ArgonV

This new B.E.2c offers quite a lot! The wings have been redone by Recon3 and myself, two totally new loadouts have been added, the whole front end has been remodeled and remapped, the back top fuselage has been remapped and in general she just looks a heck of a lot better! :D She also sports a few new mission to boot! This will be the final version released of the B.E.2c unless any bugs are found that need fixing. Please note that this download will make you incompatable on-line! Get her here: B.E.2c Final Version 2.0 Enjoy! :)

That's right folks! The Germans get another GREAT two-seater! Model and preliminary OPS work by WTG/PR, skin by Recon3 and polishing and GUI work by me (ArgonV). This should be a final release unless bugs are found. Please read the readme carefully! You will need the latest FS-WWI OLS for this download to work. Enjoy! And get her here: Roland C.II Beta 1 :D

That's right she is done! Much thanks to FlyXwire for the outstanding texturing jobs! The final Morane N sports a new: Hotchkiss model and texture Vickers model and texture Lewis model and texture Engine model and texture Totally new cockpit New pilot and texture Tweaked skin A few new missions Get it here: Morane Saulnier N Final Version 2 (8.26 mb) Please note that downloading and installing this will make you not compatable on-line. Please use with the latest OLS. Enjoy! :D

Jens (RAF_Loke) at the Wings with Wires board wrote the fine folks working on Knights Over Europe asking for any updates, and they responded!!! Below is what producer Mathew 'JP4' Herman of Aspect Simulations had to say: "Jens: Thanks for taking the time to write, rest assured that we are still working on "Knights Over Europe". If you are interested we have done two interviews of late. The first at SimHQ, I've included the link below. We have also done an interview for PC Pilot magazine, the interview appears in issue 25. You should be able to find PC Pilot at your local magazine vendor. Both of these articles shed a lot more light on "Knights Over Europe" and I'm sure you'll enjoy them. SimHQ KOE Interview Regards, Mathew 'JP4' Herman Producer Aspect Simulations, LLC"

See here for details: FS-WWI Terrain Contest Details at OpenPlaneSims

Thanks to the efforts of Recon3 for the new pilot skins, FlyXwire for the excellent texturing work on the cockpit and myself for the new cockpit model and other such tweaks to the B.E.2c I am happy to say that the B.E.2c can now compete visually with the latest FS-WWI releases. The new pit and pilots add that much more! I hope you B.E.2c fans out there enjoy this! =D Get it here: Updated B.E.2c Please remember that this update will make you incompatable on-line.

Ok we're done! This update includes: -SM file cleaned up more -Wing smoothing fixed -New Pilots added -Collision points touched up -New Lewis guns added -Fixed windshield holder shading -Fixed upper right wing fall-off problem -New cockpit added (Textures by FlyXwire, Recon3 and myself) Here's a new screen shot of this lovely cockpit! Download it here: Final Bristol F.2b Please remember that this update will make you incompatable on-line. Enjoy! :)

The newly designed site just got up and running with ordering info and product info! Visit here: www.mywrightexperience.com There are about 100 CDs made up in-home and ready to ship and more can be made up "on-demand". The software itself is "gold" and the box packaging is final as well. The only difference is that the in-house ones have a laser-printed quick-start quide and the CD label is ink-jet (direct application, not a sticker label), as opposed to having the high-end print quality from a pro print shop for the CD and quick-start guide. The time-frame to receive the quality printed CDs and booklets from the printer is about two weeks. So you can either order now if you wish and get the in-house CD and play the sim before anyone else, or wait for the retail version! I went ahead and ordered now and got next day delivery. :D Can't wait! There are also some new screen shots at the site, so check it out!

