Broken compass, seems fine to me?

[affa]

Are there actually still people in this thread that are insisting the Grimrock Compass is not working correctly. Obviously these people where not in Cub Scouts. A compass is a very simple tool. The needle is in fact a little magnet ( that is absolutely all you need to make a compass, oh and a frictionless bearing, since the magnetic force of the earth is so small ). It is magnetized so that the red side is the opposite polarity of our North pole ( opposites poles attract, like poles repel). So it always points north

You clearly make a habit of not reading or understanding threads, don't you? Nobody is arguing the compass is broken. We're debating cardinal direction indicators vs. compasses, and the easy confusion of the two since many games call direction indicators 'compasses' and so we're used to that.

Again, we KNOW the compass works fine. That is not what is being discussed.

[affa]

There is no such thing as a cardinal compass. Its called a direction finder. The word "compass" defines how it works.

That spell is called 'magic compass', and i'm pretty sure it's a direction finder.

Level 2 Conjurer spell:
MACO, Kiel's magic compass
- a magical compass which shows the facing direction, medium duration.

People wanted examples, and we're giving them. What's so hard to understand that some of us instinctively figured it was working like some other games do? Were we wrong? Yes. But with reason.

[Drax]

Most compasses are cardinal, in that they highlight the four cardinal points. Not all compasses point towards magnetic north, however.

[jfunk]

Depends if it's cardinal or if it's a 'true' compass.

There's no "true compass", vs. "some other compass" here.

I never played Bard's Tale, so I can't tell from the screen shot. However, IF Bard's Tale uses a compass, that party is facing West. IF the party in that image is facing East, then the arrows on the screen do NOT represent a compass. They're just the "Bard's Tale direction indicator arrows".

A compass may or may not have cardinal directions marked on it. If it does, they may or may not be on a moving part of the compass. If they are not on a moving part, you would spin the bezel manually to align the N with the needle in order for "forward" to show your current direction. Some compasses may have a suspended disc or ball that rotates in its entirety, so you don't have to manually spin the device in your hand and it always shows you your current heading.

None of them will ever have an arrow that points right to indicate you are currently facing East. If you play a game that shows an arrow pointing to the right when you face East, that's simply not a compass.

[dbgager]

Are there actually still people in this thread that are insisting the Grimrock Compass is not working correctly. Obviously these people where not in Cub Scouts. A compass is a very simple tool. The needle is in fact a little magnet ( that is absolutely all you need to make a compass, oh and a frictionless bearing, since the magnetic force of the earth is so small ). It is magnetized so that the red side is the opposite polarity of our North pole ( opposites poles attract, like poles repel). So it always points north

You clearly make a habit of not reading or understanding threads, don't you? Nobody is arguing the compass is broken. We're debating cardinal direction indicators vs. compasses, and the easy confusion of the two since many games call direction indicators 'compasses' and so we're used to that.

Again, we KNOW the compass works fine. That is not what is being discussed.

Well then ..why argue it. It obviously works just like it is supposed to..Why complain because it makes you think a little more than you want to.

Its only used for old school map drawing anyway..Its pretty useless if you have the automap turned on.

[affa]

Well then ..why argue it. It obviously works just like it is supposed to..Why complain because it makes you think a little more than you want to.

Its only used for old school map drawing anyway..Its pretty useless if you have the automap turned on.

Um. I just mapped the entire game on grid paper, and perhaps that's why i care? You obviously didn't. Which is why you don't care.

[dbgager]

Most compasses are cardinal, in that they highlight the four cardinal points. Not all compasses point towards magnetic north, however.

If it is actually a compass it does indeed point to magnetic north.

Definition of a compass:

An instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

Marine compasses that actually show you the direction you are going are mislabeled. They are acually RDFs ( radio direction finders )

[Drax]

Most compasses are cardinal, in that they highlight the four cardinal points. Not all compasses point towards magnetic north, however.

If it is actually a compass it does indeed point to magnetic north.

Definition of a compass:

An instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

That's a poor definition. A Gyrocompass doesn't have anything to do with magnets.

[affa]

None of them will ever have an arrow that points right to indicate you are currently facing East. If you play a game that shows an arrow pointing to the right when you face East, that's simply not a compass.

We GET that. However, they're often called 'compasses', such as the 'magic compass' i just presented you with. Stop getting stuck up in terminology, we understand how a compass works, but you refuse to accept that many games call things compasses that aren't (and compasses exist that work differently, as has been pointed out), so it's an easy mistake within a game to make.

You want more examples of bizarre compasses in games? Try Betrayal at Krondor.

This is a direction finder that has... a meaningless compass rose.

[dbgager]

Most compasses are cardinal, in that they highlight the four cardinal points. Not all compasses point towards magnetic north, however.

If it is actually a compass it does indeed point to magnetic north.

Definition of a compass:

An instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

That's a poor definition. A Gyrocompass doesn't have anything to do with magnets.

Regardles ..they still point towards the north.