3rd Person Camera (mmo style)

[selfdestruk1]

Hi coders

I've come up with this code here that gives a 3rd person style camera like some mmo's. (courtesy of Blasphemy for some of the code) I was hoping you might be able to help me with a couple of issues:

-I'd like presses of the A and D keys to turn the player rather than strafe while in this mode
-fix the issue where the camera moves wrong when the player has turned, rather than strafed, while in this mode
-the first function in the below code is not returning true when chat is open
-the hook "ContextScreenClick" is not being called while in this mode (should it be?)

Thanks for any help you can offer

Clientside:

--returns true if no GUIs/menus are visible
local function NoMenu()


    return (!gui.IsConsoleVisible() and !gui.IsGameUIVisible())
    
end


--stores the current view which gets offset based on edge detection
local angLookAround = Angle()


--third person mode
local function ThirdPersonUmsg( data )


    if( LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson == nil ) then
    
        LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson = true
        
    else
    
        LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson = !LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson
        
    end
    
    gui.EnableScreenClicker(LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson)
    
    if !LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson then angLookAround = Angle() end
    
end
usermessage.Hook( "ThirdPerson", ThirdPersonUmsg )


--adjust the default zoom distance for third person mode
local dist = 100


function ThirdpersonFreecam()


    if !NoMenu() or !LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson then return end
    
    local x, y = input.GetCursorPos()
    local percentage = 1
    
    if x <= (ScrW() / 100) * percentage then
    
        angLookAround = angLookAround + Angle(0, 0.6, 0)
        
    elseif x >= ScrW() - (ScrW() / 100) * percentage then
    
        angLookAround = angLookAround + Angle(0, -0.6, 0)
        
    end
    
    if y <= (ScrH() / 100) * percentage then
    
        angLookAround = angLookAround + Angle(0.3, 0, 0)
        
    elseif y >= ScrH() - (ScrH() / 100) * percentage then
    
        angLookAround = angLookAround - Angle(0.3, 0, 0)
        
    end
    
end 
hook.Add( "Think", "ThirdpersonFreecam:Think", ThirdpersonFreecam)


local iMinDistance = 50
local iMaxDistance = 500
local wp = vgui.GetWorldPanel()
wp:SetCursor("crosshair")
wp:MouseCapture(false)


function wp:OnMouseWheeled(delta)


    if delta > 0 then
    
        dist = math.Clamp(dist + 5, iMinDistance, iMaxDistance)
        
    elseif delta < 0 then
    
        dist = math.Clamp(dist - 5, iMinDistance, iMaxDistance)
        
    end
    
end


local iDistanceTemp = 0


local function DrawThirdPerson(objPl, vecView, angView, iFOV)


    --Uncomment below line and modify the * 15 to another number if you want more or less "up" offset
    --vecView = vecView + LocalPlayer():GetUp() * 15
    
    if LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson then
    
        local vecOffset = LocalPlayer():GetAimVector()
        vecOffset:Rotate(angLookAround)
        
        local data = {}
        data.start = vecView
        data.endpos = vecView - vecOffset * dist
        data.filter = LocalPlayer()
        
        local tr = util.TraceLine(data)
        
        iDistanceTemp = math.Approach(iDistanceTemp, -tr.HitPos:Distance(vecView), FrameTime() * 2000)
        
        local tblView = {}
        tblView.origin = vecView + vecOffset * (iDistanceTemp + 25)
        tblView.angles = (LocalPlayer():EyePos() - tr.HitPos):Angle()
        
        return tblView
        
    end
    
end
hook.Add("CalcView", "ThirdPerson", DrawThirdPerson)


--draws player model while in 3rd person
local function ThirdPersonSDLP()


    if LocalPlayer().ThirdPerson then
    
        return true
        
    end
    
end
hook.Add( "ShouldDrawLocalPlayer", "ThirdPersonSDLP", ThirdPersonSDLP )

Serverside:

--toggles third person view when the user presses F2
function ToggleThirdPerson( ply )
    umsg.Start( "ThirdPerson", ply )
    umsg.End()
end
hook.Add( "ShowTeam", "ToggleThirdPerson", ToggleThirdPerson )

[Acecool]

I'd recommend doing certain things in a CreateMove hook for camera positioning with mouse-wheel, pressing buttons, etc etc. instead of in a Think hook.

[selfdestruk1]

Anyone able to offer any insight into the issues I'm having? :(

[arandom]

I might look in to this later, but for A and D you could probably do something with the console command +right, -right, +left, and -left.

[Acecool]

Use CreateMove, the argument is for CMD - you can get IN keys with it, plus mouse-wheel. You'd only need to use those two hooks to do exactly what you want to do.

I may work on an example but as of right now I believe my processor is nearing the end of its life. Can't boot into windows because it freezes; already tested for faulty drivers, memory, psu, etc. Motherboard looks good, has solid-state caps so those are harder to tell if they popped but from what I can tell they're fine. Windows locking up after a few minutes is a symptom of cpu dying, and I've seen one die once before with similar weird symptoms like what I'm experiencing.

Anyways:

I use: hook.Add( "CalcView", "ThirdpersonFreecam:CalcView", function( ply, origin, angles, fov, znear, zfar )

and

hook.Add( "CreateMove", "ThirdpersonFreecam:CreateMove", function( _cmd )

For the CalcView, I grab a local flag set from CreateMove which handles moving the camera; CreateMove handles everything I need:

[lua]hook.Add( "CreateMove", "ThirdpersonFreecam:CreateMove", function( _cmd )
//
// ThirdPerson Free-Camera System
//
local _p = LocalPlayer( );

// Flag to see if they're in thirdperson
if ( _p:GetFlag( "thirdperson", false, true ) ) then
// Grabs the change in movement for x and y; I commented out y because I'm not using it, and I reduce x because otherwise it moves too quick; this should be based on sensitivity...
local _dMx = _cmd:GetMouseX( ) / 25;
-- local _dMy = _cmd:GetMouseY( );

// This is where I get the current camera angles set to the player, and the view distance
local _cameraAngles = _p:GetFlag( "view_angle", Angle( 0, 0, 0 ), true );
local _cameraDistance = _p:GetFlag( "view_dist", 100, true );

// Here's where I change them; I make sure that roll stays 0 until I implement a system to always lerp it towards 0 so that when you fall it will roll
_cameraAngles.y = math.NormalizeAngle( _cameraAngles.y - _dMx );
_cameraAngles.r = 0;

// Update the view-angle
_p:SetFlag( "view_angle", _cameraAngles, true );

// If the player is holding the ALT / WALK key, then allow them to use zoom-in and zoom-out; clamped to a certain limit
if ( _p:KeyDown( bit.bor( IN_WALK ) ) ) then
// Grab the current distance
local _dist = _p:GetFlag( "view_dist", 100, true );

// Update the distance with the mouse-wheel; it'll return either -1, 0 or 1 depending on which way you scroll
_p:SetFlag( "view_dist", math.Clamp( _dist - _cmd:GetMouseWheel( ) * 5, 50, 150 ), true );
end

// Return so that the character doesn't move.
return true;
end
end );[/lua]

You could easily set up view_angles for zooming in and out with view-dist with just the scroll wheel to make it come in at a curve, ie zoomed all the way out looking directly down, and as you zoom into your character arc it so you are looking at around a 45 degree angle between the ground and the player.

For setting up the camera position, you'd just need to use a new variable for view_position and manipulate that with WASD... Alternatively, you could use PlayerBindPress to detect the WASD keys by looking up the bind; but why do that when all of the logic can be done in CreateMove where you can properly detect mouse movement, and scroll, etc??