RAF_Louvert

YEEEE HAAAA! Looks outstanding stumpjumper, and will that be a nice one to add to the fleet! Well done Sir. BTW, I will check my photos when I get home to see if I happen to have a pic showing the bombs on the G4. Cheers! Lou

Good Morning Olham and All, I have not seen this issue myself in flying the various planes and time periods. What I have noticed is the variety of flight sizes and random nature of encountering them. I also fly without TAC so I don't tend to encounter every flight in my AO as I am never even aware they are nearby. I have noticed that the enemy tneds to be higher more often than not, unless I lead my flight to a much higher alt than that prescribed in my mission outline. As others have noted here Olham, maybe you are just having a string of bad luck Sir. On the historic side of the discussion, from what I've read it was common practice for other flights to fly to and join in a dogfight if they caught sight of one and weren't already engaged. And if air activity is heavy in a certain AO it makes sense that this scenario will more likely be played out, (and much more so on the German side of the mud as that is where the bulk of the aerial combats took place). Cheers! Lou

Well done British-eh. I look forward to flying your mission pack as it becomes available Sir. Keep up the stout effort! Cheers! Lou

BuB, IL2 is an outstanding sim, and if you wish to fly WW2 either on or off line it is one of the best. Here are a few screenshots of the Biggin Hill campaign. If you load up and use Compans outstanding scenery and ground textures, this is what you will be seeing when flying across the Channel to do battle with the Hun. As most of you know the WW1 Canvas Knights project uses this engine, and for those who long for the massive multi-player side of the game it may well prove to be the answer. That being said, I am afraid the project is being rushed a bit and may have some initial issues with flight models, damage models, and such. But I give Deutschmark and his crew credit for their efforts. I know there are a lot of old online RB'ers waiting for the CK release. There is no way however that it will ever be able to get close to BHaH for the SP dynamic campaign experience, unless the CK team wishes to spend the next five years doing what the OFF devs have done, (and I really don't see that happening). Cheers! Lou

Good Evening All, I haven't had much time as of late to devote to the Dardanelles Campaign project, but I did make some progress. Here is a brief video of the northwest approach to Kum Kale: Recce of Kum Kale Work While there is still much to do, it is starting to take shape. I'll be heading up north now for my father-in-law's funeral. He had been suffering with congestive heart failure for the last several months and passed away at age 89 this last Monday, peacefully, in his sleep, surrounded by loved ones. He was a great guy and he will be missed. Best be thankful for those special people in your lives, and appreciate them while you can, and don't ask for whom the bell tolls... Lou

Thank you for the offer of assistance stumpjumper. I believe I have the majority of the ships we will need, unless you have an earlier version of a gunboat, (i.e. PT boat size and type). One item that would be great to have for this would be the bomber version of the Short to use in the strike missions on the forts and gun positions in a couple of the missions. Also, the earliest German planes available. Something like the Taube and a very early two-seater would be handy in the first mission or two to serve as what little air fleet the Turks and Germans had in this area at the time. I will be using the BE2 as well since these did serve in the Dardanelles. This campaign was over by November of 1915 so it really needs all the early war birds, but we will make do with what we have, just like we are doing with the geography. Cheers! Lou

Thanks for the condolences British_eh, much appreciated Sir. I'm glad you like the project so far, and I am looking forward to your series of missions as well. Before I hit the road, here are a couple of screenshots that show off the newest fort a bit better. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, (or at least until the British fleet blows it to bits). Cheers! Lou

British_eh, your point about "Sagittarius Rising" is spot on, but I still love it. McCudden's work is indeed dramatic and a very good read. Others that I have enjoyed several times each are: James McConnell,s "Flying for France"; "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", by James McCudden; A.R. Kingsford's "With the Earth Beneath"; "An Aviator’s Field-Book", by Oswald Bolcke; and perhaps my all-time favorite of the genre, "Wind in the Wires", by Duncan Grinnell-Milne. So many great books, so little time. Cheers! Lou

Winder, I don't disagree with you at all in terms of wanting to prevent this sort of piracy, but I also understand the hassle to the consumer of a system's like RoF's. That being said, there must be ways that these bootleg copies could be minimized. When the original disc is produced for sale to the end user can it be password protected so that it can't be launched, (or copied), without the required password provided by OFF? If so that would at least give you a trail to who's bootleg copy is being offered in a torrent or other download by tracing the specific password back to who originally purchased the disc. Of course this is likely far too simplistic and therefore ineffective against all the creative and clever a**holes of the world who have nothing better to do than to steal the hard work of others. Cheers! Lou

Pay for what you get, and get what you pay for. I would trust a torrent version of anything about as far as I could comfortably spit a rat, (to quote Ford Prefect). Cheers! Lou

I agree with you Bullethead. I've been learning the Fee as well, along with the BE2. A very challenging shift in tactics as compared to the scouts. Also, I gotta' tell you all, when I first saw the title of this thread I thought it meant something TOTALLY different and was wondering how it made it past the censor. Cheers! Lou

OH MAN, more sweetness from the Dev team! You guys are just spoiling us you know, (and I love being spoiled). Cheers! Lou

A tearful and heartfelt soldier's salute to Henry Allingham. It is men such as these that exemplify what is good and true in all mankind. May we have them amongst us always, and remember them forever. Lou

