Roger55

Sounds like some nice new stuff on this update and the price is OK. BUT JEEZ LOUISE! 409 MB! That would take me a two or three months to download if there is restart support and the mirror would let me in that long. The design team needs to have pity on those of us that don't have all the bells and whistles. But that's not all we have here by way of problems. This Core Duo runs at 2.8 MHZ with a 3072 KB Cache on the processor. OFF loads it up as it is, though thankfully it's never run hot so far. That's why I wondered elsewhere what it would do to my frame rate. Sometimes, unfortunately, you can't upgrade, and since they say definitely "for download only" I would say sorry I have to pass. I like the whistle in the wires as much as the next guy. I fly with my ear as much as my eye, and sure I'd like a skin on this Bebe that matches the squadron down here. but 409 MB !!!!

Yes, as I suspected, it can't be done via dial up. One week to download and three trys. Well, you can't miss what you never had.

The PM board works v-e-r-y slowly; so the gentlemen who sent me PMs only got through to me through email notifications. I got fed up after 30 minutes of waiting to try to answer. I don't think we should do anything not OKed by the the guys in charge i.e. the designer/vendor. Besides they have to have copy protects, and I don't know how that would work on portable media. If anyone is going to send me a CD/DVD copy, it's probably going to have to be them. Local library has dial up (or did they take that out to save city money ?). University library has some kind of high speed, but I lost priveledges there back in 2000 when they layed me off and did some in state tuition adjusting to get the poor (pooh) rif-raf like me out that made it impossible to pay for Dissertation hours and left me ABD i.e. in an academic dust bin. No way in that direction. I don't know anyone that has DSL, L a Meno-P :-), or wireless. My neighbors are old farts like me. They got rid of the cable after the last kid left home. I have a old friend who might, but he works for an NGO contractor to Homeland Security, and he only gets in touch with me (four times last year) not I with him. Or he shows up at the door like he did two weeks ago. My other longtime buddy has dial up too. Now if the designers, vendors say on this thread, "pay for the download and what it costs to send you a disk," via a donation or something else, I'd do that. But that may be a negative business expense for them. No one needs negative business expenses these days. Besides I still don't know if I can run the thing with the update. Could crash the whole system. Man alive! I didn't think their'd be so many replies. Just like I didn't expect all those Eindeckers on that patrol last night. "We go up in fame, or down in flame." Oh, I forgot. I have Download Manager. Lets see. 3000-5000bps into 409MB is that 409,000,000 bytes or 409,000,000,000?

Goodness. I do not remember this board being this slow. I also couldn't remember my password. It wasn't the one I thought. What a long process to reset it. I could tell a long tale about computer crashes and complete reloads, bemoan the fact that I still have dial up, whine about how I kept getting one thing after another all from October through January, brag about all the antibiotics, antivirals, and steroids I was prescribed, or give excuses about why I haven't been opening OFF and have my stick disconnected, but I won't. I'll just say howdy, and try to relearn what little I did this summer about flying a Nieuport 11 over Verdun. Let's see I discovered I had to work all the controls before I started the engine and tried to take off. That sounds right doesn't it?

Well, I just got cleaned up after working on the plumbing. First, pilot never dies? I never get discouraged by that sim dying. I put in ten pilots and let the chips fall where they may. A new module? How big is this puppy and is it even possible that I can download it over this S-----L-----O-----W telephone line? And what's it going to do to my frame rate? Last Will? Left every thing to my brother, like this money pit of a house. Since yesterday I managed to plug in my stick, check my peddles, and check the throttle. Then there was this clogged drain and shower stems that needed replacing. I'm real handy (sic). I been back and forth to ACE Hardware more than I've flown patrols.

Not a topic really, just an announcement. Had the tech show me how to install a new processor this morning. Going fine in the shop but now the fan is ticking like a clock. Have to go back at the crack of dawn and get the old fan reinstalled. I could do it if I had some thermal grease. (explative deleted) My family's luck.

Nothing is "wrong." Just once I'd like to get away with all the settings all the way up on a flight sim, I guess. Thanks for the link to PC wizard. I do have the Utility already. I do know a great deal about this system like the motherboard has 240 pin DDR2 SDRAM 1GB memory moduales with two slots empty (2GB already on board). That it is an Intel DQ35JOE. That Intel recommends the Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 CPU, among others, that I now have in there for that board. That the card bus is PCI express. That the MSI Nvidia GeForce Card that I now have has 512MB DDR2 memory (remember what it says on the OFF site, 1024MB). That it's GPU is being cooled by a heat sink and it's running temp is 42 C. But all these venders are not to helpful and their search functions are not set up for easy searching using just parameters. Somebody that I can't remember recomended that new Intel processor on this site and it turned out to be the best choice among a limited number the mother board would support. That's why I started up this discussion on this board, because it sounds like we have some wise and savy folks here. I hope that is OK.

