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The Minimap is a miniature map, visible on the player's HUD.
The minimap's view is centered on the player, and is oriented the same direction the player faces (though some games have an option to prevent minimap rotation).
On PC versions of Battlefield games, the N key is used to change the minimap's zoom level, and the M key is used to view a larger version of the map as an overlay.
Along with other HUD elements, the minimap is not visible when playing in Hardcore mode.
Map icons[]
Various icons are visible on the map:
- Ground forces (with arrow showing current heading)
- Vehicles
- Control points
- Spawn points
- Players who are able to provide any support action that the current player has called for
- Certain gadgets such as Sentry Guns, Motion Sensors, or Radio Beacons
- Explosives such as mines and C4
In general, blue icons identify friendly forces and objectives, green icons identify squadmates, red/orange icons identify spotted enemy forces and objectives, and white/gray icons identify empty or neutral vehicles or locations. In general, team and squad mates are always displayed on the minimap, given they are alive and within range on the map. Enemies will appear for a short time on the map when firing unsuppressed weapons, as well as when they are spotted. Enemies can also be displayed on the map if a Commander deploys a UAV or Infantry Scan. The same goes for friendly and enemy vehicles; friendly occupied vehicles will always be displayed, enemy occupied vehicles will only be shown if firing or spotted, or if a Commander deploys a Vehicle Scan. Neutral vehicles and objectives will also always be displayed on the map, given they are in range of it.
- In Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, friendly forces are colored depending on the faction that the player is on: blue for the Allied or US team, and red for the Axis or NVA team. In addition, green icons identify players that have been added to the buddy list.
- In Battlefield 1942, an overview of the possession of control points on the whole map is shown by a bar under the minimap, with small, colored icons indicating the possession of each control point. Uncapturable control points are not shown.
- In Battlefield Vietnam, the possession of control points is shown by icons above the minimap, directly above the flags and ticket numbers. The number of icons above each team represent the number of control points the team possesses. Hence, neutral control points are not shown.
- Since Patch 1.2 of Battlefield Vietnam, the colors of individual players in the buddy list can be customized, and these colors will also be reflected on the minimap.
- In Battlefield 2 and 2142, squad leaders are identified with circled numbers. The team's commander is identified by a star icon. A yellow flashing icon marks a player who has just sent a radio message.
- In Battlefield 2, the possession of control points is shown by a curved bar below the minimap, taking the same outline as the circle containing the minimap. Unlike in Battlefield 1942, however, uncapturable control points are also shown.
- In Battlefield 3, squad leaders have a star icon beside their personal icon and beside any icons for active gadgets they have deployed.
- In Battlefield 4, squad leaders have a star as their icon.
The console Battlefield games before Battlefield 4 could not use a large map overlay, having to access the pause menu for a full map. The map overlay was included in Battlefield 4 on all platforms.
Trivia[]
- The minimap of Battlefield 3 reacts to weapon recoil. This is especially noticeable when looking straight up, where firing a weapon can cause the minimap to rotate 180 degrees around and vibrate rapidly.
- In the last-generation versions of Battlefield 4, the minimap and the "big map" seen when holding down the start button in a match is not accurate to the in-game maps themselves. Both types of map use the next-generation versions, and as such, they depict extra buildings and foliage not seen on the last-gen versions of the game, thus being slightly misleading.
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