Man I'm having fun with this! You can change the wind setting in mid-flight just to see how different aircraft behave under different conditions. I managed to set the wind setting up to 10 (Which is like 25 mph of wind) and have my glider launch, do a 180 turn and glide down the wrong side of the mountian! (Of course I side-slipped most of the way) The glider doesnt go anywhere with no wind... I've even landed the glider with hardly any wind and right when I touched down, bump the wind setting to max and took off again! And sometimes even go backwards! (Very unstable and hard to do) The Wright Flyer is one tough motha... Very twitchy in the vertical. Once you loose it, your done for... Wind helps this one right along, but becareful not to use too much! You will loose control quickly I havent explored into the damage model too much. Seems to resemble FS2004 in that if you smack into the ground too hard, the sim gives you a message saying you crashed. I have rammed a house and watched my kite go to pieces however! Almost fell outta the chair on that one! I wish each part was individually modeled like SDOE, but the Thirdwire engine does not have this kind of inertia and physics modeling... The only real drawback I see. :) The flight model is very good however, best I've seen. Believe it or not, the FS2004 Wright Flyer behaves much like the First Flight flight mode. So MS apparently did some research on their own! I do like the First Flight one better tho. Gives more of a "you're really flying" feel. :D

Just got the copy this morning! The install went smoothly, and the options are staight foward and simple. The menu music is from the time period and really puts you there, as do the backgrounds and loading screens. Loaded up the 1903 Glider as I decided to take one at a time. Very nice model! And I like the authentic people of the time period holding your Glider ready to launch at your command. Gliding is super fun!!! Brings back the early days of flight alright... Really must use ground effect to your advantage and watch for the wind speed and direction. Next I went to the Wright Flyer 1903. Wow is that one tricky! Very twitchy yet not that responsive depending on speed and wind... Takes a handful to keep her in the air and straight, just as it should! Again very impreesed with the model and terrain. Love the background sounds of the wind and beach water aswell. The Model B is just plain fun to sight-see around in. Very steady aircraft with little power and difficult vertial to sustain. Again impressed with the model! The details are nicely done and the wing warping is fun to watch on all aircraft. The only thing I think that's missing is the wheels dont actually rotate, but that's easy to look past. All of the terrains are pretty detailed down low, with houses, trees, and other such historic and random buildings. Great sense of being there. Great looking from a bit higher up too! The Thirdwire engine does terrain well in my opinion and it really shines here in First Flight. The game runs well on my system, and I haven't experienced any crashes, major glitches or bugs. But I've only been playing for a few hours here. ;)

Just got the copy this morning! The install went smoothly, and the options are staight foward and simple. The menu music is from the time period and really puts you there, as do the backgrounds and loading screens. Loaded up the 1903 Glider as I decided to take one at a time. Very nice model! And I like the authentic people of the time period holding your Glider ready to launch at your command. Gliding is super fun!!! Brings back the early days of flight alright... Really must use ground effect to your advantage and watch for the wind speed and direction. Next I went to the Wright Flyer 1903. Wow is that one tricky! Very twitchy yet not that responsive depending on speed and wind... Takes a handful to keep her in the air and straight, just as it should! Again very impreesed with the model and terrain. Love the background sounds of the wind and beach water aswell. The Model B is just plain fun to sight-see around in. Very steady aircraft with little power and difficult vertial to sustain. Again impressed with the model! The details are nicely done and the wing warping is fun to watch on all aircraft. The only thing I think that's missing is the wheels dont actually rotate, but that's easy to look past. All of the terrains are pretty detailed down low, with houses, trees, and other such historic and random buildings. Great sense of being there. Great looking from a bit higher up too! The Thirdwire engine does terrain well in my opinion and it really shines here in First Flight. The game runs well on my system, and I haven't experienced any crashes, major glitches or bugs. But I've only been playing for a few hours here. ;)

"John Reynolds asked Knights Over Europe Producer Mathew 'JP4' Herman questions about the highly anticipated WWI flight sim now in development. Mathew also sent along five exclusive new screenshots that show the development progress. You can read the new interview and view the screenshots here." :D

I've been playing the demo that came out not too long ago that got pulled, and I'm actually quite impressed (Besides there being no joystick) at some of the small details that have got into the sim! The next batch of screenshots that just came out also are very impressive. While this may not be a hard-core WWI sim, it should offer a great deal of enjoyment to those who really dig WWI air combat! :D Check out the new screen shots here: Wings of Honor Official Site

