How to: Variable Zoom Function
 

Semi-step-by-step on how to attain a variable zoom function within CloD:

1. Download Pinnacle Game Profiler (any similar program will work, your goal is to assign a set of buttons or axis to the mouse so that you can assign a sticky button to the "Hold to Adjust Field of View" function within CloD)

http://pinnaclegameprofiler.com/downloads

2. Once installed, set up your joystick using the wizard that should pop up. This part will be different for everyone as different joysticks will have different buttons/axis options. All you need to do is configure your HAT to a variable axis. No need to even configure/add any axis or buttons other than your HAT (or whichever buttons/axis you choose to use for your variable zoom). In this pic I've configured my X and Y on my G940's joystick HAT (labeled JOYSTICK 2) to sliders 1 and 2.http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14029139/Capture.PNG

3. At main screen, click on "Game Profiles" on the top right. You'll need to click "New" to create a new profile, name it what you want, hook it to the .exe you will be using...in this case it will be something like "D:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\Launcher.exe".
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publi...PNG?w=58d27c0c

4. Click the "Edit Configurations" button to open the configurations editor, select the device you'll be using your zoom function on in the top left box, in this case, I'm using my G940 joystick.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14029139/Capture3.PNG

5. Find the JOYSTICK # you assigned your HAT to, in my example my HAT is labeled JOYSTICK 2 (should be #1 if you didn't accidentally assign your actual joystick axis to anything, like the idiot I am -- doesn't matter if you did or not, as long as it isn't assigned within Pinnacle it will have no effect). Click "Setup Joystick" and check "Map to Mouse". You can change your sensitivity to your liking...I have mine at 60% sensitivity and a 23% deadzone.
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publi...PNG?w=a556d746

6. Press OK, you'll be back on the configuration screen. Choose any button on your joystick (or any device) you'll want to "toggle" the variable zoom function on/off. You will be binding this button within Cliffs of Dover to the "Hold to Zoom" function found in options. Right click on "No Command" under the button you choose. Then push the button you want. So if I wanted to use my joystick trigger as my zoom toggle key, I'd right click "[no command]" under BUTTON #1 and press my trigger on the joystick, essentially assigning the trigger (DX BTN 1 | A) to "BUTTON #1"
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14029139/Capture5.PNG

You may use any keyboard key, or joystick/throttle button you'd like, just be aware of what that button is assigned to in-game..you'll have to unassign it and reassign it to something else.

7. After your button is assigned, left click on it where "no command" just was (should be your assigned key now) and go to Behavior Modification>Enable as Sticky Button.

8. Click "Save and Close", OK on the next screen, click "PLAY" on the main screen that shows your profiles (you can have this auto-play on game start...work that out yourself, it's in the settings/preferences) and start up CloD.

9. Go to your controls menu in-game and assign "Hold to Adjust Field of View" under the Camera menu to the button you assigned in step 6.

10. Get in-game, press your "Hold to Adjust Field of View" toggle key you just assigned and move your HAT (or whichever button/axis you mapped to mouse in step 5) Voila! Variable zoom!

With this, you can zoom in much farther than using the preset FOV commands, you can also zoom way the eff out to the point where it's distorted as all hell. It takes a minute of practice to get used to how far is "too far" when zooming out, though. You can see dots a lot easier at certain FOVs that I believe are dependent on your resolution and monitor size. So play around with it.

One thing to note while using this method is your ESC key, open chat key, toggle scoreboard key, will not function while your zoom function is toggled on!! at least it doesn't for me. It may differ depending on which button you assign your zoom function toggle to. You can simply turn it off to resume those other functions, so no biggie. The normal FOV preset binds still work the same, so if you get too hung up on changing your zoom, you can still use the buttons to get back to the hard set FOV values.

Isn't that some sort of "cheat" for online players?

No, it's simply a utility that's freely available to everyone that does not alter the source program (CoD). Otherwise, TrackIR and Teamspeak would be considered "cheats", too, right?

Kudos to Aborted Man for taking the time and trouble for sharing this.

Yes, it is! Kill everybody that use this, TrackIR/Freetrack, use a joystick, rudder pedals... :rolleyes:

Hmm never mind but it's something which programers didn't implement themselves and something which you have to find "around the corner" - pedals and track ir as well as a joystick is for flightsim kind of standard. I don't mind too much but if it's really easier to spot enemy planes with that "hack"? "mod"? whatever its quite on the edge for me.
Thanks for your efford though.

Lol its not an "around the corner" cheat or work around... its implemented in the game already..but u have to hold the button and use the mouse to use the zoom feature. All aborted man has done is used a program that allows the player to bind the mouse movement to a button on the joystick. I use the same thing.. albeit alot simpler witg the X52 throttle quadrant and the mouse stick on it to do the same as moving the regular mouse. Works the same. I use the joystick hat switch for the standard fields of view. S!
Thanks Abortedman for taking the time to lay this out.

Yeah but what about the "much wider" zoom? Developers did limit the angle for a reason. Otherwise you have angles which are not possible foreveryone and your head may even be behind the seat.

