Player Guide
On this page10
Everything you need to know as a player. Nothing here is technical.
Nobody knows you
When you spawn, not one person in the city knows who you are, and you do not know them. Names appear only once your character has actually looked at somebody.
That is the whole idea. Take a moment to meet people.
Recognizing someone
- Stand in front of them, within about five metres, and face them. They can look anywhere, but their face is only learned while they look at you.
- Press F3. A small menu opens on the left with Scan person to memory already marked. Press ENTER.
- A small orange arrow marks them. Press ENTER again.
A small panel appears in the top-right corner, and a small ring with the % sits above their head.
- Somebody new: after about two seconds your character starts a thinking pose. Keep talking, keep looking, and let it fill. This is your character memorizing them.
- Somebody you remember: after 2–3 seconds you get the answer: Recognized with the line you remember them by, or Not sure with a number. No pose. Keep looking or let them talk, and the number goes up; walking away saves what you learned.
If several people are in front of you, use ← and → to move the arrow, and SPACE to pick up to three of them at once. Press E on somebody you are scanning to stop early, and whatever you learned is kept.
Stepping back a little (up to 7 m) or turning away does not stop a scan: you learn more slowly, or only hear them. Further than 7 m it pauses, and ends if they are not back within 30 seconds.
Only want to know if you know them? In the F3 menu, move down to Recognize and press ENTER, then ENTER on the arrow. You get the answer in 2–3 seconds, or You don't know him. It never turns into a full scan, and a stranger is not saved.
Done looking? F3 → Stop looking ends every scan and quick look at once. What you learned is saved as usual.
(Your server may use a different key, or the older Recognize [E] prompt: then you just face them and press E.)
The four things you take in
| Cue | When it fills |
|---|---|
| Voice | While they are talking and you can hear them. Not on a radio, not on a phone |
| Clothing | While you can see them |
| Face | While they are facing you and nothing covers it |
| Tattoo | While at least one of their tattoos is on skin you can see |
The ring in the middle is the total. Any two of voice, clothing and face filled up gets you to 80 %, which is the point where your character genuinely knows this person.
How long it takes
A stranger in daylight, talking to you, takes about a minute to a minute and a half. Somebody you still remember takes 2–3 seconds. Somebody you knew well whose memory ran out comes back quicker, a hidden camera is quicker again, and night or rain is slower. A line under the ring tells you why: "Slower: dark, rain".
What the colours mean
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Grey | Nothing yet (for the voice: they are silent) |
| Blue, pulsing | Filling right now |
| Green | Got it |
| Orange | Covered, or as far as it can get |
| Black | They have none of this (for example no tattoos at all) |
What the result says
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Noted | Somebody new. Your character will remember them |
| Recognized | It is somebody you already know |
| Not sure | Somebody you remember, but you are not sure yet. Keep looking or let them talk: at 80 it turns into Recognized |
| Too little seen | Not enough to keep |
| You don't know him | Only after Recognize: you have no memory of this person |
Below 80 % you get no name and no description, only the number. That is on purpose: if the screen named them at 40 %, you would know for certain while the game is telling you that you do not.
Your character remembers people by where you met them, for example "Met him on Grove Street in the evening" or "The guy from the tattoo shop". Somebody you know well becomes "I know him well".
What your character remembers
| The scan reached | You remember them for |
|---|---|
| 100 % | 5 days |
| 80–99 % | 24 hours |
| 50–79 % | 2 hours |
Recognize them again successfully and the clock restarts from that moment, and a better second look upgrades a weak memory. That two-hour memory from a rushed glance becomes a five-day one the next time you get a proper look.
Nobody is ever told that they forgot somebody. Your character simply stops knowing them.
For ten minutes after a successful scan, that person is still "right there" for you: their name or description stays on your screen whenever they are nearby.
Telling people your name
/recognition:introduce while facing somebody, and type a name. Real or
invented: the game does not check.
From then on they see Introduced as "Mike" instead of a description whenever they recognize you.
If you introduce yourself while masked, the name sticks to the masked person, not to you. Exactly as it should.
Masks, hoods and hats
| What you put on | What it costs the person looking |
|---|---|
| A cap | Face 85 instead of 100 |
| Sunglasses | Face 65 |
| A bandana or half-mask | Face 40 |
| A full mask or closed helmet | Face 0 |
| Long sleeves | Your arm tattoos are hidden |
| A T-shirt | Your forearm tattoos show |
Cover your face properly (a bandana or more) and something important happens: people who know you do not recognize you at all. Their scan of you says "Noted", exactly as if you were a stranger, and they end up with a completely separate memory of "that masked guy".
They still learn your outfit and your voice, though. If you rob a shop in the same hoodie twice, the second time they will recognize the hoodie.
Check yourself before you go
/recognition:mirror shows you exactly how recognizable you are right now: how
much of your face is visible, which tattoos are showing, and whether a voice
changer is running. Use it before, not after.
The items
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Voice changer | Anyone who scans you learns a fake voice worth half the points. 10 minutes of battery |
| Hidden camera | Your scans are twice as fast, reach 7 m, play no pose at all, and last 30 days. You can print what it recorded as a paper. 30 minutes of battery |
| Magnetic scanner | A 4-second sweep that tells you if somebody within 2 m is carrying a camera |
| Battery | Recharges your emptiest device |
| Report | A paper. Use it to read it |
Printing a camera recording
A hidden camera does not hand you a paper by itself. The recording waits in the F3 menu until you print it.
- Use the hidden camera to switch it on, then scan somebody as usual.
- Your HUD shows REC with a number, for example REC 35%: how much the camera has seen. It turns green from 50 %.
- Press F3 → Camera recordings, pick one with the arrow keys and press ENTER. Printing... shows for 3 seconds, then the paper is in your inventory.
- You can print as soon as the camera has seen 50 %. You do not have to stop or walk away; the look keeps running after the print.
- The list shows recordings from the last 24 hours, without names. Each one prints once.
- The hidden camera must be in your inventory to print.
- A running look shows as Recording now · 35% in grey, with the reason it cannot print yet: (needs 50%), (camera on too short) (keep the camera on for at least half of the look) or (printed recently) (you already printed this person a short while ago).
- A look that ends under 50 % tells you so: "The camera saw only 35% - not enough for a recording (needs 50%)".
Dying
If you go down and get revived, nothing happens.
If you go down and respawn, you forget everybody within 25 metres who could see it happen. They keep their memories of you: you are the one who died.
Changing who you are, permanently
There is a clinic. By default it costs $500,000, you can only do it once every 60 days, and afterwards nobody in the city knows you: new face, new name, new voice, every memory of you erased. You keep your money, your items, your job, and all of your own memories of everyone else.
A barber or a normal surgeon shop does not do this. Restyle your face there as often as you like; everyone still knows you.
Making the panel yours
/recognition:hud lets you drag the panel anywhere, resize it, and choose round
or square badges. Your choice is saved on your own machine.
You can also bind keys for the HUD settings and the mirror check in Settings → Key Bindings → FiveM.
Every command
See Commands.