CaptSopwith

ARMA has been a series I've meant to pick up now for quite some time. I really enjoyed the high realism / tough learning curve / tactical style games like Hidden & Dangerous (which I sold years ago for pennies). Which version do you recommend I pick up first to get my feet wet?

That's a stump-er British... some questions that might help. What system specs are you running? Are you running either Vista or 7? If so, you might need to reinstall with administrator privileges granted, or it won't copy all of the files over correctly. To ensure a complete install on my Windows 7 rig with HiTR, I boot into safe mode and install / patch OFF to completion as for some reason, my copy of HiTR conflicts with my anti-virus, which is Microsoft Security Essentials and it will not install with MSE running. My suggestions is boot into safe mode, install HITR from the original .exe file, patch the game and then reboot into normal mode and see if that sorts things out. Just some ideas as I sit here nursing some early morning tea. Hope that helps!

If Widow drops next the RFC will be reborn - and all of them will be flying Snipes! Crazy as that sounds - it just might all be true...

Hi guys. I hope all is well. It's been a busy semester so far but I've been trying to keep up on my reading here. I've encountered a graphics card problem and I need some help. My system is a Gateway FX7024 with 3 Gigs of Ram, a 500GB HDD, an Intel Core 2 Quad processor, and an nVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics card. Well, over the last few days I've had the entire computer lock up - complete with whatever the card is rendering at the time - in both cases it's been Call of Duty Modern Warfare - breaking up into pixilated bright pink and white dot goo. Then the whole system has to be hard rebooted by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. It only seems to happen during COD. I played OFF and even tried ramping up ROF - thinking that it should strain the card - and didn't see any issues. I have the latest drivers, and tried rolling them back to see if it was a driver issue. I thought the problem was fixed until last night, when it happened again on COD. I've taken the card out and cleaned it as best as I can with compressed air and even a vacuum (it was completely unplugged at the time). The card is getting white hot during gaming duties - the temperature is hovering around 90C and the max operating temperature is rated at 105C. I'm at a loss for what to do here guys - is it possible that the card is going bad? I always thought that if a video card went bad, it just died, not do this. Any advice would be welcomed - and if I do have to replace it, could you point me to a comparable card to the 8800GT - as the power supply in the Gateway is a bit limited and I don't think it can run the latest and greatest video cards out there. Thanks in advance for your help.

Ech! You've got my sympathies. What did you replace yours with?

I agree with Hellshade - my hunch is that the AI will receive some major work before P4 comes out. I also agree that these large scale fight to the death scenarios aren't terribly realistic. But then again, I can't remember a single flight sim that replicated a survival instinct very well either. The upside to the AI in OFF is that, from a challenge standpoint to the player, it can be brutal. Now, this comes with a large caveat. If you select the less aggressive setting, the AI tends to be a bit timid - performing some gentle turns, typically trying to stay out of the fight by putting distance between you and them, and if you have a more powerful plane, a Fokker D7 for example, you can down them consistently. Switch it to aggressive, however, and life gets much more difficult. I've had my motor shot out by an enemy making a single head on pass across my nose. You have to consistently watch your 6 o'clock and I typically find that I'm the one deciding to run from a fight, or not get into one in the first place, if I want to survive. Normally, I fly with the Historical setting checked and I tend to find a nice balance of easy meat and Red Baron's in the sky - as close to reality as I think we can get at the moment. On the bright side, the AI is worlds better than what I remember dealing with during my years playing Red Baron 3D - which before OFF was really all we had, even years after its release. There too, modders were essential to making the game better. But oftentimes, a new Flight Model would come out and immediately you would see posts on the boards about porpoising Fokker EIII's that would do nothing but climb vertically until they stalled, fell like rocks, and then repeat until they crashed. Or Sopwith Camels that flew fine until they turned and then you'd see an entire flight of them go falling from the sky as if Newton pulled the laws of physics right out from under them. The most frustrating thing for the FM builders was that these events were rarely replicable - it seemed to vary from system to system and often times these glitches were never completely ironed out. I've never seen the AI do something completely boneheaded in OFF. So are they completely human? No - a lot of times it's like fighting the Terminator. But at least it is a challenge. Switch your gun settings to the hardest possible, click on aggressive AI, put yourself in something less than perfect (like an under-armed Nieuport or even a DH2) and see how large of a tally you rack up. I do agree though - the AI needs some help to learn the fine art of disengaging.

