JUST CAME IN THE MAIL!

[Launchbury 1]

Woo! Finally it's here! :D

 

I have a few questions, though, as I'm brand new to the CFS3 engine. I bought it specifically to play OFF and I find it the view commands to be far too numerous and clunky. I don't have TIR, so I have to track my targets to old fashioned way.

 

Question 1: Is there a way to pan your view around the cockpit like in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Either a hat switch pan or a mouselook would be good. At the moment all that works is the hat switch that goes to pre-selected views (left wing, right wing, tail, etc.).

2: How does the padlock work? I toggle it on, select a target, but then it doesn't seem to track. At one point it looked like it was starting to track but then it abruptly stopped. Or maybe I was seeing things. The whole target-selection thing seems a bit odd.

 

Any help appreciated!

[Macklroy 2]

S! launch, and welcome to the OFF experience.

 

 

As far as the views go. I do not have TIR either so I use a combination of views.

 

1. Snap views - using the hat switch to snap view left, right, check six. (although quick and effective to check around your plane, very ineffective way to track targets.)

 

2. Free look - Not sure the default key, but when you press free look your hat switch allows you to pan around, up and down, etc. This is a little slower than snap view, but you get a smoother panning view this way.

 

3. Padlock - I use padlock when in combat, as it's really the only way to effectively track a target without TIR. First I switch my TAC to show aircraft 'only'. Select a target and then switch padlock on. As far as your issues with tracking or not tracking the target i cant help ya there.

 

Anyway, GL with setting up the game LB. And enjoy it!

 

S!

[Olham 164]

There is a command key for "toggle pan - static" view (different named but search for some "toggle" in view command).

Now put that on your switch (thumb button?), so now you can have the gliding pan-view for flying and searching the skies,

and a static view with 7 angles to dogfight with. Worked fine for me!

 

Padlock - worse, as you have to controll your kite; never liked that.

 

Switch on TAC, switch through the targets (like "aircraft"), then mark them. In a sticky above are the command keys.

You can put them elsewhere on stick and keyboard as you like.

Have fun!

 

Edit/PS: think it's "scroll/snap view (toggle).

Edited July 1, 2009 by Olham

[SGCSG1 0]

Woo! Finally it's here! :D

 

I have a few questions, though, as I'm brand new to the CFS3 engine. I bought it specifically to play OFF and I find it the view commands to be far too numerous and clunky. I don't have TIR, so I have to track my targets to old fashioned way.

 

Question 1: Is there a way to pan your view around the cockpit like in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Either a hat switch pan or a mouselook would be good. At the moment all that works is the hat switch that goes to pre-selected views (left wing, right wing, tail, etc.).

2: How does the padlock work? I toggle it on, select a target, but then it doesn't seem to track. At one point it looked like it was starting to track but then it abruptly stopped. Or maybe I was seeing things. The whole target-selection thing seems a bit odd.

 

Any help appreciated!

 

 

The views are counter intuitive, but with some work you'll get to use them fine. The most important thing is to go into the keyboard mapping. You'll notice some important items are not mapped to any key. Like 'virtual cockpit' or 'front view' or whatever it's called. There are many keys that we don't use anymore (b for brakes, for example) so I've grabbed some of them for things we do use. I have done pretty extensive re-mapping and it works much better for me now.

 

Virtual cockpit = F1

Spot view = F2

Chase View = F3

Cycle View = F4

HUD = F5

Float view = F6

 

Goto Gunner = F9

Goto Pilot = F10

Flyby = F11

Player/target = F12

 

Lables = L

Screenshot = P

Target friend = F

Prev friend = Shift + F

Stop Engine = B (that's mixture idle cutoff)

 

Ctl-Shift-I = brackets (that's an interesting key, try it when you have a target selected

 

 

Read the sticky on OFF: Tips and Cheats. You won't get the padlock working without a good understanding of the TAC screen. You have to select a target to be able to padlock it.

 

There are 'snap' views and I believe you can change them to PAN by holding scroll-lock, but I'm not sure how that works (I'm a 'snap' view kinda guy, so I don't mess with scrolling). Go to the keyboard controls in the game, see what's there. Right down things you want. Delete things you don't. Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Edited July 1, 2009 by SGCSG1

[Launchbury 1]

I dislike the TAC screen intensely and have it turned off. Is TAC required for padlock?

