Lothar of the Hill People

The OFF Workshops settings are stored in the Windows registry.

Hey gaw, can you tell a little about your system? Specifically, how many processor cores do you have and how much memory? And I'm a little confused: is the slowdown with OFFbase or with Andy's sounds or both? Please try this quick and dirty preloads mod. Run the installer and activate the 'OFFice Preloads" modfolder in JSGME. The order in JSGME doesn't matter for it. If it makes a difference, let me know and I'll include it with future versions of OFFice.

Welcome, OldSimmer. When you get BH&H installed (Hat in the Ring is worth getting as well), give the OFFice incomparable campaign engine for OFF a go as well. Adds tons of new features; no 'reset button' but at least with OFFice when you die you can at least continue on in your squadron with your same squadmates. Lots of other stuff designed to make the experience better for 'rookies' whether y're OldSimmers or YoungSimmers.

Thanks for the tip, Panama Red OFFice does include expanded names files I made for the British, Germans, and Americans--based on historical sources with more popular names more common in-game. But the French could still use some work. Let me know if you'd like to chip in, Tyrconn.

The long-awaited unofficial community expansion to OFF is now available at Combat Ace. See the posting for the full list of contributors. This is a complete package--no other mods or downloads required. It's designed to be easy to use for everyone, with no hassle. But give it plenty of time to install and configure itself on first run as it's 1.7GB of stuff all together. Notice it's not quite version 1.0. This is a first public beta. With extensive changes to flak, guns, ammo, balloons, etc. it would benefit from testing and feedback from experienced flyers. The incendiary ammo and balloon system still experimental, so consequences for mis-use still are not in place during testing. You're on the honor system for now. If you go ahead and test how effective it is against airplanes, let us know on the support page, or if you experience bugs or run into other problems. If you don't want be a part of such experiments, wait a little bit for further refinements. As always, read the fine print (backup your pilot files--they're now easier to restore than ever). And have fun!

Glad you've had fun with OFF and OFFice, AquilusMentis! Version 1.0.2 is now available for download.

OFFice version 1.0.2, which includes the latest version of Andy's sounds (also his updated machine-gun sounds for the historical rate-of-fire mod), has been posted and is awaiting approval from mods. It also includes and lets you listen to Andy's soundtrack mod in OFFbase. I'm sure it'll be available for download soon, so have fun! It's been awful quiet around here, so to everyone enjoying these mods: don't be afraid to make a little noise of your own around here. How about posting some stories and screenshots and journal entries of your adventures in OFF and OFFbase?

Both mod folders 'Andy73 Sounds' and 'Andy73 Engine Sounds' should be activated, the latter includes all the individual aircraft-specific engine sounds while the former all the general sounds. They're both included and installed for a reason. I'll post an update to OFFice shortly that includes all the latest sounds and activates everything automatically so you guys don't have to worry about this stuff.

