'Getting awfully quiet around here...

[Hauksbee 103]

[Fubar512 1,350]

A real fixer upper!

[+Nightshade/PR 7,928]

I think it's been a trying year for most of us, and it's caused a lot of us to have to reevaluate a LOT of things with a new level of seriousness. At least, that's my answer. I'm at a decision crossroads for a great many things now, as I suspect are a LOT of us. I haven't given up on up the hobby that splits being my favorite (tied with reading), but for the present, R/L holds sway, and we'll have to see where things go from here. 

[Hauksbee 103]

Yeah, a lot o' that goin' round.

[rjw 48]

Been a loooooooog time since I dropped in here. I still see some familiar handles.

I haven't been flying WOFF UE much since my DiD campaign finished at SIMHQ.

Real life and the hunting season has kept me pretty busy.

 

Hope to get some time over the winter to get back at modding

 

Cheers to all.

[JimAttrill 24]

R/L internet and hardware issues have stopped me doing much flying.   But I will carry on with my did Campaign which is stuck at the 2nd of Nov 1918 so far.   Just to see if I can live till the end this time! 

[Hauksbee 103]

 But I will carry on with my did Campaign which is stuck at the 2nd of Nov 1918 so far.   Just to see if I can live till the end this time! 

And good luck to y', mate!

[Dutch_P47M 9]

I hope one day OBD is moving back to this forum or at the original simouthouse forum. Did miss why they move to that troublesom Simhq forum. But no connection, laggy forum, Chrome compatibility problems, login troubles, adds that are blocking the topics etc. etc. I have faced them all, on that Simhq crap forumsite.

Edited November 19, 2016 by Dutch_P47M

[Hauksbee 103]

I hope one day OBD is moving back to this forum or at the original simouthouse forum. Did miss why they move to that troublesom Simhq forum. But no connection, laggy forum, Chrome compatibility problems, login troubles, adds that are blocking the topics etc. etc. I have faced them all, on that Simhq crap forumsite.

Unlikely that will ever happen. But if we Cherish those days, we'll just have to keep posting here and, hopefully, re-build the community.

[JimAttrill 24]

Maybe we should all show the URL to this site in our SimHq posts? 

[Hauksbee 103]

I like that idea.

[JFM 18]

I have none of those Chrome problems with SimHQ. Regardless, as long as that is the official WOFF forum, this place will remain deader than Kelsey's nuts. 

[Hellshade 110]

I have none of those Chrome problems with SimHQ. Regardless, as long as that is the official WOFF forum, this place will remain deader than Kelsey's nuts. 

 

That, essentially, sums it up quite well.  Additionally, as OBD focuses more of their time launching their new WWII sim, the pace of Add-on releases for WOFF UE might likely slow down.  New content and patches are usually a forum draw for folks, so that incentive to check any forum will likely de-escalate.    

 

IMHO, since the devs post "official" news on SimHQ, if you want folks to show up here, there needs to be some other form of incentive besides "I prefer the features of the CombatAce forum."  For most people, information and interaction are a bigger draw than features and functionality, it would seem.   By all means, feel free to disagree.  But if one were to subscribe to that belief, in whole or in part, then I would say it would be up to the creativity of the folks who haunt here to come up with a new draw.   Some possible ideas might include:

 

A DiD campaign here, but there would need to be some kind of advantage to it over the one on SimHQ.   Something that makes it more interesting. 

 

You could get one or more people to be WWI contributors - maybe do a "This Day / Week in WWI history".   As an extra step, you could tie the DiD campaign to the "This Week in History" thread.   

 

Create a "Modders Mecca for WOFF" where there are tutorials on modding and begin creating new content that is hosted exclusively on CombatAce.

 

I have no idea on how realistic any of those or other ideas might be.   I'm just thinking that without something that naturally draws people to this forum, keeping it active becomes more of an act of will than a natural outgrowth of interest.  

 

Hopefully I have not offended with my thoughts.   

[Hauksbee 103]

Hopefully I have not offended with my thoughts.   

Not likely. As usual, your insights are spot on.

 

I have dabbled with mods, but I always get to a sticking point where I'm stymied. I'd like to have a list of people I can ask questions of. If you could get me a list of WOFF modders, I'd happily compose a PM to them about composing tutorials.

[Hellshade 110]

Not likely. As usual, your insights are spot on.

 

I have dabbled with mods, but I always get to a sticking point where I'm stymied. I'd like to have a list of people I can ask questions of. If you could get me a list of WOFF modders, I'd happily compose a PM to them about composing tutorials.

