nbryant

Thats like asking if all of Pamela Anderson is real.

Thanks guys. Will look into these to see if they make a difference. I am sure its likely something simple and a matter of finding the right setting or two. Been here a short time and am thrilled with the game, and equally as much with the community and willingness to help and share. Great bunch here!

Just a follow up: Running as adminstrator didn't make any difference. Have run 5 flights since then and the game reset 3 times. In this last instance I had reached our destination and inadvertently pressed the "N" key when I was trying to pull up the map. This time though the screen went black with the MS searching ring orbiting. After almost 5 minutes I used ctrl-alt-del to back out. Usually just do an alt-tab but it didn't work this time. I am running win7 on an i7 quad four processor with 3 gig of ram, driven by an ATI 4850. Just as a reference I play some other very high graphic intense games (dragon age, mass effect, etc) without any form of issue with them or other programs I use. I will try adjusting some of the graphic settings to see if there is a difference at all but I have not had any problem up until recently. I appreciate everyones time and replies and realize that troubleshooting from around the globe is an impossible task. Thanks, and happy hunting!

actually running win7

40 minutes in again and after completing my bombing run on an airfield and did well I might add (Took out two hangars, damaged aircraft on the tarmac, and destroyed adjacent tents), then while make a comfortable return home the game error occurred again. Here was the result - Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: CFS3.exe Application Version: 3.1.0.30203 Application Timestamp: 3e3ebe85 Fault Module Name: CFS3.exe Fault Module Version: 3.1.0.30203 Fault Module Timestamp: 3e3ebe85 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 00121582 OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3 Locale ID: 1033 Additional Information 1: 5536 Additional Information 2: 5536fa575d0616a4359684e6f9f5e41d Additional Information 3: 9301 Additional Information 4: 930162b1d6361f3531f23361867fec9a Once again I closed the error screen and was brought back to the pilot list. This now makes about 3 to 3.5 flight hours I have lost due to this. Next step I guess is to bounce around at different timelines and squadrons to see what happens. At this rate I will never get my K&K pilot in the mix.

Oh the things I used to see in Jackson square, on Bourbon Street, and on Camp and Magazine Streets as a young kid! Debauchery is almost to mild a term.

I was born in downtown New Orleans (many many years ago) and as a kid my step father worked at Tulane University. As a kid we parked cars in a lot next to our house in 1967 when the team entered the league and was playing in Tulane stadium. As a family we would live around the radio and TV whenever we could during the season. During the off season we would follow every move and trade. Needless to say for those that know, this day has been 42 years in the making. Despite the teams ups and downs, the "ain'ts" bag years, the annual hopes and dreams followed by frustration and emptiness, I, like many many others, have never faultered in my faith and support of the franchise. Unlike many teams they are the city. It is hard to describe just how engrained they are in the local culture but they are a part of the soul of the region. This season, this win, is more then just a title for a franchise. It is the continuation of the rebirth of a city following a tragedy, the rebirth of a community that has been on hard times, and an inspiration to the rest of the nation that there is hope and that with continued faith all things are possible. So I say thank you to them for making a life long dream becoame a reality........ Geaux Saints!!!!!!

....now excuse me while I go cry as my efforts to create/do skins is so "Disney-ish" when compaired to the quality displayed here. I bow to a true artist!

