Bandy

From the natural Point website comparison of TIR4 vs TIR 5 (LINK HERE), correct me if I'm wrong but all I'm seeing is a lot of hype, and am not sure there is any true game benefit to spending the extra money on version 5. They talk a lot about improvements to raw sensor resolution and subpixel resolution, etc. but unless you're practicing virtual surgery (and maybe some of you sim-jocks out there are that good in the air!) it seems to me it isn't going to make a bit of difference when you're whipping your head around to check-6 in a shakey cockpit. Watch the video yourself. Now, the field of view has increased from 46 to 51.7 degrees (apparently because the sensor is physically bigger) but is it worth an extra $50 ??? I like this bit of merchandizing though, and need some of that:

Hi all, The Sopwith Tripehound was, and is in this game, a wonderful airplane to fly and fight in... I believe MvR himself said it was the best Entente aircraft he flew against. So it is with some love that I post this... I have disabled the ingame message text, warnings, etc. but when sitting in the Sopwith Triplane cockpit and looking around with Track IR, text still pops up saying "fuel level" etc. No other cockpit does this for me. When the Tripehound gets damaged, say loosing a wing after collision , the game freezes and then closes very quickly. The mission is complete and my pilot is reported as fine. Also, I installed the 3rd party tracer mod (I think standard now?) but tracer does not show up for Tripehound, nor for early Nieuports as far as I can tell, though I clearly see the lovely tracer when flying the Camel, and I sure see it from my Albatros opponents and ground fire !!!! Anyone else? PS: while on the subject, the Tripe does not loose velocity as fast as other biplanes, possibly due to less drag?

Oops! 1917, my bad... RNAS 10 was sent inland away from the channel to Ypres area in June 1917 (I believe) where they fought Jasta 11. Simply enlist a new pilot as British (if you can bring yourself to do that...) choose RNAS 10 and scroll forward on the dates to see their change of location if you want to fly Jasta 11 against them, the game dates should coincide around June. I'm currently flying with RNAS 10 in May 1917, building up my experience (and hopefully surviving!) till the move... I've got enough claims for ace, and they've made me a flight leader after a half dozen missions. Looking forward to meeting Herr Red Baron as well! What colours are your kite Olham? I'll keep an eye out!

Olham, Fly against RNAS in late winter to early summer 1916 (during the "bloody April" period). They flew Sopwith Tripes along the channel coast (nice change of scenery), and had a complete flight of Crazy Canucks called the Black Flight: Black Flight link They'll teach you how to cry, and you just might meet me flying with them!

Thanks gents, And thanks for the attachment, hope it works, though I suspect it will not (forever the optimist) No, I tried to enter the config.exe from within the game, and got the same error message. I'm at work, so will update a little later...

While I truly enjoy FE and the 3rd wire patches, for quite a while now I've been really struggling with flying at altitude above 5000 ft because the view of the ground basically disappears from the cockpit and I get disoriented, especially with thick cloud around. I have horizon set at MAX, fortunately my GPU can take it. However that d_nm white horizon band is killing my enjoyment of this game! I know it is there to hide the ugly zig-zag where the tiles "end" in the distance, but I think I'd prefer that. Otherwise I feel there is a severe restriction in the playable altitude. Can anyone please just simply point me in a direction within the enviromental.ini to where this might be modded? Perhaps it is in the deeper code even... Thanks.

Has the patch fixed the gunner's field of fire? I sincerely hope so, I won't be able to fly till the weekend, if at all... I tried following an FE from behind and below and got taken out by tracers that emerged from the engine (!). I was flying a Brisfit, and was putting some lead into an Albatros' tail, when my rear gunner pivoted 180 degrees and fired through the prop arc (!). This was a month or more ago, so maybe fixed now? If not, hopefully there must be some way to put field of fire limits on the gunners...

Well, I can say I've seen my AI wingmates explode while sitting on the field as well. Could have been the same thing. Never seen it since. I originally thought two of them might have run into each other, but I'm not sure exactly what happened since I wasn't looking in that direction. I just heard the explosion, looked over, and saw the burning wreckage. Ghost in the machine...

Creaghorn, read Cecil Lewis' book and McCudden's book. They talk about moving around quite a bit, and living in tents, etc. using old airplanes, and the Clerget engined Camels were a treat to die in!!! As far as different claim systems, yes, they were different, but I don't think they are comparable. They were both equally hard to get a claim given most fights occurred well on the Eastern side of the front! I've read scholarly opinions stating that Bishop should have been the top scoring ace, but he hunted by himself mostly without the assistance of dozens of wingmates. Who knows! Bottom line, all conjecture aside, the top aces on both sides ended up with just about equal number of confirmed claims. That is the fact.