[Dej 17]

I dislike the TAC screen intensely and have it turned off. Is TAC required for padlock?

 

I've found that you need it to 'initalise' Padlock. Once you've set TAC for Aircraft only and set the range to your liking, Padlock a friendly. Thereafter you can turn TAC off and [Target Next Enemy] will still work. Before I had TIR I used Padlock all the time (allowed under DiD rules) and it's easy to get used to it so that you DON't lose control of your machine... just practice in Free Flight. On my X52 I used to use the j/s second hat switch for selecting Next/Previous Enemy and Next/Previous Friendly and the Throttle hat for TAC range and target type. I stuck the TAC toggle on one of the j/s toggle switches. Used to take me just three 'clicks' to get set for combat.

[Macklroy 2]

I dislike the TAC screen intensely and have it turned off. Is TAC required for padlock?

 

 

For padlock to work correctly yes. Without the TAC screen up, you can not cycle through enemies effectively. And those enemies that entered TAC range after you turn it off will NOT be selected via (next/previous target) untill you turn it back on.

 

Some people like it, some people hate it. For me, w/o TIR, it's the only way I could play this game as the views otherwise in a combat situation are less than addequate at best.

 

 

S!

[BirdDogICT 3]

There are 'snap' views and I believe you can change them to PAN by holding scroll-lock,

 

Actually, you don't have to hold down scroll-lock to pan views. Pushing scroll-lock once turns on panning, push it again to turn it off. While panning is on, you can scroll around with the hat switch, although it's a little slow. Here's how to speed it up. http://www.polovski.com/OFFFAQ.htm#Q.__Can...crease_joystick

 

The views are clunky, but you'll get used to them. Better yet, buy a TrackIR. Makes ALL the difference in your enjoyment of and success with BHaH.

 

Cheers

[Launchbury 1]

Thanks for the help everyone! (Very timely as well)

 

I've already killed probably 6 or 8 pilots so far. Most of them crashed at low altitude fighting. Fokker Eindeckers, DH2's, Halberstadts, etc. Got my first pair of kills on a gaggle of Soppy Strutters. Very satisfying.

 

One more question, though: When I post my claims and I want to add more than one name as a witness, I seperate them by commas, correct?

[Olham 164]

Yupp - commas and one space.

 

And be patient - this ain't no arcade game, it's a sim. You want it close to real flying (even real pilots fly this sim).

So it may take a long time, until you found "your" crate, and then even more to learn to know her well.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Olham

[Launchbury 1]

< Real pilot.

 

I just need to adjust to the...crudeness of these planes. I'm doing quite well in an Albatross now, having given up on the Fokker Scourge (more like the ground scourge).

[Launchbury 1]

Yes indeed. I thought to myself "you know what would be the best? Looping the loop." So I built up 150 mph, came over the top in my Albatros and stalled out before I was half way done. Poor show.

[Hauksbee 103]

I just need to adjust to the...crudeness of these planes. I'm doing quite well in an Albatross now, having given up on the Fokker Scourge (more like the ground scourge).

It's a shock for everyone who's used to flying WWII, or better. For the first two weeks after my OFF arrived, the SE-5 was the only plane I could keep in the air. The rest were just 'stalling and falling'. As for the Eindecker, Frank Tallman, one of the Hollywood stunt flying legends, once had a chance to fly a replica E.III, and he pronounced it to be the most dangerous, vicious flying machine he had ever experienced. He said that any lapse of total concentration on the controls resulted in the airplane trying to 'swap ends'.

[JimAttrill 24]

I have got used to spinning into the trees with the DH2. It doesn't seem stable at all. Luckily my campaign pilot survives after a stay in hospital. I've not been shot down in it yet though hit a few times. The German air corps has nothing to fear from me as yet. I did shoot down a Fokker DIII with the very stable BE2c though. Pilot is still 'alive' but inactive for the moment.

 

One question about padlocking - this might help me a bit at this stage - how do I 'select' a target before padlocking it? How can I tell if an aircraft is 'selected'?