There isn't anything you can see using this that you can't with any normal conventions, such as TrackIR or mouse look. If you zoom out to the point where your FOV is 270 degrees you literaly cannot make anything out at all.

This feature is in the game already and is available to anyone with a mouse. All this does is map the mouse movement to your joystick. It's the exact same as citing binding your throttle from a keyboard key to your HOTAS as a cheat...it's just more comfortable to use this way.

IMO, everyone should be using the "Hold to Adjust Field of View" function. If not in the way I outlined here, then at least using the mouse. The preset FOV functions are kind if the basic, easy solution, while this is the advanced and more difficult, yet rewarding solution.

Great tutorial AbortedMan!
Many, many thanks! :grin:

It always amazes me how peoples tastes are different.

I've had to work pretty hard with my target profiles in RoF and the DCS series in order to get Il-2, 3 position zoom to work which I love.

For me the "3 tap - see all" is more efficient.

Great work in figuring this out for all those that want this feature!

Thanks alot for the tutorial. Made me try to get the same done with the Warthog Target software and it worked just fine.

Now only if you could set limits for maximum and minimum FOV and it would be even better.

Thinking about it, it may be possible to set a mouse deadzone at 100% using pinnacle...I'll look into it when I get home from work if someone doesn't beat me to it.

do you have a Warthog profile set for IL2CoD, please? I might dust off my warthog if you can share it, I'm too lazy to made one by myself :)

Hmmmmm, perhaps number of mouse moves automated into your key press?

Would you mind sharing your Target Software script for this?

Thanks.

If I want to assign the toe axis of my rudder pedal to zoom, without having a modifier button, will this work? The axis would be great but having to use a modifier button is too awkward.

The toggle button is required. Using the step by step instructions in my OP, you can set the toggle button to whatever you want and the (axis to whatever you want), press it at the beginning of your mission and basically forget it...as long as you're not using the mouse for anything, which ideally, you shouldn't be. All normal flight operations work without a hitch when the button is left toggled on.

I'm using the Target GUI for my profiles, because it's sufficient for me and less cumbersome than the scripts, and create new profiles for different planetypes. Because i mostly fly with the 109, only the 109 is pretty much done. And i also only use the GUI when i really have to, if i can bind buttons/switches in CloD directly without causing conflicts when flying other planes, i do that instead.

But anyway, here it is. Should be self-explanatory.

I like to zoom and use the mouse at the same time.
Like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFd-U...e_gdata_player

The trouble with this whole issue is 1C doesn't understand flight simulators at all
Or how people play them. Or they would have added this option.

Ah, I see. Yeah 1C messed up by not letting us map this function to our axis of choice.

With JoyToKey is possible.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...5&postcount=31

Sokol1

Awesome, mind explaining a little on how to do it?

I have to say that when I tried variable zoom in IL2 I switched back because I took too long to zoom in and out. I rely on three position zoom and also TrackIRs 'lean in' capability now. Maybe if I could put variable zoom on a throttle axis that works fast then I might use it.

You can put it on any axis you like with this program (and I'm sure others). The G940 has a mini joystick HAT that's acts like an axis so zooming is as quick as I want it.

Thanks Matt,
I see how you did it and I had played around with a similar type of arrangement also but using different keys.

What I'm trying to do now is to use scripts to see if I can turn on the toggle zoom function and then have the mouse move all in one motion on one switch. In that way, I don't have to have to use two switches. I also am thinking about programming a number of pulses to enable the view to automatically zoom in/out to about 50 percent or so as my default view.

I've tried various scripting commands so far without success. I can get the mouse cursor to move but when in game the toggle on/off zoom feature does not work. Just my inexperience in programming so far but I'll try to work it out.

Cheers

Oh man, why didn't i think of that.:eek:

I updated my profile now. No need to use a switch to switch zoom on and off. It will switch it on and zoom in/out just using the zoom in/out buttons.

Hi Matt,
Is this a different set up?
It looks the same to me or am I missing something?
Did you by chance send the same file again?
Thx

Thanks for this, Matt! I tried your earlier 109E file and it worked very well. I made some minor key changes to better suit my profile and saw how simple and elegant you got this zoom feature to work in TARGET. I'm looking forward to trying your revised profile to free up a joystick button and make the zoom in/out a little more intuitive. Two things I need to explore is

1) how to slow the rate of zoom in and zoom out, and

2) how to set a POV limit on the zoom out

Thanks again for sharing your file. Like most good ideas, I found myself slapping my forehead and saying, "Now why didn't I think of that?" LOL

Oopps, yes i guess i uploaded the wrong file. Here's the new one.

You can change that in the gui. Just have to flick on "Configuration Options" on the top and then change the mouse sensitivity.

No idea how you could limit the FOV, i don't think it's practically possible with the Target software.

Good stuff! Actually, if I can slow the rate of zooming as you describe, then that basically takes care of needing a FOV limit. Thanks again!

