Herr Prop-Wasche

Don't forget to delete all CFS3 folders (including hidden folders) after uninstalling CFS3 and then to defragment your hard drive before trying to reinstall CFS3. You might try running a registry cleaner, also. I use CCleaner. You can get it here: http://www.ccleaner.com/download

OvS, you can find my Intermediate DM at the following thread: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=41308 DM's with adjusted threshold values can be found here: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=41821 However, these are only partial DM's for a few planes. Look at the first couple of posts and then near the bottom of the thread for more. FB and I are independently working on completing two new DM's. His will be based on the hardcore FM, while mine will be based on a substantial revision of my IDM. Both will have substantial changes to the threshold values in each plane's xdp files, with the goal of making damage show more easily while not markedly affecting the overall DM. I hope to have a version of my revised IDM with threshold changes available for QC in the next couple of days. Not long after that, with the approval of Pol and Winder, I hope to have a version available for the entire campaign. If you try either of these out, be sure to let us know what you think. FB and I are eager for your feedback!

Has anyone else tried the new obs balloon settings? The files are easy to edit, and if you don't like the changes, are simple to change back again.

I don't have RoF and don't plan on getting it in its current incarnation, but from reading Hellshade's post, RoF reminds me of how I felt when i bought EAW after flying Red Baron3D: pretty with nice FM's, but ultimately sterile and boring because of the lack of a dynamic campaign. Of course, this was before all of the 3rd party mods came along that immensely improved EAW. Reports of the poor AI in RoF are especially troubling. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that RoF's developers are very interested in 3rd party mods, judging from the on-line sign-in requirements, which at least partially appear to be present in order to discourage such modding. If people become dissatisfied with RoF, I wonder if OBD might be able to benefit by working more on the online performance of BHaH?

You don't need to go to all that trouble, Voss. I deleted my CFS3 install immediately after installing OFF and haven't had a hiccup since. Of course, you still have to have the CFS3 disk in the DVD drive in order to play OFF unless you are one of the lucky ones with the rare Ubisoft version.

Back on topic. I think I have been able to succesfully modify the files so that balloons should be harder to shoot down now. To do this, go to OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\vehicles and open the following folders: a_obs_balloon, g_obs_balloon, and h_obs_balloon. Then, open and edit the .xdp file inside each folder. For some unknown reason, you have to increase the a_obs_balloon.xdp and the h_obs_balloon.xdp point values from 20 to 200, while the g_obs_balloon.xdp points need only to be increased to 100, or else the balloon becomes almost indestructible. I guess German engineering really IS better! On a side note, I was wondering if moving these folders to the aircraft folder would result in all balloons destroyed by the player as counting as kills instead of only the one actually assigned in a balloon busting mission? Devs?

Uncleal, helpful as ever! Actually, you can rescue your pilot by going into \OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\Pilots and editing your pilotDossier.txt. Go down about 35 lines to where it reads something like "Prisoner of War" delete that, and replace with "In Service." Save and exit. Viola! Your pilot should be back on active duty. However, you have to live with yourself, knowing you are a cheating scoundrel!

Incidentally, I have just found the location of the xdp files which you can open with a text editor to increase the hit points for observation balloons so they don't get destroyed so easily. I doubled the hit points from 20 to 40 in my installation and will report back later to give you my observations. You can find the files here: OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\vehicles Look for the following folders: a_obs_balloon, g_obs_balloon, and h_obs_balloon. Open the folder and then open the .xdp file to alter the hit points.

I tried to look at the Spad FM using airwrench, but the button you have to push to make the plane editable seems to be disabled. When I make any changes to the .cfg file by hand, the plane gets rejected by OFF as an "unofficial plane unsupported by OFF," and the mission aborts.

Enjoyed flying with you, Sitting Duck, as well as Von Baur and Vasco who also dropped in. Seems the IDM works in MP without any problems. Perhaps we should set up a dogfight mission next time to test the airplane damage model. Also thanks for talking me through setting up Teamspeak and getting the volume levels right. I could hear you just fine in the last mission. I will definitely join you again for more MP fun!

The link is in the 3rd party mods forum, one forum down from the multiplayer forum. The thread is about half way down the page.

I will check the mic/headphones out. I am on eastern time zone, but 2 PM is no good for me today being Father's day and all. Maybe later in the afternoon, around 5 PM?

Mein Gott! Beautiful pictures Matthias! You and your boss are truly craftsman of the highest order! If this plane appeared in OFF I don't think I could bear to shoot it down.

Thanks, SD. I'd like to try MP myself, but my flying skills are pfffft and I don't have TrackIR or a microphone. However, since you have kindly offered to try my DM, I think I can throw my hard earned cash towards a cheap microphone, install Teamspeak, and join you Sunday if you can get a session up. I'm also curious to see if the IDM will work in MP.

Hello again, fellow fly-boys and fly-girls! I am working on another revision to my DM and hope to have it ready shortly. Basically, it is just a tweak of the Intermediate DM, with some damage values increased and some decreased. Here are the main revisions (currently in testing): pilot hit points increased from 60 to 70 aileron cables increased from 30 to 40 (original hardcore value) elevators, rudder, and stabilizer hit points decreased approximately 15% I am also thinking about increasing the hit points for the oil and coolant reservoirs by about 15%. In theory, this may make the engines slightly more resistant to early loss of torque and RPM's, hopefully resulting in fewer AI craft slowly drifting into the dirt after being hit because of the inability of the weakened engine to provide enough lift. However, this potential revision is still VERY early in the testing process, as in I haven't actually started testing it yet! The really exciting news is that Fortiesboy and I have been independently experimenting with the threshold values and we are getting some good results combining them with both the hardcore DM and my IDM. We have been in contact with the OBD team and they have indicated they are open to a possible mod of the hardcore DM containing these changes, which should result in improved visual damage modeling. An IDM with identical changes to the threshold values is also possible. However, this is all very hush, hush, so no promises!

Ah! Droooool! Looking sharp!

Widowmaker: check your six! That feared German ace, Olham, is back on the prowl! Welcome back to the forum, Herr Olham!

Not that my little old opinion matters that much, but I vote Aye!

GP, Sorry, did not see you are not getting a beep. However, your fans are powering on? Sorry for the stupid question, but how do you know about the POST error? Sound or video? Make sure the connector for the computer speaker is hooked up. Also, is your video card seated correctly? Does it have a separate power connector? Edit: Looking at the picture of your MB, I now see where you are getting your post code. You said you took one memory stick out to no effect. Did you try putting it back in and taking the other one out?

Just after you hear the beep, try pressing either the delete key or the escape key a couple of times.

Keep in mind that we are also much more ruthless than many of the pilots in the Great War. I imagine that a lot of pilots let wounded enemy planes escape--especially if the enemy dived for the dirt or appeared to be seriously damaged. It just wasn't worth losing your energy state and potentially getting bounced by a heretofore unseen enemy. There are also several tales of pilots letting obviously distressed enemy pilots get away out of a sense of chivalry or whatever. It's pretty hard for us to feel any chivalry toward AI pilots. Those guys are cold-hearted devils! Inhuman even!

Gosh, I'm sorta partial to my Intermediate damage model, myself.

Sorry, the thread I mentioned was started by phantomjoker.

There's your problem, I think. Switch from Historical to AI Weather Gen. Otherwise, your QC missions are tied to the date of your campaign. Or, as suggested above, click on CFS3 QC instead of Quick Missions.

I dunno. Beer? Whiskey? Fuel-Air explosives?