CaptSopwith

I also agree that I prefer the cockpits without the bodies. And, come to think of it, I can't recall a single flight sim I've played that modeled a full pilot's body. The closest would be some of the Falcon 4.0 patches that shows the pilot's legs, but they are a 2D painted on part of the cockpit, not modeled.

I never played 1942 PAW, but I've always heard it spoken of reverently in flight sim circles. It's also remarkable how similar their intro videos are. I think the EAW developers really wanted to keep the emotion and spirit of its predecessor alive. I really miss Microprose. Looking through the old collection, at least half of the old games are MPS titles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1p-DIQIZA

I'll have to give that a go next! This just keeps getting better and better! EDIT: Just did some digging, where would I find the MA and BDG patches? Google seems to be failing me this time...

They sure do! Which is something that they definitely did not do when I first bought this computer and it ran Windows Vista. I've decided to basically lock the system down at this point. I'm making an image of the HD as it exists right now and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not touching any more driver updates for my card - besides, the rig is nearly three years old, so how much of an improvement would a new set of drivers make anyway? Wolfenstein 3D was my first PC game. My mother bought it at college (she went back for a nursing degree when I was an early teenager) and came home with a Shareware floppy of the first episode. It got me hooked on computer gaming. I have it and every expansion I could find all running in Dos Box. You know, I never did get into SDOE or FS-WWI, I was so tied up with European Air War, Falcon 4.0, and Red Baron at the time. The models look pretty good though, I'll have to research that one next.

It's good to have you back Olham - my sympathies over the trials that you and your mother are experiencing. The boards have been darn quiet without you. I tried to fill the void where I could, but it turns out that you leave a rather large, Olham shaped hole when you're out of reach for a while. Have a round on me and thanks for replying to my German message, I'm glad my skills are progressing.

Yeah... how about that... lol. I don't know - the original Sims was quirky and I enjoyed the design tools from an architectural standpoint. I haven't played any of the newer ones from Sims 3 on - they seem a bit to... pop for me? They're so slick and smooth now that they've lost a lot of their old charm, at least for me. Besides, I enjoy flaming planes a lot more than I do telling a Sim to go to the bathroom lol.

@ Widow: Turns out all I needed to do was reboot the PC and set the dgvoodoo settings to the ones posted at Wings of Honor: http://www.wingsofhonour.com/redbaron3d/tipsandtricks/html_woh_redbaron3d_tipsandtricks.en.html#settingupthedgvoodooglideemulator The "Old Gal" runs beautifully! As you can see from my collection, I play all of the latest WWI sims (OFF is still my favorite for raw immersion) but it is a nice feeling to have RB back on the computer. Somehow the world seems more right (I know, I'm crazy). Which also means I have the entire collection - at least what I played growing up - Wings of Glory, Red Baron 3D (With Otto's HASP installed), OFF, and the other sim we don't mention by name. Not a bad collection for a propeller head like me.

Hi Widow. Yes, and no... I'm running W7 32bit Professional edition. I'm currently ironing out a problem with my glide wrapper. If I use dgvoodoo the game runs and doesn't crash but... I have some major FPS issues - single digits depending on what' going on on the screen. If I run a modded glide wrapper made by a RB modder named Greybeard I get fantastic FPS in all conditions, but the game crashes each and every single time I end a mission. I'll let you know if I work that out. We'll see... I know, I know... I get that a lot when people look over my library of games. My parents got me the original Sims for Christmas back in, what... 2000? Wound up finding a niche in my collection. As for the sequel - yeah, that was all me. Quick follow up - I found Hidden and Dangerous for free online! It was released as a deluxe edition as part of a marketing campaign for the sequel. So now I really do have nearly everything on my HD. I'll be snagging the ARMA2 demo soon, it looks very interesting.

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?

After spending a few days home sick as a dog, I began tinkering with the computer and two days later I have this to show for it. Behold, I have the ultimate gaming computer! (At least in my mind ). I now have, in one place, the ability to run everything from OFF to Wolfenstein 3D and all of the games in between. By my count, my PC now covers every game I've ever owned from 1993 until last Christmas. And I still have 200GB free! Not bad for a couple of sick days! The best part is, for some reason, with the latest set of nVidia drivers, everything runs smoothly without any major tinkering. Now the hard part is going to be deciding what to play next! PS: You'll notice, however, what shortcuts are on my desktop, ready to go at a moments notice.

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...

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!

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.

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!

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