Informal Review Take II: Well, I've posted a few times over on the OFF3 home forum some issues I've experienced, and I have to admit the OFF team is on top of their posts. They are doing their best to support their product, if loosing some hair on the way. The threads are flying as fast, if not faster, than when FE came out in 2006... Anyways, with some others' posts and OFF team advice provided, I managed to get better fps on my rig (see above) and pushed my graphics sliders up a notch. I've got it running at 40 to 50 fps regularly at about mid-settings (mostly 3's on a scale of 1 to 5), with drops into the mid 20's at challenging times. Acceptable for now. Waiting for a patch, or a better GPU, to perhaps boost it. I've had as much fun with it over the last few days as when FE, and then FE + EP came out, not to mention Peter01's various FM's (that is memorable as well). It is, just, different. A different take on WWI FM's, campaign, etc. Don't be fooled by pronouncements of "realism" though, that is as subjective as CokeTM vs. PepsiTM Nothing derogatory meant here, at all, it is up to your taste. IMHO, if you are a fanatic of WWI sims, then try it if you can afford it just for the change of scene and challenge. I will still go back to all the others in time. Sincere thank you for your comments.

Hi Peter01, No, it was current version of the N11 FM that I saw give me trouble, but a combination of other errors that was the cause. I had hit Autopilot on take-off (often do) and for some reason my autopilot now activates/inactivates with a single hit on the A-key. Weird, even happens with other planes. Also, you have the blip switches toggle at 99% throttle, and my joystick was only slightly out of adjustment, so the engine wouldn't go into ignition. THIS took a while to figure out let me tell you! If I may be so bold to recommend that blip switches toggle at say 90 to 95% to avoid others experiencing this. I have a Logitech Wingman with ForceFeedback, old for sure and falls out of adjustment every now and then, but it is a great stick. Now that I figured that out, the N11 is great, climbs like crap, but such a beautiful a/c and model. Works well against early fokkers. Thanks

Its the guys with day jobs and families, finding time to mod something because they just love it. I get that sense from lurking over at their forum. If they can see some of that invested time come back as some cash, then I'm all for it as long as it is a good game (better be good for $59 ). Most things corporate loose their spirit along the production line; good ideas get watered down or cut completely by bean counting execs. Middle men are a necessary evil sometimes if you want to reach more people; it's higher prices to consumers though until you hit a tipping point. WWI sims (and flight sims in genral) I think don't have enough broad consumer interest to reach a tipping point where the price will come down. That's why web publishing and self distribution evens the field somewhat with big houses, unless you've got close to 20 GB to push in OFF3... However, once that dream starts to pay, then it becomes a job like anything else with all the headaches, and over at Sim-OH, you can see how much wingeing they've been putting up with now Whoa, way off topic and on a soapbox. Better cut myself off at 2 double IPA's next time I get on the forums... Come to think of it, should put my money where my mouth is. I need to make my user donation to CA, I completely forgot with RL getting in the way.

Hi Peter01, Really glad, and thankful, you've pulled this together for the FE fall'08 patch. The patch solved a lot of graphic problems I was experiencing, and now with your FM's the AI can fly all those wonderful extra A/C. Sorry I'm just reporting in now with experiences, but haven't had much free time between these thread releases, and now. I've found a lot of difficulty in the N11; it just doesn't want to climb at all, struggles with gaining any speed, and my FF joystick gives me that initial stalling shake while trying even a gentle climb at 50 to 60 mph (all it could muster it seemed on take off). I tried to take off the N11 on autopilot, but the AI take off failed; it just couldn't climb and bunny hopped off the field. I've only had the time to try a few others out. The AlbDV is fine work. The SE5a feels like it needs more drag. It was a big engined beastie, with that fat nose so far forward afterall. A lot of my perceptions of FM's have changed with flying OFF2 (and hopefully OFF3 soon; it's in the mail...) the last few months. I initially didn't like OFF2 FMs at all, as I didn't get any feel/response from the various AC, but over time the increased drag and diminished rudder response of all the A/C FM's began to feel right for the era, as they aren't modern a/c afterall. I know it is a complete matter of taste, so am just putting in a few pennies worth of constructive observation. A sincere thank you for your efforts.

