RoF First Impressions

[Duce Lewis 3]

Gents, just remember, not every kill was a flamer, or a broken wing. We tested both the 'Hollywood' style (which is flames, dramatics, etc) and yes, all the extra bells and whistles were cool and more fun, but then we evaluated it a little more and decided it was more realistic to see them smoking heavily, spiraling, etc.. rather than bursting into flames on every kill.

 

Basically, a little of everything for a nice balance. :) But each to his own...have fun with it, especially if Winder is cool with using the files.

 

OvS

I like the DM balance in OFF

 

The flamers and wing failures are there, but IMO a lot depends on your accuracy and concentration of fire

For example, I rarely flame Spads, they're so fast, most shots are medium range

Camels flame much more often as it's easier to get close and put a concentrated burst into the engine

 

But if you can slow a Spad down with some engine damage, get close and hit him hard in the engine, he'll flame too

[Olham 164]

You wouldn't have a Christmas tree with burning candles in your flat all the year, would you?

So, to me "burners" or "explosions in mis air" will remain something special - a "Wow! What was that" thing.

Wouldn't have it all the time, if that was not so in reality.

 

Edit: ...and right, Duce - even SPADs can flame, as the picture in my thread about flying the SPAD shows.

An Albatros had killed one of my wingmen, and the SPADs engine caught fire.

Edited June 27, 2009 by Olham

[Rickitycrate 10]

It's a war, not the fourth of July after all.

[Duce Lewis 3]

Burners are rare treats here too

Most crates just smoke and spiral in

 

I just get more Camel flamers than Spads

[Hellshade 110]

If anyone wants to see more wings being shredded or planes set afire, it seems just setting the Players Guns to Strongest in the workshop has that effect. Too bad it's obviously cheating and understandably lowers your realism score considerably. I switched my guns to strongest while using the Intermediate DM and while by no means do all of the planes have "fireworks", it seems to happen more often. It might have just been a lucky streak though too.

 

The AI know how to shoot up an EA too. I was in a QC testing out the "strongest guns" idea and a Fokker DVa was on the tail of one of my squadron mates, peppering him up pretty good with some of the Kaisers finest. I pulled up my trusty SE5a onto the Huns tail and started to hammer him with .303 rounds hoping to scare him off, but to no avail. I guess sensing a near immediate kill, the bosche pilot stayed on target and set my squadron mate hurtling earthward like a flaming meteor. I sent the hun into the ground mere moments after he got his kill, but revenge doesn't bring your friends back. Interesting how watching another SE5a plane with a friend in it go down can actually make you angry and do your best to take down as many of the other guys as you can. I think war may start because of politics, but it gets personal very, very quickly once the first man goes down.

 

/salute

Hellshade

[Hauksbee 103]

...but you may know me as a QC man.

Let's hear it for QC! As for ROF...since I discovered the sliders in CFS3 Config., the OFF world looks every bit as good, and that was what ROF had going for it. I'm holding off until the on-line requirement goes away, and then, if I can find a used copy on e-Bay...

Edited June 27, 2009 by Hauksbee

[Mr. Lucky 0]

I'm glad you guys took the plunge and posted the results here for the rest of us before we plunk down our money and the link to SimHQ was helpful. But I have mixed emotions.

 

I really wanted to try ROF but the problems with the online servers have pretty much nixed it for me. If a demo comes out, then I'll try it.

I feel sorry for the neoqb guys because I'm sure their hearts were in the right place like OBD and they're scrambling right now to get things corrected and smoothed out.

Yet, at the same time, I can't help but feel a little vindication because of all the people who not only blindly sang the praises of ROF but refused to even try or acknowledge the quality or even existence of OFF who are now stuck and griping about their problems with ROF. They are even still myopic enough to say that it's still great with the workarounds and difficulties.

 

For my part, it's still OFF for my time and attention.

 

And one last thing. Maybe I don't understand, because I didn't get to see the posted video, but how are these postings about ROF different than WF2's posting which she was, politely I might add, asked to not do or to do elsewhere? Is it because these aren't favorable? Just asking, because, to me it seems uncharacteristically hypocritical of the people here. I'm glad they're here because it's information I want to know, but I want the good as well as the bad.

