Winder

The Mercedes engine never needs to get started again in mid-air.

It keeps running even with throttle on "zero"; and if it stops, it's broken so badly,

that you can't restart it, or the petrol tank is completely dry.

 

Quite different on the BE2c - I was quite confused, when I tried to start the engine, and it wouldn't work,

until I realised I had to give it at least 1/3 of throttle.

This is actually getting more interesting, since I learnt to handle the flying and the TrackIR view well.

Now I want to get deeper into that stuff, and may really learn to start the engine properly.

I see many Barmy Offers use 'E'?

Cmon thats far too sane!

WM

Thanks for the answer Winder!

As a matter of fact I'm not missing real 3d trees, may be a little variation in color or some height difference variation to the current ones will well do the job.

Also I think that that dark "forest" texture, where trees are posted on in P3, really helps to blend them better to the surrounding environment...

I know that everything is still WiP and IMO the P3 terrain-environment, is the most immersive I've ever seen in a flight sim,

(almost haunting in a cloudy day over no man's land), but WiPs are open to discussion and meant to be discussed, isn't it?

Anyway, I think you are doing an outstanding job with P4 so far, thanks!

Of course discussion is what this forum is all about and in this case I think some extra input from me was required....

In terms of colour blending etc well the trees are still suited to early P4 terrain tiles (now scrapped), so colour wise have not been adjusted to the new Western Front Terrrain yet.

But before I even do that I have to decide on what level the models of the trees will be taken to..... depends on how the whole sim hangs together FPS wise in alpha an beta and we are not there yet.

HTH

WM

Winder, I heard from JFM, that "Cliffs of Dover" still is a drag. The fraps go underground,

the lower you fly - because of the detailed scenery surely. I believe you, that you could build

much more complex trees. But that is perhaps something for the SIMS, when they plant a park there.

In a flight sim, it would be rather counter-productive to enjoy brilliant trees on the cost of frame rates.

Indeed I have COD as well but I also like to push the envelope of course but it will never be done at the cost of FPS....

However I am not done yet!

WM

Please guys don't flame me, but I'm a bit concerned about the terrain changes...

I think that in P3 the trees are more well blended to the surrounding environment...or it's my imagination?

Also I like the new cloud variations, (I hope the changes will be cumulative to what we have now

and there won't be a compromise so to drop something out), but in the second and third pics their 2D nature is showing too much!

May be everything is so higher in quality and these minor details just popup, to my eyes at least...

I agree on the trees but then I also have not done much to them yet - essentially they are P3 trees....so with the new terrain and rendering.... yep.

I have made some trees with leaves etc i.e real 3D trees rather than planes - but the FPS loss is too high with the huge numbers rendered even after lodding - we shall see how we go...

Please remember everything is WIP...

WM

Hi Guys,

As promised I looked into modding P3/CFS3 to ignore the MP online validity checks and alas I have to report that it is not a quick fix.

I simply do not have the time nor the resources to implement and test a change of this magnitude.

Remember MP online validity checks are important so understand why its there...

However all is not doom and gloom - you should be able to mod OFFIV craft without this kind of hassle - IOW I will endeavor to make the required changes for P4 - as it will be thorougly tested in beta.

HTH

WM

Sadly, I have confirmed what Winder has said above. Apparently, any modification to the FM causes the OFF Manager to recognize the modded aircraft as invalid. You can see this by going to OBD Software\CFSWWI Over Flanders Fields\Campaigns\CampaignData\ and clicking on the Off_text.log file. The good news is that this does not interfere with your ability to fly with the FM changes. The bad news, of course, is that the OFF Manager substitutes all ace skins with generic ones.

 

In summary, you can use the FM mod and experience all of the FM changes. However, all of the pretty ace skins (not sure about the custom ones) will not show up.

 

P.S. The damage mod does not seem to cause any problems.

Yes I wrote the code so that is how it works - but I promise to look into some way around this for you guys...

WM

Guys there are reasons why we modded the DM the way we did:

1) P1/2 DM was deemed by users to be too hard...

2) Flamers - by careful adjustment of settings we were able to avoid the hardcoded flying flamers...

IMO I think the only thing that needs strengthening in P3 DM is the control cables - so HPW maybe you could look at that as the main thrust of the mod?

In the meantime wrt the validity checks I did post here:

http://combatace.com...gn/page__st__20

Finally P4 is, in so many respects, a new ballgame...watch this space as soon we will start to announce some features...

WM

How will it be in Phase 4?

Very very different....

WM

Wouldn't we get an error message saying the craft is not valid for OFF? I am not getting any such error message.

