Hello everyone

[TaillyHo 2]

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....

 

Hey Smiley - Merry Christmas!

You are doing all the right things there, mate. First and foremost, being patient; ordering TrackIR (I ordered mine from the States as the exchange rate made it possible to get version 5 shipped for only $20 more than version 4 costs locally - had to wait nearly 3 weeks for it, but was going to have to wait til tomorrow before I could 'receive' it - as a gift - anyway); and doing a bit of 'flying' in another sim.

 

Re: the latter, if you're talking FS9 or FSX (?), grab yourself a WWI-era bi-plane (the Curtiss 'Jenny' in FS9 would do nicely) and do plenty of take-offs and landings - in fact any aerobatics it can manage in between would help too - but mostly work on landings, ideally on relatively short grass runways. Oh and use virtual cockpit view!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Merry Christmas Smilingmonkey. May you wake up Christmas morning to find OFF and Track IR waiting for you 'neath the tree.

 

.

[smilingmonkey 1]

Hey Smiley - Merry Christmas!

You are doing all the right things there, mate. First and foremost, being patient; ordering TrackIR (I ordered mine from the States as the exchange rate made it possible to get version 5 shipped for only $20 more than version 4 costs locally - had to wait nearly 3 weeks for it, but was going to have to wait til tomorrow before I could 'receive' it - as a gift - anyway); and doing a bit of 'flying' in another sim.

 

Re: the latter, if you're talking FS9 or FSX (?), grab yourself a WWI-era bi-plane (the Curtiss 'Jenny' in FS9 would do nicely) and do plenty of take-offs and landings - in fact any aerobatics it can manage in between would help too - but mostly work on landings, ideally on relatively short grass runways. Oh and use virtual cockpit view!

 

I hear what you are saying mate...I have been 'flying' in IL2, which took a bit of installing on win7 let me say, Just getting my take-off and landing sorted...well, kind of sorted.

 

The tech is very different though and nothing behaves like I imagine the OFF stuff will, but I think if I can get a few hours of landing anything successfully I will be better off than not having done it at all.

 

And I always use virtual cockpit view. I just like the look of it, and I am getting pretty good with the hatstick at finding my way around.

 

 

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Merry Christmas Smilingmonkey. May you wake up Christmas morning to find OFF and Track IR waiting for you 'neath the tree.

 

 

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Thank you RAF_, But I did not wake to find those goodies 'neath my tree.

 

On reflection I have been a bad boy at times this year, so I will just have to wait.

[TaillyHo 2]

I hear what you are saying mate...I have been 'flying' in IL2, which took a bit of installing on win7 let me say, Just getting my take-off and landing sorted...well, kind of sorted.

 

The tech is very different though and nothing behaves like I imagine the OFF stuff will, but I think if I can get a few hours of landing anything successfully I will be better off than not having done it at all.

 

And I always use virtual cockpit view. I just like the look of it, and I am getting pretty good with the hatstick at finding my way around.

 

In IL2, I think there are a few 'old' Russian planes that are early 30s - and at least one that is a biplane. Chose one of those and then fly it at no more than 3/4 throttle - so you get used to not having much power. That will be about as close as you can get to the OFF planes. For landings you could try shallow approaches, shutting the engine off and gliding in - that seems to work well for the OFF planes I've been in so far!

 

Hope you don't have too much longer to wait.

[smilingmonkey 1]

Hello again,

 

Just the other day my trackIr 4 arrived.....yes.

 

It works well on my machine and I have been toying around with profiles and settings to find something I like...

 

I put the 5.something software on it and it works a treat.

 

So far I have only used it in iL2 to shoot down a few "Kates" in my P40...still it was a bit of fun.

 

Still waiting on my disc though...soon I hope.

 

Also I changed graphics card from ATI radeon 5770 to the gigabyte nvidea gtx460...

 

That ATI was giving me nothing but grief with windows 7 and I am hoping for more luck with the gtx...clean install,complete system restore and reinstall of everything...hoping for the best.

