Javito1986

Depends on the length of the missions. Typically 3 - 5 a day, using warp but still end up spending a lot of time just flying about when I get pulled out of warp for "nearby" enemies, even though I'd say 80% of the time I never see these "nearby" enemies!

Allow me just to clarify, do you mean to say that after ending the mission you crash and don't return to the OFF Manager's campaign screen, but when you restart the mission is recorded in your pilot dossier's flight log? And if you die it tells you that you're dead, your pilot is listed as deceased in your dossier, but you're still able to fly as him??? Here's my dossier from my current campaign. If your pilot dies it'll say here that he's 'deceased' and the text on the right will be a reddish color. Is that what you're seeing, but still able to fly as if he were alive?

Y'know, I've spent a lot of years in Central America. Was in San Salvador when the city was besieged by the rebel army during that country's civil war, and've seen firsthand the effects the drug trade and the gangs have had on the region in recent years. Not all Central/Latin America is alike, you have to remember that. Costa Rica is stable and prosperous as all hell, there's countries in South America that are doing a lot better than we are economically. The countries that aren't well off the people naturally want to gtfo out of because they have no future there and there are no opportunities beyond living your life in the most f'd up way possible, working until you drop. That said, it really isn't our problem. I don't mean that callously. We have so many problems right here, right now we're hardly the "land of opportunity" with this economic crisis we're in. The people in those countries need to pick themselves up and make their countries the kinds of places they want to live in. Easier said than done, absolutely. Time consuming, absolutely. But leaving isn't the solution. Some of them are getting better doing that little by little, I know El Salvador has been industrializing and economically expanding like hell since its civil war, which is impressive. But others (coughMexicocough) are just getting worse, despite being very wealthy in some cases (coughMexicocough). We have some share of the blame though. The U.S. economy benefits from illegal immigrant labor, they do menial lower than minimum wage jobs (particularly in agriculture) and companies love them for it. It's not that Americans aren't "willing" to work those jobs, I'm sure plenty are, it's that to hire an American the employer would have to pay minimum wage and take on a huge (and almost always crippling) operating expense. This is a huge problem, and realistically it's the reason we refuse shut down the border altogether. I'm brainstorming a solution to this right now as part of my research actually. Nothing yet Also, all those damn drugs come here because people here buy them. This is the freaking market for that crap. That annoys me, but it's not going to stop anytime soon unless we just legalize the damn things and be done with it. Illegal immigrants annoy me to no end, since I see it from both sides. It's just one big economic mess for both us in the U.S. and the countries they leave from. Not to mention they're breaking the law to be here. Legal immigration fine, regulated work permits fine, undocumented labor force not fine, big drain on the economy of the entire hemisphere.

Oh my. You gentlemen make me feel silly for feeling guilty about 'indulging' on that second slice of buttered sourdough bread I ate this morning

I think I'll try that Enhancer myself! Off to look for it I go

Olham I think you do some of the best screenshots I've seen around here. Polovski should see them, they'd make great promotional shots. Just look at that lovely shot of the Pfalz seen from your SE5 cockpit. And I also like the ones you posted a few days ago, particularly the composition of the parked planes at the aerodome during a storm. The aeroplane is so lovely and the light is shining on it, creating a beautiful contrast with the dark, menacing clouds overhead.

Physical manifestations? Yesterday I was in the most horrible damn flak barrage I've ever seen in OFF. I don't know what in the HELL I was flying over but sweet lord. It was right after we attacked a railyard, which actually went swimmingly. The whole place was a burning mess by the time we got done with her and nary a German fighter in sight. Once we set course for home OH MY GOD did they let us have it. This is my 65 mission pilot. 55 hours. I'm very protective. There was a knot in my stomach the entire time and those damn flak bursts were everywhere. Hate them, hate them, hate them. One of my chaps got hit too, shell burst clean through his engine and dropped him for good. I was swerving like a madman and clawing for altitude just to get the hell out of there. Longest trip to Tommyland I've ever flown, thank goodness the GAS was asleep and didn't interfere. I've never been so happy to reach No Man's Land in my life. Once the flak finally stopped i relaxed, and my midsection was sore because I'd been clenching by abdominal area tight for 10 - 15 minutes. Good workout I bet. Anyway, after I landed at the aerodrome I removed my headset, put the joystick down, and immediately went off to find the Missus to spend time with her and relax. Haven't flown another mission yet, I'm still recuperating!

