HomeBoy

Says right here [pointing up and to the left] that you are an "Elite Member"! ...and I concur. ...and welcome aboard currick58. Please let us know if you need any help!

Beautiful Widowmaker! You are truly skilled.

Great feedback! Thank you. British_eh, You are certainly right about the three FMs: historical, player, AI. I have thought about that and plan to deal with it this way: Historical: What you see out there now is all I plan to do with historical data. I figure it does us no good to know that the historical se5a has a top speed of 120 mph while none in-game can exceed 115 (just making that number up for illustration). Player: The section "Flying the XXX" is intended as an evaluation of the "player FM" of the planes. AI: The section "Fighting the XXX" will be the evaluation of the "AI FM." This is a challenge that did not exist in Aces High since there are no AI there. There will obviously be lots of subjectivity here. I want what I report to be recommendations on how best to fight in and against the plane in question and not so much a numerical tabulation of data. I'd rather say "Nothing in the game can catch the Spad13 in level flight at 10,000 ft" [just making this up btw] rather than just give airspeeds at various altitudes, etc. Bottom line is I need to keep this project in the "sweet spot" of my skills. I am not an engineer and if I try to approach this too much that way, all of you will reject the project as fraudulent plus I will not enjoy it and would probably stop doing it because it would not be fun. I love to dogfight and if I can keep the project centered on that I think that offers the best chance for success. My first report will be the spuds as I have flown them the most. I will post my report, wait for feedback and amend the write-up accordingly. Naturally, your comments, criticism, etc. are most welcome! Stay tuned!

Thanks everyone for the kind support. I need the encouragement as this is a pretty big undertaking. I'm not going to reply to your posts much more because I want YOUR input and don't want to litter up this thread with my "thanks for that" responses. So, I hope my sincere THANK YOU will suffice. SirMike: Thanks for the heads-up about the Hispano-Suiza. I'll get that fixed. Vasco: Your comments are exactly in line with my purpose. Rate of climb tests are going to be a bit more challenging than with Aces High as there is no "auto-climb autopilot" as with AH (at least that I know of). In AH, it was a simple matter to take off, click on auto-climb and time how long it gets to 10,000 ft. In OFF, that is going to be more difficult. Any advice on ways to go about that? cptroyce: Thank you very much. Yes, any historical data you have will certainly strengthen the data I've put out there already. It's funny, while gathering this data, I would go to five websites and get five different "specifications" on obvious stuff like "Number of aircraft produced", "Ceiling", etc. I ended up erring on the side of the documentation that ships with OFF as I figure at least that represents the aircraft in game better than numbers that differed by large amounts. In reality, "historical data" is not that important for the purpose of this project anyway but what little I have I'd like for it to be accurate. So, please keep the comments coming and PLEASE, those of you that are sticklers for accuracy, please email me a "correction list" of what you find wrong and I'll certainly fix it. <S>! -mark

In my view, the Over Flanders Fields "trinity" (aka must haves) should be in this order: 1. TrackIR. If you don't have this, get TrackIR5 instead of TrackIR4. It's worth the extra cost. 2. A forcefeedback stick (Al has mentioned the only two I know of still sold new). 3. ButtKicker. OFF is such a sensual game (visual and touch) that you need tools that enhance those senses. TrackIR is discussed in geat depth here at the forum so I have nothing more to add to all that. FF is next, as Al nicely illustrates. These WW1 crates shake and vibrate like crazy. You really need to feel that in addition to feeling "the stall" before it comes. Without FF, I am not nearly as able to "ride the stall" as without it. An essential piece of gear. The Butt Kicker is a device that connects to your chair and rattles the chair based on low frequency sounds coming out of your sound card. It's basically another form of forcefeedback and works really well. I bought this thing about three years ago for about $60 and never really used it much until I began playing OFF. Let me tell you, when you bring that Spud around for landing and pull the throttle back to idle and the stick and chair are both rumbling, it is a fantastic experience! I wouldn't spend a bunch of money on one of these things but if you can get one for under $100 it's definitely worth it.