FAQ for the OFFice incomparable campaign engine and the OFFbase role-playing game at its heart. Do I need an internet connection to use OFFice or play OFFbase? Nope. Select ‘Solo Mode’ in the User Settings to stop OFFbase and other OFFice programs from going online for any of this stuff: Selecting an account at Combat Ace or SimHQ in the User Settings configures access to support, mods, documentation, and other links in the forums from the OFFice interface. OFFbase 0.8.6+ checks online for newer versions Posted at Combat Ace, and adds a tip to the status bar to alert you. See the question below for what to do. Future versions may include additional online features, such as multiplayer OFFbase campaigns. I get a VBScript error when I try to run the software. How do I fix it? If you’re running Windows XP, make sure you install Service Pack 3 to get Windows Script Host 5.7. You can also install it from here: http://www.microsoft...ls.aspx?id=8247 If you’re running Windows Vista or later, most likely the problem arises from 3rd party anti-virus software not properly uninstalling. See the fix in this post: http://combatace.com...ds/#entry613019 See here for more information and the source of the fix: http://www.sevenforu...tml#post1396118 How do I update OFFice / OFFbase? If you see a tip in your Squadron HQ’s status bar about an update, just “Change Squadron” to return to the main menu, hit the “About” button, and click “Update” to download the latest update. Close OFFbase and run the new OFFbase.exe installer. Which OFF pilot Dossiers do OFFbase/OFFice modify? The program won’t touch OFF pilot Dossiers in squadrons you don’t play OFFbase, so you can safely try it without risking your long-standing pilots. Just create a new pilot in a new squadron, which is the best way to start an OFFbase campaign anyway. All active pilot Dossiers within a squadron are synced to the active campaign date when you “Play Pilot” to join an OFFbase squadron and when you return to your current OFFbase campaign. Do I have to play all my OFF pilots OFFbase? Nope, as above pilots in non-OFFbase squadrons remain untouched. You’re free to launch OFF by itself, setting JSGME mods manually, to play the original OFF:HitR the old-fashioned way with these pilots. You should first deactivate the Advanced Ammo system in OFFramp and Save your changes to restore stock guns, ammo, and tracers for non-OFFbase squadrons. After exiting OFFbase, launch JSGME and be sure to deactivate any OFFbase-specific JSGME mods along with your other choices. Then quit JSGME and launch Over Flanders Fields manually. How do I uninstall OFFice and OFFbase? Because of the complete integration with OFF and extensive, dynamic modification of game files (far beyond just JSGME mods), OFFice cannot simply be uninstalled or deleted like a stand-alone product. If you truly wish to roll back your OFF installation to a pre-OFFice state, restore it from backup. Your best bet’s just to stop using it and go back to managing JSGME and launching OFF manually. See the above FAQ question for playing without OFFice and OFFbase. You may also wish to run OFFset and recover your pre-OFFice Workshop and CFS3Config settings. Can I use OFFice for Quick Combat (QC) or Multiplayer? In short, it’s best to use a different pilot for QC and multiplayer flights, flying configuring JSGME mods and launching OFF manually as in the above FAQ question. Pilots launched from OFFbase can indeed enter and user QC, but the mods and settings it configures are only appropriate for your actual campaign and specific aircraft. Other aircraft aren’t properly configured, and switching aircraft in QC may confuse OFFbase. So if you insist on launching QC from OFFbase, do so only with your current craft. Also, OFF Manager continues to advance time and generate mission results for your squadmates while you QC. Best to be a part of the campaign while this is happening! How do I play as an American pilot in Escadrille La Fayette née Escadrille Américaine? It’s a French military unit with French ranks and uniforms, so start a campaign for France in Esc LaF. The other pilots in the squad will have American names (and maybe French mustaches), while the Ground Crew will be France-born or Colonial. You can eventually transfer to other French squadrons as many American pilots did. Perhaps future versions of OFFbase will allow transfer into American squads once the USA joins. What happens if my initial transfer mission is canceled due to weather? That’s fine, just keep trying and letting time advance in OFF Manager until it clears up enough for you to fly and join your squadron. How do I join an existing OFFbase campaign with a new pilot? A squadron is converted to an OFFbase campaign when you first join OFFbase with one of its pilots. To join this same campaign with replacement or other pilots, it’s critical you create a new pilot Dossier in OFF Manager for the existing OFFbase squadron before the date of your most recent pilot in that squadron. If you fail to heed these instructions and join with a newer pilot it, will overwrite all your old AI squadmates. It’s easiest just to create new pilots at the first date given for the squadron by OFF. They’ll automatically join at the later date, so you don’t need to page through time in OFF to join the squad with subsequent pilots. Why can’t I reuse the same name for multiple pilots? OFFbase personalities are assigned to pilots, both player and non-player, by name. In the case of player pilots, this is also used to sync to their OFF pilot Dossiers and CFS3’s unlimitedpilots.xml. For two OFFbase pilots with the same name, one may end up overwriting the other. You don’t want to corrupt your pilot files, do you? As per above, duplicate names are just fine for your old non-OFFbase pilots as their Dossiers are ignored. To help avoid duplicate names for AI pilots, which just causes confusion as they try to share the same AI, use Lothar of the Hill People’s expanded names mod, linked above in the Mods section. When is it safe to delete an OFFbase pilot’s Dossier in OFF Manager? Only with another Active player pilot in the same squadron! Seriously! Each squadron’s campaign continues until the end of the war (or the squad itself terminates in which case you can transfer to another). Deleting the last pilot in the squad will break this system. Active: In Service, Returning, On Leave, Injured, Hospitalized Inactive: Deceased, Captured, Disabled Deleting an Active player squadmate creates an AI squadmate (see FAQ question further below). Deleting an Inactive squadmate is generally unnecessary and even detrimental, but sometimes you may wish to free up the name (see FAQ question below) or photo. Even after your pilot’s career has ended, your deeds OFFbase and in the air continue to shape your ongoing campaign as part of your squadron’s institutional memory. Their journals remain in your squadron’s Memorial, where their records are listed for posterity, but it’s more than that--the hole they leave behind can affect how your replacement pilot is received by those in grief. Once an Inactive player pilot is listed as “Forgotten” in the OFFbase