The Directional Indicator or Compass in No Man’s Sky is pointing in the Wrong Direction.

NO MAN’S SKY CARTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

Precedence: Bulletin #2 Date: 08/20/2018

Title: The Directional Indicator or Compass in No Man’s Sky is pointing in the Wrong Direction.

In Bulletin #1, publish a few days ago, we outlined some of the unexpected discoveries that were made regarding surface navigation of planets while developing a map for plotting grid coordinates from then scanner. The most controversial finding was that the degrees of latitude and longitude on No Man’s Sky planets are the complete opposite of what we know to be true here on earth.

These findings were based on the Directional Indicator on the Heads up Display which shows us which direction we are flying or walking. On Earth when flying North or South we can only reach a maximum of +/-90 degrees latitude, the North and South Poles. However when traveling North or South according to the HUD in NMS, we see a maximum of 180 degrees. On Earth when we travel East or West we can reach a maximum of 180 degrees longitude as we circle the equator. In NMS however when traveling East or West, according to the directional indicator, we are only able to reach a maximum of +/-90 degrees. This is clearly opposite of the normal standard of degrees for longitude and latitude lines here on earth and results in planets having East and West poles instead of North and South Poles.

A bug report was submitted to the Hello Games Zen Desk[i] on the 3rd of August when it became apparent that the Compass in No Man’s Sky was, and still is, pointing in the wrong direction. When traveling due North according to the HUD you are actually, in fact, traveling either due East or due West. This is why the map I created to plot your positions on planets, using the grid coordinates from your scanner, looks that way it does. It still works and will continue to work until Hello Games fixes the compass to point in the right direction. If and when they do, I will create another grid coordinate map for the community.

Moving forward the NMSCS will only produce maps that conform to the cardinal directions as indicated by the standard degrees of latitude and longitude used on Earth, and the grid coordinates displayed on the scanner when on the surface of planets and moons. We will ignore the compass readings on the HUD until it can be proven to be an accurate indication of direction of travel.

[i] https://hellogames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000520485-I-have-an-issue-to-report