Maps and Cartography  

The Cartography System is an in-game map tool that allows you view and create maps of zones:

• An in-game Map window is provided and can be opened using the M or backspace keys by default or by clicking the EQ menu icon and choosing Navigation > Atlas/Map
• Customized maps can be created for most zones, but some zones restrict access to custom maps
• Popular map packs are available to be downloaded

Popular Map Packs

Most players do not create their own maps from scratch. It is far more common to download one of the popular map packs as a starting point.

Some popular map packs are:

• Brewall's Maps
• Good's Maps

Some other map packs used to be popular, but are no longer maintained, such as:

• Mapfiend

Install Map Packs

A map pack is installed by dropping the map pack folder into the maps subdirectory in the main EverQuest installation directory.

For example, if EverQuest is installed at C:\Users\Public\Daybreak Game Company\Installed Games\EverQuest, then you could install a map pack using the following procedure:

1. Download the map pack at a URL linked above.
2. Unzip the map pack.
3. Drop the unzipped map pack folder into C:\Users\Public\Daybreak Game Company\Installed Games\EverQuest\maps\. It is not recommended to put the map files directly into the maps subdirectory, because that would overwrite the default maps, and the patcher would eventually re-download the default maps and overwrite your custom maps.
4. When you start up EverQuest, open the map window (M key by default) and choose the new map pack in the map selector drop-down menu in the upper left corner. If you don't see it, you maybe running a custom map window that doesn't have support for the map selector.

Map Window

The Map window can be opened using the M or backspace keys by default or by clicking the EQ menu icon and choosing Navigation > Atlas/Map.

For more information about the Map window, see Map Window.

Map Toolbar Window

The Map Toolbar window can be used to create and edit maps.

For more information about the Map Toolbar window, see Map Toolbar Window.

Color Window

The Color window can be used to select colors for lines, text and labels.

For more information about the Map Toolbar window, see Color Window.

Third Party Everquest Map Viewers

Some popular third party EverQuest map viewers are:

• Mappie 1.5.8: Abandoned map viewer preserved by the Internet Archive
• EQ Map Viewer: Open source map viewer on SourceForge written in Java

If anyone else would like to create an EverQuest map viewer, Yther provided some details about the map file format.

Original Release

When EverQuest was originally released, it did not have any in-game maps. At the time, EQ Atlas provided beautiful hand-drawn maps that could be printed out or viewed in a web browser outside of EverQuest.

When the Legacy of Ykesha expansion was released, the Cartography System was introduced. The original documentation can still be viewed in the Internet Archive.

A few modifications have been made since its original release.

Resources

• Almar's Guide: Everquest Cartography System (Maps)
• Fanra's EverQuest Wiki: Maps
• Bonzz: EQ Cartography

EverQuest Wikibase™ Guides