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Winder

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Posts posted by Winder

  2. Posted

    This may be a very stupid question but where is support? You could sms me your email address to................ as I know it is not normal to put these on a public forum.

     

    Jim never put personal details on the internet - many weird people out there.

     

    Contact me on:

     

    support@overflandersfields.com

     

     

    WM

     

     

    Bump as I edited your post.

  3. Posted

    Hi there Winder and Polovski I think you two know more about Flight sims than I ever thought possible. I'm a bit of a newbie though I did manage to get a BE2c to 34 hrs and major with one kill before biting the dust :blink: However, in 1915 that is easy because the only enemies around seem to be even slower than me and I can always run away :yes: I wasn't shot down but collided with my wing man (I think). Couldn't have been Archie as I was on my side of the lines and the TAC showed no EA at all.

     

    But height is what I need and that thing climbs incredibly slowly. It does seem that the way to gain altitude is to warp, and often I end up above the EA or at the same height. I see others complain about the warp bringing them below the enemy but it doesn't seem to happen to me. As I am still in 1915 maybe that has something to do with it.

     

    I am using auto mixture at the moment but will try leaning it off a bit to see what revs I can make. I should, of course, lean the mixture with altitude. I have just realised that the HUD has a rate of climb instrument - which I wasn't using as it hadn't been invented then. But at least I can find the best climb angle and mixture setting.

     

    It's funny to think that most of the time my bum in front of the computer is actually higher than my 'virtual' bum in the BE. :biggrin:

     

    Winder - do you have TrackIr? It seems to be a bit pricey here, so I am considering making a FreeTrack setup. Electronics isn't my forte but I can try.

     

    I use Trackir 4.0

     

    I have a Trackir 3 that you can have - e-mail me on support.

     

    WM

  4. Posted

    Yes, I've seen that happen, too. But mostly, they patrol like I do, except in a different place at about 1/2 the altitude.

     

     

     

    I dunno, Pol. There are 3 situations here when you have a 2-flight mission, depending on how you deal with time. 1st Flight does fine with real time and warping, but goes nuts when you start in the air.

     

    1. Fly Entire Mission in Real Time

    Both flights follow the same path, do the same things, and you're at the correct altidude because you climb there yourself. Everything works as per the briefing.

     

    2. Take off in Real Time then Warp at 1st Opportunity

    1st Flight follows the real waypoints at the correct altitude and does the briefed mission. Your flight comes out of warp at a much lower altitude than the briefing or where 1st Flight is. It appears that 1st Flight is off course slightly, but that's an illusion. They're on the "official" path, but because you skipped all the circling waypoints, you left the vicinity of your airfield from a different place than they did, so are heading towards the next waypoint at a different angle. The blue line on tac is always drawn from your position, instead of being a fixed line on the map, so it LOOKS like you're the one on course and 1st Flight is off, but it's the other way around.

     

    3. Start in the Air

    Both flights spawn together, on course, at the correct altitude. Then 1st Flight goes off and does something completely different, at a much lower altitude than briefed.

     

     

    3. I will have to look they should not be doing that but this is new code for airstart so a bug is possible - next time it happens send the mission to us on support.

     

    Ta

     

    WM

  6. Posted

    Yes Mission is regenerated with air start waypoints - target may change but will be same type.

     

    Ace Flight usually has waypoints that are above yours - they should always have the same objective though.

     

    The AI in CFS3 also tries to think for itself - and if they spot ground targets on a sweep mission they may attack.

     

    Finally remember OFF is not about following waypoints or completing a mission and being successful in fact the success of a mission has no bearing on your progress.

     

    Its about survival - stick with the Aces for best protection and numbers - only attack if numbers or technology or tactical position is on your side - bug out if you feel threatend.

     

    Pol and I were discussing RB recently - my longest living pilot was a Nieuport flyer and raked up 70 kills.

    I flew defensive only attacking when odds were in my favour - avoiding large furballs at all costs - and picking off stragglers from these furballs and or 2 seaters.

    Above all I feared for my pilots life and Flak was a constant threat in RB - we used to fly in fear of it.

    In OFF Flak is easier IMO.

     

    I never bothered to always carry out the mission - I did if I could often I could not.

     

     

    WM

  7. Posted

    I have seen the poll and discussion on the player vs enemy numbers and there seems to be a bit of a better appreciation of the additional flight that accompanies you to your objective.

