griphos

Well, you can set the null zone a little larger in the profiles settings. This might allow you to recenter when you get your head facing straight ahead again. This would also mean that you would need to turn your head a bit more to get things turning in the sim. But I just map that F12 center key to a joystick button. Easy to just hit it when I think I'm off.

This is pretty damned impressive! And I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for ...continued....

Hey Stump, The pain I was referring to was the bad MP code written into CFS3 that makes mismatches so problematic, not your missions. I love your missions. And I think I've got all the additional aircraft in the missions. They fly great offline.

That's because of the dinky little bottom wings on the N17! Hard to see, even from the cockpit! I don't think it's the same lake as in your picture. When I viewed it from the same angle as you, it had a very different shape. Here's a shot more like yours: Maybe it's the same? I don't think it's the lake in your map, though, Olham. It was much further away. About half way to Cambrai if I remember correctly.

Naturally. What a pain! Oh well.

I actually only watched about 20 minutes of Flyboys late one night (I think it was a free weekend preview on one of the premium cable channels) so I'm not qualified to give a full judgment, but accurate? No, I don't think so. I'll add to Tony's assessment, though. They got at least one additional fact correct. There actually was an air war during the years 1914-1918 in Europe. I think they didn't get much closer to reality than that (although apparently one of the pilots did indeed have a pet lion in that squadron). And it could have used a few naked females in my opinion. Welcome aboard Luftace. OFF is about 500% more accurate, IMRUO (=in my rather unlearned opinion) than any movie I've seen on WWI. For nice shots of flying crates, it's hard to beat The Great Waldo Pepper, if you can find a copy of that. And it's got a much better story line (WWI pilot too late to the war to make his mark barnstorming across American during a time when aviation is becoming commercial). Although it doesn't have any naked females either.

Hey WF2, I'd come across those already, and have been salivating for them to do one of the scouts I like (never have been an SE5a fan). I'll be the first to snatch up a Pup or Camel or Tripe (either nationality) or Alb. I sure with they'd do an Alb. Have you looked at the model images of the SE5a though? The shots of the undercarriage show some fantastic weathering. Really the whole model was built wonderfully. It makes even the SE5a tempting. The detail is incredible.

Now that's advance notice! I'll be there. Let's try to do a mission. I'm itching to fly one of Stump's missions with someone.

Hey Hauk, Seeing your post got me noticing I guess, but on my last mission, I flew near the following lake. It's not quite the perfect diamond, but it makes me think that this is the sort of auto-gen lake that the game throws up. This one is near Douai (that's the city you can see beyond it).

Now THAT'S what I'M talking about! Excellent thread, with great info by BH and Tony and others. Like several others here, I tried the Spads when I first got OFF and hated the way they were always stalling and spinning. I quit them. Of course, I was trying to turn fight them. This wonderful information and discussion, full of great data and links and excellent analysis, is sending me back to QC for a new look at this crate. Thanks!

Everyone has given good advice on claims, and there are several threads so a search should turn those up, but to put it in brief, in the narrative, write down: where (i.e., 4 miles NW of Lyons, or 2 miles west of Etriennes airfield, etc...pause the game and look on the map if you have to, and a mention of your altitude relative to theirs when you spotted them doesn't hurt), altitude of fight, number of shots fired (estimate is good enough...70 rounds, etc.), brief description of planes you shot (colors, markings), squadron if you know it (use labels briefly to identify), description of kind of crash (he spun in, he lost a wing, he flamed, etc), location of crashed enemy (near road or airfield, etc), what you did after (continued on mission, returned to base, etc), and the names of your mates (even if you're not sure they saw it or made it back). Doesn't take a book, but these details, even in brief, should get you in the 80-90 percentile and most of your claims confirmed. I haven't had one rejected yet with these details.

