P4 & P3 Question

[rjw 48]

I was wondering if I could have both P4 and P3 installed on the same PC and be able to run them independantly.

Can any of the developers answer this for me?

 

Cheers!

[+Polovski 460]

No. OFF2 (P4) will replace P3 we will make no allowances for P3 to be there too, and will not test it. They may share registry settings etc, so generally a bad idea.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Damn now thats what you call user support...!!!

[Olham 164]

Afraid of an AI fighting TOO well, rjw? Or why would you switch back?

[carrick58 23]

It might work on 2 PC s. People say OFF does not demand much in a graphics card so a (low priced) re conditioned PC should work U could call it Eating your Cake

and Ice Cream.

[eraser_tr 29]

What I'd like to know is: Is there anything in OFF P3 that won't be in P4?

[RamblingSid 3]

Pardon a probably silly question,

 

but, does this mean that OFF2 will require the removal of OFF1 (BHH + various phases) in order to run ?

 

Cheers

[rjw 48]

No. OFF2 (P4) will replace P3 we will make no allowances for P3 to be there too, and will not test it. They may share registry settings etc, so generally a bad idea.

 

I would have hoped that you would leave P3 alone and Install P4 independantly. Can you explain why you take this stance, as I would like to appreciate your reasoning on this matter. I personally think that since I paid for P3, I should have the right to keep it installed on my machine should I like to use it some time without having to remove P4 to re-install it. Call me what you like, but I hate to throw away a good thing until I am satisfied that the replacement is better. I'm not being critical, I'm just requesting that you appreciate my point of view

 

As "Startibartfast" stated in this discussion, and it bears merit: "Damn now thats what you call user support...!!!"

 

"RamblingSid" also has a valid question as well when he stated: "Pardon a probably silly question,but, does this mean that OFF2 will require the removal of OFF1 (BHH + various phases) in order to run?"

 

Best Regards, and I am really looking forward to having P4 on my machine

[Hellshade 110]

I would have hoped that you would leave P3 alone and Install P4 independantly. Can you explain why you take this stance, as I would like to appreciate your reasoning on this matter.

 

I can't speak for the Devs but I can probably give a fairly accurate answer anyway. (Devs please correct me if I'm wrong here). The reason that they are taking this "stance" is because attempting to get both P3 and OFF2 on the same machine at the same time is likely a programing nightmare that would add inumerable months to the development process of OFF2 and inject countless little "easter eggs" of problems that would plague BOTH products, ultimately undermining the quality of the experience we end users have with the finished product.

 

I see your point, but I'm guessing practicality wins out in the end. Nobody wants to wait longer for a product to ship that now has unnecessary bugs in it just so that a few people can still play the older version of the game...which they may well discard once they begin enjoying all the features of the new game anyway.

 

That's what I'm guessing.

 

Hellshade

Edited March 2, 2012 by Hellshade

[rjw 48]

Nobody wants to wait longer for a product to ship that now has unnecessary bugs in it just so that a few people can still play the older version of the game...which they may well discard once they begin enjoying all the features of the new game anyway.

 

That's what I'm guessing.

 

Hellshade

 

I see your point. That being said I hope P4 "hits the ground running" so to speak and is considerably bug free and such a big improvement over P3 when released. If this proves to be the case I would have no need for P3. If not, I would be faced with the prospect of having to remove P4, re-install P3 and wait for fixes to come.

 

I thank you for your point of view.

 

Best Regards

[RamblingSid 3]

Thanks, Hellshade,

 

for the insights.

 

I'm not complaining, just mighty sad to see old P3 go

 

Cheers

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

It might work on 2 PC s. People say OFF does not demand much in a graphics card so a (low priced) re conditioned PC should work U could call it Eating your Cake

and Ice Cream.

 

Or anyone who wished to still use BHAH could set their machine up with 2 partitions and have the machine dual boot into a partition that is 60gb and uses xp for older games, and the rest of the hdd is set up for win7. That way all the information for BHAH could exist on xp and all the information could exist on win7 without the 2 ever meeting, or you could have 2 hdd's in your machine with the separate operating systems on..

