Bigfish2

Sorry, my fault for leading us up the garden path re Arma2! Von Paulus' reply was very interesting and he knows much more about it than me. I've patched the "out of the box" copy with 1.30 which is a massive one, and I'm pretty sure the developers are top notch in terms of support and development, judging by their previous "Operation Flashpoint". They do proper sims, not games. Like our lovely OFF developers, of course.

I've installed the TIR5 software and run my TIR4Pro hardware with it, using their default profile. It's definitely smoother and more accurate so I'm sticking with it. Thanks chaps for your lead on this one (and excellent support from Naturalpoint).

77Scout, check it out Arma2 official website. It started off some years ago as Operation Flashpoint. I guess it's like OFF but without the planes (now why would you want to do that I ask myself?); you can run/drive around a few thousand square miles of beautifully rendered terrain, and the campaign works I imagine along same principles as OFF or Bob2 - ie if you rerun a scenario something different happens each time. It's not like those FPS games where streams of WW2 Germans keep leaping out at you, you shoot them, some more appear, you shoot them and so on, and you find you're only able to progress down a scripted route. The game engine does proper bullet physics etc., and it all looks scarily photorealistic, especially with "blood" set on "high"!! I'm a really nice guy, and war is a very bad thing, so it's a mystery why this stuff is so fascinating, isn't it? But I still love OFF the most.

Thanks RAF Lou and you other chaps contributing to this useful and timely thread. I've recently strayed from the fields of Flanders into somewhere in the Balkans (I think) in the next decade c/o Arma2, which is a seriously heavy state-of-the-art first-person infantry combat simulator (generally you get hit once and you're dead). This has awesome graphics but is noteworthy for being the first FPS to enable TIR, so you can for example run forward but look around you while doing so. I am utterly crap at it but it makes an interesting change (and you get to play with lots of cool stuff inc tanks and an F35). There are Arma2 forums and MP squads with a very serious approach to training and teamwork, and TIR5 is heavily recommended. So both for OFF and for Arma2 I'll give the TIR5 software a go on my TIR4Pro as you suggest, thanks again for the info. Will hang on a while to see whether some sort of consensus emerges as to the cost effectiveness of upgrading to TIR5 hardware. PS Widowmaker, I'm having a carp crisis and can't catch 'em. Why have I wasted 35 years of my life mostly horizontal next to muddy water?!

Just to report chaps that I've installed 190.62 and OFF is running absolutely fine (whereas the previous 190.38 didn't). I uninstalled the existing drivers and cleaned up with Drivesweeper before installing 190.62; I also did a defrag of the hard drive at the same time, just to tidy up the mass of crap on it. OFF runs very nice and smooth (fps 40-60), looks lovely, and no shimmering things.

Earlier in the month there was a conversation in the Forum about the latest 190.38 Nvidia Forceware drivers, which turned out to be duff. I went back and reinstalled 182.06 which happened to be hanging around as a zip file in my PC. I wondered if any of you PC gurus have a view on whether there's a later set which is stable and works properly with OFF? Or shall I not fix it as it ain't broke? (see, I learned something!)

I'm shocked and appalled that Rabu one of my OFF heroes should be so seriously out of date - or perhaps just being very careful not to take any chances with dodgy drivers?! Frame rates do now seem to hover around 59 quite a lot of the time (capped at 60) and seldom fall below 35; whether this is due to the driver version, the latest minipatch, or wishful thinking on my part, who knows?

Many thanks Cptroyce, despite my promises not to fiddle about, I installed 186.18 and they're just fine, and my impression is that the frame rate has increased. But now I really will leave them alone at least until Nvidia sorts out the 190.38 drivers.

Thanks guys, I know it makes sense! Widowmaker, that wasn't a PLASTIC floating tigernut was it?!!

I've been very fortunate to fly two prop sims – OFF and Bob2 – which have both clearly been made for love rather than money. The development philosophy behind both seems to be very similar, as Buddye (The Man for Bob2) has explained. In both cases I have no idea how the developers gained the skills not only to write the code but to co-ordinate such big and complex projects (and presumably without all sitting in the same room with a couple of years to do it), and in their spare time, and then to keep up such a level of interest in supporting the "players" (for want of a better term). I've still hardly scratched the surface of OFF, and my recent return to flying Bob2 reminded me how outstanding that is too – and how crap a Spitfire pilot I am. So I'll be quite happy playing with OFF till you guys produce P4, and then I'd like one of those very much please. I hope you have a good rest and that you understand how much ordinary chaps like me appreciate what you've made for us.

So, no carp fishing either? Just look after that work/life balance, alright?

Flamers!

Beyond outstanding! Thank you very much indeed. Downloading it right now.

