In my opinion, the current compass is an example of over-design.

[Atomizer 53]

I love the why they handle the compass, and imo, the map should be done in the same way(and maybe it will, it is alpha after all), the only thing I could see improving this would be if they had a way to have it around your neck or something, "attached" to you in some way(much like weapons and clothing is, so it doesn't go in your inventory), then when you hit the key to look at it you quickly grab the compass and bring it into view.

 

 

Thanks for the ridiculously over-sized information, but that's exactly what we're talking about. Put it in your hands... press space. You're already 5 seconds into what should be a 3000ms process at most.

I have seen more then one person suggest they are not doing this, and have to use alt-look to look down at the compass, if they pressed space, you dont need to look around for the compass, as it remains in your view(UNLESS you alt-look), and it is very clearly readable, without having to "zoom in" or anything, unless maybe you're running on a very low resolution with very low textures, I have not tested that myself.

[The_Man 393]

How dare you question the mechanics of this flawless game? How dare you. 

 

 

Lol. I agree with you a hundred percent. It is a joke. 

[Nihilum 209]

Nonsense.

 

The current compass is amazing and the people in this thread should stop complaining.

It's like they fail to realize there is a hotbar... you know... for shit your use A LOT... like a gun... axe... or a compass... 

If you don't have the 1 extra second it's takes, you obviously aren't in a place where using a compass is smart idea...

/discussion.

Edit: sounds like you guys want an instant button with no risk/reward what so ever... I do beg you to get off the couch and go outside.

 

Edited December 31, 2013 by Nihilum

[The_Man 393]

It's like they fail to realize there is a hotbar... you know... for shit your use A LOT... like a gun... axe... or a compass... 

If you don't have the 1 extra second it's takes, you obviously aren't in a place where using a compass is smart idea...

/discussion.

Edit: sounds like you guys want an instant button with no risk/reward what so ever... I do beg you to get off the couch and go outside.

 

 

Lol, you have to equip the compass then put your gun away then press space to view it. Joke. They make one handed compasses that fit in your pocket for a reason. To be less obtrusive and so you can view them using one hand. 

 

"Oh, let me just sling my rifle on my back every time I need to checking my heading!" 

 

I guess we are just playing as moronic survivors! 

[sprelle 0]

Why do you guys need to check your bearings anyway? I've survived many, many days in the world without ever being unaware of my direction of travel. Shadows, clouds, moon, sun, terrain... So many cues to your direction, and spending 5 seconds to double-check your bearing once in a while when you're safe isn't all that hard, is it?

 

Equip your compass to one of the quick-slots in the bottom by dragging it there while in inventory. Press the appropriate key while running, and press space for a closer look if needed. 

[skudd3r 44]

Agreed, don't fix it if it ain't broken(old compass was better imo).

Edited December 31, 2013 by SKuDD3r

[Imbalanxd 59]

I'm in two minds about this.

 

On the one hand, it is really annoying having to go first person just to get a tiny glimpse at my compass in order to see where I'm going. On the other hand, this is probably due to how it was displayed in the mod, and we have simply grown accustom to that.

 

In reality, you can't really run and use a compass at the same time. The needle will bounce all over the place.

Try and remove from your memory the way the compass functioned in the mod, and compare it instead to how the map functions. You can't very well run and read a map at the same time. In fact, you need to be quite still and vulnerable to read a map. And since the map has always functioned the way is currently does, we accept that.

Well, the compass was functioning in a silly way, and now it functions in a better way, but it could still be improved. However, going back to the old flawed way isn't the answer.

 

In my opinion, the compass should work similarly to how a gun works. Having it out and running with it will give you a rough idea of what its doing. However, if you want to see accurately, you must right click, at which point you will get a much clearer idea of whats going on, but at the cost of peripheral vision and speed.

[Imbalanxd 59]

Why do you guys need to check your bearings anyway? I've survived many, many days in the world without ever being unaware of my direction of travel. Shadows, clouds, moon, sun, terrain... So many cues to your direction, and spending 5 seconds to double-check your bearing once in a while when you're safe isn't all that hard, is it?

 

Equip your compass to one of the quick-slots in the bottom by dragging it there while in inventory. Press the appropriate key while running, and press space for a closer look if needed. 

 

The main benefit to a compass is during combat.

[forddefect 14]

In combat us clock face, in the mod that's what I do with my partners. It's agreed that our general direction of movement is 12.

