Camdozaal

Quick way of checking if an area is instanced is to look at the co-ords given by the dev console. If it changes dramatically every time you teleport in (at least in the case of Dungeoneering) then it's instanced. The Essence Mine is unlikely to be instanced seeing as multiple people use it at a time.

I know Wizards Tower is stacked with just the floor number changing on the dev console co-ords, although the basement is moved some amount of squares north. I don't think we can access the 'basement' of RS without being force tele'd by a JMod or pafting (not that I've seen anyone get there before). Thanks for the compliment on my RSOF thread :) Hope my method helps.

Never knew someone else was interested in this stuff. I'm using the developer console to map the world, and it's far easier to map the world out in terms of that than with an orb of oculus and standing in bits of dungeon. You can access it with the ¬ key or the ~, depending on your keyboard, but when you type "getcamerapos" into it it comes up with a set of co-ordinates that show exactly where you are on the world map. I stumbled across the method when researching runecraftfing talismans and why some of them work where they shouldn't, Kethsi being one of the most well known amongst my friends. There is also a developer blog that came out with the HD update (I forget it's name) which was most insightful. What I've found so far is that far more of the map is on the surface world than it seems, although much of it is far further than the coast of the Elf lands. Instanced areas are also on this surface map. It's something to do with how teleports function, but I have found an instance where a teleport goes to the 3rd floor, as it were. I think there's a link to the forum thread in my siggy, so have a look :)

If I wanted to map areas not covered in the current game map in graphical form, say runecrafting altars, how would I go about it?