Hellshade

I never used to use labels, but I finally decided to once I realized it made it a heck of a lot easier to fill out claim forms. I know the squadron, plane type and if it's an Ace, the pilot name. It is a bit of an immersion killer and certainly a lot easier than looking for specs in the sky. I should probably turn them off until I shoot down a plane, then pop em on for a second just to get the basic details of my kill. And without TAC I can't survive two flights usually, especially with Heavy Air Activity. Somebody gets on my tail without me seeing them and I'm back to creating a new pilot moments later. I DO have TrackIR, but to keep checking my 6 every 6 seconds gets a bit disorienting and makes it impossible for me to concentrate on an EA long enough to bring it down. I admit it, I'm a WWI wimp. My admiration for those who can fly True DiD standard and live is suprassed only by my admiration for the actual men who did it in sub zero temperatures in open cockpits with only one chance every flight to get it right or else go home in a coffin. But that brings up a related idea for P4. Since everyone seems to have their own idea of what is "realistic", maybe the Realism number should just be changed to a "Difficulty Rating" between 0 "Pure Arcade" and 100 "Hardcore Fighter Pilot". Just a thought. Hellshade

I just got married on June 20th. I spent the next week Honeymooning in Key West. Just beautiful there. The only reason my pilot lasted a week is because I didn't play OFF. Anyways, I'm going to do my best to get married only once. That said, I sure wouldn't mind another week in Key West! As for actual pilot lifespan. I don't think I've even broke 5 hours yet...and I cheat with labels, TAC, unlimited fuel and warping. I do have air activity on Heavy though. That does make for an awful lot of good action, but a short life as well. Hellshade

The sights just get in the way. I prefer the SE5a viper for that very reason. Better view behind you as well without the head rest. Hellshade

I had a pilot last 168 real life hours (7 actual days!) Then I came back from my Honeymoon. I think he died 2 missions after that. Hellshade

Hello Broadside, If you have any worries about the CFS3 engine, please check out what the Devs of OFF have done with it. It's beyond amazing. You will quickly see that the Devs have completely reworked it to provide an immersive, fluid, exciting and complete WWI combat experience. With no disrespect ment to other WWI flights sims, there really is nothing that compares to Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven and Hell. Here is the link to the perview movies page. http://www.overflandersfields.com/Movies.htm

