Minimap UI (Manager)
Overview
MinimapUI is a MonoBehaviour that renders a real-time top-down minimap in your game's HUD. It handles the full pipeline: scrolling or live-camera map display, a player position indicator with directional arrow, a camera-facing direction cone, POI icons sourced from the POIManager, a dotted path system drawing routes to active quest objectives and player-placed waypoints, and a current location name display fed by the LocationManager.
The component supports two map rendering modes — a live top-down camera feeding into a RenderTexture for fully dynamic scenes, or a static pre-baked texture that pans and zooms via UV manipulation for better performance on large open worlds. Both modes use the same coordinate system, and their World Size and World Center values must stay in sync with any WorldMapUI in the same scene.
All runtime elements — player indicator, camera direction cone, POI icon pool, and path dot pool — are instantiated as children of the Minimap Container at Start. The entire update cycle runs in LateUpdate() so it resolves after all character and camera movement for that frame.
Required UI Structure
The component expects the following Unity UI hierarchy at a minimum:
All runtime-created elements (player indicator, camera cone, POI icons, path dots) are instantiated as children of Minimap Container at Start.
Properties
Minimap Settings
Minimap Container
RectTransform
Required
The root RectTransform for all minimap UI elements. POI icons, path dots, the camera cone, and the player indicator are all parented here at runtime.
Map Renderer
RawImage
Required
The RawImage that displays the map — either a live RenderTexture from the minimap camera, or a scrolling static texture.
Map Radius
Float
100
How many world units are represented from the centre of the minimap to its edge. Controls the visible area and scales all world-to-minimap coordinate conversions.
Map Zoom
Float
1.0
Zoom multiplier on top of map radius. Values above 1.0 zoom out (show more world); values below zoom in. Clamped to 0.5–3.0. Adjusts the camera's orthographic size (live mode) or the UV rect width (static mode).
Rotation Settings
Note: Map rotation (Rotate With Player and Rotate With Camera) is currently disabled in the Inspector and reserved for a future update. The minimap always renders north-up. Directional awareness is provided instead by the Camera Direction Cone and the rotating player indicator.
Auto Find Camera
Bool
true
When the Camera Direction Cone is enabled, automatically locates Camera.main at Start. If false, or if a manual reference is needed, assign Camera Transform directly.
Camera Transform
TransformReference
None
Explicit reference to the camera used for the direction cone. Only shown when Auto Find Camera is off, or when a TransformReference variable asset is preferred.
Player Indicator
Player Icon Prefab
GameObject
None
Prefab instantiated as the player's dot on the minimap. The instance is parented to the Minimap Container and positioned at (0, 0) when Center On Player is true. Its rotation is updated every LateUpdate to match the player's world Y angle (north-up mode).
Player Transform
TransformReference
Auto
The player's Transform. Falls back to GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("Player") at Start if empty.
Center On Player
Bool
true
Keeps the player indicator fixed at the centre of the minimap and instead scrolls the map beneath it.
Camera Direction Cone
A Genshin Impact-style translucent wedge overlaid on the player indicator showing which direction the camera is currently facing.
Show Direction Cone
Bool
true
Enables the cone. When true, a child GameObject named "CameraDirectionCone" is created inside the Minimap Container at Start, placed behind the player indicator in the sibling order.
Cone Sprite
Sprite
None
Optional wedge or triangle sprite used as the cone's visual. If left blank, a procedural ConeGraphic is generated at runtime using the arc angle.
Cone Color
Color
White, 15% alpha
Tint and transparency of the cone.
Cone Scale
Float (0.2–1.0)
0.6
Size of the cone relative to the minimap's pixel radius. A value of 0.6 means the cone extends 60% of the way to the minimap edge.
Arc Angle
Float (30–120°)
60
The angular width of the cone in degrees. Only applied to the procedural fallback — sprite-based cones are shaped by the sprite itself.
Cone rotation logic (north-up map):
In the default north-up configuration, the cone's local rotation is set to
-cameraTransform.eulerAngles.yeachLateUpdate, so it always points in the camera's current facing direction relative to north.
POI Icons
POI Icon Prefab
GameObject
None
Prefab for POI markers. Must have an Image component for the icon sprite. An optional child Text component displays the POI name when the icon is within 80% of the minimap radius.
Max Icons
Int
20
Hard cap on simultaneously visible POI icons. A pool of this many instances is pre-created at Start. POIs beyond the cap are silently omitted.
Scale By Distance
Bool
true
Linearly scales each icon between Icon Min Scale and Icon Max Scale based on world distance — closest icons are largest.
Icon Min Scale
Float
0.5
Scale applied to icons at the outer edge of the map radius.
Icon Max Scale
Float
1.5
Scale applied to icons at the centre (distance ≈ 0).
