Direct answer: pick by “the range you actually want to explore”

When you turn a real map into a Minecraft world, there’s no single “standard area” that fits everyone—how big to go depends on whether you want to play one block, a district of a city, or an entire region. In TopoBlocks, a real map is split into 6 area tiers: from a roughly 0.2 km² neighborhood to an entire 500 km² region, priced at about ¥19–¥239 (prices are shown in-app).

The simple trade-off is this: the bigger the area, the larger the generated world, the higher the price, and the longer generation takes. So rather than jumping straight to the largest tier, first figure out “where do I actually want to explore in the world,” and start with the smallest range that covers those places. To learn which locations tend to come out better, see the best places to make into a Minecraft map.

Judge with the free quality score first, then decide on a tier

Area size isn’t the only variable—the data coverage of that location matters just as much. The real maps in TopoBlocks come from OpenStreetMap public data (building footprints/roads/water) plus open elevation, and before generating, the app gives that range a free quality score and a low-resolution 3D preview.

To be honest about it: the quality score is an estimate of data coverage, not a guarantee of accuracy; generation is an approximate reconstruction from public data, not a block-by-block copy of real buildings. If the range you select has very high coverage (say, a dense urban area), the same area will have more “content”; if it’s a rural area or a mapping gap, going bigger mostly just gives you emptier terrain. So our advice is: select the range → check the quality score and preview → then decide on a tier, instead of fixating on the area number alone. If you want a city result, see making a Minecraft map of a real city.

No need to panic if you pick too small or too big

Generation is a fixed price by area, paid per job, with failed jobs refunded automatically (prices are shown in-app), so you don’t have to bet on the largest tier in one go:

  • When in doubt, start small. Generate a smaller range that covers your target landmarks/blocks first, walk around in-game, and if it isn’t enough, redo it with a bigger range.
  • Generation never overwrites your existing world. Every generation produces a new .mcworld file; your original world and files are kept and traceable—this is a hard product rule, so redoing carries no risk of “breaking the original.”
  • If you really did go big and it’s taking up space or you want to trim it, you can use slimming optimization (¥12 per run) to shrink the size without deleting important regions—check the estimated savings first and create a snapshot so it’s reversible. See how to shrink a Minecraft world that’s too large.

In one sentence: pick by the range you want to explore, check the free quality score first, then decide on a tier—this saves money compared to chasing sheer area, and you’re far less likely to end up with a big, empty map.