Getting lost simulator

[Wilihey]

I like this game but its unbearable how much i have to run in circles to find the cartographer, everything looks the same when i reach a new area, and i cant locate myself at all in the new level without the map, i have the compass and quill
at this point i just launch the game play 20 minutes going nowhere and then quit

[TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire]

The same? Every room feels completely different. Show me a picture of a room and I would know exactly which one it is. If you don’t like the back tracking, then this game isn’t for you. Backtracking is one of the foundations of the Metroidvania genre. It’s not for everyone.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire:

The same? Every room feels completely different. Show me a picture of a room and I would know exactly which one it is. If you don’t like the back tracking, then this game isn’t for you. Backtracking is one of the foundations of the Metroidvania genre. It’s not for everyone.

i cant backtrack if i dont have the map and i cant find the map guy, ye it all looks the same same background same decor just slightly different layout in the platforms and walls, im in that brush jungle like zone, its my first time playing this game

[TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire]

Originally posted by Wilihey:

Originally posted by TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire:

The same? Every room feels completely different. Show me a picture of a room and I would know exactly which one it is. If you don’t like the back tracking, then this game isn’t for you. Backtracking is one of the foundations of the Metroidvania genre. It’s not for everyone.

i cant backtrack if i dont have the map and i cant find the map guy, ye it all looks the same same background same decor just slightly different layout in the platforms and walls, im in that brush jungle like zone, its my first time playing this game

Greenpath I presume. Two things on this.
Number 1: Conifer is literally on the main path and you can barely go off the main path until later in the game which means you have paid literally zero attention to anything if you didn’t see or hear him.
Number 2: Every room feels different so I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire:

Originally posted by Wilihey:

i cant backtrack if i dont have the map and i cant find the map guy, ye it all looks the same same background same decor just slightly different layout in the platforms and walls, im in that brush jungle like zone, its my first time playing this game

Greenpath I presume. Two things on this.
Number 1: Conifer is literally on the main path and you can barely go off the main path until later in the game which means you have paid literally zero attention to anything if you didn’t see or hear him.
Number 2: Every room feels different so I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

dude you dont get it, i have the compass i have maps for the other zones, i have the quill, i just cant find him in the new area so i can buy the map from him, have you even played this game?

and no every room is similar, these games always feel like maze its part of the gameplay legit to get lost and try to find your way, but without a map its annoying, so i'll just play again and run in circles until i run in the map guy for the current zone i'm in, thats all i can do

[sekai]

Finding Cornifer shouldn't be too hard in very area except the Fog Canyon (only accessible much later in the game with certain new abilities despite you going through the area rather early making early trips through it always blind. But's it's a very small area anyway), Royal Waterways (he's way off in 1 side for some reason so if you picked wrong you're sht outta luck), and of course, the Deepnest (where he hides and doesn't sing out of fear. But depending on which side of Deepnest you enter, he actually will spawn at where you first entered Deepnest) unless you accidentally sequence break and go out of the intended pathing.

Look for paper trails and listen for his signature singing.

Even if you missed him completely, just know that exploring an area to near completion or beating the area boss will trigger Cornifer to leave the area. When that happens, the map he drew for the area can be bought from his wife in Dirtmouth.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by sekai:

Finding Cornifer shouldn't be too hard in very area except the Fog Canyon (only accessible much later in the game with certain new abilities despite you going through the area rather early making early trips through it always blind. But's it's a very small area anyway), Royal Waterways (he's way off in 1 side for some reason), and of course, the Deepnest (where he hides and doesn't sing out of fear. But depending on which side of Deepnest you enter, he actually will spawn at where you first entered Deepnest) unless you accidentally sequence break and go out of the intended pathing.

Look for paper trails and listen for his signature singing.

Even if you missed him completely, just know that exploring an area to near completion or beating the area boss will trigger Cornifer to leave the area. When that happens, the map he drew for the area can be bought from his wife in Dirtmouth.

oh alright i did end up finding his note but whenever i go to his wife she sells nothing but a few raggedy pins

[sekai]

Do know that even if the map is not bought, your icon does still show up on the game map if you have the compass. So you can use it to create a temporary mental image of the map until you locate Cornifer.

You can also just use the headless chicken method. Bumping around until you see trails of paper by chance. I knew I kinda did that when I first started. I still went by ok so unless I was just lucky or that the game was reasonably designed to subtly guiding the player to him idk.

[sekai]

Originally posted by Wilihey:

Originally posted by sekai:

Finding Cornifer shouldn't be too hard in very area except the Fog Canyon (only accessible much later in the game with certain new abilities despite you going through the area rather early making early trips through it always blind. But's it's a very small area anyway), Royal Waterways (he's way off in 1 side for some reason), and of course, the Deepnest (where he hides and doesn't sing out of fear. But depending on which side of Deepnest you enter, he actually will spawn at where you first entered Deepnest) unless you accidentally sequence break and go out of the intended pathing.

Look for paper trails and listen for his signature singing.