Memorial, it’s safe to delete them in OFF. This means you can quickly clear out rookie pilots who died after not making much impact. How come my changes in the OFF Workshops or CFS3Config keep getting reset? A number of mods and features of OFFice and OFFbase work by directly controlling these settings. Much of this is configurable however, and many options can be returned to your control. See the options in OFFramp, particularly the Realism Profiles. Sometimes OFF Manager seems to take a while, or CFS3 even crashes, while launching a mission from the Campaign Briefing Room. What’s up? OFFramp dynamically rebuilds OFF aircraft source files for Advanced Ammo, OFFfov field of view management, etc. Compiling new binary aircraft files can take a while for hundreds of aircraft, and CFS3 originally only had two dozen to worry about. So should CFS3 crash when launching your mission, just close it, go back into the Briefing Room, and try again. The binaries should be finished compiling by now and your mission will start in short order. I’m not interested in all this role-playing stuff; can I still take advantage of the mod management, injury system, custom missions, expanded post-mission options and reports, advanced ammo, realism profiles, field-of-view management, medal upgrades, transfers between squadrons, etc.? Sure, gameplay has been designed with you in mind as well. Having a personality and some basic relationships are required for some of these advanced features to function (hence why you cannot access OFFramp until you reach Squadron HQ), but you can minimize your exposure to the role-playing elements. After the initial introductory sequence, just stick to the Adjutant’s Office and your Hangar and avoid the bulk of the encounters. You will still receive one encounter with a member of your flight prior to each mission, but this is by design. Just click through without reading if you really don’t care. Having a labeled picture of a flightmate flip by for a second on the way to your Hangar acts to quickly teach you the name of those in your formation. You’ll soon have no problem listing witnesses for claims, even getting the spelling right for those kooky Germans. Your claim confirmation rate will rise thanks to these “flash cards”. The Adjutant will let you know if there are encounters waiting in the Mess, but just avoid them. Not everyone has a roommate, and this is only one encounter per day, so you can often access your Lodgings without bother to further edit your Journal or nap/sleep to advance time to schedule your own missions. Even better, make your character an introverted slob loner killer and no one will want to bother him anyway. You’ll be exposed to much less of the social component of OFFbase, which rewards even this kind of anti-social role-playing. But if you want to play a more socially-skilled character and micromanage your squad’s morale and social networks, you’ll more often have access to detailed info on your squadmates, receive more encounters per day in the mess, and have more tactical and strategic options to employ those encounters. How come the clouds outside my Hangar never move? Because they don’t in OFF! I just parked a bicycle outside a few airfields (careful to avoid any identifying aircraft), turned on time acceleration, set FRAPS loose to take time-lapse photography, applied a simple film grain filter and resized. But there’s a solution if you can do better... There’s no snow / the topography’s not quite right / I know that random crate wasn’t historically there on date XYZ... How do I make my own imagery for my Hangar? The cool thing is, it’s easy to make the view from your Hangar anything you want. In the OFFice\images\field you’ll see folders for different OFF Airfields. If the name matches your squadron’s actual location, it will take the appropriate imagery, otherwise choose one of the existing image sets at random. To make your own imagery, first just make a folder with the exact same name as the location of your airfield. Next, onto the images themselves: The recommended size is 300x357 pixels. The file type and suffix doesn’t matter (.jpg, .bmp, and .png should all work). To just show a static image of your airfield, maybe from historic photos or an in-game screenshot, copy the single image into your airfield’s location folder. Viola! To show dynamic images that change over time of day, look at one of the included imagesets. Within each location folder is a series of time-stamped images. Again the type and suffix don’t matter, but the base file name must be a four-digit military time. Beware you cannot use colons (:) in the filenames, just numbers! The first must be 0000.xxx where xxx is your file type. Then add images that will appear at the named time and show until the next image’s time. For example, 1845.bmp will show for fifteen minutes until 1900.png, though you have to move in/out of the Hangar or encounter the Munitions OFFicer to advance time and the image. Also note that those times are just references. OFFbase adjusts the time of the image it requests to account for seasonal variation. For example, an 0600 dawn photo will show at 0800 in the dead of winter. Keep this in mind if developing different sets for different seasons. If people actually go to the trouble of making the images, I can extend OFFbase to choose from different seasonal image sets automatically based on absolute time across seasons. To make sure your time-sensitive images match the description in the text with the current system, here’s the rule that classifies the seasonally-adjusted times. So your “dawn” photos should start at 0530.xxx and by your 0630xxx the sun will be up, though you’ll actually experience this “dawn” later when closer to winter. case [ time < 3:30 ["late at night"] time < 5:30 ["pre-dawn"] time < 6:30 ["dawn"] time < 7:30 ["early in the morning"] time < 9:30 ["morning"] time < 11:30 ["late morning"] time < 12:30 ["around noon"] time < 14:30 ["early afternoon"] time < 16:00 ["afternoon"] time < 17:30 ["late in the afternoon"] time < 18:30 ["early evening"] time < 20:00 ["evening"] time < 22:00 ["late in the evening"] true ["night time"] ] And yes it sucks the Germans don’t get a bicycle aka exploding tripod. Still, OFFbase image packs can be shared, and even installed and activated with JSGME. How do I create/customize my AI squadmates? Create a new pilot with the name you'd like in your squadron before your current pilot's date (see FAQ above) Play the new pilot in OFFbase, choosing his Archetype and other traits by rank and go through the intro sequence Change Pilot back to your primary character Delete the new (still Active) pilot's Dossier in OFF next time you Fly Mission with your primary Viola! The AI given to the new character will take over his virtual career with the name, rank, picture, and personality you chose, and you get to know him OFFbase and fly with him in the air. Your OFFbase Adjutant may not assign you to the same flights right away, but it's cool as OFF will still simulate missions for the second flight and after some additional turnover flight assignments get shaken up. All part of the drama.

