Galactic map forum[]
In light of all of the classification going on in SporeWiki, including the taxonomy project, it is probably a good idea to start with a universal galactic map, under the following criteria:
- The galactic map will NOT recognize names of planets or star systems, because these vary throughout games. However, it will recognize sectors of a galaxy; such sectors should be visually distinct and rather large.
- The intent of this project is to allow the specification of a location between all content and creature pages, such that anyone who wishes to compare their creature's location in the galaxy with another's may do so accurately.
- The names of sectors, subdivisions, or anything of that matter should NOT be spore generated, otherwise naming conflicts can occur. If such a conflict does occur, the section will be renamed, although a careful name should avoid this anyway. This does not mean names will be meaningless strings of characters like "Sector5652", "PLT-28849", or "|:-)>". A good suggestion is latin.
- "Formal" definitions of such locations can be done using "Angle: XXX Distance: XXX" specification, since the galaxy map for all spore distros is the same, and hopefully will remain that way. However, definitions like "past the break in the Androsa arm near the Chironian Sector" are also allowed.
- Subdivisions are to be argued, though it is thought that they should be in this hierarchy:
[Galaxy]->[Arm]->[Sector]->[Division]
Names should not conflict, because it is quite likely that, if this gets serious, it may turn into something like the Taxonomy project. The size of the galaxy is obvious and invariant. THe size of an arm is also visually distinct. However, things like sectors and divisions are hard to explain in size, though a sector should encompass a couple thousand parsecs and a division one or two hundred.
- There should be a formal map showing the divisions, probably a subpage to the project page. It will show a giant Spore galaxy, with the position at Angle 00.00 degrees pointing up (as does North on Earth). The map itself will likely be gleaned from the main menu.
- Anything alse will have basis on the Taxonomy project.
What is the public consensus for this, then? Please use subheaders (3 equal signs) to discuss this. Grissess 02:40, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
(Am I doing this right?)[]
A galactic map would be helpful to players of every skill level; it is a project that SporeWiki should definitely embark on. Vadtec is working on the same thing at http://vadtec.net/spore/galaxy/ but reliable users from this site should double-check his locations. I agree that we should not apply names to inconsistent objects, but am confused as to whether this includes general regions. Wouldn't this be too hard to apply individually? We should stick to things that are strictly consistent, which also means that we can map out Sol and (if rumors are true) Dengaja Uvesu. Any programmers out there? Something to get you as close as possible to the Core would be nice. Using your coordinates (let's go 2D 'cuz the game already does that for us) one could map out a path between wormholes to the closest one to the center of the galaxy. I hope to see a galactic map soon! me duh 20:22, 14 December 2009 (West Coast Time, whatever that is)
Now you're doing it right :)[]
That is not entirely what I was thinking, but that is somewhat related to it. Vadtec's hunt seems to be for objects, since they are absolutely positioned, not by name. The goal here was to apply names such that locations (yes, even relative to these objects) can be more formally presented instead of "Angle: XXX Distance: XXX". Merging these two projects would be interesting...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Also, I happen to be a programmer, but, as far as I can tell, these "links" are stored in:
- One of the ~1GB .package files, which are some kind of archive (I don't know how to read those files, even programmatically)
- The stars.db file, another filetype I can't read, which probably only includes instance-specific stuff like the names of stars (because this .db is per-user)
- SporeApp.exe itself, but I don't think EA would like me decompiling it, not to mention how unreadable it would be (all of the names of variables are lost and replaced by completely meaningless names like "local1" and "type1").
(This is in numerical order of likelyhood, 1. being first.)
I'll look it up at some point, but remember: this is a naming project first, and mapping project second (although that may become first once the naming is complete). Grissess 00:13, December 17, 2009 (UTC) (oops thats Grissess to you)
Notes from a data miner[]
The stars.db file does contain the map of the galaxy, showing where every system is. Apparently, when the game is installed, it generates this file. As you play, the file is updated with information specific to your installation. Data on planets is kept in separate files.
Many of Spore's files are in a format called DBPF (The sims also uses this) which is an archive format like ZIP, in that it contains multiple files and compresses them. Once decompressed, these files are subsequently in a quirky database format. For the past year, I have been occasionally investigating these files. So far, I've concentrated on the galaxy map, and apparently was the 1st to release the list of wormhole location (and on this wiki!).
Anyway, if people would like to help with investigating these files, or would like some of my info, drop me a line here or at jerry.barrington@gmail.com Jursamaj
I now have my map about as good as it is going to get. Please see User:Jursamaj/Drive_Map
Jursamaj 05:20, December 25, 2011 (UTC)
Woah![]
Dude, that's awesome! I'll admit that I'm not as active as I was once here previously (programming and schoolwork consistently gets in the way), but I would take the time to pry apart the database that you made it into to take a bigger look (since you seem to have stopped expanding on it).
That is to say, it would be great if you shared the file formats you've somehow managed to find, and I may be able to expand on them. (All the usual DBPF articles I find online seem to concern The Sims 2, a format which apparently isn't compatible with the one used for Spore.)
(Also, the Drive Map is pretty awesome!) Grissess 01:22, May 9, 2012 (UTC)