[Dej 17]

I have got used to spinning into the trees with the DH2. It doesn't seem stable at all. Luckily my campaign pilot survives after a stay in hospital. I've not been shot down in it yet though hit a few times. The German air corps has nothing to fear from me as yet. I did shoot down a Fokker DIII with the very stable BE2c though. Pilot is still 'alive' but inactive for the moment.

 

One question about padlocking - this might help me a bit at this stage - how do I 'select' a target before padlocking it? How can I tell if an aircraft is 'selected'?

 

SHIFT+TAB = Previous Enemy

TAB = Next Enemy

CTRL+TAB = Next Friendly

CTRL+SHIFT+TAB = Previous Friendly

 

and, very useful CTRL+' = Target Attacker

 

The square (assuming TAC set to aircraft only) representing your selected target on the TAC will turn yellow, then ' (apostrophe) = Padlock.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I have got used to spinning into the trees with the DH2. It doesn't seem stable at all.

 

The DH2 is one of those crates that seem to want to kill their pilot as soon as he stops being extra careful. The Eindecker is another such killer. After flying the super-stable Be2c for some time, you couldn't possibly have chosen a more difficult scout with which to start your fighter pilot's career. But you'll get used to it in the end - and dying, too. Good luck!

[Olham 164]

Launchbury - Manfred von Richthofen regarded looping and such manoeuvers as artistic nonsense.

The secrets about successful fights in the Albatros are IMHO:

 

- to follow Dicta Boelke or Mannock's rules

- good cooperation with your wingmen

- very good deflection and long range shooting skills

- to know when you can't win

 

The only fighter craft I know so far, where a loop really makes sense, is the SPAD.

Only powerful, but not good at turning, you can dive away from an opponent, the zoom upwards

and perform a loop, to see him. and maybe get even behind him.

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

Launchbury - Manfred von Richthofen regarded looping and such manoeuvers as artistic nonsense.

The secrets about successful fights in the Albatros are IMHO:

 

- to follow Dicta Boelke or Mannock's rules

- good cooperation with your wingmen

- very good deflection and long range shooting skills

- to know when you can't win

 

The only fighter craft I know so far, where a loop really makes sense, is the SPAD.

Only powerful, but not good at turning, you can dive away from an opponent, the zoom upwards

and perform a loop, to see him. and maybe get even behind him.

 

this is certainly right, and maybe MvR saw it that way, but in almost stories i have read there was a definite urge from experienced pilots to make newbies perform stunts (at higher altitude) to learn about their crates and limits, at least at the german side. Apart from Udet and Jentsch there were lots of Albatos pilots who did perform loopings and artistic stunts, and i still think the Albatros was a better plane than it is modelled in OFF. It was just that the leading officers did not like to see what some of their pilots did, but it did often save their life ... Jentsch writes about looping the Albatros several times - Udet about flying it inverted for some time (without "losing" his engine - not gravity-fed carb - pressure tank, remember?) - just try this in OFF ..

 

Greetings,

Catfish

[Olham 164]

Hey, Wels - good to see you back!

If that's right what you say, the Albatros' engine would NOT even stutter at sudden nose-downs,

nor would it at loops? I had always though, they had solved that only on the WW2 fighters?

[Launchbury 1]

The brainwave of briliance that came to me suggesting that I do a loop was because I already knew that nothing else I had tried to fly could loop, therefor the Nieuport on my tail which was rudely removing important bits from my flying machine, surely could not follow me through such a manuever. Afterall, an Albatros with that lovely big Mercedes up front should be able to power through, right? Wrong. Turns out the better way to get rid of a little Nieuport is point the nose down and go home for lunch.

 

When I first saw everyone talking about the "17-hour mark" I thought it was pretty cool that something so trivial-seeming could be such a landmark. My current German pilot (in fact my only pilot, as everyone else had an untimely arrangement with a west-bound transport) has had I think 4 airplanes shot to ribbons around him, having put them down, dead-stick, into various little fields through France, and one total-loss after being ignomiously shot down by a DH2 on the Allied side, came out of the sky like a brick, but still survived the crash and got chased around France by allied patrols before sneaking back into Hunland (19 days wasted, but very relieved as I'm on DiD).

 

So really, my hats off to the OFF team, this really is a priceless work of art that you have all put together.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Launchbury

[Axgrinder 0]

Try the online multiplayer aspect of the game if you really want to have some fun!