PBA : Free Camera Mod

[SilverBalls]

I got to play with NoEx's first beta release the weekend and was very impressed with how I can easily configure the views for each table using hotkeys and save them per table. When you save the camera settings a .cam file gets created which is essentially an ini file per table with the camera co-ordinates. For me it makes the game look so much better with configurable views.

I noticed no other testers have reported back here yet, so here are some screenshots. I passed on some comments to NoEx which he should fix, but unfortunately I have just been sent overseas for my job (for at least a month - could be longer) so won't be able to test the next release , so hopefully someone else will provide feedback. In the meantime here are some screenshots - better views are possible for someone with a better eye than yours truly, but I was just playing around:

It would be great if NoEx will release this as open-source as suggested.

Hotkeys:

AFM - one view:

AFM - another view:

Big shot:

Space Shuttle:

A view you might get if you collapse on the floor after too many beers:

 

[poposchmatzer]

"A view you might get if you collapse on the floor after too many beers:"

Yeah, right after releasing the mod.

 

[switch3flip]

Hey whoever is pushing those pins around you should get those rubber footies to protect the floor from getting more scratches.

 

[lio]

I really cannot wait for this! nice screenshots!

 

[mpad]

**** where did I miss the beta?

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

**** where did I miss the beta?

Looks like it was an invite only private beta to start. Probably a public beta later.

 

[MontanaFrank]

I'm impressed. Hope to be able to do that to my TPA tables. Just as long the camera mod is easier to install into TPA than figuring out how to work Virtual Pinball.

 

[francis247uk]

Wow nice screenshots, thanks for sharing, tables look great! Can't believe this wasn't in from the start.

 

[SickBoy]

Looks amazing so far! Drooling in anticipation.

 

[mpad]

Want want want

 

[nudnick]

This along with SweetFX is going to be perfect ... eagerly I await your release

 

[NoEx]

Anybody here with a cab running on Windows XP?

 

[mpad]

Hey silverballs, you got sweetfx running when taking Screenshots?

 

[SilverBalls]

I did those screenshots without SweetFX but can confirm it works with SweetFX and the Switcher I made as I tried it after. I can't do another screenshot as working away from home, but I think NoEx is pretty close to releasing it.

Seeing the tables with better camera views and with better lighting just shows you what a good product Farsight have, and it is such a shame that it undersells itself by having crazy camera angles in Portrait. We know they are bringing new lighting soon which is awesome, then the difficulting settings which is great, but with just a little bit of tender loving care given to the game camera settings the game would rock around big bear lake and back again.

I guess it is trickier for Farsight to define good cameras with different resolutions, aspect ratios, etc., which is why they might as well allow a user definable camera system like NoEx's utility. I suspect they don't do this because if you look under the table etc it has no bottom, but they could constrain the camera movements as people don't need to look there.

Hopefully once this awesome util is released people will submit the .cam files (camera coordinates) with screenshots to find good settings, and Farsight can use the info & it will save them time.

 

[Nomorestalker]

Oh Man great post silverballs, i was looking forward to this before but after seeing attack from mars screens I can't wait tor this!

 

[nudnick]

I see the "hot keys" screen shot, but i am assuming you can use mouse on the sliders on the interface? Also assuming that you can toggle the interface on and off with a hot key (num pad 0)? And lastly the HUD still works ok with this mod?

 

[SilverBalls]

I see the "hot keys" screen shot, but i am assuming you can use mouse on the sliders on the interface? Also assuming that you can toggle the interface on and off with a hot key (num pad 0)? And lastly the HUD still works ok with this mod?

Yes to all 3 of them.

 

[NoEx]

Hopefully once this awesome util is released people will submit the .cam files (camera coordinates) with screenshots to find good settings, and Farsight can use the info & it will save them time.

Yes! Sadly i could have done it myself but don't have much time as i'm working on the mod, if someone here has some webcoding skill and time to spend, it could be a good idea to create some sort of online database for camera coordinates files (*.cam) where everybody would be able to submit their cam files along with a screenshot of the view... A database where it would be possible to search for different cam settings, classified by tablename, screen resolution, etc.

 

[priested]

I realize this is a TPA forum but would it be possible for this or something like it to work with Zen's Pinball FX2? I'm sure there are many who are happy with Zen's portrait views since they "fit" the table but i am not. I would love (and have been asking for) a user configurable camera for that game for literally years to no effect. :-(

 

[nudnick]

I realize this is a TPA forum but would it be possible for this or something like it to work with Zen's Pinball FX2? I'm sure there are many who are happy with Zen's portrait views since they "fit" the table but i am not. I would love (and have been asking for) a user configurable camera for that game for literally years to no effect. :-(

Come ... join the Dark Side ...