Oops, didn't mean to imply that, and a good point to make if that is what is happening elsewhere on other forums. I agree, OFF3 should sell based on its own merits. However, I do support honest work, good will, and the underdog. I have bought all of TK's sims, even though I rarely play modern air combat. I give thanks that perhaps I'm lucky to have the means to support good work, and even better when I can pay directly to the people that have sweat so much in creating it. Cutting out the middle man is sweet for me. Just meant that OFF group HAVE generated a strong community of loyal players BASED on giving away their previous efforts. My understanding is that, in the beginning at least, there was no idea to use this as a promotion for a payware mod, but best to ask them directly if you disagree. In the end, it isn't any different than the controversial YAP business model, except perhaps you get more than missions and accessories, and if I remember correctly for a bit less than their whole package... Does it fly in the face of the ethos of intellectual property sharing that goes on in so many forums? Perhaps so, and if it bugs people that much, then they have the choice to simply not support it.

Yes, that's it, a good suggestion. I used to use it to switch seasonal terrains before TK implemented seasons in the X-pack. It isn't difficult to set up, but simply pulling out/substituting a night fighter <Aircraft> folder for the stock BoB A/C folder is much simpler IMHO. I wouldn't want to make it more complicated than that... Cheers!

Hi Baltika, the wheel turns and it all comes back to BoB... RE: searchlights and limitations. Is there any way to AVOID a completely separate night fighter install by perhaps having two separate <Aircraft> folders? One a/c folder for BoB as we known it and love, and then another that contains only aircraft that would be involved in night actions. If leaving out aircraft causes the campaign to crash, then perhaps the other non-night aircraft folders, such as Bf109, could be deactivated in some minor way not to crash BoB, such as leaving out an ini, or changing the year of appearance to past BoB, or.... So there would be some duplication between the Aircraft folders themselves (but lots of skins could be left out from the night Aircraft folder and vice versa), but not as much duplication as a completely different install. When you want to fly bat, simply rename to activate the proper nighttime <Aircraft> folder. Maybe even a night fighter campaign can be specially tooled. Its just a thought while at work (shhh) so I haven't tried it out. I could be waaay off with this scheme.

Supposedly, the devs have got OFF3 easily installed and running well on every config. they threw at it (everything but XP 64bit, but that ain't surprising). Plus now that you pay for it, they are supporting it. I've bought it, and eagerly await arrival. $50 is not much compared to the price of dinner at an acceptable restaurant, considering the years of enjoyment it will give me. Plus these guys gave so much away leading up to it. I like to support good will. I gave OFF2 a chance the last few months, and initially didn't like the FM's (just too much drag) coming from FE, but the more I flew in the game and enjoyed the campaign structure, the more I liked the fact that the planes were harder to fly overall. The OFF birds don't roll as well, weaker rudder response, didn't climb as easily, etc. compared to FE. I've actually started to beleive OFF FM's are more true to the era, but who knows, I've never been in one in the real world so I defer to the more experienced. It is a matter of taste... Just my opinion here, but I think TK & FE, and many/most of the players who are true to past 3rdWire games, are used to jet sims and planes that fly predictably like modern planes, and that's more what they want their WWI a/c to fly like for game play. I could be entirely wrong...

