How to use moveable camera

[red259 31]

This is pretty basic but for whatever reason I can't figure out how to use an unlocked camera when on the ground in external view. I go to external view and I am very limited in how much I can move. Basically circling the plane. I want to be able to move around the airport or zoom in close on certain parts of the plane. I'm really not sure what i am doing wrong. I can't move around the cabin internally very well either (other than jumping to preset views) although I am able to move around the flight deck. Primarily I am focused on wanting to be able to move around externally when on ground. 

[Ixoye 1,881]

I use an X-Box controller in drone mode.

[MDFlier 2,034]

13 hours ago, red259 said:

This is pretty basic but for whatever reason I can't figure out how to use an unlocked camera when on the ground in external view. I go to external view and I am very limited in how much I can move. Basically circling the plane. I want to be able to move around the airport or zoom in close on certain parts of the plane. I'm really not sure what i am doing wrong. I can't move around the cabin internally very well either (other than jumping to preset views) although I am able to move around the flight deck. Primarily I am focused on wanting to be able to move around externally when on ground. 

That's because you are in external camera view, which just lets you rotate around your airplane and zoom in and out a little. That's the <End> key on your keyboard.

Press the <Insert> key to get into "drone" mode (also referred to as Showcase camera in some instances). There are default keys assigned to move it around. You can also program an Xbox controller or buttons on your joystick. I mapped the hat switch to it. I also use the hat to look around the cockpit. You can have the same button assigned for 2 different things as long as they are not used at the same time. And example would be if you set the "O" key to move the cockpit view up, you can also set the "O" key to be up (or anything else) while you are in drone mode since you can't be in the cockpit and in drone mode at the same time. The O key will do whatever you set it to for the view that you are in and will switch back as soon as you switch modes.

And just in case you are on the same side of the pond as me... Don't drive yourself crazy looking for "move drone up", or "move drone left", etc. in the controls menu. That would be too easy. Everything that you will want to "move" is listed in the menus as "translate".

Lord help us if we ever need a button for interpreting foreign languages. The menu would show it as "Move language to English". 😁