Lothar of the Hill People

OFFice: Skin in the Game View File ‘Skin in the Game’ is a custom skin pack for the OFFice incomparable campaign engine for Over Flanders Fields. It includes historically appropriate custom paint jobs for player aircraft in the OFFice campaign from the OFF community’s best skinners. Most of these are already available for download at Combat Ace, but this provides a single, easy-to-install package. Installation: The installer will automatically extract the mod into your OFF JSGME mods folder if OFF and JSGME are installed correctly. The ‘OFFice - Skin in the Game’ folder can be manually activated with JSGME if this pack is used without the rest of the OFFice suite. OFFramp will activate the mod automatically for your OFFice campaigns, so when you next launch OFF from OFFbase any additional skins will selectable in-game for your aircraft type. If the Bletchley’s RSS Ammo mod is enabled in OFFramp, your Munitions Officer will let you know in the hangar if custom skins are acceptable. Contributions: Bullethead: DFW C.V Realistic(?) Naval Hex After a lot more research, I totally re-did the paintjob of my naval DFW skin. Now it looks (I THINK) about as realistic as possible, per Dan-San Abbott's information. Hand-painted, symmetrical hexes in hopefully the right colors, and the correct colors on the fuselage and rudder. nbryant: SPAD VII – Spa.26 1917 No. S 1042 (14) of Spa.26 crashed on nose at St. Pol. This plane was wrecked on 14 September 1917 by M.d.L. Quellec. The serial number indicates that the plane was constructed by Blériot but it appears that the upper wing had been previously replaced with one constructed by S.P.A.D. or Kellner as the cocardes are of a larger diameter than found on Blériot-built planes. Also note that the nose appears to be painted in a dark color. A darkish color extends over the fabric surfaces back to the fuselage band. Olham: Albatros DIII early Burgundy - Jasta 24 1917 Albatros DIII Red Yellow - Jasta 28w 1917 Albatros D.V "Windrose" - Jasta 17 1917 Inspired by the 3. Albatros D.Va built by THE VINTAGE AVIATOR, I made this skin. The plywood of the TVA craft was varnished with a clear laquer with a warm redbrownish tone added. It looks like a darker honey, or amber. Together with the mauve and green upper wing camo, it goes very nicely. Albatros D.V Haifisch - Seefrosta 1 1917 Sopwith Triplane Blue & Silver - RNAS-8 Sopwith Triplane "Silver Bird" - RNAS-8 RAF_Louvert: Bristol F2b – RAF 139 #D8084 flown by Capt Sydney Dalrymple of 139 Squadron RAF, based at Villavera aerodrome. Robert_Wiggins: 4 historically accurate skins for Captain William George Barker’s Camel B6313 while he flew with 28 Sqn RFC OC, C Flight, October 1917; 28 Sqn RFC OC, C Flight, March 1917; and Major William George Barker’s Camel B6313 while he flew with 139 Sqn RAF OC Summer 1918; 139 Sqn RAF OC September 1918. http://combatace.com/files/file/13489-william-barkers-camel-b6313-4-personal-skins/ UK_Widowmaker: Sopwith Pup – 66 sqd 1917 Flown by s/Lt W.C. Heathcote Additional Credits: Many thanks to the OBD Sofrware skinners--OvS/James Romano and Paarma/Arto Karttunen--who created the immense output of over 3,400 skins for OFF that serve as basis for all modders’ work. Additional Contributions? Made a historically-appropriate campaign aircraft skin you think should be included? Contact Lothar of the Hill People at Combat Ace. Submitter Lothar of the Hill People Submitted 01/30/2013 Category Aircraft Skins

Custom player skins prevent setting individual fuel and ammo loadouts in the briefing room--see the option in the Workshops.

