RAF_Louvert

. Kosher or not, you're a hoot Dej. .

. Greetings All, In between my many travels these last few weeks I've been plunking away at a little project that I will be sharing with you all once I have it to such a point, (possibly this Sunday). It involves a relatively obscure CFS3 plane add-on that fits perfectly with our beloved sim, and a locale that is ideally suited to us as would-be WWI pilots. Here are a few visual clues to help you cypher it out. Who amongst you learned lot knows where I am working, on what, and which aircraft this project is taking advantage of? Also, I will add that after numerous hours of flitting about in this kite around this area, it is not only enlightening but also a pure hoot! Lou .

. I don't agree at all RP. Not that there isn't a bit of tweaking that could be done, but I find the sounds in P3 to be really quite good. I'm going to make a guess here that on your 1st grade report card Red Piano, under 'Comments', it said "Does not play well with others." .

. Alright, that last post from RS seals it. As president of the BOC I'm calling for an official vote from founding members Dej and Olham. All in favour of accepting Rambling Sid into the Barmy OFFers Club, say 'Oy'. OY! .

. The Zep works beautifully in P3. I have used it in numerous missions without issue. Just be sure to drop the Zep pylons and weapons into the respective OFF 'pylons' and 'weapons' folders, otherwise you will have a no-go. .

. WM, the 'Zeppelins Over Paris" mission is still available in the OFF Downloads section. Ready to go for you once you have your Zep files installed. .

. I have been flying with Track IR and sans TAC and aids for quite some time and fully enjoy it. I also navigate with a paper map and the in-sim compass rather than the in-sim map, and this too adds another dimension to an already deep sim. Having to rely on 'Eyeball 20-20' and distant flak puffs to sort out where my opponents might be also brings the kills down to a much more realistic level. I will say however that I do not use the 'DiD' setting anymore but rather the 'Dice Roll' as there were times when our RL counterparts walked away from crashes that should have killed them, but didn't. This of course is one of the great things about OFF, you can tailor it to precisely your liking. So Soppy, I agree with you completely Sir that OFF is a entirely new sim when flown this way. .

. Even as a translation from the original? Makes sense for current works, but I didn't think it would apply to books that are, or used to be, in the public domain. But what do I know from international copyright law? .

. Quite true Olham, and a growing interest in the topic is a good thing, IMHO. Now then, to doing a German translation of those books, you might have more of a market for them than you think. And you could always do it yourself and offer them in e-library format for a reasonable price. Desktop publishing is all the rage these days you know. So Hasse Wind, the title of your edition of McCudden's classic would be, "Viisi vuotta kuninkaallisissa lentojoukoissa". Kyllä? (oh the joys of online translators) .

. It is interesting how the prices of WWI aviation books, in particular the contemporary volumes, have climbed over the last 20 years or so. Even with the current economic state of affairs they still maintain their high prices. When I began my collection I could often find hard cover 1st editions in very nice shape for $5 US. Not so any more, I'm afraid. .

. Careful now, we don't want the poor old ostrich to die for nothing. .

. Eric, there does appear to be a lot of beer around here. One of the draws of the place, me'thinks. And Flyby, I believe OFF and RoF can share common borders in a peaceful fashion, just so long as Archie Duke doesn't go and shoot an ostrich because he's hungry. .

. So, stand to your glasses steady, This world is a world of lies, Here's a drink to the dead already. Hurrah for the next man to die. .

. Yes Olham, McCudden's book has been out of print for quite some time now. Depending on how cheap "cheap" is to you, there are quite a few different editions always being offered on AbeBooks: AbeBooks, McCudden's Flying Fury Enjoy. . LIMA, good on you for scoring those two classics, and one in a 1st to boot. .

. almost? ALMOST?! You have just pushed back the boundaries of understatement WM. .

