions. As they are properly numbered, they can easily put together to a decent big map.
An even higher resolution can be found in the _UNKNOWN\gfx subdir. This seems to be the data for the Compass/Minimap in the HUD. Putting them together to a large map requires knowledge of how they are organized/numbered.
They are numbered like this:
0C61B4AB5A8E5B10.xbt
0C61B4AB5A8E5C60.xbt
If someone knows the trick, how to put them together, you might end up with a map with dimensions up to 20480x20480 pixel.
Hope, this helps a bit...
Trivia: Did you know that Dweller_Benthos crafted the maps down to the latest version (v14?) before playing the game for the first time?
:go
and to show good manners: welcome rubberduckkiller and Onkel_Hotte! :)
A welcome to you too, Onkel_Hotte :)
Thanks for the info, nice w@&k :-X I agree with the others that a map for FC3 isn't really necessary when you can buy the locations for all the findable goodies. Plus it has the waypoint feature, which I find quite useful not only for getting to a relic or chest but also for determining whether it's above me or below me when I get near it.
Onkel Hotte, nice :) +1 :-X
If I'm not completely mistaken you used to be a member of OWG long ago already but somehow it seems you had to register again?
Quote from: Art Blade on May 20, 2013, 04:26:11 PM
If I'm not completely mistaken you used to be a member of OWG long ago already but somehow it seems you had to register again?
Likely my fault; I purged the member list some time ago using criteria based on posts and last time of visit.
Sorry Onkel, and welcome back to OWG ;)
That username did ring a faint bell... :-[
Quote from: JRD on May 20, 2013, 02:47:22 PM
Trivia: Did you know that Dweller_Benthos crafted the maps down to the latest version (v14?) before playing the game for the first time?
You flatter me :-D Some of the initial w@&k was done before I played the whole game, mostly I stole the diamond locations from someone who scanned the printed guide and pasted the results together into one file. I then had the extracted graphics which I pasted together and placed in the diamond locations. Then I started to add locations for patrols and other moving vehicles as I played the game, also adding in locations for hang gliders and ammo dumps. That's why the last version came out a little while later, I was re-playing the game and found a few more ammo dumps I hadn't marked on the first few times through. So, yes, a large portion was done before I played the game all the way through, but not all of it.
If someone wants those FC3 maps pasted together for a print out, I could probably do that pretty easily, if someone wants to extract the files and post them to mediafire or something. As I recall, the format used in FC2 was some sort of modified DDS file, that you needed to strip out a header section to make it a normal DDS that can be read in photoshop. Is this true of the current graphics?
Quote from: PZ on May 20, 2013, 08:45:48 PM
Likely my fault; I purged the member list some time ago using criteria based on posts and last time of visit.
Sorry Onkel, and welcome back to OWG ;)
Hm, I was pretty confused to see my registered date to be 01.01.2013, with this reply to be my 1st post here. I guess I was too busy playing FC3. :-D
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on May 21, 2013, 08:29:08 AM
...
If someone wants those FC3 maps pasted together for a print out, I could probably do that pretty easily, if someone wants to extract the files and post them to mediafire or something. As I recall, the format used in FC2 was some sort of modified DDS file, that you needed to strip out a header section to make it a normal DDS that can be read in photoshop. Is this true of the current graphics?
No need to do that w@&k again, as I got a blank map (without any Icons) of the highest resolution right here. It's 10240x10240 pixel, ~11MB, PNG-Format. If someone wants it to start his own map, just let me know, where to put it.
Just if you think you can solve the riddle with the cryptic named mapfiles you could put some w@&k into it...
If you have the full map, what is the need to decipher the file names?
as I understand it, those "riddle" file names comprise the second layer with all those icons that are missing on the blank map he has got.
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 11, 2013, 12:36:10 PM
If you have the full map, what is the need to decipher the file names?
Sorry for the confusion: With highest Resolution I meant the highest level of Resolution for the 'map-map'. The 'minimap-map' with the encrypted filenames has an even higher resolution (I presume 20480x20480).
OK, I see. Hmmmm...... probably the most w@&k would be converting the xbt files to something photoshop can read. Is it the same procedure as in FC2? Where you have to strip 32 bits form the header to get a DDS file? That was the tedious part as I recall. Once that is done, getting them to line up shouldn't be too hard, I bet even the auto photo merge function in photoshop would be able to stitch them together, but the lack (I assume) of overlap might trip up that process.
