Herr Prop-Wasche

Dear Bletchley (and anyone else who might know), As you know, I have been working on FM improvements for several OFF planes. One thing I noticed in the stock FM's is that while most planes have a reduction gear setting of 1.00, several have reduction gear settings less than 1.00. My understanding is that a reduction gear is used to reduce the high rpm's of the engine so that the propeller rotates at a slower and more efficient rpm. My question is: did any WWI engines or planes utilize reduction gearing? My guess is most, if not all, did not, with the possible exception of the Spads and the Fokker DVIIF. I'm not really sure that the reduction gear setting actually has any effect in OFF, but I am thinking of setting it to 1.00 for every plane to "level the playing field" unless I can find any evidence of the use of a reduction gear in WWI aircraft. Thanks for your help. I also plan to look in the forums over at the aerodrome site to see if they might have the answer.

Interesting. I admit I am strictly an amateur at aeronautics, but I have learned a bit from browsing around the web. How did you arrive at your "common" MOI formulas? Also, in your equation, I assume that "K" stands for a constant value for each setting? Would you mind if I try your equations in my FM mod? The .cfg files are very sensitive to changes. They must use some kind of checksum or something to compare the total number of bits in each file, so you have to be careful not to add any extra numbers to any of the variables in the .cfg file or you will get a "This aircraft is nor certified for OFF..." message. For example, changing this variable: empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 978.75000 to empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 2585.75000 will lead to an error. To fix it, change your value to empty_weight_pitch_MOI = 2585.7500 Notice I have removed the last zero to the right of the decimal?

How would that work, Wels? How would the length of the camshaft effect the rpm's?

Currently, my options appear to be purchasing another 939 MB through Ebay for around $100 and waiting 7-10 days for shipping, or buying a new system from Newegg for $500-750 and getting it shipped in 3-5 days. Of course, if I just get a replacement MB, I am still faced with getting an eventual upgrade and I run the risk of a possibly "shady" ebay seller. Decisions, decisions...

It was part of a summer program offered through the Dayton Natural History museum that my Mom signed me up for when I was a teenager--therefore, the snot-nosed part!

There are several examples of mound cultures in my neck of the woods as well. The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio, near Zanesville, as well as the Hopewell Inidians in SW Ohio. As a matter of fact, I spent one summer at a dig near my hometown of Dayton at a Hopewell Indian site, circa 1,000 A.D. But, I was a snot-nosed kid back then and couldn't really appreciate what I was doing.

Hi Buddy. My computer is down right now, so no OFF flying (or testing) for awhile, I'm afraid, but I am interested in hearing your results. I assume you decreased the pitch and roll MOI settings. In my FM experience, I did not notice much of a difference in my aircraft performance by altering the MOI settings, but I did hardly any testing to see how the AI might have reacted to those changes. Note: There are also several pitch, roll, and yaw settings in the .air file, but that is a hex file and difficult to figure out unless you have a 3rd party tool such as Airedit.

Wow! You guys are amazing! Typhoon, that would be super! I don't mind putting together a Frankenstein of a computer, just as long as all of the parts work together. If anyone can find an old 939 socket laying around, that would be the best solution, at least until P4 comes out. I have two 939 socket CPU's, so at least one of them should work. My current memory is also old, only DDR1, I think. Of course, I can still use my existing SATA hard drive and my DVD drive. I probably will have to find a new GPU, however. Depending on what Typhoon can scrounge up, the 8600 GTS would work fine and would actually be a step up from my old 8600 GT. I'll need to take a day or two to decide to take you guys up on your offer, or just bite the bullet and spring for a new system. I can always go back to eating Raman noodles 2X a day. Who needs to eat?

In anticipation of suggestions that I replace the MB, any suggestions that would allow me to keep my other components and gradually upgrade, rather than start with all new components? My CPU is an Athlon X2 3500 speed, 939 form factor. Does anyone make 939 MB's anymore, or am I going to have to get one with a new form factor along with a new CPU, etc?

