CaptSopwith

A few more from my 1915 pilot training with Captain Triggers

I think this falls under the category of "be careful what you wish for!" I've lost count of the number of crew I've sent to an early grave. Accomplishing any mission objectives while being blasted at by AA fire, hounded by enemy machines, worrying about mechanical failures on our own plane... it really shows you just how much the two-seater crews had to manage. It's a constant stream of worries from take off to touch down!

Beautiful images, everyone! Inspired me to toss in a few from my last mission. Hope you like them!

Hi Guys, Just flew a few sorties for the first time on 1.28 and noticing some weird ground texture issues. As I fly closer to the issue, it will eventually pop in the correct ground texture in place of the white blurry texture block you can see in the first two images. It seems isolated to a particular part of the front, so I've attached some screenshots along with a grab of the map location I was in at the time. All stock WOFF, no mods, no other graphical changes. Tried moving the terrain from 4 to 5 and still saw the same artifacts. Thanks, as always, for your help with this one. Cheers

Great idea to film some tutorials, Rick! Nice presentation too - I like it! We might want to make this a sticky for new pilots as they arrive.

Hi Chaps, I seem to have stumbled upon an issue with Jasta 2. Loaded up a September 1 campaign start date and had the following error - I appended the log below. Tried moving the date up to mid-month, when their aircraft swap out for early Albatros models, to no avail. Other squadrons loading fine and other campaigns seem to be running normally. No mods or other alternations - full stock 1.22. Log: Pilot Dossier Loaded: 7 Menu Startup All Done! **Slot1 RANK Break Point is: 6 **Slot2 RANK Break Point is: 3 **Player RANK is: Unteroffizier Pilot:1 Rank:Oberleutnant Ranknum:6 **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot1 From Pilot Dossier : 0 : IdenticalAsSlot2 **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot2 From Pilot Dossier : 2 : AlbDI **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot3 From Pilot Dossier : 0 : Fokker_DIII **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot1 From Pilot Dossier : 0 : IdenticalAsSlot2 **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot2 From Pilot Dossier : 2 : AlbDI **Player Squadron Number Of Craft Available Slot3 From Pilot Dossier : 2 : Fokker_DIII **Slot1 RANK Break Point is: 6 **Slot2 RANK Break Point is: 3 **Player RANK is: Unteroffizier **MissionBrief SetPlayerFacility - Global_layer.csv Instantiated with player facility: Homefield:Bertincourt **MissionBrief SetPlayerFacility - Global_layer.csv written **MissionBrief SetPlayerFacility - Mos Created: Original:airbase_ggeneric_1 New:airbase_gplayer_1 **MissionBrief SetPlayerFacility - Facility Created: Original:airbase_ggeneric_1 New Airfield:airbase_gplayer_1 **MissionBrief SetPlayerFacility - Global Layer gsl.lib created ok! **Opening Player Squadron File: Jasta 2 **Matching Ace Aircraft File FOUND!!: CampaignManager GetAceCraft : Ace Number GermanAce01 Ace:Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen Ace File Code: MvR Ace Craft: AlbDI !!!! FATAL ERROR!: CampaignManager SquadronAircraftData : File Error EOR Check = EOR Record Number 1 **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce10 Ace:Oswald Boelcke Ace File Code:Boelcke **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce18 Ace:Max Ritter von Muller Ace File Code:MullerM **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce53 Ace:Erwin Bohme Ace File Code:BohmeE **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce207 Ace:Otto Walter Hohne Ace File Code:Hohne **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce211 Ace:Leopold Rudolf Reimann Ace File Code:ReimannLR **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce367 Ace:Wolfgang Gunther Ace File Code:xx **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce668 Ace:Hans Reimann Ace File Code:xx **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce669 Ace:Herwarth Philipps Ace File Code:xx **Could not find matching Ace Rank File!: CampaignManager GetAceRank : Ace Number GermanAce670 Ace:Winand Grafe Ace File Code:xx **Player Squadron Slot2 Craft Role : Fighter **Player Squadron Slot3 Craft Role : Fighter **Player Squadron Service Type : Fighter **Player Squadron Pilot Service Type : Fighter **Player Squadron Player Rank Number : 2 **Player Squadron Player Craft Slot : Player Ranking sets Slot Used for Player Craft only to Slot 3:Fokker_DIII **Player Squadron Ace Craft Slot : : **Player Squadron Number Of Ace Craft : 10: **Player Squadron Number Of Reserve Ace Craft : 2: **Player Squadron Dual Role : False **A Flight Type : Single Seater **B Flight Type : Single Seater --CampaignFlight: Gun Setup Data reported as: Lewis ROF:9 Spandau 1916 Vickers ROF:6 -- !!Error Reading Squadron Data!! --Campaign: Exiting