Icon placement and clamping:
World offset from player is projected to minimap space using
offset * (minimapRadius / mapRadius).Icons beyond the map radius are skipped entirely.
Icons within range but near the edge are clamped with 10px padding — on circular maps they are pulled to the inner edge of the circle; on square maps they are clamped per-axis. This ensures icons always remain fully inside the minimap frame.
Icon sprite and colour are read from
IPOITarget.MapIconandIPOITarget.IconColor.
Map Rendering
The minimap supports two mutually exclusive rendering modes. If both are configured, the live camera takes priority. Exactly one must be assigned — the Inspector shows an error if neither is set.
Option 1 — Live Camera Rendering
Minimap Camera
TransformReference
A reference to the Transform of a top-down orthographic Camera GameObject. At Start, the camera's targetTexture is set to the Render Texture and the Map Renderer's texture is pointed at it.
Render Texture
RenderTexture
The RenderTexture asset the minimap camera renders into. Must be pre-created and assigned to both this field and the camera.
In live mode, UpdateMapPosition() moves the minimap camera's XZ position to match the player each LateUpdate, keeping its Y at its configured height. The camera's orthographic size is adjusted by SetZoom() to match mapRadius / mapZoom.
Option 2 — Static Map Texture
Static Map Texture
Texture2D
A pre-baked top-down map image. The component scrolls the texture by adjusting the RawImage.uvRect each frame.
Texture Scale
Float
Additional zoom multiplier for fine-tuning the visible area without changing Map Radius.
World Size
Vector2
Total world extent in units: X = width (east–west, world X axis), Y = depth (north–south, world Z axis). Must match WorldMapUI's World Size if both components are in the same scene.
World Center
Vector2
World-space centre of the map texture: X = world X centre, Y = world Z centre. Must match WorldMapUI's World Center.
UV calculation (static mode):
The UV rect scrolls smoothly as the player moves, keeping the player's position centred in the texture viewport.
Visual Settings
Border Image
Image
None
Optional decorative border or frame Image drawn over the minimap.
Use Circular Minimap
Bool
true
Applies a Unity Mask component to the Minimap Container using the Circular Mask sprite. The mask's showMaskGraphic is set to false so only the mask shape is used, not its visual.
Circular Mask
Sprite
None
A circular sprite used as the mask shape. Only shown when Use Circular Minimap is enabled.
North Indicator
North Indicator
GameObject
None
A UI element (e.g. a small "N" label or arrow) that orbits the minimap centre indicating true north. Only active when map rotation is enabled.
Indicator Distance
Float
90
Pixel radius from the minimap centre at which the north indicator is placed.
The north indicator only moves when map rotation is active. In the current version (north-up only), it remains stationary.
Current Location Display
When enabled, displays the name of the PointOfInterest location the player is currently inside — sourced from the LocationManager — above or near the minimap.
Show Current Location
Bool
true
Enables the location display. Subscribes to LocationManager.OnCurrentLocationChanged at Start.
Location Text
TextMeshProUGUI
Required
The text component that shows the location name.
Location Container
GameObject
None
Optional parent GameObject for the location UI. Hidden when no location is active and Default Text is empty.
Location Prefix
String
""
Text prepended to the location name (e.g. "Location: ").
Default Text
String
""
Text shown when the player is not inside any named location. If left empty and the player exits all locations, the Location Container is hidden instead.
Fade Duration
Float
0.3
Duration of the cross-fade transition when the location changes. The text fades out over half the duration, updates, then fades back in. A CanvasGroup is auto-added to the text component if needed. Set to 0 for an instant swap.
Quest Objective Path Drawing
Draws a dotted path on the minimap from the player toward active quest objective locations.
Enable Path Drawing
Bool
true
Master toggle. When disabled, all path dots are hidden and DrawPathsToObjectives() is skipped.
Only Tracked Objectives
Bool
true
When true, only draws paths to objectives from the currently tracked quest (QuestManager.GetTrackedObjectives()). When false, draws to all active objective locations.
Draw To Closest
Bool
false
When true (and Only Tracked is false), draws a path to only the single closest objective (QuestManager.GetClosestObjective()).
Path Color
Color
Yellow
Colour of quest objective path dots.
Use Dotted Line
Bool
true
Renders the path as evenly spaced dots. When false, a solid line is drawn (requires a LineRenderer).
Dot Spacing
Float
10
Pixel distance between dot centres along the path. Only used when Use Dotted Line is true.
Dot Size
Float
3
Pixel size of each circular dot. Only used when Use Dotted Line is true.
Path Width
Float
2
Line width in pixels. Only used when Use Dotted Line is false.
Animate Path
Bool
true
Advances an animationOffset each frame at Animation Speed, causing dots to appear to flow toward the objective.
Animation Speed
Float
20
Pixels per second the dot pattern advances. Only used when Animate Path is true.