[Cameljockey 3]

I haven't really flown it enough yet to form an opinion because my SPAD keeps shedding it's wings in Training mission #3.

 

CJ

[Rickitycrate 10]

Yes thanks for posting first impressions guys. I am interested and curious. I will not purchase RoF for quite some time. For a lot of reasons. The main reason being my contentment with BH&H. I am not happy though to hear of the trouble being experienced. Rather I hope that any issues are ironed out asap. As far as fanboys go, well I'm one, I can understand excitement. OFF: BH&H is right for me. I have shared my impressions of OFF: BH&H and posted update/info at the Aerodrome many times and there are many more RoF posts there. What I want to say is that there have been no flame wars nor nay saying from any of the RoF enthusiasts to my posts. We share a lot in common and are really one small group. It is IMHO best to be supportive, at least in spirit.

[Duce Lewis 3]

ROF got me intrigued when I saw the video of an airfield being shelled

Even the Albatross that weren't hit were bouncing up and down

Wow! great physics

 

But only 2 flyable planes and the on-line requirement really turned me off

But now we're hearing about the AI flying straight and level ...where's the challenge?

 

I'm planning on waiting till they make a lot of improvements

And I hope they do

I have alot of respect for anyone that creates something this complex and entertaining

That's how I felt about First Eagles and I still haven't bought that 1 either

[Hellshade 110]

I've had another strange issue with RoF that perhaps somebody else has experienced. My TrackIR seems to have a strong tendancy to shift my view 45 degrees to the right when I try to center it by pushing F12. It's disconcerting to say the least. It won't correct itself no matter what I do unless I exit the program and relaunch it. I have no such trouble in OFF, so it's not the TrackIR software itself. That's another bummer.

 

On the plus side, I decided to start my own multiplayer server (since I saw none were being posted) and run a couple of missions. The tank attack mission is fun, but bullets naturally seem to bounce harmlessly off the tanks so I'm not really sure what my purpose there is. Perhaps I just wasn't scoring enough hits. A few arty hits took out some of the tanks nicely though and that was pretty cool to see. I did destroy the tank that I accidently rammed, resulting in my own death too, of course. I tried some 5 v 5 but my plane gets shredded by the Spads in a heartbeat. I just can't seem to get off the ground and up to speed before they are diving upon us, guns blazing.

 

Another bug (or apparent bug) is that I selected the option where my engine was warmed up and ready to go at the start of the mission, but it's not. The engine is off and I need to go through the entire process no matter if I have that option selected or not. I'd say the Neoqb folks have a number of issues to resolve and perhaps their product was shipped before it was ready to take flight. I hope for the sake of everyone who plunked down the $39.95 plus shipping that they get them worked out soon. For all the challenges that they are having right now, plus the limited content, I'd say the $29.95 + $9.99 for OFF BHaH and CFS3 is a HUGE bargain. If anyone was on the fence before about price / performance with Over Flanders Fields, they shouldn't be.

 

Hellshade

[Cameljockey 3]

RoF uses F12 for "TV" (whatever that is) and causes a conflict. Your best bet would be to go into the Trackir program and map it to a joystick or another keyboard key. That's what I had to do. Works fine now.

 

CJ

 

Maybe it would be best to post these on the WWI discussion forum, just to keep the peace. :yes:

[themightysrc 5]

Well, I've had a toddle round wargamer.com and simhq.com - I'm sure there are other fora, but I don't know which ones are worth visiting - and it seems like there a fair number of unhappy people out there having problems. The main issues seem to be registration, control mapping - which, curiously seems to be done outside of the game - and the general slightness of both documentation and, well, the game itself. I picked up on dark mutterings concerning DTDs, BSoDs - which I thought were now extinct and a plethora of other technical issues, ranging from the trivial to potential game killers. Someone was even using the dreaded 'porked' to describe his experience of ROF. And it looks like the servers might be flaky too.

 

I think, on balance, I'll wait for them to iron out these basic problems before I even consider getting a second hand copy. From what I've been reading, there may well be plenty available, and quite soon.

[Davy TASB 0]

I think, on balance, I'll wait for them to iron out these basic problems before I even consider getting a second hand copy. From what I've been reading, there may well be plenty available, and quite soon.

 

Yep, unfortunately it seems to be getting quite a mauling on Sim HQ off quite a lot of people.

