It's more that the clouds don't really dissapear once you've explored an area, so visibility remains low.

Only one comment about it, but my map becomes laggy/sluggish over time too.
It's also annoying to have it zooming out when the "satellite" gets over a mountain, and it won't zoom in on it's own. The water looks all edgy when you're lucky enough to have a clear sky. It'd be ok on a 2D map, since it's schematic, but 3D has to look good. Same with the roads (those you can see), they look pretty bad for realistic 3D.

All it really does is ruin (not completely all right) exploration, since you can see all the nice places before hand, like Solitude or Winterhold. You can even see some of the ruins...
The only good part of it is the fact it's finally a fullscreen map.

I like what they tried to do but I wish those clouds weren't there.

agreed that an overlay would solve the problems people have with the map....although you should be able to toggle this on and off.

Skyrim and Oblivion are roughly the same size. Just thought I'd point that out.


I was with you when you said "that's your opinion" but you completely lost me when you copped the attitude. This is a public forum, keyword there; public. It's posts like yours that end up getting the thread closed. This thread is about an actual problem that affects everyone (So there's two answers to your question) and everyone is allowed input.


A toggle for the map I can understand, but personally I think the map should be fix and we should be able to filter what markers we see on it.

you could use a certain shout to clear the fog. i don't know if it works for the map, but i tried it once and it may have worked a little bit

Its grown on me now. Not being able to see where the roads go make exploring feel more like a journey of discovery. You automatically knew where all the roads were in Oblivion, in Skyrim its a bit of a mystery until you follow them on the foot.
I also like how it zooms out from your current location when you open it up.

Well, I prefer the map used in OB myself,

I like it more then Oblivion's map. It was too easy and linear to follow the main circle and the 5 or 6 main paths to each town, BIG DEAL!?!? I think Skyrims map isn't the most functional, but I can actually get lost along the hundreds or paths that intersect and explore places I haven't seen yet. In Oblivion I had seen over half the map before I hit level 20....Boring.....

I still fail to see how a map not doing it's proper function is a good thing

They could've just blurred out the roads until you traverse them

I miss the style of Oblivion map, though I wold say in Oblivion it was far too plain. http://guides.gamepressure.com/theelderscrolls4oblivion/gfx/word/102968515.jpg is obvious far clearer regarding what is where, but most of it is just beige with vague textures on, rather than actual geography. Skyrim goes too far the other way, I think, though I can still use it to navigate.

That's the reason, we want a paper map.
A paper map does what it's supposed to:
It shows you the land without actually showing anything of it. If you want to know, how a place looks like, explore it.

Also the clouds are a [censored] joke!
Sometimes they appear all over the map over places I already explored. Sometimes you can really see absolutely NOTHING than pure white.
No problem of course, if you only use it for fast travel, which I bet is, what Todd Howard is doing.

I actually quite enjoy it. If you hover over the direct area you want to be you get a sort of blurry clue as to how you might proceed. It encourages exploration, at least it does for me. Anything clearer and I'd call it hand-holding. Just last night I was on my way to find Septimus Cygnus and I looked at the map (which is completely obscured by clouds**) and thought, "Now how the heck do I get there?" And since I had no direct clue as to how to do it, I created my own path and eventually found it. My own way. Instead of one certain way the game told me to go.

** +1 if you get that reference.

The 3D map would be fine if the clouds weren't there. Maybe then the map would be clear enough. The major settlements have always appeared from the start, though these can be blurred slightly until you've visited them. As for the rest of the world, the map could also clear as you pass tthrough the general area; much like how the local map fills in as you go

I have the clouds removed on my map... I still can't see the roads. The map is too undetailed to show them.

These damn clouds! Always in my way when I'm trying to find a path through rough terrain.
The clouds are a neat idea, but they ruin the functionality of the map.

I like the map, but I wish we could draw on it... or at least have roads displayed. After quite a bit of exploration, I've gotten a mental overlay on it which tells me where roads are.

Yep.

I don't want the world map to display everything ... until I've visited that area. While the local map fills in, the world one doesn't. I want to feel my character is exploring, I want her to explore, and while she does so, she'll fill in her map. Not being able to see where she's gone, which areas she's used to get to the places she's gone, is just a huge failure. Sure, the local map does this, but you have to be in the local area to get that to work!

The world map, to make me happy, would look like the maps in the Jarl's places ... a DRAWN map with cities and hints of roads, that would fill in as my character explored. The local map, especially when inside something, is a total joke and very useless ... why not have more of blueprint or drawn thing that shows corridors instead of a "photograph" type thing that shows nothing useful in many cases when trying to exit. Immersion is enhanced when the map looks like one the character is drawing, not when he or she's is somehow taking overhead pictures that even show rooms and areas not yet visited!

ETA: Add me to the list of people who would love to be able to place markers or notes on the map!

I think Bethesda forgot that it's supposed to be a map. The horrible thing they gave us would better serve some type of RTS.

I'm guessing you're playing on PC, then. There is a mod that clears the map up, as well. I'm a console user, so I can't benefit from it

This would also open up the option of roleplaying a cartographer.

Maybe a hybrid map that can be toggled between 'full' detail or something like a blueprint/paper affect

I remember that very first Skyrim gameplay video where Todd plays on Xbox and at each brand new concept the crowd went Ooooaaahh.. (awesome) including the new map. I believe the biggest problem and solution altogether is the forums, where you can share your frustration and joy hoping them to be read, on a way to make the game perfect for you. I enjoy the new map concept but after a while right now I feel that a rough paper one would please me most, specially if the modders out there could too change the general inventory/magic interface to be less darkened squared and more of an old book, a journal handwriten by the character as the new informations pops up from quests. But that would implicate on a whole interface overhaul that will probably bother some other players. So I hope the Creation Kit to be noob friendly :-\

I cannot see the roads at all. The zoom level is a joke, I can barely zoom in and see anything, like the roads for example. I just use the map for a general reference to see where I am, I have now just learned to view the mini map.

I would have much preferred a drawn map like in Oblivion. The physical map that came with Skyrim is both more useful for navigation and less spoilerish than the in-game one. I guess the silver lining is getting more use out of my feelies.

I am not disappointed, especially because now I can actually see the mountain instead of walking 20min finding a mountain blocking me from my destination curse and then spend the next hour trying to find a way around it, I never once did that quest for the DB where you had to kill the guy on top of the the mountain because I could never find the way up so I would always open the console and type in movetoqt