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Wavelength - Half-Life 2 - Coding - Snippets

Third Person Camera Upgrades [Print this Article]

Posted by: Crono
Date posted: Dec 08 2004
User Rating: 1 out of 5.0

Number of views: 9868
Number of comments: 9

Description: Collision check, translucency

I believe this to be an accurate-ish remix of Omega's improved third person camera for Half-Life 1, located here.

I will hope this is correct but assume it is not, and any suggestions or corrections are more than welcome. Being that this is a snippet, I will endeavor to keep it terse.

Line numbers are reliant on following modifications in order.
All of this takes place in cl_dll\in_camera.cpp.

@Line 20

	CODE (C++)
	#define CAM_MIN_DIST 30.0

Remove this line.

@Line 27

	CODE (C++)
	#define CAM_MIN_DIST 16.0 // Don't let the camera get any closer than ... #define CAM_MAX_DIST 96.0 // ... or any farther away than ... #define CAM_HULL_OFFSET 6.0 // the size of the bounding hull used for collision checking static Vector CAM_HULL_MIN(-CAM_HULL_OFFSET,-CAM_HULL_OFFSET,-CAM_HULL_OFFSET); static Vector CAM_HULL_MAX( CAM_HULL_OFFSET, CAM_HULL_OFFSET, CAM_HULL_OFFSET);

Insert.

@Lines 395 - 412

	CODE (C++)
	else { if( camAngles[ YAW ] - viewangles[ YAW ] != cam_idealyaw.GetFloat() ) camAngles[ YAW ] = MoveToward( camAngles[ YAW ], cam_idealyaw.GetFloat() + viewangles[ YAW ], CAM_ANGLE_SPEED ); if( camAngles[ PITCH ] - viewangles[ PITCH ] != cam_idealpitch.GetFloat() ) camAngles[ PITCH ] = MoveToward( camAngles[ PITCH ], cam_idealpitch.GetFloat() + viewangles[ PITCH ], CAM_ANGLE_SPEED ); if( !C_BasePlayer::GetLocalPlayer() ) { // this code can be hit from the main menu, where it will crash camAngles[ 2 ] = dist; // if there's no localplayer to calc from } else { trace_t tr; float adjDist = dist; C_BasePlayer* localPlayer = C_BasePlayer::GetLocalPlayer(); Vector origin = localPlayer->GetLocalOrigin(); // find our player's origin origin += localPlayer->GetViewOffset(); // and from there, his eye position AngleVectors( QAngle(camAngles.x, camAngles.y, camAngles.z), &camForward, NULL, NULL ); // get the forward vector UTIL_TraceHull( origin, origin - (camForward * dist), CAM_HULL_MIN, CAM_HULL_MAX, MASK_SOLID, NULL, &tr ); // use our previously #defined hull to collision trace if( tr.fraction < 1.0 ) { adjDist = dist * tr.fraction; // move the camera closer if it hit something localPlayer->SetRenderMode( kRenderTransColor ); // make him translucent localPlayer->SetRenderColorA( (byte)(255 * tr.fraction) ); // closer = less opacity } else { adjDist = dist; // no trace hit, use cam_idealdist without adjusting it } if( adjDist < CAM_MIN_DIST ) adjDist = CAM_MIN_DIST; // clamp up to minimum if( adjDist > CAM_MAX_DIST ) adjDist = CAM_MAX_DIST; // clamp down to maximum camAngles[ 2 ] = MoveToward( camAngles[ 2 ], adjDist, CAM_ANGLE_SPEED ); } } m_vecCameraOffset[ 0 ] = camAngles[ 0 ]; m_vecCameraOffset[ 1 ] = camAngles[ 1 ]; m_vecCameraOffset[ 2 ] = camAngles[ 2 ]; }

Replace.

User Comments Showing comments 1-9

Posted By: fred on Dec 09 2004 at 08:33:06

Is this SP or MP? I'm having troubles getting the guy to show at all in SP code, its either the floating hand model or nothing (I still havn't found the playerdraw stuff).

Posted By: Crono on Dec 09 2004 at 15:31:00

Sorry, this was done entirely with the barebones MP SDK setup, I was sure I'd mentioned that somewhere.

If I open single player Half-Life 2 right now, then set sv_cheats 1, then type "thirdperson" in console, I have no player model. If I turn the flashlight on and back off, I go from no player model to a flat colored ugly player model with no animation.

I don't think it's your fault or my code's.Edited by Crono on Dec 09 2004, 15:36:45

Posted By: jim_the_coder on Dec 12 2004 at 14:50:15

This has been covered in the forums. I believe the problem is that Valve didn't intend thirdperson to be used in SP, and as such they never bothered doing the player model. Apparently looking at the model shows that it's only got 3 anims. If you make your own player model it should work fine :) I'll tell you when I've got it working...

[edit]

I can confirm that this tutorial does what it's supposed to just fine :) You still need your own player model though.Edited by jim_the_coder on Dec 19 2004, 09:28:50

Posted By: ChildeRoland on Feb 02 2005 at 15:05:25

Has anybody had any luck getting this to work while in the vehicles? I got it working while running around (even placed it over the players head). But, when I get in the Jeep the camera goes back to looking to the left of where the player/vehicle is actually looking.

Any ideas what I ccan do about this?

Posted By: paccer on Feb 07 2005 at 10:41:21

(at about line 471)

	CODE
	// Do allow third person in TF2 for now #if !defined( TF2_CLIENT_DLL ) && !defined( CSTRIKE_DLL ) #if !defined( _DEBUG ) if ( gpGlobals->maxClients > 1 ) { // no thirdperson in multiplayer. return; } #endif #endif

This is preventing thirdperson in multiplayerEdited by paccer on Feb 10 2005, 11:07:09

Posted By: woodyos on Feb 08 2005 at 14:36:35

Yes it does. If you comment out the return, it'll work though.
I'm experiencing a different problem now though; I see my character from the side. So if I press the "walk forward" key, the model will walk to the right of my screen, which is his front. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Posted By: paccer on Feb 10 2005 at 09:02:54

find idealyaw (in_camera.cpp), its defined somewhere in the top as far as i remember - set it to 0 instead of 90, and delete your config.cfg or make sure c_ commands are same as defined in in_camera.cpp..
Alternatively, you can just set c_idealyaw to 0, but it will default to 90 then.

edit:
My translucency still doesnt work tho - does it work for anyone else?

edit:
Sorry.. my translucency actually works fine :)Edited by paccer on Feb 10 2005, 11:06:19

Posted By: Vash on Feb 19 2005 at 10:20:53

This is a fantastic tutorial and was just what I needed - thank you. And thank you to paccer, whos comments helped me fix the yaw value.Edited by Vash on Feb 19 2005, 10:21:55

Posted By: dlswimmer on Apr 16 2005 at 11:33:19

how do you switch the model ? is there an easy way to do it while using a model like alyx that is already in the game? Thanks for the help.

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