Hello everyone

[smilingmonkey 1]

Hi Everyone,

I have spent the past week or so looking for a WW1 sim to get back into it after my last efforts on Red Baron 2. That seems like an age ago now and I was surprised at how few sims I could find.

At first I was very tempted by Rise of Flight. It looked great. But then I stumbled onto OFF pretty much by accident. That alone was worth some extra points.(I run my life by accident at times.)

I spent many hours reading this forum, and watching the various Youtube vids. Just brilliant. I am thrilled to say that I think I may have found the sim I want to experience.

 

So..I sent away my order for BHaH yesterday, now I just have to wait I guess.I also went out and found a copy of CFS3. I hadnt even played any CFS before and found that I enjoyed it and had no

problem learning to fly it with small success on the hardest difficulty settings. I have to say that WW1 is where my heart lies when it comes to flight sims though.

 

I do recognise that there may be some issues with installation and running OFF on my machine with vista 64bit. But I have been compiling a bit of a cheat sheet from the help thread and the faq. I will ask you guys if it all goes pear shaped later on though if that is cool.

 

I am located in Australia and I am sure that I noticed someone mention that the game is region locked to US or Europe. And that the campaign was not playable in Australia. Is this true?

 

I would be devastated if it was, plus not being able to understand why.

 

Either way. I am living in hope that some great sim action is in my future. I like the feel of this forum and am looking forward to more visits.

[Olham 164]

Welcome to the OFF-Forum, smilingmonkey!

You said you had already found and checked all the FAQs and that about the set-up and the right version of CFS3.

I am playing OFF on a Vista 32 bit system, and for me it's running wonderfully.

 

Region-locked? Why should OFF be region-locked for Australia?

OFF has several players down under, and I have never heard any complaints. So don't worry about that.

You seem to have recognised the difference between an eye-candy show and an immersive sim.

I'm sure you made the right choice. It will be tougher than CFS3 though - the learning curve is steep,

and you will loose many pilots, until you get the knack.

If that doesn't frighten you off, you are the right stuff.

 

So, welcome again. And if you post me your town name, I can place you in our OFF Forum Pilots Maps.

All the best!

[Hellshade 110]

Welcome aboard smilingmonkey!

 

I ran OFF on Vista 64 bit just fine before I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit, which also works great. Always glad to have another pilot join the War. Make yourself comfortable. New chap buys the drinks though.

 

Hellshade

[OvS 8]

Gooday Smilingmonkey,

 

Glad you stumbled on to us. Better to stumble on to us than never find us at all!

 

First, welcome to the forum and OFF, it's great to have another pilot in the ranks. Once you get OFF, download the BHAH and upgrade via the patch list and you'll be complete with all latest patches and new stuff.

 

You'll see right away that OFF is what many hoped would become of RB3D if Dynamix had stayed on track with the series. Being an old modder of RB3D and having two others on the team that modded the old gal as well, we knew exactly what we wanted out of OFF, and got it.

 

So if a deep, meaningful campaign style WWI sim is what you were looking for... you just found the Holy Grail. LOL!

 

As soon as you get settled in with the game, come back and post you thoughts and adventures. We always love to hear from new members.

 

All the best,

 

OvS

 

 

[smilingmonkey 1]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

 

I have enjoyed reading your reports from the front...

 

As soon as I had read through just a few pages of that I knew I had found the right sim...I have always invested much of myself into my sim experience and I love the feeling of immersion that I get from reading

those stories. I want my pilots to have a life and failures and successes. I balieve I may just find it with OFF.

Dont get me wrong. I like a bit of eye candy, but I require something deeper to really enjoy myself. I have my PS3 for plug and play eye candy games.

 

I am glad that it will be tougher than CFS3. I was a little disappointed in how quickly I could pick it up and get kills etc. And that was after many years away from sims. Believe me I know I am not that talented.

