Did I find a way to mod the camera?

[The WHAM Burglar]

Whil exploring through the contents of UFO: Aftershock I had noticed a funny configuration file in plain text. For example:

 

player_base_03-military_settings.txt

 

CAMERA_LIMITS
BBOX_FROM 0 2000 0
BBOX_TO 6000 12000 4000
ZOOM_RANGE 0 6000
ANGLE_RANGE 20 70
END_OF_CAMERA_LIMITS

 

I am assuming that if I modify the ZOOM_RANGE line to:

ZOOM_RANGE 0 6000

 

I should be able to zoom in as close as possible.

 

 

Of course I have little to no idea what the other configuration do, I can only guess. Welp, I will see if I can learn what they do via trial and error. I am assuming that mod_gamedata2\tactical\scenes\generator\environments\reticul\laputa\laputa_01_runway is the first level of a new game so I will start with that. This should be fun.

[Okim]

Does each map has this type of file?

[The WHAM Burglar]

Does each map has this type of file?

 

Unfortunately yes, every drat map has one of these. I have been fiddling around with the configs and I have yet to notice any difference. They can be found by extracting mod_gamedata2.vfs

 

Usually: \tactical\scenes\generator\environments\[sub directory]\[sub directory]\[sub directory]\

 

For example:

 

mod_gamedata2\tactical\scenes\generator\environments\humans\nature\track_07_coast-arc\track_07_coast-arc_settings.txt

 

 

I had originally wanted to create a first person camera mod similar to the one in UFO: Aftermath. An ambitious goal and I know far too little.

[The WHAM Burglar]

I think I stumbled upon a new idea. I was examining the extracted files within:

 

mod_gamedata2\tactical\scenes\generator\environments\reticul\capsule\capsule_small'

 

'It has become of my opinion that:

'mod_gamedata2\tactical\scenes\generator\environments\reticul\capsule\capsule_small' contains the data for the unupgraded Laputan landing pod

 

I am going to take a wild guess here, looking at the header of capsule_small_02e07260.bspt:

 

"#!BIN##[binary symbols]BSPTREE[binary symbols]BOUNDBOX"

 

BOUNDBOX refers to BBOX_FROM and BBOX_TO in a corresponding .txt file, in this case 'capsule_small_settings.txt'!

 

Capsules are different entities from the rest of a level, complete with different settings and a forced junction the the level surface.

 

 

Perhaps I have made the mod incorrectly? I used VFSView and it created a separate .ht file. I have uploaded both below.

 

https://www.filefactory.com/file/b05h943/n/mod_mah_pod.rar

 

So far what I observed and recorded:

 

unmodded normal zoom

 

vs

 

ZOOM_RANGE 5000 6000

 

ZOOM_RANGE 100 5000

 

 

Lets try BBox, altering that value should alter the size of the pod. Changed code below:

 

CAMERA_LIMITS
BBOX_FROM -600 -600 0
BBOX_TO 600 600 500
ZOOM_RANGE 5000 6000
ANGLE_RANGE 20 70
END_OF_CAMERA_LIMITS

 

Download

https://www.filefactory.com/file/b05hb98/n/...Box_varient.rar

 

Nothing seems to have changed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVt9nfqRzTU

 

 

A thought just struck me, what if these files were use to view the level and pods for level editing software that we, the community, were not given access to?