 

Also, how much can a mod be modded? Most of my FM changes are pretty minor--a couple of horsepower here, drag settings, etc. I avoided any signifant changes to things like wing surface area, wing span, etc. Probably my most significant change to some aircraft was in the empty weight value.

Alas no, Ace craft invalid results in squad craft being called automatically...

Guys we are looking at ways that we can allow you guys to mod our sim - yes we have a sim that sits around CFS3....

But

I am heavily focused on p4 right now so I cannot promise or give a date - I will look into it, that I do promise.

I will post a message next week on this and let you all know whether its feasible or not - my concern is quick fixes/changes bite - i.e. they bite me!

WM

Hi Guys,

Off Checks the validity of craft for online play - all craft are checked to ensure that MP matchup is O.K.

Now an FM or DM mod (depending on how severe the mods are) can cause OFF to believe the craft is invalid.

If this is the case the default squad craft is used.....I suspect that is what is happening here.

HTH

WM

Nice Vid Hellshade!

WM

Wait. In P4 QC you can now have multiple types of aircraft on each side? Like 6 Gothas and a second flight of covering Albs?

 

Hellshade

errr yep thats the way I have it coded now...and a lot more...

WM

Hopefully we won't be seeing any big formations of Eindeckers at all in P4. Those early fighters were never used in such large formations as the late war aircraft.

 

It would be nice to have the historical organisation of various types of aviation units modelled in OFF some day, so that for example the early FFAs would have their six two-seaters and one or two Einies to support them. If not in P4, then maybe in P5?

Already in P4....

All the screenies/most are taken in QC where you can set up up to 6 craft per side as well as covering top cover flights...in campaign of course it is a lot more realistic...

WM

duke...that's the question....where's the thud file.....or for that matter the "meow"? I've combed the sounds folder....perhaps not carefully enough. The "Contact....Clear" can be dialled out in the workshop page Phantom....just check "off" for menu music. Now where's that bloody thud sound kept so I can "make OFF my sim"?

In C:\OFF\Games\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\ShellMusic

Try these ....

WM

ShellMusic.rar

Just out of interest really, does anyone know if occurrences of ground shelling are all predetermined, like AI aircraft missions? They seem to me to mostly become visible once I am within a certain distance from the front. I didn't know if this was essentially similar to the terrain detail increasing as you get closer, and that shelling is effectively 'occurring' whether I can see it or not, or whether the actual occurrence is linked to player aircraft proximity.

Its geared to actual war activity....

WM

Looking at the OOB its clear that many battles are depicted as starting when the gun barrages started as opposed to the first infantry attacks...

HTH

WM

I've noticed the dates of various battles and operations are not always that exact in the campaign manager. Of course it's not always so easy to accurately determine when some of those battles, often lasting for months, exactly ended, but maybe the dates for the biggest and most important ones could be adjusted in P4, at least the start dates, like July 1st 1916 for the Somme?

Hi Guys thanks thats wrong if its starting that early - I will look.

Probably a typo somewhere...

WM

......

In France....

WM

And a few random shots I have.....

WM

Dusk - at a field just outside London...

WM

Closer view of another field in UK...

WM

in England....will post some more later...

WM

Just got back from a flight and fight with 60 Squadron on March 9 1917.

 

1) Notice that in the duty room Billy Bishop was called "Major" (his final wartime rank and he only got to Captain while with 60 Squadron IIRC) and was leading a flight (presumably because of this rank) with zero kills to his credit.

Of course he was a Lieutenant at this time. Anyway to have the rank corrected? To have it advance historically would be nice!

 

2) Notice that their are usually (always?) two flights per mission for the squadron with both apparently having the same objective, i.e., the whole squadron is on the same mission. Of course there were squadron size patrols but not always - is this a coincidence or will you sometime see flights with different objectives? Are there always two flights flying per squadron?

 

3) On the subjects of flights is it possible to change "Flight 1" and "Flight 2" to "A Flight" and "B Flight" via a .xml edit? If so, through the magic of JSGME I could have another one file for the Kettes of the Jastas.

 

I have done a lot of little things with a .xml editor and, with JSGME, I have a "mod" that I use when I fly German and another when I fly Allied. A lot of minor tweaks can be done if you know where to look.

1) Not at this moment in time no.

2) Not always the case sometimes 1 sometimes 2.

3) Yes lots of improvments for P4.

HTH

WM

If you're stationed in the Arras area you can expect to have lots of Albatri encounters in the Spring and Summer months of 1917. Just don't expect them to all be doing savvy patrols. They seem to have this fondness for following behind Strutter flights, completely oblivious to who is behind them.

 

They're kind of like lost puppies.

Every flight has a goal and a purpose....OFF generates up to 200 aircraft in the theatre real time..real flights from real squads doing real tasks - no spawns.

HTH

WM