rabu

I've been using TrackIR5 for awhile and I've discovered the biggest problem is having it too close or not centered on your head which can cause problems especially when you look up or down and suddenly it can't track and you loose control of your view, or it gets jerky. I had my TIR clipped to the top of my 22" LCD monitor which is on an adjustable arm clamped to my computer desk. When I'm sitting and working at the computer the ideal distance for the screen is about 18"-24" in front of me. Text is sharpest and in a game I get the full impact of the screen image. Problem is, the TIR is way to close and if I push the screen back further I don't enjoy the full impact of the screen image being closer. OF course, if you have a huge 30" or bigger monitor it could sit far enough back so the TIR can just clamp onto the monitor, but 24" or smaller monitors this is a great solution. took an old clamp that was used to hold a chair umbrella and clamped it onto my display pivot arm and then attached the TIR to the top of the clamp arm. It sits about 1 foot behind the front of the screen and just above it. The improvement has been amazing.. much smoother viewing and I don't loose the view looking down or up anymore. If you have something you can clamp onto behind your screen this works really well and you could use one of those clamp on desk lights.. just remove the cord and light fixture part and improvise. Or you could use a small, inexpensive tripod easel or camera tripod in much the same way. Below are pictures of my setup: My screen view with the TIR unit sitting about 12" behind the screen face.. hehe.. anyone recognize this "sim?" Have fun

Thanks all and a Happy 4th to everyone, everywhere. And, yes, I get Monday off from work.. course, I work at home everyday as well, so no biggie...

OK, but just remember, you have a better system then me and I can run it at 5,3,3,4,4, as can most others I've talked with over the years with similar systems, so something isn't right in your set up, yet you said you set up following the FAQ set up of the CFS3 config file exactly, so that only leaves one thing, in my opinion... you have a corrupted install, and it would be worth reinstalling following my proceedure above. You also might want to see if you have the latest Nvidia drivers and set your settings to application controlled in the Nvidia control panel. If you want the best free program out there to automatically turn off background processes and then turn them back on again, this is it: "Alacrity PC" made by the guy who made "FS Autostart" years ago. Go here Just be sure you read the FAQ and How to Use sections before you try to jump in and use it. Best of luck

Well, Pol, sorry to hear that. I obviously didn't visit it that often... maybe it's sort of like "comfort food" On a positive note, now you only have to worry about the main OFF site though.

OK, if you have the DVD version of cFS3, you don't need to install it first. You just start the OFF install and it will ask you at some point to insert the CFS3 DVD and it then copies all it needs and then resumes the OFF install. If you bought the UBI soft DVD version, you will never have to insert it again when playing OFF. If you bought one of the other DVD versions, you will have to insert it each time you want to play OFF, but don't try to get around this by using a no CD/DVD exe, it will cause problems. The OFF install DVD is phase III "Between Heaven and Hell" and does not come with the latest update which is "Hat in the Ring" There is an update for BHH though, it's patch 1.32 but shouldn't have any affect on your performance. I'm just trying to narrow down what the problem might be for you because you shouldn't be getting such low performance from OFF, even with your system, which is better then what I have. I think what you might want to try is this: Uninstall OFF, then uninstall CFS3 in Windows. Using Windows Explorer go to C: and delete the folder "OBD Software" (OFF) (and CFS3, if any) Then go to C:\Documents and Settings\Your computer name\Application Data\Microsoft\ and delete the "CFSWW1 Over Flanders" Fields folder (and the CFS3 folder if you find one) Do a Windows disk clean up Do a Windows disk defragmentor check and defrag if necessary Do a reboot and turn off any antivirus software during the install Start the OFF DVD install and when it asks for the CFS3 DVD disk insert it and follow the directions At the end of the OFF install it will start the CFS3 config utility. Set the resolution to your native screen resolution (my 22" screen is 1680x1050 at 32 bit color) At the top left click on "File then "Custom Settings" and set your slidders to aircraft 5, both terrains on 3, clouds and effects on 4. (You can also do this later from the OFF Workshops to make more changes) Fly a quick mission and see how it goes. I noticed you had a 2 CD CFS3 disk set you were getting rid of.. did you install OFF from that and then get the CFS3 DVD you now use when you play OFF.. that might be the problem, so do the whole uninstall/install routine above and let us know what happens. Hope this works

Bruce: Again, please answer the following: What version of CFS3 did you use to install from? _______ It sounds like somthing is wrong with your install, as you say other games are fine.. maybe reinstall and be sure you update to CFS3 3.1 before you install OFF If you have the older two disk set of CFS3 fly it first to be sure it is working fine before installing OFF.. did you do that... did CFS3 run allright before you installed OFF? ______ Did you recently buy the OFF DVD and did OFF run OK before you updated to BH&H Phase 3 and Hat in the Ring? ______ Also, Do not use a no CD exe, this has been known to cause problems.

Hmmm... I keep getting the same error message, "Oops! Internet Explorer could not find www.polovski.com"

Polovisky: Is your website gone?. I must have missed the announcement and have no idea when it happened, but I always enjoyed your site and appreciate how much you have helped with OFF online.

