Olham

Nbryant, what you may try is this: you create a second layer of your skin, and change it into greyscale, as you did. Then copy it back into the colour skin. Go to the "Layers" menue and make sure the grey layer is chosen, and lies above the colour layer. Still in the "Layers" menue, you see two values top right, showing the opacity. Set both on a value between 50 - 75 percent. Then, at the left of that, you read "normal" (I hope it's the same in English Photoshop?) Instead of normal, try out "soft light". Also interesting for some effects can be: "Multiply", "Negative multiply", and "addition". As I'm not sure about the English names for these, you should go through them all. You will always get an immediate result to see, and when you click on another, the previous one will not be kept. When you click on the above "normal", everything will be like in the beginning. You may find it helpful to add lighting and colour contrast in interesting ways. And by changing the opacity values of the grey layer, you make the effects stronger or softer. Enjoy!

(Water-) cool, Parky! When my mobo is back and built in, I may also send a picture. Got almost the same water cooling as you, but with only one fan.

Okay, thank you, Bletchley. I only asked, cause I may sooner or later forget to change, when I change pilots. Maybe I should have only one pilot, and concentrate on him.

The laughing eyes is, because I will get my big upgrade tomorrow. The crying eye: all my recent pilots (and two have got quite far already) will now be down the drain again. But well, time to start 3 even more serious ones. Here are my upgrade specs (many thanks to von Paulus, Parky, and my "computer chief advisor" Roland): Mobo: ASUS P8P67 Rev. 3 CPU: Intel Core i5 2500 k Memory: 4 GB Corsair XMS 3 CPU-cooling: Corsair H50 watercooling and Windows 7 (the water cooling is, cause I want to overclock the CPU up to 4 GHz) I will keep the ATI HD4870 (1 GB), because it will still be great with my 1680x1050 monitor resolution. Roland showed me, how he played Crisis II with the same card, and it looked amazing.

Did you really expect more resonance, Lou? I didn't, because I always felt, that most pilots here never last very long. I didn't save the log shots of my best pilots, cause they were still not good enough. I'll come back, when I lasted at least for a whole year. Although I doubt that will ever happen. It's just not my style, to fly very carefully. I mostly search each and every fight I can get into. I think I still have to let all the steam off, that you guys have let off in "Red Baron" or even earlier sims, before I can enjoy the quieter bits.

Another bit I didn't know yet - that airfields had been so effectively shelled. I always had thought, they were out of the reach of artillery. Thanks, Jim.

An Ode to the Pup The Sopwith Pup is actually giving a fine performance here. The flying scenes begin at 1 Min 42. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lM__0ko6yo&feature=related Adagio for the Tripehound Close-ups, followed by some beautiful flying of the Sopwith Triplane. The flying scenes begin at 4 Min 40. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLdhhrkPa6w&feature=related

Should be hard to complete any picture of Little without the family's help. I did once search for the German Leutnant Franz Ray, who's photos I had seen in connection with Jasta 28w. He had been flying with Jasta 1, 28, and 49, and he had been the Staffelführer of Jasta 49. He had 17 victories. I searched The Aerodrome and asked people, but no one knows, where Franz Ray went after the war, what he did, and where he died. He may not be any high scoring ace, but it feels so strange to me, that a man you can see in photos of the time, and who's war time data and achievements are collected, simply seems to have disappeared after the war.

Thank you, Lou. Yes, it was about time for an upgrade, cause the previous system never ran well. I lost many pilots through two total system crashes with a following complete new install. This new rig should perform OFF absolutely marvellous, as I could see in a test run. But the board was faulty - 4 pairs of 2 GB memory sticks (three from Corsair, one from GSkill) did not work in the correct banks. They all only worked both in the right banks (B1 + B2), which is not Dual Channel and therefor wrong. But I could still have test flights, and when I get another board returned, I shall be very happy!

