The Beautiful Paper Map (for OpenMW)

The Beautiful Paper Map for OpenMW

Replace the in-game map with Michael Wagner's beautiful hand-drawn paper map of Vvardenfell.

Putting the Morrowind game map together really gave me a much better understanding of just how complex, detailed, and big the landscape is. Taking a step back and looking at Morrowind as a whole, you realize how impressive a project it has been. The detail of each city, dungeon and for that matter tree and rock is really quite amazing.

— Michael Wagner, Morrowind Developer Q&A #13

Obviously when it came to Morrowind, we had to have a map, and I assume if you're reading this, you have it. It's big, it's colorful, and it's unbelievably detailed (not the game, the map…but I think the game is too). Every time I look at the map I like to pretend it's one of those maps you get at Disneyland that shows your where the rides are, but crazy demons have taken over. Really, look at it again, Ald-Ruhn is Space Mountain.

Half the reason we make expansion packs is so we can make more maps. Because we have the best cartographer in the world working for us, Mike Wagner. This guy makes maps that could be in Where's Waldo. Mike plays the game, while looking at the editor, and hand draws every rock and tree. He's absolutely insane. He sees a tree in the game, he draws it. There are thousands of them. I think we're cool for hand placing every rock and tree in our game, but the guy who comes by later and then draws them all, well, he's my hero.

— Todd Howard, developer diary for Bloodmoon

Features

• []Tailor-made for Michael Wagner's hand-drawn paper map of Vvardenfell.

  []Tracks your approximate position on the paper map by triangulating known points of interest.

  []Optional compass marker showing your (approximate!) position and facing direction.

  []Follow mode keeps the map centered on you as you explore.

  []Delightful inertia zoom and momentum panning.

  []Pixel-perfect recreation of Morrowind's window decorations and behavior.

  []In-game settings to customize zoom, pan, and display options.

  The paper map is famous for being very detailed, but its proportions don't quite match the in-game world. To center the map on the player's position accurately, I mapped over 250 points of interest from the game world to the paper map, creating a deformation mesh that triangulates positions.

  Usage

  []Right-click to open the menu and the paper map will appear alongside the other windows.

  []Drag to pan, scroll to zoom in and out.

  []Double-click the title bar to center on your approximate position.

  []Pin the window to keep it visible while you explore and watch the map follow your movement.

  []Configure zoom speed, pan friction, and display