open letter to OBD

[OvS 8]

Winston,

 

From my perspective, which is no better than yours, the patch improved things a lot. The reason my perspective is not better is because I have no clue what is in each patch that we test, other than a quick list Winder sends out, which is him asking us what to look for that is wrong. So I am looking for things that WM and Pol feel may be causing issues, and I discover the rest. The list never says anything about the specifics of adding things in, it mechanical and made to alert us to look for problems. Case in point, the scenery... Winder told us to look for bad scenery tiles... he didn't specifically say he improved anything as much as he did... well to my utter shock and surprise, the scenery looked fantastic! More trees, more color, more variety, more damage. Same for the new hangars at the dromes, which were a very welcomed improvement. Life at home base!

 

I can give other examples, but why... you get my point. I am no better than you. But, what I find is that everyone has a desire for a high level of perfection in their own mind, and what they base that level on, only they know. This is a sim of WWI air combat... the rest is all about the atmosphere of it. If you read more books, you will find OFF is a very close interpretation of the Hell that WWI was. Unlike past sims that were basically rough guesses, OFF was researched intensely, and produced from that research. Hence the smaller flight numbers in the begining. As the war raged on, the Germans had it tougher as the Brits flew in larger formations, outnumbering them almost 2 to 1. So the JG's would fly together to gather numbers, but were still outnumbered... however, they're pilots were slightly better, and had less greenies flying in mass formations.

 

Winder, Pol and Rex have done a miracle of a job transforming a sh$t sim like CFS3 into a whole new world, that closely resembles the truth behind WWI.

 

We can't please everyone, but as Winder mentioned, rather than open-mouth blasting, choose a better method like a poll. If you do have ligitimate issues that can be fixed, believe me, Winder will look into them.

 

Other than that, I can't figure out what else to say. OFF is a total package, and yes might still have some minor issues, but overall... I'm happy to overlook them with the insane feeling of realizm I get after flying a few intense missions.

 

OvS

[Olham 164]

Someone said elsewhere in this forum:

With OFF, you have the big choice of using this or that patch version.

In another sim we won't name here, you would not.

So if this version doesn't suit anyone, he might go back to a previous version.

 

I recommend to first explore it deeply. To ask questions. To request help from dev team via:

support@overflandersfields.com

before you get into ranting in a way you might later even regret.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Olham

[rabu 9]

Hi, Winston:

Sounds like you, like me, have limited time to play, and just had a very frustrating couple of hours of flying in an out numbered period of history and you refuse to turn your realism settings down or choose pilot never dies because of the, uhh... macho element? I know that I frequently feel like that because.. this is a very difficult sim to stay alive in, just like the real war was back then, and it can be very frustrating to get in some hours of flight to only die, especially when it doesn't seem fair because you are vastly outnumbered, you get hit by some pot shot from below, collide with a mate, etc. But maybe read the recent, excellent counter post to DID (dead is dead) which is the support of PND (pilot never dies).

 

Anyway, I also hope you stick around and what seems to help the most is to join in the forum and relate your experiences. You then find others who can commiserate and have a virtual WWI beer with you.

 

Also, before installing any patch, why not do a restore point so that you can easily go back if you don't like it, but give it a chance first, check the forum to find out options like the sound adjustments, etc. With OFF, at least we have this option, in the recent other flight sim (un mentionable), you have absolutely no control over the add ons or anything else that isn't in their control panel. You also can't get in and mod anything because it's a closed design, no way to mod or alter anything, while in OFF, look at all the mods of skins, flight model, etc. being done by modders outside the OFF core mod group.

 

Again, hope you stay with us.

Edited August 13, 2009 by rabu

[HomeBoy 1]

Please see my apology to the developers and the OFF community:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=45681

[BigJim 0]

Please see my apology to the developers and the OFF community:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=45681

 

 

OK number one: Fighter pilots are "macho" by nature number two: anytime you turn down something and it lowers your realisim score it is A: peer pressure to not do it B: flys in the face of number one

 

Why is there a realisim percentage anyway if not to provide a measuring stick/bragging rights to the sim?

 

For me the above comes down to human vs human competition without which there is just no real comparison.

 

What does this have to do with the patch? nothing but it does go to the "turn everything down" crowd who then add the cravate "easy mode".

 

The fact that achieving 17.5 hours of survival is a feat in this sim, speaks volumes. The sim is heavily weighted to make it live up to "historic" numbers, which is what leads to its' immersive factor, but does not take into account the facts that most human players rack up alot more time in the air than ANY real life WWI pilot did (due to the never die thing in sims ).

 

Anyone who thinks that programmer cannot "tweak" the AI to win is living in La La Land, just take alook at "the other" sims latest patch. The programmer has a tough job trying to make the AI not too hard and not too easy, sometimes he can and sometimes he has to "cheat" i.e. make the AI not subject to something that the player is, just to make it an acceptable challenge.

 

OFF has done a great job in trying to present both a "historical" sim and a fun sim to fly, to be sure the AI doesn't get efffected by wind and some other stuff, but all in all it is NOT over done dispite my overblown rants at times

 

As we can see we are all subject to "going off" sometimes, but in the main (until the producers can get the source code or create their own engine) we all seem to like this sim alot, otherwise why would we waste our time bitching :yes:

[Fortiesboy 3]

Winston- Hope you stay - this is still the greatest sim there has been. Maybe, like me, you will want to go back to 1.30c which is what i have done. ( My thread explains why ) but the bit of a rant you made isn't the way to do it.

