Am I really the only one who...

[JAFO]

has noticed that directions in some of the regions in TLD are out of whack?

As the following may come across as somewhat critical, particularly for a first post, I'd like to preface my remarks by saying how much I love TLD since discovering it a few weeks ago, and I'm really looking forward to the day the game is officially released. In the meantime, I'm seriously enjoying the heck out of playing the sandbox mode, as I build my skills up to the point where I'll feel ready to take a crack at the challenges.

However.. one thing I've noticed really bugs me, and to my great surprise, searching both here at the forums and using Google, turned up pretty much no discussion on the subject. So here goes.

Since my days as a child in the Australian bush, about 50 years ago, I've been very used to using the position of the sun to tell both direction and time. Even as a kid, I could correctly estimate the time of day to within 10-15 minutes simply by observing where the sun was, and I'm always aware of which direction is North. So it was completely natural for me to attempt to navigate my way around the world of TLD by means of the sun. To my great pleasure, and to the credit of Hinterland's developers, it works beautifully. All I needed was to know how many hours of daylight remained, and the position of the sun in the sky, and I could find my way around (and most importantly, back to base camp at the end of the day), quite easily.

Then I discovered the map of Great Bear Island, which, if I understand correctly, was an official release by Hinterland. I studied it eagerly for some time.. and something about it felt just a little 'off'. It took me a few days to put my finger on it, and confirm my suspicions. Some of the regions shown just had to be incorrectly orientated. Specifically, Mystery Lake and Timberwolf Mountain.

Unlike the other regions, in ML and TM, the sun rises in the South and sets in the North.

Don't believe me? Go to the Camp Office in ML. According to said map, the lake is located to the South/SSW of that building. Look towards the lake at dawn, and you will see the sun rise above the lake. I've become used to finding my way back to the Trapper's Homestead in the evening by heading towards the sunset. I always thought I was going West. According to the map of Great Bear Island, I was actually going North!

Same deal at TM. Go to the Northernmost arm of Crystal Lake and look South/SSW. At dawn, that's where the sun will appear.

In the other regions (and also in the Old Island Connector, though I haven't yet checked The Ravine and Winding River), the sun rises in the East, and sets in the West, as it should.

So either ML and TM are incorrectly orientated (rotated 90° clockwise from what they should be) on the map of Great Bear Island, or the sun is rising and setting in the wrong place on those two regions.

What do you think?

[Pillock]

I climbed the rope up to the cave above Western Access one morning - the sun was rising over the mountains above the Lonely Cabin fishing hut and it was a quite beautiful sight. When I got to the top of the rope, I looked around and realised that the sun (or perhaps a second sun) was also rising in the exact opposite direction, above the tunnel collapse.

I don't use the sun for navigation.

[JAFO]

Just now, Pillock said:

I climbed the rope up to the cave above Western Access one morning - the sun was rising over the mountains above the Lonely Cabin fishing hut. When I got to the top of the rope, I looked around and realised that the sun (or perhaps a second sun) was also rising in the exact opposite direction, above the tunnel collapse.

I've noticed there's often a corresponding bright area opposite the sunrise/sunset, but never actually seen a duplicate sun in the bright patch..

[Wastelander]

Welcome to the forums @JAFO!

The sun is inconsistent throughout maps, which is supposedly something we'll just have to deal with for now. Navigating by landmarks is by far the most effective method of navigating in my opinion.

[Pillock]

45 minutes ago, JAFO said:

I've noticed there's often a corresponding bright area opposite the sunrise/sunset, but never actually seen a duplicate sun in the bright patch..

I didn't actually see a second sun, but there was a second sunrise effect behind the mountains on the opposite side of the map.

[Scyzara]

Well, given the names of some places on the Mystery lake map ("River northern access", "River southern access" & "Mystery Lake western access" ) as well as the course of the sun during the day, I'm very much inclined to believe that it's just the map of Great Bear Island which is flawed and not the ingame world itself.

In other words, I believe @whiteberry-toarda's Mystery lake map is showing the propper orientation of the area (because it fits with the ingame names and the sun rising in the east and setting in the west) whereas the great bear island map has (falsely) rotated Mystery lake by 90° for whatever reason.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/279597673670286148/D15B965009CA2866D199715F7F71A5EB83445B7B/

I'm not entirely sure whether the Great bear island map is official or fan-made, to be honest. Maybe @Patrick Carlson knows more about this topic.

 

 

[Patrick Carlson]

The Bear Island map is not fan-made. It was produced by the studio. Worth keeping in mind that there's always the potential for re-tuning down the line as all the regions are linked together. I'm sure the team will work for the highest level of continuity possible as the game world expands. 

[Wastelander]

25 minutes ago, Patrick Carlson said:

The Bear Island map is not fan-made. It was produced by the studio. Worth keeping in mind that there's always the potential for re-tuning down the line as all the regions are linked together. I'm sure the team will work for the highest level of continuity possible as the game world expands. 

That I am sure of. You guys and gals have yet to disappoint me

[JAFO]

Thanks for the welcome, all..

11 hours ago, Pillock said:

I don't use the sun for navigation.

 

10 hours ago, Wastelander said:

Navigating by landmarks is by far the most effective method of navigating in my opinion.

I agree that most of the time navigating by the sun is unnecessary, but it does have its' uses.. In most regions, the landmarks are fairly distinctive, but in some of the forested areas of ML, one place often looks much like another, and working out which direction you're facing can be tricky. Using the sun helps a lot to get your bearings when you inadvertently get turned around.

9 hours ago, Scyzara said:

whereas the great bear island map has (falsely) rotated Mystery lake by 90° for whatever reason.

TM is also rotated 90° on that map..

 

Anyhow, sounds like Hinterland is aware of the discrepancies, and is on the job..

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @JAFO!

Yes, the sun is a work in progress