griphos

VERY nicely done, Jammer!

Hey, nice to see you back posting your usual wonderful videos!

The Tripe is a floater, no doubt about that! And it is draggy as well. How not, with all those appendages hanging out there with all their wires. But I'm guessing (also not being an engineer) that it has a very light wing loading (which is also why it climbs so well). I mean the weight is spread across quite a bit of wing real estate. Usually, craft with light wing loading will tend to float and take a long time to lose speed while landing. I've noticed I have to come in pretty slow and if not, slip generously while approaching to get her down. But isn't she fun!? I've mostly flown her in MP, never in campaign yet, but I'm champing at the bit to do so. I've got a new pilot back in RNAS 8 who's in Pups now (late 1916). I'm going to be very careful with him and see if I can get him to the Tripe. Can't say about the crashing or tracers. Never experienced that. Hmmmm......

My N17 always does that on takeoff as well. Now I will be more careful about it. Hurts to go out right at the "cusp" of breaking the 17 hour barrier. Of course, I've never even gotten that close! So, congratulations as well.

I was aiming a little to the right of that!

Hey Duck, I'm on. Where are you?

Must be a micro burst over the field! :umnik2: It may not be perfected yet. However, the socks used to point into the wind. The last two missions I checked the sock angle and the smoke angle from a nearby cottage and they were very close. Maybe not perfect. Of course, I didn't have the advantage of a heaping wreck smoking right on the field! Perhaps one of my guys will crash on takeoff and oblige me on the next mission or two. But looking at your picture closely, I'm not sure it's as far off as a right angle. The smoke is pretty close to your axis and could be blowing much more closely to the angle shown by the windsock. Remember, the sock is parallel to the ground and the smoke could be blowing pretty close to 80 degrees if the air is lighter, so those angles drawn in the pic would be skewed heavily depending on your vantage. Still, it's a definite improvement on the sock sticking straight into the wind, which was what it used to be.

That was great! I never knew you could see the shell casings coming out of the Lewis gun!!! That's too cool!

How did you resolve it? I just tried to fly and am having the same problem. Help!

Tony, you do know, right, that you don't HAVE to read these things? Now that you mention it, UncleAL, I think I only get the jaggies when I look behind, or behind and down. And Beard is so right, I think. I've never flown anything that compares with this sim in campaign mode. I always used to get tired of sims after a bit, because after a bit, you've done it all before. I've flown OFF in campaign mode a LOT, and I can't foresee getting tired of it in anything remotely resembling the near future. Shoot, I've mostly only flown Pups. I'm just now getting used to the N17 with my new DiD pilot. I got IL2 for the online MP. I'm looking forward to that, as my experiences with OFF MP were my first of any online flying. It's a hoot. I do think it might help OFF if that aspect of the sim could be addressed, without, of course, a completely new investment from the devs. I know nothing about these things, but suspect that there's a reason MP hasn't been on the front burner during the development. Obviously, the emphasis was on building the best dynamic campaign engine ever, but I've heard that CFS3 had lousy MP to start with.

Amen to continually finding things that make you smile in this sim. Here's a great example. Zoom in that pic from Rickity again and notice the cars. They are all wooden freight cars absolutely faithful to the era. No, WWII era metal cars here. I stay impressed with all the details these guys so carefully got right! And I've said it plenty of times. DiD is a blast! It's not about being macho. It's about being in this amazing virtual world.

I haven't really ever flown CFS3, so I don't know if TrackIR was possible in it from the start, but I suspect that it was. When I installed IL2, I only got pitch and yaw with TrackIR, just as the website says. But when I modded IL2 with the UI 1.1 update, a part of that mod allows you to set the TrackIR in IL2 to 6dof. I've flown it a bit now and it's fully supported, and is very nice in it. In fact, I seem to be able to both lean and look backwards in IL2 to get a full view of my six on each side. Of course, in most of the planes in OFF, I don't have to lean, just turn, and I can see past the rudder a bit on each side. Someone should perhaps tell Natural Point, although they may not want to list it since it is a mod that allows the 6dof functionality. I don't think they list OFF, just CFS3. I will say that I don't get the jaggies in IL2 like I do in OFF when using TrackIR. I wish I could figure out how to get rid of those. They are distracting.

