Hellshade

Oh I am definately keeping it. The one bad pixel is located in the far, upper right hand corner. Truth be told I hardly ever notice it unless I'm on a still screen with lots of black in that area (such as with the OFF spash screen). I don't see it at all when playing games. It may be an off brand, but apparently it's the same exact monitor as a Hanns-G which is the best 28" available on Newegg.com right now. I got it at CompUSA figuring if I didn't like it, I could always just bring it right back. Hard to say no at that point. I had a 22" Dell which was pretty good, but when I saw this I jumped at it. Glad I did. /salute Hellshade

I have had things like that happen before too. had a pilot crash hard into a bunch of trees. Another went down with the engine and cockpit on fire from at least 4,000 feet. Another time I drop out of the sky with my bottom wings ripped off. Lived through all of those, but then finally his life ends when he has one crash too many. Sometimes you get lucky streaks. Just don't count on them. They don't usually last that long. /salute Hellshade

Consider yourself to have some guaranteed sales then. Whatever you guys decide is fine by me. I'm just thrilled beyond words that 1.30c won't be the last update for P3. Doesn't hurt my feelings a bit to pay for add on packs or major CFS3 overhaul upgrades or whatever. Ok. Back to flying. I just got a new 28" monitor for $349 at CompUSA and so now OFF P3 looks almost life sized!!! I bet my other games look great too. Maybe I'll find out someday. Maybe... /salute Hellshade

Absolutely they can use the money to head to a pub and buy themselves a pint or two, Jammer. Re-creating The War to End All Wars isn't easy and must be thirsty work. Whatever they want to spend the money is fine by me. My intention is for it to be sent "no strings attached". I've seen their work and I trust to their judgement. /salute Hellshade

Excellent news Winder! Since you're going to continue supporting us the players through on-going updates to BHaH, etc, I'd like to show some more support for you guys. Who do I make a check out to and where can I send it? I'd like to send a little something to help finance the on-going efforts of making P3 even better. I have that much faith in your passion, skills and dedication to this flight sim. I'm not rich either, but I will do what I can. Knowing that P3 is going to continue to get even better....you just made my night! /salute Hellshade

Hey Devs, Your new Home Page looks fantastic. Far more professional than before. If we can get more people to see the new Home Page, I bet a lot more folks will take Between Heaven and Hell seriously, because now you are finally presenting yourself in a much more sophisticated and professional manner. Whoever invested the effort in re-making it, it was time and effort well invested. Frankly, I always thought before that it wasn't well laid out or presented at all. I always thought it was a shame that a 5 star flight sim was hiding behind a 1 star web site. I think the web page is now starting to more accurately reflect the tone, quality and dedication that that is so readily apparent in the game. Don't kid yourself. Presentation definately matters in sales. Now I'm headed up into the new 1.30c skies. Maybe I'll try and have myself a two seater for a late supper tonight. As always, thanks for the updates. OBD is second to none in quality and support. /salute Hellshade

Winder, I just had a go at some bosche two seaters in Quick Combat using the 1.30c patch. You got them spot on my friend. Now they are definately still dangerous, but it isn't pure suicide to attack one. It really does open up more of the game. I'm sure ground attacks will be just as enjoyable too now that you aren't pretty much guaranteed to get your tail-fin handed to you. I re-installed the hard-core patch after upgrading to 1.30c (as directed) and found that with all AI gunnery set to normal (as well as my own gun strength) that Hannover CIIIs and Roland CIIs are a ton of fun to try and take down. There's a certain thrill in trying to make a high speed diving pass that takes out the rear gunner or even just trailing behind and jinking my plane left and right a bit to avoid return fire while I am peppering them back with my .303 lewis and vickers. You can toy with different strategies now because it's not a suicide mission just to get within the rear gunners farthest range. Yet another job well done guys. It definately adds to the immersion and dept of the flight sim. Just let me know when you have that Gotha / HP 400, etc plane pack done and I'll order it immediately. Can I pre-order? I'm looking to spend more money with OBD. It's the best $$ I ever spent on a game. Seriously. I used to be an MMO junkie for years and since getting BHaH I cancelled all of my subscriptions except to Lord of the Rings Online, which I now only play for maybe 2 or 3 hours a week instead of 10 - 15. When I get home from work, I just can't stop myself from reaching for the joystick and Track-IR. If 1.30c is indeed the last patch, then all I can say is that you folks have crafted a Masterpeice. Whatever OBD eventually decides to do (P4, add on packs or something else) you'll have my support. Maybe you guys can post some links to some web sites that you'd like to get some more exposure with. Make it a sticky at the top of the forum. I know I'd visit every one and talk about my experiences with the game and the support. Get enough of us users posting at all these different sites and I'm sure the buzz will translate into some more sales for you. Especially if you find a way to bundle CFS3 with BHaH. /salute Hellshade

