New Rise of Flight Release

[CaptSopwith 26]

Looks like Rise of Flight is trying to sweeten the pot and attract some new pilots with a new release of ROF dubbed ICE (Iron Cross Edition).

 

Here's the press release.

 

http://riseofflight.com/Blogs/post/2010/06/03/ROF-ICE.aspx

[JediMaster 451]

So there will be 8 flyables out of the box of this version, 4 per side. That's far more palatable to a lot of people.

[Gr.Viper 131]

+ this will come with updates like quick mission generator. RoF: The Better Edition.

[dsawan 624]

What about single player? Do you still need internet connection to play single or free flight.

[ArgonV 2]

No longer to play single missions. However, yes to play the campaign.

[JediMaster 451]

That's bizarre.

[ArgonV 2]

I should mention, you need an internet connection to register and log in once...

 

It is odd but I can see the reasoning. A hacked ROF would be almost useless without a campaign mode (Obviously it wouldn't be able to go on-line if it's hacked).

[JediMaster 451]

Perhaps, but given that flight sims are what they are, and WWI is so small an audience, I'm just wondering how many people would actually try to hack it?

[+Stary 2,427]

Back in early August 2009 I payed 60+ bucks for ROF including shipping to where I live. Not going to pay them (Neoqb) a single dollar more!

 

I fell ripped off. Still no playable campaign with historically matching era-specific planes, not a single one (1) new 2-seater nor heavy bomber to shoot at, no ground warfare, lack of any ground-activity detail, performance worsen with every new patch.

 

And could someone explain this to me -IF I uninstall ROF now, but would like to return to it in the (far) future -I'd need to download some then 2-3 GB of patch data before starting, right? Man I love forced updates... Red Orchestra on Steam anyone?

 

Sorry if I sound negative, but I'm deeply disappointed by ROF and the developer's approach

 

This title still is, and going to be incomplete release IMO.

[Tamper 9]

Yup, Stary, a lot of us feel ripped, like you. I guess you live and learn. Can't enjoy this..."sim", and they went to lengths to try and make sure you can't resell it, either. Forced updatres, indeed...plus they never fully delivered on the whole hyped up "offline play" thing. Basically that wound up proving all they claimed that made online necessary was BS to begin with; it was nothing more than good ole' DRM, plain and simple.

 

Not that I mind an author's effort to protect his work, of course not...but they adamantly insisted it wasn't about that at first, it was about statistics and somehow necessary to the whole development, blah, blah...

 

And a lot of the other stuff they still rant about? Over-rated, IMHO. The graphics and lighting effects on the planes are very good, no doubt. But the scenery is...somehow off; the word "cartoonish" has been used to describe it.

 

Flight models? Arguable - to this day there are still people asking questions about where neoQB got their technical data (and of course, neoQB refusing to entertain anything they choose not to by way of evidence to support claims).

 

Damage models...well, OK, but only if you believe "advanced physics" includes wooden planes that auger in from thousands of feet, but the fuselage remains straight and solid. And as far as them being 'dynamic'...well, what I saw is the same, exact damage come up on every plane of the same type, when hit in the same area - every _ single _ time. Noop28, fuselage hit? Either that shred of stuff just below and to port of the cockpit (for shots from beneath), or that other shred just aft the cockpit and to starboard. Always the same pieces, from the same place, and the exact same hole...how in the heck is that advanced damage modeling? And some planes still don't respond accurately when hit, in terms of controls or subsequent failure...

 

No campaign to speak of. I've read about limits to the number of objects the sim will tolerate - and it was a very low number.

 

That awful image-at-a-distance thing (still outstanding?) (which neoQB also tried to say there was no way to fix)

 

I honestly gave up counting and following the problems, there are so many. I don't know what updates fixed what, after the 3rd or 4th one, admittedly. But I do follow the boards, and I don't get the impression many of these things were ever addressed.

 

I don't run it anymore, and don't *ever* intend to let any of my money (or my family's, or friends') go toward any product from 777.

