Minecraft has a lot of blocks, but what if they had more? Why do we need them? Please don't just add lists of things - these will be marked as spam and removed! Also, no furniture, guns, or vertical/"sideways"/"upright"/"standing" slabs (yes, we see you).

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Cave Maps

If you begin an empty map in a cave (where you cannot see the sky), it generates a cave map.  This map type shows caves within a 16-block high vertical slice of the world containing where the map was initially created.  For example, if you start a cave map at y=23, you would get the y=16-31 slice of the world on your map.  This can also be used in the nether to generate useful nether maps.

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    I see how this would be useful, but I don't see how it makes sense physically.

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    Here's a possible way it could work! What if it darkens areas of the map that have caves underneath them. For example; a plains biome would show up green on a map normally but if there's a cave underneath the surface, then its shape would show up as a darker shade of green on the map. Basically it would only show that there is a cave, not how deep it is bellow the surface.

    Any lower caves would just mix with the above caves on the map and look like a bigger cave. If that sounded confusing think about it this way. On the map if there's a cave over another cave, there would be no way to distinguish the two from each other. So their shapes would just overlap and appear as one on the map.

    Love the idea! Hope to see it in the Fan Update! Kind of reminds me of how the map from leg o worlds works.

  • 0
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    @WolveReigner781 Yes I do see your point. It's definitely a confusing concept, showing a 3d cave on a 2d map. You'd need a map for every 30 blocks in the Y coordinate of a cave that goes from surface to bedrock. Like you and the Nathan suggested. But I still love the idea. Something I feel we need. I've gotten lost in caves countless times. They just keep going for miles.

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    I like the idea! They really should expand on map customization, and make it require ink to draw maps or something making it difficult for the player.  

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    I have always wanted a cave map...I'm always getting lost even when I use torches to help me know which directions I have travelled.

    However, I wonder how the game would handle the three dimensions of the cave. Maybe the map only shows two dimensions (left/right, forwards/backwards) but as you move up/down the actual map moves with you.

    Or maybe a map that can be rotated in three dimensions (a cube shaped map). Not sure how feasible this idea is.

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    To solve the 3D/2D issue, what if caves were shaded based on their depth? So, if you have a cave near bedrock, the path is almost black, but nearer the surface, it's very light gray or maybe some other color so there is more contrast. Overlapping tunnels would then show which caves were on top of each other.

    I think it would be great if the mapping was generated based on what you could *see* and not just a radius around you like regular maps do. So if you can't see around a corner, it doesn't get fully mapped. Maybe it just shows a faded or blurred edge so you can tell that it is unexplored.

    It would also be super helpful if you could mark points of interest on the map like you can do with banners above ground.

    ANY implementation of cave maps would be helpful, even if it was super basic.

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    Cube maps would be cool and darker shades would too maybe the cube maps could be placed me show up cow dug in inventory it shows shades of colors

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    Like WolveReigner781, I think the simpler solution is just sets a Y-level limit below the usual limit of 256. Only the last non-air block below the limit is used on the map. This can be used not only for cave/underground maps, but also above-ground floorplans. I would suggest renaming this to "Floorplan".

    But a better way to implement this would be to use an empty map on a lodestone. This changes the map to a floorplan and sets the Y-level limit to the Y-level of the lodestone. Y-level can't be reset once it is set, but the map can update as usual unless "frozen" using a glass pane in a cartography table (as you can do with ordinary filled maps.)

     
  • 1
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    This is a 100% need in the new cave update

  • 0
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    I like the idea!

  • 1
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    I agree with you, but I would be curious to how that would work. And Mojang should totally have added nether maps in 1.16.

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    The the Y coordinate should be another factor to determine at which position of the player the map can be created. It could also work for the nether that the top is made of bedrock and currently is not possible to use maps there.

    The Cave and Cliffs update should attend that ASAP.

  • 0
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    I recently got lost mining and tried mining up to get out but hit the big nearby lake. I wished I knew what the terrain above me was on the surface by pulling out a map. Maybe make it an enchanted item you have to make or find.

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    I think that having a map only apply to specific levels would make things too confusing and it would very quickly overload your inventory on larger cave systems. Having the map fade as you move up/down or having different shades are both good solutions for expressing 3D in 2D.

    To solve the problem of differentiating between dead ends and unexplored areas, the map could fill in with some kind of boarder on the edges of every cave. Places you had not explored would not get this edging so you could recognize them instantly.

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    Rather than unveiling maps in a constant radius around the player like existing maps, these could unveil caves only as the player has line-of-sight to air blocks. This way the player still needs to discover caves manually, but once discovered have a better idea of the layout.

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    I had a similar idea of "Level Maps", where you can make a map on the cartography table of which can track your mine progress on a certain level. The visibillity will be much harder on the map and the zone will only spread through the areas you were able to hollow out or mine through, while the map shows the edges and stone walls and nothing further. This will add a new cave feeling to caves and clifts for more efficient mining and cave discovery, and allow players to much easier navigate the new cave systems!

  • 0
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    I like this. Well thought out and simple.

    If one part of a cave is beneath another, it goes out of sight on the map. Even if you can't see the area directly on the map, it would still be very useful. The map would only track air blocks immediately connected to the air blocks through which the character passes and within the generating range. Everything else would appear black.

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    It be nice to have maps for caves and at least for when you build underground like you would do topside. It annoys me having to make physical marker of some kind on the surface to act as a marker for wherever my builds will be underground. Having a map to show whatever's underground will be as much handy as ones for the surface. I don't know if this will be possible as well but maps for the nether and ender worlds. 

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    craft an empty map with echo shards (to locate the caves) to get a cave map?

    Another possible alternative is a Y-Level Atlas:
    (3 empty maps, a book & quill, three echo shards, and a map you want to expand down?)

    shows the surface on the first page, like a normal map

    on the second page, it shows the caves within the first vertical area as dark splotches on a grey background, the darker they are, the closer to the surface (except when they overlap, which is a black area)

    on each page after that, it shows an area below the previous area, in the same format.

    Possibly different structures & biomes could appear as colored clouds on the grey background

    for lag reasons, the atlas will be made of locked maps & can be updated on a cartography table.

  • 0
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    We could also get Nether maps at the same time !