Herr Prop-Wasche

First, welcome to the OFF forum, Animator! I'm sure you will enjoy your time here, as we are a very affable bunch. New board members buy the first drinks, however! Look in the stickies menu for information about how to set up OFF, tips and tricks, etc. The problem about not being able to make claims probably stems from an old CFS3 limitation. You may have noticed that a "Goals completed" or a "Goals Failed" message probably appeared while you were flying your campaign mission. Once either of those messages appear, CFS3 stops recording information to your personal pilot folder, so any combat, kills, etc. will not be credited to you, although they do show up in the mission review. Crazy, huh? Fortunately, the goals completed message only comes up if you follow all of your waypoints and fully complete the assigned mission. I think if you warp or skip any waypoints you can avoid this problem 90% of the time. Perhaps in P4, the devs of OFF will have found a way to have worked around that problem.

Thanks for all of the replies, guys. In no particular order: I will definitely be in need of testers. There are too many planes to tweak and test for one person, so any help will be greatly appreciated! I am unfamiliar with AirWrite. How does it compare with Airwrench? Airwrench is good, but it has a few bugs and snags. I have found that if I save anything using Airwrench, I frequently get a "plane not available yet" message when I try to fly it in OFF. Saving the .cfg file seems to avoid this problem, fortunately. As for the .air file containing a lot more data than the .cfg file, it is hard for me to say. Airwrench seems to cover only a fraction of variables that are contained in the .cfg file, and has few, if any, additional variables of its own. The .air file, of course, is a hex file, and although I have looked at it, I don't have a lot of hex experience and can't make much out of it. Doesn't help, of course, that the CFS3 coders did not put in any remarks in the file to help you identify variables. There is a limited ability to copy FM's, but only from one of the same or very similar types to the other. For instance, you can copy an Alb DII_AC1 directly to an Alb DII_QC1 and only have to change the "AC" to "QC" at the top of the file. You could probably also copy an Alb DVa to a Alb DVa 200 with only a few more alterations. I would NOT recommend copying the FM for a Sopwith Pup to a Sopwith Tripe, however. Although...it might be possible. Dej, PM me and I will send you a copy of the spreadsheet in Excel format. It only contains game data, however. And my avatar is simply a poster for the last WWI fly-in in Dayton, which I didn't get to go to because of work and lousy weather. :nea: Cptroyce, I am very familiar with your FM work on RB3D. I used several different FM's and thought that yours was one of the best. I also helped Bluevoss (remember him) in testing out his FM, which even predates yours! And yes, the DrI IS PORKED!!!!!!!

Glad you are flying again, Greg. I've been working on a program that will automatically backup all of your needed setup files to another location on your computer for easy access if you have to reinstall OFF or something gets corrupted. All I have to do is write a readme file for it and send it to a few people for testing and it should be ready. It's been delayed because I started playing around with some of the FM files and that has taken a lot of my time because it is much more complicated.

I can confirm that the altered planes do work in campaign mode. However, you have to be very careful when editing the files with Airwrench. It's better to make adjustments directly in the .cfg file and just use Airwrench to observe the effects of your changes. NEVER save a file with Airwrench, even if it begs and pleads with you to do so.

Something else I have noticed about the FM, particularly for German planes. Although super or turbo-charging was not used in any operational aircraft in WWI, many of the German aeroplanes in OFF have this setting checked to true. I assume this was a decision by the devs to simulate the negative effects of increasing altitude on engine performance and how the German engineers got around this problem by intentionally "leaning" the fuel mixture of their engines at sea level (if you are interested in long, technical discussions here is a link to one about this issue from our friend Bletchley at the aerodrome http://www.theaerodr...ght=turbo+super ). How does turbocharging a simulated WWI engine which shouldn't have turbocharging effect the overall performance of German (and some later Allied) aircraft in the sim? Instead of using turbocharging, I was wondering if it is possible to simulate the better German performance at high altitude simply by increasing the rated horsepower of their engines at sea level? Besides falsely increasing aircraft performance at sea level in exchange for more realistic performance at altitude, what might be the drawbacks of this approach?

Good question, Duce. So far, my changes work in QC. I haven't yet tried them in CFS3 QC or in the campaign. I will report back. UncleAl--Contrary to your experience, I was able to recover from a 260 mph dive in the Tripe. True, I did have some "high speed stress damage" and the elevator was sluggish, but I did recover. Compressibility shouldn't be a factor at speeds under 400+ mph. At any rate, the main point is that the Tripe should not dive at such a fast speed with three wings and all of those wires and struts. There is a variable you can set in the .cfg file that adjusts parasitic drag. Currently, this is set to 1.00 for all OFF aircraft. Since CFS3 is originally a WWII flight-sim, I think an argument can be made that this setting should be set to > 1.00 for all OFF planes, as they are much less streamlined than their WWII counterparts. Although I have found that setting this variable higher than 1.00 does reduce dive speed, it also tends to reduce level flight speed a bit. However, that can also be adjusted.

There should be several backup copies of the ViewUi.xml file in several places on your computer. Look first in your OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder. It can also be found in your OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\default folder and your OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\Default folder. Finally, another copy can be found in your C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\ApplicationData\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder if you are using XP; or in your C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder if you are using Vista or Win7. I don't know why CFS3 stores so many copies in different places, but there you go.

Gentlemen, I think we have just discovered the most powerful and important individual on this forum! Thank you for your service, nbryant. Both past and present.