 

Just my opinion, as a (now) educated, ex-customer. Fool me once...

[+Stary 2,427]

funny thing, but speaks a lot -more than a week ago I downloaded the recent update that includes one of my WW1 favourites (DH.2 pusher) installed it, and quit without running the sim

one day maybe, dear NeoQb... but with Arrowhead just around the corner and my limited gaming time, this "one day" may be long way down the road

[ArgonV 2]

Tamper, I feel different than you. To each his own but to address some of your concerns:

 

I feel the flight models are the best in a sim, any sim. Are they perfect? No, then again no flight sim has perfect flight models. Are they the closest to represent the real world on a PC, most certainly.

 

As for the damage models, yes the fuselage stays around (Though it looks beat up and crushed in.) But it doesn't just blow up and go away either which is what most flightsims do. I find the latter more lame. No flight sim has truely dynamic damage models. I fear that is impossible with current PCs. But ROFs is the best I've seen in any sim, ever. Most have planes smash into the ground, blow up completely and just have a wing bit or two left. Much less realistic than ROF. Which aircraft don't respond correctly to you when damaged? I've flown them all, and all respond as I would anticipate.

 

The campaign engine is being addressed as we speak. It is sad that ROF did not ship with one yes. Given the option to release the sim early to gain some income however I approve, if the other option was to go bankrupt and us flight simmers not have a sim at all. ROF is an ever evolving product. In an ideal world, I would of liked to have these things from the get go. But that's just not how the real world is right now. I'm glad however that the developer is going to address the lack of a campaign issue. Thus far, the developer is delivering. It has taken a bit of time, but a year is not that long considering.

 

The limited viewing distance is annoying... I agree it needs to be fixed. It sadly limits the on-line play and mission making... :( This right now is my only complaint.

[+Stary 2,427]

What annoys me is the now so popular among the sims community "you know it's hard times, they had to release it in such state, will fix it, have fun" approach... would you buy a car with two whells? Sure not. What is truly lame is when developer says he had to release in fact beta-stage product claiming otherwise he'd bancrupt. So what? There will be others, don't get the sim hard times/sim end times phrase fixation...

 

Not pointing at you ArgonV, I like your SDOE:WW1 total conversion much, as I mentioned in other ROF-related thread.

[Thomas H 0]

I don't understand why some people here are so hostile when it comes to RoF. What are you afraid of? Both sims are great and can imho live happily side by. I enjoy RoF and still plan to order OFF. Why do I have to choose side?

Edited June 26, 2010 by Thomas H

[Rickitycrate 10]

I don't understand why some people here are so hostile when it comes to RoF. What are you afraid of? Both sims are great and can imho live happily side by. I enjoy RoF and still plan to order OFF. Why do I have to choose side?

 

Ahh.. this thread is about RoF. I see no mention of OFF. Don't choose sides but rather enjoy yourself. It's a great time to be a WWI simmer.

[Thomas H 0]

Exactly...

[JediMaster 451]

I think since OFF is the only full-featured WWI sim still in development right now (ie current) that it's natural to compare the two.

The CFS3 vs Il-2 threads from years back got to be dizzying, as did the F4 vs Flanker/LOMAC ones.

However, I have NEVER understood those who seem to think it's an either/or situation. You can have both, you can play both. The idea that one precludes the other is ludicrous.

OFF's limitations are known and obvious thanks to the CFS3 code base...it will never be the best-looking sim around. ROF's are different and obviously stem from the need to have had more money than they did for development...also likely unavoidable thanks to the niche nature of WWI flight sims.

[Rickitycrate 10]

Being on a tight budget the RoF-ICE release is more appealing to me now. As far as looks go it's been said many times that "looks aren't everything". WARBIRDS has a WWI release out now. I wonder if that's worth getting? 12 planes as of now with online MMP.

