Unlock the Screenshot Camera!

[AzureWX]

Ever wonder how to get screenshots like this (http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/375770_337463029634781_100001132608489_867374_8051 24450_n.jpg) or this (http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/s720x720/536414_337463529634731_100001132608489_867375_7521 94062_n.jpg) without leaving your aircraft or having to rely on random chance with the Flyby camera?
I know you're all jealous of my super duper graphics.
You can have these too, for the low low price of a few keystrokes!

Open Windows Explorer and navigate here*: %appdata%\microsoft\flight

Make a copy of the Cameras.cfg file and save it somewhere in case you want to undo this later, then open it in notepad. Scroll down to entry 13, the "Screenshot Camera!" This entry describes the attributes for the Screenshot Cam in game, but at the bottom of the list you'll see "CycleHidden=Yes" and that's keeping us from enjoying it. Change that to "CycleHidden=No", save the file, and you will be able to navigate to it in the game just by pressing the next or previous camera buttons!

This is what the entry for Camera 13 should look like after making the change:
[CameraDefinition.013]
Title = $Screenshot View
Guid = {D225B9D0-95CB-4278-9A9D-ED4545743269}
Description = Enables camera displacement outside the aircraft for taking screenshots
Origin = Center
MomentumEffect = No
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = None
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = TRUE
InitialZoom = 0.6
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ZoomPanScalar = 1.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = TRUE
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Outside
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=75
PanAcceleratorTime=0
ClipMode = Spot
UseSimVelocity = TRUE
CycleHidden=No
XYZRate=5.0

But how do you use it? This camera just appears at my feet inside the cockpit: FRET NOT! Simply hold the middle mouse button and drag the mouse to move the camera, or use the eyepoint commands (CTRL+Q,W,E,A,S,D) to reposition it anywhere, even well away from the aircraft! You'll find it has much more freedom of movement than the cockpit camera, and the extra point of view can certainly come in handy!

*Windows 7. If you're using Vista or XP you are on your own finding the Cameras.cfg file, but this should give you a good start!

[wlayton27]

Sorry it took so long to get around to trying this out ... it works a treat.

Had to hunt a bit for the file:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Flig ht\Cameras.CFG

^^ Windows 7

Loving the new view. I'm actually flying a P-51 Mustang and Zero a bit now that I don't have to look out from either 10 feet in front of or 20 feet behind my actual airplane when flying. It just takes a few clicks back (Shift+Q), and a few clicks up (Shift+W) to get in just the right position for a cockpit view. The cockpit controls and instruments don't actually display anything of course, and the canopy doesn't show up properly so it looks like an open canopy aircraft, but it's better than that silly chase view. The P-51 has a surprisingly large amount of instruments in clear view on the panel just below the dash. The Zero isn't completely without instruments, but most of them are buried deep down inside the cockpit in a haphazard manner.

Cheers.

[turbodaze]

ms flight graphics don't come close to FSX lol!

[AzureWX]

In the Stearman I like to put the screenie cam just left of the plane's body and low enough to see under the bottom wing. That view is perfect for a quick check during landing to make sure everything is still lined up!

[wlayton27]

ms flight graphics don't come close to FSX lol!

Umm yes they do. Maybe they don't come close to a High Definition modded environment that runs in FSX, but considering the framerate improvements versus graphics quality ... Flight leaves FSX in the dust.

I only tried FSX for the free trial and it kicked me out after just a few hours of flying. What I found was pretty disappointing after hearing tons of off topic rants like this one.

FSX flying and handling looked correct for actual flight characteristics, but it just didn't FEEL like anything at all to me. It didn't have any passion or excitement. The air just felt like a thin vapor that was passing right through the plane.

FSX also didn't provide me any interesting objectives outside of the demo missions. I wanted to be able to take odd jobs moving people and cargo around the Bahamas, not just take a few scenic flights around the islands with no actual agenda of any kind.

Flight is a vast improvement on FSX. Graphics are well balanced between gameplay speed and high detail textures; colors are vibrant and light effects produce a sense of actually being there. Game modes provide a fair bit of variety and the flight plans and agendas add a real sense of a specific goal to fly towards, rather than just bumbling about in all random directions.

Sorry to let turbodaze hijack this thread (like so many other threads here that have been hijacked by FSX fanbois), but I'm getting tired of not voicing a counter-argument for all the "FSX FTW, Flight FAIL" comments here.

..>Back on topic:

In the Stearman I like to put the screenie cam just left of the plane's body and low enough to see under the bottom wing. That view is perfect for a quick check during landing to make sure everything is still lined up!

Good idea, and to improve in that one, I'm thinking about modding the file a bit more to enable one of the hotkeys that I don't use (like flyby view) to bind instead to the screencapture view. This would allow me to toggle back and forth between cockpit view and screenshot view quickly and easily during flight.

[AzureWX]

Good idea, and to improve in that one, I'm thinking about modding the file a bit more to enable one of the hotkeys that I don't use (like flyby view) to bind instead to the screencapture view. This would allow me to toggle back and forth between cockpit view and screenshot view quickly and easily during flight.

The screenshot cam is the last in the list, so if you have buttons mapped to "previous" and "next" camera, you can use those to quickly swap between screenshot and cockpit. ;)

And if you don't ignore the trolls, you're as bad as they are.