Introduction
Questie icons disappearing or failing to display on the map is the most commonly reported issue among WoW Classic addon users. It affects both new installations and previously working setups, and it almost always has a straightforward fix.
The causes range from a simple UI refresh requirement to a version mismatch between the addon and the current game patch. Working through each potential cause in order resolves the issue in the vast majority of cases without reinstalling the game or the addon manager.
Quick Answer about Questie Icons Not Showing on Map?
- Most common fix: Type /reload in the chat window to force a full UI refresh
- Icons failing to show is almost never caused by a game bug and is nearly always an addon state issue
- Who this affects: Any WoW Classic player using Questie on Classic Era, Season of Discovery, Hardcore, or Wrath Classic
- Blizzard game patches frequently trigger icon display failures in previously working installations
- Questie must be enabled on the character select screen for icons to appear at any point in game
- A version mismatch between Questie and the current game patch is the second most common cause
- Critical check: Confirm Load out of date AddOns is enabled on the character select screen after every game patch
- Conflicting addons, incorrect folder naming, and corrupted saved variables can all independently suppress icon display
- Safety note: Deleting the Questie saved variables file resets all custom settings but does not affect characters, progress, or any game data
What Causes Questie Icons to Stop Showing?
Icon display failures happen for several distinct reasons. Identifying the correct cause before attempting fixes saves significant time and avoids making unnecessary changes to a working setup.
Most causes fall into one of four categories: addon state issues, version incompatibility, file or folder problems, and addon conflicts.
The Most Common Trigger Points
Questie icon failures most frequently occur immediately after one of these events:
- A Blizzard patch or hotfix has been applied to WoW Classic
- A new Questie version was installed incorrectly or without removing the old folder
- WoW Classic was moved to a new drive or directory
- A second addon was recently installed or updated alongside Questie
- The game client was force closed during a previous session rather than exited normally
Understanding which of these applies to your situation narrows the fix immediately. A post patch failure points toward a version or out of date setting issue. A post installation failure points toward folder naming or file placement.
Why Game Patches Break Questie Icons
Blizzard’s WoW Classic patches update the game client version number. Addons carry their own version number in their .toc file, and when those numbers diverge significantly, the client may suppress the addon entirely unless explicitly told to load it anyway.
This is not a Questie specific problem. It affects all WoW Classic addons after patches and is resolved through the Load out of date AddOns setting rather than through any changes to Questie itself.
The icon failure in this case is not caused by broken code. It is caused by the client’s default behavior of skipping addons it considers version mismatched. Enabling load out of date AddOns restores normal function immediately.
What to Check First Before Advanced Troubleshooting
Before making any changes to files or settings, three quick checks resolve the majority of Questie icon failures. These take under two minutes and should always be completed first.
Skipping ahead to advanced steps when a basic fix applies wastes time and risks introducing new issues to a setup that only needed a simple refresh.
The Three Immediate Checks
Check one: Reload the UI
Type /reload directly into the WoW Classic chat window and press Enter. This forces a complete UI refresh without logging out. Questie reinitializes during the reload and icons frequently reappear immediately afterward.
If icons appear after the reload, no further action is needed. If they do not, proceed to check two.
Check two: Confirm Questie is enabled
Exit to the character select screen. Click the AddOns button in the lower left corner. Locate Questie in the addon list and confirm its checkbox is checked.
If the checkbox is unchecked, enable it and log back in. If Questie shows an out of date warning, enable the Load out of date AddOns checkbox at the top of the panel before logging in.
Check three: Confirm you are in a quest active zone
Questie Wow Classic only displays icons when available or active quests exist in your current zone. If you are in a major city with no available quests, or in a zone where your character has completed all content, the map will appear empty by design.
Travel to a leveling zone appropriate to your character level and reopen the world map to confirm whether icons appear in that context.
