Winston DoRight

You think that was fun? ... wait until the Airbase attack mission next Saturday. We'll be escorting 4 Strutters with 4X40 lb. bomb loads.

That was the first time I've ever seen so much damage done to a railyard!

Ctrl + Shift + a pressed simultaneously. A little known autopilot command that will keep you straight and level only. Make sure there is no one too close to you when you do this as it involves a bit of spastic movement before it settles in. Ctrl + Shift + a again to turn it off. It will not keep you on waypoint or make the waypoint turns for you. It only flies your craft straight and level. For that warping is your only way. Cheating? Maybe. But sometimes it's necessary in OFF to grab a sandwich!

One multiplayer pilot is worth 5 AI pilots. I saved the most challenging missions from my single player campaign in RNAS-6 and converted them for use in the Saturday multiplayer sessions. Most of these missions I could not complete in single player. The enemy planes kept me and my AI wingmen from ever reaching the mission ground target or made me run for home with my tail between my legs on the air-to-air missions. Today my multiplayer mates all rose to the challenge and we sliced through the enemy air opposition with ease. We encountered vereran as well as real named Ace pilots and lots of them! Hats off to the "Aces of Saturday". You shall from here on be recognized as having no equal in the skies over France this day, 11 March 1917. * Axgrinder * Burning Beard * Sitting Duck * Red Dog * Loopy * Willy Coppit (Simon) and myself. I'm too humbled by the performance of the above distinguished fliers to place my name here.

Saturday session will be on most of the day and I'm on a lot during the week for sorting. Here's a list of what we use on Saturday. It should be a good install guide for you to get the necessary files for MP. All we're using for additional A/C are Stumpjumper's Strutters and what's in MatMatts installer. * Over Flanders Fields Phase 3 with the "Hat in the Ring" expansion and the latest patch. * A headset with microphone. * Teamspeak installed: http://teamspeak.com/?page=downloads Teamspeak setup instructions here: http://drop.io/nngaxed * Teamspeak overlay (optional but recommended): http://www.projectti...peakoverlay.php * MadMatt's essential multiplayer files: http://forum.combata...s&showfile=9131 * Stumpjumper's Strutters (get the download links on the teamspeak server in the Over Flanders Fields briefing room). * 1917 in-game Grid map: http://forum.combata...&showfile=10489

Yes, you must be flight leader, then your commands will be listened to. Regroup, spread formation and help me can be issued at any time. Before using the engage command, select an air or ground target on your TAC. Your Wingmen will respond to this in pairs. Did I forget anything?

Wouldn't it be great if in Phase 4, upon the death of your rear gunner, there would appear a few bloody bullet holes in the figure we see when we look rearwards? Then we would really know if he was dead. (Hint.... hint.... dev team)

That's great to know this is indeed modeled. I'll now not have to wonder why he doesn't shoot back.

In addition to not being able to use rockets in multiplayer on the N-17 bis and N-24 bis, we have noticed another problem with the bomb release in the Strutters. In both single player and MP, somewhere along the way, not sure if it was after HitR or the subsequent patch, that it's now not nesessary to open the bomb-bay doors before you drop your bombs. Not sure about the other bomber craft or even if any others have bomb-bay doors, but before HitR I believe it was necessary to open the doors before the bombs would come out. Anyone else remember this?

Well said Vasco. Yes, all the planes that are unflyable in multiplayer were reported to the devs 9 months ago and a few other items as well. No fixes have yet been done on the first MP bug reports. Now the new Strutters made by Stumpjumper that we currently use in MP are a great success. Too bad the left hand isn't talking to the right. Or is the other hand not listening? I would think that if the dev team had devoted only a portion of their time to address our MP problems, then we'd all be as happy as the single player users with all the great fixes and modifications and add ons that they've done for that aspect of the game. I'm grateful for the single player fixes, mods and add ons. They give us a base starting point for multiplayer, and I fly almost as much single player too! While this game is fantastic in single player, you have only experienced half of it if you haven't flown a co-op mission online!

Tally up another holdover from the CFS3 model. When I jumped into the back seat, in a moment of panic and self-preservation, "I tossed his lifeless body over the side and manned the gun myself." Hell, if I can drop my Strutter's bombs without opening the bomb-bay door first, I'm sure you can let me slide on this can't you?

