yes, i know. we all know the system is jacked.

i just made it a ton more fun, though.

when you are given a location or map/quest update, you update your own personal map.

and, then don't ever look at your gps while trying to find that location other than by using the location marked on your own map. only look at your gps when your in a place like whiterun and riverwood (at the beginning) so that you can mark your map (like the game just did) and then go find it.

when i found kematu's hideout without cheating i knew i was on to something.

btw, when updated by quest or map you check your map. just don't cheat. best place is in a city you already are familiar with like whiterun, riverwood, etc

I would love for the compass to disappear but without Health Bars going away.

me, absopluckinglutely, the same.

we're talking health here, lol.

I don't mind the compass icons/mini map as much for stuff I have already found or that is marked on my map as much but I really do not like the fact that the compass also acts as a mini map for every location in the game, including locations that you have not found and are not marked on your map. That takes too much of the fun out of exploring because you now know there is a daedra shrine directly south east of your current location, just beyond the next mountain. How do you know it? Because your magical compass told you so.

I don't know how my character ended up with a Jack Sparrow compass, it's not some sort of daedric quest reward, I woudl have remembered that . . .

I personally like the compass, although I wouldn't consider myself a newb or a little kid as some of the posts suggest, its just when I only have a certain amount of time to play the game i'd rather get a specific direction to go in, now if I could have less specific quest markers (marking the general area), or more specific quest dialogue i'd go for that, but until I can have that i'd rather not waste too much time. Now if I was retired or still in high school and on summer break, i'd just disable the whole compass, unfortunately that doesn't seem like a good option for me (I hate wasting time, unless I have loads available).

Unfortunately, that is not an option for anyone on a PS3 or Xbox because there is no option to turn off the compass without loosing the entire HUD, health bars and all.

Good thing i'm on PC . Although it would be a nice option for console gamers.

Oh yes!
I really have to try that later.

I tried it for a few weeks with no compass (but kept the rest of the HUD). I did not like it. I would occasionally look at the world maps, and I found I had walked past many dungeons without ever realizing they were there. I literally missed out on large portions of the game because of it. So I turned the compass back on, and have been a much happier camper.

I look at the destination on the map and plan a route, identifying the landmarks on the map, such as rivers, hills, terrain features, some structures or ruins that I might pass near, etc. Then I follow the route and pay attention to visual cues in the terrain. You can see buildings and forts from a significant distance. Before disabling the compass, I didn't really notice the details of the landscape as much.

Also you can use a clairvoyance spell if you need to. And there is a mod that adds more detail to quest descriptions.


I understand what you mean. In my case, with the compass, I was chasing after every new black location icon that would pop up and rushing to turn all the location icons white. Without the compass, yes, exactly, I sometimes may not notice a dungeon nearby, and I am not able to rush and unlock every location any more, because I don't know where they are. The reason why I enjoy this is because it leaves a lot more unlocked locations to be discovered over the course of the game, prolonging enjoyment of the exploration and providing a lot more varied locations for radiant story quests.

Mods really dont screw with your performance as much as people think, I can barely run it at like 33 fps and whether I have all my texture packs in the game, or my 50+ mods it runs the same.