Checking Questie’s In Game Settings
If the three immediate checks do not resolve the issue, Questie’s own settings may have icons toggled off. This can happen after a settings reset or if settings were accidentally changed.
Access Questie settings by typing /questie in the chat window. Review the following toggles:
- Show available quest icons: Must be enabled for exclamation mark icons to appear
- Show quest objective icons: Must be enabled for objective markers to display
- Show completed quest turn in icons: Controls question mark icons at turn in NPCs
- Minimap icons: A separate toggle from world map icons, can be disabled independently
- Zone level filters may be hiding quests if set too restrictively for your character level
Re enabling any of these toggles and reloading the UI resolves icon display issues caused by accidental settings changes without requiring any file level intervention.
How to Fix Questie Icons Not Showing Step by Step
If the immediate checks did not restore icons, work through the following fixes in the order presented. Each step addresses a progressively less common cause, starting with the most likely and moving toward deeper file level issues.
Fix One Through Four: Settings and Version Issues
Fix 1: Enable Load out of date AddOns
Exit fully to the character select screen. Click AddOns in the lower left. At the top of the AddOns panel, check the box labeled Load out of date AddOns. Click Okay and log back in. Open the world map and check for icons.
This single fix resolves icon failures after the majority of Blizzard patch cycles.
Fix 2: Confirm the correct Questie version is installed
Each WoW Classic server type requires its own Questie build. A Season of Discovery release installed on a Classic Era server, or vice versa, will either fail silently or display incorrect data.
Confirm your server type and cross reference it against the installed Questie version. The version is visible in the AddOns panel on the character select screen next to the Questie entry. Compare this against the releases listed at github.com/Questie/Questie and reinstall the correct version if a mismatch exists.
Fix 3: Clear Questie saved variables
Corrupted saved variable files can prevent Questie from initializing correctly, which suppresses icon display without producing a visible error. Clearing this file forces Questie to rebuild from defaults.
Steps to clear saved variables:
- Exit WoW Classic completely
- Navigate to your WoW Classic directory
- Open the WTF folder, then Account, then your account name folder
- Locate the SavedVariables folder and find the file named Questie.lua
- Delete or rename this file to Questie.lua.bak as a backup
- Relaunch WoW Classic and log in to your character
- Questie will rebuild its settings file automatically on first load
This resets all Questie customizations to default. Settings such as icon scale, level filters, and minimap preferences will need to be reconfigured.
Fix 4: Reinstall Questie cleanly
If saved variable clearing did not resolve the issue, the addon files themselves may be corrupt or contain residual files from a previous version causing conflicts.
Complete reinstallation steps:
- Exit WoW Classic fully
- Navigate to …\Interface\AddOns\ and delete the entire Questie folder
- Download the correct version specific release from github.com/Questie/Questie
- Extract the ZIP, rename the folder to exactly Questie, and place it in the AddOns directory
- Relaunch WoW Classic, enable Questie on the character select screen, and log in
| Fix | What It Resolves | Time Required |
| UI reload via /reload | Temporary state or initialization failure | 10 seconds |
| Enable load out of date AddOns | Post patch version flag suppression | 1 minute |
| Correct version installation | Server type version mismatch | 3 to 5 minutes |
| Clear saved variables | Corrupted settings file | 2 minutes |
| Clean reinstall | Corrupt or conflicting addon files | 5 minutes |
| Addon conflict isolation | Third party addon suppressing Questie | 5 to 10 minutes |
Fix Five: Isolating an Addon Conflict
If a clean reinstall does not restore icons, another installed addon may be interfering with Questie’s map rendering. This is less common but occurs most frequently after installing UI replacement addons or map enhancement addons alongside Questie.