Ok guys, I've only had a short while to mess around with Rise of Flight, but here are some of the things I've noticed to far, good and bad. On the Good Side Plane Modeling is excellent. They look beautiful Damage Modeling is also excellent. In flight damage and crashes really do look spectacular. Even put down a fellow in flames, though it was just his engine. Water modeling is beautiful. Flying over it is very believable, as is crashing into it (of which I have some personal experience). Flight Model I'm going to say is good, although I've only flown the DVII. It bounces around alot unless you have extremely steady hands and make only the smallest of corrections when trying to line up a target. On the plus side, I doubt anyone is going to be getting 3 or more kills per mission. You'll be lucky to get one. It can be quite tedious to line up a target. Landscape and scenery is also very good. I can't say I honestly like it better than OFF BHaH, but it does a good job. Performance is probably the best feature of RoF if you have the rig to run it. I run it at 1920 x 1200, 8x AA, all graphics models on HIGH and all Post Processing Effects turned on and I easily run 45 - 55 FPS with a stutter only once in a very great while. My basic setup is a Quad core i7 920 overclocked to 4Ghz with 6 GB RAM, Vista 64 bit and a 1GB GTX280 (also overclocked). If you have the PC Muscle, the game will take full advantage of it. Fair notice though, I've only flown with 1 other plane in the sky. It may well all go to hell once you fill the sky with planes. Sound is mostly excellent. The wind, the sound of another plane passing close to you, your guns firing. It all sounds great. However there is no musical score playing during loading screens. Some background music while a mission loads would definately work better to put you in the mood to play. Instead you are just left staring at the % counter slowly working up to 100% in strange spurts. 12%, 25%, 37%, 100%. On the Bad Side Definately have to log in to play. No exceptions. Only 2 flyable aircraft. Spad XIII and Foker DVII. Only 2 other non-flyables (as far as I can tell). An Albatross (DVa I believe, not sure) and a Noop 24 (I believe). If you want variety, look elsewhere. The AI hasn't impressed me at all. So far most of what it does is make a head on pass, then fly away for a fairly long time, then turn left and dive, turn right and climb, then fly away some more. That about covers it. Shooting down a plane isn't difficult because they (the AI) are great pilots. It's difficult because you have to micro-correct your aim otherwise you bounce around like you just had 12 cups of coffee even when they are flying straight and level away from you for a long time (which they do often). Most of my time has literally been chasing straight after the enemy, waiting for them to eventually turn so I can get close enough to fire off some rounds that might hit. This is a game definately designed for player vs player to make the combat exciting. Maybe the AI gets better, but so far I haven't seen anything impressive. The campaign is something I haven't touched yet, but I'd be extremely suprised if Neoqb could somehow make a great campaign out of a total of 4 aircraft and a sub-par AI. I just don't see how it could be fulfilling with those two drawbacks, but I say that in full admission of the fact that I haven't actually played it. One other minor gripe about sound besides no musical score though is my DVII never sounds like it's full throttle. It always sounds like I'm stuck at no more than 50%, just cruising along. It never sounds like my engine is going "balls to the wall" out hard to push for maximum performance. When I'm trying to chase down the Noop in the 1v1 mission, the noop always pulls away from me and my DVII, even at max throttle, kinda sounds like it's just taking it's time. It's a little disheartening and take some of the excitement out of air to air combat. If you are pushing you machine to extremes to shoot down another plane, it should sound like your engine is doing more than just run idle. My overall first impression of RoF is that they have a strong foundation on which to build a wonderful, truly amazing WWI flight sim. They just haven't done it yet and really don't appear to be focused on doing so ever. Instead, they put all of their effort into eye candy and physics effects, leaving almost nothing for plane variety, AI skill, campaign depth, musical score or historical accuracy. The very few missions listed feel like a lame tutorial to prepare you to fly and fight against other real pilots. If I could have the perfect flight sim right now, it would be comprised of the following things. Graphics engine > RoF Damage Model > RoF Performance > RoF Flight Model > OFF Campaign > OFF QC Missions > OFF Aircraft Variety > OFF AI combat skill > OFF Historical Accuracy > OFF Game launch > OFF (no internet log in) Sound tie between some RoF and some OFF Developer support > OFF On-line Player vs Player combat > OFF - While this category should go to RoF, the problem is with just 2 flyable planes in RoF, you are either shooting at Spad XIIIs or Fokker DVIIs. Period. That may change in the future, but for now, RoF just doesn't have enough variety in the air to really keep things exciting. Even if RoF has 4 aircraft in the sky, OFF BHaH has many times more than that, with more on the way via a payware expansion pack currently under development. It will be tremendously difficult for Neoqb to catch up with OBDs offering in terms of variety. In short, OFF BHaH has good looks and great depth. RoF has great looks but is very, very shallow. If I were to portray them as girls, RoF is the empty headed, hot cheerleader who you dream about scoring with but who just isn't as much fun as you imagined she'd be once you finally get your hands on her. OFF BHaH is the pretty girl next door you fall in love with and marry. She may not be the most absolute beautiful girl on the block, but she has it where it really counts that keeps you coming back for more unless you just aren't looking for something serious to begin with. Hellshade

Something else very interesting to note about the pictures showing RoF and OFF side by side. The Rise of Flight pics show 1/2 the total number of player flyable aircraft. The Over Flanders Fields pics show just 1/39th of player flyable planes, not including the add on plane pak coming up. Even if RoF could match OFF P3 on the ground, it gets crushed in variety the moment you look skyward. In a war based flight simulator, that's not really a good sign. Hellshade

P4 = Phase 4. The next version of Over Flanders Fields. Between Heaven and Hell is the Phase 3 version. Hellshade

I believe that they do mean the order number for the add-on pak and not OFF P3 itself. At least I hope so. My original e-mail order from them is long gone as well. Also, it's probably too early to answer this question, but is the add on pak going to be compatible with P4? Hellshade

Awesome news about the cloud turbulance and the crash effects. No worries on the registration. 2 e-mails? I think everyone can certainly handle that. I'm looking forward to the add on pak too. Hellshade

I'll tell you what you are NOT missing. $39.95 + S&H. Hellshade

Honestly, after having it for a few days...I like it less and less the more I tried to play it. As others have mentioned, jaggies that won't go away, dead end menus, a flight model that bounces you around non-stop so you can't even shoot straight, the lack of planes, the not very good at all AI. The controls are very non-intuitive and I still can't get my TrackIR to function properly with it. Then I asked myself, why am I even bothering to work so hard to make this work? It's a game that is supposed to be enjoyable and it's not. I hope they fix it all, but really I'm pretty peeved that they released the game in the state that it is in. It's buggy, incomplete and shallow. I'm back to OFF BHaH for all of my gaming time. There isn't a better game out there for any amount of money and it's still only going to just keep getting better. Hellshade