[Cameljockey 3]

Just to give you an idea, there are 38 threads in the Tech suppport forum and 415 posts as of now, and it's growing!

Edited June 27, 2009 by Cameljockey

[Fortiesboy 3]

Gents, just remember, not every kill was a flamer, or a broken wing. We tested both the 'Hollywood' style (which is flames, dramatics, etc) and yes, all the extra bells and whistles were cool and more fun, but then we evaluated it a little more and decided it was more realistic to see them smoking heavily, spiraling, etc.. rather than bursting into flames on every kill.

 

Basically, a little of everything for a nice balance. :) But each to his own...have fun with it, especially if Winder is cool with using the files.

 

OvS

 

It's because i wanted a "nice balance" that I did the modding.

On my set up I found that I could down the EA almost all of the time, one on one. And every time, the plane would go in, spiral, wallow, etc, but every time it would go in, INTACT.

Unless you emptied your ammo into a Turkey.

Not my idea of a nice balance,

 

It could be that some are getting some visual damage, and others, ( like me) are not, because of the differences in the computers specs and/or settings?

Or maybe because they really are special shots who choose exactly which part of the planes to hit!

 

IMHO.the two DMs, Hardcore and Normal, showed differences in the point at which the computer decided the EA,( which the player was playing against, not the other EA ), would go in. That is not the same thing as the point at which the visual damage is manifested.

Each DM will take the modded visuals without making the damage happen any sooner than it would if left in the original. It's fully explained in my thread on this subject.

In that thread I do outline also how i fly the QC sorties, i.e the "full real" scenarios which I use- just in case you think the mods make it too easy in OFF- which, if flown " realistically", it isn't.

 

Also there, one or two xdp files have been uploaded for guys to try. These change the amount of visual damage, not necessarily the point at which the plane behaves as if damaged.

 

The contrast is there for you to sample , if you are curious enough, but it isn't going to cost you anything to try except a few minutes - and it's easy to go back to what you have now. That's the main thing

There have been some who have downloaded them, but there hasn't been much feedback of what they found.

 

 

Anyway, OVS, I'm sure the guys realize that this is an optional mod. And Polovski was open minded enough to kindly give his permission.

 

I'm sorry if the thought of your skins being all burnt up upsets you

[themightysrc 5]

Hi CJ,

 

Can you post a link to those? I must have been at yet another site - it certainly didn't have that amount of traffic!

 

Cheers,

 

Si

[Davy TASB 0]

Hi CJ,

 

Can you post a link to those? I must have been at yet another site - it certainly didn't have that amount of traffic!

 

Cheers,

 

Si

 

It looks like CJ has popped out for something to eat. Heres the links...

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/foru...ical_Suppo.html

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/foru...irst_Great.html

[themightysrc 5]

Ta Davy!

 

Makes grim reading. If I were NeoQB I'd be s**tting it about now.

[SirMike1983 3]

It strikes me that this is a case of releasing something when you're not totally ready. Perhaps they fell into the trap of setting a release date that was too soon, then having to delay it, then getting the "we really can't delay more" problem and forcing the release. I work on an HL2 mod dev team and over the years we've moved well away from announcing release dates much in advance because problems like this come up. We did have some tech problems of our own awhile back, not unlike NeoQb now is having. I know what it's like to be on both ends of the equation: I've had games I received not work, but I've also worked on a dev team where release problems came up a couple of times and people start sending angry messages.

 

While people are pretty pissed off, I would urge patience. You do pay for it, but it's still just a game, and will be up and running properly soon. Yelling at people works only to a point, and once the initial point is gotten across, I wouldn't continue to flog them. I'm pretty sure most people have other flightsims they can play for the intervening hours or a even the day or two it takes to straighten it out, or heaven forbid, go outside or read a book. It's a far better state of things than having a machine melt down and being the ONLY guy who can't play. With enough people having problems, they'll get it up and running. I guess my view of it is "whatever". I have other things in my life so that I don't have to sit at the desk for hours pounding my fist and saying "where is this damnable thing!".

 

What disturbs a bit more is the "give two planes and charge 'em for the rest" system. In single player, maybe you can live without a couple of airplanes. But with multiplayer, I'd imagine everyone has to have every plane everyone else in the server is using. Basically it means you have to buy all of the planes full freight. That's a nice little racket if your a for-profit seller, but the players will feel like they're getting taken a bit.