I ran across this at Major Lee's website: http://www.mywrightexperience.com/ Major Lee also has updated screen shots here of the new simulation: http://www.major-lee.net/index.html under Wright Flyer Experience. "First Flight" offers the historic flight sim pilot the opportunity to fly either the Wright Brother's 1902 Glider, the 1903 Flyer or the 1911 "B" model Flyer. Each of these craft offer unique challenges to the virtual pilot. Let me assure you, flying these aircraft in the "Realistic" flight model mode is extremely challenging! The 1902 Glider is propelled by variable winds blowing off dunes of North Carolina. These same winds can play havoc with the 1903 Flyer, so be careful of wind direction. The 1911 "B" Flyer offers the most control but it still is subject to variable winds and a less than deft touch on the stick! All three models sport a high tech wind direction indicator; a piece of string hanging from the front canard or frame structure. Learn to "read" this piece of equipment or you'll learn how to restart a flight session! Don't worry though, there is always the "Easy" flight model mode... You'll also appreciate the "Replay" capability of "First Flight", so you can review your flight or even save it. How cool!!! :D

Jack Ralston, President at Bihrle Applied Research sent me a nice e-mail today with some answers to many questions I had asked. To say the least, I'm VERY pleased at his response. Here is the part of the e-mail which explains: "I also want to thank all the people that have emailed with comments about the concept that we have for this game and how it can be extended to other period flight sim applications. We are very interested in how this game is accepted and have already been making tentative plans for several potential follow ons, ranging from the ability to incorporate new aircraft from the period to building an environment that will allow the bringing together of these airplanes to meet and race, both cross country as well as closed circuit. As a hobby activity, several company employees have been putting together flight simulations of some of the early aircraft through the airplanes of World War I, using the same approach of building the models with the latest commercial simulation modeling techniques. We certainly would like to see the application of these models in the scenarios described above and look forward seeing how enthusiasts respond to First Flight. A few other questions that I can answer - to the questions about whether the sim is open - the sim is sort of open at this point, at least the terrain, and the graphical objects are. The terrain model at KittyHawk has a wind model tied to it so editing that one can cause problems, although the terrain used by the 1911 model does not have that limitation. The flight models themselves are not currently accessible, but we may set up new flight models for future release. We're talking to with the developer about a number of options, and in the future, keep an eye on the First Flight website (www.mywrightexperience.com) for any announcements." I'm excited to say the least! :D

Hmmm... I doubt these kites could even lift off with a Vickers, LoL! I've been talking to Brian Wachter, the Web Developer for mywrightexperience.com and he says the new site will hopefully soon be set up and ready to go. From what I've seen thus far, it's looking great! They are also hoping to get the product wrapped up and shipped by next month. A very nice guy indeed, and I was most greatful for these bits of info. :)

:) Sorry, I really only read and moderate the WWI section here. I don't have a whole lot of time for the other sections. I'm sure some people are the same in fact! :)

You can find more screen shots here: http://www.bihrle.com/WrightFlyerInfo.html

That's right, Germany gets its first 2-engined bomber finally! This bomber flew in the early years of the war (1915-1916) and was one beast to down. Now the readme: **Gotha G.I Beta 1** This too is a plane of a first, and a third... ;) It's the third "complete" World War I heavy bomber for SDOE. It's also the first World War I German bomber for SDOE. Wakeup tailgunner/PR surprised the heck out of me when he said he was working on a Gotha G.I. It's beautiful!!!!! Many people helped out in the making of this kite. I would like to thank Aladar for his main skinning work, 3d model of the machine-gun and some instruments, Recon3 for his cockpit skinning work, and all the people who tested her out and contributed info. To install: Extract to the Media folder with the 'Use folder names' option checked. There is a new startup.ppf file in this zip that must get extracted aswell for the new bombs. It is up-to-date on both WWI and WWII fronts. Features: -DM includes fuel leaks, respectable engine DM, minor control surface DM and damaged models. -Moving control wheel, column and throttle. -The ability to man the pilot, nose/rear gunners and bombadier positions. -The ability to drop large bombs!!! -Many more! **NOTE** Do NOT go into a steep dive with this areoplane! She is fragile... Also remember that this is no sports car. Early WWI planes must be handled with TLC. (Tender Loving Care) The climb rate is slow, especially with a bomb load so keep this in mind. As this is a beta there are still some things that may need to be worked on/ironed out. If you notice any bugs please report them! And if you have any suggestions I would be most greatful to hear them. :) Known Problems/things to be done: Insides are iffy. (We had some pics) WTG/PR did darn good considering he had VERY little to go on. If you have any close-up pics of the insides of this kite, by all means send them to me! Download her here: Gotha G.I Beta Enjoy! -ArgonV :D

