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[Haedrian]

I started off on one of those perfect locations - this one has it all.

It has a magma vent somewhere, and half the mountain is made of obsidian...

So, how exactly do I go about finding this vent in the most efficient way possible? And is it possible to totally miss it by accident?

Also I have an underground river and pits around somewhere, so I'm a bit cautious about just digging a giant hole.

[Scruga]

Build a depot. Press capital d(D) and look underground. All places will flash with red W's and some places not. There is your pipe.

[Village_Idiot]

actually a lack of D's means a feature, so it could also be your pit or underground river...

[Demonic Spoon]

If we're not using exploits...the exploratory mining article on the wiki is really helpful for finding anything undergrounds.

http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Exploratory_mining

[Scruga]

actually a lack of D's means a feature, so it could also be your pit or underground river...

it makes the searching a lot easier :/

[FrickenMoron]

A magma pipe is not exactly hard to find really. They're big targets unlike u. rivers.

[Albedo]

When you embarked and you decided how to size and where to place your map, there were some icons in the "Local" map - a red ~ (or double) for the magma pipe, etc etc.  Each of those is called an "area block", and is 48x48 tiles square on your game map.  If your embark map is "4x6", you will have a map that is (4x48) x (6x48) tiles big.

Each area block has 1 "biome" in it - some are mountain, some are trees, some are woodland, etc etc.  Each has different layers and possibly different features.  They are not hard borders, but fuzzy - that game is that smart, at least.

A magma vent will exist completely within one of these area blocks.  and a vent varies in size down each layer, but is, typically, at least 25 tiles wide at some point, which is more than half the 48 tile size of the area block.  So...

Count out and mark the blocks.   (<shift> + <direction key> will move your cursor 10 tiles).  Doesn't have to be perfect, but close.  If you paid attention to where your vent was shown in the embark map, this will be easier.  Dig an exploratory shaft in the middle of each - 24 tiles from the borders.    Shouldn't have to be too deep.  You'll hit it.

[Haedrian]

Interesting...

I tried the Depot thing, and there's a large area which never turns X no matter how deep I go.

I think I found it, will dig it out soon.

[smjjames]

Sounds like a good method to try without using the reveal utility.

The flashing gets annoying on the eyes though.

[Derakon]

For magma vents, magma pools, bottomless pits (but not chasms), and underground pools, you can always just remember what tile the thing's in when you embark, and then dig a shaft down the center of that tile. They always contain the center of the tile, so you're guaranteed to hit it.

[Grendus]

Three easy options.

First, you can check from the start map and dig in that general area. Easiest method, but if you aren't careful you may end up digging past the pipe.

Second, dig down about five layers and dig exploratory shafts until you hit warm stone. Then track the warm stone up to the top, dig a shaft down until you hit magma and you'll be able to see the entire vent. Make sure you put a floor over the top of the shaft, the imps can climb out apparently if there are any gaps.

Third, use a third party application like Reveal. I'd be careful about using those, I think one of them busted my stockpiles and Reveal has been known to remove important things like the "found magma" flag (which allows you to build magma buildings) and can cause trees to stop growing.

[Haedrian]

I dug out where the Depot trick told me to... and BAM, right where it said it would be.

*looks at firemen and imps*

[Scruga]

No problem glad it worked

[Derakon]

If you're worried about the critters in whatever feature you just uncovered, the first thing you should do on uncovering it is floor over your mining shaft. Turn your miner into a mason and cancel all miner jobs, and he should grab a stone from the shaft he just dug and floor it over before noticing the creatures (which would make him cancel the job).

[Albedo]

Or add a reject door/hatch to the tunnel/shaft immediately after it's started.

If you pierce the feature from above (like Armok intended!) you shouldn't have a problem, but even then very few are buildingdestroyers.