Sweet links! Thanks Uncle

Gunz, I run OFF on an Intel Duo @ 2.26GHz, with 3070MB Ram, and an Nvidia 9600M, made for notebooks which means it's actually about a 9500. I run OFF at 1920x1080 Aircraft Detail 5 Terrain Detail 5 Scenery Detail 4 Effects Quality 5 Cloud Quality 5 (this one is necessary, gotta be able to hide in them) And Ground Objective Density is set to High. My Nvidia control panel: Pretty sure I run with low to no anti-aliasing though. Least it says so in the OFF workshop. It's all very adjustable, I don't think you'll have too much trouble to be honest. I've seen OFF stutter and implode sometimes when I turn on all the bells and whistles, but right now I've got it running very comfortably.

You can do it fine. Remember, I was having issues with OFF about two weeks ago and had to do a complete reinstall? I was sure to save Joyce's dossier/log/claims file, and then once I got OFF running again it was just a simple copy and paste of those three files into your CampaignData>Pilots folder. I also did the same with the campaign I flew earlier this year, Sean Anders, and I have him in my current OFF Manager. He's quite dead, but it's fun to be able to log into the OFF Manager to see his stats and claims and flight logs. The only issue I haven't resolved is that it didn't seem to accurately save the count of Joyce's sorties, it's off by 10 (according to the actual number of missions listed in the log file). I manually edit the dossier to correct it, but each time I fly a new mission it gets reset. So for example, right now I have 65 missions flown. If I fly my 66th the dossier will reset and it'll show 56 missions, so I'll go in and change it back to 66 (only takes a moment). I'm sure there's a fix, it's just not a big enough deal for me to troubleshoot.

The funny thing about that is that you're not kidding, don't you actually have a complete French aviator's uniform? Where's that forum link so I can show Gunz... EDIT: Here it is, post #54 http://combatace.com...et/page__st__40

Oh man now I want a copy too...

It's the damndest thing, it only seems to happen when I don't want it to! I created a slew of redshirt RFC pilots and killed them off in the damndest ways: 1) At take off I refused to lift off, just kept on going until the SE5 tore itself apart while rolling at 100mph or so 2) I strafed some parked German planes, clipped one of them with my wing, then kamikazed into a hangar 3) I landed in No Man's Land 4) I landed in a field near the base after having flown about 75% of the mission waypoints 5) I landed at a German aerodrome 6) I dropped Cooper bombs on my own squadron as they were landing then put myself into a spin at low altitude and blew up Each time OFF worked as it was supposed to. Either died, was captured/hospitalized, or things just ended the way they should. Time advanced no problem. So I have no idea really. I'm thinking of creating a new career called Casey Joyce, copying and pasting my dossier/log/claims files from my current Casey Joyce and changing the date, and continue on to see if that changes anything.

Hi all, just tested it again. I'm 99% certain this happens when I do not complete all mission objectives. Just was doing some artillery spotting, attacked some DFWs, and got my engine holed so I cut the mission short and went back home. Landed fine (although I did dig my tail into the dirt a little), then as I was rolling I ended the mission and wham, lost all data. No record in the logbook, no claim form for the DFW I shot up, and time is reset to what it was when I started the mission. Not sure why it would be doing that. Tomorrow I'll do some more testing and get back. Could be a mod conflict maybe? I'll do some tinkering. Maybe it was the damage I took on landing? I'll create a red shirt pilot and kill him off and see if I get a funeral. p.s. now that I think about it I also lost data once upon a time when I landed just behind the friendly side of No Man's Land

Honestly, who got the better deal? Discussion doesn't have to be limited to these two btw. I mean this seriously, give it some thought. Werner Voss had a short life span, but went out in such a blaze of glory he practically achieved immortality. People still talk about him as the master aviator of WW1, and frankly I'm of the opinion that 56 Squadron was lucky to shoot him down, as he shot down two SE5s and damaged seven others, several seriously, he could have killed them all single handed it seems. He died fighting like a freaking beast against overwhelming odds. Then there's Cecil Lewis. Known for his magnificent book no doubt, but didn't get that kind of glory. But he had such a great life. Co-founded BBC, wrote an amazing novel that will live on, married, had children and grandchildren and lived to a ripe old age and died peacefully. The war didn't define him at all, but it does define Werner Voss, Richtofen, and guys like them.

52.73 hours? Wow that is weird. My current pilot, no joke I just checked, has 52.72 hours I'm also interested in knowing how long in-sim that took you? And how often you were flying? Mine has only been 4 months but I've been doing a lot of 2 or 3 mission days.

I doubt many people ever notice this one. The last time I was in England with 56, March/April 1917 (when the squadron was formed) I was able to fly about and enjoy the English countryside free of Teutonic intervention. Now by the grace of almighty God I've lived long enough to be back in ol' Blighty on June 22nd and lo' and behold the missions are borked I made a new 56 pilot in the same June 22 1917 period just to make sure it's not an issue with my campaign, he had the same problem unfortunately. This isn't a big deal, I can just time skip until we get back to France but I have a feeling this is probably an obscure error so it's good to make a note of it.

