Is it just me? Weird direction loops?

[eno 1049]

Very briefly, I can run in almost a straight line and somehow go in a circle... particularly through the trees- It's downright disorientating.  I put my compass up and it shows me going the reverse of the direction I started. It's happened twice to me now in the last couple days...

 

Anyone else have this happen? 

[sachad 1016]

The map doesn't morph. If you're going in circles, then obviously you weren't going straight :P

[eno 1049]

Well- suppose it just goes to show how easy it is to get turned around. What gets to me, however, is I can confirm I'm on the north end of the runway at the NWAF- looking north (away from the runway) and it shows me going south. How can you ensure your compass is working? I find it almost impossible to believe that I can do a 180 "by accident." 

 

I get what you're saying too... I'm a noob after all and we are in the trees- it's just odd that TWO of us in a group would get turned around in such a way as to get back to where we started without the landmarks being on the opposite side. Kind of a fun challenge- but very strange all the same. 

[nuggit 246]

Don't worry too much ENO75, I have not used the compass in awhile, but a badly damaged or ruined compass will give inaccurate results compared to a pristine or worn compass. I also heard compasses were broken awhile ago, not sure if that is still the case, if someone can confirm here?

 

Navigation in dayz takes a little while to get used to, even with a working compass. My first 3 hours playing, was trying to move away from Kamenka,  Not wanting to run along the South coast I decided to head inland.

 

After 2 hours trying to run inland, I came across a little town upon the coast. It looked familiar...  it was the town I had left from 2 hours earlier  :blush:

[o5pr3y (DayZ) 77]

Don't worry man, it's actually normal to walk in circles when you're in unfamiliar territory or in the wilderness.
It's easier to stay straight when following a sidewalk or trail because it's something to guide us. 
The study below even mentions that simply having the sun out can help gives us direction when walking.

 

http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/08/why-we-walk-circles

Edited December 27, 2014 by o5pr3y

[eno 1049]

^ Good points above. Thank you.

[McWendy 675]

Compasses are buggy sometimes. (This is known by the devs and they are looking into it.

Poles can be switched 180 even when pristine.

Logging in and out usually fixes the problem.

[Millenbauer 10]

Well, i know for a fact that the compass isnt working at the moment, even if its pristine it shows the wrong direction. An easy way to loose your direction is if you press Alt to look around then release it your character takes a slightly different direction.

 

Best way to keep a straight line is that you try and find a solid point in the horizon, a building, tower, mountain or something in the distance in the direction you want to go and keep going until you get there, once there you find a new spot to follow etc.

[Yano (DayZ) 102]

Use your terrain markers, ie hills , valleys , mountains , rocks , buildings  , the ocean can only be on your south  and east, and stars seem to hold a fairly consistent pattern for night guidance when you can see them  ,,, humans naturally walk in circles , happens all the time to hikers and campers that think they know a piece of woods. Nothings morphing lol

[eno 1049]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad that I'm not the only one with the compass issue... We do pretty well but as servers get busier we tend to stay away from towns / cities unless we need something. We do pretty frequent bearing checks from confirmed positions- and knowing about the compass acting up we'll generally confirm our direction using the landmarks and the compass. Once the known landmark is in an opposite direction from where the compass is saying it should be (ie: 180 degrees)- from now on we'll just restart and hope that fixes it- unless we got turned around again somehow. Oiveh! 

[alferret 45]

 humans naturally walk in circles , happens all the time to hikers and campers that think they know a piece of woods.

 

Left handed people anti-clockwise right handed clockwise.

[solodude23 649]

Compasses are bugged sometimes. One time I was able to fix it by placing it on the ground and picking it back up - otherwise a re-log usually does the trick.

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

I've observed that even a pristine compass can be buggy if carried in a ruined container (clothing, pants or pack).  Try dropping the compass on the ground and then picking it up and dragging/dropping directly into a pristine/worn clothing.

