Am I the only one to hate the camera?

[ianc]

I gave a brief look at the 6 pages of posts so far, but haven't seen anything relating to the camera.

I'm commenting in ref to the demo here, but I'm damned if I can get a satisfactory viewing experience. The controls section doesn't let you assign mouse buttons or mouse movement to a function. How do I easily pan my view around the battlefield or jump to a particular unit? I tried monkeying with this for an hour or so, but it just seems so painful to actually look around the battlefield compared to any CM game that it seems hardly worth the effort!

On the other hand, the game seems very detailed and worth getting to know (with certain tweaks).

Is no one else having trouble visually navigating the battlefield? How do you have your controls configured? Thanks,

ianc

[sandy]

The camera system is terrible - it is one of the reasons why I am no longer persisting with this game. Many others do have the same opinion.

When I asked why the excellent CM system was not used - I was told "This is not CM, and Battlefront did not code it"

It seems to me that this same answer is given to most of the posted criticisms of the game.

[Tofke]

i'have a fujitsu laptop so no mouse for me, then my camera config are :

pg up : high

pg dw : down

up arrow : to advance

down arrow : to move back

left arrow : rotate left

right arrow : rotate right

this settings are perfect for me...

Tofke

Beer Killer

[Destraex]

had probs at first.

THen got used to holding the middle mouse button down to spin the camera. Was fine once muscles developed

[pwncake]

@tofke,

no mouse , that sound **** to me,

i like the mouse in TOW and had the same problems others had when i first used the camera (also a cmxx boy)

But after a few frustrating hours i got the feeling and now it easy to scroll over the battlefield and press enter the only thing i still hate is when i press enter i go to a unit view and when i want to see something else i first have to enter again then iam still in the same position when i entered have to go up. Why not 1 till 6 in heights so 1 is down to the ground and 6 up in the air.

[Slapaho]

I use the numpad to rotate the camera and look up/down, the arrow keys for moving around the battlefield and the scroll on my mouse to move the camera hieght up/down. I like the camera controls, but as has been mentioned I still struggle when I have selected a unit using enter, which is great if you want to zoom somewhere 'instantly' on the battlefield, but then cumbersome to free yourself.

[Moon]

I am using the mouse wheel (hold for free look) and the arrow keys. Works like a charm. If you don't like the mouse wheel you can assign that feature (free look) to a key, say, Ctrl.

Martin

[BFCElvis]

ianc,you can change the keys for camera control. It is VERY simple. For simple pan left or right I assigned the "A" and "S" key so I can use my left hand to pan while my right remains on the mouse. And to go directly to a unit double click the units icon or click the small map on the bottom left of the screen to just to that units area.

[Pas De Charge]

The thing i don't get is that after listening to a lot of people saying cm was better than tow i dl'ed the demo for cm bb and god DAMN.

Admittedly it was only a fairly superficial look at the game but the camera was DIRE, as far as i could tell i had to click on that cluster of arrows to manipulate the view.... unless i was too lazy/stupid to realise the was a better way of doing it.

I have no idea why everyone likes the cm camera soo much.

[Moon]

Years of practice I suppose

Martin

[Jippo]

The camera system is actually the same as is used in all 3d-modeling platforms. Indsutry standard almost. Not saying that million flies couldn't be wrong, but generally professionals try to find the easiest way to do their work. Now I'm talking about the middle mouse button of course.

Press it to rotate the camera, and scroll to change the altitude(or zoom in on ground level).

Moving mouse to the edges of the screen initiate the camera to move in that direction.

And then there is the minimap, to get fast from A to B, click the location you want to go in map.

I don't know how difficult that can be, for me it was intuitive straight away. Granted that I do work in 3d environments.

[Fetchez la Vache]

Some people have better eye-hand co-ordination...

[Reichenberg]

ianc, I had the exact same problems with ToW at the beginning. It helped a lot for me to switch the camera to "Attach to Center". This way when pressing the middle mouse button the camera centers to the point of the cursor and you can circle around that point by moving the mouse. This way you can (more or less) center the view to every visible position on the map.

I am absolutely happy with this camera set-up now.

Uwe

[Tofke]

Originally posted by pwncake:

@tofke,

no mouse , that sound **** to me,

Yes i know but it's a laptop, so no mouse and no numpad..., playing in my sofa in "horizontal position"

Tofke

Beer Killer

[Webwing]

-

I got crazy trying to control the camera at first. Felt like it would never feel natural. The camera in CM seems more intuitive IMO.