My condolence, Creaghorn - that must be a tough one; he had almost made it. Damn - you started very early in 1916 and made your way through the three years, when the war was always getting tougher. Those 452 missions and 606 hours of combat flying are the most impressive achievement, although the 41 victories did surely make you a high ranking ace. You missed only little more than 3 months, and maybe flying the Fokker E.V. That must feel like a real loss, so short before the war's end. But maybe also like a relief? The longer I survive, the more does it feel like a burden; the less relaxed do I feel about the pilot. Your end was almost "Olham-style" - all or nothing, it seems. Did you perhaps prefer to end heroic, instead of running from them? After all escapes I made, I am wondering: you might have even made it over the lines? Your pilot photo would be quite a pain in every German officer's eyes: a hairstyle like that - unthinkable in those days! (Mmuahahahahahaaaaa!!!!!!!) If you like, you may send me two or three photos of you, and I make you a more believeable one. I am quite good at Photoshop.

One day without the Forum is like one day in hell - I must be addicted? Sent back the motherboard of the brandnew rig yesterday, and I hope they will exchange it without any hassle. So I installed the old rig, which I had sorted out one year ago, to get in here. Well, it works - but this small monitor! Could I really ever have been flying OFF on this rig???? Everything is slow and uneasy this is stone age! But I am glad I can at least chisel my messages into stone now.

Overclocking seems to be pretty easy on these modern boards' EFI BIOS. I would not go so far as to raise the voltage for any component, but below that, there is still space for tuning.

Shiloh, the Pup generally behaves very well and is probably the easiest to fly rotary craft in OFF besides the Tripe. She has a very strong lift though, which may make her hard to fly in very windy weather?

Indeed, von Paulus - the EFI BIOS makes this a cakewalk, it seemed. Thanks, Shiloh!

Oh, it will be worth it, when I get this mobo back in correct state. I made two sorties with the new rig, and it was absolutely amazing, how smooth and clear my vision was (same graphic crad as before!) with this Intel i5 2500k CPU - amazing! I was thinking of overclocking, but the standard 3,3 GHz seem to be all I needed.

In a good rating squad, the wingmen really do wonders. Man, I envy you for this action! Which time o war? You can set "air activity" to "light" in "Workshops", but that won't stop Udet and his men. In Arthur Gould Lee's "No Parachute!" I found, that this happened much more than I had expected. His guns jammed in each and every s´crap, it seems.

JFM, I have tried this once: coming in to land at my field, I brought a lot of ammo back; so I shot down the trees at the end of the runway. It works - they really fall! I wonder, if they remain downed though - I don't think so.

A gentle succession would also be the Sopwith Pup first, and then the Triplane. Some RNAS units had that progression. Although most Tripes still only had one gun, the must have been paradise.

I'll get it next month, I think - sounds interesting.

Oh dear, Rembrandt will turn in his grave after that; but thanks or the compliment, nbryant!

I just had a closer look at the first picture, and noticed the detail on the wire bracings. And the wooden wing strut - is that a new texture for the wood. Looks so much more real to me now -

I bet if they'd try to pull it up, it would crumble to pieces - it lay in salt water all the time. They were lucky with wreckage finds in Norway's and Finland's sweet water lakes though. And a Focke Wulf fighter was pulled out of a harbour in Germany, where it was stuck deep in the mud - that craft was pretty well preserved. They found the dead pilot in it, and in his wallet were condoms, still sealed and intact after all those years. Gives me goose skin.

Well, we don't have brakes, so it is less likely to happen like this. Seems he pushed the stick forward, to keep her down, and also the brakes. Not a good idea. I just read another bit from "No Parachute!", where Arthur Gould Lee describes the landing of two wingmates after a patrol and a scrap with the Germans. The wind direction had turned 180° since their takeoff, and now the first pilot lands with the wind in his back. He rolls to the end of the runway, where he noses over on his back. The second guy performs the same comedy. Arthur was lucky - the ground crew now waved to him like mad, assigning him to watch the windsock. If you land a light craft in a sidewind, you best come in fast and flat. Be prepared to use rudder for correction. At touchdown, reduce throttle to half and roll to your hangar. I know - sounds easier than it is.

Damn, I knew all this this would happen! ...

Well, that's a real English family name: Oldham - while Olham is just MY family name backwards. Spelled like the detective from the Raymond Chandler stories. Are there only Entente aircraft in that book, or also my Albatros; perchance?