[Really Cool UI Feature] Map/camera view/rotate

from Elemental Forums

Here is a really cool UI feature I just now discovered quite by accident.  (sure would have been nice for SD to document it...<sigh>)

It has bothered me since day 1 when I realized that north on the strategic map was really to the NE on my screen... Trying to do the campaign/tutorial out of the box was very frustrating until I realized North was not a traditional north.

Ever since day 1, I thought the game needs a Camera rotate or viw adjustment in addition to the zoom on the mouse wheel.  It turns out the game does and it seems either folks know about it so do not bother mentioning it and it is not documented so if you do not know about it then well you just won't like me until or if you ever stumble on it.

Press and hold the mouse wheel button and move the mouse in both tactical and strategic map mode...  you see?  cool huh?

You're welcome if you did not know this and if you did know this, then move along nothing new to see here...:P

elemental
5,368 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

This is the standard for most 3d strategy games.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Sadly I do not have a middle button, and the game does not allow us to change key mappings! >:(

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Press 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the keyboard for some different views, several of which are north is up alignments.  They have different levels of zoom as well I believe.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

So was I the only one not aware of this UI mechanic?

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gene1966, reply 4
So was I the only one not aware of this UI mechanic?

Possibly man. If memory serves, Frogboy mentioned this in one of his videos. But thanks for the effort all the same.

Brother J 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Glad you discovered this, although I think most people already knew about it.

However, if you had told me how you can scroll the map using your arrow keys I would have worshiped you!  Seriously, scrolling is a royal pain in the butt with only the click+drag and screen-edge methods.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

thanks for the tip.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting GaelicVigil, reply 6
Glad you discovered this, although I think most people already knew about it.

However, if you had told me how you can scroll the map using your arrow keys I would have worshiped you!  Seriously, scrolling is a royal pain in the butt with only the click+drag and screen-edge methods.

 

Doh!  I did not know this one either ...thanks for the tip!  I agree with you on the pain factor.  Point is no everyone is going to watch every video or listen to every podcast or read every thread...  the games documentation needs to be contained somewhere, and production costs and schedules what they are make it not feasible to be in the in box documentation but there needs to be a PDF that details the games features including UI mechanics as clunky as they are. 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gene1966, reply 8

Quoting GaelicVigil, reply 6Glad you discovered this, although I think most people already knew about it.

However, if you had told me how you can scroll the map using your arrow keys I would have worshiped you!  Seriously, scrolling is a royal pain in the butt with only the click+drag and screen-edge methods.


 

Doh!  I did not know this one either ...thanks for the tip!  I agree with you on the pain factor.  Point is no everyone is going to watch every video or listen to every podcast or read every thread...  the games documentation needs to be contained somewhere, and production costs and schedules what they are make it not feasible to be in the in box documentation but there needs to be a PDF that details the games features including UI mechanics as clunky as they are. 

 

Oops, sorry if you misread.  I was saying that you CANNOT scroll the map with your arrow keys, but it would be awesome if you could.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

The middle button on my mouse works 100% fine - except in elemental. Using Control - Arrow keys is too slow and bothersome to pan around an object.

 

Also the zoom function using mouse wheel is still poked. It takes a few rolls of the finger to get any movement out of the camera. These are pretty basic UI standards - I can't see why they have been implemented so poorly.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

The middle button on my mouse works 100% fine - except in elemental.

If you're running any mouse software from the manufacturer, make sure that the wheel-click is set as middle button or generic button.

 

It takes a few rolls of the finger to get any movement out of the camera.

If you're having zoom sensitivity issues (generally with a Microsoft mouse), contact the overlay dev and he can provide a workaround. We haven't yet implemented the fix in the release updates as it can cause some other side effects under certain circumstances.