[Ratatat 0]

Hi Smiingmonkey,

 

I've a GTX460 768 mb and Windows 7 64 bit. Runs P3 OFF like a charm. Full settings.

 

Have fun!

 

Ratatat

[smilingmonkey 1]

That is some good news there Ratatat.

 

With all the problems I have been having with my rebuild, I am glad to hear that at least one other person is having good luck running the sim.

 

It gives me a little bit of hope.

[smilingmonkey 1]

Well...

 

It has been one month to the day since I paid for BHaH, I have the confirmation emails and all that...

 

Some time ago I requested a tracking number which was provided in short order, unfortunately it told me nothing useful..When I spoke to an actual person in the mail service I was told that the code means it is a small, under 1kg, package which means they have no obligation to post details about it's whereabouts.

 

I seriously doubt at this time that the disc will arrive at all. I am clearly going to have to investigate the complaints procedures and hopefully be refunded..

 

It is a damn shame, I really wanted to experience this sim, and be part of this excellent community. But it appears that is not to be.

 

If anyone else has had a similar experience, unlikely since you all seem to be playing happily, then I would greatly appreciate any advice from more experienced hands at this point.

 

Thanking you in advance.

[TaillyHo 2]

Hey Smiley, sorry to hear you are still without. Easy for me to say I know, but I'd be inclined to 'give peace a chance' until the end of this week. I'm pretty sure mine took nearly 3 weeks to arrive, and if you take out the week between xmas and new year (when nothing much happens anywhere), and then allow for extra mail slowing things up pre-xmas, it's probably only just been 3 weeks of workable time to get your copy to you. Fingers crossed your's will arrive in the next day or two - if not, I'm sure you will be looked after one way or another. <BR><BR><BR>ps. good that you have TrackIR to be getting used to in the interim, at least!

Edited January 11, 2011 by TaillyHo

[smilingmonkey 1]

Thanks for the kind words, and what I hope will be the voice of reason.

 

I think my problem is that I have ordered other things through ebay, after my order for BHaH, which have all come through already, despite the holiday madness...and they have come halfway 'round the world also.

 

I have been playing a lot, and I mean a lot of iL2 using the trackir. The thing is genius.

 

I am still messing about with profiles, but that is half the fun I think.

 

The iL2 is fine...I have it patched to 4.09, with ultra pack 2.1. It's good, but my heart really wants WW1 goodness.

[bert7 0]

smilng monkey , im in oz ,and it took a month to arrive for me , so hang on in there it will be there soon, its worth the wait when it does turn up,

 

 

[Olham 164]

Just one crooked thought of mine:

maybe they had no more discs ready, and neither had they any covers done for the box?

Then your order came, and it was pushed aside for days, because new discs had to be done,

and new prints. Then your request mails came, and someone finally decided to burn new copies

and print more covers, and so the whole thing got pretty delayed.

(Just a thought - one of those I try to comfort myself with in such moments - it never really works...)

 

Edit/PS: After a whole month, you should contact OBD again about this - it is just too long.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Olham

[smilingmonkey 1]

Good one Olham...

 

I am over my little tantrum from yesterday now.

 

The reality here is that my city is experiencing some pretty devastating flooding right now and there is no unnecessary travel going on.

 

That is pretty certain to slow things up.

 

Also the Avangate people are "looking into it" and have said that if anything has gone wrong at that end then they will do a reorder...

 

So, I wait...

 

Til the flood subsides.

Edited January 12, 2011 by smilingmonkey

[smilingmonkey 1]

I guess the old post office credo of "neither rain nor snow etc" means anything these days..

 

What with insurance, sick days,unions and the inability of little postie bikes to function under 9.5 meters of thick, brown rushing water...

 

I dont know where the motivation has gone...

[TaillyHo 2]

I have been playing a lot, and I mean a lot of iL2 using the trackir. The thing is genius.

 

I am still messing about with profiles, but that is half the fun I think.

 

So you are creating custom profiles already? Very good - and a useful hands-on way of occupying your waiting-for-OFF time, as a TrackIR profile that works well for you in IL2 should also work well for OFF!