Even if you missed him completely, just know that exploring an area to near completion or beating the area boss will trigger Cornifer to leave the area. When that happens, the map he drew for the area can be bought from his wife in Dirtmouth.

oh alright i did end up finding his note but whenever i go to his wife she sells nothing but a few raggedy pins

Pins are important especially for things that you don't immediately have access of for backtracking purposes. You'll certainly forget stuff as the game goes on, I know I do. I'd suggest buying and using some pins to help you remember stuff to come back to.

If you find a letter (or a cassette tape given its shape. But it's just a letter with glasses drawn on it to symbolise Cornifer), that says you missed him. That only means he has left the region after you cleared the area without getting map from him. Only 2 outcomes from this either: a) his wife should now be selling the map for the region, or b) you already got the map from Cornifer.

He also doesn't drop a letter in Deepnest for some reason if you failed to find him. So if you can't find him there I'd suggest you run through the area as much as you can, leave, then go to Dirtmouth to see if she's now selling the map of the region.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by sekai:

Do know that even if the map is not bought, your icon does still show up on the game map if you have the compass. So you can use it to create a temporary mental image of the map until you locate Cornifer.

You can also just use the headless chicken method. Bumping around until you see trails of paper by chance. I knew I kinda did that when I first started. I still went by ok so unless I was just lucky or that the game was reasonably designed to subtly guiding the player to him idk.

my game is definetly bugged honestly after checking out some videos, if i press map key i just see the last zone i was in before changing, so i went top left from greenpath and i'm now in some jungle garden zone, i beat the boss there so thats why connifer left

in the shop at dirtmouth i cant buy any maps, and while i'm in the garden zone if i press the map button i just see my icon in greenpath, but i'm not in greenpath anymore

so i cant buy maps, or see myself on the map and go in it blind, i'm quite literally playing the game blind and i just dont have the visual memory needed to make out the environment theres like 50 levels per area to go through

[Wilihey]

theres bug reports of the exact same issue going back to 2022 its weird, i guess i have to reset which is awful

[sekai]

Originally posted by Wilihey:

Originally posted by sekai:

Do know that even if the map is not bought, your icon does still show up on the game map if you have the compass. So you can use it to create a temporary mental image of the map until you locate Cornifer.

You can also just use the headless chicken method. Bumping around until you see trails of paper by chance. I knew I kinda did that when I first started. I still went by ok so unless I was just lucky or that the game was reasonably designed to subtly guiding the player to him idk.

my game is definetly bugged honestly after checking out some videos, if i press map key i just see the last zone i was in before changing, so i went top left from greenpath and i'm now in some jungle garden zone, i beat the boss there so thats why connifer left

in the shop at dirtmouth i cant buy any maps, and while i'm in the garden zone if i press the map button i just see my icon in greenpath, but i'm not in greenpath anymore

so i cant buy maps, or see myself on the map and go in it blind, i'm quite literally playing the game blind and i just dont have the visual memory needed to make out the environment theres like 50 levels per area to go through

There are 2 ways to access the map. The first is pressing a map key that makes your character pull out a map and they put it down if you let go of the key. It only shows area map, and will say "you have no map for this area" if you haven't got the map for that local area.

The second is by using inventory. You use inventory, then keep pressing the left or right button/trigger (idk which control you use) until you get to the map page. In this map, it shows the map of the entire game. It'll look like you have to select which local area but it doesn't matter, any area gives you access to the whole map, just looking at different part of it. You can move the map around using the directional key.

In this map in the inventory, as long as you have the compass charm on, you will see your character even in total empty space of unknown local map. So you can use this to guide yourself roughly through a locked map location by having a mental image of the mapping.

You should know this inventory map because it's where you need to go to in order to place your pins. You can place pins in the locked/dark map in the inventory map too. So if you see something and wants to put a pin on but don't have the area map unlocked, you can. Just use the inventory map.

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You have to explore the map enough or defeat the area boss to make the map purchaseable on the surface. But if you see Cornifer's letter, then it should be purchaseable from his wife for that area.

If it's not how it works, something is wrong. I'd suggest you verify the game files and do a reinstall if you have to.

[sekai]

Also just so we're on the same page, every area map sold by Cornifer or his wife, is not complete. Sometimes the map will only include a tiny portion of the area because Cornifer was not aware of the whole scale or he got scared or something. You will have to buy the pen and paper (or pen and ink) from Cornifer's wife to draw and update the map. Your character will update the map with the pen and paper every time they sit on a bench.

Also there are 2 types of pins sold by Cornifer's wife. One is the type of pin that your character automatically places that shows for instance, the stag stations that you've discovered. Some things don't really need pins like this since the map layout already gives it away, but it's still good to have to show clarity. You need to check back with Cornifer's wife for new pins like this every now and then and whenever you unlock new facets of the game, since the game might have new pins for that new mechanics/feature of the game.

The other is the manual pins. These pins you have to put on yourself in the inventory map. These are for marking secrets, shortcuts, or treasures, etc that you can't access right now for you to come back later.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by sekai:

Also just so we're on the same page, every area map sold by Cornifer or his wife, is not complete. Sometimes the map will only include a tiny portion of the area because Cornifer was not aware of the whole scale or he got scared or something. You will have to buy the pen and paper (or pen and ink) from Cornifer's wife to draw and update the map. Your character will update the map with the pen and paper every time they sit on a bench.