     

    But some history....

     

    In P2 the workshop settings for Player Fight desnsity were added in to help users on lower end PCs set up a player flight that has fewer craft to lessen CPU load esp on take-off where the other craft are close by - in P2 the enemy was mostly spawns.

     

    Now in P3 this setting was a problem in that it still allowed the user of a low end PC to dial in a lower player flight density whilst facing true opposition based on a database of enemy weightings (flights and numbers in flights bases on historical research) what we call an order of battles database or OOB.

     

    So prior to the SP1.32 players who selected a low flight density to help CPU power actually disadvantaged themeselves by always then having a low number of craft in the player flight and hence always outnumbered.

     

    Similarly if you select high fligh density (IOW you have a good PC) you would always outnumber the enemy - again a problem especially in the early war years when flights had a smaller complement.

     

    So now in 1.32 the players flight is alwasy set up according to the OOB and sometimes you will outnumber the enemy other times you wont and as repeatedly stated you must also take into account the extra flight in this balance as well.

    This works well now as many years have gone by and users PCs are much better on average so no need to lessen teh number of craft in the players flight.

     

    But I am prepared to make one last change to P3 for those that always want to win the war:

     

    The poll is thus:

     

    Do you want a setting that overides the OOB and always makes the campaign generate low AI numbers in their flights?

    The players flight will thus always be according to the OOB (makes it immersive) but the enemy flight will be capped to a complement of say 3 max craft or less if this is selected in workshops.

     

    Of course there are a couple of hundred other ways you can approach survival no matter the odds in workshops - from pilot never dies to gun ratings etc etc but well if you want this you can have it.

     

    This will be the last feature change for P3 and I invite all to vote.

     

     

    WM

  8. Posted

    What is the best speed to climb at in a BE? If I go below 50mph the stall warning comes on, so I push the stick forward a bit. Does just over 50mph give me the best rate of climb? Or should I do a dipsy, put the nose down, pick up speed and then bring the stick back?

     

    Yeah bit of a clunker - level off after take-off to gain speed and then climb very gradually...

     

    Nice to see another user in Johannesburg that means two users of OFF here now - u and me.

     

     

    WM

  9. Posted

    Why do you hear so much flak and ground guns when there's obviously none near you?

     

    Read up about WW1 - it will help answer your question - or turn down effects sound level and play 'realistic' with no ambient sounds - engine and guns only.

     

     

    WM

  10. Posted

    Ranting and Raving never really solves anything but for those that may have this problem:

     

    1) Make sure you are using legit CFS3 that is patched to 3.1 before installing OFF.

     

    2) Make sure that your AV is not causing inteference.

     

    3) Check what other apps are running at the same time as OFF or just before you start OFF - esp the apps that minimise all overheads for some magical improvement in FPS - be wary of these.

     

    WM

  11. Posted

    Sorry to hear that some of you are unhappy with OFF.

    We have and always will try our best and sure its never going to please everyone - we cannot.

     

    There is now a viable modern alternative to OFF so why not try that - compare it to OFF and then consider whether you want to stay here or there or hell even BOTH!

     

    At the end of the day this is game and an addon on to CFS3 - we have never disguised it any other way

    We have made tremendous inroads into modding the CFS3 hardcode issues in a priority list and we may or may not continue depending on support.

     

    We have had a total of three e-mails since the release of OFF of users who gave up on OFF and moved on - we are happy with the success rate so far - pretty good when I consider the utter crap games I have on my shelf.

     

    As to the sounds - I have read a few complaints here - simply turn down the effects volume slider to your liking - the war sounds are based on Battles that may not even be in your eyesight - the sounds of many barrages in WW1 were heard as far away as London - so the effect is there if you want to hear it - if not turn it down

     

    As to the numbers - well you have to take into account the Aces flight which fly to the same objective as you - always - as mentioned elsewhere.

    I am sure everyone would love to fly with superior numbers at all times - but we know this is not realistic.

     

    Finally I guess I should say that we are taking a break - we are happy with OFF P3 as we hope you are.

    What the future brings who knows.

     

    If anyone needs support please contact:

     

    support@overflandersfields.com

     

    and quote:

     

    1) Your Avangate Order Number

     

    2) What package type and version of CFS3 you own.

