Project Reality Forums

One thing that's hard to simulate with a normal computer screen is how the human eye and senses work. In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them. If you want to check on you fellow soldiers in PR and most other games, you have to turn around completely, which takes away both your aim, situational awareness and some focus. And with the above in mind, it's sort of unrealistic. I do know about the small arrows you have right now, yes, but they're useless if you ask me.

One solution that could simulate the way human senses work is to bring back a tweaked version of the minimap that only shows your squad (no other friendly soldiers) and no terrain/map either. So it will only be good for keeping track of your squad mates. It would sort of simulate the above; the player takes a look at the "map" on the top of his screen, which can represent how a real life soldier looks over his shoulders or uses his senses to keep track of his friendlies.

It will make the life for infantry much better as they can keep formations easier and have some idea which sector their friends are covering, which will improve situational awareness as you and others don't have to take eyes and aim away from your area all the time.


Maybe not completely realistic in a way, but the function it will serve will be realistic.

Just tap caps lock and you get your map up quickly, no need for a gps window in the corner blocking your view.

nick20404 wrote:Just tap caps lock and you get your map up quickly, no need for a gps window in the corner blocking your view.

And the Caps Lock map doesn't block the ENTIRE screen then? And you can't aim or see anything with that map, and it's a real clumsy tool to serve that purpose.

they should actually bring in maps, hit a key you pull out a map instead of a digital image of the entire battlefield.

in addition you may have the entire digital map in vehicles VIA computer.

Farks wrote:One thing that's hard to simulate with a normal computer screen is how the human eye and senses work. In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them. If you want to check on you fellow soldiers in PR and most other games, you have to turn around completely, which takes away both your aim, situational awareness and some focus. And with the above in mind, it's sort of unrealistic. I do know about the small arrows you have right now, yes, but they're useless if you ask me.

One solution that could simulate the way human senses work is to bring back a tweaked version of the minimap that only shows your squad (no other friendly soldiers) and no terrain/map either. So it will only be good for keeping track of your squad mates. It would sort of simulate the above; the player takes a look at the "map" on the top of his screen, which can represent how a real life soldier looks over his shoulders or uses his senses to keep track of his friendlies.

It will make the life for infantry much better as they can keep formations easier and have some idea which sector their friends are covering, which will improve situational awareness as you and others don't have to take eyes and aim away from your area all the time.


Maybe not completely realistic in a way, but the function it will serve will be realistic.

i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

[R-DEV]IronTaxi wrote:i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

Thank you! And it doesn't have to be the old GPS map, something minimalistic should do the trick.

I must say that I disagree.

Farks wrote:In real life you can sort of keep track of people around you even if you're not directly looking at them.

It really depends on what you are referring to. If you mean peripheral vision (what you can see in 'the corner of your eye'), then this feature is unnecessary as peripheral vision is, as far as I know, already simulated with wide screen (16:9 or 16:10) monitors.

If you are referring to spatial awareness, then this feature is unnecessary to an extent, as you can keep mental tabs on what people are doing around you, regurdless of whether its in a computer game, or in real life.

Mary.au wrote:I must say that I disagree.



It really depends on what you are referring to. If you mean peripheral vision (what you can see in 'the corner of your eye'), then this feature is unnecessary as peripheral vision is, as far as I know, already simulated with wide screen (16:9 or 16:10) monitors.

If you are referring to spatial awareness, then this feature is unnecessary to an extent, as you can keep mental tabs on what people are doing around you, regurdless of whether its in a computer game, or in real life.

well, in Tournament games, yes, that's fine and dandy. I was a part of Nato II for.. most of the first practices before the first battle.. (mainly cause i lost my internet) so your squad generally stays around you

Sadly, on pubs, you have to almost babysit your squadmembers...

ALSO, you can't really tell when people are moving, where as in real life you have this almost sixth sense as to when people are moving around you.. even a change in air can tell you someone is moving...

Along with that.... IRL you don't have to move your entire body to look around... As such, moving your head IRL won't cause problems with where you aim as much as when you look around in PR, because A) You know where your body is facing compared to where you are looking and B) The focus point of your vision in PR is the focus point of where you are aiming... at all times...

So, as such, a hud that at least shows nearby squad members (similar to the nearby vehicles... only different.. maybe only within the radius of the default-size gps) would be a better way to track squad movement... at least within 60 or so meters.

=D Or at least give us similar to this...

Now I'm so used to not having it I don't really notice its absence, not sure if I need/want it back.

This suggestion, amongst others, was debated when the minimaps were first removed and it was turned down then. There's a several pages thread on it buried somewhere, must be quite old now though. I think when they were first removed I wanted the SL only to have this ability, limited to a certain radius, to keep track of formation etc.

If it were to come back I'd like it displayed at the press of a button, like the map, but no delay, disappearing when the button is no longer held down/

Awesome suggestion.

When in a formation with your squad against a wall. If you are the one looking at back you have no idea when your squad members move forward unless they say something. However if there are a lot of corners someone constantly saying move up can be annoying.

exactly... besides in real life don't they pat shoulders? Can't do that in pr.... you could... but.. again.. pushing buttons can be annoying...

This would be sweet. That way you don't have to keep caps-locking to view your squad. It's a great idea.. and is realistic when you think about it.

[R-DEV]IronTaxi wrote:i like it...

afaik the Dev community as a whole wants to avoid adding anything to the HUD area. But this is a pretty useful funtion and would increase squad awareness for sure.. could be very useful..

If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy and Zoomed all the way in all of the time. This would acheive basicly the same purpose, and more importantly would make it "Toggleable" for those of us who do not wish to have the additional clutter on the HUD.

Dev1200 wrote:This would be sweet. That way you don't have to keep caps-locking to view your squad. It's a great idea.. and is realistic when you think about it.

well, if you put it at a certain distance, it would replace A) That FEELING that people are moving around you...

and B) Shoulder Pats

=) per squad only...

No other icons.. only you and up to 5 other squad members..

it wouldn't even tell you which one was the leader..

nor would dead squad members show up..

=D It's my reduced form of the S.O.P. system...

(MGS fans would know)

llPANCHOll wrote:If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy

Nobody would be able to see it

llPANCHOll wrote:If the minimap is coming back, how about just bringing back the "M" map and set it at 100% Transperancy and Zoomed all the way in all of the time. This would acheive basicly the same purpose, and more importantly would make it "Toggleable" for those of us who do not wish to have the additional clutter on the HUD.

=BTB= LoftyB wrote:Nobody would be able to see it

On the contrary, the Transperency setting only effects the background, not the player dots. Or the map grid when zoomed all the way out for that matter.

LithiumFox wrote:ALSO, you can't really tell when people are moving, where as in real life you have this almost sixth sense as to when people are moving around you.. even a change in air can tell you someone is moving...

That's essentially spatial awareness, for those unsure/have no idea.

Mary.au wrote:That's essentially spatial awareness, for those unsure/have no idea.

sadly i feel a lack of it...

I mean, there are those arrows on our screen that move around in a big circle in front of your gun... but..

I'd at least like a basic idea... maybe like the picture i posted... no map or anything.. jsut a general idea... so you can tell if they are moving or not or something...

oh wow this is one of the best ideas ive heard in a while.

i can think of a million times i could have really used something like this. the op is right, its very hard to get the same amount of situational awareness in a game as you can in real life. i dont view this addition as being unrealistic because its basically taking the place of something you would easily be able to do in real life but cant in a game.

As long as it only can be used to show your own squad, and maybe a vehicle (as you can tell the direction of sound, but it is harder withour surround sound) in a relatively small radius.