 

Anyway, I have the game on order and it's coming via snail mail from Florida up here to Maryland. If I get it and the registration problems are solved, great. If not, well I have OFF to enjoy and other things to do in life. They know about the problem and will fix it. I'm a bit disconcerted that I'm not quite getting what I paid for, but it's just a game. I can fly OFF instead, or do something else entirely if I want.

[JohnGresham 0]

It's not a great start, but it should all get resolved fairly soon. I've got no plans to purchase it any time soon though. Much as I love WWI sims, the fact that the game ships with only two flyable planes and you have to pay extra for the rest, really strikes me as a rather shabby money grabbing ploy.

[Cameljockey 3]

Well, I hope they get it sorted soon. I got it for Father's Day from the kids and I have had some problems, but not as many or as bad as some are reporting at SimHQ. Mine were mainly in configuring the controls (the thread I started is a sticky now) and I'm not happy at all with the AA/AF. I'm getting "jaggies" and I've got both set at max in the game. I went to Nvidia control panel and set it to override any application settings and it didn't improve. I seem to be getting good framerates with settings at max with my rig, but then again, I haven't had any other aircraft flying with me or against me yet. The sim looks great. The scenery and especially the water. The ricochet effect is nice also. I strafed a lake and some of the rounds actually ricocheted like they often do. I'm not going to say much now because I need to explore a little more. It's got a loooooooooooooooooong way to go to compete with BH&H IMVHO.

 

CJ

[sitting_duck 3]

I've had another strange issue with RoF that perhaps somebody else has experienced. My TrackIR seems to have a strong tendancy to shift my view 45 degrees to the right when I try to center it by pushing F12. It's disconcerting to say the least. It won't correct itself no matter what I do unless I exit the program and relaunch it. I have no such trouble in OFF, so it's not the TrackIR software itself. That's another bummer.

 

On the plus side, I decided to start my own multiplayer server (since I saw none were being posted) and run a couple of missions. The tank attack mission is fun, but bullets naturally seem to bounce harmlessly off the tanks so I'm not really sure what my purpose there is. Perhaps I just wasn't scoring enough hits. A few arty hits took out some of the tanks nicely though and that was pretty cool to see. I did destroy the tank that I accidently rammed, resulting in my own death too, of course. I tried some 5 v 5 but my plane gets shredded by the Spads in a heartbeat. I just can't seem to get off the ground and up to speed before they are diving upon us, guns blazing.

 

Another bug (or apparent bug) is that I selected the option where my engine was warmed up and ready to go at the start of the mission, but it's not. The engine is off and I need to go through the entire process no matter if I have that option selected or not. I'd say the Neoqb folks have a number of issues to resolve and perhaps their product was shipped before it was ready to take flight. I hope for the sake of everyone who plunked down the $39.95 plus shipping that they get them worked out soon. For all the challenges that they are having right now, plus the limited content, I'd say the $29.95 + $9.99 for OFF BHaH and CFS3 is a HUGE bargain. If anyone was on the fence before about price / performance with Over Flanders Fields, they shouldn't be.

 

 

 

Hellshade

 

 

In case it hasnt been posted yet,,,adjust your view with the mouse,,and pageup,page down etc keys, then hit f10 (save view),,,,,then track ir seems to work fine...least for me...

Edited June 27, 2009 by sitting_duck

[shredward 12]

It's early days, and they can only get better. Remember that OFF has been five years in the making, and we're not there yet. RoF has got a great engine, and some really great features. RoF I'm sure will become a really outstanding combat flight sim.

And that is great for all of us.

Cheers,

shredward

[Olham 164]

People who make a WW1 combat flight sim can't really be bad people.

The pressure behind the making of such a complex product must be incredible. The producers, who give the money,

want to release as early as possible; the makers/devs get little or no sleep during the final weeks; the printers and

DVD producers wait for the sim to get burnt, packaged and delivered.

And never - really never - the product is really READY at the deadline date.

People who make a WW1 combat flight sim can't really be bad people - so let's give them the time it needs to finish.

 

Try it, fly it or don't, but perhaps we should have the sense of decency, not to point or pick at them.