Minimap



The minimap is a feature that was added to Terraria with the 1.2 update. It works like the map on the console edition of the game, showing an overview of the world.

As the world is explored, tiles in it appear on the minimap with the greatest brightness with which the character has ever seen them. Even if the tiles return to darkness, they will remain visible on the minimap. This is very useful for exploring with spelunker potions.

In addition, players (even those not in the viewer's party) and NPCs appear on the minimap as icons of their heads, which show the name of the character when the cursor moves over them. This makes it easy to find NPCs, or watch over other players in multiplayer.

It should be noted that minimap data is separate for each character. This means that if one character explores the world, other characters do not automatically see it on their maps. Minimap data is saved to a subfolder of the My Documents\My Games\Terraria\Players folder with the character's name.

Minimap modes
The minimap has three modes: portrait, overlay and hidden. By default, the Tab key toggles the minimap between the three modes, though this key can be changed in the options menu.

In portrait mode, the minimap appears in the top right corner of the screen, as shown in the screenshot. The + and – buttons on the frame allow the map to be zoomed in and out; the = button returns it to the default scale.

In overlay mode, the minimap appears as a transparent overlay over the main view. In this mode, it can actually be zoomed in to a 1:1 scale, which can help visibility at night or in caves, or out far enough to see the entire world.

In hidden mode, the minimap does not appear at all, however, areas you explore with the minimap hidden are still mapped out, and will be shown if you turn the minimap back on.

The M key, by default, brings up a full-screen map. This can be zoomed in and out with the keyboard just as the minimap can, or with the mouse wheel, and it can be scrolled using the directional keys or by dragging it with the mouse. The full-screen map can be dismissed by clicking the icon at the bottom left corner, or by pressing M or the inventory key again.

Minimap controls
In portrait and overlay mode, the keyboard can be used to control the minimap. All controls mentioned hereafter are defaults, and can be changed in the options menu.

The + and – keys on the numeric keypad zoom the minimap in and out. There is no key to restore the default scale, but the = button on the portrait frame does this.

The Page Up and Page Down keys make the minimap more or less opaque. In portrait mode, this only affects the map, not the frame.

The Tab key toggles the map between portrait, overlay and hidden mode. The M key brings up the full screen map, as mentioned above.

Inventory screen controls


Four icons have been added to the inventory screen to control the minimap, as shown in the screenshot. From left to right, these are:
 * Full screen map (the same as pressing M)
 * No minimap (hidden)
 * Portrait minimap
 * Overlay map