Hi,
I'm more than getting crazy with this Galactic Map. Yes, it's beautiful, it's gigantic, yes there is a path to the galaxy center, an Atlas Path, a path to black holes (maybe they have resolved the waypoint bug in the new update) etc.
But fact is: I just CANNOT get where I want. An absolute primer for a space game...You want to re-visit your past sun system? Good luck, you need to search manually, impossible if you have travelled too far away from it.

Other than a manual search, how can you find the systems you already have visited? I have looked at Youtube, Steam and elsewhere only to get very confused or plain wrong statements. NO, the tab and X keys just do nothing, so don't tell me about that. Also I've gone through all patch notes (back to 1.07) and no words about changes in the galactic map or key commands there, or HG didn't tell us.

You can indeed set waypoints every time before you warp and hopefully they still show on the map afterwards. Is it that?

How do YOU use the map? Thanks anyone to stop my madness...
XenonS

The teleport is how I get around when return travel is necessary. Yeah, the Galaxy map is a poopcicle, for sure. I spend too much time just panning the view just to get the bright center on my HUD. I do not expect to be playing this much longer, I suffer from flashing seizures, every time I click a new landmark, I have to blink, or risk biting my tongue and falling to the floor. HG really screwed the pooch, for gamers like me. No option to disable those white flashes.

Some posters like Red have mods that let um document and store their travels. I was trying to fly away, from center, back in 1.09, however now I restarted again, and am back, trying to re-enjoy finding more pack, ship and gun slots. My re-enjoyment is faltering. Good luck finding your starting system, mine seemed to poof, after I left it, guess it was a noobie world or something. My engine was too weak, without a course, must be one ways, off of the starter system.

Thank you a lot, yes, I should have found this one: the Teleporter, nice... Only that I didn't build any base before, so this will not work in my case. Also I'm happy to hear that there is a mod, for sure I will try to run it. A mod like 'player path' should hit the charts I think, I only use the Fly Low mod up to now.

It's not that I care terribly finding my home world: I'm not yet deeply involved in the game, only 2 system warps, so if necessary I could easily restart a fresh game without too much second-guessing. It' only that I had big trouble using the map the first time, and then got insanely involved with it the second time where I tried to find my way back...80 LJ only.
I will try out what the waypoints do, so far I've heard that once you set them they won't go away without editing the whole savegame with a decrypter. Let's see.

Thank you anyway for your feedback!
XenonS

It is rubbish (for navigation).

I think that covers it all? ;)

The games whole 'navigation' systems are terrible, on planet and in space. I've certainly emailed Hello Games about it, and suggestions to improve it etc. Will it ever get better? maybe.

For now i make a paper map of my travel (rough drawing to indicate direction and names of systems around me) so i can, for example, more easily find my way back to my starting system etc. It's a bit of a throw back to when i started gaming and for many games this kind of paper use was required, so i kind of like that.

Having said that i would pay money (like for an expansion) that included a real proper player controlable navigation system in game (create and delete waypoints, set waypoint as active, set specific location as a waypoint etc).

Hi ThorChild,
for so much that I like the game, which is a lot, so much terrible is the navigation in the game I think.
What I have found out about the galaxy map in v.1.13 are the following keys I can use:

Q / E = Toggle the different pathes that will be shown with a coloured line (alas: no player history path !)
WSAD keys : turn around, go forward backward in all directions in 'Free Explore' mode
Right Mouse button = Free Explore mode
F = Set waypoint for the selected sun
Backspace = Go in front of your home sun again

That's basically it, but I have 2 important reference points that may help me searching specific worlds if you know their distance:

a)
The Ecliptic; this is the 2D area when you are aligned with the Galaxy Center plane; chose the bright galaxy center sphere, center it in your screen and rotate around.

b)
Your current position which is marked with a green triangle and visible. I can keep it centered in my screen and rotate all the view around at a specific distance, but only in the Ecliptic plane.

But these 2 reference points are NOT enough to find a location safely, especially because you can not rotate around a specific plane, only around the Ecliptic. Everything that is out of it must be searched manually and by chance.
For example, if you are looking for a sun that is 80 LJ away, but in the Ecliptic, then you can find it systematically. You would align the view with the Galaxy Center, zooming out for what is 80 LJ and rotate around. Examine every near sun and you will eventually find what you are looking for. It may take an aweful amount of time though.

What I have tried - to no avail - is: I go in the 'Discoveries' section, I rename my sun, save and reload the game and go in the galactic map again. I was hoping to see that now my 'discovery' would be labeled in some way, but NO, nothing.
Maybe you remember: when starting or loading the game you come through single labeled systems written in white that you will pass.

What I'm currently doing is:
I set 2 waypoints straight ahead my objective where the waypoint must be a straight line containing in the middle my objective.where I want to warp.
I must log separately the 'Angle-Off' from the Ecliptic (x-coordinate) and the angle-off for the z-coordinate (the 3rd depth dimension). Then you can roll back if needed and 'navigate' to your previous systems. But the error margin is big.