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 13, 2013, 08:29:33 AM
...probably the most w@&k would be converting the xbt files to something photoshop can read...
Nope, that's the easiest Part, with Robmaisters tools, linked here: http://modding.fc3wiki.com/Texture_Resource (http://modding.fc3wiki.com/Texture_Resource) you'll have them converted to dds in next no time.
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 13, 2013, 08:29:33 AM
... I bet even the auto photo merge function in photoshop would be able to stitch them together, but the lack (I assume) of overlap might trip up that process.
No overlaps needed, as they have exact dimensions. They come together as tiles.
As I stated earlier: The file descriptin is the Problem.
1. The Files for the main map are named like this:
3_0_0.xbt; 3=highest res; 0=row 1; 0=column 1
3_0_1.xbt; 3=highest res; 0=row 1; 0=column 2
...
3_1_0.xbt; 3=highest res; 0=row 2; 0=column 1
...
I've already put them together - no fuzz at all.
2. The Files for the Minimap in the compass (has an even higher reolution than the main map) are named like this:
5A09D4261F0E926B.xbt
5A09D4261F0E951B.xbt
5A09D4261F0E967B.xbt
...
The scheme with row and column doesn't seem to apply here, at least I cannot see it. If this riddle is resolved, you might end up with a real big map...
Unfortunately, the link to the actual utility is dead.
If there's no over lap, then Photoshop might have a problem stitching them, as it looks for overlapping areas to line up each image to the next.
Nvidia has some DDS utilities including a windows file previewer. It will show a preview of the file in an explorer window, so you could get all the files in one place then then preview them en masse to see which ones go where. A cludgy way to do it and labor intensive, but about the only way I can think of at the moment. Importing the files into a layout program like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator would allow you to move them around to see what goes where, but also a labor intensive way to do it.
Found a copy of the converter on a Russian file sharing site, hope there's no virii in it. If it works, I'll see what I can come up with.
Wait, what's the procedure for extracting the file from the FC3 game files?
OMG, tha Mapper might do an FC3 map! :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X
Well, at most I would see if I can stitch the high res map tiles together and put that up somewhere for anyone who wants to go further with it, but I don't think I'd spend the time putting all those icons and stuff in, no real need, IMO.
That is, if I ever get the game data extracted, still haven't looked into how to do that.
Out file limits have increased significantly since you did the FC2 maps. We should be able to house anything you manage to put together, should you find the time to do so. ;)
Psst. "Out" = our. :-D
i've finally finished exams and got a chance to play FC3, 20h over the past tree days is a good enough sample i think and wow.
It's so much different from what i expected, and i now completely get why there is no need for a printable map, although maybe it would mean i dont have to pause the game all the time. (1 point to FC2)
Thank you for all the feedback guys.
all the best regarding your exams, mate, hope it all goes well. And you're welcome, keep posting and don't hesitate asking questions :)
I like the maps because I can print them on color paper - they are like wall art for me ^-^
i can still look at D_B's detailed maps and relive my FC2 adventures in my mind's eye :-X
:)
Yeah, it's funny. ^-^
There was a time when I could see almost any screenshot from FC2 and place it in the FC2 world instantly and yet for the small details of navigation I would pop open the map to plan unique approaches to objectives. Always seeking the as yet unexperienced surprises FC2 was loaded with.
I'm slowly approaching that point in FC3 but the map pauses the game. :-\\
It's just not the same as flying down the road or over some goat track with your map spread out on the dashboard yelling "Where the hell am I?" ;)
I'll see what I can do, can someone post a link to a tutorial on extracting the graphics? I have the converter program, just need to get the graphics extracted.
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 20, 2013, 07:47:23 AM
I'll see what I can do, can someone post a link to a tutorial on extracting the graphics? I have the converter program, just need to get the graphics extracted.
- Download "Gibbed Tools Dunia 2 GUI-1-04.rar" (Google for it)
- unpack it and run "RunGUI.exe"
- set the paths
- in section 'UnPack' choose 'fc_main (big size)' - you need ~18GB free disk space
- click UnPackIt!
- wait for it
- the graphics for the main map are here: ..\fc3_main\worlds\fc3_main\worldmap
- the graphics for the HUD-map (that's what you want) are here: ..\fc3_main\__UNKNOWN\gfx
- convert them using Robmaisters tools
Good luck!
OK then, I'll see what happens this weekend. Weather is supposed to be nice though, and World War Z comes out, soooooo spare time looks limited.