File Name: Rhine River seasonal tiles for Vogesen File Submitter: B Bandy RFC File Submitted: 26 Dec 2008 File Updated: 27 Dec 2008 File Category: Terrains Fly in a snowy, or spring, or fall Vogesen terrain!!! Contained in this download are 5 folders (plus stock Vogesen FRRhine tiles) containing "seasonal" Rhine River tiles to round out Gepard's excellent Vogesen Terrain. Vogesen.ini already points to the Cambrai terrain folder, so it is simple ini edit as outlined below. Provided are the modded seasonal Rhine River tiles, but if you want to use these Rhine tiles, then you must download other 3rd party tile sets for FE as below, and/or modify stock ..\Terrain\Cambrai\.. 3rd Wire folders as mentioned: "Deep Snow" season (Thanks to Max188 for Verdun winter tiles) "Snow" (Thanks to Edward for Verdun winter tiles, which I slightly modded for "Replacement Cambrai Snow Tiles" download) "Spring" (Thanks to flyguy2 for Verdun spring) "Summer" (rename 3rd Wire's "Spring" Folder to "Summer") "Fall" (is stock 3rdWire, leave folder alone, many thanks to TK!) If you choose to be conservative, use only the stock seasonal folders in the Cambrai Terrain (though these Rhine winter tiles are not compatible with 3rd Wire Snow tiles at all). Mix and match, or for more variety download all the seasonal tilesets mentioned above, then make/rename seasonal folders within the Cambrai Terrain folder as listed above, add the 3rd party tile sets, as well as the appropriate FRRhine tiles in THIS download to the appropriate season, and then edit the Vogesen.ini as below. Follow these Combat Ace links for additional instructions for making/editing seasonal tile sets [http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=33064] and if you choose tile set consolidation [http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=35074]. PM me at CA if any problems. BACK UP ANY FOLDERS or INI's BEFORE YOU MOD... Example TERRAIN.ini edit follows, only replace the portions involving code from [season001] to [season005] or whatever you choose to do. The dates the 5 seasonal tile sets will show up are changed to discrete months for play testing in single mission; if you reduce the number of seasons, make sure the dates add up, ie: alter the seasonal start-end dates to suit your preference... . . . [season001] //try Max188's hi-res (512 x 512) winter tiles in this folder. Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Deep Snow <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Make sure this line is present StartDate=1/1 EndDate=2/26 ScatteredChance=20 BrokenChance=25 OvercastChance=25 InclementChance=3 [season002] //try flyguy2's Spring tiles... Directory=..wwi\Cambrai\Spring <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Make sure this line is present StartDate=02/27 EndDate=05/31 ScatteredChance=40 BrokenChance=25 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season003] //Rename 3rdWire's stock Spring folder to Summer, ie: use 3rd Wire "Spring" tiles for "Summer" season Directory=..wwi\Cambrai\Summer <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Make sure this line is present StartDate=06/01 EndDate=08/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season004] //Retain stock 3rdWire Fall Folder. Directory=..\wwi\Cambrai\Fall <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Make sure this line is present StartDate=09/01 EndDate=10/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season005] //try "Replacement Cambrai Snow tiles" by me, based on Edward's winter tile set Directory=..\wwi\Cambrai\Snow <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Make sure this line is present StartDate=11/01 EndDate=12/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 Click here to download this file

All, Every now-and-then I like to fly single missions in Vogesen (LINK), but I've been play testing winter tiles lately so the date was set to December. Low and behold I was flying in a snowy Vogesen terrain!!! No doubt somebody already knows about this; Gepard did as seen in the Vogesen.ini (thank you!), but I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, and I'm out of the loop on most occasions. Apparently there is no need to double- or triple-up tile sets in FE. As mentioned by p10ppy in the FE Knowledge Base, Verdun terrain tiles are simply a subset of Cambrai, and so is Vogesen (I haven't looked into Edward's Flanders yet). However, instead of duplicating the terrain tiles for each season (which can add up really quickly), try this terrain.INI edit ... Please read p10ppy's post on the topic here, LINK, it is post #4 in the order. Some tiles need to duplicated and renamed, he lists them for you. Also back up first. Now extract the Verdun terrain.ini to its folder, and in certain places (marked below <<<<) point it to the various seasonal Cambrai terrain folders. Cambrai Terrain Folder will hold the only seasonal tile folders you'll need for Verdun. My Verdun Terrain folder holds NO tiles, but works just fine with this edit. Vogesen terrain folder (Gepard's update) and Vogesen.ini already points to the Cambrai terrain folder, and has a few Vogesen specific tiles (castles, Rhine river, etc.), so leave those tiles alone in Vogesen terrain folder since they are required. You can keep the stock 3 season set up in your ini's, or utilize some of the excellent 3rd party downloads (see LINK's), to make a 5 "season" set up which works well for variety. You'll need to make 2 extra folders, "Summer" and "Deep Snow", and add tiles from the links listed below, or improvise yourself. This set-up works very well for me, but has evolved over the past few weeks, so I hope I haven't forgotten to mention something. So please Back UP first to make sure it works! NB: I am in the process of modding some of the missing seasonal tiles for Vogesen (FRRhine G and K), but should have them ready in the next day or so. The Rhine River tiles will be summer tiles for now if you fly in the winter, so just beware but don't panic. I am also modding Max188's winter tiles for use in Cambrai as a "Deep Snow" season, but that'll take a bit longer. Example for Verdun.ini follows, see embedded LINKs. For Vogesen.ini replace the portions involving code from [season001] to [season005] only. [Terrain] TerrainFullName=Verdun, France DataFile=wwiVerdun_data.INI TargetFile=wwiVerdun_targets.INI TargetTypeFile=wwiVerdun_types.INI MovementFile=wwiVerdun_movement.INI NationsFile=wwiVerdun_nations.INI BriefingText=wwiVerdun_briefing.INI DogfightFile=wwiVerdun_dogfight.INI DogfightOnly=FALSE Longitude=5.221 Latitude=49.176 [Map] FilenameFormat=wwiVerdun_Map%d.bmp Width=250000.0 Height=250000.0 NumZoomLevels=3 [WeatherChance] //I have "BIG TRIANGLES" in the sky graphics issues with Overcast & Inclement //weather, so change these percentages to your liking here and in the seasons. ScatteredChance=35 BrokenChance=35 OvercastChance=0 InclementChance=0 //The dates seasonal tiles will show up are changed to discrete months for play testing in single mission. //Alter the seasonal start-end dates to suit your preference, or return to stock dates. [season001] //try Max188's hi-res (512 x 512) winter tiles from here LINK //BUT BEWARE, the "Rough" tiles need to be modded yet, and are in the works... Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Deep Snow <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<ADD this line StartDate=1/1 EndDate=2/26 ScatteredChance=20 BrokenChance=25 OvercastChance=25 InclementChance=3 [season002] //try flyguy2's SpringTerrain available here LINK Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Spring <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Replace this line StartDate=02/27 EndDate=05/31 ScatteredChance=40 BrokenChance=25 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season003] //Rename 3rdWire's stock Spring folder to Summer, ie: use the "Spring" tiles for "Summer" season Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Summer <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<ADD this line StartDate=06/01 EndDate=08/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season004] //Retain stock 3rdWire Fall Folder Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Fall <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Replace this line StartDate=09/01 EndDate=10/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3 [season005] //try these tiles based on Edwards winter tile set LINK Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Snow <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Replace this line StartDate=11/01 EndDate=12/31 ScatteredChance=25 BrokenChance=40 OvercastChance=10 InclementChance=3