It looks very nice UK. Excellent work. I don't know how you guys have the patience to put in all of that detail but I'm certainly glad that you do. Hellshade

I have a suggestion for P4. Not sure if it can even be done, but for those of us fliers who don't fly true "Dead is Dead" because of using Warp, it would be great if we would only get bumped out of warp when EA were within 4 miles of us instead of the full 8. Stuff that is 8 miles away, unless it is flying towards us, usually is too far to be chased down and engaged. But they might stay within the 8 miles and on the "radar" for quite some time, which puts us in the situation of flying along with nothing to do but enjoy the beautiful scenery for extended periods of time because we can't re-engage warp mode until they are completely off the 8 mile radar area. The scenery truly is amazing, but for those of us who would prefer to be able to jump in a lot closer to the action, being knocked out of warp mode at 4 miles from EA instead of the full 8 would probably keep things moving along a lot faster. At 4 miles, we have a much better chance of engaging. At 8, sometimes it can be a fairly long time of just waiting for the radar to clear so we can get to our mission objectives quicker at the faster warp speeds. Is this kind of change even possible? Hellshade

Did NOT know that. So the warp works where no matter what range you have it set to, 2, 4 or 8, as soon as the aircraft clear your max TAC range setting you can warp? Sweet! I will try it out tonight! Thanks. Hellshade

Are you sure aircraft are only shown out to 4 miles? Maybe I'm reading my TAC wrong, but I cycle TAC to ONLY show aircraft and I always see those white dots out to the edge of the TAC, turning red or blue once they get within 2 - 3 miles of me. The outer edge of TAC is 8 miles, right? I'm never able to re-warp until all EA are completely off the TAC screen. At any rate, yes if warp only exited when EA are within 4 miles I think that would rock. Hellshade

I'm not waiting for Canvas Knights and I have already bought, tried and shelved RoF. RoF has, for me at least, turned out to be where I paid Neoqb $39.95 +S&H for the chance to beta test their 2 airplane version of WWI. Beautiful graphics, physics and amazing performance to be sure, but no depth and a bunch of bugs or features that they just never bothered to finish programing. For instance the Options button inside the game doesn't work. You have to exit the game in order to change any options. Other options that you select, such as "Engines warmed up at start of mission" don't work at all. Only 1 server is up for MP games. Etc, etc. The list is a bit disconcerting. I certainly wish Neoqb all the best in getting their product to be fully playable, especially since I've already paid for it, but after 2 days of fiddling with it I'm back to enjoying Over Flanders Fields and appreciating what a highly polished and immersive product it is. I hope Canvas Knights does well, but their Dev team readily admits that it is not supposed to be a Total Conversion like OFF BHaH is so I personally have no reason to wait for it. The screen shots look nice though. Hellshade

I couldn't agree more. I just had two absolutely AMAZING combat experiences. The first was with my patrol of trusty SE5as that ran afoul of a far larger flight of Fokker DR 1s out over the water. There had to be 20 planes in the sky in this incredible furball! I watched friends and foe alike plummet into the ocean. Wings were shredded, engines and fuselages set fire. Others smoked and spiraled in. Death screams could be heard as men were butchered in the skies with lead ripping through their bodies. The dogfight felt like it lasted forever, but when it was done, the elite RFC 74 squadron won the day though none went home undamaged if they went home at all. The huns took a terrible toll on us. The next mission was no better for our ranks. Escorting bombers over a target, a combination of Fokker Dr 1s (from the same squadron we had just tangled with the day before) and Albatross DVas jumped us. Planes were everywhere! I spent as much time trying to avoid mid air collisions as I did attempting to get a fix on our bosche adversaries. Everwhere I looked, above, below and on every side, men fought furiously for their country and their lives. There must have been 20 planes to start with, but I am sure others of both sides joined in to extend the mayhem and carnage for a good 10 minutes or more! That is a long time to be fighting for your life non-stop. I couldn't tell you how many planes were involved in all, but my guns had run dry by the time it was over. I and 2 squadron mates limped back to base with our planes in tatters and a long list of claims that will almost certainly be eventually denied by that damn CO. If you haven't set Regional Air Activity to "Heavy", go for it. I doubt I'll live more than a couple of missions as my luck isn't that good. But it is the most intense air combat I have ever experienced. This game rocks. Hellshade

