Rekindled

[CaptSopwith 26]

Hi Gentlemen,

 

Not sure if you still remember me, I've been incredibly busy with RL work now for the past year. Thankfully, the load has slackened somewhat and the summer has given me some much needed flight time. I'll admit it, I've also been sidetracked during the past year with Xbox Live. Yes... I was a Modern Warfare player and then moved to Battlefield. But lately I've had more then ten minutes of downtime each evening and I've wandered back to my flight sims.

 

I felt the need to post this after the events of the last few days, and once again thank the community and the band of developers who make OFF. This is an OFF post, so I'll keep the topic on track, but suffice it to say, I looked into some other WWI sim options in the last week or so. After reading every review I could, and haunting various forms, I downloaded it and tried it out. While I was floored with certain features, I was left feeling... well, empty. Yeah, this sim had some impressive aspects to it and even some wow moments, but they weren't enough to completely win me over, or mask a lot of aspects I had issues with.

 

And then tonight, after my dabbling ended, I returned to my copy of OFF HiTR. I had a few hiccups with it when I first snagged HiTR (I've been playing OFF since P1) and then RL caught up with me and I never had the time to really delve into what this addon had in store for me. Well I finally just exited out of OFF a few minutes ago and felt compelled to post.

 

You guys have done a truly marvelous thing. I know a few members of the OFF team from my days of uploading inane, rambling, and often overenthusiastic posts (like this one) on Delphi back in the Red Baron days some eleven years ago. Tonight I sat and watched Pol's intro video for the first time in a while and I have to say Pol, I was really wowed all over again. After spending a few days navigating a pretty sterile interface with no real mood to speak of, the several minutes of opening footage reminded me that yeah, this is a game, but it represents something much bigger than that. Your film reminded me, and I think reminds all of us, that there were real flesh and blood people doing these things 90+ years ago. It sets the atmosphere for everything that comes next and it does it beautifully.

 

And it's the details that the OFF team nails time and again. The menu music, the claim forms, the daily newspapers, the duty board, the pre-flight weather report. These all set the mood and immerse you in ways that graphical special effects can only accomplish for a few fleeting seconds. OFF had me in its grip tonight for hours, and it felt fantastic. The feeling of flight, the sound effects (I must admit I snagged Creaghorns mod and WOW), the graphics, all serve to suspend reality for however long you sit at the controls and do an incredible job of sending you back in time. The OFF team, simply put, just gets it. While my other experience left me feeling like some anthropologist digging up fossilized remains of a long forgotten past, OFF, as always, made me feel more like a young recruit sent up to the lines with 8 hours of training - scared to death.

 

For the sake of balance, I'll take a moment and play devil's advocate. Could the graphic's engine be newer? Sure. Could improvements be made here and there? Absolutely - that's why there is going to be a P4 (and I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that!). But, as with every great flight sim I've ever loved, the end result is so much greater than the sum of its parts. What other sims accomplished that for me? Well, Red Baron 3D and European Air War. Neither were the prettiest of their time (Flying Corps Gold touted graphical prettiness with only 7 planes), but both of them received hundreds of hours of flight time from me because I simply couldn't get enough of them. And in my opinion, I thought they looked fantastic - beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

 

OFF, after a year (maybe more? This grad school gig has completely ruined my sense of time) of on and off flying for me, has not only rekindled my love of flight sims, it has made me more excited to get the day done, get home, and get in some flight time for the first time since I was 16 and dying to get home from high school so I could fly another mission in RBII.

 

Yeah, the others might look pretty, but it was the two hours of flying I did tonight in OFF that left me smiling at the end of the day.

 

As a final note, I'm working to become a professional historian. I want to teach at the university level and I specialize in World War I and, believe it or not, Germany. And while I shouldn't say this professionally, a few missions in OFF reignites my passion for the subject and my desire to research it, write about it, and teach it for the rest of my life. It's a fantastic shot of energy when you're tired and still have a mountain of reading to accomplish.

 

Pardon the length of the post, but I had to share. You guys are brilliant and I am so glad that this team is together working on this product. Please, keep going.

 

PS: Thanks to OvS for nagging me to wander from the Delphi forums about five years ago and take a look at what he was "tinkering with" at the time. I owe you one. If you're ever in need of any further historical input, feel free to drop me a line.

 

S!

Edited June 3, 2010 by _CaptSopwith

[Hellshade 110]

Welcome back Capt. Watch yourself in the skies up there. They work pretty hard to make you a part of the historical landscape.

 

Hellshade

[Duce Lewis 3]

Welcome back Cappy!

[Ras 0]

Here, Here. Good to have you around again.

[Rickitycrate 10]

A hearty welcome back, mate!

[CaptSopwith 26]

Wow, thanks guys! I appreciate the welcome back - I didn't think I was missed!

 

Hopefully I can post a bit more often, at least until life becomes utter insanity this fall!

 

Cheers and drinks all around!

[Olham 164]

Welcome back, CaptSopwith, and congratulations for your examn!

 

It's funny you ask if we remember you - you were and are one of the forum core members to me,

and I think for many others too. The only irritation was, that it is already another year gone by.

 

As a final note, I'm working to become a professional historian. I want to teach at the university level and I specialize

in World War I and, believe it or not, Germany.

 

Wow, that will be a great job - earning an income with what you like to do anyway!

[CaptSopwith 26]

Welcome back, CaptSopwith, and congratulations for your examn!

 

It's funny you ask if we remember you - you were and are one of the forum core members to me,

and I think for many others too. The only irritation was, that it is already another year gone by.

 

As a final note, I'm working to become a professional historian. I want to teach at the university level and I specialize

in World War I and, believe it or not, Germany.

 

Wow, that will be a great job - earning an income with what you like to do anyway!

