Multiball cam ON = stuck camera workaround?

[smbhax]

UPDATE: Don't think Camera Lock OFF is necessary, so I'm just using Multiball Camera ON now (turned my camera lock back on). Still haven't managed to get the camera stuck despite alternating going for multiball modes on Star Trek and Twilight Zone. Still more testing needed.

~~~~~~~


I don't want to get hopes up unnecessarily, and I find it a little hard to believe this hasn't been tried before, but I've been testing this for several hours on the PS3 version of ST:TNG with apparent success, so I thought I'd throw it out there to a wider testing pool in the hopes that we can figure out the answer.

I set Multiball Camera to ON in the table's options screen, and turned OFF the standard camera lock (Circle button (or is it Square? I forget) during normal gameplay on PS3), and since doing that, I haven't had the camera get stuck in launcher view during any multiball mode in ST:TNG, whereas before I had had it get stuck at the beginning of Borg Multiball--although that was only the first and only time I'd started Borg Multiball before trying this.

I haven't got back to Final Frontier with these settings, but I have activated Borg Multiball quite a few times, and the Neutral Zone multiball modes, and the camera has been okay. Three times (maybe 33% of the activations) at the start of Borg Multiball, after the rotating torpedo launcher bit, the camera switched to the launcher view for a second or two, but then returned to the normal multiball camera view. So I have some hopes that this is a workaround for stuck camera on Borg Multiball, at any rate.

I haven't had a chance yet to see if these settings work around the stuck camera problems on any other tables, such as the Powerball multiball in Twilight Zone, so that could use some testing. I also wonder if maybe only Multiball Camera ON is necessary for the workaround, although I saw (and now can't find, so perhaps I imagined it) a comment on one of the boards that Multiball Camera ON alone did not save them from a stuck camera, although they thought at first it did.

Hopefully the stuck camera problems will be solved by a Powerball multiball fix mentioned a few weeks back by Mike from FarSight here, but in the meantime maybe this will help a little. The little jiggle with the switch to multiball cam mode is a little irritating, of course, and the additional camera zooms with camera lock off are worse...although I was a bit surprised to find them fairly limited on ST:TNG at least, in camera view 3.

I started choosing "Light Lock" at ball launch in ST:TNG to get more Borg Multiballs for testing. In any case, more testing on this would be appreciated--I don't think I'll have much more time to test it further until next weekend. Also, if this workaround works, I wonder if the FarSight testers--apparently there are three, according to the in-game credits : D--have only been testing the game with Multiball Camera ON and camera lock OFF?

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I just tried this got to final frontier and it starts in plunger view balls start coming and THEN it goes to table view. This did stop the camera constantly trying to zoom. Still unacceptable.

 

[smbhax]

Yeah, it seems like that's what it does in Borg Multiball with these settings, so I guess it's working for Final Frontier as well, that's good to know.

 

[brakel]

I just tried this got to final frontier and it starts in plunger view balls start coming and THEN it goes to table view. This did stop the camera constantly trying to zoom. Still unacceptable.

Yeah, it seems like that's what it does in Borg Multiball with these settings, so I guess it's working for Final Frontier as well, that's good to know.

I think I'm confused. Are you agreeing with SKILL_SHOT? If so then what is good to know?

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

It's a work around. With camera LOCK ON you get the "the little jiggle" but OFF it doesn't seem to constantly try zooming at the upper right I think.

 

[smbhax]

I think I'm confused. Are you agreeing with SKILL_SHOT? If so then what is good to know?

I *think* what he was saying was that with Multiball Camera ON and camera lock OFF it goes to plunger view for a moment at the start of Final Frontier, but then goes back to a normal table view, instead of being stuck in the launcher camera view. That's what I was trying to agree with, anyway!


EDIT: Further thought: Maybe this is why there were no stuck camera issues in Pinball Hall of Fame--because the Multiball Camera OFF option wasn't introduced until TPA. ; )

 

[neilpinbot]

Thanks for bringing this up. So I have been testing camera options etc on Dr Dude ( mix master multiball on Android) and I MAY have found a combination that stops the camera getting stuck at the top of the playfield during this mode, but I need to play it a lot more to make sure it is a workaround. I will post more on the settings next time I get on the tablet.

 

[smbhax]

Did a bit more testing in ST:TNG and it looks like maybe only Multiball Camera ON is necessary to avoid stuck cameras, 'cause I had camera lock ON and got no stuck cameras through loads of multiballs and a Final Frontier. Still only limited testing so far.

Hm then again I've seen someone say before that that *didn't* prevent a stuck camera somewhere for them, that was an old post though and I don't remember the table/situation. Also I didn't see any case of the camera seeming to get stuck in launcher view for a second, then going back to normal, so maybe I just got really lucky and didn't hit whatever it is that would normally trigger the stuck camera anyway; either that or it just works slightly different when you leave camera lock ON.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Keep in mind that during the Frankenstein Multiball camera issues on Monster Bash, various camera setting combinations were advanced as fixes (including one by yours truly) and they were all discovered to only work sometimes for some people at best. By all means keep experimenting, but be hesitant to announce a "cure".

 

[smbhax]

Yeah it does seem odd, that's why I'd like more people to try it. They actually fixed that Frankenstein one, though, so I wonder if that was something different somehow.

 

[neilpinbot]

Thanks for bringing this up. So I have been testing camera options etc on Dr Dude ( mix master multiball on Android) and I MAY have found a combination that stops the camera getting stuck at the top of the playfield during this mode, but I need to play it a lot more to make sure it is a workaround. I will post more on the settings next time I get on the tablet.

Forget it. Still the camera got stuck at the top of the screen during the multiball. Maybe FARSIGHT should just fix it.

 

[smbhax]

Forget it. Still the camera got stuck at the top of the screen during the multiball. Maybe FARSIGHT should just fix it.

Oh they should definitely fix it! What settings were you using?

 

[neilpinbot]

Oh they should definitely fix it! What settings were you using?

Cam type, Scrolling
Multiball camera, off
using view 1.

It seemed to work the first time though I changed the settings during the game and it seemed to work, but the next time I started TPA up and played the table the camera bug was back.

Just noticed that im using multi cam off instead of on but I changed it from on to off because it was sticking on the top of the table during the multiball mode.

 

[smbhax]

Hm, I'm not sure I'm familiar with "sticking on the top of the table." Which table, and is that on the Android tablet?