Unzip and run the attached .reg file. Sets the App Path for Wordpad to "%ProgramFiles%\Windows NT\Accessories\WORDPAD.EXE" which should work on Vista and Win7. WordPad.zip

It's only recent versions that include all the documentation and use Wordpad, so that would explain why OFFbase used to work for you. The location of the WordPad.exe itself moves from version to version of Windows, which is why MS set up the App Paths in the registry so developers can find this and other included utilities. Very odd it's not there. Have you run any "registry cleaner" programs? I know lots of people including OBD recommend these from time to time, but I've never seen them cause anything but trouble. Just to verify: Instead of using the search box, try the Run dialog. Click the Start button, then "Run..." Then type in Wordpad and hit enter. Without the App Path set, this should fail, unlike the search box which still found it. Also, does the following key exist? It's a legacy of pre-Win 95 but should also point to WordPad.exe for backwards compatibility: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\WRITE.EXE\"

What version of Windows (or Windoes ) are you using? Did you use anything like nlite to strip out stuff from your installation? Can you run Wordpad from the search box? If it's Vista or Win7, try just clicking the start button, typing Wordpad and hitting enter.

Looks like it can't find Wordpad, which it uses to view the included RTF docutmentation. Which is weird, as pretty much every Windows comes with Wordpad. Do you have it on your system? Aha! Just noticed the "Windoes" rather than "Windows" in the path. Weird, as it should check the following key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\WORDPAD.EXE\" Or is that just a typo from typing rather than copying&pasting the error message? You could open regedit and manually see if the key exists.

Have you updated your OFF / HitR install with the latest patches? Any error messages in the REBOL console?

Give it a try, Hasse Wind. This version should at least print out where it is looking for the CFS3 ConfigOverrides.xml, so with that extra info perhaps I can get it working for you.

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!

View File OFFice: The incomparable campaign engine for Over Flanders Fields 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). Submitter Lothar of the Hill People Submitted 01/19/2013 Category OFFice / OFFbase / OFFworld

So this was a bug, but it kinda freaked me out after reading what you'd written here. I'd just gone in to the briefing room to test a mission had been generated correctly, but avoided flying. When I exited, instead of returning to the main Squadron HQ window as I'd expected, I found myself dragged into the Adjutant's office: Should only end up in his office leaving OFF if there are results to report from OFF's own simulation of your squad, but in this case only a few minutes had passed and nothing had changed. Normally you have to go into his office yourself while a mission is assigned and uncompleted to get him yelling at you like this. I looked into fixing this "bug"--my pilot was marked as "Returning", but it only happens sometimes, not sure why, and I'm going to leave it. Chest full of medals like that, who's to argue!

Looks like we'll have to wait for WOFF for a fix to the ace skins issue. OFFbase could be programed to delete 0-minute missions from the log, but that doesn't stop OFF from advancing time in the process so you'd end up actually flying your Dawn Patrol in the afternoon. Flying the DFW I never get close enough to other planes to appreciate the fancy skins anyway, but I know how much others enjoy them. Can anyone confirm the "Flay Last Mission!" trick actually still works with version 3.1 of the FM?

