Problem with camera angle mods in DS1


	Submitted by sununpa on Sat, 2007-06-02 08:47
	Greets EVBD I'm new here so let me take this moment to say hello... I've searched around the site for an hour or so and have been unable to locate any info about this so I'll post it here. I hope it's the right place as I'm still not clear on what the difference is between a mod and a sieglet perhaps someone can clear that up for me. I've seen downloads on several sites in both categories that only served to confuse me more. However, that's not what this post is all about, so... Here's the problem. I've been looking for a mod/sieglet that would let me view things from a lower perspective (ie; down to ground level. I'm not really interested in removing the fog of war effect, nor do I care about changing the zoom factor. It's just that when I zoom in close enough to see any kind of details, I'm basically looking at the ground in front of my character. It would be nice to be able to see things from ground level rather than the constant downward angle provided in the game. I've tried several versions of adaptations that "claim" to do this, but in every case I receive an error message stating that no maps can be located. I am flying DS1 version 1.11 and while I've seen many comments on various download sites where others have posted that they receive the same type of error messages, I have yet to locate any comments regarding this. Nor have I been able to locate any downloads that work, regardless of what the up loader claims. So my question is... Are there any mods/sieglets around for DS1 that "actually" work and if so could someone please direct me to them. I've been keeping a list of those I've tried so I will be able to let you know if any of your suggestions have already been attempted. Any helpful info on the matter would be received with gladness and happy dancing on my part. 8-] Thank You for any help you can provide... sununpa@excite.com forums: DS1 & LoA Mod Development
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Camera angles

Submitted by volkan on Sat, 2007-06-02 10:19

Don't think there are any ones that work changing only the camera angle and nothing else, if you don't mind other things DS Revived is a great mod that changes quite a few things, but still keeps the game balanced and fun. Can be found here Herena Forge Downloads. If you want only the camera it's a fairly simple fix, let me know and I'll make one and upload it here.

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Welcome to the site,

Submitted by kathycf on Sat, 2007-06-02 13:22

Welcome to the site, sununpa. I agree with Volkan that DS Revived is an excellent choice. You can change camera angles easily, and there is a DS revived for both "regular" Dungeon Siege and also DS Revived LOA. There are some new weapons, armor and spells plus some other nice features.

-------------------------
Total absence of humor renders life impossible.
Colette

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The problem with camera

Submitted by Sharkull on Sat, 2007-06-02 17:31

The problem with camera angle mods is that the change MUST be located in the map file (and not in an added mod file). That means that only full map downloads can include camera angle changes... Alternatively, you can make the change to your maps yourself.

Using Tank Viewer + a text editor + Tank Creator:
1. Untank the map file you want to work with into it's own empty folder (won't work on protected tanks).
2. Using a text editor, modify the appropriate camera settings (min_azimuth...) within this file:
\world\maps\mapname\main.gas
3. Move the original map tank elsewhere (as a backup).
4. Retank the map files (which now include your changes) and put the retanked file back into your Maps folder.
Done.

There also might be the possibility of using a dsdll to do what you want to do... I haven't used it myself but I understand that something separate from DSRevived was made by Ikkyo for other maps when using DSLOA's exe.

...and BTW:
:welcome:

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Submitted by volkan on Sat, 2007-06-02 17:57

Sharkull wrote:

The problem with camera angle mods is that the change MUST be located in the map file (and not in an added mod file). That means that only full map downloads can include camera angle changes... Alternatively, you can make the change to your maps yourself.

Using Tank Viewer + a text editor + Tank Creator:
1. Untank the map file you want to work with into it's own empty folder (won't work on protected tanks).
2. Using a text editor, modify the appropriate camera settings (min_azimuth...) within this file:
\world\maps\mapname\main.gas
3. Move the original map tank elsewhere (as a backup).
4. Retank the map files (which now include your changes) and put the retanked file back into your Maps folder.
Done.

