Minimap - Needs a serious overhaul & bug fix

[Canaris]

Not sure if it's just me but I'm getting a bit fed up with the cluttered and not very helpful minimap.
I'm sure there is lots of other game systems that need some TLC but the minimap to my mind is an integral part of a PS soldier life. It can mean the difference between life, death, victory and defeat and from such a small tool.

So what's wrong with the minimap

Clutter

Given the map resolution vs size of icons on it when in bases or large groups of people/vehicles you can just see a mess, where colours and icons run into each others so attempting to discern the battlefield unfolding around you is impossible.
Maybe some options to be able to turn off some of the icons you don't need might help but over all a combinations of changes is needed.


No auto Zoom in & Out

When you get to bases and into buildings the minimap doesn't auto zoom in so you can get a better picture of the building/buildings layout, which in turn feeds the whole clutter mess.
I feel their should be a standard 3 levels of zoom
Outdoors: Big wide open spaces should be the most zoomed out

Base Courtyards: this is the medium zoom area

Inside buildings: this is the most zoomed in.

However there should be options like the brackets keys [ & ] that you can press to change zoom mode easily.
(I know veterans sounds familiar)

Phantoms: Big bug with the minimap is the amount of phantom enemy you always see on it. They range from infantry to vehicles and aircraft.
Game needs to filter these out better. (unless it's a infils decoy but 99% aren't)

Enemies are in our platoon: A recent bug that's cropped up is enemy vehicles and planes have started being seen as friends, when they are decidedly unfriendly

Big Minimap: When you press H you get a wonderful larger minimap that's helpful but unfortunately you loose that very nice feature above it
What location am I in & What's the faction influence.
Should be when we press H we still get that wonderful larger minimap but with the addition of also seeing where the heck you are and who owns what scaled to size next to it.

I'm sure I've forgotten something else I was to add but it's to early still and I want MOAR caffine
Please add anything you think could benefit the minimap or if you up for a tussle some well thought out counters heh

[WUNDERBAR]

Totally agreed. The current minimap is a giant mess. When I'm at a Biolab/ Tech Plant/ Amp Station or any other "bigger" facility or when there's a zerg nearby, I sometimes don't even bother to look at it, since it turns out to be rather confusing or say way too time consuming to figure things out in between that giant steaming pile of icons. Also since GU2, firing unsuppressed weapons doens't seem to reveal people on the minimap anymore. Not sure if its a bug or intended.

From an FPS standpoint, the minimap design fails big time. The whole point of a minimap is to provide the key information fast and straightforward. The simplest fix would be, like suggested in the op, to add auto zoom or a zoom slider to the minimap. Though still, that's more of a band-aid than a long term solution.

I'm not 100% sure about this but i believe that it's possible to change minimap zoom level via the useroptions.ini file. Haven't tried it yet since I don't know if players are allowed to do that and thus perhaps result in a ban.

[ShadetheDruid]

Originally Posted by WUNDERBAR

Also since GU2, firing unsuppressed weapons doens't seem to reveal people on the minimap anymore. Not sure if its a bug or intended.

I've hunted plenty of people down based on their minimap dot when they're firing (snipers especially), so it does work. Whether it does all the time, I don't know though. Plus you have to work out whether it's a minimap glitch or an actual person sometimes too.

[yozzer]

100% agree with this thread, and another annoying phantom is the Generators at Amp stations showing up as destroyed only to get there and find them ok.
And on a side note, can anyone else see the Generator icon flashing about 5 secons before the announcement is made that it has been attacked? Not really complaining about this one as it gives me a head start and sometimes can catch the perpitrator leaving the location

[Cee]

Agree 100% with the OP. Minimap is just a clusterfuck of icons/dots in bases.

It's made all the more annoying because when we press alt we have a mouse pointer, imagine all the wonderful things we could do with it..!

Mouse over mini map - mouse wheel zooms in or out - map corner can be dragged - right click on minimap and add or remove items also tooltip when over icons.
The map should not cover vital information when in large mode!
The only thing SOE got right with the minimap is allowing me to fix it to nesw, now let me use it!
Go play an mmo for an hour and come back and tell us your minimap isn't shit!

[Babyfark McGeez]

They also should update their map-pic-file when they change the map. It's still wrong for some areas.

Aside from that, agreeing with the OP. Unclutter that map, and please, implement an actual USEFUL indicator for your own direction. Would be time, after like one year...

[Takoita]

There is also that new bug with unit colors: friendly ones sometimes show up as solid white and enemy ones sometimes show up in platoon colors. When it is a faction-specific vehicle, it is still identifiable thanks to unque icons, but when that golden lib above you turns out to be an enemy, it is not so funny anymore.

The new zoomed-out minimap cover more ground now - that helps in the field, but another zoom level for indoor fighting is sorely needed.

[Fishy]

Also, the platoon member numbers are represented in a colored circle which
(a) takes too much real-estate in an already-cluttered mini map
(b) can be obscured by other objects on the mini map (another squad member for example)

The platoon member numbers should be just a number without the circle, and should be modal (meaning, overlay everything else in the mini map).

[Hamma]

Definitely needs the auto zoom levels!

[Belhade]

I got into a friendly firefight and ended up with a TK last night, because I was alone in a base (or so I thought) and got shot at. Killed the guy only to find it was a teammate, because I couldn't see the friendly player marker on my mini. Zooming in would have prevented this (and the teammate from firing on me in the first place, I suspect).

[MrBloodworth]

For me, the largest annoyance is Eng ammo drop Icons.

They can end up being thick.

[MrBloodworth]

Originally Posted by Fishy

Also, the platoon member numbers are represented in a colored circle which
(a) takes too much real-estate in an already-cluttered mini map
(b) can be obscured by other objects on the mini map (another squad member for example)

The platoon member numbers should be just a number without the circle, and should be modal (meaning, overlay everything else in the mini map).

I Disagree with this.

The recent updates to Squads and platoons and how they are marked is fantastic.

[SGOniell]

If there was an auto zoom option, at least make it so it has to be enabled, and not just active all the time. I have a wonderfully smooth scroll wheel on my logitech performance MX mouse. Its amazing and works great for this like the map.

[Fishy]

Originally Posted by MrBloodworth

I Disagree with this.

The recent updates to Squads and platoons and how they are marked is fantastic.

Have you ever tried looking for a squad member on your minimap when the entire platoon is in the base? Impossible, the circles around the numbers obscure each other.

[MrBloodworth]

Yes. And at that point I know they are right next to me. So I look around.

You can see Numbers in the main view when they are that close. Good luck with picking out just a number in a sea of numbers with no coloring.