I've spent a couple of hours "target shooting" in CFS3-QC. Finally inspired me so much I had to go out and shoot my pistol some. I started out taking a D7 against eight E3s. What a blast! They are all over you. It was harder than I thought. Course you can extend away easily and get away from them then come back with some alt and make them climb up to you. Lots of fun! I finally progressed to an SE5a against four D7s or SE5a's. I switched off between the SE5a and the D7 myself. That is a pretty good challenge. Try to do it using as little ammo as possible. A great little warmup before going off to war (i.e. the Campaign). <S>!

You already have an instance of TrackIR running (which you've minimized on the process bar. When you double click the one in the system tray, it is going to error out because of the one you already have minimized.

Hauksbee, It is running in your system tray. If you look in your lower right corner of your screen, you should see a little "peace symbol" looking round brown thing with gold lines on it. That is your TIR5 software. Simply double click it and you're in business. You actually did the right thing by telling it to start at bootup. Having it minimize to the system tray is the right way to do it too.

Do you delete the "Get AOL for free" shortcut that software installs create on your desktop?

By popular demand, here is a new version of the command summary without the CFS3 commands. I increased the font by 2 point too. Hopefully it's a bit easier to read. Sorry I'm just now getting back to this. Enjoy! -mark

That's great to hear. Thanks for clearing that up. So, I assume because OFF installs in it's own path, you can then safely delete the CFS3 path. That makes sense. Sorry to try and complicate this!

That's a great question Voss. I wish I could answer this adequately. Hopefully the "pros" will show up here and straighten me out. For sure, OFF needs the cfs3.exe and cfsconfig.exe files but I'm not sure if anything else is needed. You cannot simply go to "Add/Remove Programs" and uninstall CFS3 as that would delete these files which definitely won't do. You could always experiment. I do know it's possible to run OFF and not have CFS "officially" installed (i.e. showing up in "Add/Remove Programs"). I'm just not sure how to go about setting it up that way. Here's what I might try: 1. Make a copy of the "c:\Program Files\Microsoft\cfs3" (or whatever it's called) tree. 2. Use "Add/Remove Programs" to delete CFS3. 3. Delete the tree "c:\Program Files\Microsoft\cfs3" 4. Rename your backup copy of the tree to "c:\Program Files\Microsoft\cfs3" That puts everything back that would be needed by OFF (unless there is CFS3 stuff somewhere in "Documents and Settings"; not sure about that) and since you didn't uninstall OFF, it should find everything. Hopefully if there are files deleted by the CFS uninstall that OFF needs, OFF would complain and give you a hint of what it is looking for so you know what else you need to preserve before uninstalling CFS3. Obviously some experimenting going on here. See if that works. I don't have CFS 3.0 so I have no way of verifying what I've said, I'm just logically thinking it through. If you totally screw this up, you can simply delete everything and start from scratch. It's worth trying. I have been telling all my friends who are flirting with buying OFF to make sure they get CFS 3.1 rather than 3.0 because with 3.1, you simply install OFF and it will prompt you to put your CFS disk in the drive for verification (and I suppose to copy off the cfs3.exe, etc.) and it never actually installs CFS. I really like that and would not want to have to install CFS first. If you have 3.0, you have to patch it up to 3.1 before you install OFF which is a bit of a pain. If you're shopping for CFS anyway, you may as well limit your search to 3.1 to avoid the hassle. If you choose to try this, please let us know how it goes. I'm sure other CFS 3.0 users are interested in this too.

No, no. Sorry. You missed my point. That's exactly how it looked on my computer too. I just "remember" it looking really good because prior to this time (~1991), flight simulator games were mostly wireframe vector graphics. This looked FANTASTIC compared to that! It's a bit shocking seeing it now and trying to remember how I saw it then. That very Red Baron game was what hooked me on computer flight games, an affliction I have yet to recover from! It really had a lot going for it. The graphics and flight model were very basic but the historical aspects of the game were very well designed and lots of effort was put into that game. The software manual was wonderful. I printed it off and have it right here on my bookshelf. Still get that thing down and read it from time to time. Of course then, RB2 then RB3D came out some years later and raised the bar by a whole bunch. Still, RB1 was a great game for its time.