I am definately not frightened off by a steep learning curve, and I am bursting at the seams waiting. Very glad to see your scorn at the region lock thing. And I love the idea that there are other Aussies playing.

 

My home town is Brisbane, Queensland.

 

Map me.

 

Drinks all round I think....

Edited December 12, 2010 by smilingmonkey

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Welcome to the OFF fourms Smilingmonkey, and soon to the OFF skies as well. If you enjoyed Red Baron you will truly love OFF, it is an amazing sim with an incredible campaign. Keep us posted to your progress and be sure and do some reading ahead of time so you'll be set to go when the disc arrives. BTW, new guys buy the drinks, and I believe I'll have a fresh hot cup of coffee with a touch of cream and two fingers of Tullamore Dew Black, thank you very much.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Olham 164]

You are in the map now, smilingmonkey - see your Australian co-pilots here:

 

http://combatace.com...post__p__315225

Edited December 12, 2010 by Olham

[Hasse Wind 46]

OFF and CFS3 have almost nothing in common. CFS3 is crap, OFF is pure gold. The best WW1 flight sim there is. RoF is good too, but it has a long, long way to go before it reaches the same level of historical realism and accuracy that OFF provides. OFF is so incredibly immersive that no other modern WW1 sim comes close.

 

Oh, and welcome.

[dokken1212 0]

Welcome smilingmonkey and a great choice of game you have made. I got BH&H on Friday and have been playing it ever since, despite the fact I have about 40 prelim papers to mark as I am a history teacher lol. That said as some of the guys have said you will go through pilots lol. I just got killed when I was about to claim my 5th air kill ...... I shot down 1 Albatross, 2 Hannovers, A Fokker and had a Pfalz to claim if i landed okay .......despite damage and as gentle a touchdown as i could manage I rolled my crate and died !!!! arrghhhhhhhh

 

So its back to creating another pilot and going for it again. The game has a very steep learning curve and I am playing with the difficulty level down a bit so I can get used to the game and the physics of the aircraft etc before 'ramping up' to harder settings.

 

Just make sure and follow the instructions for your video card(ATi or Nvidia) as until I sorted these settings I had trouble as my game was stuttering. When i sorted them the game runs smooth and am maxxed out on settings for terrain etc. Just got to the FAQ for those settings .....it only takes 5 minutes, if that, to sort it all out and then you'll be soaring high over the Western Front.

 

All the very best

James

[Olham 164]

dokken1212 and all other newbies:

 

You may change one setting in "Workshops" to have better outcomes from such events as breaking up your kite.

It's called "Outcomes".

There are three choices.

- Easy - pilot never dies

- Normal - die roll on death

- Hard: dead is dead

 

I recommend to use "Normal" - the dice will roll about the outcome of your accidents and crashes,

and you may survive - just like the real pilots might have been wounded, but not always dead.

 

For learning the flying and shooting, even the first - "Easy" - would be a choice.

It saves you time and pilots. Once you get to grips with it better, you could "retire" that "Easy" pilot

and start a more serious one.

[dokken1212 0]

Hey Olham,

 

Thanks for the advice sir :-)

 

I have my campaign set to 'Normal' so as to have a 50/50 chance should i prang my kite or whatever other misfortune befalls me lol

 

I have went through 3 or 4 pilots to date but my last pilot made something like 8 flights and got 5 kills........so I am improving in terms of living longer and feel I am getting to grips with the game more :-) (albeit on easier settings lol)

 

As a side question ...... attacking the Hannovers ....is it better to attack from below or head on? As from the rear they like to put up a fair 'wall of lead' lol

 

All the best

James

[carrick58 23]

Hi Everyone,

I have spent the past week or so looking for a WW1 sim to get back into it after my last efforts on Red Baron 2. That seems like an age ago now and I was surprised at how few sims I could find.

At first I was very tempted by Rise of Flight. It looked great. But then I stumbled onto OFF pretty much by accident. That alone was worth some extra points.(I run my life by accident at times.)

