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Heads-up Display

Squad Bar

(Note: Most elements of the user interface may be repositioned by dragging the frames about, so the locations listed below may not always be the case.)

Located at the top middle, this strip shows the names, numbers, conditions and grid references of the members of your current squad. Red sections indicate a squad member's current Health, blue shows Armor. Each squad member is given an arbitrarty number, which is used to show them on the Continental Map. Thier current Map Grid reference is shown under their name.

In a Platoon, this information extends to cover up to two other squads, show in different colored borders; yellow, orange, and purple.

Proximity Map

Located at the top left, the Proximity Map shows detailed information of the immediate surrounding terran or rooms. It also shows friendly troop positions and movments as green dots, and in some circumstances, enemy troops and vehicles as red.

The Proximity map can be set to show 200m, 100m and 50m. It may be toggled between static, with North as up, or rotating, with the current field of view as up, in the Video Options.

Reticle

Located in the centre, this cross-hair shows you where your gun will fire. This is dynamic and adjusts position in the case of off-set weaponry; i.e. Lightning weapon systems and BFR arms.

The reticule changes color depending on what it is over:

  • Grey - No target
  • Yellow - A target that is beyond the maximum range of the current weapon system
  • Green - A friendly target
  • Red - An enemy target in range of the current weapon

Locking weapons show a combination of red and green to indicate lock progress, and are usually accompanied by an audio cue.

When over a target the reticle also displays the name and distance of the target.

The reticle also shows the current status of the Cone of fire system, and how accurate the shot will be. The further apart the reticule's extremeties are, the less accurate. Stop moving and crouch to draw these edges in and increase the accuracy. The shot has a random chance of landing anywhere within a circle described by these outer points.

The reticle also displayed if a shot has hit the target, by flashing a transparent gold disk each time a shot lands on target. This includes static objects and friendlies.

Status & Chat Pane

This window is divided into two sections.

The Status section, on top, shows all relevant kills as they happen, in the form:

{Killer Name} {Icon of the Weapon} {Victim}

and is shown in the color of the empire of the killer.

A soldier will see all kills near him, to a range of about 300m, along with any kills made against, or by, his current squad. Squad kill messages can be from a different planet. [Square Brackets] denote that that player was using a vehicle at the time.

Used with the Continental Map, this 'kill spam' can be a powerful tool to work our enemy positions and makeup, as it cannot be masked.

Also shown in this section in white text are experience awards, as they happen, and world messages, such as the capture of facilities, and the movement of LLUs, implant activations and any other system messages.

The lower half shows the chat section. Typed text and voice macros show here. Default colors are:

  • White: Local Text - Range 20-30m
  • Yellow: Squad Channel
  • Orange: Platoon Channel
  • Bright Green: Outfit Channel
  • Indigo/Blue: SOI Broadcast
  • Blue: Private Messages
  • Teal/Green: Command Broadcasts

These colors are all user definable from the options menu.

(See also: In-Game Commands)

Both section are scrollable and retain several hundred lines.

The top bar of this window has buttons to allow LFS toggle, and to select the default chat channel, and which channels are listened to.

Vehicle HUD Elements

If aboard a vehicle, the status of that vehicle is shown at the bottom left. The green outline indicates a healthy vehicle, which fills with red as more damage is taken. When the outline is full of red, the vehicle explodes.

The presence of an Amp Station allows a shield to be charged around the vehicle. This is shown by a blue ring around the green outline, and also in the status bar at the bottom, as a separate gauge.

The vehicle outline may be changed for a more simple armor bar in the lower status bar by clicking the appropriate down arrow.

For ANT's, there is an NTU bar at the bottom which displays how many NTU's have been stored from a warpgate to be transferred to an NTU Silo.

In the case of BattleFrame Robotics, the vehicle outline also displays the current state of the various BFR subsystems, as green, yellow and red icons.

Afterburner status, and vehicle speed are found at the bottom, in the centre.

Session Stats

This small window will show vital statistics about the current session:

These numbers reset when disconnected, even if only breifly. If you have to reboot PlanetSide or your computer you will keep your K/D ratio and your Assists, but your Time, BEP/CEP/SEP will be reset.

PING Stats

Hidden by default, details of the current network connection can be shown as a small window. (Default: SHIFT + . )

This shows Ping (Speed of messages from PC to Server, in milliseconds) and Packet Loss (How many of the expected messages from the server didn't make it).

Network Communications is an exhaustive subject, but in general Green is Good for these numbers, and simple tips to help this include:

  • Play on the nearest server to you.
  • Don't run other net-active programs while you play (Filesharing, Downloads, etc)
  • Avoid playing during peak 'early evening' hours

This window also shows Frames Per Second (FPS), an indication of how fast and smoothly everything will move, including you. Lowering detail settings (Video Options) can improve this, but it will always spike in large indoor fights.

Soldier Management Bar

This set of icons, lower right, provide access to a series of secondary detailed information windows:

Inventory

(Default: I) The backpack icon allows access to the soldier's Inventory; pistol and rifle slots, and backpack. Items may be picked up and dropped with the mouse pointer.

Character

(Default: O) This icon allows access to the soldier's Character Window, containing details of experience progress, ranks, BRF Imprint Status, Greif Points and Certifications. Training progress and career statistics can also be found here.

Map

(Default: M) This icon opens the Continental Map, centered on the soldier's current location.

Community Window

(Default: P) This opens the Community Window on the Squad tab, allowing squad members to be kicked, promoted, and Platoons to be formed or disbanded.

Other tabs on this window allow Friends List management and, Ignore List management.

Vehicle

(Default: Shift+V) This icon provides access to the Vehicle Management Window, where lock status of the current vehicle may be altered, and passengers kicked out.

Outfit

(Default: Shift+O) This icon opens the Outfit Window, where a list of outfit members, their ranks and outfit point can be seen, as well as thier online/offline status.

Senior Outfit members may edit outfit settings here.

Status & Chat Pane On/Off

This icon toggles the Status and Chat Window on or off.

Proximity Map On/Off

This icon toggles the Proximity or Radar Window on or off.

Bio Pane

Located at the bottom left, a soldier's current Health, Stamina and Armor totals are show in bar and numerical form.

  • Red - Health
  • Teal - Stamina
  • Blue - Armor

Hotkey Bar

Positioned in the centre of the status pane, the Hotkey bar contains eight numbered fields corresponding to the F1-F8 function keys. Each can be used to trigger implants (such as the Surge implant), items (such as MedKits), or text chat macros, by dragging the corresponding icon from the Inventory or the appropriate in-game panel to the hotkey you wish to assign.

Holster Icons

Located lower right, the contents of any holsters are shown in icon form. A faded icon indicates that a weapon is curently holstered.

Beneath the weapon is shown the number of shots left in the weapon, an icon showing which type of ammunition is currently loaded, and the number of extra rounds being carried in the backpack, available for reload.

The current fire-mode of the weapon is shown as a yellow pip to the left of the gun, and is also shown as a status message in the Status Window when changed.

(Note: The Adaptive Construction Engine shows the object it is set to make, rather than the ACE itself.)

In Vehicles, these icons are replaced with the currently available vehicle guns.

Soldier Management Bar On/Off

This icon, located bottom right, hides or shows the Soldier Management toolbar, above.