EDIT: Works very well. I changed the mouse sensitivity from the default "100" down to "10" (the lowest number it would allow) and the zoom in/out rate is perfect for me. Zooming out slightly gives a little better situational awareness, but I crashed three times into the terrain last night while flying on the deck -- objects like church spires are closer than they appear! LOL

Anyone knows hot to assign zoom to the cursor slew controller on warthog hotas. I assign mousey axis to it and in target I assign the hold to Chang fov button to the axis. All I get is full zoom or full wide view when using it.

Hi Cujo,

Last night I found on my PC that the mouse was hyper-jittery when assigned to the cursor slew controller on my HOTAS, so I need to do further work on this "to tame the mouse". Actually, I like the zoom control assigned to the #1 hatswitch, but I'd like to be able to use the cursor slew control to simply move the mouse cursor around the cockpit without having to take my hands off my controls. There may be a way for me to adjust the sensitivity curve(s) to tame that little shrew.

Hola Matt. I dl zip click open here..says Windows does not recog fcf files. My usual frustration..I Google and every free DL for converters includes software I have to clean registry. I am 75..what is a registry?? Do you have info in EZ access format? Many thanks, John

You need to open it in the Thrustmaster Editor program.

Or . . . .

Right click on the file and select "Open With", then select notepad or any other text editor to open this file.

Then it will open for you in Windows.

Well thanks to AbortedMan for tweaking my interest in this again and to Matt for triggering the sequence for the TM Warthog.

I've converted it to script (which I use) and moved it to my Throttle MIC switch, changed the speed to 30 and it really works great. Somewhere between a snap view and a zoom view. I only do the forward and back zoom because I have Track IR and I just have to look at an object and use the zoom in out feature.

But . . . . now I have to figure out how to stop showing the mouse pointer. It pops into the center screen when I press the zoom key. I need to find a toggle off/on key for the mouse.

Thanks again guys.
Great stuff!

+1 thanks to AM and Matt respectively for opening this topic and making the zoom feature handier for everyone.

Cats, I envy your ability to understand and use script. I struggle with the GUI, and think how you guys would chuckle when I tell my wife I'm "programming". LOL

I use the default (I think) F10 key for Independent Mouse Mode, which essentially makes the mouse cursor disappear off screen. I know exactly what you mean -- that little white cursor has a way of placing itself exactly in the most distracting position possible. I have a separate mouse button assigned to toggle it on/off for that reason, but I imagine F10 could be sequenced before and after the zoom to activate/deactivate the mouse.

Another solution for this is bind the same HAT movement (ie, up, down) for ZOOM to key for control "Camera control in idependent mode" - default is "Mouse middle".

So the mouse cursor is not show.

Same, using JoyToKey:

http://i49.tinypic.com/nzi0qc.jpg

This allow-me "mouse view" with HAT, and with a key for "Hold to adjust FOV", ZOOM in/out - since my joystick have only one HAT. One with a second HAT dont need press a key, just move HAT up/down to zoom.

Notice that I have a joystick button (2) configured in JoyToKey that allow cicle between FOV30, 70, 90.

Sokol1

Thanks for this Snapper!
I'll check it out and sequence it.

Also, I'm going to explore script to revert the view to the default 70 degree position then back off x number of moves to give me a slightly wider field of view but not as wide as the default wide - as a quasi snap-view of 50 degrees.

Re: programming, I'm no programmer so what I do is create the file in the basic Target Gui. Then I select the button "view script" I think it's called (bottom middle left on Gui) then I save that as a txt file or . . . copy it, then open up the Script Gui and paste it in there either from my direct copy or open the txt file and copy in from there.

Then, I can go into the line items that are easily identified and tweak the settings through trial and error and using the manual as a guide.

But, as you can see, sometimes I look to hard for the sequence and all the time Matt had it in it's basic format.

cheers.

You guys are good!
I like your mouse clicks to establish positions between the defaults.
I'm going to try this today.

Copy that Snapper. I've played with the curve and zoom settings but still no go. Just like before full wide or full narrow and nothing in between. Lemme know if ou get it to work. Anyways . I'll talk to you about it next time I see you on TS. Cheers

I would think that most people have no need of complicated software and scripts as JoyToKey works very well and is very easy to set up.
From downloading to having a working variable zoom just by the forward & back hat on my joystick took no more than 2-3 minutes without any prior knowledge of the utility.

Simply tell JoyToKey that UpHat is full back on the mouse and DownHat is full forward on the mouse then go into the settings for CLOD and tell it that both UpHat & DownHat are the 'Hold to Zoom' key and it all works.

The only thing that is not perfect is that it will allow you to zoom back to more than 180 zoom if you keep holding the hat and that is not useable as it means the sun is always in your eyes but it is easily avoidable by just not holding the hat too long. I think you can also adjust how fast it zooms but I like it to move quickly. I have retained a button on my joystick to revert to 90 degree view instantly then I use zoom to make adjustments up and down from there as needed.

Thanks. This sounds a lot less complicated that the other posts, which all put me off trying.

This seems to be the sensible way to do it.

I was hoping someone would post an easy solution (for those of us who need them). :-)



.