Incredible work Jammer, The skin morphing to black on your plane was amazing. I can't imagine how difficult it was to perfect that transistion. Great camera work on the stunning image of the flamming death of a Spad crashing into the lake too. Music score was right on as well. You definately get my vote as the official video maker for OFF. No offense to Pol who has put out some outstanding videos himself. I swear we just need to start posting embedded videos into other flight sim forums so people can see what they are missing. I think once people see how beautiful Over Flanders Fields looks and plays, along with the amazing variety of planes and depth of the campaign, they will get over the whole "I didn't like CFS3" thing. It's not something we can accurately explain to someone. They just need to see it for themselves in videos like these. Anyways, Masterful work once again Jammer. If I could shoot planes as perfectly as you shoot videos, I'd be able to wipe out the entire western front of bosche (except for Olham and OvS, of course!). Bravo! Please keep sharing them! Hellshade

Hey All, Just got back from my Honeymoon in Key West (it was awesome!) and saw the FedEx package at my door for RoF. After settling back in home I installed it and fired it up. Logged in and got "Server Error" message, preventing me from playing the game in any way. No on-line, no single player campaign, no missions, no quick combat. Absolutely nothing. This is why Over Flanders Fields will always be my favorite WWI flight sim. Neoqb has my money, but I can't play the game I paid for. OvS, I'm seriously looking forward to the plane expansion pack for BHaH. The screen shots looked amazing. /salute Hellshade

I've had another strange issue with RoF that perhaps somebody else has experienced. My TrackIR seems to have a strong tendancy to shift my view 45 degrees to the right when I try to center it by pushing F12. It's disconcerting to say the least. It won't correct itself no matter what I do unless I exit the program and relaunch it. I have no such trouble in OFF, so it's not the TrackIR software itself. That's another bummer. On the plus side, I decided to start my own multiplayer server (since I saw none were being posted) and run a couple of missions. The tank attack mission is fun, but bullets naturally seem to bounce harmlessly off the tanks so I'm not really sure what my purpose there is. Perhaps I just wasn't scoring enough hits. A few arty hits took out some of the tanks nicely though and that was pretty cool to see. I did destroy the tank that I accidently rammed, resulting in my own death too, of course. I tried some 5 v 5 but my plane gets shredded by the Spads in a heartbeat. I just can't seem to get off the ground and up to speed before they are diving upon us, guns blazing. Another bug (or apparent bug) is that I selected the option where my engine was warmed up and ready to go at the start of the mission, but it's not. The engine is off and I need to go through the entire process no matter if I have that option selected or not. I'd say the Neoqb folks have a number of issues to resolve and perhaps their product was shipped before it was ready to take flight. I hope for the sake of everyone who plunked down the $39.95 plus shipping that they get them worked out soon. For all the challenges that they are having right now, plus the limited content, I'd say the $29.95 + $9.99 for OFF BHaH and CFS3 is a HUGE bargain. If anyone was on the fence before about price / performance with Over Flanders Fields, they shouldn't be. Hellshade

If anyone wants to see more wings being shredded or planes set afire, it seems just setting the Players Guns to Strongest in the workshop has that effect. Too bad it's obviously cheating and understandably lowers your realism score considerably. I switched my guns to strongest while using the Intermediate DM and while by no means do all of the planes have "fireworks", it seems to happen more often. It might have just been a lucky streak though too. The AI know how to shoot up an EA too. I was in a QC testing out the "strongest guns" idea and a Fokker DVa was on the tail of one of my squadron mates, peppering him up pretty good with some of the Kaisers finest. I pulled up my trusty SE5a onto the Huns tail and started to hammer him with .303 rounds hoping to scare him off, but to no avail. I guess sensing a near immediate kill, the bosche pilot stayed on target and set my squadron mate hurtling earthward like a flaming meteor. I sent the hun into the ground mere moments after he got his kill, but revenge doesn't bring your friends back. Interesting how watching another SE5a plane with a friend in it go down can actually make you angry and do your best to take down as many of the other guys as you can. I think war may start because of politics, but it gets personal very, very quickly once the first man goes down. /salute Hellshade

I've heard of "putting a sock on it", but never a shoe. Sounds a bit kinky to me. At any rate, is anyone else having better luck with RoF? What other impressions are we getting? Hellshade

When can we expect this magnificient bit of mod work to be available for download? I'd love to use it. It sounds awesome. Feel free to post some Hardcore DM screenies of the FB TV mod in action. /salute Hellshade

I ordered it and they shipped me a regular DVD. Hellshade