[Theory] eastern kingdoms and kalimandor overlap [CONFIRMED]

[Nakkipaketti]

Hmm i can remember many times when i was leveling some of my alts and lets say they were in kalimdor and the kalimdor "server" vent down and i or any of my guildies/friends couldnt log to any kalimdor chars but they could log to any char on the other island. also people saying in general when this happends that dont go to kalimdor now the server is down

PS. sorry for my bad english

[caek123]

That loading screen is present in order to shorten the flight ^^


That's the point I was waiting for!
Looking at the screenshots I can say this much:
You wanted to go from UC to Orgrimmar and DC'd multiple times before and after- so here's how it went down:
WoW had you fly the zeppelin alright, but in one of the many disconnects you had, it must have screwed up the loading process, so you actually WERE in Kalimdor SERVERSIDE, but your client still was in the Eastern Kingdoms. That way all the Players, NPCs and Game Objects from Kalimdor were loaded and put into the right positions- only not on the right map. The reason why Hinterlands and Orgrimmar fit so well, is because the zeppelin's entry point on the Kalimdor map has the same coordinates as the position in the Hinterlands- only with the wrong continent ID.
Wall of text, sorta, but I hope I could clear things up a bit.
If there are any further questions, feel free to ask! :wave:

That is what happends sorry to ruin your theory

[Maulorn]

nice contribution +Rep

[Relentlesserv]

sohnemann is right. As soon as the Zepp hits the loading screen, you are actually going through an instance portal. Every map is an instance in its own right and is built separately. Like individual meals at a banquet. It is just an illusion that EK and Kal are joined! you could get so many problems if both maps were together like that.

[Denial is Ok]

That also why shamans cant use their water walking spell and go across the ocean...but if they could that would be a very long walk lol. All it is that the server and client gets mixed up on the map id...giving it the illusion that the maps are overlapped or stacked

[joho]

This explains when I DCed in the elevator in undercity I ended up in Stonetalon...It matches up well with your map +Rep

It is CONFIRMED... Undercity is exactly where stone talon would be on that map

Exactly same thing for me lol, then moved around and saw WPL mobs far over me.

[Sinaeris]

Hmm i can remember many times when i was leveling some of my alts and lets say they were in kalimdor and the kalimdor "server" vent down and i or any of my guildies/friends couldnt log to any kalimdor chars but they could log to any char on the other island. also people saying in general when this happends that dont go to kalimdor now the server is down

PS. sorry for my bad english

I don't think anyone realized it, but I think Nakkipaketti confirmed the Map ID swapping without even trying to. I think, relating to what Nakki said that when a continent goes down whether it be relating to someone exploiting a "continuous dupe" (like when someone glitches an item that makes it/something continuously spawn so much that the server crashes) or whether it be to overpopulation (I'm not really even sure if that is a crash-cause, I'm just spitballing here) or something else, that the reason why the other continents don't go down is that they are, in fact, separate instances, supporting Sohnemann's theory.

If, say, both continents WERE in the same instance plane and were overlapping each other, a crash would be dual-effective, hitting both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms respectively and ergo both continents would go down, not just one.



This is just my theory but I'm 99.999999% sure that the continents arn't overlapping.

[Placeholder]

Incorrect.

They are not overlapped. They are separate files. Surely the load you incure as you get a boat to the other isle would prove they are separate.

Or the fact there are separate map files in the mpqs and different ID's for them in the DBCs.

This 'overlapping' theory is invalid. Where you have ended up on the wrong continent is because the WoW client has loaded the wrong map file. It has happened to me. I saw the doodads etc for booty bay, but I was in Ashenvale.

Simply a bug, when I queried it with a GM on my server, he stated there is a bug recently which is loading the wrong maps after a disconnect.

Gamemasters do not offer ports to where you are heading, I was on my way to Blasted Lands, the GM teleported me back to Darkshore but did not offer to take me back, and when I requested it he simply said no.

Get Noggit or Wow Map Viewer, have an explore of Azeroth there, I guarantee you won't find Kalimdor above or below it.

