FAQ
Worldographer has a pretty robust online manual and advanced instructions pages, but there are still several “Frequently Asked Questions”. Here they are:
1. Worldographer isn’t accepting my license.
This is usually one of a few things:
- You may be mistyping it or missed/added a letter when copying.
- You are trying to enter a 2025 Worldographer code into the pre-2025 version. If your code starts with “2025-” then make sure “Worldographer 2025” is in the title bar of the application. If not, get it from our download page. Note: often if both Worldographer 2025 and pre-2025 are installed on the same computer, by default the computer will open the older one. Either uninstall the older program or make sure you pick “Worldographer-2025” from your Start area or Applications folder.
- You are trying to enter a pre-2025 code into the 2025 version. This is the reverse of #2. If you’d like to stay on the pre-2025 version, you can download it here. While we have often added new features and bug fixes to our programs at no extra cost, once in a while (years) we do a significant rewrite to add major new features and platform changes. This takes significant effort so we ask folks to support that by getting a new license. But you’re welcome to use the prior version and your prior license indefinitely.
2. Worldographer won’t open my file.
Often, this is because you’re trying to open a file saved in Worldographer 2025 using the per-2025 version. This is usually because you have both installed on installed on the same computer and by default the computer is opening the older program. Either uninstall the older program or make sure you pick “Worldographer-2025” from your Start area or Applications folder, then open the file.
Rarely it may be that you’ve saved it in a more recent version of Worldographer than the one you’re opening it with. (Perhaps a friend who updated more recently sent you the file.). If you see “Update Available” in the title bar of the program, it is a good idea to download the update.
And even more rarely it could be there is something unusual in the file and you’ve found a bug. Please send it to support at inkwellideas dot com.
Note that a file with “-tmp” in it means it didn’t save successfully. Because the files can get huge, we save to whatever-filename-you-pick-tmp.wxx and only when that saves successfully do we them rename it as whatever-filename-you-pick.wxx. So look for a copy of the file without “-tmp” if it was saved previously. You may be able to recover most of your progress if you find a file with “-autosave” at the end. By default, Worldographer saves a copy of the map if it was already previously saved as whatever-filename-you-pick-autosave.wxx
3. Can I publish maps that were created with Worldographer?
This is covered in detail in section 7 of the Worldographer license, which you see when you install and open it on a computer for the first time and is always available by going to Worldographer’s “Help” menu and picking “License.”
But in short, yes you may. Earlier we required a credit in the corner or adjacent to each Worldographer map, but now even just a single credit on the credits page is good. Something like “Map made with Worldographer” is good, but we’re not picky. Also note that some of our icon packs may also need to be mentioned, such as “Some map icons from [product name1, name 2, …] by artist Keith Curtis via Inkwell Ideas.” (Keith Curtis is the artist/cartographer who has made the vast majority of our icons.)
Of course, just because we say maps made with Worldographer and our icons can be used in your products, if the look skews too closely to another person/company’s maps they may have an issue.
4. How do I turn the grid on/off or change the color or switch between a hex and square grid?
Below the map is a set of controls. Towards the right is the label “Grid:” after that is a checkbox. This turns the grid on/off. And to the right of that is a gear icon which opens a dialog to change the grid color or even switch a hex grid to a square grid & vice versa. More details are on this page.
5. How to turn on/off or change the grid numbering?
As in #2, below the map is a label “#s” to the right. Next to that is a checkbox that will turn the grid on/off. And to the right of that is another gear icon which opens a dialog that allows you to control the upper left first hex number. (Perhaps you want it to start with 1 instead of the default 0. Or maybe this is part of a set of maps and you need it to start with something completely different.)
This dialog doesn’t have separate documentation, but the top several options control the font. The next section lets you set the numbers to be on the top or bottom of each hex and change the number ordering (row then column numbers or vice versa).
Finally, you can set the initial numbers for the columns and rows, if there is a character in between them and if the numbers should be pre-padded (001 vs. 01 vs. 1) or not.
6. Printing and Exporting questions
Worldographer doesn’t natively print the maps–we feel it is better to export so you can preview the printed image first.
We have a more detailed page specifically about printing from Worldographer, but in summary:
- The number of dots in the exported image is determined by the current view’s size. So if each tile/hex is 56×50 pixels then that is how many pixels will be in each tile/hex.
- dpi is a setting when exporting the map as an image. It stands for dots per inch. Digital viewing is often 72dpi, while print is often 300dpi (but for reasons outside the scope of this, anything more than 150dpi isn’t easily discernible by human eyes when printed). So print programs use this setting as the default when printing. But most should let you over-ride it to shrink or enlarge the printed area.
7. What are these little yellow rectangles on buildings when making a city or village map? Notes
Worldographer has a feature of placing Notes on a map. By default, these show up as small yellow squares on the map. Then, if you have “Add/Edit/View” button selected in the Notes area of the controls below the map, you can click any of the squares to open a dialog and see a title, link, text description, and for buildings charts of people in that building or items for sale if it is a store/inn/tavern.
When generating a city, town, or village, Worldographer automatically generate details of each building. To turn off these notes, uncheck the “Show” checkbox below the map toward the left near “Notes”. Their color can be changed in the Note dialog.