HumanDrone

Thank you, sir! Since I don't have TrackIR (yet!), I'm looking for all the help I can get. I do have a dedicated sound card, a good (for it's time) Turtle Beach Santa Cruz that explicitly states that it supports Dolby 5.1, the rears are where they belong, etc, but I may need to increase the spread between my fronts, which are immediately next to my monitor left & right. And you are correct, of course, about the ear plugs, wind, etc. That's a good point. Still, a computer is so crippled with respect to sensual feedback and SA compared to real life, it seems like a little surround sound effect is not "cheating" as it were. Just downloaded HitR! Wait 'til the cheeky upstart von Schnaups runs into Eddie Rickenbacker! That oughta be a quick fight! Thanks again, Tom

Just for further edification in case others have this problem and check for relevant threads, I think my CD drive is going bad. I had this problem last night, put the CD into my DVD drive, and viola! I'm flying again. I installed from the CD drive, and so I thought I'd have to keep it there, but apparently the program looks in any optical drive. Stay alive, gents! (and ladies, too, but it sounds so WWI-ish!) Tom

Thank you sir. Wow, that's an interesting concept, but good night! If I want to throttle back, I simply throw away half my fuel! What they had to do back in the day, huh?

Yeah, I'm still at the "cheating" phase as well. Now how about this? I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm wondering how you throttle an engine with the ignition - or should I more properly say, control the speed and/or power output. Must've been an interesting system, I know they had some novel ways of doing things in the beginning. And by rotory, do you mean, like a Wankel? Or was it a conventional radial engine? Thanks for the tips!

I thought we were cautioned NOT to fly automixture... I am very new at this sim, to be sure. So now you say there wasn't much adjustment in the German rotaries? Hmmm. Still I guess what I'm asking is for some sort of feedback from the sim as to the position of my mixture lever, knob, or whatever it is, or at least how many +/- clicks to go from full rich to idle cutoff (or the other way). & yeah, the Z throws a lot of info out there, doesn't it?

Well, I don't know if my hearing is bad or what, but it seemed that the keyboard mixture commands were doing nothing the last time I flew - and no, I didn't have Auto Mixture turned on! I was flying the Fokker Dr.1 triplane (for my brother-in-law's entertainment) and I couldn't hear any audible difference and couldn't tell much difference in performance, either. I probably should have tried complete cutoff, but didn't want to get "hospitalized" after I augered in von Richthofen's favorite aircraft (the newbie Fleigher Rex von Schnaups having absconded with it for a joyride!). Still how many clicks from "full rich" to nothing? Thanks, Tom

Hmm, I didn't notice the hands & feet. But then, iI forgot the two patches, I'm downloading them now... and jonesing for TrackIR for Christmas!!!

Thanks for the tips, gentlemen. I don't know how I missed that "alive for this mission" checkbox. Ah, it'll take time. Just curious, can I expunge the record of the dead "me" or am I stuck with it? (I can edit at the hex level if need be!)

Well, I'll add my first impressions, as I just took off and died last night! The movies are simply fantastic, and the sound tracks perfect. No doubt I'll skip past them in the future, but what an intro! Ran across a sound track of a veteran describing his role as wing man as well, and another movie in the credits - really nice stuff. S I figured my way around, and signed up with the American 94th on the north coast of France. Fired up my Sopwith Camel in QC Free flight just to see how it goes. And right off, I see where TrackIR is darn near a requirement, unless you put up the HUD Gauges, you can't see the ones in the cockpit very well. So I flew around a bit, low altitude, saw a train, took a couple of shots at it, screwed up, crashed and died! So I had to re-enlist, took it up again, flew around a bit, and successfully landed. Now I'll really have to learn how to fly these things. I didn't mess with the mixture, I had a full load of fuel, and it seemed like I was struggling to climb past 2000 ft. So I have some studying to do. Overall, though, I'm tickled pink. This is so well done. The only drawback for an occasional user like myself is dying permanently - I may have to put it in cheater mode for a while, just to keep from having 20 or 30 dead "me's" in the game. With CFS3, my brother-in-law generally flies with me, we just take turns flying QC until we kill or be killed, but that isn't what OFF is about and we'll have some adjustments to make. So many kudos to the OFF team, you've really done something here!

Just a quick question, I can't seem to find a definitive answer with my search. I want to install OFF BHaH alongside an existing CFS installation which I want to continue to use. (i.e both CFS3 and OFF fully operational). MY CFS3 is on two disks (CD's I'd assume, if it was DVD their would only be one, right?). So do I have to do a clean install of CFS3 into a new folder (like H:\CFS3OFF)? I think I'll have to patch CFS3 to 3.1, my disks are 3.0. Or will the OFF install see my existing CFS3 install (which is already patched) and copy what it needs into the new install, leaving my existing CFS3 install operational as CFS3? I think it's an easy answer, just not an easy question to phrase clearly! Thanks, Tom

Oh. So maybe that's why I was freezing up after the splash screen/drum rolls. Trying again... although my CD drive is G: ... Yup, that was it!

What? No dome projection? Seriously, powering a rig like that must take quite a box. I'm still nursing my Athlon 3200 XP with a couple of ATI 133 drives in a RAID 0 and 2 GB of low latency RAM, and a pretty decent AGP 8x graphics card. SWMBO asked me if I needed a new computer, but I think I'd really be pushing it (because of course I'd want to get the Saitek pro hardware along with the TrackIR), especially since I told her about a year and a half ago that she was next on the new computer list... me and my big mouth...!

Much obliged, folks, thanks! I'm assuming, almcoyjr, that during the install I can choose which drive I want to put it on - in my case, all my flying stuff is on a RAID 0 drive H:\ and then I have to remember if I'm using the nocd version.... But I am legit, I just didn't want to keep the CD in the drive all the stinking time...

