Wels

She's gone ... shootin' Greetings, Catfish

Hello, kind of strange it is not mentioned you will have to pay for "all those great modelled aircraft" huh ? Well they can always say they talked about AI planes lol. But even those are not included yet. You cannot imagine how glad i am, i do not always have to put a CFS3 or OFF DVD into my tray to play OFF, just start it and relax. I find RoF's marketing model a very bad one, to be online all the time and pay for every plane like it's done in FS 2004 and X. But even there were more planes included in the original package, and you only have to pay for a few add-on planes, while the biggest bulk is still free for download. In comparison OFF should have been much more expensive with all those "free" planes - oops no i did not say that (but they'd have deserved it). And selling RoF is difficult since your account (=email) is firmly linked to the serial number of the RoF DVD. If this kind of DRM is the future for any sim i will seriously think about resigning from PC-gaming. There are 10 or more sims on my PC, each and every one with its own bullsh!t of anti-piracy protection, "Starforce" here, "Steam" there and whatnot, apart from all the protection ideas that come with the "serious" business software. If they would at least invent one DRM protection model for all kinds of software ... my gawd ONE registration done online should be enough. It is understood i do not own software or the idea or code behind it, but the tendency to only lease a product and pay for it every day gives me a shudder. Not being able to sell or just copy a software (working) for personal backup purposes is not even allowed in the EU, let alone a request to being online all the time. I wonder how this will be handled here .. Well they say DRM is dead, i only hope i live long enough to really see it die. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, most german planes had auto-mixture, but there was a manual ignition timer, to advance timing appropriate to revolutions, and altitude - not modelled here. Greetings, Catfish

Welcome to OFF, Walter, if thought cows are getting scarcer in some regions ? Anyway have to go and work on on my LeRhôhne rotary, oops or was it that Diesel engine Greetings, Catfish

Hello, it took some time but i can now laugh at Hitler parodies, it is only that some of those parodies were not especially brilliant either (e.g. this Mel Brooks one, a remake of the much better "To be or not to be" from Lubitsch). " ...By the way, the only unofficial recordings ever made of Hitler's speech were taken in Finland in June 1942, when Hitler visited Marshall Mannerheim on the Marshall's birthday. Ganz used these recordings to practice for his role in Der Untergang. They used to be also on Youtube, but I can't seem to find the full original recording there anymore. This is just a part of it: ... " Yes, i have heard those recordings a year ago, at the ZZBW (Center for the chronicle of research and science), and there are not only acustic recordings, but also some scientists have studied lip and face movements and reconstructed more texts from films. What is really strange is what he's talking about - he admits to have made a mistake in under-estimating Russia and its potential of defence. "Wir wären ja wahnsinnig gewsen, Russland anzugreifen, wenn wir gewusst hätten wieviel Panzer sie haben ..." Well his public appearances were nothing else but a show, and for what i heard he learned this theatrical appearance and amplifying words through gestures just by a jew of all people. There is a recent parody with Helge Schneider as Hitler, and Ulrich Muehe as his jewish teacher, but i did not see it yet and critics were bad. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, W.: "I think this thread has been fun !" S.: "Well you also said WW2 has been fun !" Greetings, Catfish

Hello, just about those views in OFF .. those were one big argument for me not to buy OFF at first, this Coolie hat view is awkward, and the other vanill MS-set views are also unpractical to say at least, but you can at least adjust the views and all other sim settings to your liking via the "mine.xla" file. As some of you will remember the views in RedBaron3d were also strange, but one got accustomed to it after some time. You had to press a certain button of the joystick, and swing around the view with the joystick, not able to control the plane during this. But i read some two years ago (?) that someone named "Lasergabi" (was this the name?) had indeed invented a program or inserted some code to use the mouse for use in RB3d, like in IL2. So if this was possible there it might also be in OFF, or so i hope. Maybe some programmer will find out and do this at some time for OFF Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, well are you sure your SE5A did a lot more more than 110 mph when entering the melee ? Because even if it is always said the DrI is sooo slow it was certainly good for a 110 mph, not a particularly slow plane compared to the similar "Camel", even if the SE5A certainly was faster under "normal" conditions. As well the Dr.I did not lose wings even in a dive, the former test version of the Fokker triplane, the Fokker F1 which Voss and MvR flew, did. As well it depends on how you entered the fight - if from head on, you will be probably able to escape because your enemies would have to turn, losing speed and time, but closing in from behind they will have quite a big time window of being able to shoot at you, if you are only some 20 mph faster than them. And in a SPAD as well as in a SE5A ALWAYS dive away, never try to climb. The SE5A is only good in climbing when being fast, so no left-right manoeuvering for shots and no steep climb angle, or you will lose too much momentum, and speed. The SPAD VII and XIII climbed better than the SE5A, which is in my opinion a quite mediocre plane - best argument was almost every pilot was instantly able to fly it, so less training times - good pilots were scarce, planes were not on the allied side. There certainly sometimes may be something wrong with the performance of the AI in OFF, but you have always to be aware of your own crate's real situation at the moment you think others are superior. I know there still are a few issues, a Nieuport flew inverted for more than 20 seconds, shooting all the time from this positions - i am really curious whether rotaries were able to fly inverted - maybe this is even possible but i just do not know. Good luck and greetings, Catfish

Yes, well said and done. It is "unfortunate" that RoF came out shortly after OFF phase 3, and spent a hell of a budget for advertising, which OFF did not have. I somehow get the feeling that some of the OFF reviewers did not really get into the depths of the simulation, just a strifing look and "let's move on". There's certainly not much of WW1 flight sim fans around, compared to the mainstream sims. There are not so much people apart from real pilots that may judge a flight model and compare it to other planes, of an era a hundred years ago. But i guess rumours of OFF's quality and fun will also spread by "word of mouth" (does one say that?), if not so fast. Just let's not go down on some other's niveau and slap other sims one don't even played yet. I also think there's no problem of having both sims on one's drive, on mine there's even RB3d with HASP and FCJ to choose from . Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, thanks for that patch ! Just installed and flew two sorties, the cloud effects are indeed better to fly through now, as well the screens within the OFF manager seemed to somehow react faster now - or is it just me ? Thanks for your support, Greetings, Catfish

Yoo no, vee von at orl frontz, ent zis iz vie vee stil doo nott undastent howe vee coutt hef losst zis vorr. Ahem Greetings, Catfish

Hi, don't know whether he meant exactly that - you CAN certainly toggle the names of your and enemy pilots on and off, along with the aerodrome and city marks. But behind every pilot's name in the game (if dsiplayed) there is not only a name, but some more info (in brackets?)- maybe he meant that ? Greetings, Catfish

Hello WM, thanks for replying, to be honest the last pcture may have been taken before the last patch - sorry. However the first picture with the vertically diving Nieuport is only a few days old, all patches applied - and it took no visible or else damage even at higher speeds. P4/5 ... well .. - if there is i 'll be there edit @ Condor: The Alb. D.II did not lose its lower wings at higher speeds due to the more sturdy (but heavier) construction, and the outer "H" struts rather than "V" ones. The "H" prevented the lower wing from vibrating, which it did around the later lower "V" tip, leading to "harmonical vibration", a self-amplifying wobble, or vibration that again led to the known problems of the later "V" strut types from the D.III on. Thanks and greetings, Catfish

You're kidding ! I will never sell this - too much memories, and waiting for P3 .. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, i also noticed this: I was test-flying this one at 180 miles, and no wing damage .. landed without visible damage or any other problems. and this: This AI N11 flew on at that angle for minutes, until crashing. As well i had an AI Nieuport follow my Albatros, but it flew inverted for more than 30 seconds and was firing at me all the time lol. I noticed that AI planes can do a lot more than the manually flown ones, which is certainly frustrating ahem - but i wonder whether the OFF team could change the AI planes capabilities towards some more real stress damage WITHOUT spoiling the AI.. (?) Greetings, Catfish

Hello, this is certainly right, and maybe MvR saw it that way, but in almost stories i have read there was a definite urge from experienced pilots to make newbies perform stunts (at higher altitude) to learn about their crates and limits, at least at the german side. Apart from Udet and Jentsch there were lots of Albatos pilots who did perform loopings and artistic stunts, and i still think the Albatros was a better plane than it is modelled in OFF. It was just that the leading officers did not like to see what some of their pilots did, but it did often save their life ... Jentsch writes about looping the Albatros several times - Udet about flying it inverted for some time (without "losing" his engine - not gravity-fed carb - pressure tank, remember?) - just try this in OFF .. Greetings, Catfish

Hello Homeboy, thanks, this is a good idea ! I already liked your command map, even if i changed mine (literally) to something completely different - the "vanilla" commands from CFS3 are indeed strange and unnecessarily hard to use. There is not even a fixed command for the virtual cockpit view, and you have to cycle through the cameras, err, was it F2 (?), to get to the cockpit. I wonder why the OFF team did not "invent" a completely new set of commands, and implemented this in OFF, but there were more important things i guess . Maybe i will do it and propose .. Even if i have some info on the different planes it is very nice to have this map handy and be able to quickly compare them. I wonder whether the OFF team could change the AI planes to have similar capabilities than the flyable birds, without thus breaking some of the AI that might then crash ... but recently there was a Nieuport 11 that followed me inversed, wheels up and shooting, for more than 30 seconds, must have had a captured german Argus carburettor (on a rotary ?!) lol. Ok i won't whine, guess i just do not like being shot at. Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, you can (and should) adapt your commands to what you like, the original CFS3 commands are a chore. I have e.g. mapped F1 to forward view, F2 to external camera, F4 to following camera and so on. You can map all that yourself by changing the file containing the commands, i think it was "mine.xla". Changing those is done best from within the sim, flying, and hitting "Esc", and then "control settings" or "options". You can change all in the upcoming window. It is a bit long winded, but you usually do it once and that's it. As well i e.g. assigned "Shift-m" for magnetoes on, and "Ctrl-m" for magnetoes off, as well "shift-b" for battery on etc., so the keys make more sense. Just look out NOT to assign "Ctrl-shift-e" and "ctrl-shift-r" to anything, because those two keys are the pre-programmed orders for accelerating and decelerating time in the sim during flight, and you will not get it back after manual changing, unless complete re-install of OFF ! Oh, and Uncle Al is certainly right, TrackIR is the best solution, but i would still assign some keys to other commands ... Good luck, Catfish

