2024 is starting strong: in Steam Workshop, an official division of the Valve platform where users can publish and share their mods with the community, an addition has arrived for Garry’s Mod that has every right to proclaim itself “the largest map of the history of video games”. It is “(INFMAP) 1:1 Multiverse” or “gm_infmap_multiverse” within the game, and as its name indicates it is an almost infinite scenario. It measures the immeasurable figure of 180224e33 km (one hundred and eighty quintillion two hundred twenty-four thousand quadrillion) or what is the same, a space large enough to accommodate the entire known universe 2048 times. More than Skyrim!
The mod in question is signed by the user Alexandrovich, who recommends a minimum of 12 GB of RAM to run the map, and if possible, much more than that. “You will never reach the end of the map, no matter what you do” reads the Infmap description. “You can pull out the OBJ model to see that it’s 2,048 universes right next to each other.”
In fact, it is so vast that to move between star systems you need specific tools and use the command console to teleport your character. In fact, if you install it, you will have to wait a long time for the map to load correctly, and it can only be run from the 64-bit branch of the game. Interestingly, Infmap uses three-dimensional modeling with minimal polygon load to fit in a file. just 521,641 MB of weight.
How Infmap and its real-scale universe was made
How is it possible to do this in the first place? The answer is simple: it is not possible. Garry’s Mod runs on the Source engine, which has clear limits defined by the developer. So the mod uses a teleportation system to give the player the feeling that they are in a truly infinite world, even though that is not the case in reality. The idea, as the author explains in the video below these lines, is simulate all elements of the map outside a limited space () that returns the player to the center when he goes out of bounds. You can perceive things that are beyond those barriers, but not reach them.
Of course, Infmap is not designed to host games of any kind. It is rather a conscientious exercise of experimentation to demonstrate the possibilities of the Source engine that still remained to be explored today. But that does not mean that it is still just as impressive in the eyes of any fan, and Garry’s Mod players have been so amazed that they are already looking to make other similar ideas a reality.
Normally, I would say that those kinds of wishes remain up in the air, but we are talking about the Gmod community and one has to think twice before placing bets against someone who has created the known universe 2048 times at 1:1 scale in a short time. more than 500 MB budget.
