RAF_Louvert

Actually Scout, they are both very accurate. Up until the fall of 1917 bomb sights, at least in the British air services, were crude and unreliable at best. Starting with the Lever Sight before the war and then on to the Bourdillon CFS Sight, (1915), and the Scarff Equal Distant Sight, (1916), all were little more than gun sights. Even the Wimperis Low Height Drift Sight of 1917, which could measure velocity and direction of wind, and as the name implies was meant for low level bombing, still required stopwatch settings of bomb runs. It wasn't until late 1917 that the Wimperis Course Setting Sight did away with that and gave bombers the ability to attack accurately, on the level or in a dive, and at any angle. This is one item I would really like to see added to OFF at some point in the future; a rudimentary bomb sight for us two-seater types. Cheers! Lou

I have sent the following email in an effort to address this continuing misconception. I hope that something good may come of it. We'll see, I guess. Mr. Ben Dunnell Deputy Editor Combat Aircraft Magazine Dear Mr. Dunnell, I am writing in regards to a recent article published in your magazine by Jay Slater, entitled "Canvas Knights: A New Dawn for IL2". It was an informative and well-written piece about the upcoming WW1 combat flight sim Canvas Knights, scheduled for release this fall. I would however like to comment on one item. Over Flanders Fields is mentioned in passing but is quickly dismissed as somehow being out-of-date in comparison, due to its use of the CFS3 engine. I have seen such inferences made before as concerns this sim and it troubles me a bit as it seems to be made from a uniformed position. Both the CFS3 and the IL2 engines are pushing the decade mark in age, and while the IL2-based project does seem to offer more possibilities in the multi-player theater, it honestly pails in comparison to what the OFF devs have done with their 5-year CFS3-based project and it's recent finished release, "Between Heaven and Hell". This is not simply an add-on to CFS3 but is in fact a complete rework from the ground up, and an outstanding one at that. The number and quality of flyable aircraft, the flight and damage models, and the sheer volume of squadron and ace plane skins is phenomenal. It is a full-immersion dynamic campaign experience, with all-new ground objects, date-accurate weather for the 1914-18 period, and the entire Western Front to fly and fight over. The virtual pilot can choose to fly for any of four separate air services, as either a scout or bomber/recce pilot. The missions are many and varied, and there are even such challenges as fending of Zeppelin attacks and night bombing raids over London, complete with searchlights. And, while it is more geared towards the single-player side, we have a growing and active online MMP community as well. I honestly believe that if you were to drop by the OFF website and spend but a few minutes looking at the results of this long-running project you would quickly see just how astounding this Great War combat flight sim really is. Here is the link: http://www.overflandersfields.com/info.htm I find it unfortunate that OFF's Between Heaven and Hell has been so overlooked by nearly every publication that devotes time and resources to such items of interest. I am certain that the folks who have enjoyed such classic WW1 flight sims as RB3D would thrill to the rich experience BHaH has to offer, every bit as much as that being hailed in Rise of Flight, Canvas Knights, and others. Perhaps this is an oversight that your outstanding publication would consider addressing. Thank you very much Mr. Dunnell for your time and consideration, and I hope you will consider giving OFF Between Heaven and Hell a brief write-up. Best Regards, Steven Larson (a veteran WW1 combat flight simmer) .

So the poor old ostrich died for nothing...

Alrighty then, so it looks like a "NO" to including this new tweak in the official DiD standards, but a "YES" to OFF's ability to be adjusted to nearly everyone's liking. I'll just make an entry to that affect here in my little BHaH notebook..."no to the brill idea presented by Louvert, but yes to the obvious"...there, got it.

Spoken like a man who's been to heaven and back more than once I'd say, Huaksbee.

LOL! Ah, good one WM. Reminds a tad of the first time I took my son fishing many years ago. Beautiful spring morning, out to the lake we went, gear in hand. Found a nice quiet stretch of shoreline, and I set my boy up with a bobber, sinker, hook, and worm so he could still fish. Then, I proceeded to show him how one goes about casting with a spoon lure for the "big fish". First cast I dropped the tip of my rod too far back behind me and as I flipped it forward promptly snagged myself with a treble hook in the arse. Good times...good times. Cheers! Lou

If that is indeed the main sticking point Olham, then the marketing tool to use would be to offer OFF two ways: With or without the CFS3 game disc included. One-stop shopping makes all the difference to a lot of folks in this conveniece-oriented world. Since you don't even need to install CFS3 to run OFF, but only need it for those few files, it would be quite easy and a real selling point to have that disc included and at the ready when prompted by the OFF Installer to pop it in. Cheers! Lou

Oye! Hellshade's right. This is a travesty, it is!