Sent you a PM but haven't heard back, majorwoody. Thought I'd fixed the font issue with XP, but apparently not. If anyone else runs into the empty-boxes-instead-of-text problem, please contact me via private message. I'll post an update here when the issue has been resolved. Also, if people could please post questions in the support thread, I can keep this thread focused on providing answers and solutions to common issues.

Version 1.0 is now available for download. Most noticeable new feature is being able to set your own gun convergence distance in the Hangar.

Clearly, an early 8-bit game. Think these guys were playing M.U.L.E.:

Haha, got a bunch of 3.5" floppies from my Amiga, including Cinemaware's Wings--some I've had since '87. Probably all dead now, taking much of the music and such I wrote as a kid with them. Though it could be possible to get some data off with hard work. Took five years to recover Andy Warhol's Amiga discs: http://www.artdaily....91#.USEqtd6Lgag

File Name: OFFbase: The Barmy Automated Squadron Experience for Over Flanders Fields File Submitter: Lothar of the Hill People File Submitted: 29 October 2011 File Category: OFFice / OFFbase / OFFworld An immersive role-playing simulation of life between flights for Over Flanders Fields. Note 1: For more information, screenshots, etc., visit the Official Website. Note 2: Get the full OFFice incomparable campaign engine which features OFFbase along with all supported mods and extra content in a complete package with one easy-to-use installer. This smaller package updates the OFFice software to the latest version, but to get 1.0.8's 'Skin in the Game' custom paint jobs just install the whole thing. Note 3: If you're interested in joining and supporting OFFworld, the multiplayer version in development, send me a PM. - OFFbase features persistent squadron-based play. Take turns flying multiple pilots in a squadron while sharing the same roster--and more. Separate wingmen are assigned and flights split as much as possible. See your other squadron pilots in the duty roster with you! Fly as a rookie pilot in your favorite squadron while taking your long-time veteran out on the occasion you work up the nerve. If your pilot dies, you can start a new pilot to take over for him with the same squadmates and everything, and continue your squadron's story throughout the war. - OFFbase puts you right in the Squadron HQ, where you can visit the Adjutant to manage your career, kick back in Lodgings that you may share with a roommate and write in your journal, go down to the Mess for food or drink and see how your squadmates are doing (and listen to the squadron band in the evenings), head out to the Hangar to check munitions and fly campaign missions, or reminisce over fallen heroes at the squadron memorial. The quality of your squadron's facilities develops over time. - OFFbase implements and expands Bletchley's Pilot Personality Profiles (3P) to give each pilot in the squad individual personality that informs how they behave and relate to each other. Engage in many different types of social encounters, mediated by personality traits. Personalities are composed of unique combinations of character traits, summarized by Attributes that rank characters in the following dimensions: Aerial Skill, Aggression, Charisma, Intelligence, Physicality, and Professionalism. With hundreds of billions of possibilities, the character's you'll meet in OFFbase are complex, distinctive, and completely individual in their behavior. - OFFbase builds on 3P with academic game theory to make social encounters richer, more intuitive, and open to different styles of play. Will you try to out-do other pilots, enhancing your short-run prestige at their expense, or try to build both your reputations through long-run friendship and social support? Your success at playing different strategies depends on the rank, personality, and social skills of your pilot character, as well as who the other player is and what they're trying to achieve. Over multiple encounters you'll come to know how different characters react in different situations, and what strategies work for your character. The result is a natural learning process on both sides. - OFFbase makes complex yet intuitive social encounters possible by giving characters in your squadron artificial intelligence. They remember how you and other pilots have treated them in the past, learn from their mistakes, and form social strategies to pursue their own goals based on their own rank, personality, risk preferences, social skills, and history. Some may try to boost their careers by bullying subordinates to make themselves look better, others may focus on building peer networks, while some may do a bit of both depending on who they like and who they don't and their feelings about their relationships and careers. The procedurally-generated rule-based AI system generates far more complex, dynamic, and unique behavior than traditional systems. - OFFbase features a full dynamic squadron simulation: Non-player pilots have daily encounters with each other, developing their own prestige and goodwill to develop their reputations and earn their own promotions, while periodically going on and returning from leave, even transferring in and out. All this goes on even as you advance or skip time due to weather, injury, whatever. Watch non-player pilots in your squadron share a drink, talk politics, make friends, get in fights--building relationships that affect how their careers develop, and yours. - OFFbase introduces Ground Crew, support officers or enlisted such as the squadron Adjutant, Chief Medical Officer, Chaplain, Munitions Officer, and even the Chief of the Mess Hall. Encounter and build relationships with them as well, which can affect your career, and your life, through gameplay. They may serve as stabilizing forces in dark times, or if a bad fit for a squadron disrupt morale. Encounter them in the Infirmary, Chapel, Hangar, and Mess Hall. - OFFbase introduces Air Crew: Pilots of two-seaters will share quarters with their observer/gunner. You and your fellow officers will encounter them in the Mess and on the Airfield, as they build their own careers. - OFFbase makes completing missions more rewarding, with additional benefits and costs to your career from shooting down enemy aces, friendly fire, pulling a hat trick by shooting down three or more enemy planes, and taking out ground targets and balloons. If a fellow pilot steals your kill, you can chew him out once you're back at HQ and try to take back some of the prestige he earned instead of you; or apologize and give back prestige if you steal someone else's kill. Some mission results may even affect the development of your pilot's personality by earning additional traits. - OFFbase brings additional features to the game such as transfers between squadrons, player input on promotions, funerals for dead pilots, a fully-editable journal built from the flight and claims logs, and tracking of mission results for your squadmates. Yes that's right--what actually happens to your squadmates in the air while they fly beside you matters now, dependent on and influencing the development of their characters. A Frontiersmen also trained in first aid is more likely to make it home after being downed behind enemy lines, a Cowards more likely to surrender, and a Weakling more likely to be permanently maimed by injury--especially if he's on bad terms with the Chief Medical Officer! The detailed injury system tracks dozens of different wounds and maims for you and your squadmates, with more realistic recovery times--and more ways to be disabled and killed. Dealing in the Infirmary is dynamic and can depend on the support of squadmates. - OFFbase accelerates immersion with a built-in mod manager (OFFramp) that automatically orders and activates JSGME mods appropriate to your campaign, if installed. See notes on mods below. This is accomplished through a fully-modable rule-driven scripting engine that supports plugins to the OFFice: OFF Incomplete Campaign Editor system, integrating access to Pilot dossiers, OFF Workshop settings, CFS3Config settings, JSGME mods, and OFFbase gameplay rules. Bletchley's historical ammo loudout rules and a number of other mods included in this distribution are implemented in this system. Modders: see very preliminary info in the OFFice\modrules\ folder. Gameplay: An officer or crewman's Reputation can be built in three different ways: success in the air, Goodwill from higher-ranking officers, and Prestige from socially dominating your peers. Each character has a unique set of Traits, yielding different preferences and skills toward these goals. As your campaign develops, you will observe changes in morale, upgrades to