Hellshade

A fair point, Flyby. I mis-spoke. I shouldn't have said "bounced" since that means having the true element of suprise. I met it would be nice to have an altitude advantage so you get to choose a little more often if you want to engage or not. And if it were to wait until Phase 4, that would be just fine by me. Hellshade

Not that I want to add anything to the Devs plate, but that is a good suggestion. It would also add a little more combat scenerio variety to the game by allowing us to bounce the enemy from up above a little more often instead of almost always being the one getting jumped. Hellshade

RR stations look awesome! Here I thought you were all hard at work on Phase 4 or getting to know your families again...but instead you're still making the best even better. Might I say that it seems OFF BHaH has a few things in common with a great TV show from the 1970s and early 80s called M*A*S*H. Both were great entertainment. Both kept just getting better all the time. Both lasted longer than the war they portrayed. Both were instant classics Both started with a small following that continually grew as time went on. Thanks Makai. A very fine and worthwhile addition to a classic simulator. Hellshade

Sometimes you'd almost swear those bloody hun bastards were out to win the war. Quite rude if I may say so, what with all the archie, ground fire and enemy aircraft and such they throw at you. I guess you'll just have to have another go at teaching them a lesson on manners. My condolances on your loss. A fine lad, no doubt. Nothing for it now though except to saddle up and give it right back to them. War is hell you know. Hellshade

I can't recheck my old settings because I have done a system overhaul since I tried bumping up my GPU clock speeds. I now have a 2.66Ghz Intel i7 Quad Core - OC'd to 4Ghz, 6GB RAM, PT6 Motherboard, 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive with 32MB cache and still using my GTX280 card in a PCIe 16x slot and running Vista 64 bit edition. Additionally, as noted by many others, since installing the 1.32 Superpatch, OFF BHaH runs smooth as glass at all times now. Hopefully this system will last me for the next 2 - 3 years, although I will probably get Windows 7 -64 bit edition when it comes out. Hellshade

Yes, and I hear that after he invented the time machine, he went back in time and re-invented the time machine in less time because he did it while NOT making any of the mistakes that he made the "first" time he made it, since he now knew exactly what did and didn't work. Hellshade

It's a lot like what Scotty said to "Bones" in Star Trek the Voyage Home movie when they gave the engineer the formula for transparent alluminum after they time traveled back to 1985 (or whatever year it was). Bones said "You realize that if we give this to him, we are changing history." Scotty said "Why? How do we know he wasn't the one who invented the thing?" With no real historical evidence one way or the other as to exact deployment dates, who is to say what you Devs decide to implement for service dates aren't the exact ones? Cheers for making the right call. Can't wait to see her in action above the front. Hellshade

The screenshots look amazing. When did they actually first get deployed into the war and in what kind of numbers were they flown? What is the performance of them like? Are they better than the DVIIs? Hellshade

Is it possible that the Lewis machine gun was set to fire above the prop in order to maximize rate of fire? I would think the interrupter gear would slow down the rate of fire at least a little bit and perhaps they wanted to be able to hit the huns a little harder and faster. Just a pet theory, I didn't read that anywhere. Hellshade

As one OFF enthusiast to another I will try to answer for the Devs by saying "When it's Done". :) They shipped Between Heaven and Hell with 39 flyable aircraft, however it's not just the aircraft. It's all the proper skins for both squadrons and Aces by date as well as the historically accurate mission flight data. That is a LOT of information to research and add above and beyond just trying to get the modeling and flight dynamics right. I would love see the Gotha's and HP 400s flying in the sky as well, but these things take time. As eager as I am to have a go at the heavys, OBD has always made it more than worth the wait. Plus, they are also working on Phase 4 too. Hellshade

Thanks for the compliments guys. I am working on creating more combat videos, but I am trying to find ways to improve the quality of the movies first. As good as the action is, I don't feel the videos do justice to the game because so many of the smaller details are lost when I convert the raw fraps footage into a wmv file. You don't get to see the finer details of the aircraft, some of the damage modeling effects or the beautiful scenery. I'm not able to convert them in Windows Movie Maker using 720 HD format, probably because I only have Vista Home Basic 64 bit Edition. Does anyone know if there is a way to add in better codecs so I can covert the fraps raw footage into 720 HD format? Hellshade

Yes, it was a Quick Combat demo. I should have picked a squadron skin for the enemy flight. Hellshade

