A Couple of Questions

[goose814 4]

I did a search and read the documentation but didn't see anything. My questions are 1) is it possible to land and re-arm (guns or bombs) or refuel? and 2) is it possible to bail out of the aircraft? Thank you for any help.

[Becker02 27]

Hallo @goose814,

short answer for both questions: No.

Greetings

[goose814 4]

Thank you. I didn't think so but there were some keyboard commands, probably from CF3, that made me wonder.

[Tonci87 1]

I was thinking about creating a thread with some of my questions, but goose beat me to it and I´ll just join his thread.

 

There are a few game mechanics that I don´t understand and a few further questions I have:

 

1. Missions are flown by other pilots despite all flights cancelled? 

On some days all flights will be cancelled due to bad weather. When I click Done the campaign advances one day and tells me that some of the other pilots have flown missions? Sometimes they are injured or die during those missions. Is this working as intended? 

2. Recon Results state that I was in the wrong location, but that is not true

Frequently I get the result that I was in the wrong location when I fly the recon missions. However I made sure to be directly above the specified target frontsector or installation, as indicated by the waypoint on the map and the TAC view. What am I missing?

3. It is possible to increase the draw distance to the horizon?

I know it is an old game engine, so I do not expect miracles, but it would be nice to have a higher viewdistance. Is there maybe a parameter in some config file that can be adjusted? I already have Terrain Detail at 5.

4. Is it possible to have airfield structures render at a further distance?

Same as above. Is there a config parameter that could be adjusted so that I see the airfield structures from further away? Currently they render at a distance that is too short for my taste (Maybe 8km?).
I dive in the general direction of my airfield when returning from the front, but frequently miss it. because by the time it renders it is usually already beneath my nose. Scenery density is at 5 already.

5. It is possible to disable Incendiary rounds globally?

I would like to disable incendiary rounds completely for the early part of the airwar, since they were not in use on the frontlines before mid-1916 and then formally only for attacks on observation balloons (although pilots from both sides increasingly disregarded those orders and loaded their belts with a mix of normal and incendiary, and often even explosive bullets)

 

 

 

[goose814 4]

21 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

I was thinking about creating a thread with some of my questions, but goose beat me to it and I´ll just join his thread.

 

There are a few game mechanics that I don´t understand and a few further questions I have:

 

1. Missions are flown by other pilots despite all flights cancelled? 

On some days all flights will be cancelled due to bad weather. When I click Done the campaign advances one day and tells me that some of the other pilots have flown missions? Sometimes they are injured or die during those missions. Is this working as intended? 

2. Recon Results state that I was in the wrong location, but that is not true

Frequently I get the result that I was in the wrong location when I fly the recon missions. However I made sure to be directly above the specified target frontsector or installation, as indicated by the waypoint on the map and the TAC view. What am I missing?

3. It is possible to increase the draw distance to the horizon?

I know it is an old game engine, so I do not expect miracles, but it would be nice to have a higher viewdistance. Is there maybe a parameter in some config file that can be adjusted? I already have Terrain Detail at 5.

4. Is it possible to have airfield structures render at a further distance?

Same as above. Is there a config parameter that could be adjusted so that I see the airfield structures from further away? Currently they render at a distance that is too short for my taste (Maybe 8km?).
I dive in the general direction of my airfield when returning from the front, but frequently miss it. because by the time it renders it is usually already beneath my nose. Scenery density is at 5 already.

5. It is possible to disable Incendiary rounds globally?

I would like to disable incendiary rounds completely for the early part of the airwar, since they were not in use on the frontlines before mid-1916 and then formally only for attacks on observation balloons (although pilots from both sides increasingly disregarded those orders and loaded their belts with a mix of normal and incendiary, and often even explosive bullets)

 

 

 

As to question 5, there is a tracer effect mod that will give you different tracer effects for three different phases of the war (one of which is one you're looking for). It is located here:  WOFF BH&HII Tracers effects mod 1.1.rar - Google Drive

I too am curious about questions 3 and 4. I recently completed a mission that started late in the afternoon and returned back to base at night. I noticed that there were barrels of fire lined on the field to aid in landing, but they did not render until I was on final approach. Would have been nice to see them earlier. All my graphical settings are maxed out, but like you said, it could be a limitation of the game engine.