 

Mind you, I was fortunate in that I had 1.30c to go back to. ! Those who say that if you don't like a patch, then don't use have got to acknowledge something! To find out you don't want it, you first have to install it and try it.

So to take the advice, it means you then have to be able to go back to your previous install.

 

Whether System restore does that or not, I don't know. I went back to a fresh install, BUT, I did notice that Over Flanders Field website did NOT have the previous patches there to be downloaded.

Therefore, a frantic search to find 1.30c, which I fortunately managed to do.

 

If I hadn't found it i could have been in a de facto similar situation same as the sim which will not be named, would I not?

 

Perhaps OverFlandersField website could offer 1.30 for those who may wish to interchange versions?

If technically possible?

[Hellshade 110]

Perhaps OverFlandersField website could offer 1.30 for those who may wish to interchange versions?

If technically possible?

 

That seems like a reasonable suggestion. Perhaps the Devs could, if they so choose, put up a seperate link to "previous patchs" that are not required if you plan to install the Super patch. I personally save every patch into a directory called OFF Patches (oddly enough) so that if I ever have to re-install, they are all right there for my use.

 

Hellshade

[Hellshade 110]

Please see my apology to the developers and the OFF community:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=45681

 

No sweat. For what it's worth, the autopilot is funky. That's a valid criticism of OFF in it's current form. I'm sure if it can be changed, OBD will address it either in a future patch or in P4. As great as OFF is, it's never going to be perfect and there's three basic things I try to keep in mind when I come across stuff that isn't my interpretation of what it should be like (and thus might make me frustrated).

 

1. It takes time to make improvements on software, and these guys are adding patches, creating a plane add on pak and developing P4 all in their spare time. They are humans, not Genies or Borg.

2. Not all improvements will come in the order of importance that we would like them too, but that doesn't mean the Devs aren't concerned or trying to make it better.

3. Maybe I'm staying up too late or just already had a bad day or week and that's causing me to blow something way out of proportion with the game. I'm human too, just like the folks at OBD. Sometimes I need to just walk away and do something else for awhile so I can come back and see things in a more reasonable perspective.

 

Thanks for everything you do for the community Homeboy. Your contributions are greatly appreciated and it takes a mature adult to apologize for their behavior. For those who say to "never apologize for what you are thinking", well...I guess they are saying that they are never, ever wrong. Kinda tells me something about them right there.

 

Hellshade

[+Polovski 460]

Imagine the mess of instructions I have to edit each time.. not for me. Overload already I am afraid. There are 100's of options for most people to set it as they like.

 

Fixing Autopilot is not a simple thing if at all possible. It's fine for most craft. Get the craft level and aiming roughly in the right direction helps for some.

It is very very low priority right now. We will never ever get P4 done at this rate..

 

Use warp or Pause then warp later. Or time acceleration.. many ways.

[rabu 9]

Winston- Hope you stay - this is still the greatest sim there has been. Maybe, like me, you will want to go back to 1.30c which is what i have done. ( My thread explains why ) but the bit of a rant you made isn't the way to do it.

 

Mind you, I was fortunate in that I had 1.30c to go back to. ! Those who say that if you don't like a patch, then don't use have got to acknowledge something! To find out you don't want it, you first have to install it and try it.

So to take the advice, it means you then have to be able to go back to your previous install.

 

Whether System restore does that or not, I don't know. I went back to a fresh install, BUT, I did notice that Over Flanders Field website did NOT have the previous patches there to be downloaded.

Therefore, a frantic search to find 1.30c, which I fortunately managed to do.

 

If I hadn't found it i could have been in a de facto similar situation same as the sim which will not be named, would I not?

 

No, you would not, because with that other sim, there is no way to patch it yourself, it's done automatically when you log on to play, which you are required to do to play, single or multiplayer, as I'm sure you know. No way to go back, you accept what they give you, period.

 

Perhaps OverFlandersField website could offer 1.30 for those who may wish to interchange versions?

If technically possible?

 

There is no way that they can start keeping past versions of patches available, but I would venture to suggest that all you have to do is ask on the forum here. I keep all past patch versions and I'm sure many others do too. And, maybe, you ought to start saving your patches?

Anyway, I'm sure that if you need a previous patch and can't find yours, some one here will be happy to send you it .

Edited August 14, 2009 by rabu

[Fortiesboy 3]

There is no way that they can start keeping past versions of patches available,

 

I didn't say "patches" - I was suggesting one patch, the previous patch.

Patches were available on the site - None is available now.

 

I do keep the previous patches- the question, and hence the panic, was ( at my age ) -where?

[+Winder 32]

I didn't say "patches" - I was suggesting one patch, the previous patch.

Patches were available on the site - None is available now.

 

I do keep the previous patches- the question, and hence the panic, was ( at my age ) -where?

 

 

There are two patches on the site 1.32 and the 1.32c hotfix.

 

There will possibly be a 1.32d hotfix later on depending on how the Flak issue pans out and what feedback we see on this board but at the moment I can see no issues with Flak on easy setting or even normal setting being excessive.

 

 

HTH

 

 

WM