HomeBoy

Looks great Rickity! I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves this sort of thing. I get a lot of rolling eyes from my wife over things like this.

Yes, you should reboot after adjusting services. That way you know for sure that the services you stop will not try to come back. I recommend that once you get the game up and running (via FSAutoStart), hit the "windows" key which allows you to get to the desktop while the game is running. Right click on the task bar and bring up TaskManager. Check how many processes you see running and look through that list and make sure all the ones you stopped really did stop. The FSAutoStart command window will also display in red or yellow any processes that it has trouble with. You should work to not have any yellow or red lines show up there. If you are running XP, you are doing good if you get your process count down below 30. I'm getting about 26 and am very happy with that. Things like firewalls and antivirus programs are hard to stop (and you probably shouldn't stop them anyway) and I also have my UPS monitor, TrackIR processes which of course, I don't want to stop. Otherwise I could get my process count down to close to 20. That would be really sweet. The big processes you want to make sure and suspend with FSAutoStart are things like printers, auto-downloaders, java monitors, sidebars, etc. Those are programs you want running while you're "using the computer" but want to stop while you're doing important stuff (gaming.) :yes: You mention frame rates. FRs are a bit tricky. You may not necessarily see a lot of difference in FRs but get smoother performance anyway. Getting your FRs up noticeably is more a matter of tweaking your graphics settings and the graphics card settings. Cleaning up processes is definitely going to give you a smoother ride though so it's worth fooling with. You'll have fewer CTDs and stutters for sure. Congratulations on getting this far! Pretty soon you'll be ready to graduate to AlacrityPC.

Hi Dutch, Yes, I tried Enditiall one time. It definitely gets the job done but it's pretty dated at this point. AlcrityPC is a lot more powerful and feature filled. One thing I really like about AlcrityPC is it shuts down the desktop completely which FSAutoStart nor Enditall (as I recall) did not do. I'd say give it a try and if you don't like it you can always delete it.

Great to hear Birddog! I've been playing with AlacrityPC for the last couple of hours. It's much better than FSAutoStart. I'm down to 26 running processes from 55! That's fantastic. Course, it takes a bit of trial-and-error to get down that much. One thing I noticed right away is how much faster it is than FSAutoStart in terms of killing off the process and then starting them back up. I've officially deleted FSAutoStart from my system now. AlacrityPC is definitely the way to go!

Well duh! I've just been informed that Ken Salter has not disappeared but is back (as of March 2008) with a sequel to FSAutoStart called AlacrityPC. Where the heck have I been? Sheesh! I've looked at the user manual and it looks really good but haven't tried it out yet. It truly is a sequel to FSAutoStart but provides some automatic configuration, ties directly into Black Viper's web site, and supports Vista. I can't wait to try it out. The basics of my configuration guide are not exactly obsolete though all references to FSAutoStart certainly are. Expect an updated guide soon. I certainly recommend trying AlacrityPC as it looks to be everything FSAutoStart is and more. Nice to know Ken is still around. This is as good a free program as you'll ever find. Ken's web site: http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/ BTW, his site has a "Donate" button. I always wanted to donate for FSAutoStart but his link had been broken for a long time. Once I'm sure AlacrityPC is going to work out as I'm sure it will, I'm planning to drop $20 in his account for his hard work. I hope you may follow suit. It really is worth it! Regards -mark

Maybe you should read the TrackIR Setup Guide

My original plan was to do that. However, when I looked at my list, it consisted of two parts. The first part is the OS services which Black Viper deals with very well. The other part is programs that are going to be different on everybody's machine. For example, I have services for my UPS, sound card things (volume control, sound console, etc.), various services dealing with my video card and particular monitor type. Then there are services that are unique to my motherboard. None of those are anything that would probably help you much. It's not as daunting as it may sound though. Just work through Viper's "safe" list and that will cover the OS stuff. As for the others, set them all to "stop & restart" (except for ones you know you don't want to lose like UPS, etc.) and see what happens. Turn them back on one by one as needed. It's really not that bad. Worth it too. You'll have you a lean and mean machine when you're all done. You'll be able to brag to all the other folks on your block saying to them "My PC can beat up your PC!" Good luck. Let us know how you do. (How many processes you started out with and how many you end up with). BTW, that little TrackIR priority trick really works too. You outta give that a go as well.

