[ISSUE] Camera Speed When Moving Behind Car, After

[Jeff Nyman]

In searching these forums, I've found the general topic I'm talking about here brought up in various ways but, in all cases, there's really nothing I can see that comes to a definitive conclusion. I tried to make the title of this post indicative of what I mean specifically. [Note: it appears the forum cuts off my title a bit. The full title was "[iSSUE] Camera Speed When Moving Behind Car, After Turn".]

 

Just to make sure it's clear, I'm referring to the issue where it seems the camera lags for awhile before going back to its position behind the car. Clearly this would be most noticeable with handbrake turns but it's also noticeable if you are going at a fairly good clip and make sharp turns. (In replaying "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Saints Row 2" I notice the same issue does not occur -- at least not as bad -- because the camera is simply much quicker in moving back into position.)

 

So, my question: is there anything (short of a Rockstar change) that can "fix" this behavior?

 

(I put "fix" in quotes because this is something that is probably more of an "in the eye of the beholder" issue.)

 

I know some threads mentioned that you can do the "look behind" key press to get the camera view back where you need it so you can continue driving. That certainly does work but it's a bit annoying to do all the time. I also know some threads seemed to mention the vehOff.csv file but it's never very clear to me exactly what I should be doing. (And most of those seem to be focused on providing a dashboard view, which is not what I am looking for since I can get that out of the box anyway.)

 

I guess what I'm looking for is some way to "lock" the camera behind the car since I doubt it's possible for us to speed up how quickly the camera moves back into position. (I'm guessing that's a code thing.) So, with that, my question again: is anyone aware of a "fix"/change to a GTA4 file or a "mod" or anything that can do something like this?

 

I apologize if this has been answered already; like I said, I did search but I just haven't found anything that says if it's possible whether to have all cars have a "lock behind" camera view.

[IJM]

I just got used to driving using the mouse look to control the camera all the time. It became quite natural to look around, especially to check junctions for emerging vehicles and looking around corners ahead of my turn as so that I could avoid collisions.

 

But you are right, when you don't use the mouse look, the camera position and behaviour is bloody annoying. It would be better if they set it up so that if you use the mouse look to position the camera, it stays positioned in the vertical dimension where you want it and only changes in the horizontal plane.

[Jeff Nyman]

 

I just got used to driving using the mouse look to control the camera all the time.

Yeah, it seems like this is what I'll have to get used to.

 

I think part of my problem is that I've never gotten used to WASD. For some reason, using those keys and using the mouse is something my poorly wired brain just isn't good at. But I suppose like anything, practice will make me better at it.

 

Actually, as I think on it, it's more that I've never gotten good at WASD while also using the mouse. In first-person shooters, I use the mouse to look, of course, but I usually map the left mouse button to running forward and the right mouse button to running backward. Then 'left control' is used for attack/shoot/fire. That's easy enough. That's also how I usually configured "On Foot" controls in previous GTA games. As far as "In Vehicle" in previous GTA games, I use the number pad keys for driving: NUM8 for accelerate, NUM2 for brake, etc. (I do that with "Saints Row 2" as well.) In a pinch, I could use keys on the other side of the keyboard to look right and look left. (The latter -- look left/right -- is apparently not something that GTA4 has.)

 

Oh, well. Looks like something I've just got to get used to. I've experimented with the numeric settings in the vehOff.csv and while these do seem to have some effect, I can never seem to get the camera to just stick behind the car. (And even then it's a matter of which car. I've found it's not wise to use the same numeric value for all cars via a find-and-replace operation.)

 

I'll keep investigating. If I find anything useful, I'll post back.

[Klamath]

I'd like R* to fix this too.It's fun being challenged by the game, it's not fun being challenged fighting the interface.

[Borocay]

I would like this fixed also because it is annoying.

[chngdman]

The game does this by design because it needs to load details as you turn corners. One way around this is to use your right analog stick or drive with a hand on the mouse. Both offer superior control. And you need your hand on the mouse to shoot accurately anyway, and you will need mouse+driving skills for many moments as well. Best to learn to use this. Using "P" blur (definition: OFF, as they call it, curiously...) can help a lot with what you do and do not notice loading in the distance when forcing the cam with the mouse.

 

I tend to, when driving with keyboad, constantly move the camera anyhow, and it really adds to the experience. Will take some practice at first, but I'm sure you'll love it. It's like the guy Thales100 was gung-ho against the blur feature, and I told him, once he gets used to it, he will love it, and lo and behold, all of his screens now use this feature. The point I am making with that example is that it may feel alien at first, but it's worth the time to take a look and see what's actually going on with and without features, and in this case, with the camera lagging behind the car. It's there for more than making it look like a car commercial, eh

[MorlockGod]

I highly recommend trying to get used to controlling the camera separately if you can Jeff. Once mastered you will have one half of your brain as the cameraman and the other half as the action hero... the whole experience ends up far more dynamic.

 

If you have trouble coordinating between mouse & keyboard you could try the more unconventional route of mouse & controller. I have always played my games by programming the relevant keyboard keys into the buttons on the left hand side of my Logitech RumblepadII so that I get the perfect configuration for my own intuition, plus I get full analogue movement and of course full mouse aiming & camera control (a nice multibutton programmable mouse helps too). This way everything is at your fingertips without having to fumble for keys.

 

 

What I would love to see from Rockstar would be two "Camera Autocentre" sliders in the control menu. One slider for the on-foot camera and one for the vehicle camera. 0>100, 0 being never autocentre the camera behind the player, 100 being permanently locked and your own preference in between. We can only dream.