Sure, and thanks James. I can see you've given a lot of thought to the possibilities here. More realistic, sure. One of the things I wanted to do though was give players more control over the clock. Ultimately I'd like the current freedom to be something earned in game--high-ranking aces would be able to go hunting on Lone Wolf missions whenever they please while that Flieger's got artillery spotting to do come hell or high water. The new mission system that's been in testing will ultimately make it possible to attach timers and encounters to missions with rules for various conditions. For starters... Still grappling the the possibilities that've opened up now that the next version of OFFbase completely takes over the mission files. These two go together. I'd like to use the lead ace of a squadron as the leader, whom the Adjutant aids by handling flight assignments, discipline, etc. It'd even be easy to pre-set the personalities of famous aces in your squadron, so MVR has a background in the cavalry and served on the eastern front etc, and behave accordingly. The reason aces haven't been OFFbase-d along with the fictional squadmates is because the extensive historical data of ace movements exhaustively collected by the OFF team is protected from snooping around in the game files from the likes of less savory types than me. I now have some of this data, but won't use it in OFFbase until I'm confident it's secured. But eventually, squadron aces will be mulling about intimidating the rookie pilots, while one of them runs the show. That would be cool. CFS3 basically just tells OFF Manager if you crashed or not (severe enough to damage the plane). By setting Dead Is Dead in the Workshops, OFFbase basically passes this info through (ignore the dead pilot end of campaign message in OFF Manager) and trigger it's own crash-handling code, but there's no way to track any detail about the damage. OFFbase just does a roll based on the self-reported severity of the crash (and things like your pilot's Aerial Skill) to determine damage severity and how many days off, if any, result from a need for repairs/replacement. This system is bare-bones at best (only spent a few minutes on it), and definitely could be extended with more detailed damage modeling. Time is the only constraint. Sure does. The set of events that can be reported for your squadmates is small, but what happens to them (and your own character) on missions such as crashes or injuries, being captured, going missing or being presumed dead, all affects their mood. Not only that, but friends will be upset by the happenings as well--though one's enemies may relish such struggles. The behavioral model is the heart of OFFbase. The procedurally-generated rule-based AI allows far more complex, unique, and dynamic behavioral responses to emerge than are currently expressed in OFFbase's admittedly limited interface. There are a number attributes besides the basic six displayed in the interface--reflecting stability, sociability, and other factors that are used internally. Rooted in behavioral economics, agents have reference-dependent risk preferences, and thus feel losses more than gains. The result of all this is that stress is cumulative, affects everyone uniquely, and spills over through the social networks that develop within your squadron--all dynamically and naturally. But once a character is Fuming and Disrespected pretty much all they do is piss everyone off until they're forced out with a transfer, hopefully for a better go of it with another unit. Adding encounters with the chaplain and medical officer that are triggered for characters in dire straits is a great idea, and with the new encounter system it's easyto trigger changes in status such as leave as a result of encounters. It'd even be possible to add more mental "injuries" and maims like stressed, shell-shocked, whatever (right now there's only a Brain Damage maim and a Vegetable disability). There is such an interface but it's only enabled for debugging for me. I don't want to give everything away--actually learning details about your squadmates bit by bit and having to use your memory is an important part of caring about what happens to them in the air. But I'm working in the direction of making more detailed info more often available to players of more socially-intelligent characters. That way if your gameplay style is to focus on micromanaging managing your men and the morale of your squad, you'll have more encounters, more choice in who you encounter and what you do, with more detail on your squadmates displayed frequently. Whereas if you play as an anti-social introverted slob that people leave alone so you can concentrate on the killing, you'll rarely seen any detailed info on your 'fellow' pilots. It would be useful to be able to have file or something for each of your squadmates with their picture, detailed psychological profile, and notebook to write entries about them. Perhaps this is something that could even be earned if you rise to become Adjutant yourself (something I'd eventually to be possible when the mission system is advanced enough, letting you actually build your own missions and assign individual members to flights). As for an automatic record, that would be do-able but a much lower priority. Such a system's in place already, actually, but it's a bit cumbersome and needs to be updated for the new encounter system. Basically traits are attached to each photo, and when characters need to choose a photo they randomly draw an unused pic, then are rated how they feel about the picture with the same system that rates how they do at individual encounters. This score feeds a modified dice roll to keep the pic or toss it back and try again. But as I said, it's cumbersome, and very little metadata's been entered so far (more-so for the Germans). If you can help, great! I've also added a button to the next release which you can click to force another character to draw another pic, at a small prestige cost (higher for high-ranking npcs, lower for player characters with good people-management skills). That would be excellent, James. I'm not going to have much time to work on it myself, and it definitely needs more encounters and other such content. The possibilities for the game are endless, but each individual encounter has 36 possible different outcomes of how prestige and mood are affected--though very little is expressed in the text because writing all that is so time-consuming. But the new encounter system allows much more dynamic results, which will be seen in the next release. So I'll be in touch!

The installer version doesn't require OFFice, just JSGME, so it's for everyone. There's really no need for the manual install version, unless for some reason someone without OFF and JSGME wants to extract the files.

The installer version I slapped together for SimHQ will only install if it finds JSGME is in the right folder, and if not will tell you exactly where it should be found: It includes corrected documentation as well: Sent the installer stuff to you during your break from OFF, HPW, so I'm not surprised you missed it. Your work on this thing is indispensable and I wanted people to be able to use it while you were away. You're welcome to add the installer package to the downloads at CA alongside your manual version. My JSGME installer kit is really easy to use (seriously takes just a couple of minutes to throw these together), and I encourage all OFF modders to use it so files always go in the right place, with no chance of user error. That makes users and modders happy.