[Imbalanxd 59]

In combat us clock face, in the mod that's what I do with my partners. It's agreed that our general direction of movement is 12.

"General direction of movement" assumes that you enter combat as a group and move as a group, which is a good way to instantly die as a group. The only way to get even half objective and accurate directions is with a compass. Clockface may be better than nothing, but a compass is vastly superior.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Imbalanxd

[ImageCtrl 719]

I get it - rocket hates HUDs (for some reason), but just like the over-design of the hunger and thirst messages which are markedly less informative and effective than the original icons while also being basically just as distracting, this system is needlessly complex.

Complex? Which part? I remember 2 messages. The first is below 25% hunger/thirst. The secend is 100%. All other is between this. You call this complex?

No over design here with the compass.

You should be able to read the compass when you jog. You can do this.

Edited December 31, 2013 by NoCheats

[Etherimp 1323]

"General direction of movement" assumes that you enter combat as a group and move as a group, which is a good way to instantly die as a group. The only way to get even half objective and accurate directions is with a compass. Clockface may be better than nothing, but a compass is vastly superior.

 

 

There's really no difference between clock face and compass.. Both require you and your friends be facing the same direction and depending on how close the target is, requires you be relatively near to one another.

 

Best way to communicate combat instructions is coords combined with succinct descriptions of landmarks.

[Atomizer 53]

I don't know about you guys, but I don't have a problem keeping in mind my general direction without having to constantly look at my compass, so I can easily spout north/west/east/south on the fly if combat arises, and this assumes you are literately in the middle of nowhere without any distinctive landmarks, and a treeline to the south for example, gives you a good landmark to call out.

Heck, 90% of the time I have no used the compass, except for when we are traveling, once I get my heading I can put it away again, not needing it unless I run into trouble and get turned around, and even then it takes just a few seconds to check the compass and I can keep going.

 

Use landmarks if you need to call out and you can't remember your directions, it's especially effective if your group is spread out and don't know each others exact locations.

"To the north"/"To my north" isn't helpful if you don't know where your friend is.

[Imbalanxd 59]

There's really no difference between clock face and compass.. Both require you and your friends be facing the same direction and depending on how close the target is, requires you be relatively near to one another.

 

Best way to communicate combat instructions is coords combined with succinct descriptions of landmarks.

 

Clockface relies on position and heading. Compass relies only on position. Neither are objective or accurate, one is just more objective and more accurate than the other.

[Al Bobo 53]

If a compass was used with 1 hand while the other held the weapon/item you were carrying, I would be happy. Current way feels a bit too slow, if you are holding another item.

[prix 43]

Nonsense.

 

The current compass is amazing and the people in this thread should stop complaining.

 

 

I can't speak for the old implementation as I never played the mod, but the way it is in the SA is very realistic. You 'shoot an azimuth' by aiming the compass in the direction of interest while holding it steady and away from the body/gear so as to avoid interference. Honestly the animation is very similar to what I would do when in the service. Doesn't have to be that way, but from my perspective, it is very 'realistic.'

 

In real life, I would run as fast with the compass in my hand as I would putting it in my pocket.

But since you run so fudging slow with compass in hand it's not realistic at all, since what you do is put the thing away, run for a while, take it up watching that slow "take out compass"-animation, look at it, watch the slow "put compass away"-animation, repeat. This gets very tiresome.

Now, this is just what I'm guessing is the problem for people who doesn't know Chernarus by heart. I was born in Горка.

[ImageCtrl 719]

If a compass was used with 1 hand while the other held the weapon/item you were carrying.

I like this idea.

[Spidey (DayZ) 78]

I honestly have no problem with it...

 

While jogging, hit your hotkey for it, hit space, look down at it, adjust accordingly, hit space again and hit your hotkey again and continue sprinting. You don't even have to stop moving. It's not particularly hard to get used to.

While you still lose like 10 seconds...

 

But that is completely useless in a pvp situation. Imagine you are on the airfield (choose whatever one) and your friend is keeping an eye on you from the closest molehill with a sniper rifle. You see a person, tell him and he asks you "where is he?" 

 

Now if there are no buildings nearby, what you tell him? "He's south-west of my position, 300meters". However, with the current compass, that's completely impossible...

[ImageCtrl 719]

While you still lose like 10 seconds...

