Content Suggestion Various CCTV Changes

[Zen]

What does this suggestion change/add/remove:
Improves/changes the CCTV system in several ways:

• Add the ability to lock a CCTV camera to a specific angle, rather than letting it pan constantly. This would be a button available on all CCTV screens, similar to the button to lock the screen to a specific camera.
  • Users would be able to move the camera to a specific position, then click the button. The camera would then only face that direction and not pan until the button is toggled off.
• Add an option for SL/users to alter the panning path of individual cameras.
  • Probably in the form of setting 2/3 points and then having the camera pan between them in order.
• Add the ability for individual cameras to be disabled and re-enabled, likely in a CCTV centre.
  • Would be locked to certain jobs, or CL3+. Mainly intended for use by SA, SC, AO, and ISD.
  • Would make sense for this to be done in a CCTV control room. Possibly a button available when viewing a camera on the main monitor or something.
  • Disabled cameras would be able to be re-enabled by anyone of the same or higher (clearance?) level.
• Possibility for CCTV screens to break, either at random or when damaged.
  • Damage fixed by Repair Tool. Fixing this would put the screen in an error state.
  • Error state (from either random breaks or from fixed damaged displays) fixable via Technician Tool.
• Possibility of CCTV being disabled for different zones, similar but different to the electrical boxes for subsystems.
  • Disabled via hacking, possible via TE-5 or 079.
  • Fixed by minigame when interacting with the hack source, possibly a different one to the electrical box one.
  • Possibly some variation on how CCTV can be broken - maybe per zone, or disabling/sabotaging the identification system, or disabling the ability to interact with keycard scanners through it.
  • Might also happen at random, or e.g. if CCTV has been down or something.
• Ability to use job override access on keycard scanners through CCTV.
  • It currently only uses your spawn clearance level, meaning job overrides or picking up higher clearance level cards doesn't make a difference.
• Identification of who and where a camera is being controlled by when viewing a camera being controlled from elsewhere.
  • E.g. a camera might say [Controlled by ISD Agent XYZ at LCZ CCTV Centre] at the top of the screen when someone views that same camera from F3 CCTV.
  • Redacted name when viewed by O5 or whatever
• Show the camera name and details for cameras that appear as [NO FEED] due to being damaged
  • Currently, cameras that are broken just say NO FEED, and don't even show you which camera is being shown.
• Add a CCTV system voice line for the subsystem repaired/down announcements
  • This might be a bug - I swear it used to have one. Right now it just says the rest of the voice line and then triggers a Lua error.
• Add back the ability to click on the buttons on the side screens while in the main control UI.
  • This used to be possible until several months ago. Now it just gives you an error unless you do it by leaving the control UI, physically looking at the button on the side screen, and clicking.

Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Not that I'm aware of.

Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):

• (Angle locking) Means if you need a camera to be looking in a certain direction (e.g. at a door, down a corridor, etc.) you can now actually do that without having to keep the camera in manual control. Right now, it will start panning about 10 seconds after leaving the controls and will usually end up facing a wall or something.
• (Configurable panning path) Similar to the angle locking, this would prevent the currently very common problem of cameras spending half their time looking at a wall or something because they pan to it, wait, pan quickly to the opposite wall, and wait again.
• (Disabling cameras) Allows ISD, SC, etc. to secretly do things in places without being on CCTV, and without having to shoot out their own cameras.
• (Screen breaking) Makes the cameras a bit more dynamic. A screen might fail and until you get it repaired, you're just down a screen. Maybe someone might deliberately do it to sabotage you (e.g. CI in F)
• (Screen breaking) More for Engineers and IT Techs to do. IT Techs can literally only fix terminals - they need more to do.
• (Various hacking sabotages) More varied raid tactics and the like.
• (Various hacking sabotages) More for E&TS to fix.
• (Job override access) Currently, you just can't use it. It doesn't make sense, and it makes the camera remote control stuff less useful.
• (Control identification) Could be useful for finding out who is messing with CCTV (e.g. opening doors with it), or who is seeing things they shouldn't be. Generally useful for ISD and AO.
• (NO FEED info) Currently, you can't see the info at all. This means that the only way to identify which camera is in this state is by manually going through the entire list of cameras until you reach it. This sucks and it doesn't make sense.
• (System down voice line) I'm fairly certain that this used to exist until CCTV was temporarily removed and readded. Either way, it's not ideal that whenever it breaks or is repaired, the announcer breaks and causes Lua errors.
• (Ability to click) This used to work until an update to CCTV several months ago. It just makes it more difficult to control CCTV for no reason, and it's very annoying. It also doesn't seem to be intended, given it did work, and a cursor appears when you try to do it now, but you can't use it.

Possible Negatives of the suggestion:

• Dev work
• Cameras being used more affects raid balance and the like.

Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:
These changes generally make the CCTV system much more usable. It's currently quite annoying to use given how it currently works, and a lot of people simply don't use it as a result. It's a really useful system and it would be nice to just make the experience of using them much less annoying. Some of these changes also just generally make it a bit more dynamic - they'd be a bit easier to use and more capable, but raiders and the like could more easily sabotage it and the like.

