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WORLD.MAP File Specification

   WORLD.MAP is the only file of its type. 65536 (0x10000) bytes long it is, as it is named, the map of the world's surface.

Table 1: Schematic of the World Map File

    The map is a square with 256 X 256 tiles. Stepping over the edge places you on the opposite edge of the map. The four corners essentially touch in this method. Movements in the game across the edges happen such that east-west moves hold the same latitude and north-south moves maintain a longitude over the edges.

    In the game, the position on the map can be read by a sextant. This tool outputs a position as two pair of Britannian runes, very similar to a latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes. The first letter of each pair is equivalent to the letters on the edges of the above representation while the second subdivides each by 16 more units (16 X 16 = 256) thereby giving the 256 X 256 measurement.

    Internal formatting of the map is arranged as indicated by the shading in the above representation. The full map is broken into 64 regions (8 X 8) each of which are the size of one of the ULT-type maps for a city or other location, 32 X 32 tiles. Therefore, the first 1024 (0x400) bytes in WORLD.MAP are the upper left 32 X 32 corner. The next 1024 byte block represents the region right to the east. Therefore, the first 8192 bytes describe the first 32 rows of tiles of the world map. The next 1024 bytes describe the western-most block of second row of blocks, and so on.