This is true for DS2, but for DS1 and LOA you can modify the ui/interfaces/backend/options_game options_game.gas and use it in conjunction with the ikkyo.dsdll/ikkyoloa.dsdll file to get the modified camera angles. So you can have a mod that alters only the camera angles and nothing else.

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I actually wrote 2 times,

Submitted by sjr on Sat, 2007-06-02 19:55

I actually wrote 2 times, once at SN and once at PDS a nice long detailed version of how to edit any map version so you can change it's camera angle/views. You can change several parts of it and really it is all in one little gas file that needs to be changed. I am not going to go looking for them but I did remember TomCat39 had put out some camera fix stuff that still is linked and works at SN: http://www.siegenetwork.com/q?dir=Downloads&req=file&id=203 You dont have to use the same naming scheme or even do exactly like he says but the principal is the same for any camera fixing.

Abstraction Webpage
Abstraction Forums

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Actually, you only need a

Submitted by sol77 on Sat, 2007-06-02 20:02

Actually, you only need a small tank file to change the angles on a map. These two mods are just .ds2map files that you put in your mapfolder to get, in my opinion, better map angles.

DS2 World Camera Fix

BW World Camera Fix

They overwrite the text file in the world maps that define the camera settings.

Welcome to the site sununpa.

Edit: snaked by sjr. :P But just untank the mods I linked to to see how it is done.

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mooie von mooenstien

Submitted by sjr on Sat, 2007-06-02 22:30

sol77 wrote:

Actually, you only need a small tank file to change the angles on a map. These two mods are just .ds2map files that you put in your mapfolder to get, in my opinion, better map angles.

DS2 World Camera Fix

BW World Camera Fix

They overwrite the text file in the world maps that define the camera settings.

Welcome to the site sununpa.

Edit: snaked by sjr. :P But just untank the mods I linked to to see how it is done.

Though the question was for DS1 not DS2 or BW camera views. Not sure the DS2/BW methods will work for DS1.

Abstraction Webpage
Abstraction Forums

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Main.gas

Submitted by volkan on Sat, 2007-06-02 23:20

sjr wrote:

You can change several parts of it and really it is all in one little gas file that needs to be changed.

That would be the world/maps/map_world main.gas file.

[t:map,n:map]
{
	description          	= "The original single-player campaign. Playable in both single and multiplayer modes.";
	name                 	= map_world;
	screen_name			 	= "Kingdom of Ehb";
	world_frustum_radius 	= 45;
	world_interest_radius	= 10;
	notes                	= none;
	start_region_name    	= fh_r1;
	show_intro			 	= true;
	timeofday			 	= 22h00m;

	[camera]
	{
		azimuth 		= 70.000000;
		distance 		= 13.000000;
		farclip 		= 70.000000;
		fov 			= 60.000000;
		max_azimuth 	= 85.000000;
		max_distance 	= 18.000000;
		min_azimuth 	= 32.000000;
		min_distance 	= 3.000000;
		nearclip 		= 0.100000;
		orbit 		= 0.000000;
		position 		= 8.0000000, 4.000000, 14.000000, 0xf0ac542f;
	}
	[worlds]
	{
		[normal]
		{
			screen_name = "Regular";
			description = "Players of all levels can play here.";
			required_level = 0;
		}

	}
}

Just change the min/max azimuth/distance settings. But the best option is still with the dynamic camera adjustments by ikkyo.

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Okay I found the short

Submitted by sjr on Sun, 2007-06-03 00:07

Okay I found the short version of something I wrote a long time ago at SN. This is for DS1 though if you are interested for DS2 it is a similar process, it will work for any DS1, DSLoA, or DS1 related siegelet map:

(I think the indents and such dont qoute very well so it may not look correct, but it was in the right format for indents and such when quoted)

sjr on SN from 2005 quoting from 2003 wrote:

[t:map,n:map]
{
description = "The Utraean Peninsula multiplayer campaign";
name = multiplayer_world;
world_frustum_radius = 45;
world_frustum_height = 60;
world_interest_radius = 4;
notes = none;
screen_name = "UP Map";
timeofday = 5h00m;
multiplayer_only = true;