Please keep a close eye on the Knights Over Europe web site. Mathew 'JP4' Herman, producer at Aspect Simulations has given us a Heads up at Frugal's World of Simulations :D

PLEASE, if you have any maps, or any books with maps can you scan them and e-mail them to ArgonV@AOL.com? PR and I are trying to get a proper hi-res WWI terrain made for FS-WWI and need your help! Thank you. :)

That's right folks! This is the info I got from Vlasov earlier today. More details have been posted at WWI Officers Club on the front News page: "Now that the Targetware engine is in Open Beta (details at http://www.targetware.net/index.php ) we are putting together a guide in preparation for the Target Flanders open beta, scheduled for Friday August 8th. Here is the first installment Target Flanders: An open beta for the modding community Target Flanders is first and foremost a team effort. We are all modders who began the project rather late in the Targetware process. We don’t have the resources of Targetware, and we don’t have the resources of the Target Rabaul Team. We do have a few very dedicated individuals with outstanding skill in their own areas who have done some quite incredible work. But our coverage is deep rather than wide. We have done some things very well, and some things not at all. If upon seeing Target Flanders your first reaction is to say: “such and such is clearly missing”. Let your second reaction be to create it and send it in. Odds are you will see it up on the server in a very short time. There will be no better way to learn how to create your own mod than to participate in the further shaping of a mod which is already well under way. When you first fire up Target Flanders, you will notice many things missing. No, we don’t really have cockpit instruments yet. No, we don’t have tons of skins for each aircraft. Yes, our ground objects are really markers for ground objects. Yes, we only have control surface animations for a few planes. Well, you get the idea. But everything you will see is functional, and has been designed with one single purpose in mind: to provide the most atmospheric, realistic, and yes, informative and educational WWI air combat simulation experience. We have tried to create something unique and which many say cannot be done: A gripping, intensely thrilling, accurate, no-compromise simulation. This concern for the accuracy of the simulation extends well beyond the traditional obsession with flight model, damage model, and gunnery. It extends to the air combat environment, the draconian influence of the ground war over action in the air, etc. Bottom line, Target Flanders is highly playable in its present state, if your goal is simulation of early WWI air combat. Our philosophy is simple. If a given action was unthinkable for a WWI pilot, you better not try it in Target Flanders. If a given course of action was incredibly risky for a WWI pilot, without being unthinkable, keep it for those occasions when you have no choice in the matter, and hope for the best. The air combat environment We begin in July 1915, with a 20 km stretch of the northern sector of the western front. Don’t look for it on a map, it isn’t there. The airfields, the layout, everything is inspired by the Arras area, but everything is believable rather than true. That is a crucial concept for the TF design. We are going for verisimilitude rather than the straight jacket of absolute accuracy. On each side of the front, 2 infantry corps are arrayed. These are made up of 3 divisions of 24 companies each. On the British side, 18 field artillery batteries are distributed among the divisions. The German artillery will be in place soon. It is a momentarily quiet sector of front with an average divisional frontage of just over 3 kilometres. Each side has a supply network composed of divisional and corps level supply dumps. These are important objectives and should be well protected. The ground units and supply organizations are represented by traditional wargaming counters, each bearing a symbol which indicates its type: a cross in a box for infantry, a circle in a box for artillery, and a half-moon symbol for supply organizations. The level of each unit is indicated by a symbol at the top of the marker: a single I for a company or battery, X for a brigade (only artillery is a brigade level at the moment), XX for a division and XXX for a corps. Artillery also has the type of gun indicated in the lower right corner of the unit marker (for example “18pdr” for British 18 pounder field guns). The unit markers are all “mud brown”. The colour of the symbols on their face indicates ownership: Olive drab for British and field grey for German (what else!). The size of each marker is proportional to what it should be on a miniatures gaming table top. The entire area of the marker can be attacked and damaged. The odds you will actually completely destroy one, however, are quite remote. It takes more than a couple of 20 pound bombs to really hurt, or even significantly disrupt a well dug in front line infantry company. But any havoc you create will in the end help your side win the scenario. Scenarios and Missions No one in Target Flanders takes off without a mission, and