ArgonV

Sure, sims like F4 and Flanker and Black Shark where there's a lot to learn about that plane.

 

However, there's not to much to learn about a SPAD or a Sopwith. You have an engine, stick, rudder, and MGs (maybe small dumb bombs). Flying and gunnery are the only things to learn, as in depth as they may be. You have to learn those same things to the same degree in Black Shark, plus you have things like the avionics, countermeasures, weapons that aren't guns, etc.

In short, the developers by necessity have to put a lot more effort into modeling just one plane if it's a post-50's model compared to post-WWII and earlier. So while I can accept a study sim of just an F-4 or any contemporary or later airplane, I find it hard to swallow when it's got no radar, no NAV, no radio, no missiles, no ECM, simple engines, not even retractable landing gear. What exactly are they putting all their time into?

 

Frankly, no home PC can truly model a damaged WWI bird with ripped fabric anyway, the equations are too complex and need to be approximated.

Well, it can be a lot more tricky to fly a WW1 crate. Not one WW1 sim yet has to model many high-fidelity items you had to deal with in a WW1 crate: You've got to worry about starving fuel to the engine when inverting or even pushing down on your joystick, not over-reving your engine in a dive (No feathered props in WW1), blipping your engine on a landing or take off (Many rotaries did not have throttles). Most WW1 crates had no trim, or the trim was set on the ground and you could not adjust it mid-flight. This means you are always "flying" your aircraft, let go of the controls and your aircraft will not fly it self for the most part (Unless is was a stable recon type, like a B.E.2). You also had to worry about your guns jamming (Which can happen easily at higher alts where it's cold) and changing the ammo drum if it's a Parabellum or Lewis. Also, there was no such thing as a defroster or engine warmer so if you fly high enough your engine could freeze up, or your oil could clump up and cause your engine to fail. Constant monitoring of oil pressure is required. Sometimes, you even had to hand pump the oil mid-flight! To top it all off, you have to do this all in the midst of combat, with no help from a computer! You had to be very aware at all times. No early warning from your on-board radar! It really did come down to what man was better, and not the machine while dog-fighting. The constant fear of your crate just breaking up in mid-air, and no way to eject must have taken its toll on the WW1 pilot's mind...

FS-WWI does not have dynamic campaign support. However, it does have dynamic missions in that you can take control of every aircraft in the mission. :)

Yeah, I do find it a bit repeditive now... However the Zeppelin hunting missions are awesome! That thing blows up very nicely... The Gauntlet mode is very challenging! My dogfighting skills have improved. :D The graphics and sounds in this sim are very sweet for the era. Also, the cockpits were very detailed for the day!

Indeed there are many a fond memory around WWI simming. I've recently installed Wings of Glory via DosBox because of the wonderful campaign and storyline. :) I have yet to have my full World War I sim dream realized on a modern PC. Red Baron 1 and Red Baron II/3d came very very close... OFF is on the tip as well. Still, there is something missing. I cannot quite put my finger on it. Perhaps, it is the ground war and detail? Or the true sounds of an open cockpit?

My fondest memory was when I first got Red Baron II and flew over an enemy town. The chuch bells started to ring! Then the flak got me from a bridge close by and I had to make an emergency landing at a near by airfield. I tipped over, and an ambulance came to get me!

Ah yes, wheels do roll on their own once detached. :) Parts also scatter and stay on the gound too when a plane impacts. They do go away after a while to help with frame rate.

Glad you are having fun! Sorry I could not help more with the banding...

Yes, that sounds right. Still no change? This stopped the really bad banding on my PC, but with the sky it exists in some form.

You can also force 32bit in OpenGL and set force S3TC compression in RivaTuner. That might help as well.

In RivaTuner go in to edit the OpenGL settings. Force the OpenGL version to 1.5. :)

It does allow for TrackIR and mouse emulation. Just have to make a few changes to the control file (Keyboard.inp) all of which are outlined in the Getting the Best Doc. :)

True, and better if you don't want to burn a DVD or use an ISO mount. Tho the ISO installer has a nice slideshow and music when you install it.

No difference in content. :)

Thanks guys! Glad you are enjoying it.

There is a way to add mouse panning in SDOE (Check the Getting the Best Doc) then you can set Track IR up to use mouse emulation to look around.

Brought to you by Major Hippie!

Download here: FS-WWI EXE Installer at ModDB

EXE Installer FEATURES:

An FS-WWI "Launcher" with all of your FS-WWI essential tools in one spot! In true SDOE fashion, it's mod-able so you can replace any or all of the theme pictures with ones of your own.

Quick Mission Builder which has been updated and tweaked for FS-WWI and the SDOE Control Assignment Editor.

