The fascinating lands of the Lost World

[waldronate]

I recommend doing an Earth map at your proposed level of detail with the contours that you have (or want) and don't get more detailed than that. The Earth, she is full of uninterestingly flat areas for many parts of the globe.

[Tiluchi]

Looks great so far! The tectonics are a big improvement and it's easy to tell the plate boundaries from the topographic map. If this is mostly an input for climate modeling you don't necessarily need anything more detailed than this; as Waldronate says Earth also has lots more boring flat areas if you look at it only with this level of detail. If you want to make things a bit more interesting, consider that there are lots of mountain ranges that are uplifted far away from plate boundaries because of epeirogenic movement- the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains being one example. Hotspots can also form mountain ranges within continental plates such as the case of the Tibesti Mountains, and it seems like the Adirondacks were also created because of that. Creating more granular layers below 1,000 meters is also an option, although that's not strictly necessary if you'd rather just move on to climates.

[Neutron_22]

Thank you all for the advice!
Unfortunately, after trying unsuccessfully to install ExoPlaSim (I found the guide on Worldbuilding Pasta a bit difficult to understand for my poor computer skills), I again began to be dissatisfied with the overall setup of the continents. So I'm trying to redesign from scratch while retaining what I like, but I can't seem to produce anything I'm satisfied with :/

[Rittmeister_Krefeld]

Thank you all for the advice!
Unfortunately, after trying unsuccessfully to install ExoPlaSim (I found the guide on Worldbuilding Pasta a bit difficult to understand for my poor computer skills), I again began to be dissatisfied with the overall setup of the continents. So I'm trying to redesign from scratch while retaining what I like, but I can't seem to produce anything I'm satisfied with :/

I think I would recommend not getting too hung up about the "perfect" set up. It's never going to be perfect, especially not if you are thinking of a developing storyline and trying to fit the world to how you would like to write the story. Just get into detail on the continent you are thinking about basing your main action in and leave the rest roughed in. Then start writing. Sometimes it's the unusual unthought of details of the places and world that will make those places the most interesting. Trying to have it all figured out at the start means you end up using 1-2% of your creativity on 50-100 places. Use 10% for the world now, 90% for the continent your main action will be on.
Then as you go along, you can use the same ratios on the new places as the story takes you to new places.

[Peter Toth]

Hi Neutron_22,

First of all, your map looks excellent so far, and yes, I can certainly empathize with your desire to make everything "perfect" or even "outstanding" at the least. I'm also beset with the same desires and compulsions: I've been trying for years to develop a process that is realistic, effective, and outstanding, yet I am still nowhere near that lofty goal! So my suggestion is to ask yourself: what is more important to your worldbuilding endeavours: (1) a realistic world, or (2) effective story elements, such as plot, characters, etc. ?

If it's the latter, then I'd go with your current depiction of topography and continent layout and feed it into ExoPlaSim, tweaking the parameters until you've achieved the desired climatological details. This level of detail should be sufficient to flesh out your plot and characters.

If you want a highly realistic world instead (or both), I'd definitely commit some time to learning the GPlates program, which I agree is difficult, but can be elucidated very effectively by Artifexian on YouTube. I recommend following his tutorial videos with a simple continent layout before attempting to apply the concepts to your current project. And as for ExoPlaSim, I recommend following Worldbuilding Pasta's explanation.

I understand the urge to give up when you've reached an impasse, but I recommend instead putting the project away for the day. In a day or two, or whenever you've achieved an eureka moment or a flash of inspiration, I'd return to the project and work on it some more. Don't worry about your rate of progress (unless you have a deadline imposed by a publisher); accept that progress in this field is very sporadic at best. Instead, celebrate your progress and maintain an attitude of passion. I've been living by this rule for years now, and I'm making very slow progress despite a severe brain injury and impaired cognitive functioning.

By the way, you asked me how I dealt with overlapping oceanic plates in GPlates. Indeed, you'll get some overlapping oceanic plates when two continents begin moving towards one another, especially after they've been moving apart for some time. In this case, you must create a new oceanic plate ID (the same way you create a microcontinent) out of the existing oceanic plates, to force all relevant oceanic plates to move together towards the subduction zone. (If the rift itself gets sucked into the subduction zone, you'll get a Laramide type orogeny. This may be relevant to your story's plot.) Eventually you will have some oceanic crust underneath a continent, which you must deal with. My rule of thumb is that every 50 Myr or so, I'd split all such overlapping plates into two, right at the continent boundary, and set the overlapping plate's ID to end at that particular time interval. That way, as the oceanic plates subduct, they are removed by the program. Also, try putting your continental crust tab below the oceanic crust tab in your layers box.

Whatever way you decide to go, good luck and remember the whole point of worldbuilding is to have fun. When you're enjoying any pastime, you're fully able to tap into your creativity and create something outstanding.

Excellent work so far and I look forward to seeing the final result of this!

Peter