Spirals symbols on mini-map?

[Mightynubnub]

Ok so wandering through the woods i randomly come across two spiral looking symbols on the mini, they don't show on the main map (maybe i havn't had them uncovered?_ but standing at the area an i see nothing to interact with or do, i have no idea what they are?.....

the symbols are near the Byways sign post

[Mightynubnub]

any clue?

[txh0881]

I think that they are the portals from the story quest, which are in the cave below.

[Crimsomrider]

If they look like a hurricane, then those are portals.

[Mightynubnub]

so im guessing cause i havn't progressed to the point in the story i won't see/find the portals?

[Decay Tempest]

Yeah, spirals are portals.. and you can sometime see stuff that is underground on the main map. Had a few ? and a spiral, that ended up being down in the Elven cave.. Yet close to an old Shrine above ground, so that confused things a bit, since everything showed up on the main map.

[Iracham]

Depending on which symbol it is they might indicate illusion barriers, but they would still be in the same cave system.

[deezus]

Publicado originalmente por Mightynubnub:

so im guessing cause i havn't progressed to the point in the story i won't see/find the portals?

Correct.

[Mightynubnub]

cool :)

[jclosed]

Yes - those portals are the ones you go trough when doing the quest together with Keira. They stay marked on your map, because you can go back to those caverns. Fore some people that is needed, bacuse it's easy to miss some treasures (like those the underwater chambers behind the illusion rocks that are behind an wall you have to struck down with Aard).

[Captain_Draco]

I've finished all of the main story quests and most of the side quests and just ran across this point while clearing question marks. I think it might be a bug or something.

[pincaviglia86]

Publicado originalmente por BuzzardBee:

This has been asked and answered. Those portal symbols only show up on the minimap when you are near them and they will not disappear once you've looted everything there is to be looted there. They're permanent. Don't ask me why CDPR chose to do it that way but they did.

So Google away. It'll still be the same answer.

I just went to the cave in the fools gold quest. I marked off the exact feet from the cave entrance to the location of the portal. I did not activate it. I then went back outside and walked on the ground above the tunnel...the same amount of feet. There was no swirl in the minimap.
I did the exact thing after activating the portal, which stayed active, and again, there was no swirl on the minimap. I can understand why these people may be confused. In fact, I counted the number of portals in other areas, and many times, they did not jive with the swirls, and some swirls were grouped so close together, that if this really corresponded to portals, would have made the cave in question a two minute walking affair. This is either a bug, the programmers are just messing with people's minds, or there is something about these markers that is more than meets the eye.

I would not rule out completely the last possible explanation listed above. Afterall, there is a device that detects illusions. Maybe there is something else that activates some of these portals besides witch magic. If anyone answers here, or on google, for that matter...unless they helped, or more likely oversaw the game programming...they are just guessing at best. There are countless Easter eggs and other "not mentioned in the official strategy guide" things that programmers put in other games. CD Projek Red lied about making available the promised "Red Kit" editors tools, and to the chagrin of a lot of fans, they released a lesser set of tools. Can anyone say, without a doubt...that CD Projek Red is always 100% truthful in their answers to every question put forth to them? I think not.

[pincaviglia86]

Publicado originalmente por Decay Tempest:

Yeah, spirals are portals.. and you can sometime see stuff that is underground on the main map. Had a few ? and a spiral, that ended up being down in the Elven cave.. Yet close to an old Shrine above ground, so that confused things a bit, since everything showed up on the main map.

Yes, you are 100% right. I have seen many overlaps of above and underground maps. This is to be expected, with such a vast game world. However, one thing has puzzled me...ever since day one of playing the witcher 3. I have written posts about this, googled every lead that I can find, and still nothing.
Granted...Projek Red is great about addressing glitches and errors in the game. However, I find it beyond belief that such a glaring map error near the peller's house has not been addressed, even with the latest "Game Of The Year Edition" of the game (i.e. the current version 1.31). In the lake near the peller's house, that is crossed in approximately the middle by a bridge...the mini-map shows water on one side and dry ground on the other side. Now, I understand that this has no effect on gameplay...i totally get that. However, the "map" was listed as one of the downloadable "goodies" on gog, and was sort of "touted" by the developers. This being so important, and talked about....why, after all of these versions...has this not been corrected...if, for no other reason than it makes an otherwise gorgeous map look stupid when you are standing in water, and the mini map shows you standing on solid groound? Think about how this would look if, instead of an arrow, there was a little walking figure of Geralt in that mini-map. It just defies explanation.

[PixelMaster]

Publicado originalmente por BuzzardBee:

This has been asked and answered. Those portal symbols only show up on the minimap when you are near them and they will not disappear once you've looted everything there is to be looted there. They're permanent. Don't ask me why CDPR chose to do it that way but they did.

So Google away. It'll still be the same answer.

That's weird, cause this discussion is the first result that popped up on google for me ...

[JaceOfDeath]

If you did the dungeon with Kera Metz then you are probably seeing the portals underneath in that dungeon, especially if you are in south west Velen.

[ShivaSenpai]

If I know the spirals you're talking about, they are to indicate portals. If they are the archway portals, you can teleport through them. If they are the blue spherical portals with Wild Hunt Hounds coming out of them, then they are Wild Hunt portals which can be closed off using Yrden or Dimeritum Bombs.