your airfield and lodgings, earn new personality-building traits through promotions and achievements, and take part in the lives and deaths of your dynamic, humanlike squadmates. To further the latter two goals, you will frequently (depending on your traits), Encounter your fellows, as well as witness encounters they have with each other. The social encounter system is based on a continuous iterated prisoner's dilemma game. Both players face a trade-off between short-run prestige from besting their opponent in the encounter and long-run goodwill from cooperating to build friendships. If both players jockey for short-run prestige, the result is negative-sum competition where gain, if any, only comes at the other's expense. If both players seek to build long-term social support to advance their military careers, the game is positive-sum cooperation that can increase both pilots' Goodwill toward each other, providing a daily boost to reputations so long as both players continue or even deepen their friendship. Even more interesting is the myriad cases in-between. You may come on too strong and embarrass someone, or come across as off-puttingly needy. You may also find yourself at the mercy of a vicious bully, or in a parasitic relationship with a high-ranking officer who praises you to superiors only to reflect well on his command while back at the squadron mercilessly putting you in your place in front of the other men. Willingly suck up to superiors if their goodwill seems worth more to your career than the shame, or buck them to defend your prestige at the risk of ill-will. The possibilities are almost endless because non-player characters also have reputations, and adaptively develop their own strategies based on their personalities, social skills, feelings, and memories in order to exploit their own trade-offs between short-run prestige and long-run goodwill. All this sounds complicated, but in practice decisions and their consequences unfold naturally, and the evolution of relationships should be dynamic, intuitive, and fun. Not only is it about learning which pilots are trying to befriend you and which are out to build their careers at your expense--but also teaching AI pilots to cooperate and learning when and when not to exploit their trust. Should your reputation fall to "Disrespected" you're in danger of being transferred to another squadron if you don't turn things around. Lean on your friends for support, though calling in the chips in the short-run can damage friendships in the long run. If you do well and your reputation becomes sufficiently "Honored" you'll be due a promotion to a higher rank and the chance to further develop your personality. Promotions and the new traits they bring cost prestige, so you'll start off at a lower reputation. Not everyone has what it takes to make it at a higher rank--those who climb the ladder too fast may step on too many toes, and end up in another squadron. Your pilot's mood serves as a guide to how he's doing in recent encounters. If he's upset, his reputation's been harmed either through losing prestige or goodwill or both, and he'll have a tougher time cooperating with others. A good mood means recent encounters have been helpful to his reputation, in the short- or long-run or both, and more open to others. You'll get some idea of the mood of others when you encounter them, and the squadron's morale reflects the aggregate mood of its members. Since mood affects behavior, the effects of encounters spill over through social networks. A skilled and patient or stubborn player can have a profound impact on the social development of his squadron, through good times and bad. Different personalities are more naturally suited to building their reputations by some means more than others. No-nonsense skilled-pilot types advance more quickly from flying and successfully completing missions, while smooth-tongued sycophants are more apt to milk the goodwill of superior officers at the cost of prestige, aggressive social animals readily suffer ill-will to dominate more social encounters for that prestige, while introverted loners try to avoid encounters in the first place. Every character will have a unique experience, even with the same squadmates. Your replacement pilot may have a tougher time making friends in a squad deeply mourning your popular former ace--or be just thing to help restore morale after the death of a tyrannical flight leader. Simply put, the game rewards role-playing. The deeper investment in building the career of your pilot and developing relationships with squadmates not only further customizes and enriches the campaign experience, but makes death in the air all the more terrifying, and thus OFF even more fun. Who'll carry your casket to its final resting place? How will your squadron remember him? Play OFFbase and find out! Installation: First make sure JSGME 2.6.0 is installed. This is included and installed automatically in the full OFFice package. Download and run the OFFice exe, and it will automatically extract the OFFice folder into your root OFF installation (usually "C:\ OBDSoftware"). This will also create shortcuts for OFFbase and OFFset (see OFFset.readme.txt) on your desktop and/or start menu, as well as documentation for the OFFice suite and included mods. OFFbase will ask to run at Adminstrator level as this is required by JSGME. OFFbase can elevate the OFF manager, but you should set CFS3.exe (and TrackIR5.exe) to run as Administrator as well. To play OFFbase, simply double click one of the installed shortcuts. Updating: To update OFFbase to a newer version after 0.7.8, just run the new setup exe to upgrade your existing install. The installer will automatically deactivate all JSGME mods for safe updating. OFFbase 0.8.6 and later will notify you if newer versions are available at Combat Ace. Mods: Get the full OFFice incomparable campaign engine which features OFFbase along with all supported mods in a complete package in one easy-to-use installer. Many of these mods are further developed and enhanced with powerful new features compared to their old stand-alone counterparts available separately. OFFbase will give you a choice which mission, damage, flight model, sound, music mods and so on in the OFFramp mod manager. Usage: You'll no longer launch Over Flanders Fields yourself, OFFbase will do it for you when ready. Instead, launch the OFFbase program from your desktop or Start menu shortcuts or launch the OFFbase.exe program in the OFFice folder manually. Whenever OFFbase has you run the OFF Manager, do just the one task or mission expected then quit OFF to return to OFFbase. OFFbase may ask you to set some settings before allowing you to play. Follow its instructions. You'll be asked to choose a nation and squadron to play your existing pilots. If you need to create a new pilot here, you can launch OFF Manager. Leave OFF when done creating the pilot and the list will update. Make your choice and click the "Play Squadron" button. You'll then be asked to choose a pilot in your squadron. You can compare the current date of the squadron listed in the left pane with the last reported date of your pilot in the middle pane to see how much leave your pilot will receive to sync up. You may also edit and save your pilot's background here. Choose your pilot and click the "Play Pilot" button to begin the OFFbase experience! You'll be asked to choose a personality class for your pilot, then fly a transfer mission to your new airfield to check out the squadron's facilities and people. Follow the prompts, it should be a fairly self-explanatory introduction. Note: Be sure to check ‘Air Start’ for your initial transfer mission! When you're squadron has been toured, you're on your own. Chat with the Adjutant and visit the Mess Hall to learn more about your squadmates. Go to the Hangar to fly campaign missions in OFF, or just do some exploring around the base. OFFbase will automatically set your active pilot for the campaign so you no longer need to manually switch between pilot dossiers in OFF Manager to fly different campaigns. OFFbase sets the Outcomes section of the OFF Workshops Dead Is Dead to offer advanced outcome handling. Most crashes are reported as fatal by OFF, but this just triggers custom crash handling. If your pilot is killed or captured, do not delete him in OFF. Instead, quit OFF to return to OFFbase and resolve his fate. If he does ultimately perish, after the funeral he becomes part of your squadron’s institutional memory. When adding a new pilot to a squadron, be sure to create him at a date prior to your current squadron date to avoid overwriting all of your squadmates. See the OFFbase Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Click here to download this file