I often find that the most dangerous missions I ever fly as a German pilot happen when we are not on active duty. It's the dull weeks of being out of operation, when I'm told to check out the new rigging on my wings, or the newly installed carburetor that my mechanic has just fitted, that I am either wiped off the face of the earth, or barely live to tell the tale. Tonight, freshly minted Lt. Bruno Stachel was assigned to Jasta 34b in March 1918. Starting his first mission after a week to settle in, he was told to take off, fly a few circuits of the field to check the new carburetor installed on his battered Pfalz DIII (the same type of plane he was assigned to in flying school...), then return to the field. Flying with labels and the TAC off (I have dots turned on for easier spotting), Stachel got airborne and I was admiring how beautiful the landscape was and how buttery smooth it now scrolled below me... and I should have known better. Glancing upwards, I saw several dots diving and closing range on me at a considerable rate of knots. The next six minutes was utter chaos. A flight of overzealous French aviators, consisting of a few Breguet 14's, a pair of Sopwith Strutters, and a lone Nieuport for escort, descended on me like a pack of ravenous wolves. Immediately pulling a split-s, I dived for my home base, hoping that the barrage of ground fire would deter them from trying to kill me so far behind our own lines. As the Strutters took turns attacking my Pfalz, the Breguet's unloaded their bombs on our field below, setting it alight. The Nieuport never appeared - I suppose he couldn't be bothered with one creaky old Pfalz. The two Strutters took turns in slicing attacks as I turned and cracked off a few well aimed shots as they passed by. It finally turned into a battle of attrition, with the Strutter's rear gunner locked onto my plane, and my hapless pilot unloading both guns (I imagine, while screaming in anger), at the French adversary. The machine began smoking, turned into a shallow climb, then descended where he crashed in the middle of our field. By this point, Stachel's goggles were splattered in oil (the new goggles, btw, are a brilliant touch!) and I knew the engine was about to conk out. And conk it did. I managed a 90 degree turn to final as the propeller turned into a windmill at the front of my shot up plane. As I made a desperate lunge over the trees, a flaming Strutter billowed smoke as he plummeted right in front of my machine, crashing off to my right. Desperate, I yanked the rudder, made contact with the ground, and dug the tail skid into the dirt. Down safe... And for the first time ever, actually got credit for a kill while my squadron was technically inactive. I mean, one would assume that replicating, almost shot for shot, the scene from the Blue Max would do the trick, but still, you know the old saying... unconfirmed and all that... It's good to be back. Stachel might actually make it this time...