I am running Vista 64 and don't have any such errors. I'd suggest a reboot first and when that probably doesn't fix it, 1. uninstall OFF 2. Defragment your hard drive. 3. Reboot again and re-install. You probably got a corrupted file. Hellshade

Not to hijack the thread - but precisely the reason I would love to see the Realism % just go away. Hellshade

I'm starting a single thread that I just post any videos I make in. I'm certainly not the best pilot playing Over Flanders Fields but I hope you enjoy some of the amazing action and white knuckle flying made possible by the wizards at OBD. Squadron of Albatross DIIIs vs me in a Sopwith Tripe on a lone wolf patrol Pair of single gun Sopwith Tripes vs 3 Alb DIIIs from Jasta 27

That's exactly my point. Videos (especially raw footage that shows what the player will experience) are probably the best selling tool we have. If you can get folks to watch a few uncut videos, I bet it would get rid of any CFS3 worries about the quality of the game. Having them all in one place that we could just link to in e-mails, forums or whatever would allow folks to see how much OFF has to offer. Whatever you can do is appreciated. I plan to make quite a few more "Hellshade Combat Action" videos showing all the fun in various different aircraft. Not that I am the greatest pilot, but at least people could see some of the possibilities. Hellshade

Minor addition to a major addiction. Can't say you guys don't give the best support of any game, ever. Thanks! Hellshade

Did the Superpatch change some of the Medals we can earn from air combat? I don't seem to recall seeing anything other than Iron Crosses and Blue Max's before. Now I'm starting to see some other kinds showing up. Is this part of the P4 "preview" as well? Hellshade

Player weapons are set to 'normal'. I fly DiD settings for videos. It makes the action more intense I think. Hellshade

Now that the Superpatch has really smoothed out the game, it is much easier to make good quality videos of the combat action. Any chance we could have a stickie topic for "OFF : Air Combat Videos", just like we have for screenshots and stories from the front? I think it would make for a great place to link a ton of user made videos to other locations so folks could see for themselves what all the excitement is about. Just a thought. Ok, back to the action! Hellshade

Welcome to another edition of "Hellshades Air Combat Videos". This is part one of an epic furball dogfight between myself and 11 squadronmates in our trusty Dr 1s against a dozen Sopwith Camels hell bent on shredding us from the skies. If you watch closely, you will see a couple of times where the Camel AI pilots tear the wings from my squadron mates before I can get there to save them. It was fast and furious, white knuckle combat at its best!!! Enjoy. All fighting was done on DiD settings. Realistic flight models, normal AI gun range, limited ammo and fuel, etc. Hellshade

I am learning. It is certainly an interesting kite to fly. I prefer the stability of the Sopwith Triplane, but the visibility and twin guns of the Fokker DR 1 are very nice as well. I'm off to work now but later I will post an epic 12 v 12 dogfight I had last night. It started fast and furious and I knocked 4 Camels out of the sky, but in the end I was damaged and surrounded by three Camels. They must have been damaged as well since they were not flying or turning fast either. It was a grim game of low altitude turning while trying not to crash. Almost a bar fight! Once I ran out of ammo I just landed her. It took so long that FRAPS had to record it in three separate videos. The beginning fights are absolutely thrilling and the last few minutes were a grim will just to live. Hellshade

You are going to have a blast Arcolan. OFF never stops being fun or challenging. i7 920 Quad core cpu OC'd to 4Ghz Zalman CPU Cooling fan PT6 Motherboard 6GB DDR3 XMS RAM 1GB GTX280 video card 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive Vista 64 bit Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick CHD Pedals TrackIR 4 PRO w/clip I-INC 28" widescreen monitor Saitek Eclipse II keyboard Logitech mouse Even with 40 planes in the sky, running at 1680 x 1050 resolution (16xQ) with 44455 workshop settings in OFF I still get 60 frames per second rock solid with no stutters. Hellshade

Not sure, but at least 1 Fokker Dr 1. Mine. LOL Hellshade

One last 40 man video. Fokker Dr 1 vs Camels!!! Damn the skies are crowded with fast, furious white knuckle action in these missions. I'm not a very good Fokker Dr 1 pilot. The plane is fantastic, but so twitchy it is hard to make small corrections to line up a good shot. Anyways, I did my best to take down some Allied boys, but as you shall see they are quite capable of taking care of their friends too. Hellshade