I dislike very much that behavior of the custom cameras, that every time, when I press the assigned button, the view TOGGLES to the programmed camera and then back to the previous view.
That annoys very much, especially in a approach, when I need quickly my desired view! then I often have to press the button twice!
I would like to have, that the button-press shows me the programmed view, and even to press the button again don’t switch to any other view.
Please make this configurable! There are many buttons in the SETTINGS-GENERAL-CAMERA, but none of them solve that problem.
EDIT 30.8.22: please view my visualisation of this problem in this post:
When you select a custom camera it toggles between that camera and the previous view - that is a very bad idea! The reason is: you have a high workload when flying properly, so when you do something you need to know exactly what’s going to happen - and not second guess whether you have to hit the button a second time to get what you want.
You can keep the toggle functionality if you really want to, but at least please give us a key binding that will always go to the custom camera no matter how many times you hit it.
This is simply a must. And keep in mind that this habit of using toggling commands is a bad idea throughout the entire sim.
The keybind to switch between cockpit and External camera is switching modes for within the same set. And apparently this applies to the showcase set as well. So pressing the same button when on showcase mode will switch between drone and fixed cam modes.
Additionally the keybind Toggle drone cam is actually used to switch between camera sets. And it takes the previous camera into account.
So what I always do at the start of the flight is to use the toggle drone cam button to switch to the showcase mode. And press the switch to external cam to bring it to the fixed cam.
I then use the keybind next/previous fixed camera to cycle through the different fixed cam until I get to where I want it.
Once that’s done, pressing the toggle drone cam button will instantly switch you from the fixed camera that you set and the cockpit mode, and vice versa without going through the whole process again. Try this out.
I’m trying to setup an Elgato Streamdeck with buttons for my frequently used cameras, but this “toggling” funcitonality makes everything very confusing and so it doesn’t really work.
I just want to be able to map a given hotkey, globally, to a specific saved camera irrespective of what the currently active camera “mode” (Cockpit/External/Showcase) is.
I completely agree. This is very important, and very annoying when I’m landing and doing several things at once (throttle control, flaps control, trying to find the runway, turning, talking to ATC), and then it doesn’t load my custom camera properly when I press the button for it.
There is another reason that no toggle should be implemented: when LOAD CUSTOM CAMERA X is used after COCKPIT FREELOOK, I want the sim to load my custom camera, but sometimes it resets my camera instead. It could be a bug, because sometimes it loads a strange camera which I have never set (combination of freelook and reset), but this could be avoided if no toggle was implemented.
+1 This is really basic and goes to the very usability of the sim. It needs to be fixed ASAP. Issuing a command for a custom camera should ALWAYS call up that camera and NOTHING ELSE.
I think the underlying issue is that button functionality changes depending on the context. Instead of just taking you to the custom camera view you have defined, one of three things might happen:
You’re sent to your previous view
You’re sent to the plane’s default cockpit view (for which you cannot change)
You’re sent to the correct custom camera view
I think I understand the intent behind this is to make it “smart,” but in reality it is just very confusing and beyond frustrating to use.
The most irritating is when you go to a custom view, use your mouse to look over at something, then want to quickly reset or “recenter” back to that view. Pressing the same camera button one time will not take you back, it’ll reset to default or restore your last view. So you have to double-press.
You might think the logical workaround is to always double-press, but then this has the exact opposite effect when switching from one camera to another. In that case you should only single-press, or else you’ll just get the default or previous camera.
So to break this down, this is how the steps change if you want to get to Camera 1:
From Camera 2 → moved mouse → press Camera 1 button: in Camera 1
From Camera 1 → moved mouse → press Camera 1 button: in Default or Previous → press Camera 1 button again: in Camera 1
The previous view/default view distinction is an issue on its own. Whether or not you manually manipulated your camera in the previous view is the deciding factor here. If you did modify it, then it’ll be restored as your previous view. If you did not modify it, you’re reset to the cockpit default view.
Sound confusing? Trust me, it really is.
As trivial as it sounds, the biggest reason I prefer not to fly in MSFS at this point is because it feels like I’m constantly fighting with the camera.
You described all my thoughts in very well words.
That’s exactly the problem.
The only thing I want to have, is a switch in the configuration, where I can switch this “smart” behavior off.
Like chaseplane for prepare3D the keypress should instantly show the saved camera position AND NOTHING ELSE. Even when I press 5 times on the same button it should still show the saved camera position and again nothing else.
These actual “smart” behavior drives me crazy on EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT!
I’ve only just found this topic, and couldn’t agree more with the frustration expressed, which I totally share. This erratic behaviour of the cameras is something that should have been sorted out a long time ago — quite honestly, it drives me nuts literally every time I use the sim.
At the simplest level, as a former software developer I would never provide a “toggle between A and B” control unless I had first provided both a “switch to A” and also a “switch to B” control. Having only a 50% chance of achieving the effect you want is extremely suboptimal, to put it as politely as possible.
I totally agree, this unpredictable toggle-behavior of the (custom) views is my no1 reason why I haven’t switched to MSFS yet and why I still won’t invest a penny into add-ons etc.
When I set a camera view to key 1 and I switch into it, free-move the camera with the mouse to quickly check something in the cockpit, I want my key 1 to get me back to that custom view.
When I am IN that view, hitting key 1 should do nothing, as I am already in there.
That’s the whole purpose of binding keys. “Hit that button and it will do this”. Period.
“Not hit that button and it will do this, and something else you absolutely don’t expect, need or want”.
I just want my x custom views, nothing more. No toggle, no “programmed” or hard coded views, no toggle between my views and some strange default/last/POI or whatever view.
Please, simplify this system and make it straight forward.
Or open up your SDK to developers like P42 / Chaseplane. Please!
Thought I would try MSFS again after a break but this camera problem is too frustrating. So I will stay with X-plane. Mine seems to worse than before. If I allocate a key to a custom view it now judders between that view and the default view, so a matter of luck where it ends up. ALT 0 - 9 work fine but can’t stretch for those keys with one hand. This a bug I recon.
I really can’t understand, why Asobo or M$ doesn’t react to any of this topics here at all!
We do the efort to write the problem down and A$/M$ simply ignore them!
seems to me only very few people have an issue with the cam system, which i agree is
not great, but perfectly workable.
so it has low, or maybe no priority at all.
I agree that some people can get used it, and that Asobo doesn’t care, but “perfectly workable” is a bit of a stretch in my book. The behavior of the system simply does not make sense, and I would offer that most people don’t even realize why it feels so clunky to begin with.
This actual cam behavior is far from “working perfectly”!
Yes, it works, but it’s annoying!!!
Especially in stressful situations like the approach, I need a reliable system that doesn’t “just switch” somewhere!
