The ACE3 spectator system is designed to act as a flexible and easy to configure framework. Most scenarios can be set up as desired using only the settings provided, however public functions are available for finer control of these configurable aspects.
The current itteration of the ACE3 spectator system only officially supports scenarios using respawn type 3 (or "BASE"). However there's nothing to stop its use alongside anything else, just be aware that it might not function entirely as expected.
By default, the ACE3 spectator system does nothing - meaning existing missions will behave exactly as before. The setting `ace_spectator_onDeath` can be used to automatically put players into spectator mode each time they die.
For scenario designers who seek a more advanced setup (such as multiple lives or wave respawning) the function `ace_spectator_fnc_setSpectator` is provided to transition players to/from spectator mode as desired:
Spectatable units are stored in an automatically maintained list (`ace_spectator_unitList`) on each client. However, directly accessing this list is not encouraged. Instead scenario designers have two tools at their disposal to tweak the list:
The unit filter determines which units will automatically be used to populate the spectatable unit list. It's controlled by setting `ace_spectator_filterUnits` and there are three possible options:
In cases where more specific control is required function `ace_spectator_fnc_updateUnits` can be used to whitelist units from the filter or blacklist them from the list (on the local client):
Spectatable sides can simply be considered an extra layer of filtering for the spectatable unit list. Again, there are two methods of controlling the spectatable sides:
The side list is exactly what it sounds like, a list of sides spectatable by the local client. However, unlike spectatable units the side list remains static and can only be updated manually. This is because the side filter is applied on top of the side list as the unit list is automatically maintained - meaning the unit list will update if the player changes side or if the side relations change.
Note that the unit whitelist/blacklist also serves to override this side filtering mechanism.
The default side list is `[west,east,resistance,civilian]` and to update it (on the local client) function `ace_spectator_fnc_updateSpectatableSides` can be used:
The side filter determines which sides from the side list are valid each time the unit list is updated. It's controlled by setting `ace_spectator_filterSides` and there are four possible options:
Scenario designers can control the camera modes available to spectators via the setting `ace_spectator_restrictModes`. Function `ace_spectator_fnc_updateCameraModes` is also provided to alter the available modes (to the local player) as desired at any point in the mission:
Scenario designers can control which of these vision modes are available to spectators via the setting `ace_spectator_restrictVisions`. However, there are actually a total of 10 possible vision modes and function `ace_spectator_fnc_updateVisionModes` can be used to alter which of them are available (to the local player) at any point in the mission:
```
* Possible vision modes are:
* - -2: Normal
* - -1: Night vision
* - 0: White hot
* - 1: Black hot
* - 2: Light Green Hot / Darker Green cold
* - 3: Black Hot / Darker Green cold
* - 4: Light Red Hot / Darker Red Cold
* - 5: Black Hot / Darker Red Cold
* - 6: White Hot / Darker Red Cold
* - 7: Thermal (Shade of Red and Green, Bodies are white)
The unit list on the left lists all of the units currently available to spectate.
Double click on any unit name in the list to switch to the unit.
Double click on the current unit to switch between internal and external view.
#### 2.2.2 Toolbar
The toolbar along the bottom of the screen displays various useful values. From left to right these are:
* Unit name
* Camera mode
* Camera zoom/Unit side
* 24-hour Clock
* Vision mode/Unit depth
* Camera/Unit speed
#### 2.2.3 Map
The map overlay will show the current position of the free camera and all spectatable units. The unit icons are tied into the unit icon toggle shortcut. When spectating a unit the map will also show the icons of units it knows about. In free camera you can double click on the map to teleport the camera to the position of the mouse.