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

File Name: OFFice: The incomparable campaign engine for Over Flanders Fields File Submitter: Lothar of the Hill People File Submitted: 18 January 2013 File Category: OFFice / OFFbase / OFFworld OFFice: the incomparable campaign engine for Over Flanders Fields creates a dynamic campaign unlike any other combat flight simulator. Far more than just a collection of mods, OFFice deepens the historical accuracy, sensory immersion, and emotional terror of flight and combat in The Great War, while rooting the campaign in the day-to-day life of the officers and crew of an aerial squadron. Note 1: For more information, latest news, additional screenshots, etc., visit the Official Website. Note 2: If you're interested in joining and supporting OFFworld, the multiplayer version in development, send me a PM. Major goals of enhancing and expanding OFF:HitR: Persistence: Squadron-based campaigns continue when your pilot is captured/killed, so you can carry on the war as another pilot with the same mates. Living pilots can transfer between squadrons and continue their careers past the bounds of OFF aircraft availability. Start by flying two-seaters and transfer to a fighter squadron on promotion. Even take turns flying multiple pilots in a squadron, handy when one is out for injury. Track outcomes for your squadmates so their deeds in the air matter. Unleash the true power of OFF’s exemplary campaign engine! Immersion: Steeped in historical detail, OFFice campaigns offer dynamic difficulty and realism over the course of the war with more appropriate squadron roles and access to technological developments as well as more dynamic and engaging missions. But persistence is only immersive if pilots are not disposable. The secret: “flying to live rather than flying to kill”. OFFice realizes this vision to a degree unparalleled in a combat flight simulator with: OFFbase: the barmy automated squadron experience for OFF, an immersive role-playing simulation of life between flights! Turn your squad’s roster into a bunch of learning, thinking, interacting artificial intelligences, toss in a bunch of ground crew (and observers for two-seater campaigns), and drop yourself in among them with your pilot’s own unique personality. Emergent sandbox gameplay with unique, adaptive, goal-seeking characters harnesses fun to a purpose--the deeper investment in your pilot’s personal journey makes every trip up feel a matter of life and death, for your fellow flyers as well. Manage not just your career but help steer your squadron through years of war and loss. Lead through social encounters as well as your deeds in the air. Build deep, long-lasting friendships and social circles, while struggling bitterly with enemies--all affected by events in the skies. And vice versa; you’ll find it truly changes how, and why, you fly. See the included OFFbase.readme.rtf for an expansive list of features and usage notes. Ease: Take the headache out of configuring and customizing OFF. Finding, installing, and using mods correctly can be daunting, let alone setting up Workshopsp and CFS3Config. But OFFice is a coherent and customizable package that just works--in fact it makes OFF itself easier and safer to configure by imbuing the wisdom of the OFF community’s technical experts. Realizing settings for immersive simulation flying is a snap. There’s no better means for beginners and experts alike to get the most out of OFF, and no easier way to start. See more on the OFFramp, OFFset, OFFput, and OFFfov components of the OFFice suite geared toward ease further below. First, more of the fun stuff... OFFice features can be most easily organized around some of the personalities you’ll encounter regularly OFFbase: Squadron Adjutant Transfers between squadrons--voluntary and otherwise--so your persistent campaign doesn’t end until the war does. Begin your career flying bombers and transfer to a fighter squad when ready. Smarter and more historically-accurate mission planning for your squad’s role in the war and in the face of inclement weather, with Dawn Patrol missions and optional historical Lone Wolf missions More rational rank-based assignment of flight members and wingmen, and assignment of observer/gunners to pilots of two-seaters. Your German observer’s likely to outrank you, so remember who’s in charge! Track flight members’ in-air outcomes--report them as crashed or missing, and even witness their claims! More post-mission options and consequences, including the ability to submit claims for non-target and Lone Wolf mission balloons--become a balloon-busting ace early in the war, if you have the guts and skill Write optional post-mission reports even without claims; edit these and any other writings in a squadron Journal synced to the Flight Log Choose your pilot’s photo--your squadmates will become familiar faces as you interact with them on the ground, many even look their traits Dynamic historical medal system with more than twice as many awards American, British, and German campaigns get expanded historical news and more diverse names for squadmates based on historical popularity Expanded enlisted ranks for crew in American and British squadrons Escadrille La Fayette gets American pilots alongside French crew Towns named in missions, e.g. “Verdun” instead of “british town 153” Munitions Officer Recommends loadouts for the specific mission you’ve been assigned Advanced ammo including smoke and tracers when historically available, as well as incendiary rounds for targeting more resistant balloons Sneak incendiary rounds into a ‘dirty’ mix for deadlier firepower--if you can get away with it--but who would brazen and inhuman as to use it full bore against planes or ground targets? Historically-accurate ammo capacities and machine-gun rates-of-fire Set your own gun convergence distance to perfect your aim Custom skins can optionally be earned as historically appropriate--easiest for German flyers (linked to ammo capacities) Mask and upgraded goggles to keep your face from chapping! Choice among more detailed, higher quality in-game maps to navigate Refined, less obtrusive TAC and labels for those who use such aids Improved flight and damage models with some historically-timed engine upgrades, and with AI planes carrying the weight of fuel and ammo Damaged/destroyed aircraft can result in Leave while awaiting repairs More realistic and historically appropriate anti-aircraft fire, with difficulty adjusting dynamically for each side over time Better arcs-of-fire for rear guns on two-seaters Complete audio overhaul for more immersive sounds: engines, explosions, bullet hits bomb drops, pilot screams, ground gunnery, flak, machine gun sounds synchronized with historical rates-of-fire, and more! Medical Officer Detailed injury system with a diverse set of healable wounds and permanent and potentially disabling maimings Injuries, maimings, and death depend on the reported severity, location and timing of the crash, health and skill of the pilot, access to medical care, relationship with and skill of the Medic, and luck Visit the Medic and injured squadmates at your local Infirmary--and influence respectively their bedside manner and recovery The persistent squadron means you can even encounter and try to cheer up the AI of your own injured pilots to hasten their healing! Access to medical care varies, but becomes more effective over the course of the war Across the lines you’re at the mercy of enemy medics and facilities! Mess Chief The food may not be much to speak of, but the Mess Hall helps monitor and manage your squad’s morale Quality and availability of food change over the course of the war, with better Mess Chiefs able to do more with less Witness encounters between squadmates in addition to taking part Musically-trained officers and crew form a squadron band in the Mess that influences the mood of those in attendance Additional music options for OFF Manager, including period-appropriate piano scores for French and German campaigns Chaplain Funerals for your dead pilots, convalescent home for the disabled, care packages for captured pilots, and prayers for those who need them Squadron memorial lists your ended pilots and archives their journals so you can trace the whole story of your squadron in the Great War The influence of your dead/captured pilots can linger as their careers become part of the squad’s institutional memory, shaping its future Interactions and social networks are dynamic, so events on the air and ground