Greetings and questions

[flynn 0]

Greetings all, just finally got the pieces of my BHaH jigsaw together last night and really enjoying the sim so far! I used to play Dawn Patrol, Flying Corps and then Flying Corps Gold back in the day and I have been dreaming of this game for a while ;) Which reminds me, I've got a copy of Practical Flying that came with one of those games which I must read.

 

I'd ordered BHaH, CFS3 and a Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X joystick at the same time and was waiting for the pieces all to land. BHaH came first, great service! Next was my joystick, very chunky and functional, tested it out on Another Sim (which kills my PC and doesn't do 1915/16!!, hence my discovery of BHaH!).

 

CFS3 disks didn't show up, so I set to creating a skin for one of my grandfather's planes as a mini-project in the interim. Eventually my CFS3 disks arrived, and yippee, the first plane I flew was my grandfather's BE2c 4077 from 16 Squadron circa 1916. Awesome.

 

Leads me to a few observations and questions though:

 

1. This is probably just the way the functionality is with this BE2c, but I can't select the observer (tried F8, F7, F6 etc.) Also, as far as I understood it, the observer operated the Lewis gun from the foremost seat facing rearwards, shooting over the pilot's head.

 

2. Tried taking some screenies of my unbelievable first flight using 'Ctrl+;', but alas nothing showed up in 'User\Documents\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields' (I'm on Vista32).

 

3. A few flights later I had quite a lot of my joystick setup done, but I'm still wondering if there is a more optimal setup. Anyone with the same stick got a really ergonomic solution that works in the heat of battle?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[+Polovski 460]

Hi welcome.

 

Glad you could taste flying in a crate as your grandfather did, wonderful :)

 

1. If you have TrackIR it will use F8 by default unless you change it (so use shift+F8 in flight or change it). I think the observer seat works but been a long time since I checked. We hope to do some variants of the Be with other gun mounts, the one in game currently is fixed and assigned to the pilot to fire forward.

2. Should work fine, check you have the right user folder, also check in your controls if it's assigned or assign another key (I use "B"). Esc in flight then you can get to controls. Change, then save as "Mine" for them to work (no quotes).

 

If you still have problems FRAPS is a movie / screenshot tool you can try.

[flynn 0]

Thanks Polovski for your quick reply.

 

Unfortunately I have no TrackIR yet, although it looks a very desireable item that I will probably go for!

 

It would be great for simulation purposes to have the rear facing gun and obviously it would be nice to control it when viewing from the gunner's seat. Otherwise, the current configuration like a BE12 is great fun anyway. I think there is definitely merit in a corrected BE2c with the gun position I have suggested and maybe even a BE2f. I don't think the other types were very successful or very common at all. Incidentally, the MOW.pdf lists the engine as the Renault V8 70hp when the current model in game is the RAF1a 90hp, also the armament is shown incorrectly as 2 x .303.

 

I checked the key binding for screenshots and it seemed that 'Ctrl+;' was setup but not working correctly. Remapped to the 'B' key it works just fine.

 

Thanks again.

[+Polovski 460]

Yes we'd like to do more models and more variants but Uncleal says we don't have enough time to make all we want.

 

Glad you got the screenshot working :).

 

On the Be2 the gun mounts varied and even experimental mounts were added/tried, it was also flown as a single seater with bombs so all sort of variations. The text that mentions 2 guns is incorrect of course, but that is just a typo.

 

BE2c engines also varied, earlier production of the Be2c would probably have the 70HP Renault but it was more common to have the 90HP RAF:

 

90 HP is listed for example in places like

- Kenneth Munsun in "Bombers, Patrol and reconnaissance Aircraft 1914-1919"

- http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/RoyalAircraftFactoryBE2c/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_B.E.2 "Powerplant: 1× RAF 1a air cooled V-8 engine, 90 hp (67 kW)" Not the greatest authority of course.

- http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/projects/be2/history-be2-series

 

Be2b would have had the 70 HP more often:

http://www.greatwarflyingmuseum.com/aircraft/commonwealth/raf_be2b.html

[flynn 0]

There are a great many other more CONVENTIONAL 2 seaters that work, and while they're not like your Grandfather flew, they are highly enjoyable

 

Since at OFF, we have but two modellers. Why should they direct their talents towards the BE2, a dog that was obsolete in 1914 ?

 

Roger that, I was just thinking out loud really. I'll have to dust down my modelling skills and build one myself eh.

 

Aside from Trackir, also Look into Free Trac

 

Excellent, more suited to my wallet!

[Bullethead 12]

Welcome aboard! New guy buys the drinks .

 

If you've got your BE2 skin finished, please upload it and also post some pics of it in the screenshots thread. We'd all love to see it. And to your granddaddy for having to fly that thing in combat.

 

While it is a bummer that the Quirk in OFF lacks a rear gun, the observer IS somewhat useful. If you look closely, you can see that his head tracks the closest enemy plane, which is rather useful at times, especially if you don't have TIR.

[Guest British_eh]

Hi there. Glad to have another OFF pilot on board. You're on your own as I only fly early 1918 craft, I suppose I like the improved airplane characteristics, and can't get enough of thrashing my pilots take.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh