OlPaint01

Rabu I found the 'Mine.xca' and 'CFS3.xca' files that contain the joystick and rudder pedal devices settings as well as the keyboard commands and the names that they are assigned to in the sim. The files are located in C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder. It appears that both the BRAKES and PARKING_BRAKES have lines in the <Mappings><Device Type="Keyboard"><GameMode Name="Player"> section of both 'Mine.xca' and CFS3.xca files. . <Key ID="B" Action="BRAKES"/> . . <Key ID="B" Mod="Control+Shift" Action="PARKING_BRAKES"/> So why wouldn't the Parking Brakes toggle on and off with the Ctrl+Shft+B keystroke? I think I need to look somewhere else to find if the parking brakes can be enabled in each A/C since the keyboard command is definately activated in the keyboard commands list. Can anybody help me understand what is going on here? OlPaint01

AFAIR Rabu and Chrispdm1 are working with Shredward to update the "Western Front Map 1915-1916" in the CombatACE OFF download section with the locations of all the Squdron/Jasta aerodromes on the map. I have not heard a status of the project progress in a couple of weeks. OlPaint

Rabu and UncleAl and maybe Winder too Do you know if the "Wheel Brakes/Parking Brakes" control is hard-coded and completely disabled in OFF:BHaH? Or could I re-enable that control? Wheel Brakes command is 'B' in CFS3 and Parking Brakes is 'Ctrl + Shft + B' in CFS3. I am not even concerned about the Left or Right Wheel Brakes since WWI craft did not have them anyway. I seriously am interested in simulating wheel chokes by associating it with the Parking Brakes command. I think is would be outstanding to be able to run up the engine on the flight-line after 'E' Engine Start but before takeoff to tune the engine RPM to with the mixture controls for maximum altitude as Bletchley suggests. In actuallity the mechanics would have really done this in the hanger the night before the pilot stepped into the cockpit for the morning mission. Then Chokes Away and off we go... Of course, we never touch the Mixture Controls again. BTW, I have taught myself how to restart a flooded engine at high altitude at start of QC and is takes only a few key strokes. I tap the 'Ctrl + S' command to simulate keeping the prop spinning in the slipstream. I hit the 'Ctrl + Shft + F6' to set mixture to Idle Cutoff. Then I tap the 'Ctrl + =' Mixture Increase command repeatly until the engine starts to pick up - then a couple more taps to adjust the mixture for max RPM on the TACH. Usually 10 to 15 taps are all that is needed to get the engine running at full power at 15,000 ft. Easy Peasy... OlPaint01

I just had a couple more thoughts about pre-flight setups... Siggi suggests we should not use AutoTrim if we fly full "Did." We should set trims before takeoff as if the airplane riggers did their job on the ground before take off and never adjust the trim controls while airbourne. This seems pretty staight forward. Bletchley suggests we should not use AutoMixture because the carburators on many of the WWI A/C had no such control devices. We should set mixture for max performance at altitude while on the ground as if the engine mechanics did their job before take off and never touch the mixture adjustment keys while airbourne. But does anyone know how I might enable Parking Brakes "On" to simulate chocks in front of the wheels so I can run up my engine to max RPM and adjusting my engine performance to set that proper RPM on the tach, as Bletchley suggests? RL pilots did this AFAIR after starting their engines. When the pilot was satisfied with the set, chocks away (Parking Brakes "OFF") As I said, Just a Thought... OlPaint01

It would be great to merge this information into Rabu's paper map project. I think Shredward is collaberating on that project as well, Dej. OlPaint01

WD and Rabu I installed the tracer mod last night following your instructions. Man, I couldn't believe how much an improvement it makes in the sim - enhancing the immersion factor tremedously. This mod really proves the point why tracers were invented. You can now actually see where your line of fire is going. I can accurately determine how much lead I must pull for a good deflection shot. My gunnery is definitely going to improve. I have flown in heavy clouds, light overcast, and sunny conditions and the color and size of the tracer trails appear to suit me just fine. This is absolutely an outstanding mod! I installed a similar smoking tracer mod to Thirdwire First Eagles sim created by Jan Tuma in colaboration with Gbreuder and Fubar512 that hugely enhanced that game as well. Again, what an improvement. The smoking tracers really make the dogfighting action come alive for me! I have yet to encounter ground fire so I cannot comment from personal experience how those tracers look but it should prove to give me an advantage in my ground attack missions if I can see where the AA originates. I sure hope Winder has the good sense to add this mod to the next OFF:BHaH upgrade. Excellent work! OlPaint01

