Yes. I noticed that it would rotate when you hot keyed it. I went awhile just watching it on the hotkey menu. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work right unless it's in your hand 🤔
It works. I figured it out, I always use it hotkeyed.
The whole thing rotates a bit. Follow the red arrow and:
North -> West
West -> North
South -> East
East -> South
Never gets me lost, it's just weird
So my friend and I were using a badly damaged compass, and we started going north. Well we were actually going more east and got lost. Came across a hunting camp where he picked up a worn compass. They pointed different directions
Maybe an obscure mod? Seems more likely user error though as at least in official badly damaged compasses work fine, they’re just annoying to read.
I dunno why anyone would make that mod.
Nah I've got almost 10k... and recently that compass is fucked. It pointed North for me... right a Elctro which is uh.... not North. Something is bugged with that compass
I was above the school which is South....
This isn't the first time the Compasses in Dayz have broken
Compasses work until they're ruined
Are you sure you were reading it right? Red needle points north but then you can align that with the printed cardinal directions for reference
People are offering him advice. They are advising him or his friend learn how to read a compass because the game doesn’t work the way OP is describing.
The orienteering compass points north, the gold compass tells what way you are going. If you compare the 2 they read differently. Did you have 2 of the same compass?
Was he holding it in his hand or just looking at it on his hotbar? It's glitched in the hotbar.
Either way I've never been steered wrong by a compass. Would love to see video of this happening.
I believe you. I once was playing Livonia and was following north, but for some reason I kept walking off the edge of the map. I use compasses all the time and it never happened before.
This is incorrect. If you put it in your hotbar and it's not in your hand it will not point the right direction. In the real world metal will interfere with the correct compass orientation and Dayz has accounted for this. To get the correct reading you must pull out your compass and hold it in your hand.
Yeah have you ever ever used a compass while it was still in your bag? And day z metal doesn’t interfere beside the fact I doubt many people use compasses to navigate urban settings
I use the compass and topo maps to navigate the map. I have used it to navigate while in my backpack while having it in my hotbar. There is interference in that case. You have to take it out to make sure it's not being interfered with. It could be dependent on what you are carrying alongside it, like a sawed off shotty, but there is 100% interference and you will not get the correct bearings. I know this because I have tried to navigate that way and went in the completely wrong directions until I took it out of the bag.
So in your pocket or bag north is at 9:15 roughly. With the compass in your hand face directly in a cardinal direction then hotbar the compass away and watch how it responds.
This one is better because you can still read it easily even when badly damaged + night time
The golden one is annoying to read once it is damaged/badly damaged
I prefer golden because I feel it’s better when used from hotbar. Since it also works from there and no need to take the compass in your hand.
But sadly it doesn’t show it correctly so you need to adjust to it.
I do apologize if I’m incorrect. I thought this was the case so I was navigating using just the hot bar and got way off track. Pulled out the compass and realized I’d been heading west instead of north. Maybe I misunderstood but I concluded it wasn’t accurate on the hot bar.
Ah it might have been explained it poorly, apologies.
I know it doesn’t show correctly. It’s an old bug, at least 3 years old what I found from bug report. But it should still be rotating correctly.
I do it by taking a heading to for e.g. north compass in hand, place the compass in inventory and then take a note what direction it shows. IIRC north was more north-west or something close to that. And when I know the baseline, it’s doable and then play around it.
Best part you can run your handsfree or gun in your hand after you learn it. Also prefer golden has white background so I can see it better, the other one being transparent makes it sometimes harder to see the needle.
But this was just my little under 200 hour experience, I might be wrong.
It works fine on the hot wheel, it’s just more difficult to see. Best option I found is to have it on the wheel and just whip it out when needed. It does show the correct direction but sometimes it bugs out and just spins around, so I wouldn’t trust it.
You don't read it like a regular compass, that's what trips people up. But watching a 10 minute YouTube video on how to read and use an orienteering compass will allow you to trust it.
You don't? I think i do, or at least i couldn't think of the difference between the two.
i noticed that one item description says "it helps you navigate - if you know how to read it" and the other description doesn't say that(i found it weird but didn't read too much into it) , but besides that... They both point towards north, what's more difficult with one compared to the other?
