Vehicle "Cam Type" changes on region crossings. Can this be prevented? Is anyone else experiencing this? Please Help!

[davidventer]

Hi guys,

I love driving around in SL and I've recently started getting into transport related games such as GTFO, BelliBins, BBB Passport travels, etc. It's great, except for one very annoying issue that's been driving me mad; road vehicle camera mode bugs during region crossings. In most road vehicles using the driving scripts created by karyn.vaher, the following happens:

I drive in 'FollowCam' mode, via the vehicle menu > Options > Camera > Cam Type. This is my preferred way of driving, and also appears to be the default, until I cross into a different region. Then the camera jumps to what appears similar to the "SportCam' mode, where I am unable to see the vehicle, and the only way to get it back to the FollowCam mode is to ctrl+option cam away, so that I can see my vehicle again, touch it to open its menu, and then go to Options > Camera, and click the "Cam Type" button twice, then it finally goes back to the usual 'FollowCam' mode. This happens every time, at every region crossing, in every vehicle that uses the same creator's scripts, which seem to be most road vehicles. Most seem to be using the same scripts from the same creator, and they all do this for me when crossing regions.

Is there any way to prevent this from happening? I'd like my vehicles to stay in 'FollowCam' mode, and not switch to what appears to be "SportCam" on every region crossing - Even though the menu still shows that I'm in FollowCam Mode, I have to push the Cam Type button twice to get the cam view back to where it's supposed to be. How can I prevent this from happening? 

I would also like to know if anyone else is experiencing this issue, or if anyone can recommend a vehicle creator that does not use karyn.vaher's scripts (preferable a GTFO-compatible vehicle creator). This cam issue is driving me insane and I would really like to know if there's a way to fix it, or if there are alternative vehicles that I can use that don't make use of these Cam-Type scripts that seem to break on every region crossing.

Please help!

Edited December 5, 2021 by davidventer

[animats]

5 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

I have found that it is often helpful to reacquire PERMISSION_CONTROL_CAMERA after you have entered a new region.

Yes. After a vehicle's region crossing is complete, with the vehicle and all avatars in the new region, it helps to do all of the following:

• Check that you have all the needed perms and re-acquire them if necessary.
• Set camera.
• Set animations.
• Set sounds.

Also useful:

• When the vehicle crosses (CHANGED_REGION event), turn off physics to force a hard stop.
• Wait for all avatars to arrive. (Typical delay, about 50-100ms, but can be longer in overloaded sims.)
• Turn physics back on.
• Set velocity vector to velocity saved when physics was turned off.

And even:

• When vehicle root coords go outside 0..256, set a hover height to avoid sinkage. (No more sinking into the road at badly constructed region crossings.)
• At end of region crossing, turn off hover mode.

And also:

• Check for path which will cross two region boundaries in a short period and slow down vehicle.

And finally:

• If avatars don't arrive within 15-30 seconds, turn vehicle off.

And in the Firestorm viewer:

• Set Preferences->Move & View -> Movement  -> Region crossing movement prediction -> Stop when error gets too large

With all this, region crossings are either successes, or the immersion breaking total fail where the avatar failed to cross and is stuck. Which is why I keep bringing up the total fail case at Server User Group. Can't work around that from LSL.

[June Starlight]

I will have to get inworld to check my GTFO vehicles scripts. As a quick workaround you can grab a free messenger bag / backpack from GTFO HQ. It will allow you to make small deliveries on any vehicle or even on foot.

[animats]

I didn't discover all that. Most items in that list were done by someone else in some vehicle script, although not all together. But few creators gave out details.

Here are my vehicle scripts for my motorcycles. They've been available there for years. License is GPL, so you can use them in any free vehicle. No support, though. For commercialization, we have to talk.

I want vehicles in SL to Just Work. If you can't travel around, there's no point in having a big seamless world.

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by animats

[Rolig Loon]

Region crossings will generally make a hash of things for vehicles.  I have found that it is often helpful to reacquire PERMISSION_CONTROL_CAMERA after you have entered a new region. Perhaps the best person to ask about strategies is @animats, who has created some very successful vehicles and has thought about these issues more than most scripters.

[Rowan Amore]

Personally, I never liked the cam controls in the horses or vehicles.  I made a preset view that I use when driving or riding simply called Riding View.  Fairly easy to set up,.too and not subject to region crossings.

[davidventer]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Personally, I never liked the cam controls in the horses or vehicles.  I made a preset view that I use when driving or riding simply called Riding View.  Fairly easy to set up,.too and not subject to region crossings.

