In the interest of being less ignorant.

[BH_Target]

Can someone direct me to the instructions on how to set up snap views? I've tried the Official forum and the FTP here (which isn't working), the booklet is useless.

[BH von Güber]

No, but if you remind me when we're on TS I can talk you through it.

[Hawkeye]

It's not that hard, but the thing is you have to make sure you have your game configured in a way that will allow it to work. Namely-

1) TrackIR has to be OFF. (I've heard some say you can pause it which may work but if you start the game with it off, you'll be in the default home view)

2) You have to know how the "save view" function is mapped. F10 is the default. If you've changed it, best to load, and apply, the "default" key map.

3) You have to know you can only save views for the NUMBER PAD keys; other keys won't work. Those being the numbers off to the right side of your keyboard, not the ones across the top of it.

4) You have to know that the Numpad 5 (home view) is a special case; if you alter it by saving a new view, and you are using TrackIR again, you must PAUSE the TIR before pushing that button. If you don't, it will just slew toward the view you set for a millisecond, and jump right back to TIR movement, EVEN IF YOU HOLD IT DOWN. With all other Numpad key assignments other than 5, when you push the key for the saved view, it will stay on that view as long as you are holding that Numpad key down, and jump right back to TIR mode when you release it. If you use Numpad 5, and pause TIR, it will then go to, and stay in, that view as long as TIR is paused; when you unpause TIR, it then goes back to TIR mode. I don't recommend altering the Numpad 5 "home view" unless you really know what you are doing.

5) When setting the view, you want to use the Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys to adjust the view, as well as the mouse wheel for zooming in or out your FOV. If you've altered the function of those keys, again it's best to have the "default" key map loaded, and applied.

6) Adjusting the view for saving can be hard due to the movement of the view being too fast. In order to adjust it ACCURATELY, especially for something like a gunsight view, first take note of the game settings of the "Movement Speed", "Rotation Speed", and "FOV Changing Speed" sliders under the "Camera" tab of the game settings. Set them all to the lowest setting. (Remember to change them for both the "Snap Mode" and the "Pan Mode"). This will cause the speed of movement when you use the Insert, Home, Delete, End, Page Up, Page Down, and Mouse wheel, to move slowly and you'll be able to position the view exactly where it's needed without it jumping past where you want it in an uncontrollable manner. When you are finished, set all the sliders back to their original settings.

7) Once you understand, and have met, all of the preconditions, the actual procedure is simple. Simply push AND HOLD the Numpad key that you wish to assign the custom view to. While holding this key down, use the Insert, Home, Delete, End, Page Up, Page Down, and/or mouse wheel zoom, to position your view exactly where you want it. At that point, still holding the Numpad key down and the view positioned, press the F10 "save view" key once. The view is then saved; you can test it by pressing some other Numpad key like the 5, then press the Numpad key you just saved, and it should go to exactly where you set it. Repeat for all views you want to set for that plane.

Additional Info: The views that you set are for THAT PLANE ONLY. If you want to similarly set views for other planes, you'll have to do those too. Yes it's a lot of work and takes a long time. You can set up some kind of standard that works for you. For example, on ALL of my planes, Numpad 2 shows the Tachometer; Numpad 3 shows the Airspeed; Numpad 4 shows the Altimeter; Numpad 5 is left stock; Numpad 6 shows the Fuel gauge; Numpad 7 shows the Compass; Numpad 8 shows the Temperature gauge; Numpad 9 is the Elevated (upward pointing) Gunsight view for planes with guns that elevate; and Numpad 0 is an Optional Gunsight view which is looking down the gunsight for planes that can have Aldis, Reflector, or Iron sights that are not on centerline. For planes that do not have a sight like that as an option, that view sights down the barrel sight of one of the machine guns.

Once you've assigned all your custom views to the Numpad keys, you can map those Numpad keys to a stick or throttle quadrant button using your Joystick software, so you don't actually have to reach to the keyboard to use your views.

All of the files for airplane views are stored in the: .....Rise of Flight > Data > Luascripts > Snapviews folder. Once you've gone to all that work, you should save a copy of that folder to another location on your HDD. The game does LOSE the custom saved views on occasion (after updates, or randomly). You can restore them by copying one or all of the individual plane view files from your backup and paste them back into the game folder, overwriting what's there.

One more thing: for some reason, for me, the Numpad 1 key doesn't seem to work properly for view saving. It may or may not work fine for you. If not don't use it.

S!

[BH von Güber]

Excellent post Hawk. I've copied it to the training forum as a sticky available for others to add to as well.