without selecting a unit within that mission. All flying and fighting takes place in scenarios. The sequence of scenarios is meant to represent a typical day on the northern sector of the Western Front in July 1915. Each scenario lasts 3 hours. They are labeled 6 AM, 9 AM, Noon, and so on. All the scenarios have the same selection of missions for now, but this will change over time. The weather, however, changes slightly between scenarios. At the moment, there is one airfield per side (to be increased ASAP) and three missions available at the German airfield and four at the British airfield. At both the German and British fields, one can select a basic combat air patrol mission. The German airfield has an observation mission while the British field has a close air support mission. Both fields have a training mission. The British field also has a “deep strike” bombing mission on the enemy supply net, which is only active if 4 or more flyers have selected it. The distribution of missions is meant to portray the doctrinal differences between German and British airstaffs in the summer of 1915. While the British were concerned with agressively using air power tactically and operationally, the Germans reserved their air attack potential for more strategic targets, using large bombers and Airships. These types of very deep penetration flights are outside the scope of TF for the moment. The German missions therefore represent the German tendency to use tactical and operational airpower in a defensive and observation role. There are a maximum of 4 Fokker EIII’s and 6 Vickers FB5 Gunbus aircraft available on our sector of front. The other aircraft are not limited in number. However, the number of lives for each individual pilot is limited to two per scenario for the early part of the open beta. This will be reduced to one at a later date. A word on flying the fighters. While the EIII has a pilot controlled, synchronized forward firing machine gun (with muzzle flash even!) the Vickers Gunbus has no such equipement. Its offensive armament consists of a gunner controlled, nacelle mounted, flexible Lewis gun. Gunner positions are not yet mannable in the Targetware engine. It is therefore advisable for FB5 pilots to map their gunner toggle key to a joystick button. Set you gunner to “safe” until you have achieved a good firing position, then set your gunner to “clear to fire”. Set it back to “safe” when the opportunity has passed, so that the gunner doesn’t waste all that precious and very limited ammunition. This is an entirely new, and quite thrilling way to fight! As you begin, I really urge you to select the training mission available at each airfield. Not only is it a good way to learn how to handle TF’s airplanes, it is also a way of experiencing, at some level, a significant piece of aeronautic history. The training mission puts you in a Bleriot XI aircraft. Practice take-offs and landings, but stay well away from the front. The training mission can be selected any number of times during a given scenario. The other missions cannot be selected if you have had 2 deaths already during the current scenario. Lives are reset at the end of each scenario. Scenarios are won by inflicting damage on the enemy while preventing the enemy from damaging your side’s assets. The disruption and destruction of ground assets and observation and bombing aircraft is highly rewarded. The highest rewards come from successfully attacking elements of the enemy supply network. The destruction of fighter aircraft is not as highly rewarded in terms of scenario points, but may be necessary in order to achieve other, more rewarding objectives. In any case, the loss of large numbers of bombing and observation aircraft will spell disaster for any one side. Note that flying outside the populated 20 km sector of front will result in a “disengage” and bring you back to your airfield without further ado or ceremony. If you are in trouble, dive for your lines. The ground fire is withering down low and should keep pursuers at bay. You can practice offline with unlimited lives in all missions by selecting the 9 AM Offline scenario. When you are online, keep in mind that lives are limited and act accordingly!! If you expend all your lives before the end of a scenario, report of training on the Bleriot XI. I am sure that any new flyer will have tons of questions. We will be there whenever possible to answer them. You can reach me at costo@videotron.ca, or post your questions on the Target X message board at http://www.targetware.net/modules.php?op=m...mdisplay&fid=16 We are trying very hard to be live with the open beta by Friday August 8th. If anyone is interested in hosting our datapack for download, or hosting the server, please contact me at the above email or on the Target X board." I can't wait! I've been playing and testing Target Rabul and Target Korea since it went Open Beta late last night and I'm impressed with what I've seen thus far. There is HUGE potential here for both the modding communities and the company. I can only dream what the Targetware simulations will look like next year at this time. Best of luck to all parties involved! Here's to happing hunting and happy testing! :D