Possibilities for improving the map are:

A prompt window where you can enter a system you search that will then show up with a connected line between your current position and the searched system. This is ideal and certainly doable for HG.
As an alternative, a simple green connection line between all systems visited by the player with the option to hide or show it. Also doable IMO.

I have found a solution for doing the 2nd one, by using a savegame decrypter/encrypter. It's here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyMods/comments/4yjft9/no_mans_save_save_encryption_and_decryption_exe/

I start with the assumption that all what you have explored is somehow contained in your save files. Also including the waypoints you set. It must be possible to edit the waypoint so that all your visitied systems (for example) are linked and will show with a blue line on the map. I will have to examine how the waypoints are coded in the savegame and rebuild them.

What the people at Hello Games have ignored or not researched is: Explorers are rather scientific people that care about such details :=)

XenonS

Sorry, my link above is right but this tool will not work anymore with the Foundation Update, the right tool is this one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyMods/comments/5fkter/save_editor_update_v11/

Do not use the Savegame Editor link (this one is for beginners, only having a set of choices) but use the Mediafire link below. You will be able to re-encrypt your save after having changed what you please (if you dare...)

XenonS

What really pisses me off is that the game already handles and stores everything we need to do proper (although not optimal) navigation.

If you click on a system on the map, for example, the popup tells you if and when you discovered it, and this works even if you have never played online. So, just showing the names of visited systems on top of them would be perfectly feasible and make backtracking way simpler.

And the same goes for planet navigation. The game needs to keep track of player's position anyway in order to work, so there's already some sort of internal coordinate system. Just displaying and updating it in real time, on ship panels for example, will make a huge difference. People who don't care will see some little numbers changing all the time, but real explorers will get everything they need to go back and forth at will.

So, no need of beacons, waypoints or whatever. Just show system names on map and player coordinates on planets.
Is it that hard, HG?

Ok, i have now found an acceptable workaround for showing all my past locations on the galaxy map. It will work as long as HG doesn't change the savegame format.
What you need to do is to log the position of each system where you are in a separate text file somehwere on your computer.

Before you warp away from a system, just open your last savegame with Notepad++ or similar advanced text editor. Your current star system position is contained in the very first lines: It starts with "VortexX..." up to the "PlanetIndex:...". Just copy all this in a separate textfile.

At anytime in another system, when you want to fly back to a visited system, or if you want to see the global trajectory you have accomplished, then do this:
Open your latest savegame, and search for exactly "User" - with the quotes. This line contains the player waypoints and will show a blue path in the galaxy map when hitting Q. Now a little above the line with "User" you find again a position similar to the beginning of the savegame: "VortexX... until "PlanetIndex..". Now, simply change this postiion with one of the logged positon from your textfile.

Now after you have changed it, you need to use the tool above the re-encrypt the savegame, otherwise it will NOT LOAD. The procedure is fast and simple, just use the ExampleStart.bat and point to the folder and savegame (that can be anywhere).

Next time you start NMS, you will see in the galactic map the waypoint pointing to your logged system which will be marked in blue.

A little complicated all this, but at least it's possible to find anything again what you have visited before, just don't forget to copy-paste your current system position in a textfile...
I hope HG will soon add improved features for the galaxy map, hum..please before doomsday...

XenonS

There's this mod too, which should automate things a little:
https://nomansskymods.com/mods/nms-location-manager-saveshare-locations-and-teleport/
but I'm not sure it still works with foundation update.

I was tempted to try it when it first came out, but never did.
Software fiddling with savegames always make me a bit nervous...

Yes, thank you, I'm aware of this program, but I think it's a server-based program that you cannot use offline, I don't like that very much.

Thanks anyway,
XenonS

Just for completeness for those who do not want to screw with their files:

I found my way back using free explore mode - search discoveries (d-pad up) - next discovery (repeatedly, d-pad right). This way you may trace back your steps to the origin. Having taken notes of desirable system names beforehand will aid the procedure.

I haven't yet tested how the new craftable beacons relate to the galaxy map.

Regards

Search for discovery doesn't work when playing offline, without apparent reason since the game tracks discoveries anyway.

I've recently placed my first craftable beacon but it doesn't show up in galaxy map, only on planet, so to be able to see it again we need to travel back to the system.

And, by the way, when I came back to the beacon, I've seen that despite the signal being still there, the device disappeared. What I see every time I come back is just the little icon floating on top of nothing.
So, I can see and use the signal, but I can't dismantle the beacon since there's nothing left to target in dismantle mode.

I'm almost sure this is a bug.
I'll try to place another one as soon as possible.

Thanks for the valuable info, didn't realize that offline/online constraints. I just wanted to share how I got back but that didn't meant that there is no huge room for improvement left.

Correct, the beacons are a system thing like bases with no proper representation on the galaxy map.