Brand new DM and FM now ready!

[+Polovski 414]

The small wing support did not cure the wing failures, and even the DV had similar failures. It was also said to be heavier on controls (aileron cables re-routed etc) and generally a disappointment.

 

D.Va had ribs modified and the small support and again this helped some, but did not cure the issue as the issue was not fully understood - it also added weight.

 

The only successful fix was on the OEFFAG Albatros series.

[Javito1986 14]

I caught this this morning on Hellshade's youtube feed. Looks fantastic HPW, I can't wait to try it out. Congratulations and thank you for your work

[Hasse Wind 46]

I don't think problem with wing spars was ever completely eliminated in any sesquiplane aircraft of WW1, but the Austrians certainly had the best results in the Alb D.III Oeffag. The Alb D.V and D.Va were never cured of the problem as effectively.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Thank you for the clarification, gentlemen.

 

The braces may have helped some, but didn't cure the problem because the engineers did not know at that time the stress was caused by high speeed and the air pressure it created causing excessive wing twisting around the base of the V-strut, eventually causing the lower wing to fail, correct?

 

I had hear that the OEFFAG series did not suffer as much from wing failures, but it is hard to quantify how much success they had. If you look closely in the FM mod, you will see that the OAW Albs can dive slightly faster than their German bretheran--but not by much!

 

I will release a minor update to improve (make worse) the wing failure problem on the DVa in a few days.

[Hellshade 110]

Man it's tough to live through the campaign now. So far I've had pilots die from : A wing getting torn off from too much g-force (x2), a flak burst, enemy gun fire, attempting too hard of a turn too close to the ground during combat after having my plane damaged and one mid air collision (still trying to get used to the new FM). I think the longest a pilot has lived (using Dead is Dead settings) is a little over a month. One poor chap crash landed (and lived!) on his first flight. Everyone dies or, on two occassions, survived the crash but was captured behind enemy lines and spend the rest of the war on the sidelines. I'm trying to get an RNAS 1 pilot to survive the entire war. I can see I'm going to need to be a lot more careful if I want to live longer.

 

Great work HPW! Even the rear gunners in two seaters are more exciting to fight against now that a single round our two doesn't knock me out of the fight. I've had some absolutely fantastic fights in a Nieuport 11 against Roland CIIs. I can usually claim 1 or 2 kills on a mission, which is still high of course, but thats down considerably from original settings. And obviously I'm flying too risky to get those kills if I'm dying within two weeks of starting a pilot. Excellent work sir. I look forward to any updates that you feel can improve things even more.

 

Hellshade

Edited July 9, 2011 by Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Herr Prop-Wasche, you get some facts about Albatros mixed up there.

The Austrians built the Albatros D.III in license, but in their own version - at least for the lower wings.

They had info about wing failures, and so they decided to give the lower wing two main beams.

The Germans did not fly the Austrian version.

 

OeFFAG = Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG (Austrian Aircraft Factory Ltd.)

 

OAW = Ostdeutsche Albatros-Werke (East-German Albatros Work)

 

So the OAW Albatros is only another German build, made in a second plant.

The original first plant was Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH, Johannisthal (Berlin).

The main recognisable difference on the D.III was the rudder, which was round-shaped

on the OAW Albatros D.III, while more vertically cut off in the Johannisthal version.

 

The Albatros D.V was only produced by the Johannisthal branch; the Ostdeutsche Albatroswerke

produced their OAW D.III during that period.

 

If you want to see the differences on the D.Va, you need to take a closer look to find them.

(For example on my uploaded Albatros D.Va)

 

Now, before you feel stupid after this: I have also only learnt this all here in the forum,

from people with more detailed knowledge, who had just learned it earlier than me

from people with more detailed knowledge, who had learned... You see, what I mean.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Olham

[+elephant 36]

[Hasse Wind 46]

The Oeffag Alb was also faster than the German one, thanks to its rounded nose that the Austrians invented.

