Turning off the external camera - a thrill unto itself

[_Seth_]

Originally Posted by stabiz

I will never remove the external cam, I like roaming about when I leave port, look at new subskins, make movies (never know when its good to start one), and taking screenshots.

[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...

[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

[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

[Hartmann]

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.

Yes . i know it , wen i played AOD and SH1

In sh3 i tried it time ago with deph charge shake mod in u-505 mission. lol ! it was really scary, i had external camera enabled but i don´t used it because i have to see the shakes in command room, and was like if the boat was breaking in pieces .very claustrophobic and realistic.

Unfortunately External view is focus in a fixed view in the surface , could be interesting a external camera focused in the boat.

[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

[Sailor Steve]

I sometimes have it on when leaving and entering port, and then use the 'Single Missions' setup to turn it off at sea. And then sometimes I leave it on but don't use it when under attack.

I keep wanting to turn it off permanently, but I'm weak. AOD didn't have it. SHI didn't have it. Why am I so weak?

[Rykaird]

This is a huge change. Convoys in particular are really, really tough. When I used the external camera, I would just find out where the fattest target was, then position myself accordingly in the lanes. Without the camera, I have to pop up the scope and take my best shot.

What I miss the external view for most though is ship recognition. Just that simple ability to know if it is an enemy or a neutral is huge. I need to get better at the hydrophones, that's for sure.

The other single biggest change for me was getting rid of save games. I used to save four or five times during an attack approach. Run the magnetic pistol torpedoes too deep? No problem, reload the game, adjust, and try again. Now I just miss.

Like I said in an earlier post, I used to be a great Kapitan, a legend in the Kriegsmarine and Tommy's personal nightmare. Now I'm just a guy in a tin tube trying to get what I can and not get killed.

It becomes a very different war.

[_Seth_]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

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

Oooops...sorry mate, didnt think of that...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Rykaird

The other single biggest change for me was getting rid of save games. I used to save four or five times during an attack approach. Run the magnetic pistol torpedoes too deep? No problem, reload the game, adjust, and try again. Now I just miss.

Funny, that's the one problem I don't have. Since I don't have a real sound card I sometimes get crashes when a ship sinks, so I always save just before I fire and again just after I score a hit. In spite of that I've never been tempted to reload a game when I miss, and never been tempted to reload when I die.

Just me, I guess. Anyway, good luck in your new career life.

[Corsair]

" 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."

Couldn't say it better... this is the central interest of sub games. Using an external camera, you miss this essential part which is trying to get the best possible situational awareness without seeing anything and taking decisions according to what you think is happening.

PS : correction : " using an external camera during fights to see what is happening"... nothing wrong in having an external look at your sub when you're cruising along on the empty ocean...