[REQ] New update for the First Person View mod

[whorse]

Sorry to make a topic like this, but there HAS to be other people out there than me and a couple of my IRL friends who are as passionately enthused by playing GTA4 in FPS mode. It's so immersive that we joke that play it is like jacking into the matrix. I'm sure most of you have heard of the mod but here is a good demo video of it:

 

..and here's the mod's page on our site:

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=398667

 

I did a search for all topics posts related to the mod since June 2011 and there were surprisingly very few, mostly just people asking for fixes for the weapons problems with the mod in EFLC (which actually came out after the author disappeared from the scene, so the new guns aren't tweaked for the mod). The mod has gotten near universal acclaim, brought GTA modding to the attention of the gaming world through numerous articles, and redefined the way we can choose to play the game. No one else successfully made a GTA4 camera mod other than Co6alt a.k.a. Cobalt did in 2011; he the master who gave us the gift of GTA4 FPS mod 1.0.7 and then disappeared never to update or work on it again. Why does no one else try? Is it seriously a lack of interest? Because at least half the people I show the FPS mod to find it jaw-dropping. The mod is incredible. Its got a few bugs, but its so immersive that they barely detract from the experience.

 

But its been two years, and the bugs are getting old. Seriously, it appears like NO ONE has even attempted to make a camera control mod like Co6alt's. In addition to FPS walking/driving/fighting his mod allows rigid cam (cam always above the exact same spot right behind and above your car) and classic cam (overhead view like in GTA3). Its the only camera mod I have ever seen for GTA4 was a trainer that had a rigid cam mode for the car, still perfectly centered above the back of the vehicle.

 

With "Cinematic" camera that is included with the game, the camera does all KINDS of crazy stuff. I would pay money through donations if someone could make a mod that simply lets you voluntarily "freeze" the cinematic cam at a particular angle, instead of it automatically cycling through angles like an annoying timed slideshow. A cinematic cam frozen on a pursuing cop car's dash would be incredible - usually those angles only show for about 2 seconds max. I want to be able to keep the camera angle like this until I change views or unfreeze it:

 

 

So IMO the main problem with the current FPS mod is that the camera cannot stay rigid to the car while flipping. It is always fixed to your characters skull and can rotate in all directions, but it pays no notice to the movement of your players head. So, for example, your FPS vision will NOT be upside down when hanging upside down in your seat in your flipped car., and it wont move with your face while you are flying through the air as a ragdoll (both of these would look amazing). It just stays flat and horizontal. I think this could be fixed by mounting the camera on Niko/Johnny/Luis' shoulders instead of their heads. Their shoulders seem to be like the base/"chassis" of the pedestrian in GTA4.

 

The big problem I see people talking about, however, is that in GTA4 EFLC, you cannot aim the new weapons in first person. Co6alt mustve needed to tweak them like he did for the vanilla guns. Also, with ALL guns in EFLC, you start out zoomed-in when you aim and you cant zoom out (in FPS mode), making it very difficult to shoot close opponents quickly. And lastly the crosshair is kind of high, the bullets fall way below it esp in drivebys.

 

Even with all those unfixed bugs the mod is still a 9.9/10 for me, but it could be so much better. I made this thread because I could not find a single other FORMAL request (I only see people begging for updates at the end of 40 page threads from 2011) for a new FPS mod. Not found on google, not on this site, not anywhere. Now there will be one search result. I can code in Java a bit, and I heard C# is kinda like Java, so maybe I could make a .net scripthook plugin if you guys could maybe help me. But I doubt I have the skill to do that. Where would I start? Is it even possible to control the camera with .net scripthook, or do you need a dedicated asi mod?

 

Thank you guys, I know thats a lot to read (it took a while to write haha)

[krazyace000]

I'm pretty sure this would go under the Modding Section

[whorse]

I'd think this topic would go in the modding subsection too, but you are not allowed to request mods in the general GTA4 modding section, as its meant for mod-makers. There is a stickied request thread but those kind of threads are really just useless for their intended purpose. Maybe like 9 people will ever read your request post in the mod request sticky. I mean the sticky has nearly 600 posts and only 51,940 views. Thats incredibly disproportionate when you consider that the next thread down has 28 posts and 36 thousand views.

 

EDIT: I'm really making this thread just to try and make a new or updated FPS mod become a reality; to give others who want the same thing a kind of "home base" thread that they can find on google so that eventually someone might take on the job. I'd code it myself if I had any idea what to do (and if I knew more than basic level java)

Edited May 30, 2013 by whorse

[whorse]

I mean does anyone else even second this motion? I'm starting to feel like I'm the only person who even likes the FPS mod.. I posted in this specific board because its one of the fastest moving and because my topic wouldnt be allowed in the modders forums. If somebody would tell me how the camera in GTA4 can be modified, I would put a lot of effort into making/trying to make the mod myself.

 

Really though, if you have the PC version you should definitely download this mod, or at the very least (if you're one of those "I dont play FPSes" kind of people,) watch the youtube video of it I posted on the OP to see what it is like. It feels almost like "Microsoft Human Simulator 2008," because it lets you pilot a virtual human in a realistic (parody) city much like you would pilot a virtual airplane in a realistic atmosphere when playing MS Flight Simulator. Playing in third person makes you feel much more detached from your character. In FPS mode it makes you feel like you yourself are there performing these (often atrocious) actions, rather than watching a movie of someone else doing them. If the press knew about the mod (and if people still cared about GTA4) they would probably call the game a "murder simulator."

 

Poor Jazz man. I uploaded 21 of my all time favorite GTA4 pictures to an album on imgur, most of them are in first person:

http://imgur.com/a/NQo8C

 

notice the speedometer speed. The driver flew out the window moments later.

 

aaand this is why GTA5 wont have first person camera built in, at least not for the in-cockpit driving view.

 

"you can do ANYTHING" -Peter Molyneux

 

I played this on my 3dTV and I felt vertigo while falling here.

 

"My God... what have I done?!" And yes the guns look like n64 goldeneye in first person, I know.

 

Needless to say, this guy's left hook never made contact.

 

Minor spoilers for vanilla GTA4 I guess, in the subtitles. I like this one because it shows off how immersively detailed this game is, even with parts you cant see so well, like while in the car

 

Not every car is ugly on the inside, some were modded to have nice interiors with the FPS mod in mind.

 

This screencap looks JUST like a part from a recent GTA5 trailer (Franklins IIRC), featuring a view from the cockpit. I bet it was just GTA5's cinematic camera system.

 

Co6alt's mod also has the "Classic cam" feature, which is another complete view-camera re-vamp. How does he access the camera? I must know.

 

Sorry for all the pictures making this post hugely long... for this reason, please dont quote the whole post. if you'd like to comment on a pic. If I could hide the images behind a "View Image?" button I would - the

tag doesnt work for IMG links, it seems.