Hello Duce, thanks for posting, much appreciated ! Greetings, Catfish B.t.w. Anyone who's interested in Zeppelins (i know there are more airships than only the Zepps. but ..) should get Robinson's "The Zeppelin in Combat: A History of the German Naval Airship Division", real good book with lots of photos.

Hello Dirk, oops - do you have the sim ? Are you by any chance living in Europe ?? How did you ... And if, why is it unplayable ?! Don't say this is indeed one of the problems discussed ... can you roll back the sim to the last version, or uninstall the update ? Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, " ... Why is it that the devs or their Reps don't answer on this important ( and now confused ) question? ..." 1st: because they already said it a hundred times: You have to be online even for single play, this means during starting a mission, and when ending it - not necessarily while flying - but initially, and after. Otherwise there will be no counting or acknowledging of what you did, or achieved in your mission. I can imagine what this means for people with a dial-up connection - and think about 300 mb patches with ISDN or a 56k modem lol - but don't we all have DSL and a flatrate ? No ?! Cheapskates !! Apparently in the minds of the RoF people - and i include those "independent" Ming and Freycinet "fans" who steamroll anyone who might criticise it - anyone certainly has to have constant internet access, and a flatrate, this is the future of flight sims yippiehhh. It is not enough to buy a game anymore, you have to additionally pay more, to finally get what you thought you paid for, when buying the sim. 2nd: Because any definite answer in an open forum will probably scare away potential customers 3rd: Being online for the whole time while playing RoF is part of RoF's "anti piracy" model, and thus it becomes a "digital rights management" or "DRM" issue, which may not be talked about in public forums at SimHQ. So asking for online issues will automatically include DRM critic, and instantly lock the thread, or move it to the DRM subforum. Nice move, eh ? So there is a closed subforum dealing with DRM (= being online) where you can go and read about it, but only if you register and log on to SimHQ's homepage. Some folks have de-registered from SimHQ exactly because of this - including me. Yes it is pathetic and idiotic, but ... it is my decision - i do not need SimHQ, and this was at least setting a statement of what i think about those policies. Then i would like to enter an english forum from RoF and ask some of the folks directly, but it still is all russian even after the US release. It certainly does not look really professional, but i still hope they will get on with their project. HTH, Wels

Hello, apart from being a bold pilot, probably with a showing-off attitude (don't forget he was quite young, almost all combat pilots were, and still are today), he was also hung-over from a party the night before or so it seems. Anyway we had those discussions over at the aerodrome forum, and in former times it had been always my idea that he could have flown, or better climbed away from the fight, with the climbing abilities of his F1 Dr. test plane (also having a bigger engine than the later Dr.I series). But: knowing about the RFC and the pilots engaged in this fight, along with the speed and force of the SE5a, it may well be they would not have let him go away that easily - even with a relatively sluggish, but fast SE5 they could have followed him from greater distances while gaining altitude, and i think even Voss must have realized he was fighting for his life. What is strange is that he was still peppered with bullets (the last time), when he must have been already wounded, if not already dead, propellor standing and gliding in a more or less straight line towards the west - because one of the RFC pilots said " ... if i could only have brought him down alive". But i understand you cannot be reluctant or picky after fighting for your life for 10+ minutes in the air, and you can get really angry during a fight - hrrm at least i sometimes get in this sim lol Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, Hmm, since i finally got the CFS3-DVD version and CFS3 not installed at all (de-installed phase 2 completely, including registry entries, and reboot), the installation process just asked me to insert the CFS3 DVD for a few seconds, until replacing it again with the OFF DVD disc, and getting on with the installation. And the game works perfectly or so i thought - ahem - did i install it the right way then ? Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, the link does not work for me (?) Anyway the AGO C.I was a common plane in its time, one of its predecessors even made it to German-East-Africa, but that's a story of its own. AGO built lots of pushers until they finally decided to move on to tractor-driven planes. B.t.w. AGO stand for "Aero-Werke Gustav Otto". Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello, thanks for the links ! Olham, Commander Bockholt was also the later commander of the w-type airship Zeppelin L59, that went to Africa to support Lettow-Vorbeck. A relative was aboard this ship, if not when Bockholt captured the "Royal". Thanks and greetings, Catfish