Hi, The seasonal weather inspired me to fly many missions on snowy tiles, but I have been very dissatisfied with the stock Cambrai snow tiles (and there must be others out there!). Do you remember flying the pre-exp pack tiles from Max188 and Edward? I really love the look of the icy blue shadows, the atmosphere just made it feel cold, and since my "cockpit" is in the basement, I do fill the chill... Anyways, I was totally inspired by Edward's winter tiles, so I used them and cobbled together the 30 or so others that are required for Cambrai (BTW just what the heck is "Rough" supposed to be anyways? And was there that many golf courses in WWI France???). *** However, in the last image I found a hickup (and I'm sure there are more). Any advice on how to fix this spun tile? EDIT: Oh, what is going on with the Albatros prop? Broken, yet still seeing the prop blur. If there is any interest, and Edward says OK (the bulk are mostly his tiles, though with some adjustments), I'll post after bit more tweaking...

Uploaded to CA in time for the season, warts and all!!! AFAIK, there is just the one problematic mis-assigned tile inherent in Cambrai itself (ie, not a product of this mod), and you likely will not find it. So enjoy!

File Name: Replacement Cambrai Snow tiles File Submitter: B Bandy RFC File Submitted: 18 Dec 2008 File Category: Terrains I do not like the look of the stock "Snow" tiles for Cambrai, but really liked the earlier efforts of Edward and Max188 to make snow for Verdun. I was inspired by my earlier experiences with Edward's excellent winter tiles, so I cleaned some of them up, and made the 30+ other tiles required for use in Cambrai. They are not perfect, to paraphrase, most things in life are not... Here they are, simply backup your stock ..Terrain/Cambrai/Snow folder and replace it with this one to try it out. They will still also work in Verdun, though some tiles not required. NB: I also included a WWIVerdun.ini that will make seasonal changes for that terrain. Follow the directions //commented within the ini itself, and don't forget to add the fifth season folder "Deep Snow" to the ..Terrain/Verdun folder. Thank you to Edward and other fine modders for the inspiration and your hard work, and of course TK. PM me here at CA if there are issues. Click here to download this file

It really does keep evolving, and challenging. It is those split second moments when you forget about everything else but the engagement. FE plays great at the close-range. There was a kevlar coated AlbDV opponent quite successfully stall flight me; had an N17 wingmate do a perfect energy management zoom & flick roll to end up on an opponents tail (well, the N17 was regarded as a highly maneuverable AC... try it out post patch if only to watch the pre-patch FM AI do it's thing--this is a flight model thread afterall). When they get it 'just right', and that AI head turns towards you, sometimes it's like... you know...