Perhaps I'm getting rusty as I round 40 but it feels like WOFF is more dangerous than I remember it! 1.21 in particular has really amped up the difficulty. In addition to signing up for the truly suicidal work of being in the Reccy department, I'm noticing a massive uptick in flak concentrations. My most recent mission (which also ended in pilot death... I'm not on a particularly great streak so far lol), had us chasing a lone RE8 over the lines and you could walk across the shrapnel flying around it! As we crossed from our side to theirs, the flak transferred to us. I haven't really had to avoid Archie in WOFF before - I do remember flying the classic Red Baron 3D zig-zag over the lines back in the day - but it looks like I can add this to my list of things to worry about (enemy aircraft, mechanical failures, collisions, fuel leaks, fire...where does it end?). And being on a new rig that can finally handle 1918 in its default form, I'm finding that avoiding a collision is nearly as difficult as not being shot to ribbons by an enemy pilot! After surviving being nearly shot down over his own airfield, my Bruno Stachel (always my name for my throw-away action campaigns) met the same fate as Boelcke - a fatal collision with my flight leader as he peeled off to head into an oncoming swarm of SE5's. The sim really does, I think, fully model the WWI aviator experience from start to finish. From scribbling down notes in 1915 as ground crews take potshots at you with rifles to trying to just survive a full blown melee in 1918 with flak and enemy machines all around... I can think of no other sim that's ever covered the totality of the war on the Western Front like this. Just remarkable. And the old gal still makes for some pretty fine screenshots.

So sorry about Mark, hoping he makes a speedy recovery. Wife and I, and puppy (whose nearly five somehow...) are all safe and well. Busy working away, but happy and well! Cheers my friend.

Thanks Pol! I've truly missed my time with this sim and revisiting it reminds me that we also have a pretty awesome community. Hope you've been well in the midst of everything that's happened over the last few years and thank you again, for all of the tireless work you and Winder have put into this wonderful game. Cheers!

Hi Everyone! It's been a very long time. Apologies for being away. Just wanted to post a brief hello and wish everyone well. I hope you are all doing okay - so much has happened over the last few years and like all of us, we've been weathering the pandemic. On a much much happier note, I just received my new rig (a wonderful birthday present) and I just had to say that WOFF runs like an absolute dream! Here's the specs! I'll follow up with screenshots as I get some seat time. So far, I'm utterly blown away by this thing! It's a different world from my 2015 Dell XPS system. Alienware R12 Windows 11 i9-11900KF @ 3.50GHz up to 5.10GHz RAM 32 GB nVidia GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB VRAM) For the first time ever, I have the settings dialed all the up and WOFF screams! Can't wait to fire up some new pilot careers and share some stories on the boards. Cheers! Rounds on me!

Hiya Rick! It's good to be back! Hoping to see some more folks around the old place. Hope you and your family are doing well! PS: Had to correct my previous post - I managed to typo my system specs... getting old! ;)

Had a similar experience the other night on the new rig. Finally getting to see 1918 in all of its terrifying glory. Flew a line patrol with US 95 Squadron and what a dogfight! I literally lost count of the machines in the air. A mix of Albatros DVa's, Pfalz DIII's, and some two-seaters. At one point, I had gotten some distance from the nearest threats and saw this line of aircraft chasing each other through the clouds, all firing on each other. I've been playing FWW flight sims since the mid 90s and the hair on the back of my neck still stood up. The old gal still has it!

Hi Gents! It's been a little bit... I had to jump in and agree with Albrecht's statement. For any other developer, this would be a paid DLC pack, probably somewhere between 20 and 40 dollars in asking price. The fact that OBD is doing this for free... well it speaks to the devs that I've known for going on two decades. I'm not surprised, but I also will be donating to the cause as they keep working. And just in time for my new flight simming rig to arrive! (Turning 40 has its perks!). Hope the community is doing well - miss you all. Hope to be around more often!

Still busy flying - ordering a new graphics card to ramp up my settings in WOFF and finally get WOTR to a playable frame rate. Can't keep away!

Hi gents! Hope you are all doing well. Seemed fitting to post this over on the board that started it all. I randomly stumbled across this upload from Pol and happened to notice the date: June 13, 2008. Here is where we were a decade ago, with a preview of OFF: Between Heaven and Hell. My how far we've come. How has it been ten years already? Take a look for yourselves and enjoy the nostalgia!

