First off, thanks GOG for the game! Been waiting for this for a while.

But the camera is making me queasy! I generally do most of my playing by mouse, but damn, every time I move it, the camera gyrates wildly, spinning super rapidly, (seemingly) randomly changing vantage, etc..

I'd just like to lock it into that 'over the shoulder' (or 'behind and above', or whatever it was) view like I had in NWN1, and keep it there. Or at least slow things down. Playing around with the Game Options settings doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Any ideas on how to tame the vantage-point beast? (Running Windows Vista laptop, for what it's worth)

Thanks!

There are a bunch of camera modes and settings, but yeah. I considered the camera (and floor tiles you get stuck on later in game) to be my worst enemies and never got as comfortable with any settings as with NWN1. I think you'll just have to try and get used to one or the other setting.

It's better if you lower some graphics settings enough to get smooth action so the jerkiness of everything isn't causing extra grievance.

I think it was one of the high up strategy modes or something I ended up with.

The worst thing is though, when you get back to NWN1 you'll hate it's camera as well. :)
NWN2 does do some things great, but it's subtle in a way you can't really appreciate it before it's gone.

There are three basic camera modes in the final version. Explore mode is best suited to navigation while traveling a map. Strategy mode is best suited to battles, where there is little movement of characters but you need to pause and switch characters frequently. Character mode is good for when you are in a safe area and want to enjoy the scenery from a closer vantage point with all elements (ceilings, etc.) visible, or if you want to navigate using keyboard "drive mode" (WASD) from a closer zoom for a more cinematic experience.

One thing I wished for coming from NWN to NWN2, was a "NWN camera mode" in the settings. Alas, some things are just too much to ask for. But as Jarmo says, you need to find and appreciate the better things, because a few hours in, you won't look at NWN the same again either.

I just recently started with NWN2 myself after hundreds of hours with NWN1, and I too desperately wanted a "NWN camera mode." I think I finally got very close to that by making the following changes:

Starting with the default options for the camera controls, go into all three modes and slow the rotation sliders WAY down--almost all the way to the left. This will keep you from spinning wildly and will help you keep your lunch down.

Next, I put it in "exploration" mode for almost everything. This seems the most like the way I used the camera in NWN1 (you may have had a different favorite mode, but this worked well for me). However, I found that when I did this, the camera kept turning opposite from what I expected it to after playing NWN1. So....

The final step is to go into the keyboard mappings tab and change the camera keys, swapping the left arrow and right arrow (for all three camera modes). It seems counter-intuitive, but it gets you back to moving like NWN1. Basically, when I press the right arrow I want to "look right" (probably because my character has just turned that way when I clicked off to the right). This is how NWN1 worked. NWN2 sees "look right" as "move camera to left", which is why I reversed the arrows.

Doing these three things made the camera modes the same in both games, and now NWN2 is a real joy to play.

Good luck and have fun!

Neil

Use Exploration Mode, which centres the camera on your character and does not change the camera angle when you move. Turn off the options to rotate the camera when your mouse hits the edge of the screen. To slow down the overly sensitive camera rotation, open your nwn2player.ini file and modify the contents to look like this:

[Exploration Mode Options]
Mouse_Turn_Min=0.050000
Mouse_Turn_Max=3.000000

Or find values that work better for you. I think these are good.

Or, if you want the camera to auto-rotate to face the way your character is facing, then use Character Mode, and also change the ini file to those same numbers under the Character Mode Options.

Also, by default, you can optionally rotate the camera by holding down the "x" key and moving the mouse.

I bound the free camera button (x) to a thumb button on my mouse and never had any problems with the camera no matter what mode I used, in fact I liked it because I had complete control of it.

I agree about the goddamn camera, it's overcomplicated and not effective. Like some other user mentioned, I too am using the 'exploration mode', it gets rid of the jerkiness. I'll try the settings in the 'camera rotation' too.
I think the one in NWN 1 worked great. Unfortunately people add stupid things whilst attempting to improve things.

But fortunately the game really seems great in so many respects, I love the graphics, the soundtrack and the atmosphere. Since I played my first NWN campaign, HOTU, my search for the greatest RPG is over. I think rpgs like Oblivion and The Witcher can't match NWN.

The only thing I really miss, is the spectacular battles of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. The D&D battles are a bit of a mess. But the better story plots and huge system and high quality soundtracks makes me feel like I've got a classic.

Maybe this will help:
Camera Modes Demystified

Edit: Updated the link.

Thanks for the tips and advice everyone. Guanathor's link to a sort of camera "tutorial" was very informative. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the hang of it shortly.

Thanks for that Gaunathor.

Thanks so much for that link - The Camera really put me off this game when I bought it retail and I haven't ever finished it.

Also - thanks to touched - I will try those settings.

I played around with touched's settings tip as well. I found out you can also adjust the Edge_Turn settings as well.

So you can use the edge of the screen to rotate the camera without getting sick! Yea, NWN1 camera might be back :)

Well, you're replying to a three year old post (necro'ing). The old vault has long since shut down. You'll have to search the new vault.