. Something along those lines WM, though what I am leaning towards is a single 'mission' that has no routes shown on the in-sim map. TAC will also be useless for navigation as I will only give three generic waypoints in the mission that will have nothing to do with the actual flights. Instead, the pilot cadet would have a list of tasks he must properly complete before being brevetted, much like our RL counterparts had to do. It would be based on the requirements of the day, which were more-or-less as follows. Initial practice of taxing up and down the field, but without taking off. Once proficeint at this the cadet could move on to: 5 - take-offs and landings 1 - climb to 1000 meters above aerodrome, throttle back, circle down and land 1 - hour long flight to 2000 meters, cadet's choice of route 1 - triangle trip of 200 km, prescribed route using paper map and in-sim compass 2 - trips of 150 km, prescribed routes using paper map and in-sim compass Successful completion of the above would earn the pilot his brevet afterwhich he could be given additional combat flight training in something like the Bleriot 2-place, (which we also have available in OFF thanks to the fine efforts of Jean-Michel Castagne). .

. Olham, I may have been unclear when I used the word 'mission'. I meant it in the context of building a stand-alone mission, or group of missions. That is the only way to use the add-on planes and such in OFF. The sim itself will not recongize the new items in campaigns. Hope this helps, mein Freund. .

. Excellent mod Bletchley, and great news that this is already incorporated in OFF2. So, two weeks then? .

. Just read through your thread RS. No worries Sir, we all see things up there. However, I might recommend you switch to the inlines for a bit, I think you're sucking in too much castor oil. hee hee ... next round is on me, lads. .

. Keep us posted WM. I also have the latest version of FRAPS, but I'm willing to try something new if it will offer an improvement. .

. Not to worry Olham, always better to post info twice than not at all. I have to apologize to LIMA and WM for missing their posts just ahead of yours. Many thanks Gents for the kudos on my latest project. To your question about the Phase 2 G4: You can add it to a mission as long as you don't have it try to land or park it on the runway. The plane will actually 'sit' about two feet below the ground, so it crashes everytime it attempts a landing. I imagine this is simply a coding difference between P2 and P3. None-the-less, you can have them flying about in the OFF skies, and they are a fun sight to see. Also, the G4 was used a lot by the various air services early on in the war, so it would be s good one to have in the OFF 2 stable ... hint hint. .

. Glad you approve of my efforts Olham. And I had given that link to the Ecoles de Pau page in one of my early posts in this thread, but thanks for noting it again. Been doing some more work on fields this AM and also came across a great old map from 1914 of the Pau area that will work very well for navigating the cross-country flights. But wait ... WHAT THIS? Practicing turns above the military school? Could it be?! It is! It's Stumpjumper's wonderful old Caudron G4 from Phase 2 . .

. Just a quick update before I head out the door again. I got home from my latest roadtrip and was up early working on the Ecoles de Pau. I did a major rearranging as I sorted out that I had originally placed the Bleriot school a bit too far south. In addition, I've managed to mesh two of the existing OFF aerodrome templates for a much better overall effect. I've also added a rail spur up to the southern edge of the complex, though not really visible in this shot. Just finished placing a row of barracks south of the Bleriot school and will continue to sort out the placement of all the other fiddly bits when I get back home. This is actually kind of fun. Must run for now, but I should be back this evening to work on the project further. Cheers! Lou .

. Keep in mind Hauksbee that I did not build that beautiful little craft but only dropped it into my OFF install. The Bleriot is the outstanding work of Jean-Michel Castagne and you can grab it, and his two-seater version as well, here: Bleriot XI for CFS3 Also, when it comes to the airfield and surrounding area, I am only tweaking the already fantastic efforts of our OFF devs. My part in this is really only researching and placing the needed items about in the French countryside, along with some repainting of buildings. But thanks for the kudos on my minor contributions in this. .

. Just as a teaser to show how nicely this Bleriot XI fits into OFF, here is a shot showing the kite above the main airfield I am currently working on. It is spring of 1915. To the left you can see the shed that was built several years earlier for the Astra airship "City of Pau", (which is no longer in the area). Straight back from the tail of the plane about 12km is Pau itself. Still a fair amount of little items to place about the landscape, but it is coming along. .