Hello, all! I've been watching the development of OFF for a couple of years over at combatfs.com and this year have decided to purchase the latest and greatest for my brother-in-law as a Christmas gift. But it's a little confusing - is BHaH the newest version, or just an add-on to an "add-on" for CFS3? No disrespect intended, I've done my share of coding and think that what you all have accomplished is amazing. How do I go about buying OFF? And yes, I have CFS3. But as you might guess from my screen name that I'm not that great a pilot! Thanks, and happy Thanksgiving to those of you that may be in the USA! Tom

Indeed, good sir, indeed.

Gulp! Tommy wants! Maybe I could actually nail a carrier landing if I could just see around the cowl like IRL. Thanks! (wanders off humming "All I want for Christmas...")

This is something I've been a bit curious about. Apparently you turn you head and your view changes, but obviously not proportionally or your monitor would be out of site when you check your "six", right? It seems like a good idea, but the devil's in the details, right? So what's the deal, I'd like to get away from the hat button myself.

Ok, so you're using the CFS3 rockets because you're stuck with them? I can vouch for them, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 20 ft. with those things, much less another aircraft... And obviously WWII rockets would be better than WWI rockets, so there you go. That's one reason I bought the sim, to realize in some limited way just what it was that these guys were up against. Too many in America take 'way too much for granted. I've since become jaded, but I remember my first "kill" in CFS2. I'd sidled my Corsair up close to a zero and let him have a burst as he passed in front of me - and the durn thing just exploded. And I don't play violent games of any sort, and I was just stunned. I mean, sure it had to be done, but at the end of the day, he'd just wanted to go home and live in peace, as did I - if it were real, of course...

Wow, thanks Olham. I don't know if it's a DVD or not, but it is Microsoft's; I suspect it's CD.

Polovski: with regards to the level of historical detail: And so I've (re)learned a little history - there was no air war in 1914! But on to more important things... THE DVD IS HERE! But it seems like a rather involved setup, so I don't know if I should attempt it tonight with my brother-in-law hanging around, or later this week when I have some of that rare quantity, "time." I'm kinda assuming I do a second install of CFS3 alongside my original, then let the OFF DVD do it's magic on that one, then Superpatch and minipatch, then fire it up and get shot down. But unless you have some "undocumented" installation tips, there's no need to walk me through it here, I'm sure the DVD has instructions, as well as the rest of the stuff on the site here. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving & weekend, I was working my backside off and didn't even go near the high-speed moron (computer).

The rockets were that slow? Or was it just that you had to be so close to your target to hit anything with them?

Thanks, Check Six. What I'm wondering though,is if i have two computers, could he be in the gunner's seat on one, and I in the pilot's position on the other? I thought this was possible in an on-line game, at least in CFS3, (i.e a whole team of folks with one guy piloting the b-17 and a gang of others in the gunner positions), but perhaps this is not possible in either CFS3 or OFF. If not, we now have the next coding nightmare! Thanks for all the input. It's not lost on me,but as you say, practice, practice, practice! Happy Thanksgiving, Tom

I just had the thought: the "Easter Egg" department should have it set to show the Christmas Truce in 1914. Soccer (football) games & what not in the scenery... A touching occasion, to be sure, and I'm even more sure that I'm a lo-o-ong way from the first guy to think of it, but just in case.... Waiting for my DVD, Tom

Thanks, both of you. And yes, I did see I'm at bald minimums on the hardware. That's as good an excuse as any to petition the CFO (a.k.a. SWMBO) for some better hardware! I'd considered, when I got my wife a computer, making sure it could be used for a "gunner's position" as well! I have a wireless "n" router, so it shouldn't be too hard to configure, but I'll cross that bridge if'n'when! Best, Tom

Well, thank you all! I'll get the order going forthwith. Just to add some color and background, while it's my brother-in-law that wants it, it's MY computer that it will be installed on, alongside our 'regular' CFS3, which we enjoy up to our limited aviation capabilities. He doesn't have a computer; if it weren't for CFS3 and trying to get some exposure for his art (which I also manage), he wouldn't have a thing to do with computers! He's not mentally challenged or anything like that, he just lives a simple life; no cell phone, no checking account, etc... I think you could put all of his worldly possesions in the back of a pickup truck, furniture and all. It's hilarious watching us fly, and I at least should know better - I'm a mechanical engineer and when younger I was an Air Force ROTC pilot wannabe. I know the basics of flight, the purpose of trim, flaps, CG, navigation, etc, and try to keep my turns coordinated. But still, the only way I've ever managed to shoot anything down is to get on it's six and pump in enough lead to sink a battleship and have my barrels yellow-hot and limp as overcooked spaghetti! My enemies are on the "sitting duck" settings, we just do quick combat, all that stuff. He's even worse than I am, mercilessly yanking the stick around and unconsciously twisting the rudder beyond all reason, while using the throttle like you would in your car, spraying lead all over the sky - he'd probably kill more innocent bystanders on the ground... He likes to fly the German aircraft, but every once in a while "snaps out" and starts shooting his wingmen down, just to hear the radio protests in German! But it's given us a lot of respect for what these guys went through and the skill they must have had. We went to more realistic settings a couple of times and lasted about 30 seconds...with a real load of ammo, it's amazing how fast you're out. It sure makes you a lot pickier about when you take your shot (and miss!). I'm hoping to upgrade the computer at some point, but for now I'm running an Athlon 3200XP with 2 GB of low-latency RAM and a pretty decent AGP 8X video card with WinXP SP2. Legacy stuff but not bad for the world CFS3 was created in. The stick is the old Microsoft Force Feedback Pro. Thanks again, all, I look forward to "finding the Red Baron, and shooting him down." * Best to all, thanks again! Tom *Charlie Brown in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"