Need Advil after Using Camera Commands

[Schutzenpanzerwagen]

Hi, more Newbie questions again, this time about camera controls.

There seem to be a dizzying array of commands. They rapidly swing my view from one side of the battlefield to the other, and I often need Advil after playing a while, detracting from the intellectual beauty of the game.

What I'd like is to just use the arrow keys:

^

|

<-- * -->

|

v

for 2-D control, plus one modifier key for 3-D (e.g., ALT for up/down), and another for rotating (e.g., CONTROL for clockwise/counterclockwise) around, and a last one (e.g., SHIFT for pitch up/pitch down).

It's too bad I can't assign to the arrow keys, or assign modifier keys to the regular letters. With the latter, I could use the default movement commands and then use shift+letter for direct commands.

I try the screen edges and rapidly move over the battlefield and end up beyond the edge. I try rotating and it happens so rapidly I literally do start to get a headache.

Sometimes I end up looking at the flowers or several hundred feet about the battlefield.

Does anyone have suggestions of easy, or favorite, ways to move the camera around the battlefield?

Most likely this is covered in a previous thread, so feel free to refer me there.

Thanks,

Bill

PS I'm not using the mouse now, just the track pad. Also, if anyone has had any luck with key macro programs such as Quickeys, for allowing assignments to arrows, or using modifier keys with letters, please let me know!

[agusto]

Does anyone have suggestions of easy, or favorite, ways to move the camera around the battlefield?

Most likely this is covered in a previous thread, so feel free to refer me there.

I personally prefer the following configuration, wich i called "first-person-shooter-style" in another thread on that topic:

WASD (equal to the arrow keys) for 2D movement

Mousewheel up/down for height adjustments

Right click and hold while moving the mouse for rotating the camera to any desired direction. This has the advantage of beeing able to control the speed with wich the camera turns.

X/C keys for zooming in and out (rarley used, though recommendable for checking LOS/LOF).

To me, who has playing lots of first person shooters in the past, this way of controlling the camera apears to be the most "natural". I never had any problems with it and i find the cameramovement i get to be nice and smooth. Besides that this way of controling the camera has the advantage that all important controls are covered by a seperate finger, so you can use them simultaneusly. You can for example move forward, adjust height and camera angle at the same time.

Hope i could help.

[MikeyD]

You don't use the mouse controls? left/right button and wheel. I haven't touched the primary keyboard movement commands in years. After you've masterd mouse controls its practically like operating a flight sim. A hint, though. One thing you must do to keep from going crazy is to *keep track of where your cursor is*. You're caught up in a battle, haven't noticed your cursor has migrated to to the edge of the screen, you touch your mouse and ZOOM! off you go!

[womble]

Hi, more Newbie questions again, this time about camera controls.

There seem to be a dizzying array of commands. They rapidly swing my view from one side of the battlefield to the other, and I often need Advil after playing a while, detracting from the intellectual beauty of the game.

What I'd like is to just use the arrow keys:

^

|

<-- * -->

|

v

for 2-D control, plus one modifier key for 3-D (e.g., ALT for up/down), and another for rotating (e.g., CONTROL for clockwise/counterclockwise) around, and a last one (e.g., SHIFT for pitch up/pitch down).

It's too bad I can't assign to the arrow keys, or assign modifier keys to the regular letters. With the latter, I could use the default movement commands and then use shift+letter for direct commands.

I try the screen edges and rapidly move over the battlefield and end up beyond the edge. I try rotating and it happens so rapidly I literally do start to get a headache.

Sometimes I end up looking at the flowers or several hundred feet about the battlefield.

Does anyone have suggestions of easy, or favorite, ways to move the camera around the battlefield?

Most likely this is covered in a previous thread, so feel free to refer me there.

Thanks,

Bill

PS I'm not using the mouse now, just the track pad. Also, if anyone has had any luck with key macro programs such as Quickeys, for allowing assignments to arrows, or using modifier keys with letters, please let me know!

You've missed out one of the best and most useful methods of driving the camera, though I'm not sure how useful it will be with a trackpad (which is a suboptimal input device, to say the least). If you click and hold the left mouse button, and then move it just slightly from the position the cursor was when you first pressed the button, the camera will track in the direction you move the mouse. The further you move the notional mouse cursor, the faster it tracks. Similarly, if you click and hold the RMB, and move the mouse cursor, it will rotate the camera, again with the speed of movement dependent on the distance you've moved the mouse cursor. Both these things are dynamic. You can pan/track at various speeds without letting go of any buttons and the control is usually pretty fine.

Personally, I use a Logitech G700 mouse with many buttons, including sidescroll. I have a profile for CM which has the "forward" and "back" buttons emulate the up and down arrows, and the sidescroll emulates the left and right arrows. Combining this with the mouse-button-activated rotations and I've got a pretty good free-flying camera, so long as I don't want to change altitude. Sometimes on tree-heavy maps, there's some overrun on the rotate once I take my finger off the button, but I'm not trying to pull of snap shots with it, so it's not a big deal.