 

The only weakness the Austrian Alb had compared to German ones was its armament. The Schwarzlose MGs that the Austrians used were less reliable than German Spandaus, and also had a slower rate of fire.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Ah, thank you, Olham!

 

This is one of the great things about this forum. Even though we are talking about a game, there are probably more people on this forum (not including me, obviously) with more knowledge about WWI aviation than you might find at some colleges or universities. I love that you can pick up some of that information just by hanging out here.

 

I will incorporate the information into my next update.

 

Now, where is the contingent to include the OeFFAG Albs in P4?

[Olham 164]

Yeah, that would be fine, if we had Austria and Italy in OFF as well!

 

You'll see, Herr Prop-Wasche, your knowledge will grow here.

When I joined the first forum in October 2008, I hardly knew anything about WW1 and it's aviation.

[Hellshade 110]

I'm still flying and loving the hell out of the new DM / FM, however I have noticed a number of "flying funeral pyres", where the Hun catched fire but it never crashes. It just keeps on flying away forever unless you put a few more rounds into it. There haven't been a lot, but enough to say it's not a purely isolated glitch event. Not sure if you can tweak that HPW but just giving you the feedback.

 

I hope some other folks have been trying his Ultimate Damage Model as well. It really is a wonderful addition to the OFF universe while we wait for P4.

 

Hellshade

[+elephant 36]

I don't think it's a new "bug", though...

I have noticed this happening, before the ultimate DM mod.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Yes, the flying funeral pyre is another one of those unwanted "features" found in CFS3. I have tried various settings to get rid of it or reduce it, but it is very stubborn.

 

Generally, with the HPW DM, fires are caused by hitting the fuel tank instead of the engine. If you can put a few more rounds into the fuel tank, you may be able to trigger an explosion which should cause the aircraft to go down.

[Hellshade 110]

 

Generally, with the HPW DM, fires are caused by hitting the fuel tank instead of the engine. If you can put a few more rounds into the fuel tank, you may be able to trigger an explosion which should cause the aircraft to go down.

 

 

That's been the solution I've been using, provided I'm not out of ammo and don't miss too much. I appreciate the feedback! At least I know I'm on the right track.

 

Hellshade

[77Scout 3]

Yes, the flying funeral pyre is another one of those unwanted "features" found in CFS3. I have tried various settings to get rid of it or reduce it, but it is very stubborn.

 

Generally, with the HPW DM, fires are caused by hitting the fuel tank instead of the engine. If you can put a few more rounds into the fuel tank, you may be able to trigger an explosion which should cause the aircraft to go down.

 

HPW, I don't know much about the DM files but I do enjoy looking at them and trying to figure out how they work. Looking at a typical aircraft file in the DM section (Alb DIII), I see where a centre fuel tank fire starts at something like damage Level 66, but there seems to be nothng else that happens that disables the plane. Unless some critical part of the plane (like the pilot or engine) 'breaks' then I assume you just get a fire in anotherwise flying airplane (?). Would adding a line to 'break' the fuel tank at the same damage level as the fire cause the plane to go down (basically out fuel?).

[+elephant 36]

That's a good idea Scout, if it could be realised it would be great!

I want to ask if something else FM wise can be addressed:

Emergency landings!

You are trying to land a damaged plane, sometimes with a wingtip lost or shot up and have to counter this with aileron and rudder input. You manage to touch down gently in minimum speed, but the plane although taxing, still behaves like flying and the drug forces the plane to tip on the damaged wing and explodes, no matter how gently you managed to land.

Or if the undercarriage is somehow damaged, it collapses in touchdown, again no matter how gentle the approach is, and instead of keeping on with a belly crash landing the plane explodes immediately and you dead!

Is anything to be done for that? It's kind of frustrating when it happens!

[+elephant 36]

I have to report a possible bug with the FM mod.

I don't know how to call it or how to address it, but with the FM mod on, the aces skins are not showing in my Campaigns!

(at least for my squad)...