[Knifeguy 17]

The interesting thing is this demonstrates how easy it is to get turned around IRL.  A little shift in direction to make the uphill easier, a subconscious tweak here to follow a particular line, and then before you know it you're going in completely the wrong direction.  Landmarks and references are the best way to keep track.  If you are new then it'll take a little time to find the recognizable points, but one you do you'll likely be able to figure out where you are.

[eno 1049]

Glad guys are still weighing in here.

 

I agree that as I start getting more comfortable with various aspects of the game that naturally cuing on landmarks is getting easier. When looting, I'd get all turned around if I went into a house one way and then out on another side... I'd end up turning around and re-looting the house I'd just left since I didn't recognize it in the middle of all other houses. Now I'm starting to be able to recognize house types... where there are fake entrances... where they sit in relation to the direction I'm headed... where are the powerlines... which feature is on which side of my direction of travel when I go into the house so that I can find it after I leave on whichever side and resume. 

 

One thing I am still struggling with is estimating distances that I cover. Has anyone ever established what speed you're travelling when you walk, jog, run? Figure if I knew about how far I was supposed to be going and then how fast I was going to be going there- I might be able to figure out that if I'd been running for 5 minutes and still hadn't found my destination that I could stop and regroup. 

[Knifeguy 17]

I think I can run from the NW airfield to Novo in about 20-25 minutes. That's about 4.5 miles.  It seems like we can run roughly 5 minute miles in DayZ.  That's not factoring in hills and stopping to make sure I'm going the right way.

[Beizs 186]

Assuming you're picking one direction and sticking to it, not touching the mouse at all in this time, it could be the fact that as you toggle in and out of look mode it changes your direction a little bit. Maybe if you're doing this a lot it's slowly turning you, making you go in a circle.

 

If you're not going in one direction and never adjusting it, then it's human nature to end up walking in a circle. You adjust it slightly for whatever reason (I often find myself doing this, thinking, for no reason at all, that I'm not actually going in the direction I want to). You may make only tiny adjustments, but, over a time, it adds up.

 

Compound the two together and you get circles. :P

 

It's a good idea to pick a spot far off in the distance and run directly toward it. Keep your eyes on it for as long as you can, though this can be an issue when you're going through forests. Once you reach it, choose a new one and head on out.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Beizs

[eno 1049]

I think what's really getting to me is when I am in the woods- and I mistakenly switch from free view over to normal view and turn when I don't mean to... then check my compass to get back in line and I suffer the compass bug. Like I mentioned over in "How was your DayZ" thread- I had 3 different headings with 3 tries. Very frustrating. At one point while lost I came to a T intersection... but two of the three towns weren't on the map with stylized script- Trying to use the compass was futile... but I saw a castle on the horizon- which one? The lone tower? Devils? Not sure from that distance since it was only an outline. 

 

If you can imagine this- SOMEHOW I ended up on a mountain abreast of the AIRSTRIP- to the east... heading to the NWAF from Severograd AFTER running past the castle! How on earth did I get that badly turned around? I don't know... but I was.

 

I have tried to "line walk" to various destinations- finding some of the high tension power lines on the map and taking them until I see another landmark and break off trying to stick to objects that will get me where I'm going without being right on top of them. This is since if I'm using these landmarks / roads / power lines etc then undoubtedly other people may be too. So I step away a wee bit farther and that's when I get lost lol. I'll be walking and at some point I'll check the compass and it'll have flipped on me. In the transition I'll get turned around and not know which way I came from. 

 

On the plus side I've started to use the sun as a reference to counter the 180 flip of the compass... with that said I'm pretty sure it pulled 90 degree turn on me last night as mentioned earlier.

 

All of the information above from you guys has been VERY helpful and I am learning more about it all the time. What I also liked was the guy who wrote the STALKERS guide mentioned that you get to know a certain area really, really well and just stick to it. Start learning how to reference landmarks and direction- and developing a natural ability to know that if you see this building and that road is on a certain side of it- you just know your location on a map. 

Edited January 4, 2015 by ENO75