[+Stary 2,427]

in case someone bothers, taken from SimHQ main page announcements:

 

Press Announcement regarding Rise of Flight:

 

As many of you have already read on the forums, 777 Studios, previously the North American publisher of Rise of Flight has acquired all rights to Rise of Flight and the neoqb brand. The neoqb brand will be gradually phased out over time and replaced by 777 Studios. This was a friendly merger and was done with an eye towards future development. We want to make it clear that there are no plans to change the core team that has created such a great product. The corporate headquarters will be located in the USA and development will continue to be located in Russia. Current development plans for ROF are still in place and the team is working hard to give you such items as multi-seat aircraft and a new Career mode. Further development plans will be announced when appropriate. 6-30-2010

 

seems ROF has some problems...

 

or this is going to let this one fully mature... who knows

[Tamper 9]

I don't understand why some people here are so hostile when it comes to RoF. What are you afraid of? Both sims are great and can imho live happily side by. I enjoy RoF and still plan to order OFF. Why do I have to choose side?

 

 

And I don't understand why - just because someone may not agree with you, and/or because they have even strongly held beliefs, it makes them "hostile". That's a pretty strong word. I'm not hostile, I just have certain expectations when I pay for something, and with RoF those expectations were not met - not even close.

 

And, when I tried to discuss this with 777, I got nothing but BS, rhetoric, and double-speak...right up until I got ignored. (and I wasn't the least impolite, at any time - so there was no reason to simply ignore me; he just didn't want to deal with it).

 

Plus, as I already said, there was/is a deliberate effort by NeoQB / 777 to make darn sure that no one who was dissatisfied could sell it: No playing without an email account registering, which can't be changed without their consent, and a specific statement from 777 that they would not support anyone who didn't buy first-hand. (And yes, I know of ways around it, but why should I lie to get a company to stand behind their product?)

 

To me, this all makes it sort of obvious that they knew some people would be unhappy with the product, but had no plans of standing behind it. In other words, once we got your money, screw you.

Sorry, but you don't deal with customers like that. In my business, we stand behind what we do. If customer is that unhappy, they can get their money back, period. Worst form of advertisement ever is a bunch of pissed-off customers, and the only way to turn that huge negative into a positive is to make it right.

 

I'm not "afraid" of anything, least of all having (and stating) an opinion during an open discussion. I own both sims, and I'm just not impressed with RoF so far. Far (far) less impressed with it's purveyors.

 

As for 'choosing sides', what you do is your concern, not mine. Obviously, as I paid for both, at least from a "support the development of WW1 sims" perspective, I'm not choosing one over the other. I gave *both* a fair chance.

 

In fact, to be honest, I was far more biased toward RoF at one point. However, NeoQB and 777 ruined that in a hurry.

 

Do I have very strong feelings about RoF? Yup, you betcha. Does that make me "hostile"? Well, maybe to some - but not to me.

 

And, like stary, I don't think the state of the economy should have anything to do with releasing such an unfinished product. It's been a year; there are still unresolved issues, and by many accounts, some will never be resolved.

 

I worked with an Irishman once who told me "I vote with me feet"...and I got it: I don't like the way a company treats me, my feet take my business elsewhere.

 

Happy 4th, everyone.

[FalconC45 162]

I got a question. Is ROF-ICE out yet? Checked Best Buy today and didn't find it. Did the release date got pushed back or what? If I remember correctly the press release said June 29th.

 

Falcon

[catch 81]

Yes it's released at various outlets. FSPilotshop ships worldwide if you're not a US resident.

 

http://www.fspilotshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_21&products_id=2610

[JediMaster 451]

Did you check Gogamer, Falcon? I'm pretty sure they always have it.

[FalconC45 162]

Did you check Gogamer, Falcon? I'm pretty sure they always have it.

 

No not yet. I'll check BB again and gamestop first before going to gogamer.

 

Falcon

[JediMaster 451]

FWIW, BB.com lists the first RoF release only, not ICE, and it's listed as "online only" anyway, so they don't stock it on the sheves there.