Can we talk about the camera controls?

[Soylent]

The biggest hurdle for me in this game is the camera and control system. I often get confused, especially in the heat of battle, when the ship is not flying the direction I want it to. Or when trying to look in a different direction, I end up either turning the ship or firing my weapons

The confusing part is that switching between views is two different keys (tab and space), and in each the mouse or mouse buttons do different things.

The two camera modes [tab] are turret mode, where you hold down the left mouse button to look around, and normal mode, where holding the left mouse button steers the ship.

And then there's the targetting mode [space], which can be activated in either turret or normal mode, and it makes the view follow the mouse cursor. I can't use targetting mode because the rubber-banding effect makes me nauseous.

All this makes it difficult to manage when in the heat of a battle and you're trying to find the right view to locate an enemy, at the same time using WASD to steer your ship so your weapons can hit them. I'm constantly hitting space or tab accidentally and then cycling through tab/space trying to get the right view. The icons that show which view mode you're in are very small (I didn't even know what they meant for a long time).

I end up just staying in normal with Fire At Will enabled, and steering my ship using the keyboard so it can keep shooting. I only use turret mode when I want to look behind me.

My suggestion:
Either make targetting mode a cockpit view so it's more like you're manually controlling the ship, or change the view so that I'm looking straight ahead through a HUD. Either way the mouse cursor should be locked in the center rather than the ship following it.
Add a "snap to target" or "follow target" option in turret mode (like a mode between manually tracking and using Fire At Will), or make turret mode like a first-person view from the turret (like the HUD mode).
And please remove the rubber band effect. I'd rather have the camera turn at a constant speed rather than accelerate and decelerate

[mmihokovic]

Camera will get a few more additions, like target lock and first person view. It should help quite a bit. And thanks for elaborating in detail why you find these issues problematic!

[Tanvaras]

I am interested in knowing about the rubberbanding effect you talk about, I have yet to experience it in many hours of play. Have you possibly adjusted the mouse speed in settings? I know I have mine set quite low and its smooth as silk when I am orbiting my ship in combat whilst steering with WSAD. :)

[Crow 2-5]

i just press the space button, that works for me while steering with WASD like Tanvaras said

[TrotTheBot]

OP: rubber band effect - you mean smoothing of camera to be able to remove, I reckon you've got the Freelook camera Warthunder like in mind?

[Corporal Jones]

Could i just add that when in a fight or trying to board (which i am crap at and always loose all my marines!!) would there be any chance to fix the match target speed "G" order. I`m not sure its working. Maybe a bleep to confirm it when its used or a message of some sort. Also how can one see the speed of other ships ?? Thanks

[Soylent]

Originally posted by Tanvaras - 7th July :( BAH!:

I am interested in knowing about the rubberbanding effect you talk about, I have yet to experience it in many hours of play. Have you possibly adjusted the mouse speed in settings? I know I have mine set quite low and its smooth as silk when I am orbiting my ship in combat whilst steering with WSAD. :)

It's not the mouse speed itself... It's hard to explain, and I'm sure there's a proper term for it that I don't know. Basically, when you move the mouse to look, the camera has a slight delay before reacting. It's like it slightly accelerates, then when you stop the mouse, the view decelerates before it stops. And the reason it makes me sick is because it does this looking left right and also up and down (well, any direction in 360 degrees).

It's kind of like the lag that VR headsets have, where you turn your head and there's a very slight delay before the camera can react (and it makes many people nauseous). It's similar to what they talk about here: http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/vr-sickness-the-rift-and-how-game-developers-can-help/

I think one of the things that would help is being in a first person view rather than 3rd person. Because it might be related to the UI not moving at all while the viewscreen moves, so remove the UI (and showing like a fighter jet HUD) and it should help. That or making the acceleration zero or constant.

[Soylent]

Originally posted by tomislav.the.devilkin:

OP: rubber band effect - you mean smoothing of camera to be able to remove, I reckon you've got the Freelook camera Warthunder like in mind?

I haven't played Warthunder, but yes, like a freelook camera

[Crache]

Originally posted by Soylent:

It's not the mouse speed itself... It's hard to explain, and I'm sure there's a proper term for it that I don't know. Basically, when you move the mouse to look, the camera has a slight delay before reacting.

It's called camera lerp. It doesn't bother me in this particular game, but I can see how it might be useful to have an option to disable it. Whether it is problematic might also depend on whether you're viewing from first or third person, so the option might have to be separated between them.

[Soylent]

Originally posted by Crache:

Originally posted by Soylent:

It's not the mouse speed itself... It's hard to explain, and I'm sure there's a proper term for it that I don't know. Basically, when you move the mouse to look, the camera has a slight delay before reacting.

It's called camera lerp. It doesn't bother me in this particular game, but I can see how it might be useful to have an option to disable it. Whether it is problematic might also depend on whether you're viewing from first or third person, so the option might have to be separated between them.

Lol, thanks... I knew there had to be a name for it. I think I prefer "camera derp" ;)

[Tal Maru]

there is a camera track target keybind now