Well, at least we're not alone Widow! The installation of the card in the case was also a bit questionable. The card was facing fanside down - about three inches (at most) from the bottom of the case. So when the fan ran, it blew hot air right to the bottom of the case where there was no airflow and with such tight confinement, I'm not sure it ever really cooled itself. But more importantly than that, it means that my systematic dusting with compressed air - a virtue I espouse to everyone I meet - missed the bloody graphics card for three years, leaving it choked with dust. When I pulled the card and looked, I cursed myself for not checking it sooner - I just assumed that my compressed air was hitting it. Hopefully this open face 9800GT will prove better than its predecessor. Cheers!

Hi guys, thanks for all of the input. Just thought I'd wrap up this thread. I wound up replacing the 8800GT with a 9800GT and have had roughly the same performance with some slight - very slight - improvements in some areas. Better yet, the 9800GT card is mostly exposed to the air, and features a large fan bolted to the board whereas my old 8800GT was heavily shrouded and had precious little air flow. So the rig will keep flying. I've spent my Saturday flying some missions in OFF and setting up some new pilot careers, so all is well.

Glad to hear you're well. I'm doing fine too - I finished college back in '06 and now I'm finishing my MA thesis and awaiting PhD programs to give me their high sign so I know where I'll be living in six months! I'm professorship bound - God willing. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm glad you liked that old history of RB article! I think the only place left that has it is OvS's archived Hell's Angels page here http://www.hellsange...om/history.htm. My writing feels worlds different from the kid that wrote that article over six years ago - time is really flying! I'll have to go back and re-read it sometime. This is the reason why I visit the OFF board more than any others - I still see names of friends I remember from years ago. I'm glad you're doing well Royce. Keep in touch and keep flying!

The promise of P4 seems to be bringing us old timers out! How have you been Royce? Nice to see your name pop up again. Cheers!

Wow, simply stunning. How on earth are you guys doing this with the CFS3 engine!? I'm floored that you can get the kind of fidelity, lighting, and detail with a graphics engine from what, 2003? You've done it again - but we've never doubted you for a second! Cheers guys and really, job well done, I can't wait to take P4 up for a spin. In the meantime, I'm going to rack up a few hundred more hours in HiTR!

While we wait for Olham to return and reignite the board, I'll jump in and see if I can help. I saw this earlier this morning and felt the need to share. This made my morning. Cheers guys!

Well said man! Hear Hear!

I think I hear the murmurings of a release date... what's that OvS? Ah yes... two weeks. Whenever it comes out, I'll be one of the first in the virtual cue to buy a copy.

Hi gents. I'm working on learning German. I pestered poor Olham a while back for some assistance and then found myself quickly caught up in RL issues. I'm working on some exercises and I was hoping someone could just proofread for me and let me know if I'm on the right track of if I'm talking like an illiterate German. If anyone would like to volunteer, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Great news Creaghorn, I look forward to your hotfix for MvR! To touch on Olhalm's original comments, I use the duty room frequently too. I usually copy the kill board over to a Word file and print it off and then I have an actual Kill Board to look at in my room. Also, it helps me remember their names for those post flight kill claim forms that require witnesses! Also, I'm working on a WWI novel (as I have been since I was what... 14? lol), and I actually use the missions I fly in OFF as a driving part of the story line - after all what could be more real and random than dynamic missions! I also borrow some of the kill board names for characters. I find that as I fly and my pilot ages (I actually cheat slightly and make sure that he can't die... at least not until the appropriate time - if my story requires it) I get a real attachment to his wingman as I know their names and flesh them out as characters in my writing as my pilot's career continues. If anyone is interested, I'll post some excerpts and see if anyone likes what I'm doing. (If nothing else, it's a nice break from my "professional" work!) Cheers guys!

You guys are awesome! I'll send you a PM with what I've been working on. Thanks again!