I absolutely loathed the DH2 in the RB3D days. It was stupid looking, slow as molasses, horrible to drive, and fodder for anything with a gun, maybe even a rock (just finished watching Braveheart on TV ). Ok, I've made a rule for myself that I am not going to start a campaign (I've started one twice now and quit for several reasons, mostly technical problems) for two months while I play QC exclusively and spend at least an hour or two in every plane in the game. Naturally I started with the D7 so I could build up some positive encouragement while I'm getting used to things. That was a blast! After that, I thought "I should just get this DH2 bathtub thing out of the way now while I'm in such a good mood." I gotta tell you, this thing is a hoot! Now, I don't mean to dis RB3D here. It's just that it's 2009 and that was 1999. The main difference (besides the truly beautiful graphics) is TrackIR and a honest-to-goodness rudder axis. I had rudder pedals back then but RB3D did not support a rudder axis so you had to configure your pedals to send out the keeboard commands for left and right rudder. That was most inadequate! Force feedback makes a huge difference in this game too as you can stay right on the edge as the rattle lets you know just where that edge is! Fantastic! The key to flying the DH2 (IMHO all the WW1 birds for that matter, especially the early ones) is good rudder control. In fact, my observation has been that rudder gets more and more important the further back you go in time. When I fly the F-15 in LockOn, I hardly touch the rudder at all, a little more in the P-51D Mustang, and almost constantly in the WW1 crates. I was excited when I read a confirmation of that in Wolfgang Langewiesche's "Stick And Rudder." Gosh I'm such a nerd! I built a QC dogfight with a DH2 late model and a wingman going against five Alb II's (veterans). I crashed on take-off a couple of times, spun it into the ground more than a couple of times, and got shot down more times than that. I am so good now at creating a new pilot, I don't even have to look at the screen while I'm doing it! With each flight, I got more and more hooked. This thing is really fun! To stay on the "edge", you have got to coordinate rudder just right and pay very close attention to attitude, airspeed, etc. It requires total concentration and all the piloting skills I have and then some! When I finally got away to take a break, I told my wife "This DH2 is more like real flying than anything I've done in years!" She just gave me that blank look of course, but I digress. Eventually, I had a flight where my wingman and I cleared the skies of nasty Albs and I was in a pool of sweat. I had to take a break a few minutes and towel off! BTW, I believe this is the best AI I have played against in a computer game. I have been playing Aces High for some ten years now playing against other humans so I haven't faced AI all that much. However, I have played games where the developers, probably sensitive to all the crap they get about how bad the AI is, make them so hard that they do all this quite impossible stuff (magic turns, zoom climbs, etc) and you can't beat them. My hat's off to the OFF guys for a super job on these AI. I haven't seen them do anything impossible yet. I do laugh though at how they want to stand on their tail and how easily they fall for the scissors and being jinked into hitting the ground. But heh, that's pretty impressive to get AI good enough that they put up the kind of fight they do. I think the AI is even better in 1.30 though I still prefer fighting veterans over aces as they seem to do fewer stupid things, especially at low altitude. (I tend to fly five feet off the deck.) Man, I'm really rambling, sorry about that. I'll quit now. More reports to come. I am really getting hooked on this game! -hb

