I agree with all that "muchly."
External View [A definitive discussion]
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I think we are very lucky to even have debug cam. Do not open this pandora box discussion again pls lol
The debug cam could certainly use a few simple tweaks:
- Increase panning speed
- Increase allowable view distance (this would be super useful with the larger ships)
- Either position memory or maybe even settable preset positions for quick positioning
Other than those few little things, I think it serves it’s purpose very well.
Well, if the thread has already been necro-ed (by the OP, so extenuating circumstances?), I'd much rather have hardpoint cameras or ones analogous to the SRV turret. So we could see under the ship while docking, or behind the ship during combat. I know this would require a new UI, but I think that would be a fair trade-off.
The Asp X has such a view, very handy when landing.
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Kinda, but the bottom UI panel always gets in the way.
Star Citizen has what I think is the right idea about this: The camera should allow you to make as cool movies as possible!
Apart from the same free-move mode that we have, the Star Citizen camera also has orbit mode, as well as things like changing the amount of background/foreground blur, preset camera positions and depth of field. See:
https://youtu.be/HCQBI52KWu4
Apart from the same free-move mode that we have, the Star Citizen camera also has orbit mode, as well as things like changing the amount of background/foreground blur, preset camera positions and depth of field. See:
https://youtu.be/HCQBI52KWu4
Nonsense - The debug camera is a popular feature which, contrary to the opinion of "the objectors" before its release, in reality causes no game issues or imbalance.
It's been 18 months now, so it would be nice for a few improvements to it IMHO. I'm sure it would help FD shift a few more pain jobs at the very least, if not improve the videos being captured by the community which no doubt help sales.
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Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Indeed it hasn't caused any issues - as the player cannot control the ship when the debug camera is active....
Almost as if they haven't changed their minds and you're STILL flogging a dead horse...nearly two years later. (Note: I would be happy with some out-of-combat 3pp viewpoints but really, the discussion's been had already, move on)
'Very lucky'? What, like it's a treat or something? What an odd comment.
Considering that there are literally zero gameplay advantages of any kind to the debug camera because you cannot control your ship whilst using it, making some improvements to it so that as an absolute minimum the camera could be moved further away from the ship is long overdue. It's ridiculous that in a game that has been live for over two years we're still stuck to using what was a gimped developer tool for taking external screenshots.
That goes double when you consider the amount of free publicity the game gets from players taking screenies and publishing them. Just one of the several screenshots threads on this forum has over 5,000 posts, many of which include multiple pictures. Taking every single one of those will have felt like the player was fighting the game when they should have been using specifically created functionality introduced to enhance it.
From a programming point of view there is nothing complex at all about a camera. It's a long overdue upgrade, I've never understood the devs reticence about it and I have never seen a sensible argument against it which isn't rooted in the concept of it becoming a 'look at target' camera such as those you see in many flight sims and combat games. Since the debug camera cannot possibly function in that way because again, you cannot control your ship whilst using it, it really does strike me that the naysayers are either arguing against something that isn't being asked for to begin with, or frankly are just vindictive enough to want to deny other players something that they have no personal interest in.
See above. If someone could give me a single cogent reason as to why there is a problem with the request (and believe me I've read the vast majority of this thread without seeing one) I'd hold my hands up and say fair enough. The devs answer has always seemed to be 'because we don't want to'. I don't think it's unreasonable to challenge that. there are plenty of examples of things that they said 'we don't want to' about which are now either in the game or in line to be added after they fnally decided that listening to what the people who buy the game want is actually a good idea sometimes.
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Sadly with FD attitude towards any form of spectating our ship from the outside and complete lack if any improvements to DC I think its a living miracle that we can still use it. For me it is clear at this point that FD wont do anything more in that aspect not because its difficult, but because they choose not to.
I was very active in this topic advocating for "beauty shot cam" and debunking "combat advantage" thing but today I think we got very lucky that FD even listen to us in some extend.
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I'd like some QoL on the cam too, but I feel what we really need as well is a suite of post-production replay recording tools.
For the ship itself I'd like some selectable views from cams on the hull or even external feeds, because incoming video data is very SF, and much cooler than the current nothing. It'd be cool for example to pull feed from a station of your approach, landing and undocking as these processes could stand a bit more layering without adding actual complexity; they should just feel busier to add flavour. Nobody (maybe a very few) really NEEDS alternate docking views either external or ship-mounted to actually play Elite successfully, because practice does make it second nature and also the highly-forgiving BouncyCastle Pad Effect, but it really doesn't make much sense on one level to have multimillion cred vessels that by default are supposed to hot-stick every landing blind. Buttcam. This would be a nice improvement without going outside the ship itself like astral projection.
For making cool movies and screenies though, post-prod tools used on pre-recorded events would be very useful. Let the players get Gran Turismo-levels of shot editing. The work done with the primitive or non-existent tools already looks good a lot of the time, and letting players loose on a good editor will produce endless Elite art. This tangent I feel allows immersioneers and film buffs alike the most stuff in their own domains without causing too much faction aggro between IM FLYIN A SHIP FROM THE INSIDE ALREADY and OMG DID YOU EVEN SEE STAR WARS MAN.
Hrm... thinking also of livefeed players looking for the very best broadcasting, the more we work on crew, the more chance there would be for some type of telepresence camera drone, operable like an SLF. We already have the technology... I think this could be built with what the game currently possesses in terms of technical capability. K, there, almost everyone covered, I think.
Feed camera data into the cockpit, available from various sources. Doesn't have to be super hi-def on the cockpit feed but good enough to see what you're looking at. Film stuff totally live with a crew-controlled telepresence drone; alternately for non-crewed ships or ships not using a drone operator, let the drone do all the filming on a set of selectable instructions (Track Wingmate 1, for example). Add the ability to save the feed to a post-production editor.
I am sure there are glaring holes in these ideas somewares, but my main thrust is to avoid the whole circular drain this topic usually becomes by trying to find the coolest parts of the gameplay for both "sides". People seem to want immersion, art and information, in varying and occasionally conflicting ways and amounts. If there are big holes then please fill them in so we can get the most fun for everyone out of this thing.
Also now I miss the TIE Fighter footage editor.
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What about the other way around: FD got very lucky that they even listen to us in some extent.
Try and imagine videos and screenies feed state without that feature today. Even if it's rather weak, for an external cam.
They certainly should feel lucky hah, I bet all those great screenshots and clips on YT with debug cam made some folks open their wallet and buy ship skins. But still I`m pessimistic about anything happening to improve debug cam - hope FD will prove me wrong.
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But since it's back from beyond...
It would be nice to have a little work done with this - more zoom distance and a little reorientation so the camera actually starts out looking at our ships. I spend more time playing "Where's My Ship" with it than I do actually taking screenshots.
Lets be honest... debug cam is piece of crap and all what we want is to do some Elite Art for screenshots and videos. Many people find this as main aspect of game, so why cant we have fun doing it the way it should be done? All we want is some small improvements to be able to take more from game and show it more to the world.
Oh hello old thread
Anyway - I've found that ship launched fighters make for excellent free-moving camera ships - when you use the external camera from them - just switch FA Off whilst flying one, and gently fly it on a desired course (like a fly-by of your mothership for example), then go into debug cam and film away. Works a treat.
Anyway - I've found that ship launched fighters make for excellent free-moving camera ships - when you use the external camera from them - just switch FA Off whilst flying one, and gently fly it on a desired course (like a fly-by of your mothership for example), then go into debug cam and film away. Works a treat.
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