Hellshade

I almost crapped myself flying this one. Talk about too close for comfort! Hellshades Air Combat Video #16 (2:27) 1080 HD I just notice that it actually still looks pretty good even in Full Screen mode. Sweet! Just make sure you set it to 1080 HD and let it buffer first. Enjoy, Hellshade

That is a beautifully rendered pic CJ! I literally just saved it as the background for my desktop in Windows. Such wonderful detail in both the planes and scenery. So tell me, how did that fight end? Ha. Hellshade

Nvidia released their new 257.21 drivers. I uninstalled the older 197.45, ran driversweeper and installed the new ones (for Windows 7, 64 bit). So far I like them very much. In a few test videos I did with clear skies in a 5 v 1 QC I noticed my frame rates stayed at 60 better while recording. The drivers claim to boost frame rates 5% to 40% on a number of different games, though obviously CFS3 wasn't mentioned. I have only had about an hour to mess around with them but so far I am impressed. I'll let you know more as I run some campaigns and try different settings. Hellshade

I like the explanations for the DH2 fight Lou. Helps the viewer to know what's happening. Despite your mistakes, I think you handled the "Spinning Incinerator" quite well. It is a ghastly thing to fly. Far too slow and ponderous on the turns for my liking, but then again that is the challenge with flying the early birds, isn't it? A good video. Keep em coming! Ras, you did some excellent camera work on your first video. I thought you did a great job keeping the enemy aircraft in view during their death spirals. Well done! Always fun to see the bad guys go down too, eh? But bombing the home base?!? Did the C.O. Deny another Claim form on you again? As for myself, I've been looking for ways to improve the image quality of the videos. FRAPS makes a great capture, but then as soon as you run it through Windows Live Movie Maker, even on 1080 HD mode, it loses an awful lot of sharpness. Scenery and planes in the distance tend to look fuzzy. So after looking around a bit and test driving a few Video Editing packages, I finally decided on AVS Video Editor. I'm still learning how to add wipes, fades, text and all that good stuff, but here's a 3 minute clip of the quality I'm able to get out of it. I think the images a bit sharper and does Over Flanders Fields a little more justice as to how nice it looks. This is raw video of a 6 v 6 Triplane Quick Combat. Raw Video (3:07) 1080 HD If you pause it at 1:31 there's a beautiful shot of a DR 1 that looks very clean and crisp. There's another close up right at the end of the clip. From 3:04 - 3:07. Most of the fuzzy factor has been wiped away. I think the terrain stands out a little nicer as well. Hopefully I'll be able to put together something that looks a bit more polished and professional. Hellshade

A little 1916 DH2 Campaign action Hellshades Campaign Video #19 (6:49) - 1080 HD Enjoy, Hellshade

Does anyone know which setting specifically allows for trees and other scenery to be drawn even further out in the distance? As it is now, you can see trees right below you and a certain distance away but then after that the scenery just stops. What slider, etc controls making the trees be drawn all the way to the horizon or at least a few more miles out? Hellshade

I found it guys. Thanks. I can't remember which slider made the change, but I have trees out the full distance now. Hellshade

Not sure. I've never used it since I don't have a chute, but I guess I could have jumped once I landed with my crate on fire. I reflew the Scramble Mission one last time (man those things are fun!). A damn good fight too. I replaced commentary with music for this one. I hope you enjoy it. Hellshades Campaign Video #18 (8:05) - 1080 HD Hellshade

I finally got a damn scramble mission!!! Been waiting forever to get one of those. Hellshades Campaign Video #16 (7:05) - 1080P HD It was so much fun I did a couple of "Refly Last Mission" options. Here's what happened on the first Refly attempt. I'm uploading the second Refly now and it should be ready for posting in the morning. Hellshades Campaign Video #17 (2:20) - 1080P HD Enjoy all, Hellshade

Do you have Windows Live Movie Maker? It has a 1080P Save option that does pretty good. It STILL doesn't look as good as FRAPS but it does look better than the 360 format that Movie Maker defaults too. You must have Windows Vista or Windows 7 to use Live Movie Maker though. http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker Hellshade

