themightysrc

"Hi guys, new member here, while I've only just installed OFF, although not been able to fly it, due to a few issues I'm trying to fix, I do fly other sims." What ho, Mr. Cowboy - did you get those 'issues' sorted out? If not, why not post them up here - somebody will be bound to know the answer...

"Das Boot, in original version." Oh, very good call! Just remembered "Come and See" - if you're into reality, as opposed to sanitised films.

Olham, You slacker - not flying over Xmas? Pah! Lightweight... I was going to post something much more insulting, but I thought better of it! I hope that you've had the most marvellous of Christmases and new years, and that when you return that you are plagued with gun blockages and engine faults - there; I got it in! (PS - don't forget, I hate emoticons, so it takes a special poster to elicit such a response. Hope you had a great time, mein Freund)

Reciprocated best wishes to everyone - I hope that 2012 is memorable for all the best reasons. As for Shred's thought: wouldn't it be nice to actually meet some OFFers in person? I know it's a stretch for the colonials, given the distances, but how about the European contingent? Cheers all, Si

Can't decide my favourite. Very strong contenders are All Quiet On The Western Front, Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five. Saw Waterloo over Xmas - f***ing mince.

Just to add my best wishes to those expressed above. Atheist though I am, I have no hesitation in celebrating Xmas, as it's one of the few things that appears to bring people together in this country. I've been wished a merry Xmas by so many people - christian, jewish, muslim and filthy sinners like me - that it would be churlish not to extend the cheer as far as we can, particularly given that 2012 is likely to be a bit of a rough year, one way or another. So, everyone, enjoy this darkling period of the year, with its religious overtones and heathen undertones, reflect that the shortest day has come and gone, and remember that if the poor sods in the trenches in WWI could bring themselves to extend the hand of friendship to those charged with killing them, then you have no excuse to not extend a charitable and sympathetic hand to not just friends and family, but also to those worse off than yourself. Peace.

Hi Nachtpiltoen, Well, I suppose you should actually be speaking to the developers at OBD Software! They're currently working on the next release (as you can read elsewhere), which appears to have some new planes, but you never know. If you do make some for OFF, then feel free to put them up as 'add ons' in thedownload section. I'll have a Big Ack and a Siemens DIV thanks. Go and make your way over to General Discussion - introduce yourself and enjoy the ambience. Cheers, Si

Hi Boomer, Nice to have yet another member of these fora. I normally drink sherry, but an associate has told me that "mainlining skag into yer eyeballs" is meant to be nice, so I'll have one of those, thankyouverymuch. Cheers, Si

A lovely looking bird - what's not to like?

This should be a sticky...

HI all, I've had to reinstall OFF recently (grr!), and my FPS is lurking in the mid/high teens - not unplayable, but I'm sure it could be better. How can I improve this? I've followed the OFF ATI setup settings - you know, disable this, set X to managed, etc - my screen resolution is about the highest I can set it to and my sliders are set to 42241 (ignoring the useless top slider). My system spec is as follows - I think these are all the relevant settings, if I've missed any let me know: Mainboard : Asus P5VDC-MX Processor : Intel Pentium D 820 @ 2800 MHz Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM ) Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO AGP What can I do to get those dratted FPS up to the 30 mark? I love the game and it's so frustrating to be limited in gameplay by either the hardware or setup. TIA, Si

Thanks Pol - it's always good to hear from someone who probably knows this stuff like the back of their hand. Oh well, new PC for P4 then!