I spent many hours reading this forum, and watching the various Youtube vids. Just brilliant. I am thrilled to say that I think I may have found the sim I want to experience.

 

So..I sent away my order for BHaH yesterday, now I just have to wait I guess.I also went out and found a copy of CFS3. I hadnt even played any CFS before and found that I enjoyed it and had no

problem learning to fly it with small success on the hardest difficulty settings. I have to say that WW1 is where my heart lies when it comes to flight sims though.

 

I do recognise that there may be some issues with installation and running OFF on my machine with vista 64bit. But I have been compiling a bit of a cheat sheet from the help thread and the faq. I will ask you guys if it all goes pear shaped later on though if that is cool.

 

I am located in Australia and I am sure that I noticed someone mention that the game is region locked to US or Europe. And that the campaign was not playable in Australia. Is this true?

 

I would be devastated if it was, plus not being able to understand why.

 

Either way. I am living in hope that some great sim action is in my future. I like the feel of this forum and am looking forward to more visits.

 

Wecome Smiling monkey, The OFF Meat Grinder awaits.

[Olham 164]

I think that is not so anymore, UncleAl.

With Phase 2, I had problems, until I set the "Regional Language" to "English (USA)".

But I think that is not a problem anymore - at least it isn't for me.

Perhaps an Australian pilot can tell us better?

 

Dokken, I have attacked a Hannover only once so far, with a SPAD XII.

They are spiny as a hedgehog, I remember.

With that powerful craft, I could fly under the last flyer and then pull up, to fire into the engine and cockpit areas.

Push the nose down again, before you get into the range of the rear gunner.

I never attack two-seaters head-on, cause I'd have to fly through the fire of the other Hannovers that way.

But others here seem to do it sometimes.

[dokken1212 0]

Thanks Olham .... much appreciate the answer sir :-)

 

Will give that a go :-)

[sandbagger 1]

Thanks Olham .... much appreciate the answer sir :-)

 

Will give that a go :-)

 

 

Welcome to OFF Dokken - enjoy

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Hi Smilingmonkey..pull up a seat, grab a beer, and prepare yourself for a trip back in time.

 

As I always say to the new recruits...OFF isnt a game...It's a time machine

[TaillyHo 2]

G'day smilingmonkey - welcome to OFF!

 

Ha, these Europeans and North Americans with their gluhwein and laced coffees ... strewth! don't they know it's summer! I'll have a thirst-quenching lager - make it a Boag's Premium thanks, Mate.

 

Can't comment on vista64, but I've come across no quirky 'regional' problems with a clean out-of-the-box OFF BHaH install - it's all good. Mine took about 2 weeks from order to delivery, but you may have to allow a few extra days for the Christmas rush now.

[smilingmonkey 1]

.

 

Welcome to the OFF fourms Smilingmonkey, and soon to the OFF skies as well. If you enjoyed Red Baron you will truly love OFF, it is an amazing sim with an incredible campaign. Keep us posted to your progress and be sure and do some reading ahead of time so you'll be set to go when the disc arrives. BTW, new guys buy the drinks, and I believe I'll have a fresh hot cup of coffee with a touch of cream and two fingers of Tullamore Dew Black, thank you very much.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

Thanks mate...Tullamore Dew Black..good choice sir.

 

In reference to the 'LOCKED' situation. Your Regional Settings come into play, It's not enough that your computer 'Thinks' in English. It must be the USA, GB, or South Africa for Campaign to Load.

 

Kangaroo Land just won't work

 

You'll find that OFF has a steep learning curve . . . the good part is that most everything is written down Somewhere

 

Asking Questions is how we humans learn, but after the same answer is supplied 147 times, the question becomes old

 

An excellent Road Map showing where all the Data is located is: STICKY in the OFF Knowledge Base, 'Pilot Training Videos' #13

 

The OFF Disc will probably take 2 weeks to arrive in OZ

 

You'll actually Enjoy OFF more if you know the basics

 

How you use the 2 weeks is up to you

 

"You Can Lead A Horse To Water . . .But a pencil must be Lead"

I hear what you are saying Uncleal...I am a mod at a PS3 forum and I understand the frustration of answering the same question multiple times.