Well a couple of days ago I posted that I'd installed 190.38 without problems. However I was wrong, and especially since I installed my new 24" monitor (wow – in widescreen HD OFF looks even more amazing!) the image is very bleached-out and shimmering. I've reverted to 182.06 and it's gone back to looking beautiful, proper colours, no shimmering. Somebody asked about rolling back drivers, and a free registry cleaner; this is the procedure I follow, using Driver Sweeper. I've pinched this text from someone else and amended it, but haven't noted who, so I'll just acknowledge their help and apologise for my inability to credit them properly. Download and install Driver Sweeper. Download the Nvidia driver update to the desktop or separate folder. Go to Add | Remove Programs and uninstall the Nvidia Driver. If you have a Nvidia based motherboard be sure you select only the display driver to uninstall from the options. Reboot when prompted. Once back to the desktop reboot again into Safe Mode. Find and run Driver Sweeper in your Program listing, select Nvidia display (not Nvidia chipset, audio, etc.) Once it completes, reboot again to the desktop. Now install the new driver update from the zip file, using supplied wizard. Once installed, set the Nvidia 3D settings in the control panel, save and exit (I use Fortiesboy's settings, thanks very much) Start OFF and in Workshops click on the Graphics button to let it configure the game to your video card, then choose Custom to set your resolution and AA level. And, er, yes, in future I'll try to resist fiddling about with "latest drivers" until the "all clear" is sounded by the Wise Men!

I agree; and its FM is particularly delicious as the wings fall off with a bang if you get too carried away with yr ACM. As this doesn't happen to the DrI I'm following down pulling loads of G, I assume Mr Fokker built sturdier wings when he pinched the triplane design?

Sorry to hear some of you are having problems - just for the record I don't seem to be, maybe it's something to do with running XP not Vista? I'm using the same GPU settings as Homeboy. I notice I had to reset all the global settings in Nvidia control panel (maybe there's a way of saving them but I couldn't find it) and then I pressed the button in "Workshops" to tell CFS3 I'd updated the drivers, presumably. OFF runs very smoothly and looks everso pretty, although I can't say it goes any better than with the previous set of drivers - I generally can't resist fiddling about with them. BTW I just discovered "Winter - full snow" which looks outstanding, and whoever made the snow was a very clever chap, as it isn't a uniform white colour, just like real snow.

Olham, sorry you had to PM me for my location! Thanks for adding me; I've just realised now I look at your maps what a great idea this is, and actually rather moving seeing all these good people all over the globe united in our common interest, and hardly a cross word ever on the Forum! Keep up the good work.

Thanks for this. While I was preparing to instal the new drivers I became aware of advice about cleaning out old Nvidia drivers first. I ignored this, as you do. However I subsequently found this: http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_1.html by a guy called Koroush Ghazi which I wish I'd read first! Written in plain English but totally comprehensive, and explains on the way all the weird stuff about what is "anisotropic filtering" etc. He also provides - free - a "Tweaking Companion for XP" running to 190-odd pages, which I wish I'd been able to read before I started building PCs! Outstanding stuff. Covers everything and doesn't assume you are a nerd - although you will be one by the time you finish it. Well worth a look.

Winder, marvellous news, thanks very much indeed to you and your chums.

Homeboy (and RABU): a thousand thanks for sharing your settings. I thought I had it all sussed but yours have added @15 fps (ie upto the 60 max) and everything is shinier and even more beautiful. I appreciate what a significant slice of your lives you must have wasted in order to garner this knowledge, so that we can carry on wasting ours even more happily than before! PS a while ago you (Homeboy) gave me some advice on the advisability of using a powered USB hub to overcome certain TM Cougar problems. I ignored this for a while, but in the end I fitted one and well I never you were right! Thanks for that too.

Thanks guys for your continuing energy and support, looking forward to the new goodies when they are ready. Glad to hear about the boost to sales too.

I'm quite happy with OFF as it is, and I still haven't really scratched the surface. But, thinking about features in other flight sims which I've enjoyed/found useful, they would be: (1) some development of the "Quick Combat" system to enable you to build rather more complex scenarios - eg fly against bombers with fighter top cover - as the CFS3 mission builder is beyond me. I seem to remember IL2 did this; (2) a "video recorder" type of facility so you can replay a dogfight afterwards, from different angles (cf Falcon 4), which helps you learn from mistakes. But whatever you guys do will be cool, and I'll have a copy please!

Hardcore, please. Don't we want it to be as "realistic" as possible? It was, realistically, jolly hard to shoot things down, as far as I can tell. Made me try harder.

Outstanding!

I've just found the answer! The Alps!! Awesome!!!