Normal flak accuracy is deadly enough. As the war progresses, flak becomes more dense and accurate. I prefer to start my careers in late1916 to early 1917. I'm usually dead from other causes before the flak gets extreme.

I can only comment on the rear gunner portion here as I'm not certain of why the Ace would have acted that way. Did the enemy approach your rear from below? Your rear gun doesn't have much down deflection and perhaps the gunner could not bring it to bear if they were below you. Jump into the back sometime on a calm moment perhaps on your way to the target and try the gun out for yourself. Learn the arc of travel of that gun mount. Depending on the rating of your squadron that you joined, one of 3 friendly AI levels are generated for your mission. If the squadron that you joined has a poor rating rookies are generated. Rookie rear gunners seem reluctant to fire and when they do they often don't hit. Veteran AI rear gunners are slightly better, haven't figured Aces yet. If you'd like to verify this, you can "read" the mission.xml file that's been generated for your last mission with notepad. This will show you, among other things, what AI skill levels you just tangled with. Maybe he's out of ammo? I also believe that it's possible that your gunner has died. I'm pretty sure this is modeled as I flew a mission last night where an Albatros approached me from the rear and a the same altitude. My gunner did not fire even when the Alby was within 100 ft. After taking quite a bit of damage on his firing pass, I jumped into the back and there was 200 rounds of ammo left. I figured he was dead. I'll be doing more testing on this.

Thanks gaw, for verifing this for me. I need a few more users to chime in here about whether they like this "bug" as it is or want it fixed. I'd be inclined to report it and ask for it to be fixed, since there's no way the bombs come out of a craft in the original CFS3 game until you open those doors. Seems a bit odd to me to have created so much realism in this sim and then to have found such an unrealistic feature.

Ironhat, I still have the instructions to make and modify the AI planes in the original CFS3 to carry the extra weight of the pilot and fuel if you're still flying that and are interested. It's a hard, long and tedious process but in the end you'll have AI enemy that carry the weight of the pilot and fuel, making them perform more accurately. Let me know if you want this and I'll try scanning it.

Yes, but should you be able to drop them with the bomb-bay closed? That's the way it is now.

It's possible you have a 16:9 aspect monitor or have selected a 16:9 screen resolution. I believe OFF uses a 16:10 If you have an nvidia graphics card there is a fix that worked for me although I've heard it doesn't work for everybody. In your <overrides> page of OFF graphics configuration, tick the box Disable White Out. Exit the configuration properly or the change will not be saved. You'll still get the white out and it may also eliminate those side bars.

Any of the bomb loads, 2x40lb or 4x40lb bombs that both the Strutters can carry can be dropped without opening the bomb-bay doors. This is true in single player campaign, quick combat, and multiplayer. I'm trying to find out if this is a concern to anyone or if anyone remembers for sure if this is a recently introduced event or did this always happen in OFF. In other words, are you guys comfortable with this unrealistic feature? Since there's a command to open the bomb-bay doors and it works and can be visibly seen opening and closing (you can see them open and close if you look under the a/c) is everyone OK with this, or is this something you want reported to be looked at by the dev team? and yes, the dive brakes are there and they still work properly as before.

Thanks for the info. Yes it would seem that would be the way to do it. If I were absolutely sure the bomb-bay doors can be considered and issue I'd gladly do that. First I'll need some feedback from other members on whether this was introduced recently or has been this way from the start, or if everybody just likes the fact that you can do this! As I remember it was NOT possible in the past to drop them without opening the doors, but then again I may be confusing this with CFS3 and/or ETO. As for any MP problems, I find the same bugs we reported 9 months ago and many patches since, none have been addressed. Are they still wanting reports on MP I wonder?

