PLEASE ADD FREE CAMERA MOVEMENT/HIGHLIGHT ACTOR FEATURES

[Johnny.Danger]

This game has been out for a while now and the lack of these features is killing the game experience for me. To get my point across there are a few terms that are important to this topic and I will explain them so everyone understands exactly what I'm talking about.

Camera Location: This is where you visibly see the game map from. The point of view that you see. If you were floating in the air recording the game that would be your location. I know this is obvious but bear with me.

Pan: This is currently what we can do when holding down the middle mouse button down and moving the mouse left/right. It changes the angle relative to the camera view left or right. I have no issue with this.

*** Tilt: This is what I want to see in the game. This is the term used for looking up or down. Why can't we hold the middle mouse button down and move the mouse up/down to change the tilt?

Truck: I'll call this one the horizontal plane movement in the directions of North, East, South, West movement that we all understand as the A, S, D, W keys. This exists and is not an issue but I am mentioning it so we understand the term.

Dolly: This is when you move the camera forward/backward which we have in the current setup but I figured I'd mention it here. It is similar to zooming in/out but not exactly.

Camera Target: Finally this is an idea that hasn't been implemented in this game. Why not have a subtle blue target indicator somewhere on the map that shows what the camera is looking at? Scrolling past terrain simply projects it onto the surfaces. Then all the previously mentioned actions would make sense. Tilting up/down would do so with the camera target as the focal point. Think about it for a second and it will make sense.

Additionally, I can't seem to find a keyboard command that outlines friends and foes. When fire/smoke/poison/etc. is all over the battlefield and some enemies are dead, other knocked down and you're in a spell casting view it can be hard to determine which enemies are alive and should be targeted, etc. Why isn't there a key that simply shows actor information in combat and highlights their 3d models with a color like green (alive ally), red (alive foe), dark green (dead ally), grey (dead foe), or blue (neutral actor) that shows through environmental effects??? Seriously guys.

In addition to this is the lack of synergy of the mini-map and the world view in regards to direction. I prefer having my mini-map facing North always and there is no keyboard key that resets the orientation of the world camera so it too faces North. This adds a lot of frustration for me personally.

My entire point of this post is that the game needs an option to unlock the camera and highlight active characters. I've been playing games like this for a while now and the first rule of making a new title is to learn from the successes of other titles. Then make yours better. I feel like this game is on the right track but they've failed to see some of the things that should be standards and missed the target here. These are VERY simple and minor issues that could be fixed in a patch! This is not a cheap game and many people have contributed to its development. Something as cheap/simple to implement as camera functionality shouldn't even exist yet here I am creating this post. Someone please explain the reason why.

[Hobocop]

Press ` to toggle outlines for characters in combat.

Pressing O toggles a top-down camera angle, though I fail to see what being able to tilt the camera upward would bring to the experience as a whole.

[Johnny.Danger]

I knew about the top-down option however the camera doesn't zoom far enough out and favors a perspective view as opposed to an orthographic view making it rather useless in my opinion. My post was mostly about tilting the camera at different angles facing toward the ground. Looking upward towards the sky (what I'll assume you meant) would not be very useful and I would agree. There are times while exploring, or in battle, where you simply want to see more of the environment and that is where tilting the camera up a little would be beneficial. There are times when the "see through" effect doesn't work very well in areas like tents, etc., and simply changing the tilt would be a simple and transparent fix to the problem.

[Heinz234]

https://www.nexusmods.com/divinityoriginalsin2/mods/69/?
camera mod

[Johnny.Danger]

Thanks for the link Heinz234. I ran across that while searching for information on the issue but was hoping to get some information on if the developers are going to add this feature... I don't see why they can't as it wouldn't take much effort. I don't like the idea of using mods that "scan the game memory" just to fix a camera issue. Seems like a bit much and I don't know who created the script or what else it does... Call me paranoid but I use my PC for more than just gaming.

[Revolucas]

DOS 1 had an orthographic projection until they changed it in EE and then DOS 2. I agree, that perspective effectively makes the overhead "tactical" view pointless especially considering the fact the max zoom level is extremely low. It really seems like the lead dev responsible for wanting it changed skipped game camera design theory class. I don't know if they are being overly aggressive with trying to conceal the low draw distance or what.

Originally posted by Johnny.Danger:

Thanks for the link Heinz234. I ran across that while searching for information on the issue but was hoping to get some information on if the developers are going to add this feature... I don't see why they can't as it wouldn't take much effort. I don't like the idea of using mods that "scan the game memory" just to fix a camera issue. Seems like a bit much and I don't know who created the script or what else it does... Call me paranoid but I use my PC for more than just gaming.

Well the guy includes the .ahk which is effectively the source code for his mod. I would only worry when people who only give you an .exe without giving you the source.