Herr Prop-Wasche

Thanks, Von Paulus.

I'm in, too, but I'm afraid I will have to rob a bank first in order to afford the game and the needed computer upgrade to go with it.

I second what Olham says! Go get HiTR! By the time you get the hang of the new planes and better AI in HiTR, P4 will (probably) be ready!

So far, I only have modded the FM's of about 15 of the 47 planes in OFF, so I think you have the larger share of the work, my friend! We DO need to agree on the method for calculating the empty weight and how much alllowance we should make for fuel consumption (if any), so that there is a match between my AI planes that are FM modded and your AI planes that are not FM modded. I agree. I have a spreadsheet that includes the size of each plane's fuel tank, from the Halberstadt with a 15.6 gallon tank to a few planes with over 45 gallon tanks. I suppose we could make a rough estimate as to how much fuel would be consumed by each aircraft on the way to the front based on size of airplane, engine, and weight of airplane, with heavier craft using more gas than lighter ones--one reason, I think, that bigger and heavier aircraft have bigger fuel tanks. Of course, that can get complicated and may not be worth it based on the results you have already seen. Perhaps we could base the % reduction on type of airplane, with scouts having a greater proportion of fuel reduction than two-seaters? Remember that the Camel weighs significantly more than the N17 and probably uses more fuel on its way to the same patrol location. More stuff to think about, but this is your baby, so I'll go along with (almost ) anything you come up with!

Imagine getting stuck on leave, having to stay in Paris for God knows how long, going to the Follies night after night after night. Oh, the pain, the suffering!

Thanks, Lima. Okay, you have convinced me to use your "fuel weight off" approach, rather than my ramp weight approach, as long as you can be positive that your method does not over-encumber the AI pilot's planes with the additional weight. This also means that I will not have to edit ALL of the .cfg files and instead only the .cfg files of the airplanes included in my FM mods. Instead of taking a set number of pounds off for fuel consumption (80 in your example), you could base it on a proportion of the total fuel capacity of each aircraft. For example, instead of taking 80 pounds off of the N17 total of 143 pounds of fuel, leaving only 63 pounds of fuel in the tank, you could take off a percentage--say 25% from each aircraft--leaving the N17 with 107.25 pounds of fuel left. For the Germans, you could use the same percentage to lower the amount of fuel weight, or, you could lower it to 10% or so, to reflect the smaller amount of fuel they might use than the Allies before combat. Another, more complicated method would be to calculate the rate of fuel consumption for each aircraft and estimate how much time, on average, it takes for the Allies to get over the lines and fight those cowardly Germans! (J/K Olham). Or, we could just leave them all with a full fuel load, which would be a lot simpler.

Wow, OFFbase gets even better and better, Lothar! I like the increase in encounters during the game. Since most of a pilot's time outside of a mission is spent on base (unless he is on leave), he should have the opportunity for several "encounters" with different people each day. Maybe you could insert a random number generator which allows the player-pilot to have somewhere between 1-3 encounters at the beginning of a new day or maybe pre-mission. This would also help me to get to "know" my squadmates a little faster. Perhaps you could also include a modifier which makes pilots in a good mood somewhat more likely to have multiple encounters and pilots in a bad mood somewhat less likely to have multiple encounters. Enjoying your mod, and keep it coming!

Thanks for the information from various sources, Lima. Lots of stuff to digest there, with the errors and other idiosyncracies in the data. I'll have to look at it and get back to you with my thoughts later today. I will say that I substituted the ramp weights for the empty weights in my Allied and German FM mods and they seemed to work perfectly!

What planes are you seeing going into a steep, hanging climb? My FM mods for the Albatros and Pfalz are designed to help address that problem. Are there other planes that do this as well?

Oooh, my current pilot will be in a pretty bad mood, then! Two destroyed aircraft and no kills in his last two missions! Nice addition, though. Does if affect AI pilots, too?