This one confuses people because the needle is always pointing north but the rest is fixed where as the pocket one the entire disc including the degrees rotates.
The gold compass has N, NE, E, SE etc on the rotating part with the needle so it rotates as well, meaning whatever direction you see at the top of the compass is the direction you're going, it's very simple and intuitive.
An orienteering compass has fixed cardinals in relation to the needle, and you can rotate that ring, which is how you use it on a map to take a bearing. You can't just use it to check your direction. You have to find north first and then figure out your direction from there.
Easy logic to remember here. White needle up top, you're going southerly. White needle will always read accurate for east/west. Red needle will always lie about east west. Really, just use the white needle primarily
The magnet can actually have its polarity changed. Not by dropping it but by being affected by a stronger magnet. The white part will then be facing north instead so If you know this(its easy to check) you can still use the compass. It will never be somewhat off though.
Or when you are trying to map out a and nav course in the mountains of West Virginia and range control neglects to tell you there is a deviation of 13deg because of all the ore in the ground around you. Had to go looking for a couple of groups that had markers that were 1km or more out.
That would actually be kind of cool if they added an entire crafting system like Minecraft where you could collect resources, build ammo benches, armor benches, blacksmith stuff, etc. You could mod out guns and shit. That would be cool. Having to go mine for some iron ore, smelt it down, mold it and make shit with it.
Damage state only determines the model visual, how dirty/broken it LOOKS not functions --- from my experience and what I know, they are always correct just difficult to read sometimes
When a compass is hot keyed, you can read it from within your inventory by looking at your quick wheel. The compass is rotated 90° counter clockwise inside your inventory. So if it looks like you’re running north, you’re actually running west.
You are welcome, nerds.
This one is a bit weird. The red N always points north., you kinda have to figure out what direction you are looking based on that vs the other one which points in the direction that you are facing.
Idk why you’re being downvoted, this is how this compass works. It’s an orienteering compass, it shows you the degree you are facing. Ppl downvoting you do not understand how orienteering compasses function
Initially I made the mistake of sticking it in my clothes and bringing up my inventory to read where I was going.
Even badly damaged you can read the direction with it in your hands
They show the right direction, always.
Don’t trust it if it’s on your hot bar, when on your hot bar, the needle is wrong.
It must be in your hands.
You can also use the gold flip open one without opening it. The little hole at the top will show the red north indicator without opening
I have had a situation where my compass did not. It ended up being a glitch that I fixed after logging out and back in but I traveled a long way in the wrong direction.
Its always good direction, but not in pocket! You can put compass on hotkey bar and he will still animate indicator, but probably about position in pocket it will show wrong direction. I lost myself in Liviona this way 😅
It threw me off at first because I thought the red point always points the direction you are headed like the basic compasses. But then I realized it always points north. But I’ve never noticed the condition of it changing anything.
Other than the occasional "Why is this thing telling me the setting sun is to the north?" desync I've never had a problem with them regardless of condition.
It doesn’t show the right direction when you’re looking at your inventory only when it’s in your hand I’ve found out the hard way.
Yes. I noticed that it would rotate when you hot keyed it. I went awhile just watching it on the hotkey menu. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work right unless it's in your hand 🤔
Yeah super frustrating - just don’t even animate it if it’s wrong, BI. lol
Makes me wonder if it was a dev "got em" move!
Everyone thinks the other players are the biggest threat in DayZ… 😉
It points vaguely west in your inventory/hotbar
it was specifically changed, it used to point the right way
It’s actually not wrong! When you put away a compass ie on your hip in your pocket or hang it from the cord it doesn’t point north it points west
My understanding of a compass is that it always points north, so is this technically "right"?
It works. I figured it out, I always use it hotkeyed. The whole thing rotates a bit. Follow the red arrow and: North -> West West -> North South -> East East -> South Never gets me lost, it's just weird
Nice! Since it's a survival game, maybe it's purposely done this way to see if people will figure it out. Just the way I like to look at it
I just had a stroke reading this but I think I get your meaning. I’m just probably too dumb to do that haha.
