Hi fellas,
I've just started playing in SM and I'm very pleased to have the mode but without a minimap I'm forced to have icons visible in the world just to be able to get where I'm going. I don't like them because they put other icons besides nav and objective icons on as well. But without them I have no idea what direction I'm facing. I can check the map to orient myself but after a minute I'm wildly off course.
So what do you guys do?
I know it seems obvious but always try to have a local visual target up ahead to aim for one that is always being updated.
Do not walk a long time without checking the map - check the map lots.
Do not trust your own judgement of direction too much, especially after a fight or when having to veer around some obstacle such as around an incline. I have a bad sense of direction so know it is very easy to get turned around and think you are still going the right way.
It can help to use paths on occasion - such as they are in Primal - even more so I find following a river if it is going in your general direction. Rivers to me are some of the best environmental waymarkers.
In survivor I have succumbed to using more HUD at the moment but when I did not I often let my feet carry me along doing just what I happen upon, but I know there are times that can be dangerous also sometimes you have places to go.
Anyway good luck - sorry not much - but I hope it helps a little.
Hey Mate,
So like vic, I use rivers as a pretty invaluable navigational tool. For example, when I had to track down Wogah, I looked at the map while I was in the village and noticed that he was at the end of one river where it meets another. I was able to follow the river the entire way without checking the map.
Since I never use fast travel, getting back to the village or just going somewhere more generally, I use visual landmarks. The most obvious and easy to see is, of course, the glacier and the three pillars: your village is in the exact opposite direction of the pillars.
Orienting myself via the pillars has been quite effective. Once you've got that figured out, you can also use the sun as it always rises in the east and sets in the west (west being the top left hand corner of the map)
Of course, when you have specific locations you need to get to, check the map at the beginning of your journey. Study the topography of the area you're heading to: Is it elevated, flatlands, etc.? Familiarise yourself with major locations and their relation to one another. Using the above method of the pillar and the sun, it is much easier to find your way without constantly opening the map.
Do it right and I think you'll only ever need to open the map at the start of your journey to know where you're heading - plus it makes you feel like a bad-arse wild-man.
EDIT: to be clear, the map is confusing for orientation because if the sun is taken as a compass, then the top of map is not directly North - the top right hand corner is in fact due North
Check map often, as others have said, because in an unfamiliar area it is easy to get turned around. When I first started out in the game I had to check the map quite a bit too because even the minimap didn't show enough. Now that I have explored quite a bit of the game area some locations I go by memory. Back then I would imagine they would have put a mark on a tree trunk, rock, ect. as a trail marker.
"Back then I would imagine they would have put a mark on a tree trunk, rock, ect. as a trail marker." [Thorbert910]
It would be amazing if primitive signage existed in game with marks or totums you could learn to identify sort of Wenja Udam and Izila trade route and warning signs. I recall watching a sword and bow movie that had environmental Tiger Signs in it warning people they had entered a known Tigers roam for example.
Crudely crafted objects in the game world hung from trees or such for example would be so much better than a map icon imo.
The more I think about this idea the better it seems to me. Such signs something else to look out for in the environment. I am all for less graphic aids and more simulated engaging real game world stuff going on.
Like most who have replied, I navigate using landmarks and the actual in-game map.
So for example, you want to get to the Udam Fort, but you're starting in your cave facing East. Check your map, and see that you'll have to move out of your cave and travel North-East to get there. Then use mountains and topographical information to see where you should go and which passes you should seek out. Every now and then, check your map to see that you're in the right direction and then turn objectives to Smart mode; that way when you get close they'll pop up and you can walk towards them.
Hope this helps, safe encounters!
I do feel like even the past modern games had a bit more landmarks that made it easier (not that I ever played without mini-map before mind you) but they had the freedom to have them man made in those iterations. Still, I feel like as they didn't actually conform to actual geography, they could've made more landmarks in game visible from many locations, that way navigation could've been made more intuitive without much use of full or mini-maps...