While I'm waiting for my copy of BHaH to arrive, I've been dragging out all my old manuals, maps, etc. from my days with Red Baron I (yup, still have the diskettes, maps, great historical document from that old thing) and RB3D. I thought you might enjoy a little trip down memory lane as well. Here are a couple of models (a Nieuport 17 and Spad 13) that I built while I was flying with the Lafayette Escadrille squadron of RB3D. One of our squad mates skinned all the planes for us using the paint scheme I used in these models. These planes are currently protecting my 4 as I fly. Hope you enjoy. Can't wait to join you in OFF! Another squad mate was kind enough to make tee shirts for all of us. I regret that I did not take pictures of this shirt before it was retired as a shining rag (it's 10 years old now). Front view of shirt. Used to read "1917" where the hole exists now. Back view of shirt

Thanks for spotting that. I've fixed it. Also, the idea of getting rid of the cfs3 commands is under consideration. I mainly left them in there as I was afraid if I deleted them all, people would tell me some were also OFF commands and I'd have to add them back. So, more laziness than anything else. I guess the card is maturing enough now that I can safely get rid of them. That might allow me to bump the font size up a bit too which would be nice. Keep the suggestions coming!

Glad this appears to be useful. Thanks much for the sticky too. Hopefully guys can get their TrackIRs all tuned up now! Sure Gremlin, have at it. You're welcome to reference any of my stuff anywhere. The only thing I ask is you don't copy the material itself (only links to it) because I sometimes rewrite parts of things and I would like to know that everybody will see any updates I might make. You might want to pay a visit to my website too just to see if there are other things you might find useful. I've been updating it for several years so there's a bunch of stuff there. Enjoy. Thanks for the kind words folks! -mark

The tips & cheats has been a most informative read. I have plowed through it half a dozen times at this point. Thank you! Something I've been meaning to ask about is the F12 command. I cannot find any reference to that anywhere either in the game or any doc anywhere other than the tips & cheats. It does not appear to do anything (at least for me) in the game either. When I first read about it I thought that was great because in other games I play, I really like having a joystick button I can press that I've programmed to override TrackIR and pop into a "gunsite view" for close in combat. I really wish this F12 command worked as it is perfect. The closest thing I have found is F4 (View Forward) but the problem is it is a "cycle" command and you have to cycle your way to the "Iron site" view which doesn't work at all in what I want to do. Anyway, thanks for any insight on this and thanks again for the great tips & cheats! -mark

There are several meanings I suppose depending on where you are from. If you are from New York City or San Francisco, I'm told it means you are a homo-sexual. I don't know that for sure but a guy once told me that (in a rather unpleasant manner). If you are from the south (US), as I am, it simply means you like to stay around your home (i.e., don't get out much). That's certainly the meaning I intended. My wife loves to travel and "see the world." Me, I like nothing better than to go out in my back woods, sit on a stump and smoke a good cigar. To me, that makes me a "homeboy." I've been using this handle since about 1995 so I've heard most all the remarks by now. I figure if it ever starts bothering me, I'm losing my security in who I am. Sort of like that Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue."

Hi Rickity, It is my opinion that the HotKeys in the TIR software should be changed to something that is not used in the game you are playing. Since the TIR software provides the ability to create different profiles, you can easily use different hotkeys for each game. I set my hotkeys this way: Pause - ALT + CTL + Y Center - ALT + CTL + X Precision - ALT + CTL + Z which cause no conflicts with any of the games I play. Since I program all my keys in my controllers, it doesn't matter how complicated the key sequence is. My controllers have never complained about having to send "ALT + CTL + X" If you don't have joystick buttons to spare for TIR, you could easily find single letter commands to change your hotkey to. For example, you could use "B" (Brakes) for your TIR Center command since OFF doesn't use that command. You might, just to be completely safe, want to go into the key assignment section of the game and delete that assignment for Brakes just in the unlikely event that it could cause some conflict.

