Turning off the external camera - a thrill unto itself

[Ducimus]

Making a wild guess here, im guessing most people have the external camera on. I mean, lets face it, we all love eye candy. External camera gives the game a cinematic feel. Seeing your own uboat (complete with that real cool tower emblem, and rust that makes it look like an old salt and war veteran) is very appealing and gratifying. What's more seeing the damage you've wrought onto your target with debris (or bodies) flying with massive explosions is REALLY gratifying.

However....
with all that goodness comes some negative's, at least in my opinion. But to summerize the negative, the external camera takes away an element of uncertaintly, suspense, and beleivablity.

For example, you have one or more sound contacts. You have no idea what they are. One quick push of the , or . keys and you instantly know. Or you could cycle views on every ship in an entire convoy and see what you have in there. The reality is, you'd never know what these sound contacts are until you pop the scope. (same goes for RWR or radar contacts too). The short of it is, the external camera gives you far far FAR more info then a real submarine captain would have had. A sub has two primary sensors really. The good ole fashined eyeball fixed on a periscope or pair of bonoculars or sound.. your hydrophones. In a situation where your submerged, the hydrophones become your eyes.

Another example is all the building and landscape. Its beleive able when viewed from the bridge, but looking at it up close, things tend to look a bit on the lame side.

other exampbles would be seeing exacly how your torpedo's hit, or the status of a target that was hit when submerged beyond periscope depth.. something you'd never be able to do in real life.

But the biggest example is that element of suspense and claustphobia. Not present to any large degree when your boat is 250 meters deep, and yet your looking at your pursuer on the surface as if bobbing around in a life boat. Imagine yourself under a depth charge attack, without the ablity to hit F12 or any other camera hotkeys. Sound plays a much bigger role, and like the captain in dasboot, you have to wonder, "What's going on up there, running away? ".

With your view confined to essentually the control room. All you have to rely on is your brains, wits, your sonar, and your gut instincts. Personnally i find myself alot more attentive - closing my eyes, trying to visualize whats going on up there. Other times i even find myself on the edge of my seat because the antcipation of what might about to happen is just killing me! The desire to hit F12 to releive that is immense, but when you don't do it, and succeed, its pretty satisfying.


Point of all this is..... Try turning off that external camera for at least one patrol and see how your experience changes - particuarlly if your being depth charged. I know the eye candy is hard to give up, but personnaly i think its worth it.

[Venatore]

I would be so happy if I could just look at my U-boat and nothing else :hmm: stop the cycling of other ships :hmm: I agree totally, I love the unknown of what surface ship you have encountered, but like always I can't help myself

[Letum]

Turning off externals is the biggest addition you can make to game-play, realism and atmosphere.
Even Bigger than GWX.

Turning externals off is also the biggest drop in graphics.

What is more important to you?

[JScones]

I've never played with external (or event) camera on. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[alexoscar]

On my opinion, the best would be a mod that let us use the external camera when there isnt any ship or plane near us, but with the impossibility to use these views in combat or hunting.

What we need is getting the cinematic scenes in peace and rest moments (sailing to area or returning to harbour), and disable (by default) this option in "action". The tentation is too strong for the most of us.

I suposse that this is impossible because I imagine this kind of things are hardcoded in the program. It's a pity

Regards.

[Jimbuna]

Well....I admit I'm an eye candy addict

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by Venatore

I would be so happy if I could just look at my U-boat and nothing else :hmm: stop the cycling of other ships :hmm: I agree totally, I love the unknown of what surface ship you have encountered, but like always I can't help myself

This would be nice, to have the option of cycling though ships not possible.

I have played with the external camera off, it adds to the experience big-time, but there are many times in SH3 when you are sailing around, so that is why I keep it on, to be able to take screens, interupt the boredom.

Nice thing about this game is that the settings allow for different experiences, which is probably the best thing about it

[codmander]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Making a wild guess here, im guessing most people have the external camera on. I mean, lets face it, we all love eye candy. External camera gives the game a cinematic feel. Seeing your own uboat (complete with that real cool tower emblem, and rust that makes it look like an old salt and war veteran) is very appealing and gratifying. What's more seeing the damage you've wrought onto your target with debris (or bodies) flying with massive explosions is REALLY gratifying.