Minimum System Requirements:

Pentium 3 1.0 GHz or AMD equivalent

384 MB RAM

Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (compatible with 64-bit)

DirectX compatible 3D hardware accelerator card with Hardware T&L Support

DirectX compatible 16-bit or higher sound card

2 gigabytes hard drive space

Joystick or GamePad Recommended

DirectX 8.1 or higher

FS-WWI Plane Pack 5 Release notes:

You do NOT need the original copy of Fighter Squadron to be installed on your machine for this stand alone add-on to work.

You CAN NOT have the previous FS-WWI Plane Packs/Patches installed. Please install this fresh to a new directory.

Check the 'Getting the Best' and 'Special Keyboard Commands' readme files for more FS-WWI information after the installation. Be sure to read over the basic Fighter Squadron keyboard commands provided in the FS-WWI\wwi_readme folder or in the Start Menu under 'FS-WWI' named Keyboard Reference.jpg and Keyboard Reference2.jpg.

Be sure to check out the individual readme files in the FS-WWI\wwi_readme folder for credit information about all of the included add-ons.

How to uninstall:

Simply use the uninstall option under Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (Vista users: Control Panel > Programs And Features)

What add-ons are included in the FS-WWI All-In-One EXE Installer?

FS-WWI Plane Pack 5

FS-WWI Nations v3.0

Somme Terrain v3.0

Snowy Somme Terrain v3.0

Albert Terrain

Tobruk Terrain

WWI Rhineland Update

Stock Terrain Modifications

FS-WWI Parfile updater

Latest Property Files for FS-WWI

What aircraft/lighter-than-air craft are included?

Airco D.H.2

Airco D.H.4

Airco D.H.4 U.S.

Albatros B.II

Albatros C.VII

Albatros D.I

Albatros D.III

Albatros D.Va

Albatros WIV

Aviatik C.I

Avro 504k

Avro 504 Floatplane

Ansaldo S.V.A.5

B.E.2c

Bleriot XI

Breguet 14 B2

Bristol Fighter F.2b

Bristol Scout D

Caproni Ca.33

Caudron G.4

Curtiss JN-4 Jenny

Etrich A-II Taube

Fokker Dr.1a

Fokker D.VII

Fokker D.VIII

Fokker E.III

Gotha G.I

Gotha G.I Floatplane

Halberstadt D.II

Handley Page O/400

Hannover CL.III

Ilya Mourometz V

Ilya Mourometz A Floatplane

Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn

Morane Saulnier N

Moska Mb-Bis

Nieuport 11

Nieuport 17c1

Nieuport 23

Pfalz D.IIIa

Pfalz D.XII

Roland C.II

Rumpler C.IV

S.E.5a

Siemens-Schuckert D.III

Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Pup

Sopwith Triplane

S.P.A.D. V.II

S.P.A.D. X.III

S.P.A.D. X.III U.S.

Vickers F.B.5a

Zeppelin L-11

British Observation Balloon

German Observation Balloon

A7V Tank

AEC AA

AEC Bus

Austin Mk.II Armoured Car

Mk.IV Tank

Captured Mk.IV Tank

Renault FT-17 Tank

St. Chamond Tank

If you have further questions and such you might want to register for an account at www.openplanesim.com You will get quicker responses there. :) Plus, you can search and chances are it has been asked before.

I think it was maintenance...

Hello!

Most people use AC3d for building the models.

You can download a tools and tutorials pack from here: http://www.fsww1.com/Downloads/Tools_Tutorials_FAQs.exe

It doesn't include AC3d, but version 3.6 is best if you get it.

Others have made models with anim8or and 3ds Max.

Good idea!

In fact, if you know how to paint alpha textures and *.inta files, and are handy with SDOE tools you could get a hold of Big Munger (http://www.fsww1.com/Downloads/Tools_Tutorials_FAQs.exe). Then unPar the Data1.par file to someplace (Like a folder on your desktop) and look for the textures at Media\aircraft\B17G\textures\viewhole.tif and Media\aircraft\cockpit\Generic\textures\BombRecticle.inta. Edit these and copy them to your FS-WWI install at the same locations and this changes the bombsite for all aircraft I think. :) This is the great thing about Fighter Squadron and FS-WWI, if you want to change something you can probably change it! :)

I think it was 10,000 ft at 60 mph. Tho in WW1 those things were a lot of guess work. It's one area SDOE doesn't do too well - Bombsite modeling. :(

Haha that's great Gr.Viper!

The AI has no clue how to drive tanks currently, but there are a couple of members who are trying to figure that out.

Brought to you by Major Hippie!

Download here: FS-WWI DVD ISO at ModDB

DVD ISO Release Notes:

The FS-WWI Plane Pack 5 All-In-One DVD is in an ISO format. The ISO Format is a Disc Image containing the data to be written to disc.

Nearly all CD/DVD burning software support burning the ISO format to disc. It is a common format.

However if you are confused on how to burn an ISO to disc,

I suggest using the "BurnAware Free" (freeware, contains no crap-ware) available at www.Burnaware.com

Alternately, you can also mount the ISO in a virtual drive.

