Sky High

Replying to myself here, but I think I was out of touch with my comment on ROF ("...they provide really good support."): Recent developments seem to point to the fact that all is not very well with that game. Ah well...

Sid, why not try First Eagles, it has a Dolphin, and TK insults no-one.

I already have, unfortunately ROF is too much for my current pc, but I have it as an investment for the future. It looks great, and they provide really good support. OFF is a labour of love, but I find myself always going for FE, but it is good to have such choice.

Ojcar, your campaign sounds like it is going to give RB3D and OFF3/4 a right good run for their money. The permutations seem infinite, with almost eternal replayability!

Have you tried a glide-wrapper, such as Zeckensachs and run it in glide? Perhaps you could try the EAW section at SimHQ, where they are very knowledgeable and helpful.

In order to play it off-line I would recommend the UP3RC4/DBW add-on to Il-2 1946-4,10.1, which provides a huge quantity of very well integrated and smooth-running mods, including the option of an AI mod which greatly improves the game-play. All free of course.

Who needs 'Clod' when one can have all this, thanks to the awesome and unbelievably generous efforts of CirX and his fine crew. And their forum is, like this one, a pleasure to enter.

That is their loss, isn't it? The Gajin people are very willing to listen, and have already created a challenging (too much so for me-I prefer the intermediate 'Realistic' mode) 'Simulation' mode, now facilitate user-made skins for the game, and have just released a new patch with improved FMs; the P51D is supposed to be much-improved(don't ask me, I wouldn't have a clue, but some people have tremendous knowledge of these planes). I think it augurs well for the future, and perhaps the eye-candy will attract some new people too.

Dave, wrt to those who say: "there will never ever be another WWII simulator, ever and it's all your fault you ungrateful bastards", I think Wings of Prey increasingly deserves attention. It is now on sale for $9, runs smoothly at very high settings on my P4, and the makers are still bringing in new improvements in direct response to players' requests, including removing the DRM for off-liners. It is also Il-2 derived, but with no attempt to conceal its origins, but some of the improvements have been dramatic, it has gorgeous graphics. WoP is still a WiP, but it is getting better all the time, with a WoPII in prospect also, so the WWII genre isn't quite dead yet, thankfully. Sorry for going a bit OT, but I can say nothing about CoD, as my PC wouldn't have a hope of running it.

The Ultrapack will transform your game with vastly-improved graphics, ai, fm's, and more planes, maps, and lots more I can't think of right now, and it's free. There is actually a new Ultrapack due out any day now, based on the latest official patch (4.101), with even more goodies.

Sounds like you're going to have your hands full. Best of luck on nappy duty! Great, indeed awesome, skins; those screens are mouth-watering.

I also have, FE, 1+2, OFF, and RoF. I find FE has the edge on OFF, I also am unable to play RoF on my aging pc. Just a dream (or a nightmare?); if TK is about to abandon FE which has so much potential and since OFF is being limited by this ancient, inadequate CFS3 engine, what if the OFF developers (and they are really good) could get their hands on the FE engine...?

Quack, Bingo! The Options.ini was wrong and when I edited it manually, that did the trick. Thank you very much for everything, you are a gentleman.

Yes, Quack, I removed all the planes I didn't need, but when I open Single Mission, all the planes of my other FirstEagle2 install are present in the list, but the ones from Austria-Italy are not. Indeed it simply seems that my Austria-Italy.exe is simply pointing to the wrong folder in My Documents\Thirdwire, ie the FirstEagles2 folder instead of the Austria-Italy folder.

Quack, I followed the procedure you outlined, ran the desktop shortcut once, and this put an Austria-Italy folder in 'My Documents\Thirdwire\Austria-Italy', alongside my original FirstEagles2 folder. I then added the contents of your campaign to this folder as you indicated, but as I said previously when I run the desktop Austria-Italy_exe, all that shows up on my Mission and Campaign screens is what is on my original (modded) Western Front FirstEagles2. Baffling, isn't it?

Quack, Firstly, thanks for this great add-on, and for all the work put into it and for your generosity in sharing it with us. I am using FE2 myself on XP, and have followed your instructions for a second install, as far as I can see, to the letter, but when I start the game using the Austria-Italy exe, I get my other install presented with all the Western front stuff, though when I click on the Fokker Dr1, for example, the game ctd's. Also in Campaign, Caporetto doesn't show up. Would it have something to do with the different path to the mods install in XP (My Documents\Thirdwire\Austria-Italy)?

I'd advise to get yourselves over to the forum in SimHQ and see what's happening with European Air War these days. It's a resurrection!

That would be very welcome indeed. Thanks for all your work.

Hello all. Just bought and installed FE2. Seems a considerable improvement and I only have XP. However I notice in flying most planes that I cannot hear engine or machine-gun sounds when facing straight ahead, only the wind. I can hear them when I look left, right or behind. Is this correct, would wind wipe out the other sounds in this manner, or do I have a little problem, and if so, is there a solution? Thanks in advance.

I'm only on a Pentium 4, 3.4 gHz, with nVidia 9800gt, and eventually eliminated stutters by upgrading to more recent drivers. Might be worth some trial and error.

Quack, I've just downloaded, installed and flown the new skins. TopHo!, old boy, they're more things of beauty. The way you and your modding colleagues are going with this sim, what with superb new skins, terrain, battle and weather effects, the sky's the limit, if you'll forgive the pun.

Maybe it's just me, but I do notice there have been no downloads by anyone yet, but I can't get the file to download.

There is also the Speedlink Black Widow, which is a sort of poor man's HOTAS, in that it has a seperate throttle lever and joystick with the rudder neatly incorporated in the throttle. Also has force feedback. Costs about €30-35 in Europe. Not sure if left hand version available, though.

Just an observation for nVidia users. Up to now I was able to reduce, but never completely eliminate, microstutters in my game. I recently installed nVidia 196.21 drivers and the microstuttering seems to have gone. I have 9800gt card.

My 2 cents worth, as I play both games, FE modded to max and OFF. Terrain, campaign, immersion factor better in OFF. Flight models, AI better in FE. Conclusion: if one likes campaigns, and a feeling of involvement in one's airforce, OFF would be better. For intense dogfighting, FE is better. One should have both, as both sims are fully deserving of our support. I think RoF should be given a chance too, it's new and the developers seem to be listening-let's not forget we are a rare bunch of anoraks, and should be thankful we have so much choice for what is very much a minority taste.