However....
with all that goodness comes some negative's, at least in my opinion. But to summerize the negative, the external camera takes away an element of uncertaintly, suspense, and beleivablity.

For example, you have one or more sound contacts. You have no idea what they are. One quick push of the , or . keys and you instantly know. Or you could cycle views on every ship in an entire convoy and see what you have in there. The reality is, you'd never know what these sound contacts are until you pop the scope. (same goes for RWR or radar contacts too). The short of it is, the external camera gives you far far FAR more info then a real submarine captain would have had. A sub has two primary sensors really. The good ole fashined eyeball fixed on a periscope or pair of bonoculars or sound.. your hydrophones. In a situation where your submerged, the hydrophones become your eyes.

Another example is all the building and landscape. Its beleive able when viewed from the bridge, but looking at it up close, things tend to look a bit on the lame side.

other exampbles would be seeing exacly how your torpedo's hit, or the status of a target that was hit when submerged beyond periscope depth.. something you'd never be able to do in real life.

But the biggest example is that element of suspense and claustphobia. Not present to any large degree when your boat is 250 meters deep, and yet your looking at your pursuer on the surface as if bobbing around in a life boat. Imagine yourself under a depth charge attack, without the ablity to hit F12 or any other camera hotkeys. Sound plays a much bigger role, and like the captain in dasboot, you have to wonder, "What's going on up there, running away? ".

With your view confined to essentually the control room. All you have to rely on is your brains, wits, your sonar, and your gut instincts. Personnally i find myself alot more attentive - closing my eyes, trying to visualize whats going on up there. Other times i even find myself on the edge of my seat because the antcipation of what might about to happen is just killing me! The desire to hit F12 to releive that is immense, but when you don't do it, and succeed, its pretty satisfying.


Point of all this is..... Try turning off that external camera for at least one patrol and see how your experience changes - particuarlly if your being depth charged. I know the eye candy is hard to give up, but personnaly i think its worth it.

with nygm i just use the event camera without external best of both worlds

[stabiz]

Actually, I hate the event camera with a passion. Is there a way to remove it completely? When I play online my mate insist on normal difficulty, and that means event cam.

So, is it possible?

[azn_132]

Originally Posted by stabiz

Actually, I hate the event camera with a passion. Is there a way to remove it completely? When I play online my mate insist on normal difficulty, and that means event cam.

So, is it possible?

Just close it when the event cam pops up when u play online.

[_Seth_]

Originally Posted by azn_132

Just close it when the event cam pops up when u play online.

I think he ment "Get rid of it permanently", matey.. I would also like to get totally rid of this...

[Iron Budokan]

I often trade off on patrols with external camera off/on. One patrol I have it on, the next I have it off. I often use it when I get a new sub, but later run patrols without it.

[Keelbuster]

Once you've had 5 or 10 careers, you don't need to take screencaps anymore. No External Cam is the only way to go. It makes the game way more intense. I'm never going back to external cam.

The only bother is that sometimes you miss a good sinking. You can watch it through the periscope, but often by the time it happens you're trying to get deep. It was disappointing though, seeing as on my last patrol i sunk HMS Howe, and i never got to see her go down. I didn't even hear her go down over the hydrophone. I only found out i sunk her by the listing in my patrol log. I love the sinking dynamics, and it's tought to live without seeing the those dramatic sinkings. On the other hand, I've found that sinkings look a _lot_ different when viewed through the periscope. Again, no ext. cam is the best way.

Kb

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by _Seth_

I think he ment "Get rid of it permanently", matey.. I would also like to get totally rid of this...

WHAT!!!!....so whose gonna watch yer back in MP

Originally Posted by _Seth_

I think he ment "Get rid of it permanently", matey.. I would also like to get totally rid of this...

To 'get rid' of the event camera for multiplayer, at the main menu select 'options' then 'video settings'. Uncheck 'event camera' then save the changes. You'll no longer get the event camera during multiplayer.