No one is suggesting you are a noob Ivory.
But your maps aren't bugged, when I rewrote the THB Faq I included this.
Unfortunately it got lost in the crash and no one made the effort to retrieve it.
For the sake of explanation there is
decoding a map, and
reading a map. Two entirely different things depending on the state the map was in when it was discovered.
Only a "
Tattered" map can be decoded. Only a
Tattered map can give you Cartography gains above 99.5.
A map is only
"tattered" until any person in the world decodes it for the first time
Then the map reverts to ... " A Cleverly drawn map" or an "Expertly drawn map" etc.
A
"non-tattered" map can be read, dug and picked by anyone with the appropriate skill. But that skill cannot be on your Soul stone. It must be on your character when the shovel hits the dirt. Even if the map is brand new to you, if it doesn't say
"tattered" you must have the skill on you character to dig. Technically you can't decode a
non tattered map, you can only
read it!
Now if you start out with a box of
"Tattered" maps there is a trick you can use. You decode all the
"tattered" maps , they will lose their
"tattered" status but because you were then one to steal their "virginity" so to speak you get a benefit.
You can now soul stone cartography off your character, and then proceed to
"read" each map a second time and dig it.
But only because it started out tattered first. Before soul stones this was really never an issue. But now with tight templates people like to leave cartography off their treasure Hunter.
It is a very easy mistake to make, I have made it myself a few times. I pick up a bag of maps or buy a bag of maps only to discover that most aren't tattered and are therefore useless to my treasure hunter.
This also applies if you want to make a "Tattered Wall map" The 19 maps (I think it is 19 , been a while) you use must all be "tattered" when you start out. This is crucial or you will just keep getting the message
"you need more resources" when you attempt to make the map!
Nothing tells you either what map wasn't tattered.
Yes it is a pain and yes it is confusing, I have discussed this with Dev's when I wrote the faq, this is how the system was designed and this is how they want it to work....it is not a bug. But it is a pain!
Many people have had to throw out their entire collection of maps because one or two "NON tattered" maps got added to their map chest.
The system I use if I keep two chests one labeled "Tattered maps" and one labelled "ready to dig".
when my "ready to Dig chest" is empty, I add cartography back onto my character, and then I carefully check and decode each map ensuring that it is "tattered" when I take it out of the one chest and add it to the other.
I then stone cartography again and then I am off to dig!
I hope this clears things up for others who have struggled with their maps and how to do this!
