Writing up your own logbook?

[33LIMA 972]

One of the things I like about OFF is the effort, seemingly rare in sims these days, to present you with something resembling your pilot's log book, in the classic style of European Air War and Red Baron 3d.

 

I noticed you can overtype and generally hand-edit the text you see in your 'dossier'/logbook, both logbook entries and claims; but the edits aren't being saved - they're still there when I close it but upon next inspection, it's back to what it was, typos and all.

 

I'd really like to be able to save (as well as make) my edits after each mission, not so much to correct typos, but to add my own notes, just like you would do in real life. To include the sort of remarks you might make, I'm sure you know what I mean - not 'War and Peace', just something like 'Really hairy scap over Arras with some hot Huns - saw poor old Mortimer go down in flames'. I suppose you can insert what you want in kill claim descriptions but that's not the same, not least as it doesn't apply to ordinary, 'non-claim' logbook entries.

 

Such an ability would add a whole new dimension to the OFF logbook.

 

After my last mission in a 34 Sqdn RE8 campaign I hand-edited my pilot dossier text file (in Campaigns/CampaignData/Pilots, IIRC) because I particularly wanted to record the unusual (for me!) achievement of managing to plant two 112-lb bombs right on top of the train sheds we were attacking, but it would have been so much easier and neater if I could just have done that in-game, while viewing the 'dossier'/logbook. It's all the more tantalising, that I can edit the text but not save it.

 

I don't suppose anyone has found a way of writing up your pilot dossier/logbook file and saving it, without having to exit or tab out to Windows? I don't think fiddling about with Windows file permissions would help.

 

Maybe this will come with P4 if it can't be done now.

Edited October 9, 2011 by 33LIMA

[Olham 164]

You could of course write a more epic claims report - those are getting saved.

 

If you want to change things later, you need to open the text files with editor,

change the texts, and save them again.

But I can't promise, that it's safe in every way to do so.

[33LIMA 972]

Putting more text in claims isn't really the answer I think; as you know the editor is a bit limited and I don't know about you, but I don't get claims on every flight! :) But OFF being what it is, I often do see something that would be worth a note in my logbook, beyond the bare details of the sortie already recorded.

 

I think (so far!) that hand-editing after exit is ok; I had done this recently for a dossier that got corrupted somehow (showed entries for a different [retired?] pilot, maybe of the same name?) and the hand-edits showed up fine the next time I ran the sim. But it's frustrating that you can edit the ordinary logbook entries in-game, but they're not saved.

[Olham 164]

Perhaps it helps to free yourself from the thought, that everything must happen in the program/sim.

I mean, after all, we ourselves are also not in there, but in front of our monitor.

So, why not do it like me, and use an ordinary note book?

 

I have those beautiful gloss black ones with red corners - called "Chinese notebooks" here.

I note the date and time, as well as mission type, mission targets, weather, wingmen names,

detailed notes and victories in there. It is so much more fun to have this book in hands!

You should give it a try!

 

 

[Shiloh 12]

I do exactly the same Olham. It is particularly helpful when submitting claims to have all the pertinent information written down. And then I type my reports from that and post them to the "Reports From the Front" thread along with some screenies with even more detail.

[33LIMA 972]

Now that's a good idea, the next best thing to being able to type it up in game, better in some respects. Not hard to lay out the pages in the proper style, one of the Airfields and Airmen has a pic of the pages in a German pilot's logbook (complete with pic of a downed Camel - you could paperclip some black and white screenies in there too!) and there's an RFC/RAF one here:

 

http://reynardcollectables.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/wwi-rafrfcs-pilots-logbook-john-spencer-green-mc/

[Olham 164]

Hey, that's a nice find.

I always feel an immediate touch at the heart, when I see such old, original items.

Thanks for sharing, LIMA.

[Olham 164]

Here is another log from John Pattern, the fighter pilot who shot down Erwin Boehme,

commander of Jasta 2, "Boelcke" (green marked line).

Got it from the website "Jasta Boelcke" - see here:

 

http://www.jastaboel...me_bio_ger.html

 

 

[33LIMA 972]

Another nice one there Olham!

 

I scanned and uploaded the extract from Jasta 34b's CO Robert (later Ritter von) Greim's logbook but it's only moderately clear in the book (Pen & Sword's Airfields and Airmen - Cambrai'). fair when scanned, but downright fuzzy when uploaded:

 

Edited October 10, 2011 by 33LIMA

[Olham 164]

Interesting to see that, LIMA - thanks for sharing. In the right field I believe to read:

 

Kein frl. Flugzeug gesehen (no friendl. aircraft seen)

 

Zeugen: die ganze Staffel (Witnesses: the whole Squadron)

Insasse: Lt. Hostetter, tot, ... (Occupant: Lt. Hostetter, dead, ...)

No. F 2158.

 

(...probably the names of witnesses...)

 

Geringer Flugbetrieb (low air traffic)

( ... ??? ...)

[Flyby PC 23]

It's a bit late dated around 1938, and RAF, but if anybody wants a blank page template scanned from an RAF logbook it would only take a few minutes....

[Olham 164]

I have just made a blank version for all British flyers here after the above one -

please feel free to use it.

 

 

Edited October 11, 2011 by Olham

[33LIMA 972]

Thanks Olham i'll prent some of those off