 

Just a thought, and it may not work - someone else can try it though, I am happy with a single booting win7 (plus I do not have my xp disk any more - it went to my dad with my old machine.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I don't think removing P3 is a bad thing...p4 is going to have everything p3 has..and a whole lot more by the look of it...and no-one has p1 still installed do they?

[Hasse Wind 46]

Exactly what Widowmaker said. There should be no need to keep P3, because P4 will have everything it had and then some. They are not starting from scratch, but building upon all the previous phases.

[Olham 164]

I remember that some wanted to keep P2 on their rigs, when P3 came out.

The reason this is now asked again maybe a certain fear, that the new OFF II might be too performance-hungry

for some rigs, and that the players want to keep a "backdoor opened".

 

I do not believe, that OFF II will be much more performance hungry.

From what I have read by the devs, it seems that most improvements they made won't cost more "muscle".

Graphics-wise, we won't switch to some totally different thing with special layers and lighting effects.

The AI-improvement should also be within the same performance level.

(Here I see the most demand for fast CPU though - already in P3. I guess more CPU power would be the

first thing to think of, if anything).

 

It doesn't look like anything will be dropped for OFF II; so there should be no good reason to keep P3 on your

system, except for nostalgia.

 

I recommend to make good backups from your "HitR", and store it with the OFF BH&H DVD at a safe place.

But I bet, you'll never go back again, once you have seen OFF II.

 

.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Or more likely...because P2 was free?

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

UKW, HW & Olham,

 

I believe that P4 will be a vast improvement on P3 so I will not be retaining P3 on my system, although I will still have P3 & HITR saved in the original P3 box. But if I do not like P4 (oh look a flying pig) I will just uninstall it and reinstall P3.

 

I was merely "thinking outside the box" for those that would wish to keep both versions on their machine at the same time. I personally cannot see the need to though.

[+Polovski 460]

OFF2 uses the same folder structure, and some registry areas are the same too. As Hellshade says we are too small a team to cater for all possibilities by changing all references and then all the testing required etc with old versions knocking around. Don't forget many people are not too familiar with editing and messing around on PCs so we could end up with all sorts of messes to deal with in support - people installing into P3 folders mixing files, editing files badly etc. Far too much to deal with.

 

Clever PC users may find dual booting, or backing up registry settings etc it's possible but we will not provide support for issues with it. We cannot test, so we cannot support.

 

I mean if OFF2 really disappointed you for some reason - you could always simply remove OFF2 and reinstall P3 anyway? It's not the end of the world and is possible.

 

The answer is still no unfortunately we do not have more time to test both and make sure they co-exist.

[rjw 48]

OFF2 uses the same folder structure, and some registry areas are the same too. As Hellshade says we are too small a team to cater for all possibilities by changing all references and then all the testing required etc with old versions knocking around.

 

The answer is still no unfortunately we do not have more time to test both and make sure they co-exist.

 

Thanks Polovsky for taking the time to clarify the reasons "why". I for one appreciate it.

 

Best Regards;

[carrick58 23]

I agree

[RamblingSid 3]

Thank you, gentlemen,

 

for explaining: it helps to understand, always a good.

 

I do have a further question, and apologies if this is O/T -

 

I was just abt to download Olham's link from the Skins board when I thought "hang-on, will these skins be

compatible with P4 ?" I guess not ?

 

Cheers

[+Polovski 460]

1000s of skins have been remade or improved for OFF2, and some models and skin layouts have also changed, some mappings fixed or altered for example. Short answer you'd just have to try them later we cannot say at the moment.

[Olham 164]

Sounds promising again!

Maybe the strangely different fuselage sides of the Albatros D.II got "repaired"?

That should be great for our skinners, if so.

[RamblingSid 3]

Thanks, Polovski,

 

appreciate your patience in fielding these questions.

 

Roll-on OFF2.

 

Cheers