MP is a blast. I'm looking forward to having more time to join SD's sessions. And I think tight formation flying is for the airshow crowd. We just need to keep closeish to each other, so we can all wind up in the same place at the same time. I think some of those finger four formations often got a bit loose. Still, looking over at the other planes and knowing live pilots are in them is a hoot.

I'm with everyone else with respect to my gratitude for this labor of love, which is an almost unbelievably good simulation of WWI air combat. I continue to be surprised and pleased by aspects of this sim. And I'm totally with Dej and Red-dog in terms of some sort of development subscription. Not that I'm in any hurry for a P4, 'cause it's hard to see how to improve this, but just because I would like to see this outstanding work be fully and fairly compensated. I'm sorry that some of the issues (CFS3) and timing (ROF) may be working against that. Couldn't have been forseen when all this started years ago.

I seem to recall somewhere that after installing OFF:BHaH, you can get rid of CFS3. I want to do this, as I can't see myself ever flying it, but I want to do it right. I don't want to mess up MP for instance. So, how is it done? Control Panel remove programs? Just delete the CFS3 folders? What say those who know?

Thanks for the locations to look for. I did an uninstall with the Control Panel, and it seems to have worked all right. Everything still seems to be working as it should, although the first time I opened OFF manager, I had to agree to the CFS3 user agreement again. I haven't tried MP online yet, but I can get it going by myself no problem. I'll check these other locations and make sure they're gone.

It's funny that you mention not seeing shadows except when on takeoff or low to the ground. I was fighting QC just yesterday and was in a N17Lewis, which is new to me, and not the best in terms of visibility, with that dumb target cone and the gun right up there where I usually look to try to see the plane I'm chasing. I was fighting a couple of Alb.DIIs and having a hard time keeping track of them when they were fairly close because they kept flying where my wings or Lewis gun blanketed them, or they low scissored and slowed down faster than I could, and so I had trouble keeping track while they were basically under me. And then I noticed that I could keep track of them by watching their shadows. I was just looking down on both sides while turning trying to spot one under me, and noticed his shadow and knew immediately how to position myself to get back on his tail. I was thinking how great this sim is that I can track a plane by its shadow. We weren't that low, but the sun was out and we were over fields instead of forests, and I started looking for the shadows when I lost track of the planes momentarily. It worked pretty nicely. I'm not saying this is something you'll use all the time. Given the weather in the campaign lately for me, I couldn't use it much at all there. And if you need the FPS, turn them off, certainly. But they do serve a role in the game, I think. And that's darned impressive!

Campaign. Although since having my flying interrupted so much by work lately, I'll be flying some QC to polish up the skills again.

I also like both this plane and your Strutter, and would like to use them, but don't know where to put these files in the game folders. How is it done?

I finally got IL2 in a couple of days ago. Been at work pretty much every evening until today, though, so I'll install it tonight or tomorrow and start downloaded the mods.

Anybody going to do something tonight? I'm finally going to be home for a change.

Man! Interlocutor. You are full of wisdom and helpful advice! This is a wonderful strategy. I shall employ it immediately. Maybe we should start a strategy sticky where we can share fabulous tips like this that we figure out.

Ahhh, I really like your strategy of flying with the other flight. I usually leave them at some point. I'm going to try that. I don't know why I haven't thought of that before. I've flown mostly for 8 RNAS actually. That probably explains my high opinion of my AI wingmates. I've noticed that most of them handle themselves quite well. I wonder if the sim models different AI abilities for newer/lower rank wingmen. My impression is that they are more cautious and less skilled. This sim constantly impresses me. I'm in 56 RFC now. So, I appear to have chosen well without knowing it!

I want to fly with an Elite squad! Which squads have you seen show better AI in the game, Interlocutor?

Ah, what you say makes sense. I think some part of me is showing respect for Stan. :blush2: But mostly it's just that work has been a killer and I haven't even been home much, much less flown, in about a week. And when things slow down, I doubt I'll jump into my new DiD pilot right away (after what happened last time). It'll be some QC for me to get the ol' reflexes back in shape. But don't worry, his time will come and he'll be a new face up on the board before long.