First person shooter mode

MrDamage

Does anyone know if something out there exists for this. Sometimes I like to zoom right down and walk around looking over my pc’s shoulder but pc is in the way and clicking forward is really tricky although I know you can keyboard. Would be good if you could select FPS mode so you edge turn as the pc and stuff. I’m guessing someone’s already done something like this.

Shadooow

There was camera hack to simulare 1st person - obviously it won't work for EE now

I like the idea and I also tried the camera hack. Unfortunately as good as it sounds it is not very feasible especially for casters. Trying to cast far in front of your or target something in far is problematic in 1st person camera mode since we have to use mouse. The old dungeon rpg games were controlled just by keyboard.

Either way it would be nice if we could make a module and force 1st person camera on player through scripting. The camera hack was optional anyway so you couldn't force player to play that way if you wanted to make a 1st person dungeon style module.

MrDamage

Ah ok yeah. Its only I tried a dungeon zoomed right down and as you probably know, the detail of the surroundings actually increases the closer you look at them and it looks pretty ok to me and builds some nice atmosphere, but extremely difficult to click ahead and stuff.
I had the idea to actually build a CEP suit of armour which is broken and thus invisible, making your pc invisible so you can see through them and then applying camera follow mode. But I think it will still be too hard to on click as you have pointed out and the glitchy armour in combat would probably get annoying to watch.
Maybe some day!

KaosWarMonk

I've used the camera hack for a long time with v1.69, it's a slightly closer and raised position for the chase camera when fully zoomed in - you basically switch to chase camera and hit the home key to get to it.

As mentioned it's not very good tactically and things like true seeing really mess with the view but I do find it very fun to use when exploring (nwnshader gives me longer view range and DoF). Sneaking down a dungeon corridor in first person is far more immersive than doing it in an iso view.

There are a lot of caveats though, you can't realistically play the whole game this way, keyboard controls are clunky, you do need to have ceilings when indoors, tall trees with no crowns are ugly, need to have nice skyboxes etc etc. Still, it's a nice to have option and I'd like for it to be available in EE, even if a very low priority... Maybe I should ask

AnonySimon

Even if it isn't particularly optimal, I would also like the option to use a FPS view.

Calgacus

I too would like to have a n easy FPS view both as a player and as a modder for certain areas. I'm not worried about using FPS mode in combat - I just like the idea of making it more immersive when wandering around certain areas and also to make it easier to see various things up close. Even if there was a way to make the character transparent in chase cam mode and not suck up the mouse clicks so we can click stuff. quickly switching back to iso view whenever combat starts would be important too.

JuliusBorisov

It would be great to get more input about this from the community.

TarotRedhand

Apart from the different controls you'd need (mouse used for looking, not moving) there is the little matter of skyboxes. For a start they weren't even introduced to the game until late in it's original commercial lifetime. That means a lot of older modules don't have them. Even in those modules that do have them, the standard models used only extend up and down by a limited amount of degrees. Even outside of 1st person view, the standard "locked" camera only allows you to view a portion of a skybox and neither the top or bottom of it.

Another thought just hit me. If the full party control proponents get their way, how would you manage to control everyone in your party in 1st person view?

So it could be that 1st person would have to be disabled for a lot of modules. Don't get me wrong I love 1st person shooters and the Bethesda 1st person rpg's. I am just pointing out some of the potential difficulties.

TR

SkipBittman

Now that I know how great the 3D looks with hacked in VR, heck yeah I'd love a first person view. It's really fun taking a different look at our old assets and modules, and it's definitely firing up the urge to make something new.

I'd switch to third person top down overview for combat, but it just seems like it'd be really enjoyable for exploring. Making a really simple implementation that will be useful in limited cases rather that some time-consuming absurd reworking of the whole thing seems far more doable.

KaosWarMonk

I like and use first person a lot. That said IMO it's a view primarily useful for exploration whilst tactical action is far better suited to the 3rd person views. I don't think BD should spend many cpu cycles on it, I think it's a nice to have and should stay fairly rudimentary as opposed to a fully fledged FPS style game mode.

JFK

Hmmm... I thought there was a way to lock camera angle, on a builder's end? Don't they do it for cutscenes, and overland mapping, maybe jousting in WCoC? Now I have to go see . . .

Either way, I love the camera hak, and wish there was a version of it for EE. If BD cares to implement unlocked camera, I'd support that entirely. Just because you can look at an incomplete skybox doesn't mean you have to, and with it unlocked you can still zoom back and up for tactical just as you can now.

-JFK

Yes, in PC Only category in the Lexicon, are details on camera settings : Set pitch, distance, etc. for the pc, Lock those settings, Release back to free, etc. Seems like a module builder could use them to specify how they want the camera to function within a given area.

Libertyisback

as a pvper/team pvper i do not find first person view useful at all. it's very difficult to have situational awareness---- but ive played mmos / fpses (mmos like Smite and Regnum Online) -- first person view is awesome and beautiful (usually nicest with over the shoulder view).

