in the step event of your player, you want this code:
GML:
//Make the view follow the camera
//The view is drawn from the top left and we want to have the player in the center
//So the top left of the view wants to be HALF of the view width/height away from the
//player
view_xview[0] = x - (view_wview[0] / 2);
view_yview[0] = y - (view_hview[0] / 2);
I think that should work, its been a while since I used 1.4
Setting up the views in gamemaker won't make the view follow the player, you have to tell the view to do it. You can use the built in "Follow Object..." in the view settings but... I don't recommend it due to the stuttering you can get sometimes