[camera]
{
azimuth = 70.000000;
distance = 13.000000;
farclip = 70.000000;
fov = 60.000000;
max_azimuth = 90.000000;
max_distance = 18.000000;
min_azimuth = -90.000000;
min_distance = 1.000000;
nearclip = 0.100000;
orbit = 0.000000;
position = 1.0800, 3.22000, 0.000000, 0x781ee50;
}

[worlds]
{
[regular]
{
screen_name = "Regular";
description = "Players of all levels can play here.";
required_level = 0;
}

[veteran]
{
screen_name = "Veteran";
description = "Must be level 54 or higher to play here.";
required_level = 54;
}

[elite]
{
screen_name = "Elite";
description = "You must be level 83 or higher to play here.";
required_level = 83;
}
}
}

This is what I did on the UP map so I could have a camera fix like you said with a camera view where you look up. If you want the game to be sp only just remove the 2 mp lines in the first section. That code replaces the main.gas file, it is located in the MpWorld.dsmap\world\maps\multiplayer_world\ folder.

You need SiegeEditor and skirtpad(wordpad will work) to do this.

1. Open siege editor.
2. Click file and select convert dsmap to Files
3. Open it to the bits folder in: C:\\My Documents\Dungeon Siege\Bits
4. Then change the name of the multiplayer_world folder (this needs to be done or the new map will have the same name as the original UP map, and this way you can have both available to use) I used up_multiplayer_world
5. Now just replace all the text in the main.gas file with what I put above and save then close.
6. Now use SiegeEditor again.
7. Click file and select Save Map as dsmap. There will be one thing to select, the one you have extracted there.
8. Click ok, and in the next pop up screen pick Factory in the Priority box on the lower left side. And check the following boxes: under .lqd all 3 boxes (Include in build, Compile, Delete) in next colum check the middle 2 (Compress files, Reprocess files) in the last colum check all 3 (Verify resulting file, Backup old tank if found, Generate dump map), then click Start!
9. This may take awhile to do, depends on the speed of your cpu and memory.
10. Now you should have this new map in the Map folder in: C:\\My Documents\Dungeon Siege\Maps (if you dont have a map folder here make one first before you compile the map folder) I would then move it to your map folder in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Maps.

Now when you start a game you can pick this map in your map choices from both a mp or sp game.

Abstraction Webpage
Abstraction Forums

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I'm sure there's plenty of

Submitted by sununpa on Tue, 2007-06-05 09:12

I'm sure there's plenty of useful information in the previous posts, once I get around to studying them. But at this point, I'm really looking for something ready made and simple to install. While I've played the game quite a bit, I have no experience altering the game (other than installing a few files into the resources folder. 8-]

And I really am only interested in the camera angle, but I don't know what all that involves. I only know that I've had no success with any tried so far.

If you could throw something simple together that only changes the angle a bit (doesn't have to be zero, just down more than it is any amount would be better, heheh), that would be a good thing...

Thanks for the feedback EVBD and the howdy-doos

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	Camera Mod Submitted by volkan on Tue, 2007-06-05 13:18 Uploaded one to the site sununpa.
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	Thank You! Got and I'm on Submitted by sununpa on Wed, 2007-06-06 07:33 Thank You! Got and I'm on my way to trying it out, I'll let you know how it goes... sununpa@excite.com
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That worked, thanks... Sorry

Submitted by sununpa on Thu, 2007-06-28 21:59

That worked, thanks...
Sorry for the delay in reply, I've been out of sorts lately, but doing better now.

Your solution is the only one I've seen that included more than the .dsres file, perhaps that is why none of the others worked. Maybe they also require other support files and the person uploading them assumed that I would know that. But that's only a guess.

Anyway, thank you. It was exactly what I was looking for.