Obviously, that approach is going to be challenging to implement on a trackpad, but then any sophisticated use would be.

[Bradley]

You don't use the mouse controls? left/right button and wheel. I haven't touched the primary keyboard movement commands in years. After you've masterd mouse controls its practically like operating a flight sim. A hint, though. One thing you must do to keep from going crazy is to *keep track of where your cursor is*. You're caught up in a battle, haven't noticed your cursor has migrated to to the edge of the screen, you touch your mouse and ZOOM! off you go!

THIS is all you need.

[Artofwar]

Don't forget about clicking on a unit and pressing the TAB key it takes to the unit for a close in shot.

[Quintus Sertorius]

Personally I dislike the mouse controls and prefer the default keyboard settings.

I suspect your physical setup goes a long way toward determining which configuration suits you. If you're using a trackpad I assume you're playing on a laptop, in which case it's probably best if you keep fiddling with the keys until you find something that feels comfortable.

I can say that once you find a good configuration the camera functionality is solid, and you cease thinking about it, so keep trying.

[JonS]

SHIFT+Click to jump to a spot. Very handy. That plus TABbing to units covers most of my camera movement needs.

[Sublime]

I thought it was CTRL+Click?

You can shift+click to select multiple units

Also double clicking on a unit will select all the units in it's formation (platoon) if you select a company or battalion commander it highlights all.

+ and - cycle through units. You can bind keys, I think it'd be best if you just bound keys to move the map forward back, up and down

Also dont forget the zoom in and out, on my comp. z and x. This is important! If only because some scenario designers use the zoom and dont zoom it out, often thing's will seem 'off' until I realize I've been playing at 1.5 magnification for an hour =(

But I really think you should just buy a mouse. Doesnt even have to be an expensive one, for example my battered mouse often 'disconnects' itself for a moment (comp stops seeing it, wires are getting old and pulled on) and I lose control of my mouse for a few moments. Still, does the job. I couldn't play CM on just a track pad - no way.

[JonS]

I thought it was CTRL+Click?

Bah. Probably. I don't even look at the keyboard for stuff like that ... so it's ButtonOverThere+Click

But I really think you should just buy a mouse.

Yep. It's astonishing that this even needs to be said, really.

[Fizou]

The mouse is the way to go. Use left and right mouse to move and rotate, it will soon be as natural as anything.

[Schutzenpanzerwagen]

Thanks guys for all the answers.

I'll try the different approaches recommended, and it's nice to see the variety of approaches employed by different players.

I confess I do have a mouse, but have been lazing on the bed with my Mac to read the news and such. I can see I need I whole new approach now and need to reform my ways. Our kitten has also been jumping on the keyboard, which can throw one's game off (OK, that was my last excuse).

Clearly, it's time to clear off the kitchen table, put the MacBook down and get back to using a mouse. Touch works for Combat Mission: Touch, but not so well here.

Thanks again for the thoughtful answers,

Bill

PS I think I'd read about that 'dynamic control' but thought it was with respect to the sides of the screen and how far you were from the center, the further the faster, but I clearly got that wrong! That was one of the problems then...

[womble]

Touch works for Combat Mission: Touch, but not so well here.

I think a multi-touch interface for CM could work very well if it was designed as a specific option, but that's probably true of many interfaces, and the "if" is the thing that is going to take time to catch on.

[Pak40]

You don't use the mouse controls? left/right button and wheel. I haven't touched the primary keyboard movement commands in years. After you've masterd mouse controls its practically like operating a flight sim. A hint, though. One thing you must do to keep from going crazy is to *keep track of where your cursor is*. You're caught up in a battle, haven't noticed your cursor has migrated to to the edge of the screen, you touch your mouse and ZOOM! off you go!

MikeyD, I have the same issue and it can be quite annoying. Maybe you can lobby Steve to add a toggle key to turn the pan/rotate off at the edge of the screen. It seems like you, I, and many others just use the left/right click on the mouse to navigate - if one does that then there is no need for the edge of screen pan/rotate.

[YankeeDog]

Hm. To each their own I guess...

I usually the left side keyboard for camera control -- WASD movement, Q & E for rotation, R & F for elevation, etc. Allows me to execute quite complex camera movements with just my left hand, leaving my right hand on the touchpad to take care of selecting units and issuing commands.

But I'm a touch typist so floating my hand in a "home" position and accessing a range of keys from there comes pretty naturally to me.

Exception is when my left hand takes on the important responsibility of beverage control, in which case I do sometimes use the touchpad for camera control. This is slower, because I have to move the camera to an appropriate viewpoint, and then select units and issue commands, rather than being able to do both simultaneously, but certain sacrifices must be made when multitasking .

[agusto]

I think a multi-touch interface for CM could work very well if it was designed as a specific option, but that's probably true of many interfaces, and the "if" is the thing that is going to take time to catch on.

i guess you would hard time setting up meaningful controls for users how would like to play combat mission with a steering wheel and pedals.