 

But that is completely useless in a pvp situation. Imagine you are on the airfield (choose whatever one) and your friend is keeping an eye on you from the closest molehill with a sniper rifle. You see a person, tell him and he asks you "where is he?" 

This maybe happen one time. In the rest of your dayz time you know the directions from this airfield if you are not totally brainless.

BTW in this early alpha you need 4 sec checking the compass in jog mode. All included, you are back with your weapon after 4 sec.

Edited December 31, 2013 by NoCheats

[.VincenT. 45]

I see what you are saying to an extent, just wait for sundials to replace a watch.

This does not sound good lol

[AmirDayz 54]

I completely agree with the OP and agree that this also applies to the clunky way many items are used and to the lack of HUD even where it would be appropriate.

It seems to me like Rocket and the dev team have decided on this high-concept of HUD minimalism under the assumption that it would increase immersion while ignoring the various limitations imposed by both the RV engine and computer games in general creating a massive disconnect between this approach and actual immersion.

The clunkiness of the compass is indeed a great example as it is demonstrates how the high concept (no hud) combined with the limitations of the platform (limited FOV, predefined sets of animations) create a thoroughly unimmersive end-result where your character runs around like a dummy holding the compass with both hands looking completely stiff in the process forcing you to make additional adjustments to your perspective using freelook just so you could glance at it.

Once we have wrist watches in the game should we also expect them to work in a similar fashion? would our character disarm its weapons/held items to play a stock animation where it raises its wrist only to hold it at chest height where we'd be forced to look down to get the hour?

The devs have to keep in mind that the range and fluidity of movement in real life will always be greater and more intuitive than that which they can offer in the game, at a certain point going with a specific high concept can cause a massive disconnect between the expectations of the user and the intentions of the developers. Having a 4 second transition between holding your rifle and getting a look at your compass is unrealistic, in real life there are dozens of different ways a person would be able to both get a compass reading as well as keep his weapon/other-items relatively accesible, for instance, if you're lying prone you would be able to pop out your compass and place it on the ground next to you, quickly and easily changing your focus from the compass to your ironsights, alternatively a person will also be able to pull out his compass in one hand while resting his rifle on his shoulder and look at the compass.

This applies to other things in the game, such as the way a character holds the flashlight and the lack of ability to use a flashlight and a pistol simultaneously, or the way characters have to disarm to drink water from bottles or canteens, you can even eat fruits one handed with no serious difficulty in real life.

I'm ok with enforcing some limitations, i.e, you pull your compass and a small animation plays shifting your perspective towards your offhand preventing you from aiming while you look at the compass but the 'forced inconvenience for the sake of immersion' needs to be cut down from 10 second transitions to 2-3 seconds.

[todd10k 87]

I'll weigh in on this thread: Using a compass is not as simple as dangling it from your vest and glancing at it. I'm going to posit that OP has never actually used a compass before. 

They're not precise instruments, you gotta open them first, then hold them horizontal, motionless, to get your reading, which takes about 2 seconds to find north. You wouldn't hang this particular type of compass off your vest because it just wouldn't work that way.

I get what you're saying to a certain degree, and yes there are differently designed compasses that are free floating, not rings etc. that work at all angles, but thats not what we're talking about here. As it stands, with the currently designed compass, hanging it off your jacket would be useless.

[ImageCtrl 719]

The animations are placeholders. They are not final.

I like the idea "no HUD".

I hope that things like holding a pistol and a flashlight, looking at compass armed etc work in the final animations.

[Bakercompany86 347]

I don't see a problem with the current implementation of the compass. Once they fix the hotkey system it will be fine.

The hotkeys suck currently as you have to press the button a few times to bring it up. And then sometimes it puts it right back away.

Otherwise the compass is fine imo.

[Atomizer 53]

The clunkiness of the compass is indeed a great example as it is demonstrates how the high concept (no hud) combined with the limitations of the platform (limited FOV, predefined sets of animations) create a thoroughly unimmersive end-result where your character runs around like a dummy holding the compass with both hands looking completely stiff in the process forcing you to make additional adjustments to your perspective using freelook just so you could glance at it.

 

I really don't understand why people have a hard time reading the compass(assuming everyone is making sure to press space), I can quickly glance at it and put it away, I don't need to adjust my view to see the compass.

Unless you mean adjusting from third person to first person to see it, in which case, why argue about realism?(Not to you specifically, just to everyone in here).