Hellshade, I really appreciate you putting your views to paper, as it were. I completely agree with your assessment of the types of personalities certain games attract. The best example I can think of to bolster this idea is Call of Duty. If I switch my privacy mode over on Xbox Live and listen to the radio chatter, there is more homophobic, profane, and aggressive language than any other environment I've ever been in - and I've been to several NHL games! If you take cover, your manhood is immediately questioned. If you stay in one place, you're labeled a camper, and so on. It's tiring. Which is why my settings have everyone except my friends muted. Every six months or so, I'll feel generous towards my fellow man, switch it back, and then change my mind about ten minutes later. It's just not worth it. Likewise, if you look up a game like The Sims and visit the various boards out there, you'll find some of the nicest community members around. Now, granted, they're there to talk about the latest pair of pants someone made, or a new wall texture, so it's perhaps a bit slower than our usual gaming pace, but they're usually very polite. I should know, I do actually play the Sims. I got the Sims for Christmas about ten years ago, and played it for about a week before it was simply lost on me and I went back to my shoot-em-up games. Like you Hellshade, I felt like I wasted a perfectly good Christmas present (and the money my folks spent getting it) Today? I have the original Sims (still my favorite) and the Sims 2 on my HD right next to games like Il2, COD, and of course, OFF. I've lost hours of time just playing the Sims and enjoying it. I joke with my friends on Xbox Live that online gaming would be great without the people. And some nights we have more fun playing through the Combat Trainer on Black Ops (which populates the map with AI bots) than we do playing competitively. Of course, the same isn't true about the OFF group - this really is a great community - and one I'm proud to be a part of, although admittedly I'm on the fringes these days at best. Anyway, my long rambling point is that I think you're right and that I enjoy your videos immensely. And after all, what we choose to play is our choice. And I hope no one judges me from moving from my DH2 and into my little Sims house to watch them set fire to their oven for the third time this week because I haven't made them study cooking enough... PS: You should pick up CoH - it's a great game and your rig would blaze through it. My advice though, get the original release, and Do Not Patch It! CoH went down a very strange road with updates and try as I might, I decided that playing online wasn't really a priority and installing enough updates to break the game just wasn't wroth it. As always, YMMV

I thought I had written off yet another pilot last night - and on his first mission too! Flight Lieutenant William Dearing (the younger brother of Charles Dearing from Wings of Glory) had just joined 8-RNAS in October of 1916. Their first mission was a bust, a patrol of the lines was called off due to bad weather. The next morning, the squadron was ordered to fly South to a new aerodrome. What should have been a simple transfer mission culminated in two separate dogfights with German Halberstadts. Of course, Dearing was piloting his trusty Nieuport 17 - which by all accounts was more than a match for the Halberstadt. Indeed, Dearing did fine - flaming one Halberstadt and watching as his wingmen systematically destroyed the Germans - after all, the entire squadron was airborne in two large formations - so being outnumbered was never going to happen. Regrouping, the squadron continued south and nearly made it to their new home when a second flight of DII's - this time only four in number, were courageous (or suicidal) enough to dive on a full compliment of N17s. This time, Dearing came under fire - not from the Germans, but from an overzealous wingman who opened fire on a German and instead, hit Dearing's plane - severing some control wires - undoubtedly contributing to the unpleasant turn of events later in the battle. Dearing's Nieuport was still flyable, but he soon wound up in another tangle with a lone DII. He followed his target lower and lower - until they were dancing at treetop level. Dearing, his eyes fixed on his target, failed to notice that the nose of his Nieuport had dipped too low, and by the time he looked out of his windscreen again, the ground was there to meet him. Boom! The Nieuport was literally in splinters. It was a high speed crash - even for 1916 standards - Dearing must have been traveling at over 90MPH when he hit the dirt. I sat back, released my controls, and swore. Dammit - another one written off. After all, I fly close to the DiD standard - and my workshop has the "Dead is Dead" box clearly checked. No one could walk away from such a violent crash. The medics would be scraping Dearing off the ground with a squeegee after that kind of wreck. Only as the menu came back up, OFF announced that Dearing had, in fact, arrived at safely his new base - the rest of the squadron - minus two pilots who had been lost during the skirmishes along the way - were all accounted for. I knew damn well one of those casualties should have been William Dearing. And yet, his career continues... for reasons surpassing understanding. My advice for the rest of the squadron - stay away from William Dearing - he's probably bad luck, or a member of the undead horde!