Very simple, really. In XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\[userName]\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields and open the ViewUI.xml file with any text editor. About three lines from the top, look for "RotationRate." Values over 1.0 speeds up the rotation, while numbers below 1.0 slow down the panning speed. Save and exit. Voila!

You can also adjust the panning speed to your tastes, which helps a lot!

I can be Toto!

Yeah, a faster hard drive with a larger cache--now there's the ticket!

To add further light (or heat) to the discussion, I gathered the following information by using Airwrench and looking at the specifications for the entire Albatross' series. Aircraft HP Weight Speed/sea(mph) Climb rate(ft) Roll rate Turn radius(ft) D II 180 1485 105.5 1335 65.2 177.1 D III early 162.5 1850 108.8 1335 53 193.4 D III 170 1850 108.8 1385 57.6 193.4 D III OAW 170 1850 108.8 1385 57.6 193.4 DV 180 2017 112 1430 62.2 193.4 DV later 180 2017 112 1430 63.4 193.4 Dva 180 1780 114.9 1402 63.9 192.4 Dva 200 200 1862 118.5 1480 63.9 192.4 From analyzing the results, it seems either that the D II as currently represented is much better than it was historically, or the D III and D V series are worse than they were historically, or both. As a result, there is not much difference between the D II, D III, and D V. Arguably, it's not until we get to the DVa 200 that there is a significant improvement in the Alb from one model to another. Also, based only on these specs, it seems that the D II is a better all-around aircraft than all varieties of the D III's. In particular, shouldn't the D III's have a better turn radius than the D II because of their improved wing design? Finally, I should also note that the turning radius for ALL of the Albatross' is longer than that of every other airplane I looked at--including the Spads, Se5a's, and even the Pfalz. Again, this is relying only on the listed specifications for these planes in the .cfg and .air files. How each plane performs in the sim is another matter entirely. It may be that the devs had to tinker a little with the historical settings for some aircraft in order to get them to perform as they did historically. For example, perhaps tightening up the turning radius for the Albs so they are closer to their Allied counterparts makes the Albs a little too ubermenchish, if you get my mangled German. And, maybe a D II with a lower hp engine instead of a 180 hp engine causes it to fly too poorly without the higher rated engine. At any rate, this is not meant to be a flame towards the devs. Absent any data entry errors, I'm sure they had very good reasons for making the Albs as they are currently. Mainly, I thought that posting these specs might be of particular interest to Olham and the other Alb aficionados.

My unsolicited advice: get a faster hard drive and put OFF on the new drive, or increase your memory and increase the size of your page file. Another thing you can try if you already have more than one hard drive is to move your page file away from the drive holding OFF. I think you mentioned changing the FPS limit already, so I won't describe that.

Hey, thanks guys. I appreciate it. Barkhorn1x--I didn't get a PM from you. Could you send it again? I will send out the program later today. I still would like a few more testers. Anyone care to offer their services?

Yes, Duce. The program is specifically designed to work on any computer, regardless of where you have installed OFF, as long as you extract the .bat file to the OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder. After that, simply double click the .bat file to get it started and follow the instructions. After it copies the ViewUI and pilot files, you do have to enter the OS you are using in order for it to find the other files to copy, but that's it! Should be quite simple (crosses fingers).

While I am enjoying my little conversation with UncleAl about the DANGERS of 3rd party software, I have yet to hear from anyone willing to volunteer their services in testing my program. I assure everyone that they have nothing to fear (but fear itself), by testing it out. I just need to make sure it works as designed on Vista and Win 7 machines. Anyone willing to step one foot forward for God and country?

I will also miss your keen eye for details, your ear for history, and your taste in humour. Godspeed, Lou! Don't forget us!

Update: The batch file program is complete and works well on my machine. However, to be on the safe side, I need a few volunteers who run Vista and a few who run Win 7 to make sure that the program will run on their machines. Any takers? PM me with an email address and I will send you the file (2 kb) as soon as I have finished writing a readme file to go with it. I may also write a Visual Basic program that will do the same thing as the batch file, but it will take a wee bit longer as I will have to re-learn VB first!

You raise some legitimate concerns, Uncleal, but this is a very simple program that simply copies files to another place on your hard drive for safekeeping in case you have to reinstall OFF. There is no messing around with your registry or any Windows file whatsoever. Your OFF settings will also remain unchanged. The only bad thing that might happen is that the program will not work and the files will not be copied.

Those are certainly two beautiful airships. The only question is, which one is Dolly and which one is Parton?* *assuming you know who Dolly Parton is.

I need a favor from some Vista and Win 7 users. Please post the complete directory structure where OFF stores the following files: Mine.xca, CFS3.xca, UnlimitedPilots.xml, and ConfigOverrides.xml. For example: on my XP machine, these files are stored in the following directory: C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\ If your paths are different than above (as I assume they are), I need to know exactly what they are in order to make my program compatible with those operating systems. Thanks. EDIT: From browsing around, I have discovered the directory structure for Vista and Win 7 appears to be USER\[username]\AppData\Roaming\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\ If this is not correct, please be sure to let me know.

Well, I certainly hope so!

Congrats, CJ! Looks like I will be joining the GP club in June! Enjoy your second parenthood--with the benefit of a lot more sleep!

Although you said you have reduced your slider settings, please tell us what you have set them to anyway. How many hard drives, cd drives and other peripherals? What is the output of your power supply? The only thing that stands out from your systm specs is your Page file setting. You have 4 Gigs of RAM but your page file is only 2248. You need to at least double that figure. I have XP, so I don't think I can tell you how to increase your page file setting, but I'm sure someone else with Vista will come along and help.