All Over the Map

Riddle: What has 1400 zone maps, 40,000 points of interest, has been downloaded more than four million times, and is getting an upgrade? You know it, EQ2MAP!

Did You Know...

EQ2MAP is actually an acronym. It stands for EverQuest 2 Modular Atlas Project.

I'm excited to report to you that jnils, designer of EQ2MAP, is working on a technical upgrade to the custom mapping system that will improve the internals, making it possible to handle the ever-expanding map database that we all depend on to navigate around Norrath, Luclin, and every place in between.

For the folks on the back-end, these upgrades mean dramatically streamlined maintenance of all those zillions of data points they have to keep track of, even as new expansions keep piling on more and more zones, maps and points of interest year after year. For us it means that installing and updating EQ2MAP on our own PCs will be a quicker, smoother experience with a lot fewer files.

I'm fortunate to have been learning from the map master about his upcoming technical changes, and I can tell you we are super-lucky to have jnils working those map servers for us. He really knows his stuff.

Here's the heart of the matter: Everyone who uses EQ2MAP will need to receive their file updates using an app that can handle the new methods. If you use DarqUI, ProfitUI CE or the Official EQ2MAP Updater to get your maps, you'll want to start using the newest version. I've been busy making the changes to both our utilities -- DarqUI and ProfitUI CE as well as the DarqUI Notifier app. So we should experience zero troubles when the changes go live.

Everything is looking great and unless lightning strikes someplace where it shouldn't, we'll be using EQ2MAP v3 with the new DarqUI and ProfitUI CE Utilities closer to Expansion Day.