Wow, you're right BH, you really never do know. I've been in two crashes in my time - one at 17 when an old lady ran a red light and hit me head on, and another one about six years ago, when I hydroplaned and crashed into some trees. The first wreck left me pretty banged up with some broken bones. The second, which happened when I was in my twenties, in which no airbags deployed despite hitting several hard wood trees at speed, left me without a scratch. It really is all a crap shoot. Glad those folks were okay - even if they were a bit dimwitted. Back to flying... I remember writing off a long-term Red Baron 3D pilot off a number of years ago (funny how we remember these things as if they actually happened). He had 40+ kills to his credit, won the VC among other medals, and was having a time of it flying SE5's. I don't remember what squadron he was with when he died, but he started out with 24 RFC in early 1916 and flew a few missions with Lanoe Hawker. Anyway, my prized pilot was flying a balloon busting mission and it was a rousing success. The top cover flight of enemy aircraft never woke up to attack and my namesake pilot and his wingman dispatched the balloon and were busy shooting up the lines. Of course, RB3D was pretty formulaic. You knew every balloon position had X number of artillery guns beneath it and 2 machine gun emplacements - all laid out in the same pattern at every balloon station. So I dispatched both ground gunners, which left me to shoot up the now infamous green tent and truck combination without any harassment. For some reason, flaming the truck and tent added extra points to your sortie performance. Mind you, at 40+ kills and a VC, I doubt I needed to pad the points, but I decided they had to go. And I should note that after 40+ kills and some close calls, you do start to feel a certain sense of invulnerably. So I brought the SE5 in at trench level, swooping my guns left to right with my rudder, shooting the hell out of everything. I must have made four or five passes in this manner. Unfortunately, the final time I tried this stunt, I kept low for a split second too long and mistimed my climb over the truck which was sitting idly in the mud. As I yanked my stick back, my landing gear clipped the truck. Had I been flying a nimble little Nieuport, the landing gear would have fallen right off and I would have been left to make a crash landing. But my robust SE5 undercarriage snagged the truck, held firm, and flipped me right onto my nose. The plane blew up on impact. Just like that, my 40+ kill pilot was dead; all thanks to much of the same dimwitted decision making that landed that pickup truck and its two passengers on its roof into oncoming traffic. Below is a picture of one such offending Balloon - often the end of many of my old RB3D pilots...

Many thanks Wayfarer! Good Lord, your pilot is lucky to even be in one piece by now! Congratulations are in order for his continued longevity. Can I ask what squadron / plane he's piloting?

How exactly do you exorcise one of those from your hard drive?

Hi Gents. I hope all is well in your corner of the OFF universe. I was reading up on the forums and enjoying some hot cocoa when I thought of a question. Quite some time ago a kind soul on the boards released a series of flight handbooks for the various planes in OFF. I loved reading through these and learning some pointers on some of the trickier aeroplanes to fly in the sim. Then they upped and vanished and after my hard drive died last October, I lost them as well. So, whatever became of these great pilot's guides and where can I reacquire them for my virtual pilots? S!

Ah Ha! I answered my own question. I was enjoying Olham's thread on early war Brit pilots (my usual starting point as a WWI pilot, I know 24 RFC like the back of my hand, and I've died so many times I've lost count!) and found a link to British_eh's Survival In The Air series. http://combatace.com/topic/60942-sia-flying-and-air-fighting-pilot-primers/page__p__463192?do=findComment&comment=463192 If you haven't read these yet, you owe it to yourself to download the lot. I have them saved now in a folder with a shortcut to my WWI library link on my desktop. Perfect!

Hi guys, thanks for all of the feedback. As for my wattage - I'm limited to 400watts. As I'm in the middle of a lot of RL projects at the moment, I don't want to get too involved upgrading my PSU - my flying PC is also my working PC. Hope this helps with any suggestions regarding what kind of card would be a suitable upgrade. Cheers!