"Cool guys the comments always help spur us on :)" Pol, there's no doubting that P4 is going to look and run better than P3, but I'd be grateful to know what sort of recommendations you chaps have for a machine to actually run it! I'm certain that my PC will choke, and that would be a shame. Having said that, there's little doubt that you've created - or are still creating - something extremely good out there, and I'll support you. I desperately hope that you've taken on board ideas about meaningful 2 seater spotting missions, some of the ommissions in the early years, especially 2 seaters, as well as other points. It's clear that we're getting better maps and an astounding looking pilot manager. And I have to say that, by that video, the flames and smoke are - at last - pretty much right. I was astonished by the sight of the first aircraft that fell out of the sky leaving what lloked like a very realistic plume of smoke behind it. Do we get French 2 seaters? Do we get home leave and transfers? I hae my tick list of must haves, many of which appear to have been catered for: the thing that keeps me wondering is the wish list that I also have. I wonder what you've developed but simply not sprung on us yet in order to achieve maximum effect when OFF P4 is finally released. A mouth watering, if frustrating, prospect. Best, Si

Happy birthday WM - I hope you get the chance to show us how geordies party. Have a great evening, and I hope that the hangover is diffused by a very large full English breakfast (followed by a visit to your local, to top up, natch!). Cheers, Si

I can assure you that Eddie Izzard live is even funnier - I saw him live in Manchester and was convince that I'd cough up a bollock I was laughing that hard.

I used to play RB3D, IL2 and some other stuff, but I can't be arsed now. OFF is the best choice for me, because I'm a history junkie/masochist.

Hi Lima, Great set of suggestions - I'll fire up the PC and see what happens when I try them. TBH, a flat constant 20 FPS would be OK at the moment. I was chasing a Fokker Triplane around yesterday evening, and it was painful losing him even 2-3 seconds because of the inability of my rig to keep up (I was at about 600 feet which reinforces much of what you've written). Thanks, Si

Hi abyss, I've got shadows off already, but I'll try low detail in workshop and see how I go. A more hi-tech monitor is, sadly, not an option at the mo. Cheers, Si

Wow. I couldn't catch the last minute of it (wifey doing some serious dwonloading at the time), but the rest of it is simply astonishing. The music is absolutely fabulous - hats off to Matt. I don't know where he derives his inspiration, but it's the best musical score I've heard in a long time, and absolutely evocative, being both lyrical and edgy at the same time. That's quite an achievement. Matt, if you're reading this: are you a player of the game, or simply mates with the OBD mob? I do hope it's the former. Have to agree about the new maps and manager, as they are a head and shoulders above the P3 versions. Somebody's clearly been putting in a lot of time and energy on this. And I have to agree with Wayfarer; some of it looks just like Vintage Aviator footage. I'm not sure there can be greater praise than that. It's a tour de force. You bastards. You've just made my Christmas unimaginably hard. Cheers, Si

ctrl/shift/f6 will also kill the engine, but you better have a good wide hand to do it!

Pol, Shred, Winder (and everyone else at OBD), Are you yet in a position to issue an interim list of what will be different in P4? Everyone knows about the Snipe and the other new planes, but can you give all of us who are waiting breathlessly a general list of what little (and big) goodies we can expect when the much anticipated P4 arrives, and have you a minimum spec in mind for the sort of PCs we'll need to run this behemoth of WWI simulation? Thanks! </Begging>

Excellent - stomach turning in places, but real history.

To be fair, I'm absolutely guilty as hell of being a complete prick when it comes to asking advice. In my case it's usually breathless enthusiasm - borne of not being particularly bright - that does the damage, so I frequently find myself asking someone a question on t'interwebs, only to realise about 5 minutes later that they've actually told me everything I need to know. But, hey ho. If I'm going to teach the terminally dim, I need to know and experience exactly how they do stuff, don't I? Don't I? Well that's my excuse. Cheers, Si

"so IMO the best and most realistic solution is to cover your front near your airfield, where you get rather quickly, and the patroling legs themself you repeat several times (as mentioned, after finishing hitting control + W to fly them again)." Doh! Missed this - how stupid am I. Yes. To all the uninitiated, Ctrl/W takes you back to the last waypoint, so you'll end up flying up and down a defined line near the desired area, by hitting ctrl/W again as you make towards to nexus. When you get bored with doing this, just shift/W to get the next waypoint, and repeat the shift/W until it points towards home. Jobby done.

Hi Creaghorn, I think I agree - the problem is, how do you turn that idea into a flight plan which you and your fellow flyers will follow for 30-45-60+ minutes? Cheers, Si