~~~~~~

I've been using just Multiball Camera ON for the past day or so on PS3--toggled Camera Lock back to ON because the scrolling was really annoying on Genie --and although I've been going for multiball modes on Twilight Zone and Star Trek, I still haven't managed to get a stuck camera; got it to sit on the launcher view for a second once at the start of Final Frontier, but then it went back to normal.

Going to update the topic title because I don't think Camera Lock OFF is necessary, just Multiball Camera ON.

EDIT: Dang, can't edit the topic title. : P

EDIT 2: Multiball Camera ON seems to work differently than it did originally--I mean eh maybe around last summer or so when I last used it: it used to be that with it ON, when you activated a multiball mode, the camera would jiggle ever so slightly, even if you had it set to use the same camera number you used for non-multiball play. There's no jiggle anymore, so maybe they changed something. This makes me wonder if Multiball Camera ON/OFF actually does anything anymore, aside from maybe causing the stuck camera issue when set to OFF. Will have to see if I can actually set a separate multiball camera angle still.

EDIT 3: Yes, Multiball Camera does still work. ; )

 

[smbhax]

Well, I got in an hour or two of shooting for multiball modes on ST:TNG and Twilight Zone every night for the past week, and did not manage to get the camera stuck a single time. So I think this is indeed a workaround for the problem of the camera getting stuck on the plunger, gumball machine, etc at the start of a multiball mode.

I ended up testing with just Multiball Camera ON; doesn't seem to matter whether you have your camera lock on or off.

Unless you frequently switch your camera setting during play, once you switch Multiball Camera back to ON, and then match your multiball camera number to your single ball camera number, from then on the game will play just like before, except, apparently, for the camera not getting stuck.

I think long ago there was a slight bobble in the camera when going from single ball to multiball, even if you'd set the cameras to the same numbers, which was annoying and why I switched Multiball Camera OFF originally, but I guess that bobble got fixed at some point, because it doesn't seem to happen anymore.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Good findings. I updated the thread title for you

 

[smbhax]

Ahh thanks : ))

 

[neilpinbot]

I am referring to the Dr Dude table, some times when you start mix master multiball the camera zooms in on the top half of the table so you have multiball going but cant see the damn flippers. Kind of makes playing the table pointless.
Playing on an Archos tablet.Android.
This Bug is documented but after nearly two months its still not been fixed. I love TPA but issues like this need to be fixed.

 

[David Smith]

Here's my experience with STTNG (iPad3, portrait view / camera 2, iOS 6):

* Camera lock ON, Multiball Camera OFF: Camera gets stuck on plunger for Final Frontier EVERY TIME
* Cameral lock OFF, Multiball Camera OFF: Camera gets stuck on plunger for Final Frontier EVERY TIME
* Cameral lock OFF, Multiball Camera ON: When final frontier starts, camera moves to plunger for a couple of seconds and then reverts to normal multiball camera

So I agree that playing with Multiball Camera: ON is a workaround for stuck cameras (at least on STTNG). The downside is that the multiball camera SUCKS. It messes up your angles for shots, and even during multiball it tends to repeatedly revert to your "normal" camera (when a ball hits a sinkhole in 2-ball multiball, it reverts to the 1-ball view until the ball in the ball is ejected). Sadly, switching the Multiball Camera option to ON *during* Final Frontier doesn't work (I tried - the view stays locked to the plunger).

My guess is that Farsight doesn't test "Multiball Camera: OFF" very much since it's not the default, but that's clearly where the camera bugs are manifesting.

Here's how I wish things worked:
* "Multiball Camera" is removed as an option (there's some dev/test time you can eliminate, Farsight!)
* In "Camera Locked" view, the camera does not change during multiball.
* In "Camera Free" view, the camera is locked to the standard full-screen view for that camera during multiball

It would make things simpler for players, simpler for Farsight, and eliminate bugs. Everyone wins.

 

[ER777]

I like that idea. All I want to do is pick an angle that's comfortable to me and play the game without the camera angle changing from what I chose (aside from some mode-specific zoom-ins which I'm ok with). I'm behind anything that makes it possible to do that without glitches.