Looks tempting! I was always a fan of the ETO in European Air War. Hellshade, what kind of system specs are we looking at to run CLoD at a decent frame rate? My system has a geForce 745 GTX which is modest, to say the least. Runs WOFF at a decent clip with the occasional hiccup here and there. Cheers! PS: OLHAM! How are you doing my friend! I have been away from the boards for far too long! Hope you are doing well and staying warm in Berlin.

Well for me WOFF UE is still somewhat new. I'm still flying about 1-2 nights a week and sometimes more if time allows. I have posted less mostly because of time constraints.

Some fantastic scenes from an evening's flying. Hope you enjoy!

I'm not usually one for preferring one board over another but... I have to say that my desire to post dropped off after the move over to the other site. There's something about the design that doesn't quite work for me, the inability to see people's avatars - which I very much grew to associate with handles - and now the clunky manner in which we are required to post photos for our AAR... I just don't feel like I want to take the time to post like I used to. Would be nice to see a move back here - under a streamlined WOFF board but... who knows.

PART I: Today, I am delighted to begin a new series of posts, which I am entitling "CaptSopwith Plays WOFF." I thought I'd start a new thread since most of you have been playing this amazing sim for over a year now. Anything I say will probably be a repeat of the experiences you've already had. But I also wanted to share my first impressions on WOFF as someone who has been playing since OvS sent me a copy of Phase 1 way back when. This post includes some broad impressions, as I'm still getting my new computer set up and running. Again, my sincere thanks to Hellshade. Without his kindness, I would not have a copy of WOFF 2 to even play! Thank you again my friend! First Impressions The most noticeable difference between WOFF and its predecessors is the ease of installation. I've kept my game backups on an external hard drive for years and my OFF folder was a bit of a jumble: I had my OFF disk, the various patches that followed, the HiTR expansion and its patches, and screenshots of how I set up my nVidia settings and configured OFF's graphics to run smoothly. I was prepared to learn a new routine - knowing that the rewards would be more than worth the learning curve. But I was astounded at how easy it was. I ran WOFF 1.0's installation file, made a cup of tea, and returned to see that it was already finished. Then I ran 2.0 and before I had finished a few sips of Twinnings English Breakfast, it was also done. Lastly, I added on the latest update from the site and before I knew it, I was ready to play. The "fit and finish" if you will, of WOFF is astounding! The quality of the menus, the feel of the interface, the sense of immersion that drips from every pixel from the moment you start the game and see the old phonograph spinning, is remarkable. And it's the small details that made me smile time and again. I just toured the Imperial War Museum's new WWI exhibit this summer, and the interface - with it's mix of film, newspapers, photographs, hanger renderings, and gorgeous maps, made me feel like I got to bring part of that experience back home with me. I love all of it and I shook my head time and again at the level of detail, the insane dedication to getting it right - and right to a degree that only the most die hard First World War aviation enthusiast or, a scholar who makes a living studying this time period - would ever notice. The type set on the reports, the font and official stamps on the log books, the pilot photos, it's all fantastic and I cannot congratulate the team enough on a job well done. The level of accuracy is such that, if I could teach my dream course on WWI, I would have a WOFF station set up to rotate my students through so they could get a glimpse of the experiences of these men. An idea, I should add, that first came to me when I played Red Baron as a teenager - only now, I think I could actually convince other people of the idea! The other massive difference is the score. Matt, you've really outdone yourself this time! I couldn't help but smile when some of the themes from OFF's previous scores came through, but the new material, especially the music for the briefings, really provide you a sense of for-boding and dread. It captures the mood, the spirit of the period, without making it into caricature. It lands the mood brilliantly. I also love the additional information in the menus! (Note, we haven't even gotten in the air yet!) The pilot logbooks, the detailed information on my fellow pilots, their moods, their abilities, their morale, all give me a sense of flying with living people, who want to survive this terrible conflict they've been dragged into. I also LOVE the intelligence menu. The addition of knowing where the enemy is - to the best of our knowledge at least - and what types of machines they are flying, is fantastic! I also LOVE the renders of the machines. They have a hand drawn artistic quality to them that I spent a lot of time admiring. I also enjoyed the Gothas. After seeing smaller scouts and reccy planes in