Disable first person pain effects

[Lessen]

The red flash and camera shove that happen when you get shot in first person are the single biggest issue with first person, and make it incredibly aggravating to use in a close quarters gunfight. In my experience, first person is actually very useful for gunners in lots of situations, because it makes aiming much more intuitive especially at closer ranges... but these pain effects sorta ruin it in that regard.

So I'm requesting a cvar that disables them.

QuakeLive has "cg_screenDamage" for disabling the red flash, and "cg_kickScale" for adjusting/disabling the camera shove. If there's a limited number of cvars that can be added, it could instead just be a single cvar that simply toggles the whole feature on and off.

@Damn Polak said he thought there already was a cvar, but I haven't found any other evidence of this.
@eksha posted a thread a while back suggesting a couple things including the exact same thing I'm suggesting in this thread.
@Liniyka_xddd agreed with me on discord that the pain effects ruin first person.
@Tempest pointedly ignores me when I mention this but he's a busy man who's busy fixing lots of other things, or doing other important things, like resting, or something. He better rest.

but i'd still appreciate some kinda dev response :^I

 

[Blazer]

I like that you brought this up but I'll be the first to say it:

who tf uses first person

 

[Lessen]

who tf uses first person

I, and at least three other good gunners I've talked to, switch between 1st person and 3rd person contextually. I personally use 1st person pretty heavily because I find that it makes aiming feel much more intuitive (point-and-shoot). While playing in first person I tend to frustrate/impress people with my aim much more frequently than I do in third person, especially in close-range fights.

Certainly first person makes it a lot easier for me to follow the jukes of a saberist that's right in front of me wiggling around and crouching and stuff.

 

[Blazer]

I, and at least three other good gunners I've talked to, switch between 1st person and 3rd person contextually. I personally use 1st person pretty heavily because I find that it makes aiming feel much more intuitive (point-and-shoot). While playing in first person I tend to frustrate/impress people with my aim much more frequently than I do in third person, especially in close-range fights.

Interesting. I'll have to try it sometime. The FOV in first person is just too closed in for me personally.

 

[Lessen]

As a bonus, I've got some theoretical explanations for why 3rd person is rather disorienting relative to 1st person in close-range scraps:
1. Because your camera is positioned some distance behind your character, if the enemy is right in front of you, your camera is actually further from your character than the enemy is. The enemy can be partially blocked by your own character model. First person gives you a clear view of someone who's right in front of you.
2. Because the third person camera is floating behind your character, when you turn your view the camera swivels around your character, while in first person you're simply turning the camera. A simple turn is simpler and easier to understand than a rotational swivel. It's just an easier thing to process.
3. First person positions your camera much closer to your gun. It makes mental calculations for gun-pointing simpler. I think.

First person is also better when going through a doorway, because the third person camera is floating behind you and won't give as good of a view of the sides of the room as you stand in the doorway.

(But obviously third person DOES generally give better awareness of your sides, and let's you corner peek. That's why it's popular. And I do switch to it to corner-peek.)

(Until devs make the obnoxious pain effects optional I'll be seeing if I can get as solid with 3rd person as I am with 1st person. But I've used 3rd person waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than 1st person in my MB2 history, and 1st person is still where I'm more comfortable, by far.)

 

[MaceMadunusus]

We definitely should allow as much customization as possible. However, as one of those few people who primarily use first person and just switch to third to look around corners or use things like melee, I don't personally believe sway or pain effects are in any way a hindrance to my play. Our effects aren't anything like CSGO which absolutely piss me off. Personally, I think removing these effects would make it feel way too static and like I'm playing as a drone rather than a person. To each his own though. I loved playing Crysis when it came out because of how it felt in first person. The weapon, hud, etc properly reacting to the surroundings rather than just being stuck on screen like a 2d sprite made it feel way better.

 

[Lessen]

We definitely should allow as much customization as possible. However, as one of those few people who primarily use first person and just switch to third to look around corners or use things like melee, I don't personally believe sway or pain effects are in any way a hindrance to my play. Our effects aren't anything like CSGO which absolutely piss me off. Personally, I think removing these effects would make it feel way too static and like I'm playing as a drone rather than a person. To each his own though. I loved playing Crysis when it came out because of how it felt in first person. The weapon, hud, etc properly reacting to the surroundings rather than just being stuck on screen like a 2d sprite made it feel way better.

First off: Sweet, you're another first-person heavy user, and you're one of the other people Altroll listed in that off-hand list I flaunt ridiculously in my sig. That I probably took out of context. But anyway: Yeah, I'm glad to see more proof that really great gunners recognize the usefulness of first person. Not to call myself a really great gunner, my inconsistency is insane sometimes.

Regarding my frustration about pain effects, look at it this way: in a mid-close range fight in particular, I've gotta be mentally completely locked-on to the motions of the enemy as he's dancing around, because at every moment, as much as possible, I need to be adjusting my aim in adaptation to changes in his movements. Sudden and effectively random full-screen red flashes and camera jolts severely impede my ability to do this, for a moment. A moment later, I'm back on target, but if I think about that moment of disorientation it seems undeniable that my ability to aim was enormously impeded there.

And these effects don't happen in third person, at all. It seems unfair for them to happen in first person. First person already has the significant cost of reducing your awareness of what's behind/beside you.

All that being said, was your ultimate conclusion that you'd be in favor of the addition of this option, but wouldn't use it yourself?

(edit, weird aside: I think I actually kind of like the smooth artificiality of having no bobbing whatsoever. It makes it all feel sharp and clear and easy to understand. It's also sort of like what the real world looks like after your mind is done automatically accounting for the swaying and bobbing. )

 

[MaceMadunusus]

All that being said, was your ultimate conclusion that you'd be in favor of the addition of this option, but wouldn't use it yourself?

Correct.