Do you have HitR and all the latest patches installed? Pardon the pun, but there's something off with your OFF install (either system registry or CFS3Config) if you're getting the intro-setup sequence at all, let alone to have it stuck in a loop. My software is detecting the problem but for some reason can't fix it. When you first run OFF Manager after a new clean install, it runs CFS3Config to initialize the ConfigOverrides.xml first. But this isn't fool-proof--users might not follow the FAQ and close CFS3Config before the "CFS3 has been configured" message finally arrives, or might just close the window instead of saving settings with File->Exit. Then OFF Manager will just bomb out. So the only reason you're getting this message and having OFF Manager and CFS3Config run, and getting stuck in a loop, is because your CFS3Config is not creating the ConfigOverrides.xml where OFF Manager's system registry settings have referenced it. OFFset and OFFbase are looking for your ConfigOverrides.xml but can't find it, so are trying to create it so your OFF works properly, but to no avail. Hit your start button at type 'regedit' into the search box to launch the Windows registry editor. Expand the KEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > "VB and VBA Program Settings" > OFFManager> Settings tree. There should be an "ApplicationDataPath" key, and the value should go into your user profile, something like: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields If that's not the right path for your user current profile, you've got problems. Try browsing to the folder in Windows explorer, make sure it exists and see if there's a ConfigOverrides.xml there that is updated when you save your CFS3Config (does the file date refresh when you save your settings?). My software's trying it's best to help you, Hasse Wind, but doesn't know how to deal with an OFF install messed up quite the way yours is.

The issue is that when JSGME is inside the "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" subfolder it's unable to mod the "WW1Scenery" folder, which a number of mods from myself and Bletchley do. As HPW mentioned, I put together an installer than automatically places the most recent version of JSGME in the correct version for all modern OFF mods. The link to it at Combat Ace is right on the OFFbase download page (I know it's long but read it, guys!). It's also now available at SimHQ. Just run the JSGME_2.6.0_OFF.exe and you're good to go. It's okay to leave old copies of JSGME in other folders unused.

There was a preview of an improved WOFF map in a screenshot this summer: Looks good to me!

For now, download them separately. If my map mod is installed, OFFbase will detect it and give you a simple interface to switch between them:

It's not scary at all, hood, in fact it's a lot simpler to install than OFF itself! Just: Download and run JSGME_2.6.0_OFF.exe from here Download and run the OFFbase.exe from here Then just run the "Play OFFbase" shortcut from your desktop or start menu It's the easiest thing in the world, and it can't mess up your OFF install. In fact, it automatically backs up all your Workshop and CFS3 Config settings so you can restore them if you have real trouble from some other cause, or just need to update your graphics drivers. Doesn't backup pilots though (not a cheat engine!). I suggest starting a new pilot in a new squadron. There's a button for the manual (with a FAQ section) right on the main window of OFFbase if you need it, and of course I'm always happy to help in the forums. Don't mean it to come across as so intimidating when really it's incredibly simple and intuitive to play and use. If you could post your experiences sometime Olham, I'm sure others would find it helpful. Creaghorn suggested setting up a sticky thread where people can post tips, get suggestions, even post stories and screenshots of the emergent fun. I just uploaded version 0.9.1 (give a little time for admins to approve) which fixes a few small but important bugs--and lets' you request leave if you want to park a pilot safely for a while and fly another in the same squad--send your famous ace on a homefront tour to keep him out of Bloody April, whatever. And this is really cool--you can visit your other injured pilots, have encounters with them and try to cheer them up which can speed up their healing. That's assuming your local medical facilities are equipped to deal with the severity of the relevant injuries.

Has to do with the size of the bitmap in memory causing texture problems or something--another case where the old code of CFS3 is troublesome. The in-game map is 1876x1844, pretty big for back in 2002 or whenever CFS3 is from. You can try my map mods, which give you a choice of three different higher-quality greater-detail maps based on Google imaging. Same resolution, but still much more useful in air. Here's a 50% reduced-size preview of my 'Google Mix': Still some distortion, particularly at the northern corners, but overall much better than the stock maps where things are sometimes score of miles off their correct locations.