 

All of the WOFF modders I know of are on SimHQ.  An incomplete list from memory includes:

 

RAF_Louvert  (aka chopped liver)

Olham

OldHat

JJJ65

Robert Wiggins

Panama Red

AnKor

ArisFuser

 

There are a few others but I am not at home to look at my mods.   The hard part will be finding a way to entice them to post over here.   It would seem likely that nearly any incentive we could give them to create a strong modding community here on CombatAce also exists in SimHQ, plus the devs are there.   :(  Not at all trying to douse the fire with a cold bucket of water...just trying to realistically understand the hurdles that would seem to need to be overcome.   

 

I also wonder if it wouldn't help to trim some of the "dead leaves" in the forum?  OFF BH&H is no longer being sold and there are meta-topics in the forum (OFFice, OFF / WOFF Phase 1 & 2, Multiplayer, etc) that literally haven't had a new post in years.   If we want the forum to be alive, perhaps trimming stuff that instantly looks dead would be a start.   It's like when people show up to a party and see there's hardly anyone there - they leave because they don't see any activity.   Maybe also rename it from Over Flanders Fields to Wings Over Flanders Fields.  Remove the long unused stuff and narrow it down to a few specific Meta-topics that reflect the current status of the sim.   Maybe something like: 

 

WOFF UE - News & patch info

WOFF UE General Discussions

WOFF UE Mods 

WOFF UE Mission Builders - focused on JJJ65's Mission Building Mod.

WOFF UE DiD Campaign (or whatever weekly check in event you can come up with)

OFF / WOFF Archives (everything that got trimmed)

 

The Archives section keeps the old data some people may still want, but you won't have meta-topic after meta-topic showing no activity for 2 - 4 years the moment a visitor enters the forum.  Get some folks who prefer this forum to commit to contributing articles or posts at least once a week.   Start some general discussions on AI, sim Features, how historical events are portrayed in WOFF UE, etc. 

 

It would be a lot of work and there's never a guarantee of a good pay off, but I think it's fair to say the current trajectory of active membership and participation isn't on the rise and isn't going to be if things are kept as they are.   Maybe even skip all of that and create a Poll of what people would like to see in the forum and focus on making that happen.   Just spit-balling, sir.   

Edited December 2, 2016 by Hellshade

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Hello hello hello, is there anybody in there - just nod if you can hear me - is there anyone at home?

 

It is indeed quite over here and I'm as guilty as can be about not stopping by more often.  It's that time thingy that just keeps me from doing all I'd like to do every day.

 

Good ideas Hellshade about ways to possibly get things looking more current around camp.  However, I am deeply insulted, DEEPLY INSULTED I SAY, that I was not on your list of active WOFF modders.  What am I, chopped liver?  My 60 additional aerodromes in England, and 150 reworked factories all along the Western Front, and custom aerodromes, and functional bomb sights, and map sets - none a'that good enough for ya?   

 

Speaking of mods, Hauksbee how are your aeroplane models coming along?  I am close to releasing Farnborough, (another mod that won't be good enough for Hellshade no doubt), and I'd love to be able to include some of them in it.

 

OK then, off to work I go.  I will try and stop by here more often, if for no other reason than to see what stock is left in the camp bar.  

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

 

 

[Hellshade 110]

However, I am deeply insulted, DEEPLY INSULTED I SAY, that I was not on your list of active WOFF modders.  What am I, chopped liver?  My 60 additional aerodromes in England, and 150 reworked factories all along the Western Front, and custom aerodromes, and functional bomb sights, and map sets - none a'that good enough for ya?   

 

I stand without excuse, good sir and have amended my list of modders appropriately.  Please forgive me!  

[JimAttrill 24]

I pop in here about once a day but don't often post.  But be assured that I will read your posts and reply if required.

[Hellshade 110]

.

 

Hello hello hello, is there anybody in there - just nod if you can hear me - is there anyone at home?

 

It is indeed quite over here and I'm as guilty as can be about not stopping by more often.  It's that time thingy that just keeps me from doing all I'd like to do every day.

 

...

 

OK then, off to work I go.  I will try and stop by here more often, if for no other reason than to see what stock is left in the camp bar.  

 

 

Our good friend Mr. Louvert essentially spells out the challenges all too well.  

 

A small player base with limited time needs more compelling reasons to check this forum other than for the mere purpose of keeping it alive out of nostalgia.    Without regular contributions of compelling content across a variety of WOFF UE related subjects (mods, patches, history, community campaigns, etc), this forum will be unable to persuade folks to choose to spend their limited time here as opposed to the SimHQ forum.   I'm afraid "checking in" more often won't do it.  Even 100 people a day "checking in" would do very little if when they check in, they don't see anything interesting to read and comment on.   They check in, see nothing new and check out.  Doesn't take long of not seeing anything new that they just stop bothering to check in anymore.

