Map infinite?

[Bo Biden]

Is the map infinite or will i eventually not see anymore islands

[Nightrdr69]

It seems to be infinite. Another thing I have noticed is you seem to go in large circles. They just despawn things and generate other on maybe some kind of schedule. If we had a compass we could get a better idea. I base my guess on the way the wind changes direction. Once, only once, I was able to get the storage off a raft without getting on (so it did not sink). I watched it fade away, but then the wind changed and I dropped the sail - and went back to it so ....

Maybe we just go back and forth in a "box". Not important but interesting to know.

[MechWarden]

It would make some sense. Even though the game could keep generating things forever in one direction, if a coordinate system has issues looping around to the other end, it would mean there had to be a noticablly finite area, since the system can only count so hight. A 64 bit number is pretty sizable, but that typically isn't needed, and a smaller bit size could be used for easy of operations.

If I'm guessing right, there are two coordinate systems; one centered around the raft, and the other for the world. There could be only so far you could go in the world map before you either hit the end, or loop around.

Odds are I imagine you loop around, since typically that's a pretty common thing to do, but there might be some artifacts when that happens, like objects appearing or disappearing when crossing that threshold. A buffer can be used to off set that, but still it would be easier to just make the raft go around in circles until a looping system is put into place.

But as for the original question, unless the Dev team programs in a set amount of islands per game world, I would imagine you will keep seeing new islands. Given time, you will always have an island spawn close by to notice it; just like how the stream of flotsam (typically) will just so happen to path within your path.

[Jabberwock]

I have found (at least in my stage of the game) the map is neither infinite nor random. If you use the facility that you are led to by the reciever as a point of reference, then just allow your raft to drift, you will come to certain islands (one, a large island). I have heard people mention the wind shifts, but I have never personally experienced this. My flag is always pointing in the same direction (I am very careful not to bump into islands or other rafts, to prevent my raft from turning). I also noticed that when I drift a certain distance from the radio signal, the game moves it back into my tavel path (though never directly in my path). If I steer towards the signal, and allow my raft to just drift away again, I once more find all the same islands in the same locations as the last time I let my raft drift. I have done this across three different games hosted by three different people, and each time, the same chain of islands exist at the same locations, with respect to the 0847 radio signal.

[hleytismadr]

Originally posted by Yeggles:

Is the map infinite or will i eventually not see anymore islands

What I read everywhere is that the map is infinite and self-generating. However, I have just noticed that while the environment around you raft is indeed appearing randomly, certain spot always remain within reach.

Let me explain. I'm at a stage where I have a motorized raft and pretty much infinite bio-fuel. I have completed all the current chapters, and my only missing goal is to find the shipwreck island. As it's a random event I have been sailing in straight line until the island appears.
I have been tracking my advance using Tangaroa City as a reference point. As soon as Tangaroa City is at a 2'200 distance on the radar, all of a sudden the radar resets and Tangaroa City is now magically at a 1'800 distance (it can pop any direction within a ~1'800 radius).

Which means that yes the world is infinite, but the locations linked to chapters re-spawn around you; so you can never get too far away.


As a side note, everyone except a few people say that the wind can't change direction. At the beginning of the game due to contrary wind, I was unable to get to the Radio Tower, so I sailed away. Until the wind changed and I was able to reach it. Based on the observation that I have just made, my guess is what happened is that it's not the wind that changed direction, but that I must have sailed more than 2200 away and the radio re-spawned at a different location, hence changing the angle at which wind is blowing.

My 2 cents.


EDIT: 2200 is the value that came-up the most often for the map to reset, but on one instance I went all the way to 2500 before it happened.

[westrud]

Yes, the raft always travels in the same direction, islands spawn ahead of you and despawn behind you. There are a limited number of different islands so you will see the same islands over and over. Whichever code you have in the receiver will determine the story island that appears and it will act the same as the smaller islands and it will spawn in front of you and despawn when it gets too far behind you, Balboa is the one exception, you will always need to travel against the wind to get there. If you put the receiver code for a previous story island into the receiver again it will start spawning that island again.

[Louie]

A compass would be a awesome feature to add to the game, but the devs themselves mentioned in a live stream that they would have to rewrite much of the code just to add it in :/

[westrud]

I don't see how a compass would be of any use in the game at all. The wind always blows in the same direction, you can put those little flags on your raft and they will always show which way the wind is blowing. The way the game generates islands you will find the same things traveling against the wind as you will just letting your raft drift with the wind. The receiver always shows a circle, with the top of the circle representing the direction the receiver is facing, the left of the receiver is to your left and the right side of the receiver is to your right when you are looking at it. People tend to overthink directions in this game but it really couldn't be more simple.

[hleytismadr]

Originally posted by westrud:

I don't see how a compass would be of any use in the game at all. The wind always blows in the same direction, you can put those little flags on your raft and they will always show which way the wind is blowing. The way the game generates islands you will find the same things traveling against the wind as you will just letting your raft drift with the wind. The receiver always shows a circle, with the top of the circle representing the direction the receiver is facing, the left of the receiver is to your left and the right side of the receiver is to your right when you are looking at it. People tend to overthink directions in this game but it really couldn't be more simple.

Either the devs would have to change the mechanism (unlikely), or with a compass it's going to be even more obvious that islands spawn randomly.

I mean, early in the game one can get the impression that wind changed or that the raft has drifted away from its course, but with a compass it's going to be crystal clear that large islands "move".

[Louie]

Originally posted by westrud:

I don't see how a compass would be of any use in the game at all.

Well yes, but a compass would be cool because it would make revisiting islands much easier.

[westrud]

It would not make it any easier to revisit islands because once you get a certain distance away from the island it disappears from the game and is regenerated new in front of you. You can't say "If I go west to the tall island and then south to the flat island and then due west again I will be at the island I saw earlier" because once you have traveled away from that island, it is no longer in the game. If it is a story island you want to revisit, just put the code into the receiver and it will start spawning into the game like it did the first time you went there. You will never be able to backtrack to the radio tower after visiting the yacht just by traveling in the opposite direction because it is no longer there, you have to enter the code to start it spawning again.

[Louie]

I think you misunderstood me. I wasn’t clear enough that I understand that the islands despwan and respawn. I was thinking about what if they didn’t. It was a just a hypothetical senerio. I’m sorry that you didn’t catch on.