The problem is, most vehicles change the camera view, regardless of viewer preset. So even when I set my own preset in the Viewer camera controls, it still changes to whatever the vehicle Camera View is set at, and breaks at every region crossing. I can't just zoom or scroll out from that either, and the Viewer camera control presets don't change when in the vehicle. It's stuck to what the vehicle is scripted as. Only way to get out of that mode is to CTRL+Option Cam out, touch vehicle, and change it's Cam Type. As soon as the vehicle starts moving, it goes back to whatever the camera is set as in the vehicle menu. Is there a way to prevent this? So that it uses my own presets, and not forces/auto-uses the vehicles cam settings? 

Edited December 5, 2021 by davidventer

[Rolig Loon]

3 minutes ago, davidventer said:

The problem is, most vehicles change the camera view, regardless of viewer preset. So even when I set my own preset in the Viewer camera controls, it still changes to whatever the vehicle Camera View is set at, and breaks at every region crossing. I can't just zoom or scroll out from that either, and the Viewer camera control presets don't change when in the vehicle. It's stuck to what the vehicle is scripted as. Only way to get out of that mode is to CTRL+Option Cam out, touch vehicle, and change it's Cam Type. As soon as the vehicle starts moving, it goes back to whatever the camera is set as in the vehicle menu. Is there a way to prevent this? So that it uses my own presets, and not forces/auto-uses the vehicles cam settings? 

Exactly right.  And the answer is that there is no way you can fix it yourself. You have to deal with whatever script th creator has made for the vehicle, and most scripts handle the camera poorly.  That's why I tagged @animats earlier.

[davidventer]

5 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Exactly right.  And the answer is that there is no way you can fix it yourself. You have to deal with whatever script th creator has made for the vehicle, and most scripts handle the camera poorly.  That's why I tagged @animats earlier.

I wonder if there is maybe a way to make the Viewer ignore all script-based camera view changes? Maybe some debug setting?

[Rolig Loon]

8 minutes ago, davidventer said:

I wonder if there is maybe a way to make the Viewer ignore all script-based camera view changes? Maybe some debug setting?

No

[Rolig Loon]

Thanks, animats.

So, @davidventer, there's what your vehicle script has to be able to do. That will really only help if you are able to script a vehicle yourself, because it would be very unusual for a creator to let you peek under the hood of a vehicle you are thinking of buying.  However, it tells you what sorts of things to look for in descriptions or as you ask around for vehicles that are built with these considerations in mind.

[davidventer]

Here’s a special request for vehicle creators; make wearable versions of your vehicles that don’t have the buggy scripts in them. Just something with a sit pose like most bicycles and some of MadPea’s vehicles that can be worn instead of rezzed. Then provide a wearable solo ride version and the rez-able passenger version in the box. That would be awesome. 
 

I’m guessing most vehicle owners just buy vehicles for show, or they stick to driving around a single region? Or they somehow don’t suffer from this annoyance I’m experiencing? Imagine crossing 50+ regions and having to stop after every region crossing to fix the camera view… it’s not fun. There must be a solution to this, or some GTFO-compatible vehicle out there that doesn’t do this. Help!

Edited December 6, 2021 by davidventer

[davidventer]

I found a vehicle creator/brand that doesn't have this issue: HaruMotors - No cam view issues/resets during region crossings! And wow, what a pleasant driving experience not having to deal with that at each region crossing. Vehicle scripts by haru.kappler. Yay! But, these are no mod, and don't appear to be GTFO compatible 😢 so my issue remains, and my search continues. 

[davidventer]

28 minutes ago, June Starlight said:

I will have to get inworld to check my GTFO vehicles scripts. As a quick workaround you can grab a free messenger bag / backpack from GTFO HQ. It will allow you to make small deliveries on any vehicle or even on foot.

This is great! Thanks for mentioning that. Now I’ll be able to play GTFO with wearable vehicles too. Nice! 🤩

[davidventer]

Shoutout to Vision Motors for inviting me to test drive their vehicles and specially rezzing them for me on the mainland to test multiple sim-crossings. No cam type/view issues on their vehicles when crossing regions! So that’s another 'brand' I’d recommend to anyone also having the annoying Cam Type issue. Thank you Victoria Vortex!

Also, they’re having a HUNT where you can get a free Ski-doo for completing the hunt: https://my.secondlife.com/davidventer/snapshots/61ae080ec7418e031fa806a1

Edited December 6, 2021 by davidventer