spill over to affect peoples’ behavior So don’t underestimate the role of the Chaplain in providing stability to your squadron--assuming he’s stable himself! Everyone Other pilots and squadmates pursue their own goals, building their own careers and social networks Engage in and witness nearly 150 different kinds of encounters, some more personalized, and more rare, than others Build friendships whose impact lingers even after death, and make enemies that transcend sides in the war Build friendships whose impact lingers even after death, and make enemies that transcend sides in the war Develop your character to expand their skills and capabilities as they gain ranks: advance your career, pursue a hobby, or change your approach to relationships With 88 distinct personality Traits in billions of combinations, summarized by eight dimensions of Attributes, every character is unique Tell your own personal story of life as a pilot in a historic squadron in The Great War Much of this highly configurable and/or optional, configurable with: OFFramp: rule all mods & plugins for OFF - More than just a mod manager, this dynamic scripting engine makes OFFice possible. Beneath the graphical interface where you customize your campaign and control OFFice features, ModRule plugins imbue the OFF Workshops and previously-standalone OFF mods with the intelligence, historical knowledge, and cooperative spirit of the OFF community. At the same time, powerful new ModRule plugins can tailor almost every aspect of the OFF campaign experience to heighten realism, immersion, and joy. Play OFF your way! OFFfov: the OFF field-of-view optical vanguard – This ModRule plugin helps set aspect-ratio-correct FOV settings by projecting a 3D model of your screen into the gameworld. Fly OFF close to a big screen as a true visual simulation, preserving perspective so objects are as close as they appear--or just make it look right for gaming. Your optimized FOV is applied to all OFFbase campaign aircraft seamlessly and automatically in all positions, including forward gunsights and rear gunner, as well as correctly integrating modded aircraft. OFFset: the OFF settings manager - Backup and Restore all your painfully-crafted OFF settings (Workshops and CFS3 Config), in full or in part. Handy if you need to reinstall the game or update graphics drivers, but also use settings profiles to switch between different play styles, or pre-configure hardware with settings recommendations from the experts. An OFFramp ModRule archives your settings on first run, so you can safely experiment. See the included OFFset.readme.rtf. OFFput: the OFF Pilot UnderTaker – Cares for your dead and broken pilot files by rebuilding corrupted XML files (frequently caused by retiring multiple pilots in OFF Manager). It automatically protects against some common problems and gives you a panic button that works when OFF Manager goes haywire and tells you to delete your pilots! Won’t back up your pilots for you, but makes restoration a snap. Realism profiles manage degrees of Dead Is Dead (DID) and Realistic Survival Strategies (RSS) community standards in OFF Workshops and CFS3Config, for a well-designed experience at any difficulty level. Requirements: OFFice is of no use and will not install without Over Flanders Fields: Hat in the Ring (OFF), OBD Software's breathtakingly deep WW1 combat flight simulator. The official Hat in the Ring expansion pack is recommended: Make sure you patch both to the latest version: http://overflandersfields.com NaturalPoint’s TrackIR is essential for included realism profiles and simulation field-of-view settings: http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/ OFFice uses Microsoft WordPad (included with Windows) to view documentation. The full OFFice suite requires 3GB free hard drive space on your OFF partition. OFFice installs itself alongside OFF. Credits: Producer - Lothar of the Hill People Exec. Producer - OlPaint01 Research - Bletchley, British_eh, Hasse Wind, RAF_Louvert AA, Balloons - Bletchley, Herr Prop-Wasche, Lothar of the Hill People Ammunition - Bletchley, Creaghorn, Lothar of the Hill People Damage Modeling - Herr Prop-Wasche, Buddy1998 Dead is Dead Rules - Siggi Documentation - Lothar of the Hill People Encounters - Lothar of the Hill People, Bletchley, JamesL Game Design - Bletchley, Lothar of the Hill People, Creaghorn Maps - Lothar of the Hill People Medal System - RAF_Louvert, Lothar of the Hill People Mask, TAC & Labels - Olham Missions - Bletchley, Buddy1998, Lothar of the Hill People Music Production - Andy73, Lothar of the Hill People News & Photos - Creaghorn, Herr Prop-Wasche Rear Arc of Fire - 33Lima RSS Rules - British_eh Skins - Bullethead, nbryant, Olham, RAF_Louvert, Robert_Wiggins, UK_Widowmaker Software Engineer - Lothar of the Hill People Sound Design - Andy73 Weather & Skies - Herr Prop-Wasche Weapons & Loadouts - Bletchley, OlPaint01 Additional Testing - CaptSopwith, Cavaliere57, cptroyce, FreiherrWulff, JamesL, Robert_Wiggins Third-Party Sources and Included Tools: Audio Compression - FLAC: Free Lossless Audio Codec http://flac.sourceforge.net Bloom/HDR Shaders - ENBSeries http://enbdev.com Icons - Simon Child, The Noun Project http://thenounprojec...om/Simon Child/ Installers - Nullsoft Scriptable Install System http://nsis.sourceforge.net Maps and Topography – Google Mod Management - JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler 2.6.0 Music Sources - Piano Society http://pianosociety.com - fair use clips (see included documentation) Runtime Environment – REBOL 3 Alpha http://www.rebol.com/rebol3/ License: This software is free to use and benevolently modify via the ModRules interface, but not free to redistribute or otherwise misappropriate. Simple rule: don't be a jerk. Seriously. By agreeing to use this software, if you're a jerk about it you forfeit all your personal property to the program authors. So just don't be a jerk. Finally: while much of OFFice is geared toward making your OFF experience easier, safer, and more reliable, your mileage may vary. OFFice is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software. The Fine Print: OFFice will edit your pilots and OFF Workshop and CFS3Config settings! That's the entire point. You should BACKUP your pilots frequently anyway: campaigns\CampaignData\Pilots\ in your OFF install The OFFset plugin in OFFramp will archive your OFF Workshop and CFS3Config settings on first run, and can easily backup and restore them whenever. See OFFset.readme.txt. The OFFput plugin in OFFramp can rebuild your XML files should they become corrupted or lost. With OFFice, there’s no longer any need to backup or worry about the UIsel.xml or UnlimitedPilots.xml files in your Windows user profile, and restoring pilots from backup is a snap. Persistent squadrons mean you will no longer be able to jump between the same squad during different periods of the war. OFFbase will synchronize multiple squadron pilots automatically--those at an earlier date put on leave until caught up with the most recent pilot in that squadron. So don’t be surprised! OFFbase handles the outcome of missions itself--a key ingredient to tracking your squadmates’ outcomes too. It sets ‘Dead Is Dead’ in the OFF Workshops merely so all crashes that destroy your aircraft are treated the same and do not advance time. So don’t despair at the message from OFF that your pilot is dead--this just tells OFFbase your plane is done--your pilot may yet live. Rate the severity of the crash and trust the mercy of the simulated combat medics. You may be Injured, Hospitalized, Disabled, or Deceased, but in all cases you can continue your squadron’s campaign with a replacement pilot. JSGME requires Administrator privileges to modify your OFF install, and so OFFice will ask for elevation to install and run. OFFice can launch OFF Manager and CFS3Config as Admin, but you'll need to set CFS3.exe (and TrackIR if you use it) to run as Administrator manually (right click, Properties). OFFice uses JSGME to customize your OFF installation to create a more unique and historically accurate experience for each individual campaign. When it runs, do not interfere, and please wait patiently--it will take several minutes sometimes, especially on first run. Don’t worry if it says “Not Responding”, it’s just working really hard to customize the game. READ THE INCLUDED DOCUMENTATION – ESPECTIALLY THE FAQ IN THE OFFBASE MANUAL See also the OFFice/OFFbase Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Click here to download this file