How would you feel about using the Ramp weights rather than the max weight, as a guide to setting the AI's weight load? In general, the ramp weights are slightly lower than the max weights, but not as much as you might think. Ramp weights are meant to represent the weight of the plane after fuel and pilots are accounted for, but do not include ammunition or ordnance, I believe. Maybe we should use ramp weight for scouts and close to max weight for two-seaters, at least those that carried bombs? Also, i noticed some inconsistencies with the max weight of some of the aircraft, for example, the Fokker DVII's and the DFW. In the DFW, the max weight is listed as over twice as high as the reported empty weight, while the DVII and DVII OAW's max weight were only one hundred pounds heavier than their empty weight! Additionally, the Bristol scout's max weight is lower than your revised empty weight, while the revised empty weight for the Spad VII and Xiii are 630 and 470 pounds lighter than their max weights, while most of the other planes average around 80 pounds less than their max weight. In summary, I think the ramp weights give us a little more consistency between the different aircraft. On average, the ramp weights are approximately 120 pounds lower than your revised empty weights, but still 400 pounds heavier, on average, than the current empty weights.

Yep, working on that at this very minute, although we may have to settle a dispute between using ramp weight and max weight.

Thanks, Lothar, Will get it as soon as it is approved.

Yeppers, I realized that after I made my post. I already have your AI Empty Weight download. Looks like all I have to change in my FM mods are the empty weight values for the AC and SQ types. A few aircraft will have different values than yours, however, because I altered some of the empty weights in tinkering with the FM's. Also, would you have any objection if I lowered the empty weights just a bit on the Allied planes to reflect that they usually crossed the lines while the German planes mainly stayed on their side, thus using less fuel than the Allied? Glad to hear that we haven't created any conflicts so far!

I recommend the setting of "less accurate," Olham. With accurate, it's too easy to "saw" the wings off another airplane, IMO. However, this should be less of a problem with DM 1.25, so try it out using either normal or less accurate settings.

Thanks so much, CaptSopwith. Glad you are enjoying the DM. I did a lot of work trying to get the "balance" just right for most planes. You can still cripple a plane and leave it flying, but the better you shoot, the more likely you are to hit a critical spot and kill it. I can also confirm that the human player's aircraft engine will stop entirely not only due to lack of fuel, but also loss of oil or coolant, if your oil or coolant reservoirs are hit hard enough by the AI. Unfortunately, I have not been able to confirm that this also happens to the AI.

Releasing a combined HPW FM and 33Lima weight mod for the player, along with 33Lima's weight mod for the AI planes is certainly doable. I can save time by simply using 33Lima's settings for the QC and Sqd versions and letting users apply the weight mod for the AI flyable versions (SQ and AC). Of course, the FM for the players and the AI will be different for some planes, but the AI does not seem to be too bothered by such differences. Lima, did you already send me some files with your weight changes in them? If not, send them to me and I can start work on incorporating the weight changes into the planes whose FM's have been changed.

Yes, new zip format (7zip is much more efficient), but the DM is the same--a completely new DM meant to replace 1.1. I'd say more, but I'm off to teach a class. Ta, ta!

Olham, you simply must! I definitely will! Thanks for your vote. I haven't had a chance to try the new Duty room yet, but it looks like it takes immersion in OFFbase to the next level! (also helps me to keep track of all of these different personalities I now have in my squadron. Mess hall will be a lot noisier from now on, I tell you)!

Holy Cow! I just LOVE the OFFbase Duty Room! Can't wait to try it tonight. Thanks, Lothar. Ah, crap! I meant to give your program 5 stars, but I accidentally chose 3 instead, and the forum won't let me edit my vote! Sorry, Lothar.

Thank you, WM, for the thanks! I DO appreciate it, too! (I'll ignore the fact that you won't be able to try it for a few days because you can't tear yourself away from that new RPG game--what's its name, again??)

To be fair, I think that includes the downloads for both 1.1 and 1.25, so I'm not so far ahead of you as you might think, Lothar. Even if true, it would be a shame, because you have written a really great program that can only get better. I think I have about reached the limit of what I can do with the DM.

Cool! But when, when, when do we get to actually fly these beauties? I know, I know, 2 weeks. Sigh.

Excellent! Thank you 33Lima!