Atlas, a World of Warcraft instance map browser
Copyright 2005 - 2009 Dan Gilbert
Email me at loglow@gmail.com
About Atlas
For some reason, Blizzard decided to include beautiful maps for every area of Azeroth except instances. You can still see the area surrounding you in the minimap when you're in an instance, but never the overall layout of the entire dungeon. This is where Atlas comes in. The core of Atlas is basically an image viewer. However, it's the images that come with Atlas that make it worthwhile: a map for every instance in the game. Furthermore, the maps are marked with the locations of bosses and other points of interest. Atlas also includes maps of battlegrounds, dungeon locations, flight points, and outdoor raid bosses.
After installing Atlas, you'll notice a new icon on the minimap that looks like part of a little globe (you can right-click the icon to drag it around the minimap's frame). Click this icon to open up the main Atlas window, which displays the maps and legend. You can alternatively use the slash-command /atlas. The drop-downs at the top of the window enable you to navigate between the maps. You can also drag the Atlas window around the screen. Lock it in place with the little lock button in the upper-right corner.
At the bottom of the legend is a small text-entry field as well as Search and Reset buttons. Type part of a word or name in the box and click the Search button, and the legend's entries are reduced to only those that match your text. Note that the search is performed only on the entries for the current map, not all the entries in the database. While not so useful for instances with only a few entries like Ragefire Chasm, the search comes in handy when there are a ton of entries, like for Blackrock Depths or the AtlasMajorCities plug-in. If you want to get the whole list back, just click Reset.
Configuration
Atlas has a few simple options, accessible from the Options button in the upper-right corner of the main window, or with the slash-command /atlas options. A few of the settings aren't very self-explanatory so here's some more information about them. "Auto-Select Instance Map" detects the instance that you're in when you open Atlas, and then automatically switches to the appropriate map. This feature doesn't work in instances that have more than one map, like Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, or many of the Outland instances. In this case, Atlas remembers the last map you had open. "Right-Click for World Map" makes the World Map open when you right-click anywhere on the Atlas window. This is useful when you want to quickly switch from Atlas to the World Map. "Clamp Window to Screen" makes it so that you can't drag the Atlas window off the edge of the screen. The rest of the options are pretty straightforward. The Reset Position button is useful if the Atlas window ever gets dragged completely off-screen and you can't get it back.
Atlas Plugins
Atlas has a built-in plugin system allowing for the easy addition of map packs. In fact, Atlas ships with four of these plugins (for battlegrounds, dungeon locations, flight points, and outdoor raid bosses). If you're interested in making your own Atlas map pack, I suggest you start with one of these four as a guide. You can contact me or post on the Atlas forums if you need help, however I suggest you do as much research as possible beforehand. Furthermore, there are several Atlas plugins that do more than simply provide additional maps. AtlasLoot provides a loot table for each boss, and AtlasQuest displays the quests associated with each instance. Note that I don't develop these plugins myself; they have their own project leads.
Before Installing
- Any previous versions of Atlas must be deleted prior to installation.
- Atlas plugins (AtlasLoot, AtlasQuest, etc.) designed for any version of Atlas prior to this one must be deleted.
- Map packs supplied by Daviesh for Atlas 1.8.6 must be deleted prior to installation (they're unnecessary now anyway).
How to Install
Integration
- LibDataBroker (LDB)
- Titan Panel
- myAddOns
- CTMod
- Cosmos
Website
http://www.atlasmod.com/
Name: Dan Gilbert
Email: loglow@gmail.com
AIM: dan5981
License
Atlas is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
For the full license text please see: gpl-v2-enUS.txt
Installation Guide
- Exit "World of Warcraft" completely
- Download the mod you want to install
- Make a folder on your desktop called "My Mods"
- Save the .zip/.rar files to this folder.
- If, when you try to download the file, it automatically "opens" it... you need to RIGHT click on the link and "save as..." or "Save Target As".
- Extract the file - commonly known as 'unzipping'
Do this ONE FILE AT A TIME!
- Windows
- Windows XP has a built in ZIP extractor. Double click on the file to open it, inside should be the file or folders needed. Copy these outside to the "My Mods" folder.
- WinRAR: Right click the file, select "Extract Here"
- WinZip: You MUST make sure the option to "Use Folder Names" is CHECKED or it will just extract the files and not make the proper folders how the Authors designed
- Mac Users
- StuffitExpander: Double click the archive to extract it to a folder in the current directory.
- Verify your WoW Installation Path
That is where you are running WoW from and THAT is where you need to install your mods.
- Move to the Addon folder
- Open your World of Warcraft folder. (default is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\)
- Go into the "Interface" folder.
- Go into the "AddOns" folder.
- In a new window, open the "My Mods" folder.
- The "My Mods" folder should have the "Addonname" folder in it.
- Move the "Addonname" folder into the "AddOns" folder
- Start World of Warcraft
- Make sure AddOns are installed
- Log in
- At the Character Select screen, look in lower left corner for the "addons" button.
- If button is there: make sure all the mods you installed are listed and make sure "load out of date addons" is checked.
- If the button is NOT there: means you did not install the addons properly. Look at the above screenshots. Try repeating the steps or getting someone who knows more about computers than you do to help.
Translations
When you download a mod, please be sure that the mod is compatible with your translation of wow. Some mods only work on the US versions, while some only work on some of the various European versions. These variations are called "Localizations".
TOC Numbers (Out of Date Mods)
When Blizzard patches WoW, they change the Interface number. This means that all mods will be "out of date" unless or until the author releases a new version for that interface. Some people go into the .toc files and update the numbers themselves, but this is STRONGLY advised against as it will cause problems locating possible incompatibilities addons. When you log into WoW after a patch, you DO NOT have to delete your interface directory. All you have to do is simply tell WoW to ignore the interface numbers and load all the mods anyway. All you have to do is, while at the "character select" screen, look in the lower left corner and click on the "addons" button. A window will pop up listing all your installed mods.
If you look in the upper left corner of that window there should be a box that says "Load Out of Date AddOns". You want to CHECK this box. Now simply go into WoW normally and all your mods should load. As of the 1.9 patch, you will have to do this after EVERY patch/update that Blizzard posts! If you encounter any problems with a mod after a patch, please be sure to let the author of the mod know so they can fix it.
See also: About "Out Of Date AddOns"
Mac Support
WoW addons are not platformed based. As such, they can be used on either Mac or PC. You can extract both .zip and .rar files on a Mac using StuffitExpander.
Directory Structure
World of Warcraft
|_ Interface
|_AddOns
|_*AddonName*
|_ *AddonName*.toc
|_ *AddonName*.xml
|_ *AddonName*.lua
|_ (possibly others as well)...