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Good to hear a few more reports of people having success with OFFice and OFFbase! Great, just posted a FAQ thread over in the Knowledge Base section. If someone could pin it at the top, I would appreciate it.

If you receive VBScript errors trying to start OFFice, see this post from Davy TASB.

If you receive VBScript errors trying to start OFFbase, see this post from Davy TASB.

Need to set up a FAQ thread for OFFice. Anyone know how to make a sticky?

Thanks, Davy. Is this a common problem? Can you tell me the exact error message you got? Scary such a basic component of Windows could get messed up like this. Doing a little research it seems the problem is most often caused by 3rd party anti-virus software, particularly McAfee and avast!, often upon uninstalling them. I consider most antivirus software itself no better than a virus, mucking up and slowing down your system and causing unforeseen consequences to application behavior while draining your wallet. I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free, transparent, easy-to-use, light on your system, and won't cock up Windows. Avoid 3rd party registry "cleaner" utilities as well; these also often cause more problems than they solve.

OFFice 0.9.9 is now available at Combat Ace. You can get the full package or just download the OFFbase update. Follow a link for the full change-log. You're most likely to notice the historical weather system and new encounters. Or both: Some old encounters have been expanded with more dynamic text as well, revealing more of the underlying complexity and drama in the encounter system and more detail about the characters involved. Dogs aren't the only animals that can cause tension in the squadron:

Okay the OFFbase update including HPW's FM mod 4.0.0 is now available, which will patch OFFice 0.9.8 to version 0.9.9. The full OFFice 0.9.9 is currently uploading and should be available soon.