You can download a Virtual Drive Program called "Virtual CloneDrive"

(freeware, contains no crap-ware) available at www.Slysoft.com

Finally, if you would prefer to extract the data from the ISO to a folder your hard drive,

you can use ISOBuster (shareware, unlimited demo) available at www.Isobuster.com

DVD FEATURES:

An installer slideshow as the progress bar ticks along with background music (optimized for 1280x1024 or higher but still works ok on less, you just don't see as much).

An FS-WWI "Launcher" with all of your FS-WWI essential tools in one spot! In true SDOE fashion, it's mod-able so you can replace any or all of the theme pictures with ones of your own.

Quick Mission Builder which has been updated and tweaked for FS-WWI and the SDOE Control Assignment Editor.

Minimum System Requirements:

Pentium 3 1.0 GHz or AMD equivalent

384 MB RAM

Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (compatible with 64-bit)

DirectX compatible 3D hardware accelerator card with Hardware T&L Support

DirectX compatible 16-bit or higher sound card

2 gigabytes hard drive space

Joystick or GamePad Recommended

DirectX 8.1 or higher

FS-WWI Plane Pack 5 Release notes:

You do NOT need the original copy of Fighter Squadron to be installed on your machine for this stand alone add-on to work.

You CAN NOT have the previous FS-WWI Plane Packs/Patches installed. Please install this fresh to a new directory.

Check the 'Getting the Best' and 'Special Keyboard Commands' readme files for more FS-WWI information after the installation. Be sure to read over the basic Fighter Squadron keyboard commands provided in the FS-WWI\wwi_readme folder or in the Start Menu under 'FS-WWI' named Keyboard Reference.jpg and Keyboard Reference2.jpg.

Be sure to check out the individual readme files in the FS-WWI\wwi_readme folder for credit information about all of the included add-ons.

How to uninstall:

Simply use the uninstall option under control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (Vista users: Control Panel > Programs And Features)

What add-ons are included in the FS-WWI All-In-One DVD ISO?

FS-WWI Plane Pack 5

FS-WWI Nations v3.0

Somme Terrain v3.0

Snowy Somme Terrain v3.0

Albert Terrain

Tobruk Terrain

WWI Rhineland Update

Stock Terrain Modifications

FS-WWI Parfile updater

Latest Property Files for FS-WWI

What aircraft/lighter-than-air craft are included?

Airco D.H.2

Airco D.H.4

Airco D.H.4 U.S.

Albatros B.II

Albatros C.VII

Albatros D.I

Albatros D.III

Albatros D.Va

Albatros WIV

Aviatik C.I

Avro 504k

Avro 504 Floatplane

Ansaldo S.V.A.5

B.E.2c

Bleriot XI

Breguet 14 B2

Bristol Fighter F.2b

Bristol Scout D

Caproni Ca.33

Caudron G.4

Curtiss JN-4 Jenny

Etrich A-II Taube

Fokker Dr.1a

Fokker D.VII

Fokker D.VIII

Fokker E.III

Gotha G.I

Gotha G.I Floatplane

Halberstadt D.II

Handley Page O/400

Hannover CL.III

Ilya Mourometz V

Ilya Mourometz A Floatplane

Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn

Morane Saulnier N

Moska Mb-Bis

Nieuport 11

Nieuport 17c1

Nieuport 23

Pfalz D.IIIa

Pfalz D.XII

Roland C.II

Rumpler C.IV

S.E.5a

Siemens-Schuckert D.III

Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Pup

Sopwith Triplane

S.P.A.D. V.II

S.P.A.D. X.III

S.P.A.D. X.III U.S.

Vickers F.B.5a

Zeppelin L-11

British Observation Balloon

German Observation Balloon

A7V Tank

AEC AA

AEC Bus

Austin Mk.II Armoured Car

Mk.IV Tank

Captured Mk.IV Tank

Renault FT-17 Tank

St. Chamond Tank

All-In-One EXE coming soon!

Haha! Thanks. :) Well, ROF looks to have a really modern physics engine and a next-gen rendering graphics engine. I'm sure it will sweep the floor with FS-WWI! ;) Still, the old gal is fun to dogfight and fly around in.

The DVD ISO tested good! Next onto the EXE installer.

Actually yes! I'm testing the DVD ISO right now and the EXE installer will come next. :)

Jedi Master, these are all valid points you bring foward. However I think you do not realize one thing or maybe have overlooked it: The CFS3 engine was designed to be scaleable as system specs improved. So while when CFS3 was released it looked and ran like dog poop, with todays powerful PCs it can be made to look and run much much much better. On par with any modern flightsim out there today. Infact, I enjoy OFF P3's down-low terrain better that DCS Blackshark's! IMO it just looks better in OFF P3.

I've ordered my copy. Phase 1 and Phase 2 were well worth the price (FREE) and Phase 3 is no doubt a production style effort. For that much past entertainment and enjoyment for free they've earned my dollar. :)