Herr Prop-Wasche

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.

Yes, you can find it here: http://forum.combata...&showfile=10735

Personally, I get a better experience if I reduce the chances of hitting the aileron cables when a round goes into the hit box from 100% to 90%. You can do this by editing the .xdp file for each plane. OR, you can download my DM!

That's my main goal of the program: to avoid forcing the user to find all of the important files in all of the directories. Additionally, some files have identical names but contain different contents: for example, there are three different copies of both ViewUI.xml and UnlimitedPilots.xml. And, only one of them is effected by player changes to his setup! The trouble is figuring out which one! Better to just make copies of all of them. I have also found another file which should be backed up: ConfigOverrides.xml holds the graphic settings you choose when you press the Graphics button inside Workshop. If this file is saved and copied into your re-install of OFF, you don't have to set up your graphic overrides again! You can also use this file to avoid re-configuring all of your graphics settings when you install a new video card or driver.

Is that the folder where OFF is installed by Vista? You should also have some OFF files somewhere in your Documents folder. Can you post that directory structure, too? That would be very helpful.

Frack, I forgot Vista! How does OFF get stored in C: on a Vista machine? That may require three programs! Someone needs to tell Microshat to settle on ONE way to store documents and stick with it instead of changing it with every new OS!

Whoa! Lot's of nice hardware, Colonel. Thanks for your service.

@UncleAl: Not sure exactly what you are saying, but the program is not intended to be used for nefarious purposes--just to give players a way to back up a few critical game files in case OFF goes toes up. @Olham: I am unaware of Acronis Backup. Is that freeware or payware? Another problem I now see is that different operating systems have different paths in their C: drive. For instance, my XP setup stores OFF in the C:\Documents and Settings\ComputerName\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields Folder, while Olham's Win 7 stores OFF files in the C:\Computer Name\Application Data\Roaming\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder. Thus, it looks like I will have to prepare separate programs to work in XP and Win 7. I also need to know if anyone else who has Win 7 has a different directory arrangement than Olham's. Also, is it different for 32 vs. 64 bit Win 7? Don't forget ViewUI.xml which stores your HUD gauges and HUD color settings. It is found in several locations: the C: drive location, the main CFSWW1 OFF folder, and two sub-folders. Mine.xca and CFS3.xca are also located in the C: drive. Those files store your joystick settings and button assignments and should also be backed up. Okay, so unlimitedpilots also needs to be saved. Any other files?

I have found that if you press Pause after the black and white screen with MvR and other pilots show up but before the game screen loads, the game will pause immediately. While paused this way, look around and see who or what may be shooting or crashing into you. Note: sometimes you have to press Pause twice quickly in succession after the game screen shows so all of the graphics are loaded. Then you can look around and see what may be lurking about!

Hello, trupp. Reason I haven't posted in almost a week is because of a partial computer crash I had. The crash was almost entirely user error, as I was attempting to get a few more Hz out of my box via some O/C tweaks. A Windows file apparently became corrupted, and I had to reinstall Windows and eventually OFF, as well. However, things seem to be back and running and I hope to be back in the skies again, tonight. Fortunately, before I uninstalled OFF, I made a backup of several important files such as ViewUI, Mine.xca, and CSF3.xca. Unfortunately, I forgot to save my Pilots folder so I lost all of my pilots. Nevertheless, after re-installing OFF and replacing the view, mine, and CFS3 files with the ones I had backed-up, a very tiny light went on and I wondered about the feasibility of creating a batch program that would automatically backup essential user files that could then be copied back to their correct locations after re-installing OFF. To that end, I soon began work on just such a program (just call me .bat-man)!! To this point, the program copies the ViewUI.xml file located in the main CFSWW1 OFF Folder and places it into a folder I created called MyOFFVPFiles. This folder is then placed into the root directory where OFF is installed. The program also makes a copy of all of the Pilot?Dossier and Pilot?Log files located in your \CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\Pilots folder and also places them into the MyOFFVPFiles folder. Hopefully, this will let you keep your active pilots in case you need to uninstall and then re-install OFF. Finally, the batch program copies the Mine.xca, CFS3.xca, and ViewUI.xml files located in your C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields Folder to another folder named MyOFFSetupFiles which is then placed in the root directory of your C: drive. These files preserve your joystick and rudder settings and key/button assignments we have all spent precious time setting to our personal satisfaction, but then too easily forgotten when we need to uninstall OFF. A couple of questions: 1) Is anyone interested in using such a program? 2) Are there any files that I have missed that you feel I should include in a small backup program? 3) Should I go the extra step of writing a restore program which will (hopefully) automatically place the backup files into their correct locations, or do you think most people are capable of copying the files themselves? Note: I can preserve the directory trees inside each folder and write a brief readme file so that you know exactly where each backup file should go after you reinstall OFF. 4) Any other thoughts or suggestions? Unless there are some additional files that need to be included in the backup the program is basically finished. If you think there are some critical files I have missed, be sure to let me know. I am especially interested in the experiences of anyone who has had to re-install more than once, because they are the ones most likely to know what the important files are.