Hauksbee

...sometimes called "an embarassment of riches". I know what you mean. And about older planes: I find that the experience of the gentler, SE-5 types pays off as you approach DH-2's and E.III's. If one has not flown a WWI sim, as I had not, it takes a little time to shift footing. Time to realize that even the fastest, best fighters of 1918 cannot be horsed around like a Bf-109. Now I know that no matter what I choose it will be quirky, unreliable and underpowered; rather like "My girlfriend is a shallow little tart, but I love her". Last night I took a DH-2 out against two Eindeckers and actually spent more time worrying about where they were than recovering from stalls. Hope springs eternal.

I know the feeling well. It's all very nice that they say, 'The only dumb question is the one not asked', but, it can still feel like jumping into the deep end of the pool. I am much heartened [as I aproach my first] by Rabu's comments about 'do it', 'try it on', 'tweak it', 'try it on'... It's comforting to [take a deep breath here...] realize there's no real 'right' way. But I perceive a coming problem: as more and more are added to the library, we'll have people using 'Skin A' as a template for 'B', when 'A' itself is second generation from yet another skin. Call it: Skin Drift...a condition where the edges of objects will get vague and and want to merge or overlap. Might it be worthwhile to set up templates over which to build? I posit this because after reading the thread on "Ghosts:WWI", I went to amazon.com and by happy accident found "Scale Aircraft Drawings:WWI" by William Wyler. [a phenomonal nut-and-bolt, blueprint-style artist] I recall his drawings from the old "Air Trails" magazine when I was a kid. You can't get much more accurate than Wyler unless you talked with Tony Fokker. [...and I'd still go with Wyler]. The book will be here in a few days, and I'm sure it will not disappoint. If you all out there think it would be of any value, I'll lead the charge and start a few preliminaries. I'd get all the elements ready if someone could look over my shoulder to insure correct placement on the grid.

Great looking book. Just went to amazon.com and bought it. I especially liked the way they took WWI photos and then posed restored planes to re-create the original. Also discovered [and bought] another gem: "Scale Aircraft Drawings:World War I". It's a collection of incredibly detailed drawings by William Wyler. I remember seeing his stuff in the old AirTrails magazine when I was a kid [along with another all-time great draughtsman, Douglas Rolf]. I even bought several of the poster sized reproductions of his. As I recall they were really big: 36" x 48", but then, I was only about 60" tall and I may be mis-remembering. I still have one of the Albatros somewhere in a portfolio. If anybody is interested in skinning, don't miss this book.

In the matter of skinning, I see much on Photoshop and Alpha Channels...but will the process support Bump Maps?

Great. Thanks. I'll just dive in and learn as I go.....

OK. Here we go. I pulled out the D.V skin first. Now I'm assuming that the skin is like a jig-saw puzzle: you can change the color of each piece, but you can't change its position. The new image has to fall exactly over the original. [Correct me if I'm wrong.] With that said, it would appear as though the textures for this Albatros actually overlap in places. If I follow it exactly, will I get into trouble?

I'm not the star pupil, but I'm coming along.

In the Statistics column I have Persistant Weather Stats:OFF, Flight Eval/Log: Campaign only, and Player Stats:OFF.

Oh. Thanks Olham. I...ah...wuz always a little slower than the rest of the children [LOL]

The AI may put some formidable pilots in the air, but it's nurturing cretins as company clerks. I mentioned in a former thread that after installing the 1.28 patch, I garnered four DSC's and a VC within 48 hours. In QC! Each time I closed out of QC, there was a new award. Lately, the awards page has not been showing up and I felt that the program had corrected itself. Not so. This morning while in the CAMPAIGN section [still looking for CAMPAIGN DATA!] I checked out the Pilot Stats. There I was, and all the awards lined up neatly at the bottom. Not only that, I discovered that I've flown 91 missions, [which only took 11.5 hours] and I've put in claims for 104 kills [ground and air] and clinched 71 confirmations. [i am obviously a much badder sum'bitch than I ever suspected!] But seriously...?

You're a credit to Flasheart himself!