I have met the Vid card and it is nuts . What a confusing mess. This is what I gather so far from the card that is in there. The interface is a PCI express bus. I suppose its redundant to say that it has a DVI. The 512 MB on the board is DDR2. Well, I see cards with DDR3 and DDR5. I don't have a clue as to whether that's compatable with the DDR2 SDRAM mainboard memory that the Intel board supports or it even makes a difference. Oh by the way I looked on NewEgg and their memory/board compatability utility only works with a brand name PC. I know the name of the Intel board but the computer is what Granite a local outfit builds (memory looked cheap). Their little utility has name like Dell and wants a model number. Then there is the matter of cooling. The puppy that's in there is heat sink cooled . What happens if I stick a card with a fan in the box. Is that going to screw up the cooling that's working now? And just what is the most advantageous thinng to do. Put more RAM on the board or more RAM on the Vid Card? This is harder than than firing a 45 degree deflection shot that hits. By the way I finally shot an E III down.

Well, folks thanks for the help. I got the old fan in there just fine thanks to you all. Now I have a better CPU and a cooler running one. The old dual core Celeron ran a 58 C; this Intel runs at 35 C. A lot more switching going on over time! Have to find a 1024 reasonable Vid card that I can afford (about a hundred bucks?) to replace the 512 that is in there now. I should have made clear that I am upgrading stuff to run OFF better. The CPU seemed the place to start. I upgraded the Vid in my old Celeron machine that died and it only made a 10% difference in the frame rates for FS2004 and that wasn't enough to run CF3 well. So I thought, first the CPU (that's harder to get right because of the board) then the Vid Card. So phase one accomplished.

Like I said on another thread, I have a pretty good idea what it takes to put together a wire frame and give it a skin. I've seen it done. There are utilities for FS2004 that allow you to see the wire frame and change contact points and load locations like gas tanks (you start out with a stock Electra model and turn it into Earhart's--I tried it it took a team a couple years to do it and they started with the samefree ware model I started with). The contacts are sometimes misplaced on freeware and you can end up wth planes suspended above a runway or starting inside the ground. And that's simple stuff with a model. It's not designing a wire frame. Then there are textures that behave strangely. And cfg and air files that have stats for the wrong engine (usually they are using a bad source--do you know the compression ratio of a Rhone 80hp off the top of your head) or get some other little thing wrong. There is so much stuff to check and recheck, you get exhausted just thinking about it. There were a bunch of modelers and teams who were fans of FS2004 so there are quite a few freeware planes and thousands of repaints. Some of those guys and gals quit posting their stuff because they were always being constantly criticized by the "rivet counters" on boards. You come across what you think is a mistake you write the designer a polite e-mail. So appreciate the AC designer! He's hoeing a tough row. And his job is long and tedious.

Now with FS2004 and CFS there were sites where you could down load exta AC. these could be fliable or AI additions. Flightsim.com, for example, was where I got my Dehavilland mail plane. Some textures were also there to load into the sim with instructions on what files needed to be modified. Is there a site for OFF stuff. I see what looks like a list of "skins" (texture mapping was not one of the things I mastered) on this site, but I wouldn't know how to go about installing any. Anyway I haven't been here from day one because the OFF was far in excess of what my old Puter could do.

Heck I know how tough it is to model shapes. My brother teaches art and he builds virtual models for his students to draw. He got tired of dragging in manikins and such stuff. It took two months to build 2 models with different poses at five different ages of their lives, and another month to clothe them in different outfits, and he was slaving at nothing else. His stupid department chair just said that the computer did all the work, and that he should have them draw magazine pictures instead i.e. violate copyright. If you have just two people working on the project they have quite a job in front of them. I remember teams 3 and 4 working on aftermarket AC for FS2004. There was a Constellation projest that never got finished as I remember. Plenty of repaints but models were at about 1 to 5 or 6 repaints.

I fell asleep for a moment in a Nieuport 11 (no one came up to greet me--the engine noise is is as bad as white lines on the highway) and was jolted awake by a change in the noise. There was the ground coming at me I yanked the stick back. That stalled it and I nosed over. I tried to recover correctly but the plane came apart and my pilot had an intimate experience with Mother Earth. Moral don't be lulled by the engine. Oh, yes the plane will come apart.

Well I looked over the files carefully yesterday. Not many Francophiles about. Now having other MS Sims I know a little about how AC are constructed. I can build a wire frame nor paint a skin. It's hard to do, if you have the programs necessary. But it is a shame that the Moranes L (Parasol) and N (Bullet) are not there so the French can fly in late 1915 when the "Fokker scorge" starts as I remember. Also Those Caudron and Farmen scout/bombers from 1915 are not there. Lots of DR1 skins. Lots of DR1 fans I suppose.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Now I am probably missing something but this Bebe doesn't feel agile or very hardy. It can't climb well at all. It's turn seems limited and it feels underpowered with that 80 HP Rhone. I'm constantly affraid that I will stall. I'd never do a half loop toward the ground, the way it fights to climb in a regular half loop, I don't think it would survive the stress. It always seems to fall off one side or the other when your trying a regular half loop. So you can't get quickly to an opposite heading. Am I nuts. I'd like to hear what you fans have to say.

wow! I once pumped a burst into a ME109 at about70 yards. It blew up showered me with debris and wrecked my engine and and control surfaces. I was completely out of control and bailing out killed my pilot. On another thread I reported how I lost a pilot when I rammed an Eindecker trying to turn away from a close pass . Tore off his tail and my wing tip. You gentlemen must be some fliers to be firing from 33 yards and 10 yards. Glad I'll never meet you on the the web. Conection is too slow. I am genuinely amazed.