Calgacus

I think I heard in a recent livestream a new ini setting was mentioned relating to this but I cannot find it now. Is there a guide somewhere to explain the various ini settings?

MrDamage

@DerpCity
Explained how to do the camera ini settings in another thread but I can’t find it. Hopefully he’ll see the tag and shed some light unless he gets ninja’d.

Calgacus

Thanks, I found a thread of his in which the CameraMinDist setting in nwnplayer.ini is mentioned. I tried setting it to 0 then -1 and -5 but the best I could get was to place the camera inside the character at about chest height. If I could get it to be just above the PCs head at distance 0 then that might work. Or just a few inches in front of the characters nose, or even if it was at chest height then that might do for most uses.

bob_veng

i'd really love this. i prefer FP view wherever applicable. it would be nice to be able to use it in urban and peaceful areas

DerpCity

Unfortunately, CameraMinDist and CameraMaxDist only affect the zoom of the camera. I don't think they've implemented a way to change camera height.

However, I did find this on the vault. I don't know if it works in EE, but it might be worth giving a try in case it does.

KaosWarMonk

Calgacus said:

Thanks, I found a thread of his in which the CameraMinDist setting in nwnplayer.ini is mentioned. I tried setting it to 0 then -1 and -5 but the best I could get was to place the camera inside the character at about chest height. If I could get it to be just above the PCs head at distance 0 then that might work. Or just a few inches in front of the characters nose, or even if it was at chest height then that might do for most uses.

Did you try changing the camera mode? Use the * key when in game - driving camera is more head height than the default top down camera which zooms to the torso. I found -3 seemed to be a good fit. Change to driving camera and then hit the home key to go straight to minimum zoom.

Calgacus

I am using the development branch if that makes a difference. I see no difference in driving camera mode, and setting CameraMinDist to below 0 does not seem to make any difference than setting it at 0. I guess 0 is as low as it can get.

KaosWarMonk

Hmm, it works for me, this is what I've got in my nwnplayer.ini and driving camera fully zoomed is basically sitting at the PCs forehead. I'm running the latest general release via Beamdog client, not the dev branch.

CameraMinPitch=1.000000
CameraMaxPitch=130.000000
CameraMinDist=-3.000000
CameraMaxDist=25.000000

Edit - actually what race are you playing with? Seems driving camera with Halflings still zooms to the torso when I just tried it. Half-Orc, Human and Dwarf seem to do top of the head.

Edit 2 - now I'm confused... Tried Halflings in two other modules and the driving cam position is over the head...?? I dunno what's going on - you're on your own, good luck!

Calgacus

Thanks,
I tried your settings and some other races and mods. It worked well in some but not in others. In Eye of the Beholder EE it did not work at all. In SOU it worked as in HOTU - in one test with a dwarf the dwarfs head was rendered invisible. That dwarf character was one i recently made to play Eye of the Beholder. If I could get the camera a tiny bit higher and more forward - and if it would work in all mods - then it would be perfect. Currently the PC still blocks the cursor on the bottom half of the screen so it is not as easy to click on other things as would be ideal.

superfly2000

The fact that this game still is not catering to "over the shoulder" view like 99% of all the MMO's today is the main reason I am still here 16 years after the first release of this game...

KaosWarMonk

Should have probably have mentioned... The zooming to torso in driving cam thing in some modules exists in the old NWN too.

Kalindor

I would also greatly enjoy FP view for RP reasons. However, as mentioned above this would only be appealing to me if the skyboxes were changed to remove the "hole in the sky" that is visible with camera hacks.

Calgacus

Nice to see them talk about this issue in this Fridays livestream at time 35:35, not sure why the time encoded link is not working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIjGLBDKed8&feature=youtu.be&t=2135

Drakon

JuliusBorisov said:

It would be great to get more input about this from the community.

More camera control in general from settings or keybindings would be greatly appreciated, possibly in the form of sliders that manipulate camera height and tilt. There are times when I want to switch to a more level view so you can see what's ahead of you and some horizon/sky - most players never see those nice skyboxes Beamdog has opened up!

KaosWarMonk

Have been playing around some more with this, it's mostly ok, you can usually get something that works, with the exception of some modules centering on the PC's torso in driving mode for some reason.

A couple more useful settings would be camera X and Y (or is it Y and Z?) positions so you can tweak where the minimum zoom position ends up. It's a little low and to the left in some instances - although this might be the way the model is standing?

In game sliders or the like would be icing.

Drakon

An FYI to anyone reading: you can use the "Page Up"/Down Keys on the keyboard to adjust tilt on the fly.

Libertyisback

i really love the mouselook feature on nwn -- hold down middle mouse button and move mouse to pan -- this was essential for team pvp, as it meant you could run and engage or try to counter multiple targets at your rear.