themightysrc

German tank units? Are you sure about that? I hate to be a pedant, but in 1917, I don't think that the Huns had any tanks, unless they were captured Mk I's, still less tank units. The campaign sounds great, but lose the the tanks on the German side - that's ahistorical.

I had a great time with my new/improved wireless setup - as smooth as silk - and as an added bonus I found the DH2 remarkably easy, given the bad press it attracts so often. Admittedly, EIIIs aren't exactly difficult to outfly, but all the same...perhaps I'll finally break my online duck and finally down something (other than by colliding with it, that is). Sorry I had to bail early, but I had to take a call from a local VIP. Hope to make next week.

Hi Von, Is it possible to get rid of the blue text on the right of the screen? Actually, is it possible to lose all of it except the ammo and fuel lines? That would be handy. Great idea about the labels - can you ditch enemy labels completely, but keep those of your own side?

I suspect Sandbagger's got it in one. If that's not an Aviatik, then I'm sending back my Hun kite spotter's badge.

"I've played flight sims since the '80's and have always enjoyed the fact that "aids" makeup for the limitations of being in a simulator. Not being able to see as far in a sim or to distinguish the difference between friend and enemy at realistic ranges here is "aided" by the TAC and labels" Got it in one mate. I'm willing to fly practically blindfold, if that's what's required, but the essential problem (as I've alluded to elsewhere) is that without labels - in some form - to tell you who the bloke on your wing is, you aren't replicating the conditions of 1916-1918: you're making everyone Mr Magoo. That's also the case with TAC, to a lesser degree. I would guess that pilots of the period spent a lot of time prior to becoming combat active in simply flying round and learning their areas both around the field and out towards the front. We don't really have that option, unless you are an ultra-realism spod who has days on their hands to acquaint themselves with every aspect of the local area. If we are going to fight this campaign without aids, then I would suggest that there are certain rules set down about what you do depending on when and where you lose contact with your flight (typically after a dogfight). What I mean is - and this assumes that the scenery and ground objects match the maps - that anyone who's got lost should always do X. X might be 'head for Vimy Ridge' or 'follow the river back to town Z', or even 'press on, on your own to the target at the appointed height and speed, taking care to conform to the patrol timings'. The only really worrying point about doing the DiD/realism thing is that it might conceivably put off OFFers who would otherwise try MP and become part of the throng. For some odd reason, I'm feeling the same way about this as I did when the complaints started about the AI in HitR making the game too easy.

Hi, "By the way, I would like to play OFF in MP. I need some serious advices to fly in there. Maybe someonw will tell me how?" Hie thee over to the MP area, and do yourself a favour by PMing Vasco, Axgrinder or one of the other MP organisers there. You really, really won't regret it.

I have to say, OFF looks much darker - in all senses - to RB3D, patched to the nth degree. I played RB3D with WFP2 and FCJ loaded, and it looked damn fine to me, but comparing the two, I realise just how much of OFF's appeal is the almost Gothic rendering of aircraft and landscapes. WWI is burned into the collective memory as a dark period for the Briddish, and somehow, rendering the whole thing in pastel colours just seems wrong in a way that I can't properly articulate.

Ooh, you're such a tease! Probably won't be on MP tonight, as I've got stuff to do, but rest assured I'll be there on Sunday, as clueless as usual...

Hi Vasco, Well, i'm pleased to say that my reformatted and reloaded PC is showing signs of great stability (fingers crossed), but the even better news is that my new Belkin N router has an excellent signal, and thus I can reliably connect at high bandwidth to my gaming rig. Hurrah! So you can expect me for the start of the new campaign - I'm even learning how to fly without TAC and labels. I'm finding no labels a bit of a bugger to be honest, and it'd be nice (IMHO) to be able to have labels that only showed my own squadron, as I think that it would adequately represent a pilot recognising his own people by aircraft markings, serials, etc. It would be great if I could get rid of the wretched blue text on the right (but for fuel and ammo indicators), but I'm sure this can't be done.... So what bat time and bat day do we commence hostilities? Cheers, Si

"If you guys can't go to work are you able to crawl to the Pub for a pint?" Trust me, the weather's never so severe that I can't get to my local... FlybyPC - I'll return the compliment: your post - nail, head. Some people really have been suckered in to the idea that the current weather is The End Of The World, when all it is is simply atypical British winter weather. A bit of forethought and preparation means you'll still be able to get to work and if you see other people struggling then give them a hand. It's not every man for himself: it's a chance to show the much vaunted community spirit. I've seen far more examples of kindliness and co-operation of late than I have in the past year. What's more, if you have a car, you'll never get such a priceless opportunity to gain self-confidence and new skills in current conditions. I'm sure my driving has improved leaps and bounds. I don't know which bit of the UK you're in, but it sounds like you've got the best sort of vehicle for current conditions. WRT locks - I've taken to spraying deicer straight into the lock and working a warmed key into it. A minute or so, and a bit of gentle pressure, and hey presto, you're in. YMMV, as our colonial cousins might say.

