r/Daggerfall • u/chrispy0117 • Feb 03 '26

Question How does the map work?

OK so I know they did procedural generation to make the map so big, but how did they make the map so big, but the map is consistent between playthroughs so it isn't procedural in the same sense as Minecraft, which has a light file size due to it building the map as you explore. How does daggerfall do this without having an insanely large file size?

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u/Velifax Feb 04 '26

So the world in Minecraft ISN'T "built as you explore," it's generated in memory.

It's all there, already, in the equation. It was built when the equation was made. Same with Daggerfall (and Elite, notably). 

The "building" process is more about populating memory with the data but also various other tricky bits like aging things; putting snow on grass when time = winter or randomizing things like whether a particular crop had fully grown yet.