I've settled for using the "Smooth" default profile for now, as it gives full and (you'll be suprised to hear) smooth movement to see all around the plane, but I may need to quicken up the rotation 'speed' once I've had more dog-fighting experiences using TrackIR.

 

Saw some wild water footage from Ipswich yesterday - hope things don't get too bad for you there in Brizzy, mate.

[TaillyHo 2]

I do wish you guys would get it together in Oz. First were man made fires, then multi-year droughts, now floods.

 

I liken the land down under, to Soddom and Gimorra

 

You Aussies must've pissed in somebodies Cheerio's

 

It wasn't me, Sir!

(pissing ... or any of that other lewd stuff that went on down Sodom and Gomorrah way).

oh, and you forgot to mention the locust plague too (seriously)

 

... but of course, all that stuff happened on the 'north island'. We don't do that sort of thing here in Tasmania!

[Olham 164]

Man I wish you all the best of luck for that flood - in the news here they say, it is an area as big as France and Germany together!

And yesterday I saw, it now reaches down to Brisbane. I hope the Kangaroos can swim?

[smilingmonkey 1]

Yes, the sheer size of the flooding is unbelievable...difficult to picture,unless you could see it.

 

I expect there are some satellite pictures around somewhere.

 

My own area, that is the suburb I live in, is not under water but we are pretty well cut off at the moment.

 

Supplies in the shops are dwindling and we have been unable to get bread or milk for a couple of days...

 

Bloody post office managed to get a credit card bill to me today though...bastards.

 

This area is pretty hilly here,but neighbouring suburbs have been evacuated.

 

Oh, and Kangaroos can swim, in fact they will lure dogs into water so they can stand on them and drown them.

 

It's all the snakes I worry about, if you live on dry land at the moment, the chances are you will meet a very frightened and angry snake at some point.

Edited January 12, 2011 by smilingmonkey

[Olham 164]

Here is one report with sat pics and graphics.

 

http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://feww.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/qld-flood-map-10-01-2011.jpg%3Fw%3D376%26h%3D503&imgrefurl=http://feww.wordpress.com/&usg=__13VZmqottpTMlYekflP0gX0h0g4=&h=503&w=376&sz=36&hl=de&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=oOZUefwLbXxk6M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrisbane%2Bflood%2Bsatellite%26hl%3Dde%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D1%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

I was watching the coverage last night of the flooding there...horrendous. I'll be saying a prayer for you Smilingmonkey, and for all the other folks in your corner of the world. Hope it gets better very soon for you all.

 

.

[Olham 164]

I am sure you Australians stand together and help each other, as you help the Kangaroos.

Here is a link with pictures of Kangarro Rescue:

 

http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/dec2010/4/2/image-2-for-kangaroo-rescue-gallery-906003066.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/12/11/kangaroo-flood-rescue-mission-launched-in-australia-pictures-115875-22775237/&usg=__ZaGSgcspaa9MU6BPLZ_4h2Q4ca4=&h=338&w=450&sz=46&hl=de&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=3QNzHpsB5ELQXM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkangaroo%2Bflood%26hl%3Dde%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D1%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1

[smilingmonkey 1]

Well, my disc arrived this morning.

 

I had just pretty much given up on it due to the floods and all that,but it showed.

 

Right now I have Uncleal's excellent tips up and am downloading the superpatch.

 

wish me luck.

[TaillyHo 2]

Whoopee, Smiley - a wonderful day for you, indeed!

 

Take a moment to follow the installation instructions - it can save frustrations later! I found doing so had me up and running in no time.

 

Good luck!

[smilingmonkey 1]

Yep.

 

Doing it all by the numbers.

 

Just DLing Hat in the ring expansion now and thats it.

 

Have it all running in Admin mode, xp etc, and language set to english US.

Edited January 13, 2011 by smilingmonkey

[carrick58 23]

I met a Snake last summer in my garage. I couldn't Honestly say which was the most Frightened ( Me or It ? ) Although I didn't know it at the time it was not poisonous. Animal Control came out and placed it in a field ( we live in a dessert area) Enjoy Off.

Edited January 13, 2011 by carrick58