Custom maps

Custom Maps

The Maps of Eternal Lands

General notes

• "Map" refers here to the image that is displayed on the "Tab-Map" and the "Mini-Map" and not to the file that holds the information about landscape, trees, houses etc. those latter files have the ending ".elm". Under no circumstances mess around with the elm-files!
• We'll call those images also "map-bmps" as they come in bmp-format.

Disclaimer

• Use of the custom maps is at your own risk.
• Any and all problems that result are not to be taken to the Eternal Lands staff.
• Any such attempt at reporting problems based on the use of the custom maps listed below, causing Eternal Lands staff to waste their time, will be ignored and could result in suspension of game play.

Available custom maps

• Bloodsucker's maps
• Rangers of the North maps

Installation

Windows

• The method described below does not over-write the existing map files
• You should be able to install the bmp-maps while the game is running, this was not tested on windows, if in doubt, log out.
• Replace "1_8_0" with the current client version below.

1. Open the Map-Pack-Zipfile you've downloaded with the appropriate application (double clicking should be enough).
2. Choose to extract all files to "My Documents\Eternal Lands\updates\1_8_0\maps\"
   • If any folder in that list doesn't exist, create it and subsequent folders (when you pick the target directory for extraction you should see a "create new folder" icon in the dialog window).
   • Make sure to not create subfolders of "maps" by extraction, the map-bmps should be in "maps"

• If you want to get rid of a certain or all custom maps at a later date, simply delete the corresponding bmps (nothing else should be in that folder) from "My Documents\Eternal Lands\updates\1_8_0\maps\". Deleting custom maps will cause the game to display the original game art again (if there was a tab map in the first place) if you followed the above instructions.

Linux

• The method described below does not over-write the existing map files
• Installing the bmp-maps can be done while the game is running.
• We assume the map-pack you have downloaded is called MapPack.zip, replace the name where applicable. For some reason most map packs come as zip-files, use the appropriate man pages to find the correct commands or use GUI tools, such as Ark in other cases.
• We assume, you've downloaded the map pack to your desktop.
• One: Open a terminal application (Terminal, Konsole, xterm, etc.)
• Two: To extract the bmp-files run

unzip -j ~/Desktop/MapPack.zip -d ~/.elc/updates/1_8_0/maps/

~ is expanded to your home directory; replace 1_8_0 with the current client version and replace ~/Desktop/MapPack.zip with the path to the zip file you downloaded.

• Three: If the bmp-files come uncompressed, you should compress them to speed up loading them when you hit the tabulator key in game by running

gzip ~/.elc/updates/1_8_0/maps/*.bmp

Again, replace 1_8_0 with the current client version.

Now you are all set. If you want to get rid of the custom maps or parts of them, you can simply delete the appropriate bmp or bmp.gz file, respectively, from ~./elc/updates/1_8_0/maps/ (note that the folder ~./elc/ should show up as a "hidden" folder if you are using a file manager).

Note: you can also gzip most of the files in the EL data dir, known exceptions are the base directory and the eyecandy files.

Mac

As OS X is just a FreeBSD derivate, this should work just like the linux installation, however, if you have a Mac, feel free to test this and add more details here. Thanks.