Thanks Tamper and von Paulus. The short from uninstalling and reinstalling memory is certainly possible. One of the first things I did before pulling out cards and such was to remove my memory sticks. Usually I am pretty good about pulling the power cord out before working in the case, but I have to admit that I sometimes forget. A bent CPU pin is another possibility, but I looked at it and couldn't see any obvious problems. I also tried an old CPU I had lying around but with the same result. After I removed the memory, but before I removed the video card, I unplugged all of my drives and removed all of my cards, so I think I can eliminate those as possible problems. It looks more and more like a bad MB. On the bright side, I was thinking about upgrading my system anyway in anticipation of P4. The main problem, of course, is money.

I'm afraid things may have gone from bad to worse. Instead of 5 beeps, I now hear no beeps. Although the MB powers up and all the fans spin, I'm not hearing any beeps now. I wonder if I have somehow shorted the MB? I thought I had made some progress when I took out my video card and replaced it with an older card. The computer seemed to boot normally, but then, because of the random rebooting problem, I decided to recheck the seating of the MB and heatsink. I think somewhere in the process of removing the heatsink and MB, I may have done something to the MB. The main thing is that now the computer powers up and the fans spin, but no beeps and no video, even if I put the video card back. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

Thank you for the quick replies. I forgot to mention that I already tried removing all 4 memory sticks, one at a time, but that wasn't the problem. I also Googled for the 5 beeps, but there does not seem to be any clear consensus on what the codes mean--some say CPU, some say memory, and some say video. Another possibility is some kind of electrical short--some posts on the internet refer to similar beeps until the user either purchased a new MB or reinstalled the old one--possibly fixing the short. Before I do that, I will try to clear the BIOS. I've done that before, so I'm not afraid to try it. If that fails, I'll remove all of the components sans video card and test. Next, I guess I'll have to remove the CPU and heatsink and remove and reinstall the MB. If that doesn't work, I'm up the proverbial creek. It's midnight now, so I will update everyone sometime tomorrow when I can again get to a computer with internet access. EDIT: The MB has an Award BIOS.

Drool, drool. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! Fantastic looking damage, Pol! Love the visible spars. Did you guys notice that one of the wheels is missing? It's gonna be tough to land that one safely!

Buddy, I'll be glad to help you, but right now I'm having a computer problem (so I'm using my Dad's computer). I'll try and respond tomorrow or Sunday.

Nice work Buddy. I'll definitely take a look to see what you have done. Any hints before I take a look? @Hellshade Not sure why Buddy's DM and the AI weight mod don't seem to get along. Do you have the same issue with the Pfalz when using either stock or my DM and the AI weight mod? My guess is that the extra weight on the AI Pfalz has thrown the AI weight balance slightly out of whack. I didn't get a chance to test every plane, so I have to rely on other people to let me know if there is a problem with a particular plane. When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the AI Pfalz. @OlPaint01 I am just about done remodding and retesting all of the planes that will be in my modified FM. After that, I "just" have to copy the QC cfg and air files to all of the other plane folders, put them in a zip file, and send them off the Madmatt, who has agreed to make an installation program so you can install one, some, or all of the planes in my modified FM. Madmatt is a former employee and programmer for Battlefront games, so I'm sure that whatever he comes up with will be great. ETA, two weeks!

Thank you for the replies, gentlemen. The more I play around with the FM, the more I learn and the more mysterious it gets! It was only recently that I started to notice the relationship between prop diameter and reduction gearing. In OFF, as in real life I assume, a smaller diameter prop gives more speed, but perhaps less torque. In general, it appears the Allies favored slightly smaller diameter props, while the Germans favored somewhat larger diameter propellers. This seems to allow most Allied planes to have more speed, but the German's better climbing ability. As stated by Pol and Bletchley, only a few planes in OFF utilize reduction gearing. Up until a few weeks ago, however, many of the planes in my FM mod were also "using" a reduction gear. I had to therefore go back into the mod and eliminate the gear in planes that did not historically have it. And, of course, that meant I had to retest all of the planes that were changed! That took awhile, but now I think I can actually see some light at the end of the FM tunnel.