Not sure if it's possible, but one thing I'd really love to do in P4 is attack an enemy airfield while the planes are literally taking off to defend it. Strafe the planes as they are headed down the runway and just as they are lifting off. A sort of "reverse scramble" mission, as it were. Again, not sureif it's possible but that would certainly be awesome to turn a plane into a fireball just as it was getting airborn. Hellshade

Nice flying Lou. Cutting it pretty close there. Just the way I like it! Hellshade

Are RE8s usually sitting ducks? I was flying in Jasta 7 in mid August 1918 with my trusty Fokker DVII and our flight came across a flight of 5 RE8s from RFC 59. They were above us so it took some time but we followed them and eventually were able to get above them. I noticed there were 4 RE8s at the same altitude and the 5th was flying high cover above the rest. I stayed high and out of range until I was ready and made a slashing attack against the high one. I scored hits and got him smoking so I used my diving speed to pull up behind him on his 4 or 5 o'clock and began peppering his engine from that angle as best I could. His engine burst into flames and I pulled high right to avoid him. Once I regained an altitude advantage I repeated the process with the highest bomber, sometimes making the kill on the first pass and sometimes on the second. I recieved relatively light return fire. I took them all down that way, guns on Normal. Are they usually that easy in campaign mode or did I just get lucky and find a flight of Novices in a Poor squadron? Hellshade

Strangest thing. Out of nowhere, I can be running fine in OFF and the moment I press the button to record a video or a screenshot in FRAPS, CFS3 immediately feezes completely and I have to Ctrl Alt Del out and End the CFS3.exe Task which is in a Not Responding state. I try FRAPS videos with Wings of Prey and it works perfectly. I tried mapping the screenshot and video record buttons to different keys, no joy. Uninstalled and re-installed FRAPS after a reboot. No joy. Reset all OFF Workshop settings to default. No Joy. Tried recording to a different directory. No joy. Again, works perfect in Wings of Prey but the moment I hit the record button in Over Flanders Fields, the screen completely freezes and I have to End the Task. If I don't try to record anything with FRAPS - just let it sit there and put an FPS overlay on my screen, OFF works flawlessly. Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this? Hellshade

As did I. It was one of my favorites for many, many years. Don't think I ever made it through Bloody April though. Still, heck of a game especially for it's time. Hellshade

First rate stuff there, indeed. I might also like to see a mini-series done by HBO. I've been watching "Rome" - 1st and 2nd season and while it is obviously not a slave to historical facts, they do a wonderful job of recreating what life was like back then and making the characters interesting and believable. As long as they got the action in the air right, I wouldn't mind filling in the on-the ground stuff with some creative but believable plots and dialog. I can't wait for "The Pacfic" to come out on DvD. The trailers on that look awesome and it's an HBO mini-series as well, if I recall properly. Hellshade Spot on there Widowmaker. He would have been perfect for it a few years ago. Hellshade

and you shall have one sir. Just perhaps not this Christmas. Though I must confess it sounds like the Devs are working on P4 with near singular focus. Given the additional content and amazing improvements that I can only imagine it will have, I'm calling the new version "Over Flanders Fields: Hellshade Gets a Divorce". That's just a working title though. Hellshade

RAF_Louvert, I've been reading your addendum to the Sopwith Camel survival in the air guide. I'd love to see a video of you performing some of those moves against a few DR 1s. That would be very cool to see in action. I am still learning to fly that beast. Besides the tricky gyroscopic flight features of the plane, the view around those huge wings is just horrific! It's definately easy to lose track of the Huns quickly and I find I need to be twisting my plane all around the sky just to keep a view on the huge blind spots. Once in your view though, the twin guns make short work of the huns if you are accurate. Hellshade