First the mission. I was the lead of a flight of 5 1 1/2 Strutters on a short range bombing mission to an airfield just over 20 miles from home. We set out with a flight of Pups pulling escort. The flight to the destination was without incident and we fell in and attacked the airfield. We did well taking down a maintenance tent and destroying surrounding storage crates. As we completed our second pass we were set upon by a flight of 10 DIII's with no sign of the Pups. Both flights began mixing it up in earnest and I was able to roll in behind an Alb with a black fuselage. I racked his crate over and over again and eventually watched him settle in to a grove of tress not far from the airfield we had attacked. While chasing him down I was struck by heavy ground fire and my engine began coughing. Realizing I was losing airspeed and would not be able to keep up the attack I immediately turned west and headed for the closest friendly line. As I did I had company and was being strafed over and over from Alb's following me and fighting over who would take me down. In settled at around 100 feet and began tree dancing with them still chasing me hard. I battled with the aircraft and did well holding my own as I crossed over the friendly lines and set about finding some help. I passed by a spotter station and the ground guns opened up. It was about then I decided to jump into the gunners seat. When I did the Alb's were about 700 feet behind me. The aircraft immediately went into a serious climb and we began to outrun the Alb's. I wasted a few rounds but they were out of range so I jumped back into the cockpit. The plane began to lose power and having jumped from 150-200 feet up to 3500 while I was the gunner I identified a field and made my way towards it. The Alb's began closing again but I was able to hold them off as I made my way back down to 100 feet and bounced from grove to grove. I quickly realized I wasn't far from my home field and nursed the crate there while still being chased by an Alb. Made it down in one piece and immediately searched for a bottle of cognac. Observations: 1) When I rolled in on the Alb with Ace markings it did nothing to aggressively get away from me. He more or less maintained a steady state with slight turns and the usual climb to stall and roll, but nothing to run or roll away from my fire. AI skill is set to aggressive. Has anyone else seen much of this? 2) My gunner did nothing to fire upon the attacking Alb's. When I was at 100 feet they were in trail at around 300-400 feet but he never opened up. Question is how is the gunner AI set? There is an AI isn't their? 3) After being hit the engine was coughing and losing power. When I jumped into the gunners station the AI pilot immediately had all kinds of power and was able to quickly climb a few thousand feet. All the while I noticed the throttle percentage jumping up and down ranging between 40% through 90% throttling up then down and continously cycling like this the entire time the AI was flying. Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Will admit the thought of him (rear gunner) having died never crossed my mind, does make total sense though. His avatar was still manning the gun........ The challenge of any AI is finding a balance between realism and fair play. Not sure how you go about capturing both the aggressive kill instinct of an MvR or even the flight for life when it is injured or in serious trouble. A dilemma for sure. Still, the gameplay is amazing and despite a few little things like this OFF is in a league of its own when compaired to those others.

Signed on with a new pilot sporting a slightly used Sopwith 1 1/2. First mission, long range recon. Weather... heavy cloud front but moderate winds. All was going well. Passed through a number of cloud banks without incident while cruising at 12,500 ft. Flak was getting heavy and we lost 2 of our escorting Pups to it. I lead the flight down breaking through the cloud cieling at about 5000 ft. While doing so the remaining 2 Pups jumped a flight of 3 Alb III's keeping them off us. Thinking we were clear for now I suddenly hear my engine begin to sputter. While contimplating my options, like I had many, she quit cold. So here I am, first mission, and in a hurt looking for a friendly place to try and come down...... don't think I will make it! Follow up: Didn't catch it at first but apparently the flak punctured my fuel tank and as I wasn't paying any attention to it I ran it dry. I was able to bank left heading to the front but as it was 5 miles away I ended up having to set down in between an army camp, spotter and airfield. Well the huns were quick to react to an aircraft rolling in an adjacent field and I was captured. Must admit, was treated well, shared some drink and song, but after a bit they relaxed and I escaped making my way across the front with some serious help from the underground and returned to my squadron after only 19 days.

Shouldn't you just be happy you saw it fly by and did not see the bright flash inside your cockpit?

I am amazed by the historians here that participate in OFF not only for its sim ability but also for its dedication to represent this aspect of the war as much as possible. It has started me researching an old love..... WWI aircraft. I have been involved in aviation in one form or another for over 30 years now and am having a great time as I play and search for data. While doing so I found these.............. (some of you have likely seen them) .....believe they were posted in papers between 1935-1940: ..... ....... ....... .......

I for one want to thank the dev's for the work accomplished. Being a very mature gamer I appreciate the quality being applied and am sure each new iteration will continue building on it. As for the game play, I am loving the challenge. Between the flight characteristics, weather, poor sights, I really enjoy being challenged and not just orbiting in circles easily until I get a shot. I am still a noobie to OFF but have logged a lot of hours and have only once made it beyond 10 total hours, 2 claims or survived much more then 4-5 missions before seeing myself taken down, and I love it. The only thing I have found though over the last few games was I would be shot down at altitude yet the game would default back to the post mission screen with my pilot alive. Other then that I haven't found much to complain about.

Damn I am filled with envy! Excellent work and thank you for your time. I have spent hours trying to recreate various templates with no luck. Have always been more proficient at modding others templates enhancing them) Back to the drawing board as I would love to be able to contribute to this most excellent sim.