Thank you for your comments, JFM. I wonder if the lag is caused by the fact that the engines on the Albs (and many other planes in the sim) have to be set to "turbocharged' in order to get any kind of performance at altitude. I'm guessing that the lag represents the lag between throttle input and turbo boost in a turbocharged (not supercharged) engine. If so, probably not much can be done to fix this in P3. Maybe it can be fixed in P4? Also, good points about the relative performance of Allied vs. German planes in terms of responsiveness and agility. I'm sure that virtually every Allied pilot who had a chance to fly an Alb during and after the war thought they were much more "sluggish" than their Allied counterpart. This does not mean the whole Alb series were dogs in terms of overall agility and turn--just in comparison to the Pup, Tripe, and Nieuport series, especially. I've tried to take this into account in my FM modding--especially with the Albs--and think that I have been at least partially successful. Empty weight is extremely important in CFS3's FM's, and largely determines the turn, climb and dive performance of all of the planes in OFF. Unfortunately, full or loaded weight (which are the numbers that JFM reports) are NOT used by CFS3 in any meaningful way. In HITR, the empty weight for the DII is only 1125 lbs, while the DIII's empty weight is over 350 lbs heavier, despite sharing roughly the same fuselage, and having less wing area (and thus less weight) due to the sesquiplane lower wing than the DII. In my FM, (among other things) I increased the empty weight of the DII to 1404 lbs (an increase of 279 lbs.) while decreasing the empty weight of the DIII to 1459 lbs. (Although I could increase the empty weight of the DII so it weighs more than the DIII, doing so causes an unfortunate decrease in cruise and top speed, so I left it lower). Along with a few other tweaks, this increases the turn radius above that of the DIII's and also decreases the climb performance of the DII below that of the DIII series. The one drawback is that it does lower the ceiling of the DII from 18,500 to approximately 16,500 ft., but I am a little suspicious of the reported ceiling of the DII anyway. There. Now you know all that I know about the FM's of the DII and DIII Albs. Now, if only I would release the damn FM, you could all see for yourself!

So, it seems that if you have a force-feedback stick, you do get a physical signal that you are in danger of stalling. The problem seems to exist mainly for those of us (myself included) that do not have a force-feedback stick. Other than investing in a new stick, there seems to be only a few options here: 1) Increase the volume of the existing stall sound. Problem: at higher levels, the sound becomes distorted and annoying. At levels that do not produce distortion, you can't hear the sound over the engine noise. I have had a little more luck than Lima producing a revised stall.wav that does not produce distortion, but you will probably have to reduce your engine noise level in Workshop to hear it. 2) Substitute a different sound for the stall.wav. Lima tried the landing rumble. I wonder if the wood creaking noise might work? Another alternative is to try reducing the existing stall.wav volume level and see if that produces a momentary quiet before the stall. My guess is that the ambient wind sound will remain, so the overall result is you won't hear any difference in the wind at stall.

Welcome, Eric, to this great sim and community. If you are "into" WW1 aviation--and it doesn't look like there can be any doubt about that based upon your relationship with your grand-dad--you will find a very warm home here. Your grandfather sounds like he was quite a character, and quite fun to be around. What a source of information. You should get up into that attic and make a go at reading his diaries and letters. I'm sure you will find some fascinating and even surprising stuff.

Is there a German plane that does NOT have the throttle lag so we can compare it to the DIII's? If not, which is a good Allied plane without throttle lag?

Will do. My FM mod and OFF2 are certainly running neck and neck as far as which will be finished first!

After your post, yesterday, Olham, I went into the FM for the DII and was able to tweak a few more things and tone it down a little more in terms of climb and turn performance to the point where you should be more able to notice a difference between it and the DIII's and DV's. It's not a lot, but there is more of a difference now, I think. However, it's still better than a Halberstadt!

Lou...on fire today!

Must be all of the Spam....

I sense a lot of Barminess is "about" today.