How Not to Be Seen - Guide to Making your Outline Invisible

[cannedpeahes]

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zekiZYSVdeQ[/flash]

I've been doing some testing with my wonderful volunteer, z95, earlier tonight. This testing was a good thorough look at exactly what makes the survivor's outlines visible in Versus mode.

When you stop doing things that make you visible, your outline gradually fades out to nothing over about 3 seconds. Once your outline fades completely, your name text disappears too.

First of all, the things that do affect it. Doing any of the following will make your outline become visible, until you stop doing it.

• Running around. This is basically normal wasd movement.
  
• Melee attacks. Swinging your gun around makes you visible
  
• Firing. Any weapon. This includes the mounted minigun. Firing any weapon causes you to be visible.
  
• Starting a grenade throw. You become visible as soon as you press the fire button. But, whether you throw it immediately, or hold your arm back keeping it ready to throw, you do not become visible again from a grenade. Even when you release it.
  
• Boomer bile. Having bile on you turns your outline purple, and makes it completely visible to all infected, regardless of what you do. You can't hide until the effect wears off.
  
• Taking damage. Whenever you take damage from anything, your outline briefly flashes visible. Note that it's the damage, not the hit that causes it. A distinction few will care about, but it doesn't happen if god mode is turned on.
  
• Voice commands. When your character speaks, you temporarily flash visible. This includes using any of the rosetta commands, and "vocalize" commands in the console. It also applies to things your character says automatically in various situations.
  
• Using voice chat. speaking on Mic will show your outline.
  
• Shouting while incapped. Although being incapped on it's own, doesn't make you visible. Your survivor will shout for help every few seconds while they're down, and that DOES make them visible.
  
• Helping someone up. You flash visible briefly when you start to help up an incapped survivor. It fades before you finish helping them though.
  
• Using pills. Self explanatory.
  
• Smoker/hunter attack. When you're pinned, or tongued, you become visible until freed.
  

Now, some other important things. All of the following things do NOT make your outline visible.

• The Flashlight! Whether it's on or not is irrelevant. The flashlight does NOT affect the visibility of your outline. Given that, there's pretty much no reason to ever turn it off.
  
• Walking. If you hold shift while moving, you walk instead of running. This is slower, of course. But your outline remains invisible while you walk. Good if you want to reverse an ambush by sneaking up on a hunter.
  
• Crouch walking. Moving while holding crouch (ctrl) is exactly like walking. Holding the walk key while crouched does nothing.
  
• Releasing a grenade throw that you had ready. This is covered above.
  
• Reloading your weapon. Doesn't make you visible, but sometimes your survivor will shout "reloading!" and voice clips do make you visible, so beware of that.
  
• Healing. As with reloading, using a medkit itself doesn't highlight you, with the caveat that the voice clips can.
  
• Aiming. Didn't really need to be said, but mouselooking around doesn't highlight you. This includes when you're manning the mingun. you're only visible when you fire it.
  
• Climbing on ladders
  
• Jumping. An odd one. Juumping up and down on the spot doesn't reveal you. Moving forward will, of course.
  
• Being seen. The outline is completely independant of actual visibility. A survivor can be standing right in front of you, and their outline still invisible if they're not doing anything to cause it. Likewise, other infected seeing them doesn't affect it.
  
• The tank. In case anyone was wondering, the tank is identical to all other infected in terms of seeing outlines. If you follow these guidelines, you can hide from the tank too. good if you've set it on fire and need to buy time.
  

Source: WarKirby (User,SteamPowered Forums)

[CaffeinePowered]

Is this good for Versus only or does this imply that you can 'hide' from the tank in campaign too?

[cannedpeahes]

Is this good for Versus only or does this imply that you can 'hide' from the tank in campaign too?

Hm, I wouldn't know. It would be worth a shot if anybody's up to some L4D sometime soon.

Definitely works in Versus, though. At least, you know, provided you find a good hiding spot.

[Wedge]

I've done this to an enemy Tank before actually (in Versus, I'm sure this doesn't do shit  in Campaign), nice to know the flashlight doesn't effect it though.  I still actually have the flashlight off half the time anyways though, because the focal point the beam creates can detract from your peripheral vision.

[KorJax]

Also the infected can see the beam effect too.

I don't think this stuff works in campaign.  Simply because I've still noticed me being pursued by the AI reguardless if I was walking/standing still or not.  Which is really annoying when you are trying to ambush and some random common infected runs up in a beeline twoards you from behind and hits you once. 

Also nice to know that jumping doesn't affect your outlines.