Do I need to do something with the scanner?

[Fried Noodles]

Or is it enough that I just hold it in my hand?
I'm not sure if there's any way I can interact with it.
I'm coming up on like 6 hours played, and besides the one I picked up in the tutorial (that got stolen from me), I haven't found any Artifacts yet.

[Moschka]

1) not every anomaly field has an anomaly
2) you should hold it in your hand and see if it locates an anomaly nearby. It has a good range so just being next to the field is enough to see if there's one there.
3) there is no interaction with the basic scanner besides taking it out and holding it where you can visually see its screen/lights

[SpidersInABirthdayCake]

There is a couple spots around Zalissya (The first town you visit) you can nab some artifacts, one of which is super good. South of Zalissya down the road on the west side is a hill with some trees on it that has a cave under it. The location is called Magnetic Cave and can be visited after every emission to get a Thermal Artifact. The really good artifact you don't even need to use the scanner for and it is called the "Weird Ball" and it is located at a location SW of Zalissiya called Bulba, you definitely want this artifact as it decreases bullet damage taken.

The Hilka detector is the next detector you will get and actually tells you the distance the artifact is from you (Up to 100 meters, the best range of any detector)

[königplatzen]

For now, you hold it in the hand and its beeps (and lights up) faster, when you are nearing an artifact. It's a different beep than the anomaly warning, which is always active

[SpidersInABirthdayCake]

Also note you need the scanner/detector out in your hand in order for the artifact to pop into existence, it will hide again if you put the detector away.

[OGPG]

I love the Veles Detector.
Shows me exactly where the artifact is.

[2ugly]

Detector..... the scanner is the big thing that was given to you to at the beginning to place in the those 3 spots. If you would have followed the directions you would have found an artifact during the opening tutorial. But it's not a requirement, luckily. You'll learn.

Originally posted by SpidersInABirthdayCake:

Also note you need the scanner/detector out in your hand in order for the artifact to pop into existence, it will hide again if you put the detector away.

Yeah... that mechanic is kinda lame, without a reason behind it. Maybe there is... some tech inside the detectors that causes the artifacts to show themselves. Just about every streamer I've watched doing the opening tut has had a hard time figuring out this mechanic. It beeps while it's in your pocket, but can't make the artifact appear unless in your hand.... doesn't make sense.

I don't know how many times I laughed at streamers during that opening tutorial to find the first artifact. They walk right past the boiling acid... and head straight to the metal object in the center. Walk around it, then asking their chat... "what am I supposed to do?" But we've all been there.