hangers, seeing the Gotha sitting outside in a dark and stormy landscape was perfect. Well done! The final part of the interface I'd like to compliment is how easy it all is to set up! I no longer load up the CfsCongig utility and look at my screenshots to see what boxes to tick. I simply started the sim with the settings it came with. The results? The graphics are jaw-dropping and on my computer, even a full furball in quick scenarios, the sim ran at 60fps with only the slightest pause if the action became incredibly intense. Fantastic! One last thought for the day before I go: the AI is remarkable! I feel like I have to learn how WWI dogfighting worked all over again - and for real this time. I am no longer facing enemies that either fight to the death or plod along straight and level until I can flame them. These pilots feel alive! I tried a quick mission in a Camel (more about the incredible cockpits in another post!). I wound up chasing an enemy, and watched as a he rolled and dived for the deck. I've seen this trick in a hundred other flight sims - the enemy dives, hits ground level, and then tries to turn fight you until you shoot him down. But now this time, he hit ground level and kept running! I suddenly realized that I was fighting a new pilot and he was running scared, trying to get over his lines before I could catch him! Mind. Blown. I've never seen such complex AI before. I've also been shot down three times and I've flown five missions... so they are also lethal to a degree that I've never seen. Ah, so much to say. So much to compliment! There will be many more posts. I also need to start taking screen captures to go along with these updates. My God, guys! What have you done!? I'm never going to finish this bloody dissertation now! Cheers! PART II: Thoughts on WOFF After One Week: Hi Chaps! It has been a week since I installed and started playing WOFF and truthfully, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. So far I've flown some Quick Combat missions as well as some of the Quick Scenarios included with each nationality. I too, had to sort out the micro-stutters that seem to appear in the sim, even on a high end rig (more on how I solved that later). All in all, I have to say, I am floored by the massive improvements seen in WOFF from its predecessor. I've started a British campaign set in 1915, for a young pilot named Cecil Coles. He is currently in flight training just outside of London, doing circuits in a BE2. It looks like he will be destined for Front Line duty with a squadron flying Bristol Scouts and Morane Parasols. The new aircraft are a fantastic edition. Before WOFF, my sense was that, for the most complete catalog of First World War, the now ancient Western Front Patch for Red Baron 3D was really your only bet. The last time I saw a Parasol it was rendered inside of Baron. The new models are, across the board, the finest set of World War I machines I've ever seen. If you haven't heard of The Vintage Aviator before (Link here: http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/) it really feels like OBD is their digital brethren. The depth of detail on the surfaces of the machines, and the little details within - a WWI era pin up card inside the Aviatik or the life insurance warning in my British trainer, speaks volumes about the lives of the men who served in this era. I thought this was a particularly nice touch: :D And while I'm still in training, I've already engaged in combat dozens of times (and been shot down every. single. time.) As seen here: That would be me on the receiving end of some twin German Spandaus. AI: The AI in this game is more than brutal - brutal implies that the skies are imbalanced and the game is programmed to punish you by any means necessary. Older flight sims used to "cheat" a bit with their AI: the computer controlled machines were not prone to stalls and spins and it always felt like you were playing against a loaded deck. WOFF transcends this brilliantly and does so in the most difficult way possible: by programming the most intelligent AI system I've ever seen. As we've all seen over the last ten years, large studios have abandoned single player experiences. Whether it's a Triple-A title like Call of Duty or games closer to our genres, studios favor multiplayer. The problem with that, in my experience, is that the quality of the game you get is entirely dependent on the people you're playing with. I've had matches in Battlefield that knocked my socks off, and others that left me beating my head against my desk. WOFF's AI is the most convincingly human I've ever seen. As astutely pointed out in the Dev Comments, the AI you fight have something to lose - their lives. Unlike a human opponent who suffers only a 15 second respawn delay, the AI fight like their real life counterparts. Flight time and mission success trump kills. The result is that I am constantly faced with an enemy that I cannot predict. The literally thousands of parameters that inform their thinking demonstrate that beautifully. I wish I could get Pol or Winding Man or James to explain how they did it - the details here are fascinating to me. How on earth do you get a computer to think on such a complex level without dragging