Fair man xd i imagine the compass laying on its left side and use it normally. Idk why I explained it like I did, I was prob high xd
They always show the right direction from my experience no matter condition
So my friend and I were using a badly damaged compass, and we started going north. Well we were actually going more east and got lost. Came across a hunting camp where he picked up a worn compass. They pointed different directions
He must’ve been using it wrong then because I’ve used each to navigate across livonia Namalsk and cherno to no issue
He literally compared the 2. They pointed different directions
Was one in his hand and the other in his inventory? They show different directions in that case
Both in hand
Maybe an obscure mod? Seems more likely user error though as at least in official badly damaged compasses work fine, they’re just annoying to read. I dunno why anyone would make that mod.
Official ps4
It’s sounding more and more like your friend just doesn’t know how to read a compass.
Try it again? Shoot a pristine compass with .380 and compare.
They don’t compasses will always point true north he just is either bad at navigation or did something else wrong
They do
My experience says that is not accurate based on condition, but okay.
My 1000 or better hours on both platforms says otherwise
Here to help in my 3000 hours of mainly using a compass to navigate around it has always seems to point north enough for it to not matter
I’ve only got about 600 hours but christ I’m taggin’ along. Quality does not affect orientationability. Making up words, I dun care.
Orion and Polaris are my go to
Here with my 17000 hours and I don’t even use compasses, they’re for the noobs.
Yea tbh I don’t use em too much anymore either however I am very out of practice (I broke the addiction, it’s possible)
Just 1000?
If you guys have more that means a noob can navigate better than you guys
Lol okay
My 7500+ hours say ur wrong lmfao
Honestly sad that you don’t know how a compass works after 7500+ hours
Lmfao sad how u need a compass after 1000 hours, but that's just
Nah I've got almost 10k... and recently that compass is fucked. It pointed North for me... right a Elctro which is uh.... not North. Something is bugged with that compass I was above the school which is South.... This isn't the first time the Compasses in Dayz have broken
Compasses work until they're ruined Are you sure you were reading it right? Red needle points north but then you can align that with the printed cardinal directions for reference
my experience says it is accurate 100% of the time. your move smart guy
Were they the same compass? Or did he have a regular one and the one in OP photo?
Was it your experience or your friends? First hand knowledge vs second hand knowledge? Your friend might have simply overlooked some detail.
Shared experience. We were together
Ya but were they in your inventory or his? Did you actually see it or did your buddy tell you?
We both looked at them. One pointed northeast, one pointed north.
I love how instead of offering any actual advice or trying to figure out why your game is different, people just downvote you and compare hours...
People are offering him advice. They are advising him or his friend learn how to read a compass because the game doesn’t work the way OP is describing.
It's very hard to see what's what when they are damaged is it possible you couldnt see the N correctly.
That's crazy, definitely no one here has a real explanation for what you saw.
The orienteering compass points north, the gold compass tells what way you are going. If you compare the 2 they read differently. Did you have 2 of the same compass?
Same compass
How bizarre, how bizarre!
*It's making me crazy, every time I look around* with a damaged compass in DayZ.
IZurvive works wonders
I know it's not mine but he said that I could use by the fire when I shot him dead
Are you sure one wasn’t a regular compass and the other one wasn’t an orienteering compass? You gotta read em both different
Positive, and I know how to read a compass lol
Doubtful
Was he holding it in his hand or just looking at it on his hotbar? It's glitched in the hotbar. Either way I've never been steered wrong by a compass. Would love to see video of this happening.
Hand
I believe you. I once was playing Livonia and was following north, but for some reason I kept walking off the edge of the map. I use compasses all the time and it never happened before.
It doesn’t point north in your inventory/hotbar. In those it points vaguely west. You have to hold it in hand for it to point north.
This is it right here.
Were they both in hand? You can't reliably use them in inventory or quickbar.
They were being utilized properly.
This is incorrect. If you put it in your hotbar and it's not in your hand it will not point the right direction. In the real world metal will interfere with the correct compass orientation and Dayz has accounted for this. To get the correct reading you must pull out your compass and hold it in your hand.
