This is very well put.
External View [A definitive discussion]
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This is very well put.
I keep coming back to this basic point. When I play I spend so much time staring forward out of my cockpit at.. well stars, always just stars. I know there is this fantastic sun blazing away right behind me, or this planet with the sun rising behind or the magnificent wheel of a space station but I can't see any of these things. I never really get to see any of these things properly unless I stop what I'm doing and point my ship at them. So in order to really see the environments in the game I have to stop playing it
Even then I still don't get to see my ship in that place.Let me tell my story, my way, for me. Let me see my ship and the environment as I play so that I can weave the narrative of my journey. I'm not hurting anyone by doing this, I'm not compromising the artistic integrity of the game or unbalancing combat, I'm just immersing myself into the game world and enjoying the experience more.. Far more. Than I would otherwise.
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I keep coming back to this basic point. When I play I spend so much time staring forward out of my cockpit at.. well stars, always just stars. I know there is this fantastic sun blazing away right behind me, or this planet with the sun rising behind or the magnificent wheel of a space station but I can't see any of these things. I never really get to see any of these things properly unless I stop what I'm doing and point my ship at them. So in order to really see the environments in the game I have to stop playing it
Let me tell my story, my way, for me. Let me see my ship and the environment as I play so that I can weave the narrative of my journey. I'm not hurting anyone by doing this, I'm not compromising the artistic integrity of the game or unbalancing combat, I'm just immersing myself into the game world and enjoying the experience more.. Far more. Than I would otherwise.
A vibrating plea
Here's how I think the devs could offer everything the photographers love with virtually nothing cockpit onlyists hate.
You should definitely be able to admire the external view at your whim, especially as an explorer (a profession I look forward to and would DEFINITELY like to see more depth added to). Present-day satellites and space probes are able to acquire stunningly-detailed external images. I see no reason to "confine" a spacefarer of the future to a in-the-cockpit-seat-only point of view.
The solution is After-the-Event-Picture-Delivery. You have a camera drone that you can launch and recover whenever you want, very quickly, to capture some pretty sight, but you can only view the pictures captured once you get inside a station (or only in the ships's living quarter, not in the cockpit). The camera captures "raw panoramic data", that you need to "download" or "process" to select the viewpoints you like.
"Selfie" variant: You could purchase a "camera drone cloud" you would launch and have follow you for a (limited) time, to capture your exploits to "raw dynamic cloud data".
LORE. Q: Why do pilots need to dock to a station to see their captured footage? A: The technology needed to process such data is licensed by a specialized imaging company like, let's say, "Zenith Astrographics". Such licensing is affordable to space stations, that offer image processing as part of their services, but not to individual pilots.
For AT-EVENT-PICTURE-DELIVERY the following ideas could offer a workable solution (I favor the above "after-the-event-picture-delivery" mechanics though)
- PRESERVING IMMERSION. The pilot switches his view to the left side panel, selects the external view tab, and is shown a video feed, at which he looks closer, until it fills his whole field of view. The transition can be eased into by some visual glitches/noise/banding, as the external camera is launched into space and adjusts it's exposure and focus as it starts operating.
- SLOW-MOVING CAMERA. The external camera drone moves at 1-2 m/s, so you need to stand still or move very slowly, so you don't lose operational contact with it.
- PARALYZED PILOT. You can't operate your ship at all as you're fully focused on the side-panel video feed.
- FIXED CAMERA. The camera is fixed once launched, having no propulsion. It can only swivel around. It is not recoverable. You can only carry one. (This is probably too much hassle for a space-photographer)
You should definitely be able to admire the external view at your whim, especially as an explorer (a profession I look forward to and would DEFINITELY like to see more depth added to). Present-day satellites and space probes are able to acquire stunningly-detailed external images. I see no reason to "confine" a spacefarer of the future to a in-the-cockpit-seat-only point of view.
The solution is After-the-Event-Picture-Delivery. You have a camera drone that you can launch and recover whenever you want, very quickly, to capture some pretty sight, but you can only view the pictures captured once you get inside a station (or only in the ships's living quarter, not in the cockpit). The camera captures "raw panoramic data", that you need to "download" or "process" to select the viewpoints you like.
"Selfie" variant: You could purchase a "camera drone cloud" you would launch and have follow you for a (limited) time, to capture your exploits to "raw dynamic cloud data".
LORE. Q: Why do pilots need to dock to a station to see their captured footage? A: The technology needed to process such data is licensed by a specialized imaging company like, let's say, "Zenith Astrographics". Such licensing is affordable to space stations, that offer image processing as part of their services, but not to individual pilots.