 

Developer interviews?

New Flyer Questions & Answers?

A non-DiD community campaign so it's easier for more people to feel included?

Interviews with Modders?  - what they do and why?  What are they working on next?  

History Corner?  What happened this week (or at probably this month) in the Great War and maybe which squadrons you can fly to experience it?

Skinning tutorials?  

Survival in the Air series?   There was a great series long ago, but WOFF UE has many changes to the FM and DM since that time, not to mention numerous new aircraft have been added.  What it here is due for a major refresher.

WOFF UE player reviews?  Find out what people think about the Ultimate Edition.   Reading player reviews might help others to decide to join in.  

Edited December 5, 2016 by Hellshade

[JimAttrill 24]

Hello? Anybody home? 

 

I have just increased the memory in my desktop to 14Gb from 8Gb.  This is mainly to run a VM W7 guest under W7 host and each guest snaffles memory.  I also have an XP Pro guest for various reasons.  But I don't run them all at once normally.  Now I could....

 

I'm not sure that running WOFF UE I see any difference - most likely not. 

 

Oh, and I have downloaded the BBC 'Great War' series which I used to watch on BBC2 every Wednesday evening back in 1964.   A great series especially as it includes interviews with veterans who have all since passed on.  

Edited January 12, 2017 by JimAttrill

[Dutch_P47M 9]

 

 

 

I also wonder if it wouldn't help to trim some of the "dead leaves" in the forum?  OFF BH&H is no longer being sold and there are meta-topics in the forum (OFFice, OFF / WOFF Phase 1 & 2, Multiplayer, etc) that literally haven't had a new post in years.   If we want the forum to be alive, perhaps trimming stuff that instantly looks dead would be a start.   It's like when people show up to a party and see there's hardly anyone there - they leave because they don't see any activity.   Maybe also rename it from Over Flanders Fields to Wings Over Flanders Fields.  Remove the long unused stuff and narrow it down to a few specific Meta-topics that reflect the current status of the sim.   Maybe something like: 

 

WOFF UE - News & patch info

WOFF UE General Discussions

WOFF UE Mods 

WOFF UE Mission Builders - focused on JJJ65's Mission Building Mod.

WOFF UE DiD Campaign (or whatever weekly check in event you can come up with)

OFF / WOFF Archives (everything that got trimmed)

 

The Archives section keeps the old data some people may still want, but you won't have meta-topic after meta-topic showing no activity for 2 - 4 years the moment a visitor enters the forum.  Get some folks who prefer this forum to commit to contributing articles or posts at least once a week.   Start some general discussions on AI, sim Features, how historical events are portrayed in WOFF UE, etc. 

 

It would be a lot of work and there's never a guarantee of a good pay off, but I think it's fair to say the current trajectory of active membership and participation isn't on the rise and isn't going to be if things are kept as they are.   Maybe even skip all of that and create a Poll of what people would like to see in the forum and focus on making that happen.   Just spit-balling, sir.   

 

Think a year ago we put in some good ideas to make this forum more inviting, but still the responsible person seems to have another opinion. Think right now only two would be sufficient and no sub forums. 

WoFF 

OFF 

 

edit: and put it in the WW1 related forum, who knows some FE/RoF visitor hops in and get interested in this WoFF game.!!!!

Edited January 17, 2017 by Dutch_P47M

[Hellshade 110]

Most of the last post dates on the major topics threads show 2014, 2013 and even 2012.   IMHO, as I have said before, all it does it make WOFF look nearly abandoned, which does no favors for the sim.   I agree, Dutch.   Consolidate it down to one or two.  That's all that's getting activity anyway.   +1 to your idea of putting it in the WWI related forum as well.  

[Hellshade 110]

Most of the last post dates on the major topics threads show 2014, 2013 and even 2012.   IMHO, as I have said before, all it does it make WOFF look nearly abandoned, which does no favors for the sim.   I agree, Dutch.   Consolidate it down to one or two.  That's all that's getting activity anyway.   +1 to your idea of putting it in the WWI related forum as well.  

 

Bump for the Form Admin to notice.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Man, the new layout at SimHQ looks absolutely horrible! It's a pity the "official" WOFF forum was moved over there. 

[Hellshade 110]

Man, the new layout at SimHQ looks absolutely horrible! It's a pity the "official" WOFF forum was moved over there. 

 

I agree.  The new layout is the worst.   Frankly, that may cause people to flood back here, given that very little new official WOFF news is going to be released by the devs at this point as they focus on WOTR.