I can definately see the difference. Clearly the new ATI drivers are making your opponents explode instead of merely being a little on fire. Looks nice bud. Nvidia GXT280 user here but glad new drivers are helping out the ATI folks. /salute Hellshade

My three favorite aircraft of all time? That's easy: Whatever the last three types I just shot down were. My least favorite? Whatever just shot me down. /salute Hellshade

I shot down a bosche two seater (taking a number of hits in the process) and he went into a near straight down, tight spiraling dive. I circled above to witness the impact and damned if the rear gunner didn't open up on me again all the way down and actually score a few hits while plummeting to his death. Talk about either being mad as hell or just plain devotion to duty, that fellow didn't give up!!! I guess if you know that you are going to die, might as well put your all into taking the fellow who killed you with you, right? I still made it back to base, but it wasn't for lack of trying on his part. Winder, in the next patch, can you make the rear gunners a little less hostile? I do believe some of the AI gunners are taking things a bit personal. Ha. j/k /salute Hellshade

Excellent work on this latest patch Winder. BHaH really is a top notch, polished to perfection product. Please make some more money off me by creating some add on plane packages (especially the Gothas, etc). I'd buy into a subscription as well. I'm sorry that sales aren't what you deserve. I'll just repeat a couple of points I've seen posted above that I agree with. 1. Find a way to bundle CFS3 with OFF BHaH for the same price. 2. If at all possible, take Olhams suggestion and see if Microsoft is willing to partner with you on this. They have been known to buy small, highly talented companies like Gas Powered Games and finance them making great products. You guys rock and your game is the best WWI sim on the market. Thanks for all your support and dedication. /salute Hellshade

Quick Combat. I don't always get much time to fly so rather than hope for plane vs plane combat, I just jump into QC and try different matchups.

I've had shadows disabled for awhile. They seem to be a system resource hog no matter what game I play. Even on my GTX280 I disabled them in Age of Conan and Lord of the Rings Online and things sped up nicely. Anytime I notice low frame rates, shadows are the first to go. It usually ends up being a nice little boost. /salute Hellshade

I don't have the ability to create an actual poll, but I'm just curious what folks spend most of their time playing. Quick Combat or Campaign mode? I've done quite a bit of campaign mode, but I find myself usually just popping into QC most of the time for the instant gratification of guaranteed furballs. How about you guys? /salute Hellshade

I know that new features for P3 are done, but I'll throw this out anyways because maybe it wouldn't be too challenging to do. Would it be possible to add "Random Enemy Aircraft" type to the QC pulldown menu of who you will fight against? And if you could put Random Number of Wingman (0 to 5) in there too, it would just plain be awesome! Then you get the extra thrill of not knowing what type of planes you will be flying against or how many until they show up on the horizon. Last but not least (do I hear Winder getting a real gun and loading it?), maybe a Random Altitude for the EA from 2,000 feet below what you select up to 2,000 feet above. That way sometimes they are diving on you, sometimes you get to dive on them and sometimes it's a head on rush. Imagine a lone wolf patrol (for example) in QC could result in 6 Albatross DVIIs diving down on your SE5a from 2000 feet above. Or you diving down on a pair of DR 1s you spotted below you. Or a head on assault by 3 Albatross DIIIs. Every QC would be a suprise if the player decided to select Random EA, Random # of Wingman and Random EA Altitude Difference. I know Winder and the rest of the Devs are going to kick me off the boards and come to my house and steal the game back for bringing this up, but if it wouldn't be too difficult to code, I think it will really add a huge amount of replayability due to unpredicability in QC mode. I guess first and foremost is the question "How hard would it be to code that?" If it wouldn't be too terribly bad, does anyone else who flies QC think it would be a worthwhile addition? I'd literally be willing to pay money to have those options coded into QC mode. Obviously, the ability to choose the EA, number of Wingman and Altitude specifically would remain. These would just be additions to the existing menu selections. /salute Hellshade

I haven't had anything happen that required a hard shut down, however I had quite a few times where I crashed to the desktop - ironically enough just as I crashed in the game. I guess I hit so hard I knocked the game out. ha. Anyways I uninstalled everything, CFS3 and OFF BHaH and re-installed and the problem has gone away for the most part. Only very occassionally does it hang. /salute Hellshade

Looks to me so far like Campaign over QC by a roughly 2 to 1 ratio, with almost 1/2 the folks who prefer campaign saying they do QC sometimes, mostly to hone their skills or if they don't have time for a campaign. MP only got 1 vote. /salute Hellshade

I'll agree with the accuracy of the two seaters gunfire. Two seaters did make up the majority of the aces kills, and yet in game they are the hardest things flying to kill. I can get one or two at best also and my plane is always shot to peices by the time I get them. To be honest, I usually don't even bother to attack them because I'm almost guaranteed to be cut to pieces and forced to land, if I'm not shot out of the sky completely. /salute Hellshade