Alllll right...... Got the textures extracted, got the photoshop plugin installed, and looking at the files, wow, there are over 12,000 of them. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....
Looks like the first 1500 or so (#112 - 5119, there are gaps in the number sequence) are just junk. Looks like texture / brush / paint test areas, nothing of interest.
Then, files numbers 5136-5199 are one row of the map tiles, that's 64 files, so that seems right. Thing that confused me a bit is it seems this is the bottom row of the map, which also makes sense, if you break it up into squares, and start numbering from the bottom corner (0,0) and w@&k across, then up to the next row, etc.
The next set is 5264-5279 which is garbage, 16 files. These may be a separate file, or the edges of the main image file where they did scribbles and stuff.
Then, the next set of real textures is 5296-5359, another set of 64 files.
Doing the math, 64 tiles each of 128 pixels is 8,192 pixels wide for the whole map. I haven't counted how many rows there are yet, but looking at the world map files which I looked at, is 4096x3584, so this file set would be 8192x7168 give or take.
Oh yeah, for some reason, the minimap files weren't in \fc3_main\__UNKNOWN\gfx for me, that folder isn't there when I extracted the files, but I found them in fc3_main\worlds\fc3_main\minimaps\1 - unless that's the wrong set of files? There is no __UNKNOWN folder in my extracted set.
Yes, looking back at what Onkel_Hotte posted, I don't have any files with names like 5A09D4261F0E926B.xbt, so I think I'm looking at the wrong files.
All right, final note for the day, then I'm going hiking. I pieced together the level 4 zoom main map (files named 3_#_#) which is the highest resolution. Then I overlaid one strip of the minimap files I found on top of it, and it seems that is about twice the resolution of the highest main map file set, or thereabouts. So, unless there's yet another set of minimap files that I'm missing for some reason, that looks to be about it. Figuring the final size to be about 16,384x14,336. No guarantee if/when I get this done.
Wow, impressive w@&k so far, D_B +1 just for the effort to get this far :-X
agree. +1 :-X from me, too.
NICE. Keep going, D_B :)
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 21, 2013, 07:58:56 AM
... Oh yeah, for some reason, the minimap files weren't in \fc3_main\__UNKNOWN\gfx for me, that folder isn't there when I extracted the files, but I found them in fc3_main\worlds\fc3_main\minimaps\1 - nless that's the wrong set of files? There is no __UNKNOWN folder in my extracted set....
Wow, I've been looking at the wrong files, the whole time!
I've used 1.03 of Gibbed Tools to unpack them - unpacking with 1.04 I get the same (and obviously correct) results as you.
So just forget everything I've written before about cryptic filenames and '__UNKNOWN\gfx'-folders.
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on June 21, 2013, 07:58:56 AM
... Figuring the final size to be about 16,384x14,336. ...
A word about that: When you stitch the highest main map you end up with a map of 7168x6144. You'll have to place it in a 10240x10240 map (filling the rest with blue color for open water) to match the coordinates found ingame: 0.0/0.0 is at lower left corner, 1024.0/1024.0 is at upper right corner. I presume it will be the same with the minimap-files. You'll probably have to place it in a 20480x20480 sized file to match the coordinates.
OK, I didn't realize there was a direct correlation to the pixel grid on the map to the coordinates given in game. Nice to know. There are a lot of "extra" files that are either junk or filler, now that I know that, I guess they are there to "fill the space" to make the graphics match the in game locations. Most of them in the world maps are just dark blue space fillers, I ignored them when I stitched those maps, but in the minimap files, there are various scribbles and other weird things that might be interesting to see. Heck, there might even be a secret message in them, you never know.
I have some time this afternoon, as I just saw World War Z (fun pic, lots of zombie action) and it's brutal hot out there now, so I'm sitting in the A/C keeping cool and doing stuff like laundry which leaves time for games and other pursuits.
I found this map online, there are clearer and more useful maps around but I like the way this one is presented:
http://hdoesheritage.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/therookislands.jpg (http://hdoesheritage.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/therookislands.jpg)
I commented on this elsewhere but thought it might be worth mentioning here. Something I've noticed that's not showing on any of the game maps is ammo crates and randomly scattered stockpiles for a quick reload. There's not even an icon on the mini-maps to show those spots even exist. In a pinch knowing where there's stray ammo scattered around can be more critical than the locations of treasure chests.