Also there are 2 types of pins sold by Cornifer's wife. One is the type of pin that your character automatically places that shows for instance, the stag stations that you've discovered. Some things don't really need pins like this since the map layout already gives it away, but it's still good to have to show clarity. You need to check back with Cornifer's wife for new pins like this every now and then and whenever you unlock new facets of the game, since the game might have new pins for that new mechanics/feature of the game.

The other is the manual pins. These pins you have to put on yourself in the inventory map. These are for marking secrets, shortcuts, or treasures, etc that you can't access right now for you to come back later.

i know this it was explained in game and its extremely easy to understand, in my game connifer's wife doesnt sell anything besides pin, i've done everything right its just bugged

so i'll see how i get by i either stop playing or continue on without maps cause i'm not restarting

[sekai]

Originally posted by Wilihey:

Originally posted by sekai:

Also just so we're on the same page, every area map sold by Cornifer or his wife, is not complete. Sometimes the map will only include a tiny portion of the area because Cornifer was not aware of the whole scale or he got scared or something. You will have to buy the pen and paper (or pen and ink) from Cornifer's wife to draw and update the map. Your character will update the map with the pen and paper every time they sit on a bench.

Also there are 2 types of pins sold by Cornifer's wife. One is the type of pin that your character automatically places that shows for instance, the stag stations that you've discovered. Some things don't really need pins like this since the map layout already gives it away, but it's still good to have to show clarity. You need to check back with Cornifer's wife for new pins like this every now and then and whenever you unlock new facets of the game, since the game might have new pins for that new mechanics/feature of the game.

The other is the manual pins. These pins you have to put on yourself in the inventory map. These are for marking secrets, shortcuts, or treasures, etc that you can't access right now for you to come back later.

i know this it was explained in game and its extremely easy to understand, in my game connifer's wife doesnt sell anything besides pin, i've done everything right its just bugged

so i'll see how i get by i either stop playing or continue on without maps cause i'm not restarting

You won't last the game without a map, I can tell you that. The game's map is massive. If you can remember that blind like the back of your hand then there are better things to do.

Lucky for you, Greenpath is really early. The game has about 15 main areas in total and counting sub areas it's about 20 total.

You should find restarting the game actually not that big of a hassle, at least in comparison to trying to complete the game blind.

With knowledge based games like Hollow Knight, knowing things makes it so much easier than without so starting fresh is actually pretty fast and painless unless we're talking about late game due to time committment.

For more experienced players, starting the game fully exploring the tutorial section, Forgotten Crossroads and Greenpath (that means finding and taking everything that you can at that progress) wouldn't even take 2 hours.

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Also idk why you believe you're not in Greenpath. You should still be in Greenpath. You mentioned a "Garden" area, which yes, there's indeed an area labelled as a "garden" right next to Greenpath, but it's impossible for you to access until much later in the game due to ability check gatekeeping. Even if you were there, you shouldn't even be able to progress much if at all beyond like the 3rd screen in the area due to the very demanding platforming sections and enemies that requires mid-late progression let alone trying to find Cornifer. So you should in fact, still be in Greenpath, unless something seriously wrong has occurred.

If you're at Fog Canyon, just know that area's Cornifer isn't accessible until much later in the game due to certain obstacles between you and him that requires mid game ability to get to. Just keep dropping down that area and you'll get somewhere else that you can get a map from (not like you have a choice since you only get access to the part of that location where you had no choice but to drop down).

It's possible that your game is not bugged, but instead you're just confused.

But still just verify the game files. Who knows, might fix your game if it's actually bugged. You can still just use the same files and see if it's fixed everything before you restart, which as I've said, won't take you long to actually restart since you're really early in game.

[TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire]

Originally posted by Wilihey:

Originally posted by TheAlmightySunBro, Silkaire:

Greenpath I presume. Two things on this.
Number 1: Conifer is literally on the main path and you can barely go off the main path until later in the game which means you have paid literally zero attention to anything if you didn’t see or hear him.
Number 2: Every room feels different so I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

dude you dont get it, i have the compass i have maps for the other zones, i have the quill, i just cant find him in the new area so i can buy the map from him, have you even played this game?

and no every room is similar, these games always feel like maze its part of the gameplay legit to get lost and try to find your way, but without a map its annoying, so i'll just play again and run in circles until i run in the map guy for the current zone i'm in, thats all i can do

First yes I have played it, I have almost 200 hours on the game across all platforms. I now realize you are in Queens Garden and I’ll tell you this right now, you walked right by him. Also a map isn’t required. Dark Souls 1 doesn’t have a map and it’s way more complicated to get around than this and I was just fine. Same goes for DS2 and DS3. Maps aren’t needed. If you don’t see the difference in every room than I have one question, did you play the game?

Edit: the map really doesn’t help. Also Wayward compass is a waste of a charm notch.