Wow! I remember Red Baron looking SOOOO much better than that! :) If I had seen OFF back then I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

Great thread here! Thank you Bullethead for such detail on the Spad 13. You have inspired me to begin flying it seriously. Since studying Bullethead's research, I have been flying (over and over) QC USA-94th dogfight mission. This gives you the Spad 13 as one of your choices. I've been choosing one wingman against five enemy. At first I was selecting the Alb 2 and have recently been going up against the Fok DR1. The challenge is great even with the Alb and after I began to get used to the Spad, I started to enjoy it. In fact, in Aces High, I fly the P51D mostly because I have always tended to be more of a BnZ type flyer rather than TnB. I have discovered that flying the Spad is very similar to flying the pony. The few times that I've flown the Spad 7, I find it very similar to the P51B (similar to the P51D but less power). I had been flying the Se5 (definitely a BnZ aircraft) but am finding the Spad to be formidable. I guess if it worked for Eddie it must be alright huh? So far flying this mission, I am able to clear the skies of enemy and safely land something like one out of ten attempts. [Don't laugh at me now!] Most of the time I get two or three and either run out of ammo or spin and hit the ground. I haven't gotten shot down very often, usually kill myself due to a stall or a head-on. I have yet to be able to keep my dopey wingman alive as he tries to TnB that Spad and gets himself killed in short order. Sheesh! I try to give him commands to join me in the extend but he ignores me. Maybe that command doesn't work in QC? Whatever. The DR1 is definitely a harder kill as they are faster and can catch you when you try to extend whereas the Alb has a harder time there. One thing that seems funny to me is when I'm able to knock one or two of them off, the others seem to get spooked and back off. I can't tell if that's my imagination or not but it does make me laugh how the climb up and tend to move away. Really enjoying this thread! Thanks all.

Sorry if this subject is buried somewhere here in the forum. Haven't bothered to look much. I've been to a couple of bookstores, on Amazon and the library looking for a good book on WW1 that I could read while enjoying OFF. It doesn't have to be about aviation, in fact, I'm looking for a book that covers the entire war in somewhat of a light read. Lots of pictures, etc. would be great! :) Sometime ago, I read "A World Undone" by G.J. Meyer which is a great read but a little long. I'm looking for something that will really put me in the spirit as I fly these missions. I figure with all the bright energetic chaps we have lurking around here someone can guide a poor ignorant soul. Suggestions are most welcome. <S>! -mark

It's not an easy thing to line up a shot when your view is dancing around because of TrackIR. If you have a programmable stick (e.g. CH FighterStick), here is a trick that I do: The FighterStick has a "pinky button" right were your little finger wraps around the bottom part of the stick. It's very natural to press that button and still maintain good control of the stick at the same time. I call that button my "Pre-fire Button." Here is what it does: Press and hold it down -- 1. Centers TrackIR 2. Turns off TrackIR (you are left looking straight down the business end of the aircraft) 3. Zooms the view in a couple of clicks (so you get a nice closeup looking down the pipper). Release the button -- 1. Zooms back out the same number of clicks that the "Press and hold" function zoomed in 2. Turns TrackIR back on (effectively leaving things just as they were before you pressed the button to begin with) I use this button when I'm "in the saddle" and ready to fire. It holds the view nice and steady and gives me a nice closeup of the site picture. Also, I have two other buttons programmed on my throttle to zoom in and out with and I can use those buttons to further refine my zoom the way I like it while lining up my shot. If I am looking at a deflection shot or some other quick burst of fire, I may choose not to use the "Pre-fire Button" at all. It's amazing how natural it feels. It's very much like when I take my pistol to the shooting range and just before I fire, I get down in my stance, adjust my breathing, slide my finger onto the trigger. Here, my Pre-fire button is akin to holding my breath and getting into the firing stance. I started doing this about four years ago when playing Aces High and have simply translated the concept to all other games. This technique has really improved my gunnery in flight games where aiming and shooting are critical.