Once I disable the mod the aces skins are back...

Any ideas?

[+Polovski 414]

"Flamers" were craft flying on for a long time in Phase 2 when on fire - we worked hard to remove in P3. If you edit effects and damage levels etc will likely bring them back unfortunately.

[33LIMA 972]

Tried the new FMs and DM but have reverted to stock (HitR) because:

 

- several times - twice shooting at FE2s in the same mission, then in a different campaign with a Nieuport 24 - I saw crew jump out of a plane after I'd hit it at close range but with no flames and in one case no smoke (effects slider at 5); and

 

- my Albatros DV's ability to continue climbing seemed to disappear at about 10,000 feet during a tail chase after some Strutters (flying with auto mixture as usual) - we had just come under AA fire so may have taken an unlucky hit but I wasn't aware of any damage.

 

Haven't been flying P3 for that long so maybe I'm just seeing some stock behaviour but I had not noticed either of the above before. Anyone else noticed either?

[+elephant 36]

I have seen the "bail out", without any fire or smoke...

Never seen that before, but I thought that control cables must be ripped off and the plane is becoming uncontrollable, thus the pilot bails out...(CFS3 leftover).

Just a thought, HPW is more qualified to answer though...

[Hasse Wind 46]

I have to report a possible bug with the FM mod.

I don't know how to call it or how to address it, but with the FM mod on, the aces skins are not showing in my Campaigns!

(at least for my squad)...

Once I disable the mod the aces skins are back...

Any ideas?

 

Elephant, I'm having the same problem. I have a test pilot in Jasta 11, and with the FM mod on, none of the aces have their own special skins. Jasta 11 is full of aces, so it's pretty noticeable.

[Olham 164]

Guys, I have just made a test sortie.

With both, the Allied and the German FM activated, and NOT the Ultimate Damage active,

I could see the ace skins fine. Here are the skins of Bassenge and Hunzinger / Jasta 2.

 

 

[Hasse Wind 46]

In my case, the skins are shown with the DM mod on, but they are not there if I activate the FM mods. Can you help, Herr Prop-Wasche? I'd really like to use all of the mods at the same time.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

HPW, I don't know much about the DM files but I do enjoy looking at them and trying to figure out how they work. Looking at a typical aircraft file in the DM section (Alb DIII), I see where a centre fuel tank fire starts at something like damage Level 66, but there seems to be nothng else that happens that disables the plane. Unless some critical part of the plane (like the pilot or engine) 'breaks' then I assume you just get a fire in anotherwise flying airplane (?). Would adding a line to 'break' the fuel tank at the same damage level as the fire cause the plane to go down (basically out fuel?).

 

The break command sometimes leads to unfortunate side effects (like the entire engine flying out of the fuselage or the pilot jumping out of what otherwise appears to be an undamaged plane), so I tried to leave a little room between the last damage model effect and the break command. In this case, lowering the value for the break command would probably result in the fuel tank flying out and the plane running out of gasoline. If already on fire, it would then drift slowly down into the dirt, making the problem worse, I;m afraid.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

That's a good idea Scout, if it could be realised it would be great!

I want to ask if something else FM wise can be addressed:

Emergency landings!

You are trying to land a damaged plane, sometimes with a wingtip lost or shot up and have to counter this with aileron and rudder input. You manage to touch down gently in minimum speed, but the plane although taxing, still behaves like flying and the drug forces the plane to tip on the damaged wing and explodes, no matter how gently you managed to land.

Or if the undercarriage is somehow damaged, it collapses in touchdown, again no matter how gentle the approach is, and instead of keeping on with a belly crash landing the plane explodes immediately and you dead!

Is anything to be done for that? It's kind of frustrating when it happens!

 

I have noticed this, too, Elephant. I think it is a hold over from OFF, but I have not really worked with the undercarriage in the modified FM. There is a section which controls the speed at which various airplane components can contact the ground before triggering a crash, so it should be possible to modify this in theory.