So since Skyrim has the carriage to help us reach most important cities, I decided I will go one step further and turn off the Compass and Fast Travel for my own amusemant.

What I noticed so far.

1. You actually HAVE to use your map, including local map.
2. The world in general suddenly feels more dangerous because you can't see enemies using the compass nor can you quickly escape, this is especially true with dragons.
3. Horses suddenly become important and useful.
4. It has a small sense of Nostalgia.

I'll probably keep my game like this, I have been wondering if anyone else has tried this, while I don't disapprove of the fast travel or compass, removing both has given me a sense of nostalgia from the Morrowind days coupled with an increase in difficulty and added extra value to the game by using features that would probably have been ignored for the most part had I used Compass and Fast Travel.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a round about way of saying Morrowind is a better game, I'd rather avoid getting into that whole debate, this is just a Nostalgia trip for myself while enjoying everything Skyrim has to offer.

The only thing that stops me from turning off the quest markers is the complete lack of information with some quests. It seems, for some tasks, you NEED the quest markers or you're left wandering and confused.

This was one of the very first things I did. It makes the game SO much more enjoyable.

I'm half way between hrothgar and Whiterun currently wishing so badly I had bought a horse haha, it's very fun.



See, for me that's only annoying if I were stuck in the middle of the Ashlands.

I agree. I turned off the compass, quest markers and fast travel before I started the game, so that my first playthrough could be ‘blind’. I have also not used the game map yet (only using the paper map). Since I haven’t played it any other way, I have nothing to compare it with, but I am very much enjoying it this way and it feels much more immersive and frightening.

I plan on playing this way for my first playthrough (which will take ages, at this rate). In future playthroughs I will use the game map, which means it I will be able to complete many more quests.

It's more enjoyable to wander a bit than to follow a marker in your Compass without using your brains at all.

I too have completely disabled the Compass (and Crosshair). It makes the game much better. Before I leave a town I check the map where the place where I'm headed is, and then I'll try to find there without having to recheck the map.

Right there with you

The game map is useless for navigation. You've seen all there is to it if you've seen the previews, if you have the quest markers turned off. They don't even show the roads. The thing it would spoil is your general location, though. Other than that it's really bad for navigation though, which actually makes exploring kind of fun but absolutely fails as a map.

Morrowind's was about the same, though I do kind of wish we could have a mini-local map in the corner.

I forgot to mention I originally used a command to wipe every location off the map at the beginning of the game, kind of pointless but it looked nicer starting with a completely empty map.

Really! Someone else told me on this forums that it would be impossible for me to play the game without using the game map, so I assumed it had all the information on where the caves were and so on. If those are turned off (I've also turned off quest markers & floating quest markers) perhaps I can press 'M' for the first time and see what it looks like! It will be very interesting to see if my own maps are roughly correct. I doubt it though - I'm having real problems working out N-S-E-W from the sun, and I haven't been using the stars since I sleep every night in a bed.

It would spoil the location of game dungeons you've heard about yes, but it would tell you nothing but their general area. In most of Skyrim you cannot just make a straight line towards your destination. You can in some places, but in most places you need to find your way around many obstacles or find a way to ascend terrain etc.

Say the major cities of a nation are dungeons and quest destinations and such, and you looked at a picture of that nation from space so you could see most of the country at once. Now put icons on the major cities and a little arrow where you are. That's about as useful as Skyrim's world map is. Yeah it shows where you are in relation to things, but it tells you zilch about the roads/terrain on the way, unless said terrain is a gigantic mountain.

They compared it to Google Earth but it's NOTHING like that. You can barely zoom in at all. If you could actually zoom in like they implied you could, it would spoil a ton of things. Also, clouds cover lots of the map and they never go away as you explore. You do see the icons over them, of course.

How do you turn off the compas features?

I tried this, but on PS3 you can only turn the HUD clear.

This does make exploring better and such, but it doesn't turn of the sneak cross-hair/eye and it also means you can't see your magicka, health, or stamina.

In the SkyrimPrefs.ini file set values to 0 the default is set to 1

bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=0
bShowQuestMarkers=0
bShowCompass=0

I get where you are coming from but for some quests there is literally NO description. At all. I have one specific quest in mind but I won't spoil it, in broad strokes you are supposed to go rescue and individual. But it is never mentioned where this individual is being kept or even any hints on what direction from the Q giver. There is no option to ask for further information either. So, while you may or may not encounter the place where the individual is in your travels it is downright impossible to "just do the quest". And for clarification it would make perfect sense for this Q giver to know the location of the captive.

PC only.

How To Deactivate Quest Marker

* Go to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim.
* Open SkyrimPrefs.ini, and search for [GamePlay] section.
* Change bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=1 to bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=0
* Change bShowQuestMarkers=1 to bShowQuestMarkers=0

How To Deactivate Compass

* Go to C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Skyrim
* Open SkyrimPrefs.ini, and search for [Interface] section
* Change bShowCompass=1 to bShowCompass=0

Don't forget to SAVE the ini file before you close it.

That is very true, but it is not a completely terrible thing. You get a LOT of quests in the game, and I do a lot of exploring expeditions.

For example, one morning I might go up to a high point and find an interesting looking area. Having woken up early and packed some food I will explore it really carefully, making my own map of the places I find on the way. In this manner, I have explored quite a lot around the starting area of the game.

Then, when I get a quest, sometimes they mention a place I have been - so I know where it is. Usually, its a different place and I have no clue. But even the name of the cave or tower might give me a clue. In any event, it is certain that it will not be possible to complete most of the quests during this playthrough, but I can live with that.

How to turn off Fast Travel?

I didn't want to completely turn off the quest markers and compass entirely since quest descriptions are often rather vague and lack directions. But I'm using http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=912 to turn off the nearby visited/unvisited locations on the compass. Now I can finally explore by myself.

Open the console (~) and type: enablefasttravel 0

Maybe I should try this on next character.

I think I might give this a go on my next character. But it does sound a bit tricky with regard to finding the quests? How have you been getting by the limited information that you get?

Oddly enough, the biggest issue playing without quest markers is not finding the quest caves/towers and so on, as you will find many of these eventually by exploring, but in finding the NPC that gave you the quest in the first place to get your reward. To play this way, you need to keep your own detailed journal. I write down the name of each NPC I meet and what quest they gave me, and where they are, so I can find them again afterwards.

For the most part I think you'll find your way in alot of quests, there's only a few I can think of that might be a pain, but really that would just be Bethesda's fault for relying on guiding systems.

Nah, I just run around like a headless chicken having no idea who I am looking for :ahhh:

Is it possible to disable these things on 360 somehow as well?