 

Rest assured I am using my time to gather as much information as possible independantly before the disc arrives.

 

G'day smilingmonkey - welcome to OFF!

 

Ha, these Europeans and North Americans with their gluhwein and laced coffees ... strewth! don't they know it's summer! I'll have a thirst-quenching lager - make it a Boag's Premium thanks, Mate.

 

Can't comment on vista64, but I've come across no quirky 'regional' problems with a clean out-of-the-box OFF BHaH install - it's all good. Mine took about 2 weeks from order to delivery, but you may have to allow a few extra days for the Christmas rush now.

 

Hey mate...great to see another Aussie in here...Boag's it is.

 

It's definately summer today in Brissie.

 

2 weeks seems like a long time right now...and with the possibility of more time for Christmas I dunno if I can take it.

 

Definately want the game now.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Welcome to the Frontline SmilingMonkey whichever side you fight for including the French (Only Joking guys)... Its a wonderful Simulation or as Widowmaker stated its a Time Machine... so read the knowledge base ask your questions strap on your kite and crash in 20 minutes... Oh and mines a Schnapps and a melange thanks...

Edited December 13, 2010 by Slartibartfast

[Cameljockey 3]

Ahhhhhh, fresh meat! Welcome to the world of OFF Smilingmonkey! Have you scheduled your leave of absence from work? Notified the Missus and wee ones of your impending hiatus? All part of the preparation, Old Boy!

 

Oh, iced tea on the rocks, wait, that's silly. It's freakin' cold. Make that a piping hot cup of Java!

Edited December 13, 2010 by Cameljockey

[smilingmonkey 1]

Hi there everyone...

 

I am still waiting for my disc to arrive, and have been reading everything I can find...man there are a lot of threads..

 

Anyway I decided that I needed to upgrade my machine in preparation...

 

So today I bought a bunch of great stuff....and am using it now.

 

Gigabyte 880ga-ud3h motherboard

 

AMD Phenom II x6 processor chugging along at 3.2Ghz

 

8GB ram

 

Sapphire Radeon HD5770 1GB GDDR3 graphics card.

 

I needed a new power thingy too....

 

And I installed Windows 7 to go with it...

 

This thing is running sweetly right now....

 

And to top the whole thing off I got the parts from a wholesaler so it was pretty cheap....The icing on the cake is that my Mrs said if it makes me happy then it is a good thing....wow.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Now that rig will run it perfectly... as to the Mrs saying that damn your a lucky man...

[smilingmonkey 1]

I know about the lucky...

 

I bloody well nearly died of shock.

[Javito1986 14]

Women know when to fight their battles is all. They concede ground on one front only to gather resources to make a push on another. Crafty lot those females.

[smilingmonkey 1]

Hey again guys...

 

I am still waiting for my disc to arrive, it has not quite been 14 days (believe me I could do an hour and minute countdown as well)...But that is ok. I understand the Christmas period will put a lot of strain on the systems for shipping stuff around the world, so I am being Mr patient.

 

I have, however been toying around with other flight sims to get my eye in so to speak. And been doing heaps of research into the topic, plus getting used to my new computer (which appears to have a personality of its own, it doesnt lke being turned on first thing in the morning and will crash a few times until it warms up...I find this pretty funny, but I am in the process of debugging as well...)

 

I bit the bullet a couple of days ago and ordered a Track IR 4...I just have to try one of these things out...I managed to find one locally (in Australia that is). And it was pretty cheap at $147...according to the company it was put on a plane yesterday and should be in my hot little hands very soon...

 

I cannot wait.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to touch base, let everyone know I am still here and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas....