Editing the camera file for Sims 3

To get slower, faster, smoother, individual camera movements with the Sims 3, you'll need to edit the camera file. This tutorial will help familiarize yourself with the camera file, so you can edit it to your needs and tastes.


Step 1

First, you'll have to know where to find the file which allows you to edit the camera's movement. The file is located in the Sims directory, and you'll get there by going this way:

Local Disk>Program files>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3>GameData>Shared>NonPackaged>Ini>Videocamera

And you've got it! You can open the camera file (Videocamera) with notepad, for example. I use that one, but I'm pretty sure there's more options.

IF YOU HAVE EXPANSION/STUFF PACKS:
You still need to be poking around in the original game's directory. When it comes to editing your recording values however, it's another story, but we'll get there soon.


Step 2

Now, before messing around with it it's important you back it up. There's times you'll want to revert it back to its original state, such as when patching the game (It will cause issues if it's edited).

When that's done, open the file and take a good look at everything in it. As you can see, there's already some useful descriptions which somewhat explain what each option does.


Step 3

Examining the options

If you want the camera to move slower, we'll need to look at the speed options. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but let's take a look at each individually anyway:

Speed

''Move''
controls the speed at which the camera moves horizontally, using the keyboard.

''MaxMoveSpeed''
controls the speed at which the camera moves horizontally at the max height, using the keyboard.

''MoveVertical''
controls the speed at which the camera moves vertically, using the keyboard.

''MaxVerticalMoveSpeed''
controls the speed at which the camera moves vertically at the max height, using the keyboard.

''Zoom''
controls the speed at which the camera zooms in and out.

''Pitch''
this one seems to apply to the rotation along the horizontal axis, created with the mouse.

''Yaw''
this one seems to apply to the rotation along the vertical axis, created with the mouse.

''Roll''
controls the speed at which the camera rolls (Using shift+A or D)

''MinSpeedHeight''
sets the height at which the camera moves at its minimum speed.

''MaxSpeedHeight''
sets the height at which the camera moves at its maximum speed.

Deceleration

This seems bugged. I think deceleration basically applies to the last bit of movement when manually moving the camera, with the keyboard. If the variable is set at 0.5, for example, the last second of your movements will be twice as slow as the rest.

I've noticed that when you put it at 1, your camera will continuously keep moving, at the same speed, without you pressing any keys (with 2 being twice as fast, etc).

However, I've noticed that deceleration rarely happens, and for some reason only sometimes. I don't know if there's a certain way to trigger it, but I haven't found it yet. The zoom deceleration does function the way it should, which makes for smooth zooms, hurrah!

These options are pretty much self-explanatory so I won't go any further into them.

Limits

''MinPitch''
''MaxPitch''
controls how much degrees the camera can rotate along the horizontal axis. If you put Min to -360, and Max to 360, you can fully rotate along the horizontal axis, allowing for shooting upside down!

''MinRoll''
''MaxRoll''
controls how much degrees the camera can roll left and right.

''MinPosHeight''
''MaxPosHeight''
controls the minimum and maximum height you can position the camera at.

View

I'm not sure what these do.

Miscellaneous

''LerpDuration''
this controls the time it takes to go from point A to point B, when using preset angles.


Step 4

Editing! When editing the variables, the numbers behind each option, a positive number usually means an increase, and a negative number a decrease. For example, if you want to alter ''Move'' to make it go faster, you add to it. When you want it to go slower, you decrease it.

When you're done, you save the file and let it overwrite the original. This might give you an error message saying you're not allowed to do so (something along those lines), if that happens, save it to your desktop and manually move the file to the directory and let it replace the original - which should work.

Have fun, and goodluck!