Camera Shake on Weapon Fire

This will not work across a network
Updated 25th February 2006

Refer this forum thread for some background info. Also, within that thread you will find some code that will push the players view / arms in any direction you want (recoil effect) & some other related weapon goodies. Thanks to myself, Josh Moore, C2, Max Thomas & Matt "Mr. Pig" Razzafor.

Open up engine/game/projectile.cc

After the line #include "sim/decalManager.h" add this

#include "game/fx/cameraFXMgr.h"

In ProjectileData::ProjectileData() before the last closing brace add this

shakeCamera = true;
   camShakeFreq.set( 10.0, 10.0, 10.0 );
   camShakeAmp.set( 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 );
   camShakeDuration = 1.5;
   camShakeFalloff = 10.0;

In void ProjectileData::initPersistFields() before the last closing brace add this

addField("shakeCamera",       TypeBool,      Offset(shakeCamera,        ProjectileData));
   addField("camShakeFreq",      TypePoint3F,   Offset(camShakeFreq,       ProjectileData));
   addField("camShakeAmp",       TypePoint3F,   Offset(camShakeAmp,        ProjectileData));
   addField("camShakeDuration",  TypeF32,       Offset(camShakeDuration,   ProjectileData));
   addField("camShakeFalloff",   TypeF32,       Offset(camShakeFalloff,    ProjectileData));

Replace F32 Projectile::getUpdatePriority() with this

F32 Projectile::getUpdatePriority(CameraScopeQuery *camInfo, U32 updateMask, S32 updateSkips)
{
   F32 ret = Parent::getUpdatePriority(camInfo, updateMask, updateSkips);

      bool shakeCamera = false;

         if (mDataBlock->shakeCamera && isServerObject())
            shakeCamera = true;

               if (shakeCamera == true)
               {
                  CameraShake *camShake = new CameraShake;
                  camShake->setDuration( mDataBlock->camShakeDuration );
                  camShake->setFrequency( mDataBlock->camShakeFreq );
                  VectorF shakeAmp = mDataBlock->camShakeAmp;
                  camShake->setAmplitude( shakeAmp );
                  camShake->setFalloff( mDataBlock->camShakeFalloff );
                  camShake->init();
                  gCamFXMgr.addFX( camShake );
               }
      else
      {
         shakeCamera = false;
      }

   // if the camera "owns" this object, it should have a slightly higher priority
   if(mSourceObject == camInfo->camera)
      return ret + 0.2;
   return ret;
}

That's it for projectile.cc, now open engine/game/projectile.h

After the line ColorF waterLightColor; add this

bool              shakeCamera;
   VectorF           camShakeFreq;
   VectorF           camShakeAmp;
   F32               camShakeDuration;
   F32               camShakeRadius;
   F32               camShakeFalloff;

Ok, that's the head code out of the way, recompile now.

In each of your weapon scripts, within the datablock ProjectileData() section add this to enable camera shake

// Camera Shaking
   shakeCamera = true;
   camShakeFreq = "2.0 1.0 2.0";
   camShakeAmp = "0.5 0.5 0.5";
   camShakeDuration = 0.2;

Play around with those values and season to taste

If you don't want camera shake on your weapon you MUST add shakeCamera = false; to each of your weapons datablock ProjectileData() sections


Enjoy! As always all comments, feedback, suggestions for improvement are welcome. If anyone can figure out how to get this working across the network please post.

As it is, across a network the following happens:

- If you have created the game no problems
- If you have joined the game camera shake does not work. Everytime the host fires a weapon with camera shake enabled your screen will shake.


April 24th 2006:

Just found out that Matt "Mr. Pig" Razza is working on a more advanced recoil system and is working on using this resource for the camera shake, and hopefully getting it to work across a network. You may want to check it out...
Advanced Weapon Recoil System - Weapon Bounce