     

     

    Thanks

     

    WM

     

     

    PS if you are unhappy with OFF and do want to be constructive why not start a thread and list the issues you would like to see addressed in the future - get consensus - I love polls I think everyone knows that by now.

    I am not saying we will fix these 'issues' - but we do read feedback as usual - especially feedback based on concensus.

     

     

     

    WM

  13. Posted

    I have been considering this for some time (ever since my new computer arrived installed [against my explicit instructions] with &^%* Nortons).

     

    I'd just downed two enemy, was feeling a bit exhausted after the conflict, and everything froze. I Alt+TAB, CTRL+ALT+DEL to try to find out what was wrong, and Nortons decided it was time to look for updates.

     

    Surprisingly, I haven't uninstalled it in disgust yet, but I DID download Alacrity after this thread prompted me. I know Homeboy has reported great framerate improvement, hope it does the same for me.

     

     

    If you end up with 'funnies' in the linking between OFF, the P3 dynamic memory patching DLL and CFS3 remember what you did.

    Just a heads up.

     

    Hope it goes well.

     

    WM

  15. Posted

    If you are having stability issues - strange mission outcomes or even variable AI/DM experiences please make sure that you are using a legitimate MS CFS3 V3.1 exe and install.

     

    There are cracked 'no cd' exe's out there alas and I can say OFF DOES NOT AND CANNOT WORK PROPERLY with ANY hacked exes, moreover most of them are V3.0 and this is an even more obvious problem.

     

    CFS3 is cheap - buy it!

     

    UBISoft has a DVD version for sale that runs without a CD in the drive.

     

     

    WM

     

    And I must add this is not a sales pitch for MS:

     

     

     

    ******* OFF WILL NOT WORK WITH ILLEGITIMATE CFS3 EXEs. **********

  17. Posted

    As probably everybody here knows, in the real Great War exploding AA shells could be used to see where enemy aircraft were operating. This has always been possible in OFF to some extent, but until the superpatch came it never felt so realistic to me as it does now. I finished one patrol mission a few minutes ago and as usual, wasn't using TAC or labels, which makes it a lot more challenging to spot aircraft, friendly or enemy. In my current career I'm flying near the North Sea coast (MFJ I, early 1917) and during the winter months the weather can be really terrible up there with plenty of thick clouds and rain and snow almost every day. Under these conditions, spotting enemy aircraft can be really difficult (but on the other hand, the AI won't spot the player as easily either.)

     

    In the mission I just had I was able to locate and attack a flight of Fees (sorry Bullethead, but c'est la guerre!) by flying toward friendly flak explosions. With this latest patch, I feel OFF has become even more realistic than it was before. I recommend everybody to try some missions without labels and TAC and see for themselves how cool and useful this new improved AA fire is. :good:

     

    Yes AA/flak visibility range has been increased in 1.32

     

    HTH

     

    WM

  19. Posted

    Hotfix 1.32b is in testing now and includes:

     

    Fixes:

     

    1) Lower density tree clusters when lower density scenery is selected in workshops (only high density is loaded at the moment irrespective of setting)

     

    2) Reduced Rate of Fire of AA guns - 'RoF' was too high when battles are on the go.

     

    3) Text Colour issue in claim forms (light grey - not clearly visible).

     

    4) Text overlay issue in Pilot Enlistment screen (right hand panel lower).

     

    5) Awarded medals velvet background now displays correctly to hide the photo holder in the debrief screen.

     

    Improvements:

     

    1) Improved Observation Balloon damage model and effect.

     

    This patch will supersede and replace the 1.32a hotfix.

    There will only ever be one hotfix patch to add on to the Super Patch

     

    ETA - unknown... but soon.

     

    WM

  20. Posted

    Yeah its very funny...

     

    As I see it, reading that poll, many players are not sticking with the second flight - so yes I can easily see the problem....so maybe fly with the second flight as intended?

    The balance always includes the numbers in the second flight - and yes sometimes the second flight does not make it (war is hard craft are sometimes grounded)...... then beware...

     

    Fight defensively, self preservation etc and set up workshops to suit your style of play - how many times we have to say this I don't know lol

     

    But play on see how it goes....

    I know we all want to win the war it just did not happen that way.

     

    Finally I hope to be able to join the flights together for P4 but this will only happen if we break the non unique skin issue in player flight.

