I.H.T.L
LIMIT CAMERA ROLL
THE SIMS 3
This tutorial will teach you how to edit the VideoCamera.ini file to limit the in-game TAB camera mode in The Sims 3 to stop rolling once it reaches 90 or -90 degrees to make it easier to take portrait images!
This tutorial is using windows but I’m sure this is possible on a Mac as well if you know your way around those. I’m afraid I don't, so I can’t help with that.
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What you’ll need:
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Notepad or a similar program to edit your .ini files. I’ll be using Windows Notepad.
If you have a camera mod, you may also need the following:
(If they use and override the same file we’ll be editing)
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S3PE by Inge - http://www.simlogical.com/s3pe.htm
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NO CAMERA MOD
The first step is making sure we make a backup of the VideoCamera.ini file in case something goes wrong. This file can be found in the place where your game is installed, NOT the documents folder.
My game is installed through the disc version and is under:
*:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Ini
For origin this would be:
*:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Ini
Copy this file and paste it somewhere safe.
1.
Back to the original file in the Ini folder, right-click the VideoCamera.ini and choose “Open with..” and select Notepad or do the following:
2.
If you can’t find Notepad in the next window that pops up even after clicking “More apps” click the text that says “Look for another app on this PC” and navigate to C:\Windows and scroll down to look for the Notepad.exe and double-click it.
Your ini file should now open and it should look something like this:
(The numbers might be a little different in your file, mine is from a camera mod and I’ve changed some values on my own, such as speed)
Scroll down to the “Limits” section and look for the MinRoll and MaxRoll. Change the MinRoll to -90 and the MaxRoll to 90.
Save your file and test in game!
To roll your camera use Shift+A and Shift+D, try rolling it as far as it’ll go, if it stops at 90 degrees you’ll know it worked but if it keeps going and eventually turns you upside down then chances are you have a camera mod that overrides the same file and takes priority over the file you edited- in that case see below.
3.
WITH A CAMERA MOD
The first thing you have to do is locate the camera mod you have. There’s plenty out there and not everyone overrides the same file so you may have to check them to see, we’ll go over that in a bit.
I’m using a modified version of Aikea Guinea’s “No Drift Freecam Mod”
Gather all the camera mods you have in a folder and open the first one in S3PE.
What we are looking for in S3PE is a resource with the _INI tag:
1.
Highlight this file and in the panel to the right look for “Video Camera Settings” at the top:
If you can’t see anything in that panel make sure “Preview” is ticked in the bottom panel:
If your _INI file does not have “Video Camera Settings” in it that particular camera mod is overriding another file so you can close it and look at the next one. If none of your mods have it then you simply do not have a mod that changes it and you can use the method above instead!
Make a backup of the original camera mod so you don’t have to redownload it if something goes wrong. Save it somewhere safe.
Next we’ll have to tell S3PE to use Notepad so we can use it to make our changes. To do this go to settings at the top and click “External programs”
2.
Tick “Use an external text editor” and click the browse button, navigate to C:\Windows and scroll down to find the Notepad.exe, highlight it and click “Open”. Next click OK to close the window.
Right-click the _INI resource and choose “Text Editor” at the bottom.
This will open the ini in Notepad and should look something like this:
3.
(The numbers might be a little different in your file, mine is from a camera mod and I’ve changed some values on my own, such as speed)
Scroll down to the “Limits” section and look for the MinRoll and MaxRoll. Change the MinRoll to -90 and the MaxRoll to 90.
Press Ctrl+S to save your file then close it.
Back in S3PE press Ctrl+S to save your package or go to File > Save and that’s it! Now it’s time to test in game.
To roll your camera use Shift+A and Shift+D, try rolling it as far as it’ll go, if it stops at 90 degrees you’ll know it worked. If it doesn’t work there might be another camera mod somewhere that overrides the same file and is loaded first, in this case you’ll have to find it and remove it as you can only have one.
4.
If you run into any issues feel free to use the contact form on the first page or contact me on discord (Aliensstolemymind#1004) and I'll do my best to help!