An amazing post provided by Pappy, It was enlightening and by no means crappy. His tale reflects his battling the hun, and end the end he flew into the sun. Way to go Pappy..... good stuff!

I am tinkering with a few of the textures and trying to create a layerd template that will be easy to manipulate. Some of the aircraft have a grayed set of textures available that make this easier, others don't. I am looking for any insight into how to go about taking the structures and nuetralizing the colors in such a way as to make them easy to recolor in any format I wish. In addition I would like to extract the weathering, if possible, and create a separate layer for it but am not sure how or if its possible. Like this community itself I enjoy the details, historical accuracy, and love the work already accomplished but hope to add some clarity and fine details to some of the crates. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks BH

Had received mine over a week ago but it sat under the tree. Had to negotiate terms with the little lady and was able to reach an agreement so I have been enjoying my flight time....... although it has been at the expense of a number of pilots!

Have been doing some research and reading on the net and stumbled across this........ After having over 2000 hours (helicopter aircrew) flying I can't begin to imagine anything the likes of this: Louis Strange experimented with a solution using a Martinsyde S I biplane. He fixed a Lewis gun on top of the upper wing, high enough to clear the airscrew. While this seemed quite a good solution, it introduced new problems, as Strange himself discovered on the 10th of May while attempting to shoot down an Aviatik. After firing off a whole drum from his Lewis gun he broke off in order to reload. Unfortunately the drum jammed, and Strange stood up on his seat in order to try and pry it loose. The plane stalled, flipped over, and began to spin earthwards upside-down. Strange was flung out of the plane, and found himself dangling below the upper wing, hanging on by the very drum he had been trying to shake loose. By swinging his legs wildly he managed to get a foothold inside the cockpit and drag himself back inside in time to right the plane and avoid a crash. In his wild thrashing he had smashed all the dials in his instrument panel and broken the seat. (Despite such antics Strange was to survive the war, finishing the war as a Wing Commander. In the Second World War he flew in the volunteer reserve, and set up both the airborne forces parachute training course, and the fighter convoy defence unit.) http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/earlyfighters.htm

Went on my first sortie covering a flight of Sopwith 1 1/2's behind lines to make a few morning drops on an army bivouac with the Escadrille in Spad VII's. Flight departed just after 8 a.m. and within the half hour we were oversite and the Strutters were dishing out their morning wake up call. We were welcomed by a flight of four DIII's and they mixed it up with our flight of eight. I was able tp pounce on one and after making a second pass, along with two mates, I place about 40 rounds into him and that was enough for him to go into a controlled descent but unfortunately for him he could not manuever around a tree line. I immediately banked and began climbing to regain altitude and rejoin the flight and as I did I passed over a local airbase. Flak was chasing me and I fluttered left and right to lessen their targeting ability but it wasn't good enough. A shell burst close to me and made a mess of my crate, worst of all it damaged the engine. It sputtered something terrible but I pushed the throttle forward realizing the need to gain altitude. She coughed and spit but continued firing. I turned west and was able to climb to 8000 ft and make another 20 minutes. This was enough to bring me just to our side of the front and while turning to head to my field the engine had enough and died. As the airframe settled I looked around and saw a spotter nearby and began making my way to them intending to land nearby. Dead sticking it I was making my approach when I realized the area was full of tree stumps and not wanting to take any chance with them I rolled left and quickly found a field adjacent to a small town and rolled in thier easily. An eventful and exciting morning to say the least. Time on deck, approximately 0930 and I was at least 20-25 miles from home. So the game goes back to the squadron screen and I fill in my claim and return to the duty room and it is now 1230 on the same day and I am scheduled for another sortie. Damn, the squadorn is staffed and I know the new guy is always abused but let me try to catch my wits about me before sending me out again!

Excellent bullethead, and much appreciated. Love the detail you have built in and thats exactly where I need to go. Now its a matter of finding time between flights and real life work (US government aviation acquisitions). Another question if I may. Where or what examples have you used to configure airframe panels and/or overlays?

Its all offset by the cookies and milk consumed around the globe.

Haven't tried this yet. Exactly what is the difference?

I didn't realize escape was possible! Logged that in my note.