SirMike1983

And if you want the full realism effect, a few years after your pilot retires the game drains your bank accounts in a simulated stock market crash (for allied pilots). For German sim turns the money in your bank account to monopoly dollars.

At first it would seem to be a great idea, but in reality it probably would yield a problematic game. With game design (or perhaps any design), the larger the committee designing and running the product, the more compromises that have to be made. I'm talking partly about the people doing the work, but I'm mainly talking about leadership decisions. The more people you involve, the more input there is. In theory this yields a better product (and sometimes it actually does), but often the product actually comes out in an inferior form because they try to go in too many directions and make too many compromises. A mix of people making the game is generally good, but many times too many cooks ruin the soup.

For inline or v engines bring a bottle of gasoline and some exhaust fumes (canned from your car pipe) to the computer with you. If you have a rotary, all of the above plus a bottle of castor oil to mix in. Mix it all in a little can and inhale every few minutes. When you wake up you won't know where you are and there will be a big flaming wreck on your screen. Repeat as needed.

Tried all of that and no luck-- still am having weird control issues with the pedals and the stick still has interfering Z axis rudder. This is ridiculously frustrating. Edit: I THINK I have it. Apparently CFS 3 doesn't like it when both the pedals and the stick are connected through the same USB port (via the USB hub). CFS apparently thought they were a single controller, even after breaking them out into separate devices in the notepad file. So I think I've got it, though it took a fair bit of screwing around with it.

Wow, never thought it would be that involved. I sometimes forget to check the OFF site itself, as I'm used to the forum more than anything else. I'll give that all a shot tonight. Thanks

I tried them tonight and generally like them. I need to disable the z-axis on my flight stick. I looked through the controls menu in the sim and couldn't find a z-axis listing under "rudder". How do I disable the z-axis on the stick and toe brakes on the pedals?

That's the first I've heard of that. I'll have to look into it. The pedals I have carry a UPS tracking number and are in their system. Perhaps Laser Ship is only in some market areas and not others?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this: it appears that Amazon shipped from literally a 45 minute drive from here. It almost always takes like a week for their stuff to arrive here, but for some reason it's showing the pedals as originating from somewhere very close by-- probably somewhere in Maryland. They shipped yesterday and it has an arrival expected date of Monday. If all goes ok (crosses fingers) I may become even more of an Amazon fan than I already am. Free shipping that is next business day sounds great to me.

Are FS2004 planes compatible with FSX? I rarely if ever fly the stock planes. I usually go for the good custom planes-- there's a P-26 Peashooter out for FS2004 that is great. There are also nice offerings from Warwick Carter (love the Gee Bee Racer). Would these be available for me still if I went to FSX?

Yeah, too little to really know what they're up to in that video. I honestly like FS2004 though. I probably should look into FSX now that I have a more powerful machine (early 2009 model at least).

They shipped today, so should be in next week. Parky-- I accidentally gave you the red above if you're wondering. I meant to hit the green one on that post but miss clicked and caught the red I guess. I gave you 2 greens in return to make up for that 1 red I accidentally gave you. Sorry

A modification in the null zone is a good idea now that you bring it up. I have a rolling desk chair and tend to fidget quite a bit in flight (trusty bottle of water or iced tea nearby). I wonder if a null zone edit to some of the axes would be a nice improvement.

CHs are on the way from Amazon (well will be, free shipping is a bit slow). I checked through ebay and found that Amazon is still the best buy for these are $99. I found that surprising because ebay seems to have everything if you look long enough. I also checked some online retailers and they were considerably more expensive than Amazon ($130 range was common). So I think I did ok with the Amazon deal plus free shipping. I think they will work with my desk. I have an ikea drafting type desk I use-- it's basically a giant Erector Set. Those of you who've seen metal frame drafting tables will know what I mean. I'm figuring the pedals can go up against my electrical box or the wall to keep them from moving. Al, I hear you on the Nieuports. I've been switching off between them and Spads lately and you get a real different feel from each. They both have their virtues. I'm still tweaking a TrackIr I got awhile back for a new update to the software. It's a real help in the Spads because of the weird cockpit and gun sight lay out. The Nieuports seem pretty basic and easy to line up though. That N.24 is a gem, though I do like to switch between that and the Spad XIII sometimes to work different tactics. After 17 years of flying different PC flight sims, this will actually be the first time I have pedals. I've actually got a pretty nice rig going for the first time since the early RBII days when I got a 400 mhz Micron new. I'm wondering if it might be possible to make a "vintage" rudder bar setup. I imagine these controls, in their simplest form, are a circuit with a potentiometer connected. Moving the controls moves the potentiometer and sends a signal to the computer through a PCB circuit. You could probably make a simple base and shape a block of wood like your favorite WW1 fighter's rudder bar. Then put the circuit and potentiometer into the base and hook up the rudder bar to a couple springs and the potentiometer. You wouldn't have toe brakes, but it could be an interesting little build project for the technically inclined.