Now i zip around the map super fast in TOW. Find the camera great!

--

[MikoyanPT]

For me only mouse, middle mouse button to lock.

And then practice, practice and a bit more practice.

Now i realy enjoy the camera sistem.

In fact i never use the keyboard in this game.

[nonickch]

camera seems ok.

Sure, I'd like to be able to reassign free-cam button to something else other than middle mouse button, but it's ok (as long as this mouse I have works and I don't have to swap to the 2-button reserve mouse)

As it was stated before, this is kinda the standard way of navigating around a map in 3D apps/games.

[Vergeltung]

Originally posted by Pas De Charge:

The thing i don't get is that after listening to a lot of people saying cm was better than tow i dl'ed the demo for cm bb and god DAMN.

Admittedly it was only a fairly superficial look at the game but the camera was DIRE, as far as i could tell i had to click on that cluster of arrows to manipulate the view.... unless i was too lazy/stupid to realise the was a better way of doing it.

I have no idea why everyone likes the cm camera soo much.

well, the camera set up in CMBB/CMAK is just easier, and thus, superior. that being said, I am trying not to let the bad camera in ToW get me down.

it's just not as user friendly as it should be, and is my only (and I mean ONLY) complaint about ToW.

[wokelly]

I actually didnt have a problem with the camera at all. Found it very easy to use, didnt change a thing.

[Freaky]

I realy like the cam controls, after a while playing around with sensitive settings it works perfect for me

[Directive#21]

If you played CM regularly like me, the camera will take time to get familiar with. I had a hard time at first...now its second nature... no complaints.

I played a CMBB quick battle the other day and the camera gave me fits.... I kept trying to use the mouse wheel.

For longtime CMers.... give this game some time it really grows on you!!! It may not be for everyone but if you give it a fair shake it can be very rewarding.

-Zach

[ianc]

Hmmm... Sounds like few people are really very happy with it, but a lot of people have learned to live with it.

I remember my thoughts on this when CM came out. It seems to me that the ideal viewing mechanism is already in use in first person games. The good old wasd key combo coupled with the mouselook. Nearly everyone is already familiar with this control setup and it is much easier to use than the current setup. It just seems like a no brainer to leverage that existing arrangment to make the camera controls a non issue; I can't imagine why that opportunity was missed. You know you have a bad design if people need to 'learn' and 'practice' with the controls; manipulation of the viewing functionality should not need to be 'mastered', but should be usable at once, intuitively.

I did get used to CM after awhile, but this is inferior to CM in many ways. Perhaps if the control options were fleshed out it would allow more customizability and a greater degree of satisfaction among players.

I'll continue to look at the game, but I'll defer on my decision to purchase it until I see what sorts of enhancements BF intends to consider in this (and other) regards.

Thanks for the repsonses,

ianc

[flintlock]

One of the first things I commented on after trying the ToW demo, was the camera control. I found it a little funky at first, but after using it for a short while, I discovered it's actually quite intuitive. It helps that it's customizable too.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

Originally posted by sandy:

The camera system is terrible - it is one of the reasons why I am no longer persisting with this game. Many others do have the same opinion.

I read this and almost thought it was a troll. Then I noticed sandy's forum number and realized that he's an old timer. And I believe that this is a terrific example of just how closed-minded members of the CoCM are, of how stunted they are in their perspective of what constitutes a proper game function, in this case camera controls.

The fact of the matter is that the camera controls in ToW are VASTLY superior to that found in any of the CMx family of games, PERIOD. If the poster had played other 3D wargames, TC2M, Silent Hunter or Panzer Command, he'd realize how dated the camera in the CMx games truly is, being unwieldy and VERY laborious to manipulate.

That sandy apparently believes that the CMx camera is superior to that found in more modern 3D titles suggests that he either hasn't played other titles, or has done so very, very seldom, and never caught on to how flexible and easy to use that they truly are. It's as if he has grown up in a world that he's convinced is flat, and isn't about to contemplate that it might be otherwise.

In closing, I want to extend a courtesy to sandy. I want to tell him that I don't consider him a pea-brain or deficient in some other category of intellect. He is, however, very ignorant of gaming technology. his love and steadfast commitment to the Combat Mission family of games, duly noted.

PoE

[HardRock]

I use a programmable device for the left hand.(Ch throttle) I get around with the camera so fast it's not funny.

I don't even have to use the middle mouse button.

The camera is actually superior to CM.