JediMaster

A competition to replace the F-5s is currently underway, although I forget where it is. I think they've got it narrowed down to 3 possibilities, all Euro designs I think, no US or Eastern.

LOL, in EAW reversing your roll or rudder was sufficient cause to enter an immediate death spin! Very touchy FM there, ironically it reminded me of its predecessor PAW which also had touchy spins several years earlier.

I will say the sim I get spins in most often though is Il-2, even in planes and situations I completely disagree should've resulted in said spin. It's like either gravity or mass is inaccurately accounted for there and as a result even very heavy planes will dance like a paper plane in a strong wind when it departs. The ones I've gotten into in TKs sims, while granted are far less frequent, at least feel more "right."

I'm getting sick of all the coverage of this on the local news over the past several days. It's pretty much non-stop. Turn on the TV and they're saying "and the trainer is still dead, more late-breaking updates next!!"

No, camo paint will not hide a plane from a satellite or a camera on a plane, they're too good for that. It's more about the Mk 1 eyeball and hiding from planes flying above you. This scheme indicates they expect it to spend more time over land than over water. However, I can't recall many that have just a pale tan with such a dark brown and green. I don't know what part of the world has terrain that would blend with that scheme, but I don't want to even visit!

I don't mean the employers are having a great time, I'm just saying those that ARE hiring have the pick of the litter compared to 10 years ago when you could always find a better offer from another company.

Why would a maritime plane have camo like that? It seems out of place.

It looks more like it's giving birth to one...

I think it may be nvidia users only that get it.

Considering the ferry pod on the outboard wing pylon, I'd say this plane is taking a LOOOOOOOONG trip. Still, I've never seen a tank that big on an A-10 before, I thought they just AAR'd to get places.

Oh, it was $20? I missed seeing it (since gogamer is blocked at work) and never saw the price. I probably would've picked it up for that. Oh well, I'm sure it will either be on a similar sale again or they'll have a limited time deal with free planes with purchase or something like that in the future. I'm hardly hurting for sims, my FE2 install has been mostly lonely.

Also, don't forget that with things the way they are now people are taking jobs outside their career field and below their previous wages just to bring home a paycheck. It's basically an "employer's market" right now with them able to pick and choose and still have no trouble filling slots.

Let's not forget Cuba is only 90 miles from the USA, but we gave it up almost 100 years ago. Granted it is independent and not a Spanish possession again, but I don't know if the Falklands' inhabitants really desire independence. At any rate, their desires should take precedence over others.

Too bad they didn't mess with weapons as MGs are so weak in this game compared to the cannons, though. Unless you're flying against the gas cans with wings in the Pacific, I find I stay away from planes without cannon and as soon as I use it up I RTB, regardless of how much MG I have left because it's so ineffective by comparison.

I thought that happened when you switched the rendered in-game from hardware T&L to just hardware? Something like that?

Yeah, that's your best bet if you don't have a full throttle to use for it. I know someone with a Saitek Evo and he uses the slider for it just fine in BS.

Considering they started out with Il-2's engine before switching halfway thru to a new engine, I'm not surprised it gives that impression. However, an engine is just the foundation on which to start. A great team can take a so-so engine to great heights while a poor one can take a great engine and make it flounder.

...and I now have a headache from reading that.

Shimmering is usually an anisotropic filtering issue. Try increasing it to 4x or 8x.

Frankly, it's a sin of most sims that we can get multiple kills EVERY mission we fly. The problem is usually the AI won't allow for more realistic "1 guy got damaged then everyone went home" scenarios...they come at you with death in their eyes and it's you or them.

Actually, that looks more like a MacGruber job.

Isn't anyone going to make a joke about him getting thru the pearly gates and declaring he's in charge now?

See the thread Dave started about Feb 2010 file updates. Every 3rd party plane needs the .ini adjusted, apparently.

Sure, the best freeware modders do offer great support for their works. I'm just saying they're not obligated to like those that charge are.

I've been flying 1946 almost since release. Sure the game has its faults, and there are plenty of arguments out there about just which are really faults and which are "accurate", but if you want to fly literally hundreds of types of WWII fighters in pretty much every theater of the war from before it started to a fictional 1946 year from western front to eastern front to mediterranean to pacific there's no other choice. Other sims cover one area or another, but none cover ALL of them. It's a great bargain and unlikely to be replaced any time soon as the sequel in the works is starting with just the Battle of Britain and will likely NEVER cover everything il-2 does now.

As has been mentioned, payware implies a level of polish and support. Many modders go "free" because, like FC, once they release it they're really not interested in helping every drunk simmer get it working right on a Sunday afternoon. With the free ones, the community find fixes and contributes tips amongst itself. If the modder wants to revisit it later, they can with no pressure.

Once you charge, as Eric has pointed out, you need to be responsible for your work. If the game gets a patch that breaks your mod, you better release an update, fix, or workaround to your customers unless you want to shoot yourself in the face.

Let's be honest, some payware has been in such a poor state and so poorly supported that even if it were free it would only get mediocre marks. Some freeware is so good and the modders so responsive to changes and bug fixes that even if they charged it would be a good deal.

I personally haven't bought any payware for the simple reason that I barely get any simming time in and I can't justify it to myself. I have bought all of TK's sims because I know if I don't they could stop coming as TK will have to make something else to make a living. However, to spend money on only a plane/family of planes or a terrain or even packaged groups of missions/planes when I KNOW I won't get more than a couple of hours in playing it doesn't make any fiscal sense. Also, unlike a commercial product, I've seen that payware modders aren't any more or less reliable than freeware ones ie if I don't support them it likely won't make them disappear and if I do I still run the risk of them disappearing anyway.

I have most of the freeware mods on this site, but I honestly haven't spent that much time with any of them. I have a few hours with ODS, a couple with SF2V's A&G exp, a few with NF4+... The only one I really used a lot was NF1-4 as I flew that MP with a friend, but it was just the limited MP style of playing. So I try the free ones, spend some amount of time, and often never get back to them (I only spent a few with OTC before it was outdated by patches) before they get obsolete and I'm trying the next release/mod. The majority of my time has been spent with TK's stock releases.

So just like it would be silly to buy sixpacks of beer and only drink 1 or 2 before throwing the rest out because they got too old, I think it would be silly for me to buy payware. Again, this isn't anything against the concept, it's merely a case of value...for my circumstance, I won't get enough value from them so I abstain. For people that fly every night, or only fly TK's sims (I know many here unlike me are in that boat), spending a few bucks to add on to your major time sink is a no-brainer.

The only planes I ever would've considered buying payware were the F-22 and F-14. However, once both were released freeware and I happily installed them...I discovered I didn't really spend that much time with them, and if I'd bought them I'd have experienced remorse over it. I'm sure I'll fly TK's F-14 in his upcoming SF2 release more than I flew the modded one, but even then I bet it won't be THAT much!