Even think of it from Blizzard's view, if they are overlapped, that means they can't have separate servers for the different maps. That means a lot of lag, and we have found out they do indeed have different servers per map.

Prove all of my above statements wrong then maybe I'll believe your theory.

-=- Underseas

[Saaen]

lol this has happened to me before to, I was innocently killing mobs in STV, when I get ganked, and end up in 1k needles

[achoo]

That loading screen is present in order to shorten the flight ^^


That's the point I was waiting for!
Looking at the screenshots I can say this much:
You wanted to go from UC to Orgrimmar and DC'd multiple times before and after- so here's how it went down:
WoW had you fly the zeppelin alright, but in one of the many disconnects you had, it must have screwed up the loading process, so you actually WERE in Kalimdor SERVERSIDE, but your client still was in the Eastern Kingdoms. That way all the Players, NPCs and Game Objects from Kalimdor were loaded and put into the right positions- only not on the right map. The reason why Hinterlands and Orgrimmar fit so well, is because the zeppelin's entry point on the Kalimdor map has the same coordinates as the position in the Hinterlands- only with the wrong continent ID.
Wall of text, sorta, but I hope I could clear things up a bit.
If there are any further questions, feel free to ask! :wave:

Listen to him !^ Was just what I was thinking.

[Madara Uchiha]

nice,but im sure gamemasters are psised off if you abuse Blizzard's bugs

[brendanec]

Pretty awesome thanks!

[Wryun]

My Thoughts:
Ok, the whole co-ordinate mess up it correct, and since the map id's and serverside / clientside differentation seems to matter, it is clear that the world is "stacked". If it wasnt, the loading times from a whole different section of the game back to, for example, ironforge, especially in peak times would be HUGE!. Also, time sync between different areas, for boats + portals, would be hard to replicate over several systems, even running together.
As the map IDs start with 0, and go up into the hundreds, I think it is safe to assume this was the order in which they were built. So Eastern Kingdoms would have been implimented into the files first, as a "base" to the rest of the world. Then, by adding a few 0's onto the end of the co-ordinates, they just rendered the land around the existing maps, which is why they overlap. The general shape of the land masses seems similar, which could be due to this.
If Eastern Kingdoms is underneath Kalimdor, then Blizzard would need a way to make sure people stay in the areas of game files currently ingame, so would add triggers to send the person "back", but with the map differences and the huge change in the Z co-ordinates, this can confuse between maps 0 and 1.
NPC spawns will always be stationary serverside, but clientside they only load upon entry into the map ID, which is the reason for the loading screens. The zones still exist, and are linked (Which is why you can sometimes join channels from other continents through patch bugs) but this doesnt show until you are ported there.

Sorry for the wall :P

[macieq44]

i can confirm it too

once i were in Gnomeregan and guess what! i used eyes of the beast or what's called with my hunt
near the elevator ;> and i wanted to fall so i could check how long u fall actualy but

.......................... drums of lulz .........................


my pet fall through walls and appeared in ?! HILLSBARD FOOTHILLS! :O wtf?! ye it actually happend and it confirms the theory

and something more!

when you are in a dungeon and you see on your minimap taht your party member is eg. to the north from you but you can't see his as a dot but as an arrow

same thing happens when u are in kalimdor/eastern kingdoms and your party member is in outlands/kalim/east. king

[Jaguar]

FALSE!!! i believe this is true, yes each continent is a instance, but the maps arent where they say, to test this have a mage port you to shattrath on an account pre BC, u will land in Stonetalon.

Test 2 - go to shatt and invite someone from Silvermoon to join your party, it shows them in NE corner on minimap as if he were in Netherstorm

also i kno for a fact the EK and kalimdor DO NOT connect through ocean, the ocean cuts off a few seconds from where the zep stops for loading screen, ive been there and theres a glass wall and the edge of the "world"

plus ive lagged on the zep once and it got "stuck" right before the map comes up to cross and i sat there loooking around a bit, i could see the edge. if u wanna test this i suggest jumping off before u corss drink speed potions and go as far as possible u will see, also i will test this using my idea in a few min and post my discovery.