 

Thanks for the exceedingly kind words Olham, I greatly appreciate it.

 

It feels great to get back to flying. It's been ages since I worked through a campaign pilot and actually got to enjoy it. My American pilot is... no, I'd better not, everytime I speak of my pilots, they perish the next day!

[Olham 164]

CaptSopwith: My American pilot is... no, I'd better not, everytime I speak of my pilots, they perish the next day!

 

Yep, that has happened to me many times, too.

And if I don't speak of them, they die a little later.

But perhaps you show some of his action in the "Reports from the Front".

You could even join the "Krauts vs Crumpets" Full DiD Campaign, once you got back into it enough.

There are British, German and French side now, and I think we should also add the Americans.

Edited June 5, 2010 by Olham

[Guest British_eh]

Hi there CS,

 

yes, while I don't seem to have much time, as I'm sorting out teenagers, last spring we went to the London Imperial War Museum, and also the Deutches Museum in Munich. Both were great, and keep me up interested in OFF.

 

History will be most fascinating I'm sure.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh

[rabu 9]

Hay, CS, nice to see you back.. and you go way back!

 

I too have little time for OFF, but love to drop in on the forum as much as possible and have been visiting a bit more often over the last several weeks.

 

You summed up my feelings in a nut shell, I think others, who had not tried OFF before, or had only tried the early versions are beginning to discover the huge improvements too.

 

Salute

[CaptSopwith 26]

CaptSopwith: My American pilot is... no, I'd better not, everytime I speak of my pilots, they perish the next day!

 

Yep, that has happened to me many times, too.

And if I don't speak of them, they die a little later.

But perhaps you show some of his action in the "Reports from the Front".

You could even join the "Krauts vs Crumpets" Full DiD Campaign, once you got back into it enough.

There are British, German and French side now, and I think we should also add the Americans.

 

Definitely. With any luck I could fly a DiD pilot. Unfortunately, I don't quite meet the requirements. I fly with TAC Display turned on, as I don't have a TrackIR rig, which puts me outside of the rules and regs. Either way, I'm just enjoying the flight time.

 

Hi there CS,

 

yes, while I don't seem to have much time, as I'm sorting out teenagers, last spring we went to the London Imperial War Museum, and also the Deutches Museum in Munich. Both were great, and keep me up interested in OFF.

 

History will be most fascinating I'm sure.

 

Cheers,

 

British_eh

 

Sounds amazing British_eh! I need to get my passport so I can head over to Europe and walk around where it all happened. My WWI lectures have become somewhat famous around campus - apparently my lecture even made some waves on the social networking sites lol. I love lecturing on the topic, and would love to hop the pond and see it all first hand.

 

Hay, CS, nice to see you back.. and you go way back!

 

I too have little time for OFF, but love to drop in on the forum as much as possible and have been visiting a bit more often over the last several weeks.

 

You summed up my feelings in a nut shell, I think others, who had not tried OFF before, or had only tried the early versions are beginning to discover the huge improvements too.

 

Salute

 

Good to see you too Rabu! Hope all is well on the west coast! I've been lurking around the forums as well but never had the time to write in the way I wanted to. Thanks for the compliments on the post. I looked back on some SimHQ reviews of OFF as it went through Phase 1 and 2 and I'm astounded by the differences. You don't really notice them if you fly from day to day as the sim evolved - but when you look back four or five years to where it started, the changes are noticeable. The graphics are vastly improved, the terrain is still the best I've ever seen in any flight sim, regardless of era, and OFF has just gone from strength to strength. If new pilots can find their way past the legacy of CFS3 as an engine, they are immensely rewarded.

 

Speaking of terrain, as I know it's something of a forte for you - I flew over the trenches in the other WWI sim I spoke of earlier and I found myself completely underwhelmed. While the terrain looked pretty nice, the trenches themselves were made up of very artificial, perfectly zig-zag lines. They looked like a slightly improved version of the old Promised Land terrains from last decade. At first I was thrown by the trenches as OFF models them, but they have a much more organic, "built as needed" feel to them that I'm quite used to them now and still find myself grimacing as I approach the front.

 

I read a review for European Air War about eleven years ago but the closing paragraph stayed with me. I frequently quote from when describing OFF. Amazingly, I just checked IGN and the review is still there. Here's how it concludes: We've seen one issue countless times in countless other games: Gameplay will always win out over graphics. If you want eye candy, pick up Combat Flight Simulator or World War II Fighters. If you're looking for a long-term relationship, you can't go wrong with European Air War. It's not perfect, but since when is a successful relationship not about compromise?

 

If you substitute the titles, I think that conclusion still holds true today. That said, I think OFF looks great, but you get my gist.

 

S! guys! It's a pleasure to be back amongst the ranks again.

[rabu 9]

CS:

Windingman is the terrain guru on this one and has done a great job. I did the OFF skins for the early Nieuport series, N11-N16-N17 and other then some support maps, posters, etc., that's it on this sim. Many in the group, as you know, go way back to the beginning.. RedBaron, and I think that was what our "heritage" was. It influenced the whole experience that is now OFF, just as RedBaron had that special attraction that kept it going, even to this day. I have a feeling OFF is going to be around for quite awhile and it amazes me that the engine in this sim still has so much potential. But, as you say, it's the combination of the history and action that makes OFF so captivating, and engrossing.

[Olham 164]

CaptSopwith: I fly with TAC Display turned on, as I don't have a TrackIR rig, which puts me outside

of the rules and regs. Either way, I'm just enjoying the flight time.

 

Capt, you don't know what you're missing! I know you're still a "poor" student yet, but if you can get

the money together, get yourself TrackIR - it puts you in the cockpit!

The "Krauts vs Crumpets" will continue from now June 6, 1917 until the end of the war.

So if you want to join it later, you will be welcome on either side.