Spring RTS Engine

Is it just me, or is this excellent view mode rendered unusable when not spectating by....

...not being able to view the edges of the map without spinning the camera all the time?

What I'm talking about is the "edge of map" limit on the camera position. The current way it works, the camera position can't go beyond the edge of the map, regardless of where abouts the camera is actually viewing.

This means if you have a base at the bottom of the map (south), you can't point your camera "up map" (north) and see your base.

This is by far the most flexible camera mode that's almost useable in real play, but it would be nice if you could view right up to the edge of the map, regardless of which way the camera is pointing.

Therefore please vote on whether you think it's worth allowing the camera to go beyond the edges of the map (like aircraft do).

Munch

I find this applicable to FPS veiw as well... there really needs to be some overlap outside of the edge of the map. It doesn't even have to be huge, the equivalent of 2x2 in mapping size would probably be fine, but some would be much appreciated.

I run into the same problem. There's a secondary problem too - you can't zoom to units in that view. Hit "ctrl-C" to "Zoom to Commander" and you'll find yourself staring at the landscape in front of the commander. Very useless.

Now, a feature request: make the minimap rotate with the camera in rotateable camera modes. Just add NSEW compass notes to each side of the map so we can maintain orientation. I find it horribly disorienting that when I drag the map left, the screen slides right when I'm looking down.

While we're suggesting spectator features, allow players to view in first person possession prespective ala the "c" key as spectator. I've always wanted to feel like part of the brawlie swarm or that one decicive pyro or even the dgun sniper comm as spectator... but the best you can do is a close zoom in FPS mode that is difficult to maintain and takes a while to set up.

no need to poll this.

maybe in some future release it will be there :)

I only polled because I wasn't sure if it was just me that was bugged by this - I didn't want to put a feature request in if it wasn't really seen as a problemo.

On the otherhand maybe I was just feeling inadequate with all these other polls going on =)

Thanks for the responses anyway!

Cheers

Munch

PS Just to clarify this is a perfectly fine mode to use when spectating - you have both hands free to do nothing except control the camera. The point of this was to make it more useable when playing the game.

PPS I support the rotating minimap idea too, though I suspect this may be a lot more work to implement!

SwiftSpear wrote:While we're suggesting spectator features, allow players to view in first person possession prespective ala the "c" key as spectator. I've always wanted to feel like part of the brawlie swarm or that one decicive pyro or even the dgun sniper comm as spectator... but the best you can do is a close zoom in FPS mode that is difficult to maintain and takes a while to set up.

Can you use 't' in spectator mode to track units? If you can, enable that then switch to FPS, that gives a nice third person following view of the unit.

Pxtl wrote:I run into the same problem. There's a secondary problem too - you can't zoom to units in that view. Hit "ctrl-C" to "Zoom to Commander" and you'll find yourself staring at the landscape in front of the commander. Very useless.

Yeah, this annoy me no end, too.

Isent it nice i always use FPS mode....

I use it for spectating and surveying areas etc but u actually use it whilst playing? that'd explain a LOT

Ahk the camera is all jittery in tracking mode unless you're in FPS, very annoying that I dont get ncie smooooth motion

Min3mat wrote:I use it for spectating and surveying areas etc but u actually use it whilst playing? that'd explain a LOT

On a small screen it's actually useful - and my monitor is tiny and crappy. On a small screen, you can see and select units well in the foreground, and point the screen such that something nearby that you just want to keep a vague eye on (like the front lines) is in the background.

I only use FPS camera mode... Though I do find that since I can't give order to the minimap I just tend to fly around the map and use the height and angles provided by FPS to allow me to quickly grab anything I want and send it to anywhere I want.

Though I wish I could book mark map locations, that'd save me a lot of time running around, esspecially on Wide Open Combat.

My only problem with being zoomed out in Spring is that the map is largely silent at that distance. I'd like to be able to A) hear what my camera's centered on... (like a telescopic microphone) or B) have the option of determining the audible range of unit sounds and such.

Hmm as for the edge of the map thing... I'm occationally bothered by it, but since I'm always rotating the view I almost never notice.

I also agree on the whole Ctrl+C thing, gets too close to be useful.

And I wish that "T" didn't always force me to tailgate whatever unit. I mean it's nice sometimes ,but sometimes I just want my camera to follow like OTA did, from a distance. (Centered and chasing the unit)

I agree about allowing "c" to be used in repalys, that'd be really nice. Esspecially since viewing from a unit's perspective is usually something that I know I seldom have time to do during any major action. That is at least as long as I don't mind not being able to give orders and I don't mind plausably losing that fight.

Lastly pressing F3 when in FPS mode places the unit who's complaining directly below my camera view without pointing me down.. (I'd prerfer if it just changed the horizontal rotation and shift my camera possition so that the unit is centered.)

And that's everything I have to say about the cameras in general. (Other than those little points I generally thing that the camera's are just great!)