Please be so kind as to identify which commands I have incorrectly labeled as OFF commands that should be CFS3 only commands. I have read carefully the Tips & Cheats (the primary motivation for doing the card in the first place) and the card is my best effort to sort them out. Most of the organization of the commands have come from flying the game and testing if the command did anything and labeling it appropriately. I freely admit that I may have made some mistakes (Povoloski found a couple) which is one of the reasons I posted this in the first place. I do believe the list to be 100% accurate otherwise I would change or put in question what I'm not sure about. It is my desire that this card be as accurate as possible. My original intent was to completely leave off the CFS3 commands but there seemed to be only a few so I decided to leave them in and just make them "red." Please give me specifics if you know something is wrong. Thanks much! -mark

Some time ago, I started a document and put it up on my web site on how to set up TrackIR. I haven't done anything with it in a while but your interest as well as others has motivated me to get back to it. Expect some significant updates soon. Hopefully there is material there that can help you and other TIR users get the most out of the device. Feel free to email me if you have specific questions too as I'm happy to assist where I can. I wish you the best in setting up your TIR. -mark

Fantastic Polovski! Thank you. Fixed! Keep em' coming. I want to get this right!

Fixed. Thanks again OlPaint for the eagle eye!

Thank you sir! I'll be sure and fix that. Funny really. I saw that, marked it as something I needed to fix, then promptly forgot about it.

I have a new version! I found a few commands I left off. Also, I regrouped things a bit to make it a little more readable. The file is in the same place, all you need to do is click the link again. I'm pretty satisfied with this one so hopefully there won't be any more revisions any time soon.

Hi Mac, I just spoke with Gil. It was good to catch up. I told him I had been in contact with you. He says "hello." The fellow from Chicago is Dragon, real name Jeff. Thank you for posting the picture. I saved that off so I wouldn't lose it. Take care! I'm enjoying this game! -mark

Sure Gremlin, but you may want to wait a week or so until we're sure it is accurate. It is very much a beta at this point and sure to see some revisions. I'm hoping some feedback will come in that will increase my confidence in it's accuracy. Glad people are finding this useful. Please let me know what needs correcting. I'm the most secure about the correctness of the keys themselves as I copied that directly from the files. What I'm least sure of is what should be red and what should be black. I haven't done much with bombers yet in this game so I'm not completely sure how much those bombing commands and multi-engine commands should go "red."The categories I've placed the commands in could possibly use some alterations too. Any help on this is most welcome.

I've only been playing QC so far as I'm still in the "configuration" stages with OFF. Sure is wonderful to be back flying ww1 crates again too! I don't think I'm gonna miss RB3D at all! I am wondering about the AI though. I have everything set up for DiD (something like 110 realism) as far as I can tell. I've been setting up myself and a wingman going up against 4 or 6 Ace AI's. They seem to hit the ground a lot. It appears I can get them to chase me, dive low to the ground and scissors them and cause them to stall and hit the ground. As an experiment, last night, I was able to cause all four of them to die that way without ever firing a shot at them. I'm an ok dogfighter but I'm not THAT good! Something must be configured wrong. Is there anything more that I need to do other than set enemy to "Ace?" Thanks -mark

An update here! I've been flying QC in a Pfalz D.III against four "Vet" Spad XIIIs. Just as Polovski suggested, they are offering a much better fight than the Aces. I've got the sweaty palms to prove it!

Hi Steve, Sorry about the crappy quality of the screen shots. My originals were much better but got degraded pretty good when I uploaded them to Photobucket. I don't believe I made any changes to those last two pages but I am not entirely sure. I have changed so many things, I'm not quite sure what the defaults are any more. As for using "CFS3.exe." Yup, been there, done that! :yes: I had the same question you did. In fact, my first attempt on this was to use "OFFManager.exe" because that is actually the program you call of course. Apparently, OFFManager is just a wrapper that calls CFS3 because that is what you need to use in the vVidia CP. I know from experimenting. You can trust me on that. Herr Prop, Thanks for the tip on how to set the max FPS. I was looking for how to do that too! I know you weren't talking to me exactly but I appreciate it anyway! <S>!