SirMike1983, that was a really complete and concise descriptions. Thanks. Olham, do you really mean feet? The xpd file gives ranges in yards (little smaller than a meter). That MG is set there for 300 feet; that is 100 yards. The entry is in the weapons line and reads "100." Stock Spitfires in CFS3 are set at 200 yards and the US planes at 300. 100 feet is 33.34 yards. One dimesion of my house's lot is that long. It's also 110 degrees F in the shade out side; so, I won't see if I can hit something at that distance with a pellet gun (.177 air pump).

Between the three missions I flew today I did a little research in the sim. The aircraft have their Lewis guns set for a convergence zone of 100 yards. So I would think that's the supposed effective range. Out beyond that I believe there will be very few hits. The three missions I flew were very wierd. Number one loaded a camera in my wingman's plane and we flew a penetration to take pictures. Nay an Eindecker came up to greet us. The second mission I was on my own looking for trouble i.e targets of opportunity. So there are air fields and troop columns but I'm expecting trouble, so I don't want to waste any of my 197 bullets. I wait as I fly the course. On the way the engine makes me more and more drowsy . I nod off a second and the next thing I see is the ground. I try to recover but that stalls the plane; so, Lannes goes West. So I go back to the main and try to create another pilot. Now I'm getting fatal error messages. Finally the sim tells me to reload. I reload. What happened? I don't know. Began to think I should have shot up the troops at least. Now I have a new pilot. Mission, go have my wing man take pictures of an airfield. This provocation ought to bring some opposition up. Nope. When I land (yes I land and my gear don't collapse) I haven't fired a shot. I still have 197 bullets. Now I guess there are yet to be any recon/bombers for the French. Do I need them to bring up Jerry. Two things I notice though about the sim. Im flying over the north German Salient (Very active Artillery). The French line is labeled the "British front line" What? I'm passing over Morte Homme! There are about 100,000 French and Germans dying for that hill. Next the pilot pages, about a third of the page is cut off a good portion of the time when you look at it. Don't ask me??????????????????????????????? Do you have to set the opposition activity to heavy to get a rise out of the Kaiser's Airmen? Yesterday they attacked the field as we set out. A pair showed up when two flights flew a penatration. I another pair passed over so high we couldn't get at them. And wher are their recons?

I must be setting up the stuff wrong in Workshop. I keep getting non fatal error messages about missing skins. Are they not there? Or did I set the skins setting wrong by leaving it at generic. I can't find anything about the Workshop settings. What read me file am I missing? Got my first Eindecker Waldo Pepper style (without the salute ). I was so frustrated shooting at him from this Bebe (under powered! A stall waiting to happen) that I kept closing and rammed him by mistake. Took off my left wing tip and his tail. "Goodbye to all that." Don't the AI pilots die? Am I wasting bullets trying to hit the cockpit. Is the engine the better bet? What's the damage model?

The reason I ask about effective range is that I need to know If I'm getting close enough when I snap off a burst.

Sounds like a bunch of fighter pilots. To bad we can't demonstrate what we are saying with our hands. I know there are better French planes out there. But I always start out at Verdun. That's why I am with this Escadrille. Three missions last night. My claim, I got back. Never fired more that 100 rounds and my hit percentages were 9%, 8%, and 9%. What I have turned down in Workshop is the Archie and the Wind. Now I'm wondering about the effective range of this MG. I thought it was 100 yards but I may have that one wrong. Is it really 50 yards?

For what its worth, Ive addicted myself long ago to short burst . And if you folks don't mind a question is that Lewis effective out to 100 yards or only 50? I WW2 I converge my guns at 500 or 700 yards depending on what I'm shooting. Bader may have had his at 200 but the only way a slow reactor like me survives is if I can engage before the ME109 sees me. WW1 MGs are really inferior to the later products. The bullets disperse at a shorter range. It's like what, a Thompson maybe. In any case the effective range is where the bullets remain tight together. Nungessor got started as a fighter pilot in this plane. I suppose if all I had flown was a Bleriot or an Antoinette I'd think the Nieuport 11 was a hot plane. I flew three more missions last night I recorded my stats in a little spiral I'm keeping . 8% 9% hit to fired ratio. Have to get better! No mission did I fire more than 100 rounds. Got hits but nothing to claim except that I got back.

This is a great defensive manuver. But you lose altitude. And I tried climbing to get at an EIII couldn't get there. I use this to run away.