the machine to its knees with processing cycles? Not only are they unpredictable, they are downright lethal! By the time I moved Red Baron to the back burner, I was a crack shot. Even online I could lead an aircraft and literally pick its wings off from hundreds of yards out. I knew how long it would take an enemy to engage my 6 if I was chasing his wingman. I knew I had time to sit, complacently, shooting away at my next guaranteed kill, before I had to worry about my tail. WOFF has changed my understanding, historically, of how dangerous target fixation was for a new pilot. In the blink of an eye I have had my plane shot out from under me a dozen times in QC. Also, being wounded is horrific. I know that other sims have simulated this and I applaud OBD for including it in WOFF. It was reality, and it was gruesome. Having the option to switch it off is good. But man, the visual impact and subsequent emotional response I feel when I've been hit is genuinely unnerving. You simply can no longer sit still. You have to keep moving. Hellshade's videos now make a new kind of sense. Fire and maneuver - don't ever fly straight - doing so is a sure fire way of getting killed. The sense of damage on the machine is also intense. You do not want to get hit. This is not a P-47 you're flying - a WWI machine cannot sustain damage and from a historical sense - after all, this is the subject I study - that rings true from the documents I've seen. I remember there was a debate back in the RB days about how much a WWI plane could take. Some stories of American flown Nieuports coming home with a hundred bullet holes supported the theory that if you didn't hit the pilot or engine, a WWI kite could handle a surprising amount of punishment. But, in my opinion (take that for what it's wroth) the construction of these machines was so fragile that if diving could destroy the air frame, a few lucky rounds into support struts could easily render an aircraft easy prey. Unfortunately, I'm usually the prey! To be honest, I'm dreading my deployment once I finish training in London. I don't suspect Cecil is going to last long... Campaign: I've run through a few campaigns so far. I've start one the using the new features flight training and then deployment and I've let WOFF decide my fate. I've also started a campaign the old way - picking a unit and time. And since I was setting up my rig to play WOFF smoothly, I jumped into a 1918 campaign as a German pilot just after the start of Operation Michael. The details now make the campaign a fully realized experience. I actually know my wingmen now. I know the morale of the unit. I know the latest news from the progress on the ground. I can research my planes and those of my enemies. I love the details included! The sketches of the aircraft and their details remind me of the intelligence updates we used to get in Red Baron. It is clear that WOFF is an inspired sim - drawing on the best of what we remember from before, but still creating a startling new experience at the same time. Still, those little nods to the past - the small touches in the menu interface, and even the melodic themes from Matt's previous scores that subtly reemerge here, make it both nostalgic and new and I never want to stop playing. Stutters: Finally, on matters of setting up WOFF for heavy combat in 1918. I too suffered some stutters and found that - all of the computer logic I've used for two decades - did not work in WOFF. I tried dialing settings back in both the workshop and on my nVidia control panel and it only grew worse. I play tested the sim with heavy load Quick Scenarios and then some 1918 missions. Looks like Heavy Air Activity will but a bit of a strain on my system, but I'm getting butchered enough with Medium settings as it is. So I checked the boards here and found the threads Pol mentioned in the FAQ. Defying all logic, I then cranked up my settings - everything five except landscape is a 4 and scenery is a 3. Vsync on, and then dailed up my settings in my video card control panel. The results speak for themselves: The graphical quality of WOFF was apparent from the moment I started it but, now, with the settings cranked up as you see here... My God, look at it! I remember the intro video that played at the start of Red Baron - with a Camel chasing a Red Triplane and descending from the clouds over a lush green landscape. It was, of course, all CGI rendered footage. This game looks ten times better than that ever did. I've traded stutters for a slight dip in frame rate. I'm hovering around 50-60 with a dip down to the teens, but only over heavily populated landscapes. So, flight training over London can get choppy from time to time. But otherwise the microstutters have vanished and frankly, I'm too hesitant to play with the settings any further when for the other 95% of the time it runs smooth as silk and looks like this! I'm speechless fellas. I'm going to try to write more as I get into the meat of the campaigns and keep you posted on my progress. In the meantime I hope you enjoyed reading! Cheers! PS: Here are my nVidia settings: [img:gal:198355fd8c87dd988]http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2015/09/full-1983-109100-woff_settings.png[/img]