     

    WM

  22. Posted · Edited by Winder
    Brain cell hiccup

    Well, I suppose I'm one of the Third party kind of guys, and well, I suppose you really need to try a mission out. They work like anything else in QC, the difference being that they are scripted and not dynamic. However, that being said, it allows the creator latitude on how the Mission plays out. For instance, you will never get a Mission in Campaign or QC, like the GB Productions 9. Try it, you might like it. :biggrin:

     

    Cheers,

     

    British_eh

     

    Yes we encourage the creation of third party missions for OFF as usual, and always will .....so ignore uncleal.

     

     

    Please note that user missions must now reside in \scenarios\'nation'.

    This improved houskeeping and also allows for proper captivity criteria.

     

    So guys please move all your missions to the correct subfolder in \scenarios.

     

    Again this is a P4 feature reelased early.

     

     

    HTH

     

    WM

  23. Posted

    Thanks for the new super patch. I particularly enjoy the new damage effects. It even affected a hi res skin. I had a collision and the outer edge of the lower wing was broken off with the frame jutting out. I also like the improvements to flak. It gives me a clue as to the location of distant flights. Well done.

     

    On the down side it seems to have affected player flight density. I didn't see it mentioned in the features but it's definitely changed for me. I've been flying Jasta 11 in March and April 17 with flight density set to high. Before the patch I almost always had 8 in my flight, with a low of 6. Now it is 4 or 3, with an occasional 5 or 6.

     

     

    Its not a downside - there was a bug that affected the players flight craft count up until now.

    On some mission types the player was assigned a flight size that was not in keeping with the OOB and meant the player would always outnumber the enemy irrespective of the war balance.

     

    But as you see its gone from 8 (the CFS3 recommended max) to up to 6 for your particular Jasta, your location and the year (OOB)

    You should not have been always getting 8 in your flight as your opposition was scaled correctly and this meant an imbalance - yeah in your favour alas.

     

    Eight craft max in a flight has been the MS/Aces guidelines since CFS3 relased but I believe we can increase this without any side efects and I am testing this - this means we can have a player flight and enemy flight scaling greater than the maximum limit of 8 that is currently set in the OFF Campaign Code.

     

    This would mean we can probably scale the balance of war 'numbers in a flight' over a better more meaningful range than 8 from 1914 to 1918 (OOB) I am looking at 12.

     

    I will post more on this as P4 progresses.

     

    Finally yes Pol and I were scratching our heads as to what changes occured in the super Patch from early on this year (over 7 months now) and we have left out a few items such as this (not intentionally) - even now more changes come to me:

     

     

    1) A new air haze weather effect

     

    2) Improved Damaged houses textures.

     

    3) Improved retention of settings for QC as long as player stays on QC screen and repeatedly flies

     

    4) Improved notification of MP backup configuration procedures

     

    5) And I am sure more that will come to me over time.

     

    I think its a good idea to say now that many of these items were meant for P4 but we decided to release them earlier for the users benefit.

     

    HTH

     

    WM

  24. Posted

    OOH Mark!

     

    You said "RoF"!

    OOH! I said it too! OOPS!

     

    Seriously, thanks guys for the patches, and it's a great idea to have only one "super patch" and one "hotfix patch" at any one time. I'm still 'coming to grips" with superpatch and 1.32a. Cool. Hopefully, I'll be up to speed by the time she arrives.

     

     

    No I said 'RoF' not ROF ooops...

     

    Yeah the system will remain as two patches - SP and Hotfix.

     

    Cheers

     

    WM

  25. Posted

    If the AI flew Fees in fighter squadrons with its "fighter mentality" (as in like it flies Brisfits) instead of with its "bomber mentality", you'd have a lot more respect for them. The old Fee, when flown aggressively, can hold its own against a swarm of AI Albatri, and might even give you a good fight. But no, the AI Fees (unless properly led by a human) just sit there and take it. It's a real shame.

     

     

    This is historicaly correct and how the pilots were trained to fly them.

     

    A similar fate was bestowed upon the Brisfit until they realised it was a great fighter and the pilots were then trained to use it as a fighter - and the rest is legend.

     

    We can change the Fee AI to fighter as described above but we probably wont as its not correct.

     

    Feel free to mod your system, as you own it, but maybe think before the criticism or enquire.

     

    HTH

     

    WM

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