CH sounds like a good bet then. The general online reviews seem to say that both are good, but that the CH is more durable in the long term. The general ratings on the CH pedals are actually a little higher it seems too, as people seem to be having fewer installation and set up issues with them. Saitek has its fans though. The only downside of it is that there really don't seem to be any "cheap but effective" rudder pedals out there. I paid pretty small beans for my Logitech stick and its been very good. Even the twist action still works. It seems with pedals you're out more money straight off, though perhaps the quality is better.

For the CH guys-- how much power do they draw on the USB hub? One of the reviews I saw said CH was drawing a lot of power off the hub. My current USB has its own power supply (so maybe it doesn't matter). But I was wondering if you noticed any kind of power or performance hit by hooking them up?

Yes, HITR is an excellent addition.

Thanks for the ideas here. I guess it's between CH and Saitek then on the pedals. The Saiteks look a bit more user-friendly with their wider stance. I read a comparison between the two on SimHQ the last evening. It seems both are pretty good options. I read on board that the CH pedals draw a fair bit more power off the USB hub. Is that true? Anyone have or use both with a comparison of the two? I'm leaning towards the Saiteks at the moment, though comparisons are welcomed.

Some excellent paintings there. I'm always partial to Nieuports and Spads. These are my #1 and #2. The Jean Navarre painting is an absolute gem. http://www.gava.org.uk/images/large/2010/104.jpg http://www.gava.org.uk/images/large/2010/239.jpg

Sounds good to me-- I like HITR.

They keep losing planes. They lost the N.11, the N.24 and now the Avro all in recent years. I believe the pilot of the N.24 was killed and the pilot of the N.11 broke both legs.

The Eindecker was actually heavily based on an earlier Morane-Saulnier Monoplane from before the war. The plane copied was actually older and largely inferior compared to the Type N "Bullet" M-S. The result largely was that the Eindecker was somewhat inferior in pure flight characteristics compared to the M-S Type N. The orthodox view on these is that they're somewhat unstable and difficult to fly aircraft. Like anything else these pilots probably got used to the quirks (those that survived) and made their peace with whatever difficulties came up. But certainly the Fokker's strong suit was attacking 2-seater recon aircraft. Even the F.E. 2b could be a problem for the Fokkers. Nieuports and D.H.2s could chew up Fokkers pretty well. There was one report from a capture German pilot during the war who told his captors what he saw from this time-- he noted that an allied airman in a Nieuport took on one, then two, then three, then four Eindeckers before finally being downed. You don't want to face a Nieuport or D.H.2 alone in an Eindecker. The only strength is in altitude and numbers for them then. I generally like RoF, but the a la carte $7.62 per aircraft is a bit ridiculous once you get into buying all the planes that don't come with the vanilla game.

My usual-- would like to see a "personal plane" retention option for your pilot once you reach a certain rank/success level. For example, a French pilot career might hold on to a Nieuport after the rest of the pilots swap to Spads. Some aces were known for having favorites and keeping them as long as they could as personal machines.

Good fixes

Saw it in the movie theater when it came to the US. I went with a friend who loved Amelie and said it was just like that except in WW1. It's much, much darker than that. It was a decent movie. I've yet to see a WW1 movie better than the 1930 version of All Quiet on the Western Front. There was something about that particular incarnation that made it good-- perhaps it was that the war was still fresh in people's memories, which prevented turning it into some kind of romantic cartoonesque waste.

The D.VIII/E.V in OFF is tricky, takes practice. The N.28 is a well-balanced scout with decent capabilities all around. Without the ballooning wing construction, it's nice. The N.24bis/N.24 are my favorites of the new group. It's basically an improved 17. A fun time for me is my N.24 against maybe 3 or 4 Albatross with the BHaH AI active. It feels good to work with wingmen and down enemy aircraft. But nothing tops a load of Albatross assuming it's over before it's begun and finding out the 24's bite is far worse than its bark.