Herr Prop-Wasche

Homeboy, I just sent you an email. Look forward to hearing from you again!

Just curious.

Not to toot my own horn here, but you might try using my Intermediate Damage Model. You should see more visible damage on both the AI and on your airplane. For example, last night using my DM I was flying in QC with an ALB III early against Sopwith Pups. I got a little target fixated and a Pup got behind me. All of the sudden, four or five bullet holes appeared right before my eyes in my center-wing mounted radiator! I had never seen that before! My engine began to sputter and cough and I knew I had to get out of there. Fortunately, I was able to throw the Pup off my tail and escape, landing at a nearby airfield. This seemed a lot more realistic to me than getting hit by a few shots and suddenly not having any control over my aircraft. Just remember there are lots of options and mods you can try to make OFF an enjoyable experience for you. Try some, you might like it!

BigJim, Are you flying in QC or the campaign? In QC, you can control the skill of the enemy pilots. I find that when I set the enemy skill to "Ace," the AI pilots will hose you down pretty good, usually severing an important control cable or severely damaging your wing--maybe even blowing it off! On veteran, however, they are not quite so accurate, so even if they have you dead to rights, you can sometimes escape with only minimal damage. Of course, in campaign you don't know what the skill of the enemy pilot is until he starts to shoot at you, and by then it's too late! I have been experimenting with setting the accuracy of the main guns (in the lower right corner of Workshop) to "less accurate." IMO, this setting does a better job representing what shooting a machine gun bolted to a flying machine washer in WWI must have been like. The AI is less accurate and lethal at this setting. The drawback is that this setting affects your guns, too! So, expect longer engagements and possibly less conclusive results with this setting. I'm beginning to like it, but others may not agree. Another setting you can fool with is the "Range" button, which controls how close the AI must be before they will open up on you. Set that button to close and they won't "ping" you from 1000 ft.

This is one of the things that is so nice about OFF and OBD--the ability to modify certain files to your liking AND the encouragement, support, and assistance that OBD gives to people like myself and Fortiesboy who like to fool around with the "vanilla" game. In turn, this has led to the two "standard" DMs, as well as my IDM and Fortiesboy's DM. Most stick to one of the two standard DMs, while others like either my IDM or Fortiesboy's DM. Whatever your preferences or playing style, there is a DM model for you! OFF gives players that flexibility. So, I would just like to say, thanks again OBD!

Dear OFFers, At Fortiesboy's request, I have just submitted his DM for download from the combat ace download forum. Fortiesboy's campaign DM 1.0 is a DM based upon OFF's hardcore damage model, with individual "threshold value" adjustments to each aircraft type in order to produce enhanced damage effects. This DM is intended to be used by players who fly with "full realism," i.e. normal bullets, full realism FM, and limited flight aids. FB's DM is meant as an alternative to both of the official OFF DM's, as well as Herr Prop-Wasche's IDM. Players are encouraged to experiment with each of the DMs (easily accomplished by following the installation instructions for each DM) to find the one they most prefer. Installation of this mod will not alter any of the settings in any of the other DMs. FB will be glad to answer any questions or comments you have about installation or use of his DM. Once again, FB would also like to thank Pol, Winder, and the others at OBD Software first for their wonderful sim, and secondly, for their kind advice and assistance in the development of this mod. Good luck and happy flying!

Yes. I made it a little different with FB's mod so as not to confuse the two. Maybe I did not succeed.

Thanks, Gremlin!

Danke, hughesyman! Great find!

Gremlin, We would be most pleased if you were to post our DMs on the Wings of Honor web site. Just to be on the safe side, could you clear it with Pol or Winder first?

Glad I may have been of assistance. CFS3, on which OFF is based, can be a very finicky beast. I think that screenshot is from OFF, Beyond Heaven and Hell: Salvador Dali edition!

It's more likely an incorrect video memory setting somehow. For some reason, the card is not performing up to its memory potential. Have you done all the graphics config settings in Workshop?

Aye, who is that shiftless and suspicious looking character in the upper right? He has the cold, steely eyes of a natural-born killer!