There is one other thing that you may be able to help me with. It relates to the map. I noticed that when you zoom out a certain amount it becomes much smaller. I'm not interested in changing the distance shown or any other type of alterations. But it would be nice if the map remained the same size when zoomed out that far. Do you have any files or the like (something as simple to install as the angle adjustments you did) that would accomplish this?

Thanks again, your help is much appreciated.

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Map size

Submitted by ghastley on Fri, 2007-06-29 09:53

The reason that DS doesn't pause to load the next region like other games, is that it continually unloads the parts of the map that are "out of sight" of the player. That means that you're seeing the entire map that exists, and there's nothing more to show you when you zoom out.

If you artificially increase the "frustum" or retained map area, then you'd increase the memory requirements, decrease the frame rate etc. because the map is not just a map, it's an aerial view, with all the content animated, and the same frustum is used for regular camera and overhead camera.

There are mods that do this, but you might not like the results.

Abstraction site
Dungeon Raider

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	Frustum Submitted by volkan on Fri, 2007-06-29 15:53 Glad to hear it worked sununpa. The advantage of the Ikkyo.dsdll is the camera settings will now work with any map. I increased the frustum to 500 and overhead map to 2000 meters so as to make a good aerial picture of the game, and it took almost an hour for the map to load.
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A bit technical, but... I

Submitted by sununpa on Wed, 2007-07-04 01:40

A bit technical, but...
I get the drift of it (I think). What I don't understand is this...

I don't want the map to show more terrain than normal. I just want the map to remain the same size (ie; bigger magnification of what's there.

What I'm talking about is the last, I think, three zoom out points. I can tell on close inspection that the map, though physically about half size, that it does actually show more area. I don't want it to show more than it does, only I wish it was bigger, like the other lower magnifications.

I'll check out the references and see what's there, thanks...

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	OK. All terrain nodes are Submitted by volkan on Wed, 2007-07-04 10:27 OK. All terrain nodes are at a fixed scale. Cannot increase size as they have to be indexed together at creation. Hope that answers your question.
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Map versus camera

Submitted by ghastley on Wed, 2007-07-04 12:41

There's not a lot of difference between the map zoomed all the way in and the regular camera overhead zoomed all the way out, so I assume it's not magnification you mean, but rather that you'd like the map view to fill more of the screen than it does.

When I switch to map view and zoom in and out, I only see a border when the screen would show more than the frustum area.

Abstraction site
Dungeon Raider

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	Those settings can be Submitted by volkan on Wed, 2007-07-04 13:02 Those settings can be changed in the moods.gas/engine.gas/options.gas files. The key is the frustum in the moods, but altering it too much can cause game to lock up when going through certain areas.
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	Well... I do get the idea Submitted by sununpa on Wed, 2007-07-04 16:12 Well... I do get the idea that there's more to it all than meets the eye, 8=] PS: And yes, that's correct. I'm not looking for more mag, just a bigger display.
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	Give me about 15-20 minutes Submitted by volkan on Wed, 2007-07-04 16:42 Give me about 15-20 minutes and I'll send ya a link in a PM. Edit: Check your inbox for the PM sununpa.
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	Thank You. While I'll no Submitted by sununpa on Wed, 2007-07-11 01:54 Thank You. While I'll no doubt look into the various editing options available, right now I'm just playing the game and enjoying it much better too. 8=]
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Greets EVBD 8] All's well,

Submitted by sununpa on Wed, 2007-08-22 04:35

Greets EVBD 8]

All's well, just wanted to say hi and thanks for all the help. While the map adjustment does seem to have a few black areas on the edges now and then, I figure that's because it's reached the end of the map (so to speak). It's a minor issue and doesn't really bother me. The main thing is that it's "all" larger now and that's what I needed.

Thanks and Enjoy Your Day...

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	Glad to hear that you are Submitted by sol77 on Wed, 2007-08-22 10:12 Glad to hear that you are enjoying the game. And here on Siege the Day we always enjoy the day. ^
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