Announcing Winston's Saturday Multiplayer Sessions! Our motto: "No Pilot left behind." ALL skill levels welcomed. Beginners will get the help they need to get started. Intermediate pilots can increase their skills. Advanced pilots can mentor the others and we'll all have great fun as well. Are you frustrated with the quality and abilities of your AI wingmen? Nothing is better than flying with a human player at your side. We'll be starting early here in the USA to accommodate the european pilots. If you've always wanted to give multiplayer a try, here's your chance.It's really rather easy to get started. If I can do it, anyone can! Things you'll need: * Over Flanders Fields Phase 3 with the "Hat in the Ring" expansion and the latest patch. * A headset with microphone. * Teamspeak installed: http://teamspeak.com/?page=downloads Teamspeak setup instructions here: http://drop.io/nngaxed * Teamspeak overlay (optional but recommended): http://www.projecttint.com/teamspeakoverlay.php * MadMatt's essential multiplayer files: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autocom=downloads&showfile=9131 * Stumpjumper's Strutters (get the download links on the teamspeak server in the Over Flanders Fields briefing room). * 1917 in-game Grid map: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10489 If you've not connected in multiplayer lately, one test session with myself, Sitting Duck, or Vasco to see if you have Teamspeak working and all the OFF files needed to connect. Just PM one of us to set it up or drop by Teamspeak and see if someone is there. This needs to be done only once but before your first Saturday to ensure that you are properly sorted out beforehand. Sitting duck has a great multiplayer tutorial here, worth reading: http://forum.combatace.com/topic/38466-sitting-ducks-multiplayer-tutorial-please-read/ It's really rather easy to get started. If I can do it, anyone can! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ * Sessions will be held each Saturday and start on 30 Jan at 10am USA Pacific Time. That's early evening in western europe. I'll be logged on for about 6-7 hours so if you can't make the start, don't worry. Come in when you want. Here's a time converter to your local time: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html * It's not required that you attend every Saturday. Fly when you can, we'll make every effort to be here for you. The more time you put into it, the more you'll improve your skills. * Only co-op missions will be flown, air to air and air to ground. No Player vs. Player dogfighting. * "No Pilot left behind." We will focus on getting you up and running with attention to developing the skills you'll need to be successful in multiplayer such as flying in formation, protecting your wingman, re-grouping after an encounter and teamwork. * Focusing on "Beginner" to "Intermediate" skill levels, but all skill levels welcomed. You Veteran and Elite pilots can be a great resource. Come and help the new guys develop their skills. * All aids will be enabled (TAC, labels and external views). You can turn off what you don't want. As we progress through the weeks, you may want to try turning off and on labels and external views from time to time. This will help you prepare for Vasco's Sunday sessions (if/when you want to graduate up to that) that are flown with no labels or external views. * At first we'll be flying campaign missions with RNAS-6 in Nieuport-17 BIS. You'll face enemy of varying skill levels and perhaps even an Ace flight from time to time. * Learn how the multiplayer interface works and host your own games.

Looks like we may have a great turnout. In anticipation of this, I have made a diagram of the formation we will be using. It's a modified finger 4 formation with 2 more positions. It seems the AI use this so maybe they won't get in our way if we use it as well.

Here's the formation diagram we'll be using for the Saturday sessions. It's important to fly in formation so that we all reach the enemy at the same time.

I just tested the Strutter in single player and was able to drop my bombs right through the bomb-bay doors, without opening them. As I remember it from before, the doors had to be opened before the bombs would drop. Can't figure out which patch of if it was HitR that changed this, anyone?

You can still takeoff and achieve a high altitude before reaching your mission area. There's plenty of form-up waypoints at the start of your flight and you can still claw for height on your way out. Don't give up the pleasures of taking off with some of these quirky craft!

First off, welcome to the wonderful world of OFF. You'll find many real world pilots here too, and we all are concerned about each others issues with the game. Since the condition you are describing is hard coded into the game engine, it would be difficult for the devs to address this problem unless they're able to crack this aspect of the code. We've had this problem in CFS3 since the beginning, you may want to read this topic: http://forum.combatace.com/topic/52193-most-efficient-way-of-gaining-altitude/ it explains why this is true, what we did to overcome it in the original CFS3, and what you can do to get around this issue (to some point) in this simulator. In the meantime, try leading your flights yourself and scrambling for altitude from the start. I'm always climbing and don't feel safe or competative with the adversaries until I'm above 10,000 ft. As you fly your missions you'll soon see what altitude the enemy prefers and you can make that your target altitude for your flight. Climb to it as quickly as you can. I'm sure you'll get confortable with this drawback to OFF, but I'm equally sure you'll find many, many more things you'll like about it. No sim is perfect, and this one in single player rates as high as any other IMHO.