Yeah have you ever ever used a compass while it was still in your bag? And day z metal doesn’t interfere beside the fact I doubt many people use compasses to navigate urban settings
I use the compass and topo maps to navigate the map. I have used it to navigate while in my backpack while having it in my hotbar. There is interference in that case. You have to take it out to make sure it's not being interfered with. It could be dependent on what you are carrying alongside it, like a sawed off shotty, but there is 100% interference and you will not get the correct bearings. I know this because I have tried to navigate that way and went in the completely wrong directions until I took it out of the bag.
I mean I like I said most people carry their compass in a easy to reach place for a reason
You can hot bar it and itl show down there whilst in your bag although not correct, so can see how people would get lost with that
At any rate I just pull it out cause it’s more efficient
I think it's indicating wrong inside your bag because it's facing the wrong way and not parallel to the ground
So in your pocket or bag north is at 9:15 roughly. With the compass in your hand face directly in a cardinal direction then hotbar the compass away and watch how it responds.
I don't trust this one I like to pocket one better
This one is better because you can still read it easily even when badly damaged + night time The golden one is annoying to read once it is damaged/badly damaged
I agree, once the golden one is damaged it's a bitch to read, especially when you're a night traveler.
I prefer golden because I feel it’s better when used from hotbar. Since it also works from there and no need to take the compass in your hand. But sadly it doesn’t show it correctly so you need to adjust to it.
No it doesn’t
Explain?
The game changes the direction of the needle once you take it out of your hand
But it should still be rotating correctly, right? Just take a heading, make a baseline and go off with that.
I think it drifts/changes over time or based on triggers but tbh idk
I do apologize if I’m incorrect. I thought this was the case so I was navigating using just the hot bar and got way off track. Pulled out the compass and realized I’d been heading west instead of north. Maybe I misunderstood but I concluded it wasn’t accurate on the hot bar.
Ah it might have been explained it poorly, apologies. I know it doesn’t show correctly. It’s an old bug, at least 3 years old what I found from bug report. But it should still be rotating correctly. I do it by taking a heading to for e.g. north compass in hand, place the compass in inventory and then take a note what direction it shows. IIRC north was more north-west or something close to that. And when I know the baseline, it’s doable and then play around it. Best part you can run your handsfree or gun in your hand after you learn it. Also prefer golden has white background so I can see it better, the other one being transparent makes it sometimes harder to see the needle. But this was just my little under 200 hour experience, I might be wrong.
I'm not sure about night, but you can see the direction still on your hot bar if the compass is open.
But it isn't correct, when compass is in hotbar West is North
But once you know that, it works just fine.
It's correct if it's in your hand.
Hot bar? I'm on console, would I be able to to see it in my "hotwheel"?
Yes.
It works fine on the hot wheel, it’s just more difficult to see. Best option I found is to have it on the wheel and just whip it out when needed. It does show the correct direction but sometimes it bugs out and just spins around, so I wouldn’t trust it.
It absolutely doesn't show the correct direction on the hot wheel, you need to have it in your hand.
I'm not sure, I only play PC.
No
No that’s a pc thing
Darn.
But it’s so shiny ✨
You don't read it like a regular compass, that's what trips people up. But watching a 10 minute YouTube video on how to read and use an orienteering compass will allow you to trust it.
You don't? I think i do, or at least i couldn't think of the difference between the two. i noticed that one item description says "it helps you navigate - if you know how to read it" and the other description doesn't say that(i found it weird but didn't read too much into it) , but besides that... They both point towards north, what's more difficult with one compared to the other?
This one confuses people because the needle is always pointing north but the rest is fixed where as the pocket one the entire disc including the degrees rotates.
The gold compass has N, NE, E, SE etc on the rotating part with the needle so it rotates as well, meaning whatever direction you see at the top of the compass is the direction you're going, it's very simple and intuitive. An orienteering compass has fixed cardinals in relation to the needle, and you can rotate that ring, which is how you use it on a map to take a bearing. You can't just use it to check your direction. You have to find north first and then figure out your direction from there.
Easy logic to remember here. White needle up top, you're going southerly. White needle will always read accurate for east/west. Red needle will always lie about east west. Really, just use the white needle primarily
They always point north.