Just be careful when you first cross the Line. Herr Olham is friendly enough on the ground, but high in the empty blue he hangs out at 18,000 and feasts on new pilots for breakfast

Wow Bullethead, I've never been so completely and utterly 'owned' in OFF before so I didn't even know all that stuff could happen when you get blown away. I'll be sure to stay at a decent altitude if I'm ever near Passchendaele

That'd be awesome if there were Gotha raids sometime. I did my whole stay in England June 22 - July 4 without any flying, mostly bc of this bug I had but even without it I would have just time advanced anyway once I got bored of the scenery. Trying to intercept a Gotha raid though... ohhh yea. Trying mind you, I doubt I would be able to get up that high. Zeppelins. OFF P5. Be there!

Ha, I just did a balloon busting mission a few hours ago and just wrote about it over on Reports From The Front. Glad you like balloon busting! Me, not so much. I mean sure they're exciting but they're no good for one's lifespan and I'm protective of my pilots. Balloon busting is the #1 way to die in OFF as far as I'm concerned. Particularly on Realistic Survival Settings guidelines, because ground accuracy gets pumped up to 'Hard' to model those damn killzones they set up... . Most scout missions are patrols. Offensive patrols, defensive patrols, combat air patrols. Then there's escort missions, they're pretty common. And dangerous. Going over the Line is fine because you're usually at high altitude and can pick your battles. But if your escorts get attacked you're obliged to help, no matter what the opposition is. Lots of ground attack/strafing runs over No Man's Land. Pay attention, going to give you some advice that'll save your virtual pilot. Watch your instruments on those strafing runs, many's the chap who takes one in the fuel tank and doesn't notice it until his engine dies 100 feet above the German trenches. Sometimes it happens while your side is shelling! That's always a good way to end the day.

Yep, that's how I see it. He'd done the same thing plenty of times before. It's not even blind luck or chance really, getting hit when you're low over the line is just either something that happens or it doesn't. It could just as easily have happened to in 1916 and we never would have heard of him. Feel bad for Mannock though. Did they ever work out if he actually shot himself like he said he would?

Rating OFF3 against other sims... well, pretty damn highly I'd say. Other sims, and I can't fathom why, don't do dynamic historical campaigns like Flanders Fields does. IL-2 has an amazing flight model, no doubt, but its scripted and small scale missions always grate me. I have fun with it but it's not what I look for. I feel the same way about Rise of Flight. I always feel like I'm flying a flight sim, a damn good one though, whereas Flanders Fields puts me into the life of this virtual World War 1 pilot I created. OFF is closest to Red Baron 3D. Did you play that one? Flanders Fields in my head is the direct descendant. The only other flight sim I enjoy as much as Flanders is Battle of Britain Wings of Victory over at A2A. A2A is just a great company for one and do amazing work and the simulation is brilliant with the most epic air battles around. That's the way the Battle of Britain was though, and it depicts it perfectly. It doesn't have a campaign like OFF's where you fly as one pilot, rather you act more like Dowding or maybe Keith Park commanding the RAF defenses / Luftwaffe raids. That turns some people off but I enjoy it. But like I said, it's a different animal than OFF, and not just because of the subject matter. The closest thing to Flanders Fields is Red Baron 3D, which I loved. For the life of me I can't understand why more flight sims don't do dynamic campaigns, instead of following the IL-2 model. Maybe the IL-2 model is what most people like? I don't know. I enjoy IL-2, I honestly do, and I like Rise of Flight, have lots of fun flying those planes around and they're modeled excellently. But since there's no depth beyond that they're basically just any other awesome game, which means I play and have fun before getting bored after a week or two and moving onto something else. Whereas OFF, like RB3D before it, I just keep on playing... honestly, I would freaking love it if they did a flight sim like this for WW2. Dynamic Pacific campaign. Someday...

I mentioned a few months back that I bought RB3D from Good Old Games, thinking of giving it an install for nostalgia sake. Full Canvas Jacket doesn't seem to be available anymore, what happened to it?

I hear you Lou, but hell, RB3D is the entire reason I'm here today. That game lit my imagination on fire when I was 12 years old. Last night I was reading Rickenbacker's memoir Fighting the Flying Circus on the Kindle and remembering that I had in fact already read it some 12 years ago, owing to the interest RB3D sparked. I'll give her an install later on today and take her out for a spin, she's an honorable little girl.