Posted by Vlasov at WWI Officers Club: "Target Flanders is making some excellent progress. We have now completed our initial plane set, which concentrates on Summer 1915. We have a Fokker EIII, two Vickers FB5 gunbus (one Vickers armed and one Lewis armed), a BE2c (with optional pilot's Lewis gun firing at 20 degrees to port), an Albatros BII (with a mauser 98 armed rifleman in the observer's seat) and a Bleriot XI to be used by both sides as a trainer aircraft. Each aircraft has a variety of possible loadouts which include 20 and 50 lb bombs, stick grenades, Mills Bombs (hand grenades), and a variety of machine guns. Futhermore, the open architecture of the Targetware engine allows individual pilots to quickly and easily create and submit their own individualized loadouts for inclusion on the server. During the period modeled, aircraft loadout and armament depended heavily on the creativity and ability of individual pilots and crews, and on the materials at hand at any one moment. There was little standardization of armament. The placement of bombs on the aircraft, for example, was almost completely ad hoc. The Target Flanders design reflects this to the fullest possible extent. Just as in summer 1915, Target Flanders pilots are free to experiment and develop the loadouts and placements which work for them and their flying style. Our little corner of the Western Front is coming along very nicely. We have started with a 20 km stretch which is manned by 72 infantry companies and 18 field artillery batteries on each side. We have a total of 6 divisions in 2 corps on each side of the front, each with an appropriately sized and placed supply dump. With that density of ground forces, don't drop below 2000 feet unless you're sure which side of the lines you're on, or unless you really want that posthumous VC or Orden. Just some friendly advice The scenario system is still moving in the direction I outlined in previous reports. Each scenario is won or lost by inflicting damage on the enemy on the ground and in the air, by controlling specific sectors of the sky for specified periods of time, and by successfully carrying out air recon missions. Since the destruction of observation and bombing aircraft fetches a much higher score than that of scouts, and since successful recon and bombing missions are the most highly rewarded activities (especially bombing of the supply net for the British and successful observation for the Germans), dogfighting is only ONE of the things to do in the skies of Target Flanders, and often not the most important. It becomes important only if it furthers the above mentioned aims. Finally, we have settled on the first aircraft which will be added after Target Flanders enters open beta: The Caudron G4 two engined bomber. We hope to be able to show a Target Flanders movie very soon. Till next time. " This sounds like some VERY good and exciting news!!! I can't wait to get my hands on the Beta. :D

Not that far away from release! Now featuring 2 bomb loadout types, 3 mannable gunner positions, hi-res 1024x1024 skin by Aladar, full damage model and flight model and some deadly bombing action... :D

I've been keeping tabs on this all-encompasing mod for Red Baron 3d and I'm very impressed with the ammount of detail and research that has gone into this. Red Baron 3d may be a 6+ year old game, but it just cannot die with the dedication behind the sim! The Promised Lands "Full Canvas Jacket" superpatch is a culmination of 4+ years of work that includes all the latest and past enhancements from PL... The Promised Lands "Full Canvas Jacket" Superpatch for RB3d will be a pay addon, meaning you will have to pay for it. However, it is WELL worth it! It will bring Red Baron 3d to a whole completely new level in terms of graphics, historical accuracy, sound effects and much much more. Preorders right now are $28.00 U.S. This includes shipping. For more details, please visit here: http://www.wingwalkers.org/jasta1/newplmain.htm :)