[Becker02 27]

Additionally I recommend the "How To WOFF"-Video, by @Rick Rawlings. You find it here (General diskussion, stickies):

How To WOFF! - WOFF BH&H2 - General Discussion - CombatACE

Greetings

[Tonci87 1]

21 hours ago, goose814 said:

As to question 5, there is a tracer effect mod that will give you different tracer effects for three different phases of the war (one of which is one you're looking for). It is located here:  WOFF BH&HII Tracers effects mod 1.1.rar - Google Drive

Thank you, that might just be what I was looking for.

I managed to find a solution for question 3 by using the mission editor together with BuckeyeBobs clouds mod. The Weather manager inside the mission editor then contains a checkbox to increase the horizon drawdistance according to the weather.

[Stork100 0]

On 1/17/2024 at 3:57 AM, Tonci87 said:

1. Missions are flown by other pilots despite all flights cancelled? 

On some days all flights will be cancelled due to bad weather. When I click Done the campaign advances one day and tells me that some of the other pilots have flown missions? Sometimes they are injured or die during those missions. Is this working as intended? 

2. Recon Results state that I was in the wrong location, but that is not true

Frequently I get the result that I was in the wrong location when I fly the recon missions. However I made sure to be directly above the specified target frontsector or installation, as indicated by the waypoint on the map and the TAC view. What am I missing?

In answer to Question 1, yes that's how it is at the moment. You can use your imagination to generate a reason for why it happens, as in maybe it cleared up later in the day for instance. If it frustrates you, there is a crude but effective workaround to prevent those casualties from occurring:

Firstly, select in workshop settings 'Bad Weather Cancels Flights: Optional - User Decides in Campaign'. This way when one of those cancelled flight days comes up you'll get a message asking if you want to fly anyway. When prompted by one of these, select yes and proceed to the briefing room. The idea is to load into the mission/virtual world and then simply quit out. There's no penalty that I'm aware of for not flying the mission, and then you can automatically advance to the next day (depending on the mission frequency for that day) without any random mission outcomes being generated. No one flies, no one dies.

The side effects of this are that the number of missions 'flown' by each pilot loading into the field increase by 1, and each will receive a small contribution of campaign points counting towards their next promotion. No big deal really, and you could use the mission editor to limit the flight to just yourself if you wanted to.

Regarding Question 2 this has been my experience often also. I've come to believe that every target is different, and that the 'sweet spot' for where you need to be varies. Some locations are quite forgiving in this regard whereas others can be very difficult to attain a good result from. I found sometimes keeping some actual notes of what works and what doesn't with each location can help, if you wanted to go to that extent. I don't use the TAC as I tend to get poor results with it for the location. I'll use the map to get generally on course for the target and then use the F11 camera/bombsight view for photo recon, or F4 view adjusted to look straight down for radio transmissions and note taking. Zooming in from these views, it's possible to see the 3D rendered model trenches of the actual target - they appear as tiny dashes on the terrain texture. With a lot of practice and careful lining up on approach, I try to get myself bang over the top center of these and hope for the best. The best approach incidentally is perpendicular to the front lines. Once you've taken your shot etc, it's best to turn back towards your own lines for safety and then line up for another approach. Many missions will always be duds though for various reasons, such is life.

Additionally, I'll unashamedly admit that I use trims to attain straight and level flight for this purpose, and to ease any small changes in course needed. With exception to rare cases such as the B.E.2, it's unreasonable to expect to have do the job of both pilot and observer without some artificial assistance.

The good news about flying recon careers I've come to learn, by way of following my pilot's stats in the mission editor, is that the game is very generous in awarding points towards promotions from successful sorties. A good result in a two-seater can often be more lucrative in this regard than a confirmed victory flying a scout. You also have potentially more opportunities to make this kind of progress than if flying a single-seater.