Steps to identify a conflicting addon:
- On the character select screen, open the AddOns panel
- Disable all addons except Questie by unchecking every other entry
- Log in and check whether Questie icons now appear on the map
- If icons appear, a conflict exists with one of the disabled addons
- Re enable addons one at a time, logging in after each, until icons disappear again
- The last addon enabled before icons disappear is the source of the conflict
Common Problems and Solutions:
- Leatrix Maps or similar map addons overlapping Questie icons — Adjust Questie icon scale in settings or check for a compatibility option within the map addon
- ElvUI suppressing minimap icons — ElvUI has its own minimap management settings that can override Questie’s minimap display independently from the world map
- Atlas or Cartographer conflicts — These addons modify map rendering and may need Questie specific compatibility settings enabled within their own configuration panels
- WeakAuras causing UI initialization delays Rarely, large WeakAura packages delay Questie’s load order. Type /reload after full login to allow all addons to finish initializing
- Outdated companion addons Some players install older Questie companion addons that are no longer maintained and conflict with current Questie builds. Remove any Questie related addons other than Questie itself
How to Prevent Questie Icon Issues in the Future
Most recurring Questie icon failures are preventable with a simple maintenance routine. Establishing consistent habits around addon updates and game patches eliminates the majority of issues before they occur.
Prevention is significantly faster than troubleshooting after the fact, particularly for players on active servers with frequent patch cycles.
Post Patch Maintenance Routine
After every Blizzard WoW Classic patch, complete the following before logging in to play:
- Open your addon manager and check for a Questie update if using CurseForge or WowUp
- For manual installations, check the Questie GitHub releases page for a new version
- If no new Questie release is yet available, enable Load out of date AddOns before logging in
- Type /reload after your first login following any patch as a standard habit
- Check the world map immediately after login to confirm icons are displaying before beginning play
Settings to Review After a Clean Reinstall
After a clean reinstall or saved variables reset, confirm these Questie settings are configured correctly before concluding that icons are working as expected:
- All icon type toggles are enabled in the Questie config menu
- Zone level filters are not set so restrictively that available quests are being hidden
- Minimap icon display is enabled if minimap quest awareness is part of your preferred setup
- Icon scale is set to a visible size, as a very low scale value can make icons functionally invisible on certain display resolutions
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do Questie icons disappear every time WoW Classic patches?
Blizzard patches update the game client version number. When the client version diverges from the addon version tag, WoW Classic suppresses the addon by default. Enabling Load out of date AddOns overrides this behavior and restores icon display immediately.
Will clearing saved variables affect my characters or game progress?
No. Saved variables only store addon settings and preferences. Clearing the Questie.lua file resets Questie configuration to defaults but has no effect on characters, quest completion history, items, or any game data stored server side.
Can two Questie versions be installed at the same time?
No. Only one Questie folder should exist in the AddOns directory at any time. Multiple versions or duplicate folders cause load conflicts that suppress icon display and produce unpredictable addon behavior.
Why are icons showing on the world map but not the minimap?
World map and minimap icon display are controlled by separate toggles in Questie settings. Type /questie to open the config panel and confirm the minimap icons toggle is enabled independently from the world map setting.
How do I know if another addon is causing the conflict?
Disable all addons except Questie on the character select screen and log in. If icons appear with only Questie active, a conflict exists with one of the disabled addons. Re enable them one at a time to isolate the specific source.
Is it normal for icons to take a moment to appear after login?
Yes. On first login after a reload or fresh session, Questie initializes and populates map data over a brief period. Waiting 10 to 15 seconds after login before checking the map accounts for normal initialization time, particularly on systems with many addons installed.
What should I do if none of the fixes in this guide resolve the issue?
Visit the Questie GitHub repository at github.com/Questie/Questie and check the Issues section. Search for reports matching your specific symptoms. If no existing report matches, open a new issue with your Classic version, Questie version, and a description of the problem for community and maintainer review.
Does this issue occur more often on Season of Discovery than other server types?
Season of Discovery receives more frequent patches and content updates than other Classic server types. This means Questie version mismatches occur more often on SoD servers, making the Load out of date AddOns fix and regular update checks especially important for SoD players.
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