FlybyPC, I'm sort of sharing your pain. I helped 2 other drivers off this morning, whilst I scraped and dug out me SAAB. Where we are there's about 8-9" of snow (curse you! the Pennines!) and that's acculumated since mid December. The local clock/thermometer read -10 degrees C, and nearby Oldham had a fairly uniform 8-10" in the car parks (which they've stopped gritting, in order to concentrate on the roads). There's a forecast for another heavy bout of snow tonight, and with temperatures potentially dropping to about -15 (nearby Woodford hit -17.6 last night). It's not that people in the UK can't do this sort of weather - from what I've seen, they clearly can and are pretty sensible about it. The problem lies in the fact that it is such a rare event, ie, once in 30 years, that the infrastructure is not geared to cater for it, and hence all the problems, not helped by an apocalyptical meeja which loves nothing more than the chance to tell people how s**t the UK is, when in fact it's a bloody nice place to live 99.5% of the time. So, tomorrow, after the next big bout of snow has passed, I'll look at the roads and make a simple judgement about whether I can safely get me and my car to work. I'm not blaming the government nor my local council. I'm not buying into the meeja bulls**t and refuse to be panicked by a bunch of idiots. If I can do it safely, I'll go; if, in my judgement, I can't, I'll phone my boss, tell her I'm around to take emails and calls, and then play a bit of OFF and perhaps have a pub lunch in the most picturesque surroundings imaginable.

"I thought I might try and organize some Saturday sessions for beginners, with TAC and labels, using the now available scripted missions so as to be able to train some new pilots who could then graduate up to your level of play but I think there would not be much interest in it?" Don't be so sure. I think you'll find there are plenty of people who'd like to have a crack at MP who simply don't have the time to play it in the way that has been suggested for the next campaign. I can't say I blame them, since the idea is to have fun, and if flying with nothing other than the notoriously dodgy in game map is the only option, then some people are going to conclude that they'd like something that doesn't take a lot of training and commitment in terms of time and other resources. Open a list for another campaign that uses TAC and labels, and see who's interested. For myself, I'm tempted to go for both.

Well Pappy, I live a bit further North and inland (Lancashire) and I could barely get down the road to check out our main road, let alone use it. We've now got about 8" or more of snow so I'm bottling out of even trying to drive to work tomorrow, SAAB or no SAAB! It's been like this since mid-December, except that previous bouts have gradually thawed and buggered off. This, however, is different. As I say we currently have 8" lying on the ground - that after the gritters have tried their best. We're expecting another 5-6" over the next day or two, so I have great sympathy for you down in the IOW where you shouldn't be seeing any at all. Spring can't come too soon.

It'll certainly be interesting to see how Patrick Wilson's ROF Campaign add on works out, and it amazes me just how much he's done on it so far with no help from NeoQB. What I do find disturbing is how in about 8-10 weeks (? AFAIK), he's managed singlehandedly, and without access to the NeoQB coding, to produce a campaign system (within the boundaries set by aircraft availability) which appears to be persuading lots of previously disillusioned ROFers to keep giving ROF a punt. If he could do that, in the time frame quoted, then what have NeoQB, who have direct, complete control over the code and game been up to since the release of ROF, when the initial howls about the campaign first arose?

"You do realize that you sound like the guy that refused to switch over to the automobile and stay with yer ol trusty buggy and whip! And yes you really should upgrade from those candles and use electricity, yea I know the light is not as calming but from a strict safety stand point you should really go with electricity over candle light. And also, plumbing, you should really let the outhouse go and modernize your home with a sewage link, while its true that you will have to pay for the service it just really is more sanitary so you should really go with that! On a serious standpoint, ROF is not worth upgrading your rig over, that is an unfair pressure for any game. Your rig is worth upgrading for, ROF, WOP, (SOW in two weeks ) and eyefinity which is simply amazing!" I'm pretty sure that my previous post mentioned a lack of money with which to purchase and assemble a new rig. If you happen to have about £700-800 lying around that you don't mind popping into my current account.... believe me I don't continue with my present gaming rig because I like AGP graphics cards...

I have to say, I'm actually missing Olham's presence here at the moment. He brings a very intensive enthusiasm with him in his posts. Also, I suspect that the amount of traffic in the OFF threads has halved since he buggered off on holiday.

