EDIT: Since this thread keeps getting bumped due to discussion, and the maps here in the original post are outdated, I'm adding this top section here with the finalized map and updates on the state of the addon. The original post has been kept unchanged but has been spoiler tagged at the bottom of the post. It's still definitely worth reading, as it explains a bit about why I made this and links to a previous forums post with even greater explanation.
Here is the Final map (still a wip) and a gif comparison to the current in-game map beneath it, plus the Eltheric Ocean map (more on that later)
This map is part of a fully functional addon myself and Thal-J are working on jointly as a fan-made fix to ESO's atrocious map. The addon is currently still in development, but the map itself has been finalized, and Thal is finishing up the code to make it functional.
FULL CHANGELOG (click to expand)
General:
- Entire map redrawn from scratch with no trace of the vanilla map left
- All zones have been slightly edited to be consistent with their zone maps
- The coastlines where zones don't currently exist have been given extra detail and reshaped to align with the Anthology map. Some Inspiration from Tamriel Rebuilt was taken for Morrowind.
- The entire map, zones included, has been changed to better reflect the shape of Tamriel and positioning of cities and landmarks (like Stormhold) on the Anthology Map
- A new Eltheric Ocean map has been added so that the Systres (High Isle, Amenos, and Galen) can be properly placed according to prior maps
Map visual changes:
- Moved Cyrodiil and reshaped it according to its zone map
- Moved Vvardenfell where it should be, as both cities of Old and New Ebonheart (the latter doesn't exist yet and will be where the crafting area in Vivec is in ESO) are supposed to be directly across the Inner Sea from each other
- Moved Bleakrock Isle to its canon position in the mouth of the Yorgrim River
- Moved Eastmarch out of where the Velothis should be and aligned it based on TES V
- Moved The Rift out of where the Velothis should be and aligned it based on TES V
- Moved Shadowfen out of Arnesia (southern Morrowind)
- Moved Craglorn out of Skyrim and back into Hammerfell where it belongs and reshaped it according to its zone map
- Moved Wrothgar to reshape High Rock according to its silhouette on Anthology
- Moved Stormhaven to reshape High Rock according to its silhouette on Anthology
- Moved Glenumbra to reshape High Rock according to its silhouette on Anthology
- Moved Rivenspire to reshape High Rock according to its silhouette on Anthology
- Moved Balfiera to reshape High Rock according to its silhouette on Anthology
- Moved Grayhome closer to Western Skyrim
- Moved Hew's Bane east according to its positioning on Anthology
- Moved Summerset closer to Auridon according to its positioning on Anthology
- Moved Auridon slightly North according to its positioning on Anthology
- Cut off Eastmarch's nub since, in lore scale, it would not be that far into the Redoran arm of Morrowind or take up that much space on the map
- Cut off Deshaan's nub because it was ugly and to be consistent with Eastmarch
- Added the Niben River and its offshoots: Corbolo River, Larsius River, Panther River, Reed River, Silverfish River, and Blackwood Lake
- Added the Strid River and the beginning of the Crescent River (which should be the Xylo river but ZOS got it wrong and put the Xylo deep inside Malabal Tor)
- Added the Yorgrim River in Eastmarch
- Added the various unnamed large rivers to Black Marsh
- Added the Isle of N'Gasta next to Stos M'kai
- Added the third island to The Chain, south of Hammerfell as well as a few smaller islands in between for detailing
- Added Herne and Cespar, Southwest of Hammerfell
- Added Tempest Island at the mouth of the Strid river
- Added Eyevea north of Summerset
- Added Dranil-Kir quest island by Auridon
- Added Silatar quest island by Auridon
- Aded the four unnamed islands south of Valenwood which are present on all prior maps of tamriel but missing in ESO
- Added Grand Topal Hideaway island
- Added Fort Grief island in the Niben Bay
- Added Japhet's Folly north of Winterhold
- Added Volkihar Castle island north of Western Skyrim
- Added an island off the coast of Rivenspire that exists on prior maps as well as ESO's beta maps but is missing in the current ESO maps
- Added Sword's Rest Isle (High Isle prologue island) west of Daggerfall
- Added the Dellese Islands chain back to Balfiera
- Added the Earth Forge in between Bangkorai and the Reach
- Added an icon for travel to the Eltheric Ocean map, where the systres will be
- Removed Dragonhold island which was south of Southern Elsweyr (since it explodes)
- Reshaped Bravil in Cyrodiil
- Reshaped the Imperial Isle in Cyrodiil, ignoring the game map to align with the canon shape from TES IV and the Anthology Map
- Reshaped the Brena River which forms the start of the Cyrodiil-Hammerfell border
- Reshaped Stirk according to its zone map
- Reshaped Topal Island according to its shape in Blackwood and Southern Elsweyr
- Reshaped Solstheim according to its shape in TES III Bloodmoon (TES V Skyrim's solstheim got lobotomized and is ugly as sin)
General Addon Changes:
- Added Firemoth island as a mini zone
- Added Balfiera as a clickable zone
- Added Icereach as clickable zone
- Added Grayhome as a clickable zone
- Added Sword's Rest Isle as a clickable zone
- Added Tempest Island as clickable zone
- Added Fort Grief as a clickable zone
- Added Dranil Kir as a clickable zone
- Added Silatar as a clickable zone
- Added Eyevea as a clickable zone
- Added Stirk as a clickable zone
- Added the Earth Forge Wayshrine
- Added the Eyevea Wayshrine
- Added new Eltheric Ocean world map, where the Systres will be
- Added the option to enable lore tooltips for zones
- Added the option to correct a few Zone and Wayshrine names to be lore accurate
- Added Blackreach to the Aurbis map
- Moved Artaeum, which is part of the Summerset Isles, to a more coherent position on the Aurbis map
- Moved Clockwork City, which is in Morrowind, to a more coherent position on the Aurbis map
- Moved dungeons and wayshrines to lore accurate positions
ORIGINAL POST HERE:
On Monday, I made a post here on the forums called
I fixed the map, now it's ZOS's turn. I had edited the map to fix Morrowind and a few other areas on the map that are wrong. But there were still areas that weren't fixed and the edits were somewhat sloppy. It didn't look great.
So I decided to completely remake the map.
I started by taking the edited map I had made, and traced all the borders, coastlines, islands, etc. and grabbed a free to use worn paper texture to use as the base for my new map. I cut away the ocean and used the old map's ocean because it looks good and I didn't feel like remaking the ocean too. I then redesigned the borders of Craglorn and Cyrodiil based on their actual zone maps, which are accurate. I lined them up properly based on the anthology map outline I had made prior, which was the guide for the original edit. Then I spent the next day making it look good. Adding the highlight around the edges, grabbing each individual zone map and placing them over the zone cutouts and doing the necessary edits, adding burn marks to the paper to match the original map's aesthetic, and ended up with this
finished product.
as you can see, it's more detailed and doesn't have that rough edited look the other one did.
Here is a gif comparing the current in game map, the edited map I made on Monday, and the redone map I made after, so you can better see the differences.
Now this is where I have to ask a favor of everyone reading this. If you or someone you know knows how to make UI addons for ESO, I would be very happy if you could send them my way. I would love to put this map in game and have it be seamlessly functional, but I don't know anything about coding in LUA, or any computing language for that matter. I'm a graphics person, not a coder. I have confirmed that the changes to the world map I envision are absolutely possible, I just do not know how to do it myself.
*added strikethrough to the spoiler since the addon is already in development and that definitely wasn't a finished product.
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment your thoughts below.