SD: Thanks for helping Shred.. and you have some interesting things listed there!

Bruce needs help.. I directed him over here after seeing his plea on the SimHQ forum, but not many bother to look at the "General Help" section of this forum. I hope some of you more techie types will try to help him get OFF running better. Please take a jump over to his post there in General Help (click here) The help he has gotten so far over there has been a bit gruff. Thanks, guys

Hi, Bruce. I think we talked about this; I have almost the same system as you with a 2.4ghz cpu, a bit slower, and a 320mb 8800gts, a bit slower, and 2gbs of fast RAM. OFF runs fine with slidders set to planes-5, both terrains on 3, effects and clouds on 4. My fps are 40-60 most of the time with pretty smooth action.. ocassional jerkeness, but nothing upsetting. I use TrackIR5, almost a must for OFF as it has a lousy view system. I set all the other config settings as per the FAQ's on the OFF site OFF config settings Incidentally, when you save all the settings you do it by selecting File menu - Exit.. don't simply hit the "X" button on the upper right. What version of CFS3 did you use to install from? It sounds like somthing is wrong with your install, as you say other games are fine.. maybe reinstall and be sure you update to CFS3 3.1 if you have the older two disk set and fly it first to be sure it is working fine before installing OFF.. did you do that... did CFS3 run allright before you installed OFF? Did you recently buy the OFF DVD and did OFF run OK before you updated to BH&H Phase 3 and Hat in the Ring? Also, Do not use a no CD exe, this has been known to cause problems. Also, in your Nvidia panel try switching the settings tab to "Let the 3d application decide"

Bruce: What a great thread you started, pretty good for a new recruit, thanks!

Has anyone seen this documentary on the Red Baron? I just noticed it on Amazon.. click here

Right, Uncleal and Hellshade. The French got a 130HP engine, wonder if that would have helped with two vickers over the 110hp the Brits had? And I looked into it and could find no indiaction of it being dropped because of mechanical problems, it was mainly because the other company contracted to make them went out of business and it was just out gunned and the triplanes from Germany finally gave it some fair competition.. again, just like they did with the Fokker E series copy of the Morane-Saulinier, they improved on the design, especially with the DR.I with more firepower over the Tripe.

RAF_Louvert is rather modes... he wrote a great mission called Zepplins over Paris and this is the well narrated film he made: (click here) He's done several others that look interesting too. BTW, Lou, will this mission work in P3?

It's not just the plane, you, sir, are one hell of a shade of a pilot, IMHO. I still think you should change your name to Lt. Coleslaw .

Hi, Bruce, welcome to the CA OFF forum. Hope you got your system running finally. I think the easest and most enjoyable plane to fly is the Sopwith Triplane. I'm sure you'll get more opinions though!

GADS! What did you say your name was again? Uhh.. Coleslaw? The Tripe was a quite amazing plane.. Cecil Lewis had flow about 40 planes in WWI and he said it was the best of all of them. It was finally outclassed by the copycat DRI and newer planes with more firepower by the end of 1917, but while it was around it had more ace victories then any other one. I read that it wasn't good in a power dive and could loose it's wings though.. anyone run into that?

Did you mean the WWII movie, "Dark Blue World?" This looks really good, am looking forward to seeing it. click for a trailer Richthofen did have an affair with a nurse, but not nearly as involved as in the movie version. I know it wasn't that historically accurate, but I think it was pretty good, worth seeing at least.

Thanks George, glad I didn't spring for the led version, my TIR5 seems to be working fine, the more I play with it. As to the headphones... some day I will have the room for a surround system, right now I have a three piece Klipsch THX series speaker system and am really pleased with it. When I eventually go to surround I will probably just add two more of the Klipsch speakers for the rear. Amazingly, wearing my Grado Labs headphones with my SB X-Fi card set to surround sound I get a very believable surround sound effect.. don't know how they managed to do it but it works. It also keeps my wife happy, which is vital for WWI flying survival .

Welcome, Jackstraw, been a long time since RBII, good to see you here. rabu [|:~} of On-The-Edge

Nice one, Olham, especially for a early film attempt!

You just proved what we have been all saying, that OFF can generate these epic, historical air battles,, that was just amazing!

Hellshade: Thanks again, your imforamation is really appreciated. And yes, your videos are getting to be noticed.. I've posted several on some of the other forums and they are making others aware of how fine OFF has become.. and how fun with your great text addons.. Love it

Check that link out I gave above, there's a good discussion of the VR helmets from several years ago. Apparently, they never caught on as people didn't feel comfortable in the confined space and not being able to actually see things around them in the real world, along with a lot of tech issues and generally poor performance. They even mention the ideal of a Matrix movie type of VR where you are hooked up to a computer, but that's going to be way down the line. We went and saw Avatar and the 3d was pretty amazing. I've yet to see the new 3d TV's but hear they are also a big step forward to approaching VR and gamers and flight simmers who use 3d with the TRackIR say it improves their game, but it depends on the game, they vary allot.