I'm going to chime in for the pedals as well. You can indeed use them to cross-control and side-slip or whatever. Many is the time I side-slip into a landing if I'm coming in too hot or floating. They work very much like RL in OFF, which is quite well in such circumstances. I've flown full-scale taildraggers a fair bit and learned to use my rudder, that's for sure. I've got a Saitek joystick with twist and it was a pain until I got my CH pedals. It works for rudder, but I never could get used to trying to do so many things on one control input, and the response isn't great. And using a twist joystick for spin recovery was NOT easy, for me at least. My pedals work very much like RL and have fine input scaling and it is so much easier to separate rudder input (with feet) from pitch and roll (with joystick). I used to have CH analog pedals when I was flying a decade or so ago and they were bulletproof! These new ones seem to be the same high quality. I don't know how fighter pilots in RL do it (never having been one), but I cross control a fair bit in sim combat. It seems to throw off the aim of whoever is shooting at me to see a sight picture of me banking left (he leads to my left) but I'm actually skidding (slipping toward the high wing) straight ahead because of cross-controlling. Then I'll slam in opposite rudder and actually dive turn the other direction for a quick break. Of course, it's AI, so I don't know what "they" "see." But it does seem to make them miss me. Slipping or skidding does indeed drop your airspeed quickly (why it's handy for landing when high and hot), but when I re-balance controls, I always pick up at least a little speed again. It does bleed energy, but energy is always being exchanged for something (altitude or fuel) and sometimes you've got to exchange it for a better position to a kill shot. If it's just you and him, mano a mano, and he's right on you, and you can exchange energy for the advantage of getting on his six, then you may get the best of the deal. He could use his excess energy to extend and disengage, but if he turns, then you'll have the immediate advantage (since usually, lower speeds means tighter turning radii). A good pilot can use his excess energy to regain the advantage (by turning longer or climbing), but if he was that close anyway, then you've at least robbed him of his firing solution and turned the tables a bit. An excellent technique when the enemy is zeroed into you is a snap roll (basically an induced and controlled spin you enter by cross controlling). Loses energy, but makes you VERY hard to hit. Don't see it much in OFF. But I've certainly used it to good effect, but only when I've been jumped and the bullets are hitting me and I don't have time to find out the situation...I just need to stop getting hit. I've never tried the maneuver Aussie speaks of, but I've flown with Aussie and he's an excellent sim pilot and I'd take his advice on tactics any day.

Hmmm..... Well, that's odd. You have installed the UI 1.1, right? I'm no expert on mods, that's for sure. But I think I can just send you my file. These files are basically just lists of planes and default settings. If there are planes on the list you don't have, I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever. If you'll PM me with your email address, I'll send you the file. It's small (28kb).

Hope no one minds if I jump in with some thoughts after the thread has been lying here a month or so. I've flown with both 400 and 300 as convergence distance, and find I hit a bit better with it at 400. But whatever distance you set means that at a farther OR CLOSER distance, your bullets will fly wide or scatter a bit. That means that you can get too close. Of course, when you are close, more of your bullets may still hit since the target is relatively larger, and they have more force. But shooting at the convergence distance is best, or at see the whites of the eyeballs distance, where pretty much every bullet finds something to ding. At any rate, I wonder if your issue might be g's. I think the biggest issue that throws off aim is pulling g's. You can slip or slide with the rudder to play your shots along the enemy plane without throwing off your aim much (especially good for bombers), but pulling ANY elevator will cause your bullets to fall under your point of aim by an amount relative to the force of your pull. This took me the longest to figure out and understand. Your bullet travels a path that is straight (relatively) relative to where your nose was pointed when you pulled the trigger. At the speeds of our planes, if we are pulling any elevator, that path is significantly BELOW where the nose of our plane is even a fraction of a second after pulling the trigger. If you watch other planes shooting, or trying to shoot, while pulling any g's, you will see their tracers streaming hopelessly below the path they are flying and way far off from the enemy plane, and they were probably leading a good bit. I knew about lead, and had a pretty good idea how much lead to pull for the deflection angle of the plane I was shooting at (the sight picture of the enemy), but there's ALSO lead you have to allow if you're flying with any pitch input at all. Rolling also throws off the relation of bullet path and target sight (not as much). This is what makes hitting a plane while both of you are banking and yanking in a turn extremely difficult. You have to lead so much you're no longer able to see him. You can get off a good snap shot leading an enemy plane that is cutting across your path if you are flying straight, but trying to hit the same plane on the same path if you're pulling on the elevator is pretty much a waste of bullets. You may know all of this already, but I wonder whether you are flying without any elevator or aileron input while firing. Rudder is okay, but much aileron, and especially elevator, is going to throw you off. Of course, most enemy planes don't do us the favor of flying a path that allows us to line up on them and fly nice and straight while blowing them to bits. But at the moment of firing, try to get into position to neutralize your controls for that second or two of burst. Resist the urge to fire while turning hard, even if they are close. Stick on them and wait for the good firing solution of proper distance, low deflection, and neutral or close to neutral controls. If this was all too elementary really, I hope you'll forgive me for being so long-winded, but your question suggested you might not have come to terms with this aspect of gunnery yet.

Hey Roo, You should find the air.ini file in *game folder*\MODS\STD\com\maddox\il2\objects\ Yeah, it's buried. For the new Sabre, which you should have put in your MODS folder, you'll need to add the following line to that file: SABRE air.XP_86 NOINFO usa01 SUMMER put it in the file in the proper alphabetical order. For the Panther, which you should have also added to your MODS folder, you add in the same air.ini file in alphabetical order the following line: F9F2_Panther air.F9F2 1 NOINFO usa01 SUMMER They should show up then. I've flown both, and they are sweet.