Rabu Maybe I missed something...I cannot figure out where I should put your tracer smoke files? What folder are they supposed to be installed into? OlPaint01

Play nice, TTT. LOL I love it when you share your huge wealth of knowledge us. Thank you. I am serious, this community has so much to give and I appreciate your contributions. Please keep your "gems" coming. I am learning to overlook your sarcasm. OlPaint01

HomeBoy Look at the Display Commands section. Label Types (Toggle) CTRL + should be CRTL + / Correct? OlPaint01

Hello HomeBoy OUTSTANDING!!! I am already using your Command Key Card. I printed it and placed it in a three ring clear plastic page protector. It is now within reach beside my copy of Rabu's Western Front Maps. OlPaint01

Hey Rabu, Do think that adding a small compass rose graphic on a blank area of each map segment might be a good useful aid for navigating? We then can match up the on-screen compass heading with the flight direction in degrees on the map as we fly to the next waypoint. OlPaint01

Hello Rabu and Chris How about a status report on progress on the Western Front map with marked-up aerodromes project... OlPaint01

Thanks Shreder, I finally figured it out. Rabu, Chris and I have a PM thread going on behind the scenes now. Rabu told me you have a pretty good working knowledge of the drome occupation during the War, especially the fields that changed hands during the various offensives. WM did not make any national distinction or assignments in the sim that I have discovered. We need to id the aerodromes on the Map that Rabu posted to the CombatACE Downloads page to show the nations that squad/jasta flew from. OlPaint01

Rabu and Chris I cannot figure out how to send a PM to you guys inside the CA forum. Rats!!! Could you send your personal addies to me? OlPaint01

Hello Rabu and Chris I have completed the survey of all of Winder's QCLocations.xlm files in OFF:BHaH. I have summarized the Aerodrome Occupation changes by pulling all the date-based files in the game onto an huge Excel spreadsheet. I have highlighted the airfields that have changed hands from Allied to German or German to Allied over the course of the war. These dromes will need to be labeled on our new map with the double icon that you designed. There are a total of 367 air fields identified in England and on the Continent. I was disappointed to discover that Winder does not make any differntiation between British, French or American bases in his files. All the fields are labeled as either "British Fields FrontName" or "German Fields FrontName". I included the map coordinates for all the fields. I guess we will have to consult another source to determine which of the nations occupying the Entente dromes. Rabu how can I get this spreadsheet to you? OlPaint01

Rabu and Chris I did some poking around the Winder's QCLOCATIONS.XLM files already. You can open them in MS Office Excel and convert them to XLS spreadsheets. I will do some more research but I believe that we may be able to do some "compares" between the several date-based files and come up with the airfields in the game that changed hands during the course of the conflict. I am like you guys, RL is taking up a lot of my spare time - I am in the process of earning my A+ certification. I will see what I can come up with and let you know what I find. BTW I have been sightseeing around Dunkirk area from my 1RNAS drome at St Pol Sur Mer . I toggle the Tactical Display to Airfields with the T key and I am getting a pretty good match between the pips on the TAC Display and the Map Icons on your marked up Map Segment B example that you already posted. Outstanding Work!!! OlPaint01

Dirk Thanks for straightening me out. And here, I was going to shower several "TYs" on you for your efforts. Rabu Don't we already have Winder's date based aerodrome lists in the QCLocations.xlm files that change with the year and month of the campaign under his WWI Scenery/Period folder? I would be more than satisfied if you guys could map just the airfield icons and airfield change double icons that are in the game from a summary of his .XLM files. And I would be more that happy to pencil in the aerodrome names on my copy of the maps as I reconnoiter them. OlPaint01

Dirk Could you post maybe one marked-up map segment you have completed, to give us an idea how good the finished project will look with the double icons? You have me on "Pins and Needles". Maybe Map Segment G around Lille showing the Allied push through Armentieres late in the war. Lots of Jastas got their posteriors moved back towards the Fatherland. I can hardly stand the wait... OlPaint01

Rabu Your stacked double icons idea is really cool. The roundel behind the German Cross could be either red for French or Blue for British or even yellow/orange for Belgium. Neat!!! How would you decide the which is the dominate icon? OlPaint01