For AT-EVENT-PICTURE-DELIVERY the following ideas could offer a workable solution (I favor the above "after-the-event-picture-delivery" mechanics though)
- PRESERVING IMMERSION. The pilot switches his view to the left side panel, selects the external view tab, and is shown a video feed, at which he looks closer, until it fills his whole field of view. The transition can be eased into by some visual glitches/noise/banding, as the external camera is launched into space and adjusts it's exposure and focus as it starts operating.
- SLOW-MOVING CAMERA. The external camera drone moves at 1-2 m/s, so you need to stand still or move very slowly, so you don't lose operational contact with it.
- PARALYZED PILOT. You can't operate your ship at all as you're fully focused on the side-panel video feed.
- FIXED CAMERA. The camera is fixed once launched, having no propulsion. It can only swivel around. It is not recoverable. You can only carry one. (This is probably too much hassle for a space-photographer)
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As I said before and based on the arguments I've seen so far have 0 weight as they are not valid reasons to deny other players who BADLY want this feature. Can you imagine Flight Simulator X without external cameras or A10 without them? no, so why the hell does anyone object to this here, it just seems idiotic.
I've a lovely skin, with shiny decals and I can only see them in a station, whoop de bloody doo. Add in a basic pan, tilt and zoom camera and have done with it. For the purists who for some reason only what an adjust FoV cockpit view for some reason disable it in open play and only have it work in solo or group play job done.
I've a lovely skin, with shiny decals and I can only see them in a station, whoop de bloody doo. Add in a basic pan, tilt and zoom camera and have done with it. For the purists who for some reason only what an adjust FoV cockpit view for some reason disable it in open play and only have it work in solo or group play job done.
Would love the option for 3thd person camera view for vanity shots (nice ship/look at my guys armor or uniform etc.) but don't want it to be used for combat. What would really be cool is a playback cam of missions,dogfights & boarding.
This could be a invaluable training tool. I am also a backer for SC & they are considering this as well, so it has my vote if it is implemented in this manner.
Shadowma
This could be a invaluable training tool. I am also a backer for SC & they are considering this as well, so it has my vote if it is implemented in this manner.
Shadowma
A waste of the developer's time in my opinion. When they totally have nothing else to work on, then maybe.
It would nice to be able to get an overall view of your ship even if it was just in the station. Have no problem with an external view in flight. If it was watching the ship fly by from a fixed point or followed the ship from a certain angle but did not change orientation with the ship so it was useless for flying and combat maybe that would make the majority of players happy.
The negative arguments sound like 18th century Victorian thinking, freedom of expression for me includes having the right to play a video game the way I enjoy it, not how someone else says it should be enjoyed because of immersion/reality/blah blah, simply allow me the choice to use external views / 3rd person or not.
The whole argument has been beaten to death ! It's ridiculous as already there are many great suggestions to limit such option to soothe the sensitivities of the naysayers without impacting on their precious game experience [sarcasm]
Please Frontier just go ahead and enable external views already !
The whole argument has been beaten to death ! It's ridiculous as already there are many great suggestions to limit such option to soothe the sensitivities of the naysayers without impacting on their precious game experience [sarcasm]
Please Frontier just go ahead and enable external views already !
What a load of twaddle. "Help help, I'm being oppressed!" Really? Get a grip and/or a life.
The thing is, Frontier are big on selling ED as a long journey/experience you can take part in... Thing is, as it stands now, we're all missing the opportunity to take photos of that experience.
ie: Taking a screenshot of your start up Sidewinder at a nice interesting new station etc...
ie: Taking a screenshot of your start up Sidewinder at a nice interesting new station etc...
You do realise the facility is already there, it's just been disabled, yes?
You do realise this is already in the code right? You do realise that they added the disable orbit lines option which has even less value? It appears most people turned back on when they realised the orbit lines where actually useful tools.
If they want me to purchase another skin they need to add it, as at the moment I am not opening my wallet again until this is in the game so I can appreciate what I spent my money on.
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Oops, you just said what I just repeated.. lol
The main issue I have with the "not in combat" line is that it implies that an external view adds a huge benefit which I just cannot see as you lose so much information with the lose of the HUD and sensors it'd no way be worth it. Additionally, if you want to be 100% fair FD should disable multi-monitor support and have a fixed FoV during combat as if you've 3+ monitors you have a huge situation awareness advantage over single monitor players
An external view basically turns ED into EVE Cam 2.0, no thank you, not interested. Also, of course if given the chance this view option will be abused to hell as characters begin to sit iced over in core system belts tooled up waiting to ambush people via their extended view mode there. External has its place, its via EVA when we get it. Hell ... I'll even take my Leica 4000 3D outside to take pro images for Instagram 10000.
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