+malibu43 142 Posted July 7, 2009 What do you all think? The reviews seem pretty bad. I was satisfied with CFS2, and am very satisfied with the graphics, game play, and diversity I get from IL-2:'46. I'm almost tempted to get it just to round out my CFS collection. Is there any fun to be had playing it? FWIW, I would not end up adding OFF. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FastCargo 412 Posted July 7, 2009 Well, in and of itself, it's not great. If you can find the FirePower addon (I found it for a buck) that does a marvelous job to reform the sim. Obviously, if you plan at any point to dive into OFF, CFS3 is a must-have. FC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 8, 2009 I paid more than that for CFS3 when it came out. By itself it is a bit on the lame side, although the campaign is excellent. Firepower really did amp it up. Then you have the mods for it like the 1% planes, Med Air War, and OFF Phase 1+2 which are all free. OFF Phase 3 of course is another pay addon like Firepower. If you're not planning on spending over that $10 on it, though, the free mods can still really help fix it up to what it should have been plus give you more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+malibu43 142 Posted July 8, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the replies. How's performance on your systems? A lot of the reviews give it pretty poor performance and said it would barely run, but that was at least 5 years ago. I'm curious how it would run on my laptop... For me, WOx runs fine on med/high settings, as does IL-2. I watched some gameplay videos on youtube, and I have to say it didn't really look that impressive. Edited July 8, 2009 by malibu43 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 8, 2009 CFS3 is a DX7 title, not 8, and the water reflects that. It's the old style "moving textures to simulate water" type. It's an old engine that was updated for the latest versions of MSFS but the CFS series was cancelled so it never got them. As a result, CFS3 has always lagged behind Il-2, LOMAC, and others in the graphical department. Even the TK sims at release were superior, although the terrain detail is much better in the bigger-budgeted CFS3 as far as cities and things and units moving around on the ground go. It definitely feels dated in many ways when you play it, but if you can see past it there is fun to be had. There are also more WWII planes you can fly there that you can't anywhere else. There are a lot of older WWII birds for the TK sims, but most are out of sync with current patches. Il-2 has a lot of flyable planes, but there are many that are either nonflyable (at least before the modding started) or nonexistent. CFS3 let you DL them from avhistory or other sites and fly and fight in them all day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+malibu43 142 Posted July 8, 2009 CFS3 is a DX7 title, not 8, and the water reflects that. It's the old style "moving textures to simulate water" type. It's an old engine that was updated for the latest versions of MSFS but the CFS series was cancelled so it never got them. As a result, CFS3 has always lagged behind Il-2, LOMAC, and others in the graphical department. Even the TK sims at release were superior, although the terrain detail is much better in the bigger-budgeted CFS3 as far as cities and things and units moving around on the ground go.It definitely feels dated in many ways when you play it, but if you can see past it there is fun to be had. There are also more WWII planes you can fly there that you can't anywhere else. There are a lot of older WWII birds for the TK sims, but most are out of sync with current patches. Il-2 has a lot of flyable planes, but there are many that are either nonflyable (at least before the modding started) or nonexistent. CFS3 let you DL them from avhistory or other sites and fly and fight in them all day. Thanks JM. I'm going to hold off for now. It would be fun to have to round out my collection, but I honestly don't know if I ever really would play it. $9.99 would be better spent on SF2E! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted July 9, 2009 Not going to argue about that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+DoctorQuest 107 Posted July 9, 2009 I think CFS3 has some built-in performance issues that keep it from running well compared to other sims of its era. There are probably some GFX gurus who could go through the code and work some things out but I agree that IL-2 performs much better with similar levels of eye candy. No, by itself, CFS3 is not worth even $10 in my opinion. CFS2, EAW and IL-2 give me all the WWII action I have time for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
themightysrc 5 Posted July 10, 2009 I'd say it's not worth getting for itself, however it *is* worth buying because you can run OFF:BH&H thereafter, and that is an excellent and immersive sim of the first order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+malibu43 142 Posted July 15, 2009 (edited) OK. I think I might grab it anyway, but where do I find OFF 1 + 2 for free? Edited July 15, 2009 by malibu43 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Stary 2,426 Posted July 15, 2009 (edited) Malibu43, be aware that once you buy CFS3 you'll end up running on it OFF phases 1 and 2, which leads straight into WW1 marvel the OFF:BHAH is... at least so it was in my case recently CFS3 alone puzzles me... as it's in my opinion worse (as a sim) than IL2 family, I found out to my own surprise I played it more than IL2 all the years now. The only thing I may negate is the as JediMaster pointed out indeed outdated graphics engine (but I'd die to have such terrain engine in Thirdwire sims, with all the roads and rivers networks and mesh resolution...) Also there are full total conversion mods like MAW, PTO and ETO, that add and improve much over the out of the box version Please note that my opinion about CFS3 vs IL2 is from single-player only gamer. edit: as for OFF Phases 1 and 2 (you can skip the first one) they seem to be no longer available for download, but there's a DVD swapping at combatfs dot com (sticky on Cfs3 general discussion forum IIRC) Edited July 15, 2009 by Stary Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PinkPanther 0 Posted October 15, 2009 I use ETO mod for CFS3 and it is good. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/forumdisplay.php?f=7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Soulfreak 6,351 Posted October 23, 2009 how is the modding capability of CFS3? don´t know much about CFS3... Have just done a quick search on google and on some Flightsimulator sides, but find not much... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted October 24, 2009 CFS3 was built on the same engine as one of the MSFS releases, I forget which one. Anyway, it's very moddable as the mods that are out demonstrate, however I can't testify as to how "easy" or "hard" it is to make mods for. All I know is to install them is pretty simple. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