Many times a mission location will have an ammo crate that remains in the game even after the mission is complete. An example of one such location is across the river from the sewage treatment plant near the ledge you shoot from to provide Ollie cover so he can escape before being loaded on the chopper. Some of the large ammo stockpiles that are permanently available for quick top off are not connection to a mission.
UBI's omission of these locations on the maps have irritated me at times in the past because I've run low on handgun, sniper ammo or grenades and not realized until later that I was mere steps away from a complete refill. ???
For assault rifle or shotgun ammo location markers a single bullet icon for a quick single magazine refill and two crossed bullets for selected weapon top off while a grenade could be used to mark a full ammo reload. I know for me having this information available as I was planning some of less than perfect missions would have been very helpful.
Of course finding all these locations would probably require something resembling a massive scavenger hunt while under fire and constantly looking over our shoulders for fang, beak and claw but it's something I don't think anyone else has considered documenting.
you could use the ignore player cheat.
Art, the reason I only listed "fang, beak and claw" was because the animals are still aware of you and will attack with the ignore player cheat activated. :)
wrong. :) The god mode makes you bulletproof and all that except you will still be vulnerable regarding animals. If you use the ignore player cheat, animals and bad guys alike will ignore you. :) Best combine both cheats. ;)
Sorry. :(
I was sure animals still attacked even under ignore. I'll go back in the game and check it out.
(I'd made a statement of disagreement here but realized I wasn't certain, hence the edit)
no worries, I know from experience that it works.. swim with a shark and see for yourself :)
Onkel_Hotte managed to extract a raw map from Far Cry 3, which he uploaded to our downloads area. It is a large png file (33 mb) that is the highest resolution possible - read all about it in the Onkel's download description here:
Far Cry 3 Rook Islands map (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=182)
Kudos, Onkel! +1 :-X
Here is a small jpg preview:
[smg id=6069 align=center]
cool, +1 :-X from me, too :) :)
I'll call your likes and raise it +1.
Quote from: PZ on July 06, 2013, 04:14:50 PM
Onkel_Hotte managed to extract a raw map from Far Cry 3, which he uploaded to our downloads area. It is a large png file (33 mb) that is the highest resolution possible - read all about it in the Onkel's download description here:
Far Cry 3 Rook Islands map (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=182)
Kudos, Onkel! +1 :-X
Here is a small jpg preview:
[smg id=6069 align=center]
I just forgot to tell you about the various glitches you will find in the map. They are not caused by me as you can check for yourself and travel to those locations in the game:
- 12420/5690 (ingame 621.0/739.5)
- 12250/10880 (ingame 612.5/480.0)
- 11390/12700 (ingame 569.5/389.0)
- 10360/12870 (ingame 518.0/380.5)
...
The biggest glitch is at 10300/14270 (ingame 515.0/310.5) - it's a complete part of 128x128 px, that I fixed with a part from the lower resolution version of the map.
There are a lot more smaller errors and a lot of bridges are missing. Looks like there was no quality control.
Anyway a really huge map for a game. If you would print it, you could cover a wall ;).
:)
There are map holes in the game world, too. More than once I fell through the ground (after artistically climbing up rocky terrain) and if you ever had that kind of accident with a wingsuit (forgot to whip out the parachute) that caused you to punch through a rock wall head first and and then made you fall into oblivion.. now here's your epiphany :-()
Here's a kudo from me too Onkel, for all your efforts :)
Speaking of map holes, I fell through one the other day when trying to ride a jet-ski into a cave. I can't remember where it was though. Fortunately with FC3 if you fall into a hole, fast travel can get you back out.
Great w@&k, I'll have to grab it once I get a chance. I've been away on vacation, so haven't kept track of what was going on since Onkel sent me a PM saying he had automated the map stitching process, so I said, go for it!
"automated" ??? impressive what you guys are capable of :) :-X
Quote from: Art Blade on July 08, 2013, 10:00:38 AM
"automated" ??? impressive what you guys are capable of :) :-X
Don't get the wrong idea - it was a lot of try-and-error. A LOT!
But anyway better than spending months placing 9344 files by hand...
:laugh: still, nice job, mate :)
Indeed amazing. Now if we could just get it blown up big enough to be able to kit up and jump into it. :-D
Quote from: mandru on July 08, 2013, 05:17:26 PM
Indeed amazing. Now if we could just get it blown up big enough to be able to kit up and jump into it. :-D
3D-Printers are quite cheap nowadays... ;D
:laugh:
I wonder if CERN could make one? ;)
no, they deal in rather small stuff only. :-()