Where is save/load/retry?

[Materia]

I got this game some time ago, today got a joystick, checked if it works, got the expansion... but maybe those are worst of mu purchases I have ever made. Where can I find as the title says, save game, load game, and retry game? I can't imagine there being none, as that would make the game completely worthless and unplayable. 

Just now I have flown my first mission, died while landing, game over, just like that. 

That can't be the intended game design.

Create a pilot, fly, die, game over, create another one, repeat.

Seriously, how do I save the game, load it, and retry the mission, not just die, and be forced to start another campaign. 

Edited December 28, 2024 by Materia

[Burning Beard]

This game has a dynamic campaign, you will never see the exact same campaign mission twice.  That said, if you die in campaign mode that pilot is done, period.  Since you are new to the game I would suggest you fly quick flights or scenarios, they have a button that says pilot never dies.  The scenarios can be quite difficult, but they are the same mission over and over, you will have to enlist a pilot in the appropriate service, ie, British, French, Belgian, German, or US, to fly that service's planes for those scenarios.  Quick flights are the same way, you can pick your service, plane, and simple scenarios, and you will see the same mission over if you wish to try it again (just press go to field when you get back to the screen).  Just make sure you have clicked pilot never dies.  Also if you opt for an air start (not field in the altitude box) you will need to throttle up immediately (even if you joystick has the throttle set on full) pull the throttle back and advance it, the game will not recognize the previous throttle input.

Try those things first, so you can get familiar with the flight models, then try the campaign mode, don't be discouraged.  It is very good immersive game and personally I have been flying it for years and have never lasted a year (in game time).  I have only completed two campaigns, and that was because the squadron was withdrawn from the front.

 

Have fun!!

Mike

[Rick Rawlings]

While you can't exactly re-fly a mission as they are auto generated every time, in the workshop you can set the outcome to easy - pilot never dies. If you want to re-run the exact same mission number, you would need to manually backup your pilots before each mission and restore the backup after your pilot dies. Robert Wiggins has a utility that does this. It's also useful for any weird mission outcome...

[Materia]

Thank you very much for the replies.

[WitchyWoman]

While I do not recommend it, you can  circumvent perma death and retry. As you get shot down, before you hit the ground and the mission ends (and before the game writes to the pilots save file which would show him as KIA and thus end that career), you can end the program (both the launcher and CFS exe) in Ctrl-alt-delete. If you restart game you will be back to where you were before the mission you died in. I have done it in the past, it works, but if your trying to simulate some real life pilots tour than you may not be a fan of this. Sometimes I have done this and some pilots I do not, just to see how far I can get. Some people may hate me for this tip though.

Edited January 13 by WitchyWoman