We surely did! I have the sore legs to prove it! It was too much really to do in that short of time. I would love to have spent that entire time in Greece or Rome but since that was my first time on European soil, it was good to get in all those places. Next time, if there ever is a next time, we'll probably just do one place for two weeks. Yes, the weather was fantastic. It rained one time for about 30 minutes, right as we were getting off the train in London. I looked at my wife at that point and said "Well, that's what everybody warned us about!" But then the rain stopped, the sun came out and that was the end of it. Totally beautiful the entire time. I can't believe you guys are actually looking at those pictures. Ha ha! I was almost embarrased to post them. I figured who would want to look at someone else's vacation pictures. ??? There are a hundred or so hits on that page (mostly friends and family). Pretty amazing! Thanks much. And thanks all for the good reading references. I'm going to keep my eye out for these. The online book (http://richthofen.com/rickenbacker/) "Fighting the Flying Circus" by Eddie Rickenbacker is a wonderful read. I found that ten or so years ago when I was playing RB3D. I've read it a couple of times. Even printed the whole thing out once so I could bind it and have it while traveling, etc. I would consider that book mandatory reading for everyone who loves this stuff as we all do.

Thanks OvS, I've been around, just haven't posted much. Course, we were gone for a couple of weeks on my first ever European vacation (Greece, Rome, Switzerland, Paris, London). Loved that! If you are REALLY bored, here are pictures: http://snomhf.exofire.net/europe.html Yes, I've heard of that book. I'll have to check it out. Love Elliot White Springs too. Good ole South Carolina boy! Thanks so much!

I would use a banana in a tub of butter if all I could afford was either a joystick or TrackIR!

I doubt it's Vista in this case as I've heard of this sort of thing with XP users as well. There must be a power issue of some sort with Vasco's Belkin hub. He says OFF is the only game that exhibits this behavior. I have a "homemade" controller that OFF refused to see at all when none of the other games I play have any problems at all with. After much head scratching, I realized that the three axes I had plugged into my six axis controller board were using ports 0, 2, 3 (thus skipping port 1). Out of lack of anything else to try, I moved the connector from port 3 to port 1 and suddenly OFF was happily seeing my controller. For some reason OFF does not like it when you skip a pin. That is VERY strange! Vasco's Belkin hub issue reminds me of that. FYI: CH Products recommends that you use a dedicated PCI USB card rather than the built-in USB ports or a self-powered USB hub. Even if you use a hub (maybe like in Vasco's case), you still have to plug the hub into a USB port on your computer and if that port is one of the built-in ports, you can still have trouble. CH gear is pretty rugged stuff and requires good solid power to function well. A good quality power supply plays the most important role in all this too since all power initially comes from there. It is my opinion that the TrackIR device is just as dependent on good power (if not more so) as CH gear. I recommend you buy one or two quality 4-port USB cards and plug all your CH and TrackIR gear into that and leave the built-in ports for non-important stuff like printers, mice, UPS, etc. If after obeying the above stated "recommendations", you still have controllers suddenly disappearing, you may want to check Control Panel-->System-->Hardware-->Device Manager-->Universal Serial Bus controllers-->USB Root Hub-->Properties-->Power Management and make sure this setting is UNCHECKED: "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" Having this option checked with CH controllers or TrackIR can definitely cause problems. I just turn that off on all my USB Root hubs as the power saved is negligible anyway. I have no gaming experience with Vista so you may have to search around a bit to discover how to manage your USB ports.

I'll probably update my guide sometime in the future once I start using the V5 software myself. :blush2: It was still pretty buggy when I installed it a while back and just decided to let it cook a little longer before I tried it again.

Or you could go this route: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/p...5&cl=us,en# ...probably a little overkill for this game but it does look interesting.

I used a hot glue gun and just put a spot on each leg. Hot glue is nice because you can easily peel it off if you need to.

borton, That's more than likely video card configuration issues and not TrackIR. If you haven't already done so, be sure to read through the OFF FAQ on configuring your VID card. Also, if you do some searches here in the forum, you will find long threads discussing VID issues. It's well worth a little use of the search function. TrackIR actually makes a pretty good video card test tool. Nothing taxes a VC more than quickly changing the view. Anomalies as you describe can be addressed by fine-tuning your graphics card. It may not be possible to get rid of all that stuff completely but with some experimenting you should be able to improve things quite a bit. I still get anomalies a little bit when moving my TrackIR view, especially when my plane is sitting on the ground. Good luck -mark