Being a QC devotee, my kite-of-choice is the old default and stand-by: the SE-5 [...having enlisted with the Brits.] Were it not for the SE-5, I might have quietly put the OFF disc 'way back on the top shelf of the closet and locked the door. I never suspected they flew that badly. I received my OFF disc just after I had 3D modeled the Hawker/von Richtofen duel. I was hot to fly the DH-2 and immediately took it out for a spin. I think I spun for 45 minutes. Then I thought, 'Well now, this was designed to take on the E.III, let's see what that was all about'. After a few minutes in a E.III I concluded that WWI was even less fun than I had previously thought. So, briefly: the SE-5 is first choice. I've had good luck with Sopwiths, Camel and Pup, Sopwith Triplane is not bad. Bad luck with Albatros. The Dr.1 is more stable than I expected it to be from its rep., the Pfaltz, easier to fly than its age would indicate, the D.VII, not as smooth as the SE-5 and I see no evidence for the famed 'hanging on the prop'.

Want to find the Skins Folder in OFF. The tutorial by 'gous' says they're in CAMPAIGNS>CAMPAIGN DATA>SKINS. But when I go to CAMPAIGN, I get a short movie [always worth watching] and then I end up here. I don't see CAMPAIGN DATA.

Be patient. That will change.

Yes. Go to Quick Combat and follow the arrows. EDIT: The topmost left arrow should be pointing at the 'Players Aircraft'. In this case the SE-5 Hispano.

There's some nice looking skins posted. After download, what program is best to open the doc. and view the skin?

I have not been graced with miraculous escapes [i fly QC only, so far] but in the 48 hours after installing the 1.28 patch, I garnered four [count 'em: four!] Distinguished Flying Crosses and a VC. Now, I'm one helluva guy, not a bad shot, and getting better...but I did think that was excessive.

Very interesting...and disappointing. I will forever take the History Channel with a large grain of salt. Their depiction of the events is flatly dishonest [assuming that the accounts in the link above are true.] I encourage anyone interested in this fight to read these two accounts. Briefly, there was only one plane shot down in flames: a D.VII. Lt Phil Hassinger and Brooks shared the kill. Hassinger was killed later in the fight. Two other D.VII's were shot down, but landed behind their own lines and the pilots survived. Neither account says if Brooks was part of that, but somewhere he tangled with a second D.VII, filing a claim for two victories when he arrived home. When they were confirmed, Brooks insisted that the credit be shared with Hassinger. The second of the respondents said that he knew Brooks personally and was interviewed for the show, but his views and additional information [planes color scheme's, etc.] were not used. The show apparently drew heavily on Brooks's diaries and it's hard to say what he recorded after the fact, but the official record shows a claim for two only. The swirling, furball aspect of the fight seems to be accurate. So the History Channel has that going for them.

I'll watch again, but my sense of it was, 'two is your limit', but this is the first and only time I've ever of this problem.

Just re-watched the History Channel's Dogfights episode on WWI. In the fight between Brooks and the D.VII's, he shoots down four, but due to some technical nuance on awarding victories, he is only credited with two. What was the issue involved?

If the History Channel's account is accurate, Voss was flying a prototype Dr.1 It would be interesting to know how many hours he had in it, but I suspect that he was still in the process of 'wringing it out' and taking the measure of what it would do. Whatever the case, it was new enough to take the British by surprise and Voss had discovered, and mastered, its flat, skidding turn. So why did he fight? It would not seem that the great shoot-out was part of his plan. Until McCudden's flight stumbled upon him, Voss was having a pleasant afternoon patrol. He ran across two SE 5's and shot both down. [at least put them out of the fight] Then he got bounced by the first of McCudden's SE's. Voss is no stranger to SE's and must have known their capabilities to a fineness; must have known that a Dr.1 is not the plane in which to make a high-speed exit from a fight. What to do? Dicte Boelke: turn into the attack. And he's young, cocky, a high-scoring 'Kanone', and engaged in a friendly rivalry with von Richtofen. What's a coupl'a more SE's when you've just shot down two? A powerful recommendation. It probably did. Compared to its predecessors. But everything I've read to date, says it was unstable on all three axes and difficult to fly...took a really good pilot to fly it and they liked it.

Are you saying that if I am simply patient, all four seasons will cycle through in a year? [very cool if so.]

OK. I'm sold. 'Checked out the video [courtesy of uncleal.] Especially since, in addition to no functioning Hat Switch, I just discovered that the SHIFT_KeyPad #'s won't work either. A brief disappointment, but it was looking like near impossible to take my right hand off the stick to keyboard a look-about

Every time I open up QC, it's Winter. Is it possible to set the default for another season?

Funny you should mention that...I just got done searching their website. Very, very interesting. I kept seeing people's comments about it. [while still being a bit vague about what it was] I think I've got to have one. Is is usable right-out-of-the-box? Are there any problems with OFF and Trackir? EDIT: Does it always put you in the cockpit, or are there outside views? [like, dead astern: 6 o'clock]