That could easily be a mixed bag. It would certainly be a well financed movie and the name recognition of Tom Cruise would draw a lot of viewers who might not otherwise be interested in a WWI movie. The downside would depend on if he approached it like a Mission Impossible action style flick (that would be bad) or more of a Docu-drama like Valkyrie which could be pretty good. If they stuck to the facts, it could be great. However I would be suprised if he ever made such a movie. It just doesn't seem to fit his style, IMHO. I would just greatly prefer that instead of focusing on making WWI planes look like they flew at mach 12 in order to generate excitment, they focus on all of the very real fears such pilots faced. Flak, structural failure, collisions, burning all the way down, no parachutes, freezing temperatures in an open cockpit, friendly fire, gun jams, suddenly being faced with new enemy fighters whos abilities were totally unknown to them, being suprised from out of the sun or clouds because they had no radar to warn them, not to mention being forced to follow stupid orders from commanders who had no idea how employ fighters, Bombers and scouts to best effect because it was all brand new and the rules of the sky were literally being written every day. If they focused on such things when it came to the air combat scenes, it would be a far more human and therefore interesting and engaging experience for the viewers. Bloody hell. Give me a pen so I can write the script proper for him already. :) Hellshade

I have to agree completely. The twin gun version has that extra firepower but I find it to be nowhere near as responsive as her lighter, one gun sister. After some practice making the single gun rounds count, I find I prefer the standard model over having the two guns. Now if it had a better engine in it, as you say....well that might be a different story. Hellshade

I think it's a matter of pilot preference. Some prefer a stable gun platform and two guns. On the Allied side, that would probably be an SE5a. On the German side, the Fokker DVII was considered to be the best built fighter of the war, all around. Can't go wrong really with either one of those. Others prefer a manueverable twitch fighter. Many like the Nieuports for that on the Allied side, while the German side has the DR 1 triplane. Still others prefer to do Energy attacks. The Spad XIII is probably the king of those. Myself, I like a balance of speed, high manueverabilty, good visability and a stable gun platform, so I love the Sopwith Triplane. Olham loves the Albatross line which isn't quite as manueverable but has two guns to make up for it. If you want hard to master but lethal in the right hands, try a Sopwith Camel. But that's not really recommended for beginners unless you just want everything else to seem easy afterwards. Welcome aboard. No matter which side and plane you choose, you definately chose the right sim. You have a tremendous variety to choose from. Hellshade

I've lost my wings now and then in a power dive but not nearly as often as in a Nieuport or an Albatross. I think I read somewhere around here that it was mechanical problems on the ground that gave a it short lifespan in the war more than being out performed, but I could not say for sure. She is certainly my favorite plane to fly. Good speed, incredible field of view. Outstanding turn fighter and yet an exceptionally stable gun platform at the same time. The one gun is her only drawback in my opinion, but being able to get right up on the Enemy Aircraft before firing and then having the ability to easily turn away at the last split second to avoid being hit makes up for it. Remember, a .30 cal machine gun is dangerous at 50 yards. At 5 yards, it's pretty much guaranteed to be lethal. Hellshade

I changed the name of the skin so that it appears first on my list of Tripe skins to choose. I don't fly without it my friend! I agree that the Sopwith Triplane flies like a dream while the Camel can be a nightmare. It has no forgiveness in it at all. Plus, I must confess I hate the top wing of the Camel. Even with the slats to look through, I always feel so blind flying it, especially compared to the Triplanes wide open view from nearly every angle. But I must learn to fly and Master it soon. The Camel was one of the most prominent fighters towards the end of the war and if I am going to make videos showing OFFs variety, I certainly cannot neglect such an important peice of history. There may be a pause in new videos while I learn the beast. Hopefully I will find a way to do her justice. She was a killer in the skies no matter what. She'd kill for you if you knew how to handle her but she would just as quickly kill you if you didn't. I see a lot of wooden crosses in my near future. /sigh Hellshade

For Quick Combats? I don't think the squadron matters, but you must select Ace for Enemy Skill for the toughest fight. They seem to be more aggressive and use more tricks. Plus, I believe their shooting might be a bit more accurate. Hellshade

I survived, more by luck than skill and it wasn't pretty at the end. I definately agree it is pure white knuckle flying. I think the paint job you did on my plane is magic. I most certainly should have been shot down twice. You may be sure this wasn't my first attempt and they put me under a cross many times before this. Hellshades Air Combat Video #14 (8:01) 1080P HD Hellshade