LR: Replay Camera Mechanics

[seraquiem]

here's how camera mechanics work. just like anything in modern video games, a random number generator is cranking out random numbers that determine the "random" aspects of gameplay. all the while, the game is only recording the exact movements frame-by-frame of all the involved AC's (kinda like how practice mode in fighting games records your controller movements). it doesn't record a video per se, but a list of directions to recreate a video. the first two camera views are self explanatory, whereas the third is displayed based on a list of action priorities (for example, > zoom in behind when OB, if not executed in last 240 frames, and if random number is greater than...); btw, it doesn't zoom just on grenades or high stun weapons, it zooms sometimes when you get hit by high attack weapons (what qualifies as a high attack weapon is anything that will hit and completely vaporize in 1 hit those revolving targets in the practice arena). also, the cpu stops recording directions a short while after you lose control of your AC (about 300 frames or so).

now that RNG i talked about earlier, that comes into play with the video only in the third view. what happens is that the random numbers are used to determine what angles and whatnot are used, based on when you switched to the third view. to test this, when an AC is zoomed in on upon death, cycle views back to yours, then theirs, then back to third, and i bet it will no longer be the same since the kill shot has already passed.

btw, i bet you'd get a kick out of it when the cpu mis-records a few frames of directions, because both AC's will do everything they did during the match, except the'll be shooting in the wind and no one will die!

So you're saying that the camera receives commands from a pre-determined hierarchy, such as shoulder cannon fire is higher in the hierarchy than movement, so the camera tracks the AC firing the cannon instead of the AC moving into position. And that the RNG will reset once you exit and reenter the third view, allowing you to view different scenes at the same point of the replay?

I believe that the replays are static and do not change once recorded. For example, LR begins its replays in the third view, I played a video several times over (to see if I got the footage I wanted), and each time I replayed the replay, I would view the same video over and over again.
I think the RNG factor is determined by the game itself while the battle is going on. The RNG selects certain camera angles and connects them together to form a single replay file, well that's how i see it.

Just to make sure, which AC game are you talking about specifically? I believe each AC game has varying camera mechanics. For example, AC2 overview replay would zoom out until both ACs could be seen firing at each other and is unaffected by hierarchy, unless I'm mistaken, I haven't played in a while.