See, we only need ask, (or sometimes complain), and the devs jump PDQ to help us poor sods out. Cheers! Lou

Fun video Olham. Thanks for sharing Sir. Love those old planes, especially when you get to see them actually flying. Cheers! Lou

Well done, Ogmund! And the Strutter was an excellent first mission choice. Very sturdy, stable, and quite capable of handling itself in a fight when push comes to shove. Bombing is tricky, and in WW1 it was far more art than science. I tend to lower the nose a bit to get a line on the target, then level off and lean over to port in order to watch for the drop point, which in my opinion is anybody's educated and/or lucky guess. Enjoy OFF Sir. I've no doubt you will. :yes: Cheers! Lou

I can certainly appreciate the idea of balance, and finding said balance between speed, memory, and wallet is wherein the trick lies. The reason I say speed seems to be more important than memory when playing OFF is based not only on the observations of others but my own expereince as well. Here are my basic system specifications for the budget gaming computer I built in order to really appreciate BHaH, (and others), and not break the bank in the process. CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz Wolfdale 6mb 1333fsb 45nm with Arctic Cooler Memory: 8gb DDR2 PC2-6400 800mhz Mobo: ASUS P5QL Pro Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II NCQ 500gb 32mb Opti Drive: LG 22X DVD+/RW Dual Layer SATA Rewrite Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512mb PS: 500w deluxe switching dual fan Windows XP Pro 64-bit OS After I'd gotten this new set-up running and related drivers updated, and after loading OFF and TrackIR, I began the process of dialing it all in. What I ultimately came to find was that with my CPU overclocked to 3.80 and my memory overclocked to 890 I could push OFF with the sliders at 5-4-4-5-5 and keep a solid 45 to 60 FPS with no white jaggies of any kind, no matter how quickly I looked around or how large the dogfight. The only time I do get the dreaded pale triangles is when I am also running FRAPS to capture a video, and even then it is minimal. Now, I realize that more card memory would be wonderful and if you have the budget by all means go for it. But if the pennies are tight, I would recommend opting for the speed. That being said, I also wouldn't go any smaller than a 512 card. Cheers! Lou

SGCSG1, I believe the short answer is that they did it for easy identification in the dogfights. Manfred and his crew got the whole idea rolling in the first place and it caught on from there. Cheers! Lou

Personally, I think the Huns just got a great deal on all the mis-mixed paint at Das Haupt Depot. And yes, 'Von Richthoven and Brown' may be one of the worst ever, and in so many ways. Cheers! Lou

SGCSG1, That's the beauty of this sim. You don't have to write up a claim at all if you don't care to. Just go into the workshop and check the "Easy" box in the claims section and you will have them automatically awarded to you. Something here for everyone in OFF. Cheers! Lou

Siggi, I agree about the ground fire completely and the very real possibility of the kill coming from an MG marksman down on terra firma. However, in the case I have noted, we were far too high for that possibility and there was in fact no ground fire of any kind, (just the odd AA burst well away from the dogfight). I was careful to consider this when I wrote my claim report. In any case, I would not submit this pilot to you for addition to the DiD list as he does not abide by your very concise and practical criteria. I only brought this up as yet another aspect that can be incorporated into this stellar combat flight sim. Cheers! Lou

Yuppers Chris, you can do it that way as well and it will work fine. But I did not want to go there as it involves re-writing the game files. Cheers! Lou

shortbutslow, The 9800 GeForce series is WAAAY faster than the 9600. You can get into a new 9800GTX 512mb for about $130 and it will definitely allow you to push up those sliders. A whole lot more bang for the buck with the 9800, IMHO. And its more about the speed and less about the memory when it comes to OFF. Cheers! Lou

Olham, you go to the workshop after you have filed the claim. If you change your claim settings they will take affect after your next mission and for that claim. And, if you happen to put in another claim in that next mission it will not be automatically awarded and you simply go back to the workshop and reset your claims to hard, (unless of course it was another kill on your side of the mud right in front of Kaiser Bill). Cheers! Lou

That will be outstanding Dej! I look forward to seeing those new items, and I am glad that the claims form I offered might be put to good use for all. Thanks Sir. Cheers! Lou

I have come to the conclusion that, for whatever reason, OFF BHaH is the best kept secret in the WW1 combat flight sim community. And it is a secret that really does need to be shared. So, who does one have to sleep with in order to get a good review in a major publication these days? Cheers! Lou

WM, if you do happen to make it up Minnesota-way during your whirlwind tour of the US be sure to get in touch with me. I'd be honoured to meet up with you and swap war stories. Cheers! Lou

Real men don't read the instructions any more than they ask for directions. We always know what we're doing and where we're going. Just ask us, we'll tell you so. And FYI: When it appears that we are driving around aimlessly on our way to a store we've never been to before, it's not because we are lost. We are actually reconnoitering the area to familiarize ourselves with ALL the stores available. Also, when we're assembling that bike on Christmas morning for that lucky son or daughter? The reason it takes us so long isn't because we refuse to look at the assembly manual, it's because we are carefully re-engineering the product as we go along in order to make it better. Cheers! Lou