Fair, accurate, honest and complete. I'm especially glad that you included the 1.30 patch build in the review, because obviously that is the version of OFF folks buying the game will end up playing. Noting the devs devotion to providing patches was also a nice touch. A large part of how good a game is boils down to how well it is supported after the sale. Thanks for taking the time to do the review right. /salute Hellshade

And if QC encounters had the option to be randomized, it would be a long, long time before anyone found them to be predictable or boring, thus extending the play life of the game for a very long time. OFF BHaH is of course already a fantastic value. It is by far my favorite game! If indeed it is true though that many people never leave QC (or like myself, come back to it for quick WWI doghtfighting fixes or due to time constraints), then maybe 3 added menu choices to increase the unpredictability would be worthwhile, presuming they weren't difficult to code. /salute Hellshade

Indeed that is true, except sometimes you have try and live through several long ground based attack missions or balloon busting missions before you get another "patrol". And then there is no guarantee you'll run across EA close enough to get into a furball with. QC is just straight Plane vs Plane dogfighting that immediately tests your skills without taking off, warping and hoping you'll eventually run into some EA close enough to duel. Don't get me wrong, the campaign is absolute genius. It's deep, well crafted and amazing in every way. But it is a bit time consuming. QC is about immediate combat gratification (or frustration) whenever you have 5 spare minutes and want to be sure you're going to spend the vast majority of it fighting for your life while trying to rack up some kills. With a busy home life, a lot of times 5 - 10 minutes is all you get. IF it isn't too hard to add in a few Random settings in QC, it would be a very, very cool thing. /salute Hellshade

Winder, My guess is that nobody who actually flew and fought during WWI said things were "too easy" or "just right" up there. It was hard as hell to stay alive out there, hence the 17 flight hour survival rate. So basically, "too hard" is just right in terms of realism. But I agree with Sig that probably what bums some folks out is watching the "realism %" setting drop to a lower percentage in order to have a better fighting chance against AA by changing the AI Gun Range to "Normal". What makes it a bit tricky is that in 1915 - 1916, the Realistic AI Gun Range setting probably isn't realistic because they just weren't that accurate then. But from 1917 - 1918, I guess those ground crews had some pretty accurate gunfire and so the Realistic AI Gun Range is indeed accurate. Tough cookie to crack there. Myself, I just learned to not care what the darn Realism % number was. Am I having fun? and is it challenging? are more important questions for me to be able to answer "yes" to than "Am I flying at 130% realism rating?" But I guess if someone is hung up on the 130% Realism rating, I can see where it might be a bit frustrating when the AA is so intensely accurate, especially on Normal DM mode where any damage at all just about dooms you to die and chances are, they WILL hit you sooner or later. So what to do? Just a suggestion, but how about just like you got rid of the "Pending" number in the claim forms, get rid of the Realism % number. But then I'm sure a lot of folks would be upset because they like to see they are flying at a specific % Realism number. Or maybe keep the max 130% rating and just put a note right under it that says "WARNING! Anything over 100% is extraordinarily challenging and likely to result in a lot of dead pilots due to circumstances beyond your control." Ha. But seriously. It's not a game. It's a WWI Flight Simulator. Part of the simulation is that fact that nothing in war is fair. At least I can change the challenge settings in the Workshop to fit my ability. Nobody in the real war had that option. /salute Hellshade

I will have to try this challenge again, but with a plane I can fly. Se5a Viper vs DVIIs. The DVII is the better plane so I don't know how much luck I will have. Did you have the enemy AI set to "Ace" Olham? Perhaps we should make a rule that groundfire is set to novice and intensity is set to low too, so that it doesn't interfere with the dogfighting. This certainly could turn into a new type of "sport". "DiD with 5 vs Me". /salute Hellshade

So I decided to try the camel in a QC against an inferior DII, just to start off slow. First off let me say that I don't see how anyone even FINDS the enemy in that plane, the field of vision is so restricted, but I digress. So I'm spinning around (mostly out of control) when I view down past my right wing and I see the DII below me. He gets hit by AA and starts to smoke and then fall into a flat spin. Not 5 seconds later he gets a direct hit again and shreds his plane completely!!! Wings fall off, flames engulf the plane. I'm sorry I don't have video or a screen shot. But seriously, 2 AA flak hits in 5 seconds on a single plane is just unneccessary roughness, don't you think?!? Just when I think I've seen it all in this flight sim, something usually happens that suprises me yet again. Kudos to the Allied AA crew that probably saved my life. A valiant salute to the bosche pilot who was feared so much the Allied army felt it required 2 AA shots just to be sure he was taken out of the war. I'll try the Camel again later. She certainly is aptly named for a stubborn, uncooperative beast. /salute Hellshade

I don't think the sound of guns will scare them off, but I have gotten close enough where I shot a few holes in a DVII that was chasing a wingmate and he certainly noticed that and pulled off. Always worth saving a wingman. They might be more inclined to "remember" seeing one of your kills when you file the claim form. Ha. :) /salute Hellshade