Good Morning All, You may have had this discussion before, but I could not locate it so I thought I would get it rolling. How do you have your "cockpit" set up for flying? Here is how mine is currently configured. The extension over to the right is something I added several years ago and it works very well as it firmly supports the joystick at a comfortable location and provides a home for the mouse, as well as maps and logs I might need to keep at the ready, (and of course it works well for supporting my coffee cup to boot). So then, tell us all about yours. Cheers! Lou

Good Evening All, Work continues on the Dardanelles Campaign project, and I fired up the first of the operational fort guns tonight. After initial construction of my OFF rendering of Seddul-Bahr was far enough I long, I set up to test and adjust the harbor cannons I am using as the primary weapon in all the forts in this campaign. Seddul-Bahr plays the lead role in the opening mission as the war in the Dardanells began in February of 1915 with the British naval bombardment and effective silencing of this fort. The Short Folder aircraft did its best to maintain recce flights throughout the bombardment and subsequent landing of Allied ground forces. Here is a brief video of the running up of the west cannon: Gun Test at Seddul-Bahr I will keep you all posted on future developments, but I will be on the road for the rest of this week so it may be a bit before I can get back to the project. Cheers! Lou

Yes, the rate of fire is much too fast, and that is one of the items I am attempting to correct by playing with the parameters in the harbor gun file itself. This is all still quite new to me, so it's going to take some time to get everything sorted out. Cheers! Lou

Rickitycrate, it's a wmv file so it should open up for you Sir. I just checked it again and it ran fine on both of my computers. Also, while my little effort here is a fair amount of work it's nothing at all compared to what the devs had to go through to give us this outstanding sim. Now THAT was a lot of work, and I am really beginning to appreciate how much after diving into this project. :yes: Cheers! Lou

jack, if you have the hardest level for the claims form checked in your settings, the phrase, "Snowball's chance in Hell", comes to mind. Cheers! Lou

Paarma, beautiful work Sir, and I can appreciate just how much time and effort you've been putting into these. I eagerly look forward to seeing them in the newest release. Cheers! Lou

Dej wrote: "Dawn Patrol" for me as well, though I like them all. And I'm also surprised not to see vR&B is not in the running. It's such a classic. Cheers! Lou

OMG! Alright, I just saw this, and while I fully appreciate the initial feelings expressed by Olham, this is still one of the funniest bits I have seen in ages, and I am now cleaning up the coffee I just spewed all over my monitor! I agree with the comments made here about being able to laugh at, belittle, and generally slam one of history's most vile figures. People like Hitler are fair game for anything, IMHO. The whole "Springtime For Hitler" routine in "The Producers" is another one of my all-time favorite digs at the maniac. By the way, I have an avitar that might come in handy for someone, (watch out for the llama, he spits). I'm sorry Olham...too soon? Cheers! Lou

I took my screen name to honor my father Louvert Larson who, despite his best and repeated efforts, was never allowed to serve in the armed forces during WW2. Due to health issues Uncle Sam classified him 4-F and he had to stay at the homefront while all his friends went off to war, (several of whom did not returned). He was never OK with it, right up until the day he died back in 1974 from a massive heart attack. I think of him often when I see my screen name, and I attempt to be as fair and honorable as I possibly can be in remembrance of a man who was always ready to do his part, and would have willingly died for the chance to do so way back when. I of course am glad he did not or I would not be here now, nor would his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Life is funny, and not always in a humorous way. Cheers! Lou

Good Evening All, I have sorted out a way to build passable representations of the numerous forts I will need for the Dardanelles missions. Since there were over a dozen heavily buttressed forts of various shapes and sizes involved in this campaign I needed to come up with a way to create them that didn't involve massive amounts of 3-D model work. Mind you, I am likely only going to have about five or six of the forts scattered through-out, but it would still have required more time, energy, and talent than I currently have at my disposal. After some investigation, and a head-scratching session or two, I discovered that by repainting only three existing buildings already in the sim files I was able to come up with the required building blocks needed for a snap-together, do-it-yourself, OFF fort kit. Here are a couple screenshots showing the work thus far: I am still trying to sort out the guns. I had a harbor cannon in the southern-facing gun house actually working but when I turned it a bit to line up better with the entrance to the straits it quit firing and actually seemed to fall off to the side. If anyone knows what parameters I need to set in which files to have the guns stay level I would much appreciate the information. I have a hunch that the issue has to do with the uneven ground the gun is sitting on. Actually, now that I have all the math figured out on this first one, it's kinda' fun putting these together. BTW, I played with Legos a lot when I was a kid. Cheers! Lou

Excellent! I have copied and pasted your instructions so I'll have them at the ready for when I get those new pedals. Thanks again Steve. Cheers! Lou

I find it interesting that the article did not specifically mention the Swiss engineer Franz Schneider who designed and patented an interrupter in July of 1913 for LVG, but rather his collaboration with Anthony Fokker 18 months later, (and referred to him as "Hans"). And also of note was Raymond Saulnier's patented gun synchroniser of April 1914, and the fact that the French military chose to ignore it. Imagine if the Saulnier N's and Parasols had been the first in the air with synhronized guns firing through the props. By the way, I have posted this before, but this seems like a good place to offer it again. Here is the illustration of the Lewis Airplane Type from my 1918 original Savage Arms service booklet for this weapon. And, because I am always happy to share this sort of thing with folks who are interested, here is a link to the full-sized scan I put together and cleaned up so that it is suitable for framing. Lewis Airplane Type MG Illustration (very large) Cheers! Lou .