 

[Starling6]

tldr

Spoiler: tldr

• Lock Camera Angle: Add a button to lock a CCTV camera to a specific angle instead of continuous panning. Users can set the angle and toggle the lock on/off.
• Custom Panning Paths: Allow setting 2-3 points for a camera to pan between.
• Enable/Disable Cameras: Certain roles (CL3+ like SA, SC, AO, ISD) can disable/re-enable cameras from a CCTV control room.
• Camera Breakage: CCTV screens can break randomly or when damaged. Repairable with a Repair Tool, but requires a Technician Tool to fully restore.
• Zone-Based CCTV Disabling: Cameras can be disabled via hacking (TE-5 or 079), fixed through a minigame. May also allow targeted sabotage (e.g., disabling ID system or keycard scanner interaction).
• Job Override on Keycard Scanners: CCTV should respect job override access, not just spawn clearance.
• Camera Control Identification: Show who is controlling a camera (e.g., "[Controlled by ISD Agent XYZ at LCZ CCTV Centre]"). High-clearance viewers (e.g., O5) see redacted names.
• Show Details for Broken Cameras: Instead of just "NO FEED," display the camera name and relevant details.
• CCTV System Voice Announcements: Re-add voice lines for subsystem repair/downtime (possible bug).
• Clickable Side Screen Buttons: Restore functionality for clicking side screen buttons in the main control UI (previously removed, now causes an error).

• Angle Locking: Keeps cameras fixed in a chosen direction without manual control, preventing unwanted panning.
• Configurable Panning Path: Stops cameras from wasting time facing walls by allowing set movement paths.
• Disabling Cameras: Lets ISD, SC, etc., move undetected without destroying cameras.
• Screen Breaking: Adds realism—screens can fail randomly or be sabotaged, requiring repairs.
• More Tasks for IT Techs/Engineers: Gives them more responsibilities beyond fixing terminals.
• Hacking Sabotages: Introduces more raid tactics and additional repair tasks for E&TS.
• Job Override Access: Fixes a limitation where job overrides don’t work with CCTV-controlled keycard scanners.
• Control Identification: Helps track who is using CCTV for actions like opening doors or spying.
• NO FEED Info: Displays broken camera details to avoid manually checking each one.
• System Down Voice Line: Likely a bug—previously existed but now causes errors when CCTV fails or is repaired.
• Clickable UI Buttons: Previously worked but broke in an update, making CCTV control harder for no reason.

+ soup

 

[Emilia Foddg]

Major +Support
I was going to type out a whole rant on the topic of CCTV, but I realised that I was both blowing things way out of proportion and that my input is probably going to be skimmed over anyway. CCTV as is , is very underutilised from a playerbase standpoint and to my understanding, difficult to work with from a development standpoint because it does wacky things like break in certain parts of the map or are just generally overly performance-demanding because... Well, they're rendertextures, right? At least, that's what intuition tells me, I don't know for certain, but I do know the bottom line that dynamically rendering any kind of specific view from a point in-game, at another point in game is not something a game really likes to do without causing a fuss.

Whatever, my point being that CCTV for what it is and the value it adds and how it's used, is IMO presently not worth the trouble it causes. And I think this would add sufficient enough value & use to reasonably justify its continued presence as server content.

 

[Zen]

Major +Support
I was going to type out a whole rant on the topic of CCTV, but I realised that I was both blowing things way out of proportion and that my input is probably going to be skimmed over anyway. CCTV as is , is very underutilised from a playerbase standpoint and to my understanding, difficult to work with from a development standpoint because it does wacky things like break in certain parts of the map or are just generally overly performance-demanding because... Well, they're rendertextures, right? At least, that's what intuition tells me, I don't know for certain, but I do know the bottom line that dynamically rendering any kind of specific view from a point in-game, at another point in game is not something a game really likes to do without causing a fuss.

Whatever, my point being that CCTV for what it is and the value it adds and how it's used, is IMO presently not worth the trouble it causes. And I think this would add sufficient enough value & use to reasonably justify its continued presence as server content.

imo it is currently worth it, but it's just annoying to use. I use it a fair bit, but like, things like it constantly panning to face a wall and the like are really annoying.

 

[Wolff]

How about allowing people to use chat while using a CCTV screen?

 

[Niox]

very cool
+Support

 

[Comrade(duke)]

Major +Support
If there was a popup of the map showing where the cameras where and where there facing would helpful, something like SCP:SL for the computer.

 

[Starling6]

Major +Support
If there was a popup of the map showing where the cameras where and where there facing would helpful, something like SCP:SL for the computer.

 

[Bananolas]

+Support Cool Idea

 

[Zen]

Major +Support
If there was a popup of the map showing where the cameras where and where there facing would helpful, something like SCP:SL for the computer.

We don't even have a map, period.

 

[Zack Baker]

+Support
We need a better CCTV system and this will do.