Hellshade

One can only guess what the ground crew was smoking when they painted this mans plane. Hellshade

I use Creaghorn Smoke Tracers Sound Tweak II Bullet Mod (not yet released to the public) Bletchley 191X Active Sector start month - end month Her Prop Wasche HPW Rear Guns HPW Ultimate DM 1.0 HPW Allied FM Pack 1.0 HPW German FM Pack 1.0 Creaghorn feels the best results are gotten by putting the front guns on Accurate while using his mod. I find Normal works best for me, otherwise I still can snipe down huns at an alarming rate. I think it depends on how good your accuracy % usually is. If your accuracy is high (50%+) then the normal mode gives enough bullet spread that you won't take out an engine or pilot in a single pass, as some of the bullets will be off their mark a bit and hit other parts of the plane or else miss entirely. If your accuracy % is lower, I'd probably recommend using Accurate guns as Creaghorn does. However his bullet mod makes a difference so don't judge the effect of using Accurate front guns until he makes it available. The real answer of course is try it all out in various combinations and see what feels best for you. After all, it's about your experience in the cockpit! Hellshade

It looks the same way for mine too, Olham. I think that just means there are certain directories that are both mods are changing so it's warning you of a potential conflict between the two mods. I don't believe any actual conflict happens though. At least it all works for me. Hellshade

Ironically, Creaghorn finds that the most realistic experience is by putting the guns on Accurate when using a bullet mod that he created. If you want to hit the engine, you have to hit it directly and not just get near it and depend on a little "spray" to do the damage for you. I'm sure he'll release his mod when he gets back. I believe he's on a little vacation. Thanks for the compliments on the videos. I tried to do it in a "Barmy" way just for the fun of it. Hellshade

If you ever wanted to try WoP and didnt want to pay full price, now's the time. Just bumped up to patch 1.0.4.1 too. Very nice patch. Very limited time offer. http://store.steampowered.com/app/45300/ Hellshade

Videos? I should think they won't come out until they are closer to release. I remember searching the website 10x a day to see if any new videos had been posted for P3. They sold me for sure. Hellshade

Don't thank me. Creaghorn and Herr Prop Wasche deserve all of the credit. 99.9% of the discussion was between them and HPW put the ideas into practice with repeated different "test" DMs and FMs until the feedback said "yes, this feels very realistic". But be warned, if you fly using DiD settings, this will go a long way towards limiting your score and perhaps your lifespan. It used to be you could put a few rounds in a plane and then they were effectively a flying target, unable to perform offensive combat manuevers. So you could just dump a few rounds into everybody and then kill planes off at your descretion once they were all damaged. Not a good strategy anymore. I've had "smokers" that I thought were done for show up on my six just moments later and give me the what for. You'll definately need to check your six often and make sure the job is done right. I've even seen some spiral down to the deck or drop in a flat spin and I thought they were toast, but lo and behold they pulled out at the last second and rejoined the furball. Exciting times my friends. Hellshade

As with all you do, First Rate, sir. Well done indeed. Hellshade

Well my first pilot died due to clipping the wing of a Hun he'd just shot down. Damn if I thought I didnt have at least 3 feet to spare on that pass. Oh well. So I started another pilot: Michael Scott, again with RNAS 1, starting at the earliest part of the war flying Nieuport 11s. Several missions in, we get jumped by a Hun patrol and I spot a curious green E III and then another all grey one. Great warriors though they were, I did what I had to for King and Country. Germany keeps throwing their best at me. I'm starting the think the Kaiser doesn't like me very much. Hellshade

I'm not going to steal any of HPWs thunder by giving any of the details away, but I will say that since I began testing the latest versions of his campaign & QC capable FM / DMs I haven't been able to tear myself away from the OFF:BH&H campaign. It's so good that I haven't played Rift since I got it! I also just got the Witcher 2, which is awesome, and I still would rather be up the air hunting Huns. HPW and Creaghorn have truly come up with a wonderful - optional - FM & DM system that really changes the dynamic of the air to air combat in a very challenging but enjoyable way. If you have JGSME, don't hesitate to download and try them when they become available. I can't wait for P4, but this is one heck of a great update to try out in the meantime. Let's just say things are a little less predictable and the opponents can be a bit more tenacious. Hellshade

I just bought myself a shiny new Intel X25-M 80GB SATA drive. I know the 160GB is faster but hey, it's the best I could do at the moment. I plan on using it purely as a game drive and OFF is going to be installed on it. Is there a "best configuration" that I should use for optimum performance? Hellshade

248 MB/s average read rate sound about right? My Velociraptor 10k RPM drive only pushes around 123 MB/s read rate and my standard 7.2k RPM drive runs between 78 MB/s and 112 MB/s average. It's funny. When starting up a QC in OFF I'm already in the plane flying when it plays the "start engine" file. Seem quick to me! Hellshade

Will do. Thanks. Do you know by chance if I will have to do a fresh install of OFF:BH&H and HitR or can I just copy the directories directly over from my old hard drive? I'm guessing it probably requires a full re-install to get all the pointers correct but if I can save myself the trouble of re-configuring everything, that would be nice too. Hellshade

To be more accurate, he never had a confirmed victory in a Halb DII. Who knows who might have been killed but the credit for it was never given. Be sure you're on the right side of history before you get too brave, good sir. Hellshade

Wait. In P4 QC you can now have multiple types of aircraft on each side? Like 6 Gothas and a second flight of covering Albs? Hellshade

Some wonderful screenies there. I think the one that has me most excited is #32 - the picture of the low flying E IIIs. Why? Because the caption talks about E IIIs flying in formation at low altitude and mentions "New AI". It would be fantastic if somehow the AI were to be able to be even more improved to fight when down near tree top level. But it all looks just amazing. The amount and detail of ground objects is phenominal. The churches, graves, fences, ground troops, buildings, etc. First rate work gentleman. I'm begining to think P4 is already done, but you are all too busy playing it to wrap it up and ship it out. ha! j/k of course. Hellshade

Yes. Tell her she doesn't get to buy any new shoes or clothes to replace her out dated ones until you can replace your stick and trackIR. Alls fair in love and war, sir. Hellshade

Those are some mighty fine Snipe pics. I dare say I'll be trying one of those as soon as possible. Well done Gents. Hellshade

I'm all for more features. The credit card is cocked and loaded, ready for use even as a pre-order. Thanks for all of the updates and pictures. They really are fantastic. Again, I must confess I truly believed you'd need to jump to a different engine in order to push P4 to the next level and I was completely wrong. Given the attention to detail in graphics and performance, I can't wait to find out what else you've done with sound, AI, FM, DM and Workshop features. Hellshade

Well if I may re-direct the conversation a bit, I'd like to go back to that 60FPS I keep seeing in the upper left hand corner of some of the screen shots. That's extremely impressive work gentlemen. Obviously different machines running different hardware and on different settings are going to get a variety of results. That said, it would almost appear that somehow you've managed to up the detail AND the FPS simultaneously. In very broad stroke general terms, do you find that to be a true statement in many cases? Hellshade

Yes, I hear there was serious consideration by the Pentagon to scrap the whole Raptor F22 project and just start building Albatros DIIIs. More or less the same flight characteristics, but I hear the pilots objected to the open cockpits at those speeds. :P Hellshade

This from the man who said we could probably never be able to fly through the clouds without near certain death wind trauma to our fragile little planes. Sorry, but after you fixed that we all expect anything to be possible. Hellshade

Now there's an idea. Like the greeting cards that play songs when you open them...have a cover flap that when you open it plays the beautiful, haunting theme of P4 from Matt. :) I bet it would get tons of sales then! Hellshade