Use NavMesh
Bool
false
When true, calculates path points using NavMesh.CalculatePath() so the path follows walkable terrain. When false, a straight line from player to objective is used. Falls back to a straight line if NavMesh calculation fails.
Max Path Points
Int
50
Maximum NavMesh path corners to process.
Show Waypoint Path
Bool
true
Draws a second distinct dotted path to the active navigation waypoint set via the world map.
Waypoint Path Colour
Color
Cyan
Colour of the waypoint navigation path. Should differ from Path Color so the two paths are visually distinct.
Path dot pool: 80 dot GameObjects are pre-created at Start and parented to the Minimap Container. The first ~50 slots are used for quest objective paths; the remaining ~30 are available for the waypoint path. All dots are hidden at the start of each LateUpdate and re-enabled as needed.
Path clipping: Before drawing, each path segment is clipped to the minimap bounds:
Circular minimap — parametric line–circle intersection clips segments to the circular boundary.
Square minimap — Cohen–Sutherland algorithm clips segments to the rectangular boundary.
Dots that fall outside the clipped segment are skipped. A 5px inner padding prevents dots from being drawn right on the edge.
Update Loop
All per-frame logic runs in LateUpdate() in this order:
UpdateMapPosition — Moves the minimap camera XZ (live mode) or recalculates the UV rect (static mode).
UpdateMapRotation — Applies container rotation if map rotation is enabled; always updates the camera direction cone and player indicator arrow.
UpdatePOIIcons — Fetches all active
IPOITargets from POIManager, culls by distance, pools and positions icons.UpdateNorthIndicator — Orbits the north indicator if rotation is active.
UpdatePathAnimation — Advances
animationOffsetbydeltaTime * animationSpeed.DrawPathsToObjectives — Hides all dots, re-evaluates objectives, clips and draws quest paths then waypoint path.
Public API
SetZoom(float zoom)
Sets mapZoom clamped to 0.5–3.0. Adjusts camera orthographic size for live mode; UV rect recalculates automatically on next LateUpdate for static mode.
ZoomIn()
Calls SetZoom(mapZoom + 0.25f).
ZoomOut()
Calls SetZoom(mapZoom - 0.25f).
ToggleRotation()
Toggles rotateWithPlayer. Resets container rotation to identity when both rotation flags become false.
SetRotateWithPlayer(bool)
Enables or disables player-relative rotation. Disables camera rotation if true.
SetRotateWithCamera(bool)
Enables or disables camera-relative rotation. Disables player rotation if true. Triggers camera auto-find if needed.
SetCameraTransform(Transform)
Sets the camera reference at runtime. Useful for cameras that change at scene load.
SetPathDrawingEnabled(bool)
Enables or disables path drawing and hides all dots immediately when disabled.
SetPathColor(Color)
Updates pathColor and recolours all pooled dot instances immediately.
SetOnlyTracked(bool)
Sets the Only Tracked Objectives flag at runtime.
Inspector Testing Tools (Play Mode Only)
Zoom In
Calls ZoomIn().
Zoom Out
Calls ZoomOut().
Toggle Rotation
Calls ToggleRotation().
Setup Checklist
Usage Tips
Static vs live camera — Static texture is the higher-performance choice for large open worlds; a live minimap camera adds a real-time top-down render pass each frame. For most games, static is preferred.
World Size and Center alignment — If your world is 2000×2000 units centred at the origin, set
worldSize = (2000, 2000)andworldCenter = (0, 0). If the map is offset (e.g. the terrain starts at(-500, -300)in world space), setworldCenterto the terrain's XZ midpoint.Map Radius tuning — Start with a radius equal to roughly 10–15% of your world's width. Too small and the player can barely see ahead; too large and icons become tiny and indistinct.
NavMesh paths — Enable Use NavMesh only if your walkable areas are fully baked. On large open worlds a straight-line path is often cleaner and more readable on the minimap than a jagged NavMesh route.
Quest vs waypoint path colours — Keep Path Color and Waypoint Path Color visually distinct. A warm colour (yellow/orange) for quest objectives and a cool colour (cyan/blue) for the player-placed waypoint is a common convention.
Dot pool size — 80 dots are pre-allocated. If you have multiple active quest objectives each with long paths, you may exhaust the pool. Reduce Dot Spacing to fit more dots per path, or reduce Max Path Points to shorten NavMesh paths.
Camera direction cone — If no Cone Sprite is assigned, a procedural cone is generated. For a polished look, create a simple white wedge sprite and assign it — it gives you full control over the shape, feathering, and transparency via the Cone Color alpha.
Debug mode — Enable Debug Mode during development to log coordinate conversions, camera reference resolution, and pool activity. Be aware that the POI position debug log in the update loop is intentionally commented out by default as it spams heavily — enable it only as a last resort for icon placement issues.
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