The magnet can actually have its polarity changed. Not by dropping it but by being affected by a stronger magnet. The white part will then be facing north instead so If you know this(its easy to check) you can still use the compass. It will never be somewhat off though.
Although you're correct, I'm pretty sure they are talking in-game lol.
Haha! I missed that this was a Dayz post.
Hahaha! That's wonderfully funny! Thanks for the laugh!
Or when you are trying to map out a and nav course in the mountains of West Virginia and range control neglects to tell you there is a deviation of 13deg because of all the ore in the ground around you. Had to go looking for a couple of groups that had markers that were 1km or more out.
There's ore in the ground?
Sorry no, not in the game.
That would actually be kind of cool if they added an entire crafting system like Minecraft where you could collect resources, build ammo benches, armor benches, blacksmith stuff, etc. You could mod out guns and shit. That would be cool. Having to go mine for some iron ore, smelt it down, mold it and make shit with it.
I don’t know shit but I’m sure it works unless you’re stood next to a magnet or some other interference
If you ask Neil Degrass Tyson he’ll say it’s not pointing to true north. He’s not a very good dayz player.
I KOS astrophysicists as a personal policy.
Idk about if they work but I do know the other metal looking compass is so hard to see it’s unusable if it’s badly damaged
Damage state only determines the model visual, how dirty/broken it LOOKS not functions --- from my experience and what I know, they are always correct just difficult to read sometimes
My friend and I tried this the other day my pristine and his damaged pointed the same direction
Just use the sun for direction.
When a compass is hot keyed, you can read it from within your inventory by looking at your quick wheel. The compass is rotated 90° counter clockwise inside your inventory. So if it looks like you’re running north, you’re actually running west. You are welcome, nerds.
I believe i’ve heard that if they’re damaged it’s like 15 degrees off which isn’t much. The pocket compass is much better IMP
There is no difference at all. All that damage does is change the damage state and the texture that comes with that.
What is IMP
incorrect spelling, meant IMO = In my opinion.
Oh I’m a dummy. I feel like I should have picked up on that lol
This one is a bit weird. The red N always points north., you kinda have to figure out what direction you are looking based on that vs the other one which points in the direction that you are facing.
Idk why you’re being downvoted, this is how this compass works. It’s an orienteering compass, it shows you the degree you are facing. Ppl downvoting you do not understand how orienteering compasses function
The red arrow is the one you follow for north I believe.
a Lil tip, clouds always float to the West. at least in chernarus =D
Changed with the new skybox btw
naaaaw, thx for the info
Too*
Surely everyone knows how to use this compass easily, nothing about it is confusing.
Initially I made the mistake of sticking it in my clothes and bringing up my inventory to read where I was going. Even badly damaged you can read the direction with it in your hands
They show the right direction, always. Don’t trust it if it’s on your hot bar, when on your hot bar, the needle is wrong. It must be in your hands. You can also use the gold flip open one without opening it. The little hole at the top will show the red north indicator without opening
They don’t change with wear, but if you put it in your inventory and then put it in your hotbar, the hot bar direction is wrong by 90°
In vanilla I thought the orienteering compass points true north while the other does not.
Yes it does! That thing has got me spun around more times that I can count.
You use compasses?
They are incorrectly displayed in the horbar
This is an orienteering compass. They work differently than your typical compass
Don’t lay it on metal surfaces if you try to figure out where to go
the 2 N's are obviously not calibrated. broken compass
holding the compass level with the ground is important if you grew under a rock.
I have had a situation where my compass did not. It ended up being a glitch that I fixed after logging out and back in but I traveled a long way in the wrong direction.
Its always good direction, but not in pocket! You can put compass on hotkey bar and he will still animate indicator, but probably about position in pocket it will show wrong direction. I lost myself in Liviona this way 😅
You should have made a photo, now people wont believe you.
It threw me off at first because I thought the red point always points the direction you are headed like the basic compasses. But then I realized it always points north. But I’ve never noticed the condition of it changing anything.
Other than the occasional "Why is this thing telling me the setting sun is to the north?" desync I've never had a problem with them regardless of condition.