File Name: Fortiesboy Campaign DM 1.0 File Submitter: Herr Prop-Wasche File Submitted: 13 Jul 2009 File Category: Aircraft Models Installation Instructions: Unzip the .rar file to your Over Flander's Field aircraft folder. Click here to download this file

A complete intermediate damage model for all of the aircraft currently in BHaH 1.30c, including all campaign aircraft, is now available for download from the 3rd party mods and download forum! In addition to DM modifications for all of the aircraft in BHaH, this update also contains a few bugfixes that may have prevented certain aircraft from being flyable in previous versions. All aircraft in this version have been tested in QC to insure that this is no longer a problem. Just like earlier versions, this mod is meant to represent a middle-ground between the easy and hardcore damage models already present in BHaH v.1.30c. Hit points for ailerons, wings, and aileron cables are changed so that these components are now somewhat weaker than in the hardcore DM, but stronger than the normal DM. In addition, values for rudder and elevator cables are somewhat strengthend to be more similar to the values for the aileron cables. Values for all other components are unchanged. Installation instructions are contained in a readme file included in the IntDM1_6 zip file. Please note that this mod simply replaces the xdp files for each aircraft currently available in BHaH. No other changes are made to any other files. If you wish, make a backup of the aircraft folder before installation. I hope you enjoy this mod, which itself is a mod of BHaH, the wonderful mod of CFS3 by OBD Software. Thanks goes out to OBD Software for making BHaH such an enjoyable mod in the first place, and for their great support of Over Flander's Fields. If you have any questions or suggestions, or experience any problems with the installation of this mod, you can reach me on this forum. Finally, although this is a "complete" mod, no changes have been made to the threshold values in any of the aircraft xdp files. As discovered by Fortiesboy and myself, threshold values control the application of most of the "special effects," such as sound effects and visual damage, including rips and tears, which occur to damaged aircraft in the game. Fortiesboy and I have discovered that lowering these values somewhat result in more effects being seen, both visually and in the actual effects on the flight of damaged aircraft in the game. Depending on interest, Fortiesboy and I may consider making further adjustments to the xdp files and releasing a mod containing these changes to the community. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

I agree. In QC testing, I always set up myself with one wingmate set to veteran vs. three or four AI set to veteran. In the campaign I just mentioned, the AI may very well have been aces. I was in Jasta 2 (Boelke) in April 1917 and we came up against Se5's. Not sure of the squadron, but they may have been elite, given that they already had Se5's so early.

D'oh, of course, you are right! Shows I haven't been to the museum for awhile and that I don't know much about art! Sorry!

Duh! Just went into Workshops and looked at the main guns setting. I have mine set to normal. Apparently, this setting effects BOTH AI and player. I am going to experiment with setting this to "less accurate" and see if I notice any difference in behavior. I only wish this setting was divided into one setting for the AI and one for the human player, as I am a terrible shot! Still, this is good news because it means the bullet accuracy settings of accurate, normal, and less accurate can be adjusted, if needed.

FB, I agree with you about the AI vs AI/human vs AI distinction in combat. In further testing, I have not noticed that I have been able to blow wings off very easily; instead, it is the AI that blows both other AI, but also my wings off too easily! So, further adjustment of the xdp files may be an exercise in futility. Instead, this may be an instance where the AI bullet stream is too accurate, allowing them to "saw off" the weak point of a wing without difficulty. The AI are also extremely proficient in severing my control cables! OBD was able to tweak the "noise factor" in the rear gunners fire; I wonder if they might consider the same small adjustment for the pilot? What is the consensus of other players?

Achtung! Vat eez dis mit der haircut? Eeet is not militarie regulazion!

Nice pictures, everyone. I'd post pictures of my town, but the only interesting sites are the Air Force Museum and a replica of the Wright Bicycle shop. Well, here's a pic of downtown... and the Art Institute, which has the original "Water Lillies" by Van Gogh, among others

Glad you like the damage effect, Hellshade. You are absolutely right about the lower wing seeming to fly off much more often than the upper wing. I will have to remind myself to look out for that. There ARE separate damage values for the upper and lower wings, so they can be tweaked independently. Aren't some of the Albs sesquiplanes, like the Bebe? Maybe that's why the lower wing flies off so easily. OTOH, in my 1918 campaign, I have noticed my AI wingmen shooting off the wings of Spad XIII's with frightening regularity, so there is something amiss.

Wings come off a bit too easily for my liking in the campaign aircraft for some reason, so I will be tweaking that a bit to see if I can make it more realistic. QC aircraft should work okay, however.