77Scout makes a good point. Aerodromes did change hands over the course of the conflict. I did not realize how dramatic the changes were until I scrolled through Rabu's slide show. I recall that RB3D Western Front Patch is a date based mod using CM11 utility to swap the appropriate date based files in and out of the game. Mark66 and Greybeard and the crew at the old SWWISA are still modding the old girl. As I see it we have two directions we could go: 1) we can build several map sets that are date based with the service icons for the airfields arranged following a snap shot of the war, as in RB3D Moving Front Patch mod, when various major offensive pushes caused exchanges in the control of territory. Then we would just reach for the map set with the appropriate Simulation Date to fly over. OR 2) we build a universal map for the entire war showing a generic icon for the airfields that actually exchanged hands with the moving front offensives and then mark locations with the proper service's icon for the fields that did not switch ownership. Of course, if someone who might be ambitious enough and talented enough to write a program to drop the icons on the map based on the date for us that we could print out...Dream On. OlPaint01

Hey Chris The Ypres city location is hard wired into the game, correct? Is that something the Devs can correct in the game code? Rabu, can Winder make the map correction in the game when he returns from R&R? If our goal is to navigate around with Maps only, don't you think we should get the facts as good as they can be in the game? I will be testing the B section map this week end. My 1RNAS squadron Noop11s fly sorties out of St Pol Sur Mer so I know the Dunkirk area like the back of my hand. I will let you guys know if I find any discrepancies. Man, I am really excited about this work!!! OlPaint01

Hey Rabu The marked up map segments are sweet!!! Will you also be labeling the aerodromes by name as well as placing the airfield icons on the maps? I can hardly wait for you to post the finished work that you, ChrisPDM1 and Dirk have produced. I really appreciate this OFF community. There is so much knowledge within our group and everyone is so willing to share it. OlPaint01

Salute! Uncle Al Could you post your Squadron Assignment Spread Sheet on the OFF-OBD CombatACE Download page for all of us? Thanks, OlPaint01

Salute! Gremlin I am all for standardizing the Joystick Button assignments in our WWI flight sims. I am learning Saitek SST Profile Editor programming right now. Uncle Al as already listed his set of favorite button assignments in his "tips and tricks" sticky. Olham said he just got a new Cougar Joystick. The Cougar device as dozens of button choices to program. I mostly fly OFF:BHaH and First Eagles:EP1Nov08 patch and even RB3D-Gumpsv2a mod - switching between the games at my whim. I have specific mapping lists for the buttons in each flight sim and often wonder if a standard unified HOTAS setup would be accepted by the community. Why invent the wheel again and again. Maybe this is a pipe dream, since we are all individuals BUT... a standard HOTAS setup would be useful to me. I could automatically reach for button 08 to padlock the target instead of fumbling around when I change my game play from OFF to First Eagles. OlPaint01

Hello Uncle Al or anyone, I can reassign the important keyboard commands away from three-finger keystrokes to single-finger keystrokes following your "OFF Tips and Cheats" articles in the sticky section. But I want to reassign the joystick buttons as well. I cannot find a XML or TXT file anywhere in the OFF directorys or the associated CFS3 directorys that contains or lists the default key and button assignments that I might edit. Are the Joystick Button Assignments hard coded into the game? My Saitek EVO Force has ten buttons and two shift buttons for a total of twelve buttons. The Command List in Quick Combat > Go To Field > Hanger > Controls screen has eight Button assignments that parallel eight Keyboard assignments: Fire Guns and Cannons..... SpaceBar or Button 01 Fire Cannons..... Ctrl + SpaceBar or Button 02 Fire/Drop Ordnance..... Enter or Button 03 Select Next Weapon..... Backspace or Button 04 Extend Flaps..... F or Button 05 Retract Flaps..... V or Button 06 Next Target..... Tab or Button 07 PadLock Toggle..... `(Accent) or Button 08 I have not yet installed the Saitek SST Profile Editor so I still retain my POV view control in my hat switch. And I am still using the default joystick button assignments shown above in the game at this time. My question is: Can the Button assignments and the commands that they control be changed? I would like to reassign the Mixture Incrementing commands to Buttons 05 and 06 away from the default Flaps Incrementing commands: Mixture Lean..... Ctrl + -(Minus) or Button 05 Mixture Rich..... Ctrl + =(Equals) or Button 06 I would also like to assign the Engine Start (Auto-Start) to Button 09 and Engine Stop (Mixture Idle Cutoff) to Button 10. Engine Start..... E or Button 09 Engine Stop..... Ctrl + Shift + F6 or Button 10 Someone please tell me that this is do-able...and more importantly - how to do it!!! OlPaint01