Yes, I want to grow up to be Creaghorn! I've been changing. I started as a point my plane directly at the first enemy I see sort of pilot. Now, I am more....ahem.....strategic, shall we say. And as for sneaking up on the enemy, it seems to me I never can if they have height on me, but I often will surprise the little buggers when they are flying low and I'm up in the clouds. I've dove on whole flights and gotten shots into two of them before they seem to notice I'm there in the past.

Thanks, Catch. That's helpful. But I watched the whole video and I never saw any boobs.

I agree with Bullethead. I've had the most fun in the Strutter. It can make a decent account of itself in a fight if not too outnumbered. I've downed a few scouts in it. The AI pilot will fly straight and level on your waypoint path if you jump to the back. The only time I've ever had an AI pilot take evasive action is in QC when there were no waypoints. So, you're a sitting duck if you try to be the gunner. And the AI scouts are smart about getting right behind you (they don't worry about hitting your rudder!!!) or a little below, so you spend a lot of your time cursing the pilot and yelling at him to yaw! But, on the other hand, the AI gunners are a pretty fair shot. You asked for tips on bombing. I'm no expert, but have played with it some, both online and off. Here's my technique, for what it's worth. I have the best success when I line up with my target. If it's a train, that's easy, just get in line with it. I attack from behind, so our relative speeds are slower. If it's an airfield or supply depot, then come in so that the planes on the ground are in a straight line ahead of you, or come at the supplies on the ground so that you fly along the longest diagonal of all the stuff. Then aim for the middle. That way, if you miss a little in front or in back, you hit something anyway. I also only ever make one pass. And I do a bit of a dive bombing action, coming in at about a 30 degree incline, I would guess, certainly not as much as 45 degrees. About what you'd do to fire rockets, or a little steeper. I come in fairly low (no more than a thousand or so feet) and aim the plane at the object and fly pretty fast (near structural limits speed...to limit the time I'm an easy target). I jink a bit if necessary, but straighten out as I close and then release and climb away. I almost always release at about 100 ft. The bomb seems to pretty much go where my nose was pointed when I released. And I don't climb much. Just to get out of blast range. Then I drop to the deck again over anything handy to obstruct the firing lines of the enemy MG. Forests work well for this. Then, when at a safer distance, climb back up to altitude and head home.

Before I got TrackIR I used to try to use Padlock. I would get very disoriented. Always crashing into the ground when fighting at low levels. I never seemed to switch back to normal view at the right times. TrackIR is amazing. I'm SO used to it now. When I watch videos, I find myself turning my head while keeping my eyes on the video in order to look around. I'm always catching myself doing that, and momentarily wondering why the screen won't move!

Not force feedback, which I've never had, but I like my Saitek AV8R. Not expensive, and very solid with lots of programmable buttons and a very nice integrated throttle. I used to fly CH exclusively, and they were fine, lasting a pretty long time, but limited in buttons. This Saitek is the best I've had. Never had any luck with Logitech. It's funny, because some of their other stuff (such as remote controls) are great.

Hey Hemo, Yes, I see them on ebay not infrequently. Your description of the problems doesn't seem too bad. I don't mind those sorts of modifications. I ordered the book Hauksbee mentioned so that should serve as a resource for modifying the structure if necessary. I may see if I can get one cheap. Love the look of those Albatrosses.

Hey, that's sweet! Nice stain on the wood too. I may just have to break down and build this one.

Ahhhh, yeah! That's why I can't ever send my wingmen after some particular enemy aircraft! I'm going to have to learn how to pick a target!

Hey Hemorad, I've heard the Albatross from Model Airways is kind of a problematic model. I've eyed that one, but have held back because of its reputation. What did you think when building it? I built that company's version of the Wright Flyer. Quite enjoyable. It's hanging from a rafter now. I'll attach a pic of it. I hear the Jenny is the best kit. The new Sopwith Camel has me looking hard though. I've never heard of that book, Hauksbee. What a great book! I'm about to google for it right now.

You just point your weapon sight at them! :yes: I'm not sure there is such a command. I think there's one for target your attacker. But I never could figure out what the advantage is in targeting anything. I mean, it lights up whatever you're targeting as yellow in the TAC, but I'm not sure what advantage that is either. Might even work against you, since you might fixate on the yellow dot, if using TAC, and not notice the other red one getting right in on your tail. In a dogfight, I think you are much better off not worrying about "targeting" and just try to keep SA as much as possible. Most enemy won't open fire on you until they are within 400 yds (or whatever is getting measured by the distance shown if you turn on labels).