An Ode To Flight Sims

[CaptSopwith 18]

Here's an ode to the flight sim hobby we all know and love - and to the great community that springs up around it. This one is for all of you. Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Edited April 9, 2021 by CaptSopwith

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Sums it up beautifully m8...we have all taken a similar journey, that has brought us here.

 

Aren't we the lucky ones?

[Olham 164]

Is that you, CaptSopwith - geekfest?

I also had "Wings of Glory", and it was touching to see the little video of it.

Instead of "Red Baron 3D" (which got bad critics in German gamer magazines -

I never read them anymore; they made me miss it!), I had "Flying Corps Gold"

and also "Dawn Patrol".

After years with WW2 sims (Their Finest Hour, Aces over Europe, European

Air War, Microprose's "1942", Jane's WW2 Fighters, IL-2), I googled for WW1

flight sims, and stumbled "Over Flanders Fields".

Widowmaker would perhaps say, I was hooked faster than the greediest pike

he ever heard of - it was like entering a parallel universe I had always dreamed

of belonging into.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Outstanding write-up Soppy, well done Sir! You've outlined a journey many of us here have taken, I am sure. Quite nostalgic to see all those old flight sims, and of the lot RB3d was the one that really did it for me.

 

Here's to the combat flight sim: Those in general, and ours in particular!

 

 

.

[Shiloh 12]

Well done Capt. I had to think way back to remember my first experience with flight sims and it was

for Intellivision released in 1982. It was incredibly cheesy by today's standards but back then it was like finding a 'diamond in the rough'. I played this for many hours with my older brother. Then I found OFF back in April and I'm reliving the experience all over again. Thanks for posting your thoughts.

[Creaghorn 10]

well written my friend ,

 

my ww1 flight sim life started with amiga wings, then it made a hughe step forward towards realism with amiga red baron, then red baron 3d with couple years playing it without noticing that there are great patches etc. out there which turned the core game into something completely new. my first contact with the patches was with OvS and his hells angels superpatch several years ago, then western frontpatch etc. and then of course OFF.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Good stuff.

 

Red Baron 1 was something extraordinary in 1990 (or was it 1991?). The best version was the PC one, the sim was too much for Amiga to run smoothly. Red Baron II (later 3D with the superpatch) kept me entertained for years. I actually discovered OFF while looking for some new mods to RB3D, which was getting rather old in 2008.

 

Poor Olham, you really missed a wonderful flight sim experience with Red Baron II!

[Olham 164]

I think so, and I learned my lesson: Never listen to the critics!

[Creaghorn 10]

I think so, and I learned my lesson: Never listen to the critics!

 

actually the stock game was indeed quite bad. it had many glitches, bugs, was quite unstable, bad habits etc. but it's the community with all patches and add ons which made RB3d the great sim as it was. so the crits were appropriate. the campaign manager was, and still is superb. unfortunately they did not try and crit the sim with the major patches, then they would had a way better opinion.

maybe quite similar with cfs3 and OFF. a rather bad game with a good engine, which was led to a 20 times higher league, manifested in OFF.

 

btw., for all those who always point out that OFF ist "just" an "addon" for such a bad ww2 sim, i'm wondering why they never bashed about rb3d beeing such bad as stock version? no, when they talk about rb3d, they always talk about the Rb3d patched, as if it's the patched version they bought in a store, not the stock one. it's like the stock one never existed lol. same principal, but human psychology is strange

[Olham 164]

Well, many people are at least quite lazy - they want the whole thing served on a silver tray,

perfectly functioning of course, and then it would be nice, if they could be instant aces

without reading the booklet.

It puts many off, when they have to get CFS3 plus OFF, when they have to wait for delivery,

when they have to learn how to set everything up.

I guess the OFF community is as good as it is, because here people have come together,

who are willing to go through all that, because they find it very rewarding to have this sim

running fine in the end.

 

OFF may be "a nitpicker's sim" - nothing for "arcade-style instant aces" surely.

So, cheers, all you nitpickers! (Oh, nitpicking can be so much fun!)

[Creaghorn 10]

Well, many people are at least quite lazy - they want the whole thing served on a silver tray,

perfectly functioning of course, and then it would be nice, if they could be instant aces

without reading the booklet.

It puts many off, when they have to get CFS3 plus OFF, when they have to wait for delivery,

when they have to learn how to set everything up.

I guess the OFF community is as good as it is, because here people have come together,

who are willing to go through all that, because they find it very rewarding to have this sim

running fine in the end.

 

OFF may be "a nitpicker's sim" - nothing for "arcade-style instant aces" surely.

So, cheers, all you nitpickers! (Oh, nitpicking can be so much fun!)

 

yes, you are right. but just wanted to point out the argument some contra-OFFers are saying without noticing that the same argument should have also counted for them in Rb3d in those days, but strangely did not.

what? you say WFP and Hells Angels Superpatch and Full Canvas Jacket is absolutely awesome? and the AC and FM's and graphics and historical accuracy is 100 times better than stock RB3d? whatever. i won't buy it because the stock RB3d sucks...

know what i mean?

[Olham 164]

Yep, understood. As I said, I never had RB3D, but I see what you mean.

Is there still a community for that old sim?

[carrick58 23]

Wings of Glory, RB 3D, B17, Eruo air wars, I still smile when I think of them.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I must be different, because I never thought Red Baron II was a bad sim. I bought it soon after release and began to enjoy it immediately. Sure, there were bugs and not everything worked as I expected, but it was very enjoyable nevertheless. The career mode was excellent even with all the bugs, and the level of immersion was something extraordinary. Of course when they released the big superpatch that changed Red Baron II into Red Baron 3D, everything became much better, and then later came all the mods that took the experience to another level altogether. But I really did like the original Red Baron II, straight out of the box.

 

After all these years, I still think Red Baron is an extremely immersive sim. I still have it installed, patched and modded, but mostly for nostalgic reasons.

 

It's good to know that P4 will have an improved and more immersive career mode than P3. For me, the extremely immersive career mode was the best thing about RB3D. I really felt like being a pilot in the Great War. Very few sims have succeeded at that.

[Creaghorn 10]

Yep, understood. As I said, I never had RB3D, but I see what you mean.

Is there still a community for that old sim?

 

http://forums.delphiforums.com/SWWISA/start

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

My journey through computer gaming began with Silent Service II back in 1985. Little blips on the screen with sound effects and primitive graphics. Around 1992 I ran across Doom and F-117 Stealth Fighter. Somehow I missed Red Baron I, but found a download for it while reading about Red Baron II. Loved how you could hide from the enemy by flying into the sun. Finally bought Red Baron II just before it was patched to 3D. Joined Delphi forum, and my love affair with flight sims was set in concrete, which is limited only by the ever increasing technological demands of the genre and my limited budget.

 

I agree that fight simmers are a unique, smarter, slightly stranger, and (mostly) friendly group.

 

Great write-up, Captain Sopwith!