gamingislove

If camera control should be blocked during enemy turns, yes.

Whatexists

Alright. I'm struggling a little. I tried inputting Camera Control Block nodes into the enemy turn start and end events with the enemy turn start event enabling camera control block and the enemy turn end event disabling it. But I maintained player control of the camera during enemy turns, so if the look at settings were activated they would have been over-ruled next frame. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong on that front.

On the other front that you mentioned, which camera control target settings are you referring to? the ones under the various look at settings under battle camera?

gamingislove

Make sure Clear Block Steps is disabled in the event's Settings node, should be disabled by default, though.

I'm refering to all of them, the battle camera can automatically target a selecting player combatant and the battle arena, as well as change camera targets for the various look at settings (via Look At Type).

Whatexists

Clear Block Steps was enabled. I must have enabled it ages ago when first making the event by just reading the tooltip about what it was and then assuming I'd want it enabled. =\

So now I loose control of the camera but blocking it also appears to be stopping the Battle Camera from swapping the camera to following the enemy. Does the turn start event fire before the camera moves?

gamingislove

Yes, the turn start event is used before the combatant's turn starts (i.e. begins to select actions, which would cause the camera change). However, you can just use a Camera Control Target node in the event to move the control to the combatant (but maybe also give it some time to perform it before blocking control).

A blocked camera control will prevent any camera control related changes, i.e. camera control target changes from the battle camera are not available.

Whatexists

Ah. Then I'm assuming it will also stop the Battle Camera from looking at whoever the enemy is attacking via the Look At settings? If that's the case then I will probably need to do this a different way. I want the player to loose control of the camera during enemy turns and for the camera to move to the enemy and then look at whoever the enemy is attacking (or most recently damaged, but preferably whoever they're targeting.)

gamingislove

Well, yeah - if you're using the camera control for these things, blocking the camera control will prevent them from being used.

Depending on the used control it might be an option to just block the input keys instead, though if it's using mouse/touch controls they'll not be blocked by that.

Whatexists

Yeah, I am using the mouse controls.
I feel like I must be missing something really obvious. Like having the camera controlled by an AI during enemy turns (or even cutscenes).

gamingislove

There's not much to miss - you either use camera control during battle or you don't.

When using (built-in) camera controls, you can use the camera control targets to change who's targeted by the camera.

When blocking camera controls, you can use camera positions and other camera changes for that.

Whatexists

Ok. So using the built in camera controls:
I have Look At Selecting User enabled with Look At Type "Camera Control Target." With Reset Current Target enabled as well.
This is doing what I want on the level of having the camera jump to whoever's turn it is, including enemies.
Then I have Look At Latest Damage enabled, with Look At Type set to "Simple Look."
If I'm understanding the help boxes and stuff correctly this should make the camera look at whoever is most recently damaged while remaining under the control of whoever's turn it is. However, this doesn't seem to happen, and as far as I can tell the camera always remains under the player's control. I've fiddled around with the settings a little and Look At Type : Camera Position doesn't seem to trigger or do anything right now either. But Look At Type : Camera Control Target does jump the camera to the most recently damaged target before jumping back.

So it sounds like the players input control of the camera is superseding the Simply Look setting for Look At Latest Damage. Is there a way to block or disable the players control of the camera, when using a Mouse control camera, other than blocking the camera controls, so that I can continue to use the Battle Camera for camera control on enemy turns?

gamingislove

As said, if the camera control isn't blocked, only the Camera Control Target changes will work, using look at or camera positions need the camera control to be blocked, or the control will overrule them with their per-frame update.

Whatexists

oook. I think I'm getting how it all works. so:

Simple Look and Camera Positions need the camera control to be blocked in order to work or the control will be overruled them with their per-frame update.
I can block/unblock camera control during the turn start/end events (e.g. for enemy turn starts and turn ends). But if I set it up that way then those will block the camera control before the Look At Selecting User : Camera Control Target could move the camera control to the combatant whose turn it is. So I would need to add in Camera Control Target nodes in the turn start/end events to move the camera to the enemy whose turn it was instead of relying on the Battle camera for that (although I could then use Look At Latest Damage : Simply Look to get the camera to look at whoever the enemy had most recently damaged on their turn.)

Is that right?

gamingislove

Yes, pretty much :)

Whatexists

Alright. So we've got all of the camera working right. =)

I've got a minor glitch I can't figure out: after using one of the "Grid Move 1 step" abilities my controllable characters (both hero and ally) start floating about 0.3 units above the ground. I've tried adding a -0.3 offset (and a 0.3 offset) to the change position node but they keep doing it. I've double checked to make sure they don't have any colliders that are hitting the ground or anything like that. Any ideas why this might be happening?

Other minor battle related issue, while I'm asking questions. When my hero and/or allies die they remain on the grid and continue to draw enemy attention. If they all die the battle ends. Is there a death event I need to set up somewhere, or death settings I need to double check somewhere? And if so where?

gamingislove

Is that by any chance the position of the cell they're on? If yes, you probably enabled Place At Cell in your Set Grid Cell Combatant node of your move battle events :)

The enemy attention is usually due to your battle AI setup - you should probably first filter out dead targets before doing grid move stuff. For abilities/items this is usually not an issue due to them not being able to target dead combatants (unless you're setting up a revive ability or something else specific for the dead).