Rodster, Believe me, it's not a problem having to have the CFS3 CD in the drive. I suspect most of us are in that position, and it's never caused me a problem. As long as your PC can handle OFF - see elsewhere for tips and hints to get the best performance - then you should grab the cheapest copy of CFS3 you can to enable you to get started. Once you've had a chance to get repeatedly slaughtered, er, sorry, get into the sim, then you'll wonder why you didn't take the plunge sooner. As a final aside, I can strongly recommend not only CombatAce and its splendid inhabitants, but also the multiplayer aspects of OFF. As the new guy, you are, of course, expected to buy the beer... Cheers, Si

I'd urge anyone who's got a halfway decent t'interweb connection and a desire to try something fun to give it a whizz. Apart from anything else, you meet some awfully nice people, which is a bit of a rarity on the web...

Wouldn't it be nice to look over the side of the cockpit and see one of Vauban's edifices underneath you? Ditto the major cathedrals in various French and Belgian towns. Roll on P4...

"I can understand and respect the decision to pass based on the Draconian DRM, but for only $20 I wont listen to the complainers saying that ROF is not complete because that is a bargain price for what you do in fact get." Well, the DRM is a great disincentive for me, as I've said, but I should also point out that I'd need a brand new PC, which is rather unlikely unless I come up on the National Lottery. For me, the ultimate killer is the lack of a dynamic and in depth campaign. OFF and RB3D have it, so I own both (although I don't play RB any more). FE and ROF don't have it, so I don't play FE any longer, and probably won't buy ROF with such an omission. Eye candy is nice, but essentially an immersive campaign is the theatre of the mind, and no amount of graphic splendour can compensate for that. I remain on the fence.

I have to agree with SvK in his assessment of ROF, even though my own tenure was a mere 72 hours. There are, however, deeper problems with ROF which are rooted in the authenticity that is touted as its main virtue. In essence, flying in ROF is quite demanding - I have no problem with that, as it is meant to be a true flight sim, and therefore, one assumes, is meant to be both complicated and demanding of the end user. I think that most people would agree that aircraft management in ROF is more complicated than OFF (although I do cheat and use auto-mixture, which is, I know, naughty...), however it also strives to be a mass market game, and from user reactions that I've read elsewhere, this level of complication, taken along with the various other problems with the game, hasn't exactly endeared it to the market. Certainly, when casual gamers (ie, not the sort of fanatics you find here and at SimHQ) start saying that all it's got going for it is that it's pretty, then NeoQB are pretty unlikely to convert the initial sale into subsequent aircraft add-on sales. That's compounded to some degree by the rather defensive and petulant attitudes sometimes seen on SimHQ, for example. Criticisms are generally met with denial and/or accusations that ROF is simply the One True Way, waiting for a little more polish. Certainly, I've seen multiple examples of ad hominem arguments that if such and such a body doesn't like ROF, for whatever reasons, then they're clearly not a flight sim enthusiast, and should return to playing simpler games (as if ROF wasn't a game). This is simply sticking one's head in the sand. The game is fairly flawed, and one of the reasons why I've backed away from purchasing it (apart from those given above and my crap internet link on my games PC) is that I simply do not expect NeoQB to still be in existence in a couple of years time, regardless of whether or not they've sorted out the game to my satisfaction. That, and the DRM currently in place, would ensure that I had bought a very nice looking drinks coaster and nothing else. Whilst fans (or perhaps fanbois) of ROF sing its praises and deny the vital need to change or improve various areas of ROF, then there is no real incentive for NeoQB to improve the game and make it more polished and complete. Why should they if a cadre of diehards buys anything and everything they're offered? Unless the ROF community makes a stand and tells NeoQB that they will not countenance another release/bugfix unless it contains at least one of the missing areas - DF for example - and refuse to buy any more add on planes, then change, if it occurs at all, will be glacially slow and unsatisfactory, and that can hardly be a great ad for the product. My 2d.

"Since ROF is based on IL2's engine" Not so, I believe they dibbled with it, gave up and wrote their own instead. I'm still not struck on ROF - I played the 72 hour download and was less than impressed by it. I'll wait until (a) it's a fiver in the shops, (b) doesn't have the intrusive DRM and online requirement, © has a reasonable selection of planes included in the price and (d) actually has a dynamic campaign that can rival OFF. In other words, it's unlikely I'll be buying it.

Hi, Thanks for the offers gents, but I'm pretty sure that my wireless woes are down to having an old Belkin that is fairly poor at projecting a signal to where I need it. The new one I've bought (Belkin N) should give a more powerful signal, or so I've been told. I'll get it configured today - by hand, as my Ubuntu box naturally won't entertain the setup exe - and see what the signal's like upstairs (gaming PC).

I'm in if I can get my new router sorted out for next weekend, and assuming that it's wireless link is powerful enough (though I'm assured it will be...).

Hi Vasco, That sounds superb. I'm sorry I couldn't make it: the existing router isn't throwing out a decent signal and I'm still waiting to hear back from my ISP regarding my new router (I'm on Ubuntu, so the autosetup exe is useless). Another time perhaps. Cheers, Si