Well now, it has been a little while since I last posted. November to be exact... My apologies for the considerable delay in my presence around here. RL has gotten incredibly busy as I'm in the last stages of closing in on my degree. With holiday travel back and forth I've had very little time in front of the gaming computer. Toss in some surprise Christmas presents in the form of Battlefield 4 for PC and a brand new PlayStation 4 with Star Wars Battlefront thrown in, and the time quickly got away from me. But I have to say, the other night I finally had some gaming time that was longer than the 20 minute chunks I've been working with lately, and I got back to some WOFF. My 1916 German pilot has survived a few weeks of combat duty and even notched up his first confirmed victory (so that's 1 for 3 so far) and I was terrified of losing him so I spent about two hours bouncing around the fantastic Quick Scenarios that WOFF has to offer. Bombing runs, balloon busting and defense, close air support and of course, the massive furball dogfights of 1918. I'm also happy to say that I have fine tuned the graphic settings in WOFF and the game looks gorgeous! At this point, even with my nvidia GTX 745, I'm running all of my settings on 5, with the exception of scenery detail, which I have ticked at 4. I've got all of the graphical goodies cranked up on my video card settings and the skies are stunning. I'll say this as well, the new games are fantastic. The attention to detail in Star Wars Battlefront is astonishing for any fan of the series. And the set pieces in Battlefield 4 are epic. But, like getting back to a classic Jazz album after listening to just so much pop, there is an explosion of endorphins when I fire up WOFF. It's not just entertaining for the eyes and the twitch reflexes, but it's the most immersive digital experience I've ever had for my brain. Flying some training flights for my soon to be certified 1916 ESC LAF pilot, I noticed the smoke from the trains steaming out of Paris as I sat in the observer's seat on my first flight. Back over the lines, I could hear the eerie echo of the barrages as our early war Halberstadt's flew over the front. The explosions below combined with the atmosphere of it all - the haze of the summer sky, the lighting casting shadows across my wings and the patches of dark earth from the cloud's shadows below. It completely sucks you in. Rather than those 20 minute bursts in star fighter or cargo, I lost two HOURS simply flying and staying alive. I love how different the goals are in this sim. It's not about racking up victories, it's about the incredible, soul-satisfying feeling of your wheels touching down on friendly grass after an hour up in the very unfriendly skies of WOFF. Hoping to post far more often. I've missed hearing your exploits and tales from the front and darn if I haven't missed seeing the familiar names around here. Hope you guys are well. If you have time, give me a shout and let me know what you've been up to! Cheers! Soppy

And another round from this morning's 1915 patrol over the lines with a pilot who, I think, would qualify for the DiD campaign. There isn't any action here. Instead, I was enthralled with the staggering lighting and texture work that is now so prominent in this sim.

Had some excitement last night in Quick Scenario where I was trying to get the hang of my Halberstadt DIII. Wound up in a large furball with some French N11's and I was hit early on. My aircraft's roll ability was compromised pretty badly but thankfully, some crafty throttle work on my part allowed my French assailant to overshoot my craft and I didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation. Managed to put quite a few rounds in at close range and the rest, as you can see, sorted itself out from there. My favorite touch from this exchange? The cows or sheep in the field next to where the poor French pilot met his end. It's the little things in WOFF!

Bloody bureaucracy and all that. You know those paper pushers back at Whitehall can get those commendation forms jumbled up sometimes!