Burning Beard

This reminds me of the old "Murph's Maps" we used in wars in RB3D. They really helped the navigation, the grid over a more detaild map, like the one that just surfaced on the General forum may be the ticket. I will have to do some investigatin' and playin". Beard

Got another little possible FPS bump for you. If you go into CFS3 QC from the Workshop menu, you can bring down the options box if you hit hanger, go to display and open the lower tab. Turn off reflections, all I have seen this effect is the Mirrors and reflections in the gauges on some planes. You can also turn of shadow with this. I prefer the shadows but the reflections in the mirrors didn't show anything behind you, just distorted terrain. I have upped my game to 554453 and am running smoothly (a tad slower than at 553353) without any anomalies. Beard

Or you can load FRAPS which is a great free utility that shows FPS and allows you to take screen shots and even movies. All you have to do is Google it. Beard

Hey Ground Nail, I lettered a Mooney once for an guy that had stuck it in a levy, it is now called "Lawn Dart". Beard

Another trick for increasing FPS is to move forward in the cockpit, you can find that in views in the controls section. In the days before this machine, and phase two specifically, moving forward in the cockpit would increase my speed by around 5 fps, depending on the cockpit. I think it just allowed the computer not to have to draw so much, it was really obvious in the British planes that had more instruments and objects in the cockpit. Beard

I can't remember what it was, might have been reset to cockpit from exterior view in IL2 (pre OFF days). Anywho, the stick predates my Trac IR, seems like I bought it right after the X45's became unavailable. I really wanted the X45 because I believe it hand the rudder as a rocker on the throttle, which I thought would be superior to a twisty stick, which of course I dont need now because of the rudder pedals. By the way, I have no trouble with the tension adjuster on the pedals, it turns easily, but it never seemed to make much difference to me. Beard

I've worn out the pinkie switch on mine so it only runs in one level, but heck with all the buttons its no big deal. When setting up the pedals you have to make sure to get them right in the OFF (CFS3) configuration, where you point the game to a function on your stick. If I remember correctly the pedals may have been reversed and the toe brakes sent you into a dive on the right toe and did something to the ailerons with the left toe. You can set up the sliders and the rotators on the X52 to do different things like elevator trim and such with those same config choices. Even when the pinkie worked I preferred to set the functions using the game. I have had good luck with it in IL2 also. I think it is a great stick but if it starts to act hinky, make sure the USB jack is not plugged in directly next to another one, that caused me some frustration when I first got it. Beard

That is the rig I'm using Rickety. Beard

I have had the Saiteks since last Christmas and they have operated without a glitch. Beard

Last week there were a bunch of DV earlies left. Join the fun Mac. Beard

I'm pretty sure that is the skin from "the Great Waldo Pepper". Beard

Looks like the second one has a Jack-O-Lantern on the side, ....lol. Beard

I think you could be challenged in Red Baron 1 also. Beard

I'm a sign painter (thats US for sign writer) and am the son of a sign painter, grew up in the business so thought I didn't want to do it. Worked for the US Forest Service as a surveyor then joined the Army, (1969) became an (for the want of a better term) intelligence analyst. Did a tour in Viet Nam (1970-71) a tour in Okinawa (2 1/2 years) and the rest of the time at the National Security Agency. Total Army time was just short of 10 years. Then went back to work as a surveyor, originally doing standard property surveys, then subdivision design, finally ended up doing Cadastral surveys in northern California. Well the recession of Jimmy Carter hit and engineering dried up so I went back to painting signs which I found out I actually love to do. I do most of my designs on computer now, but very rarely cut anything out of vinyl. I am still a brush man so if it has my name on it you know it is hand done. Beard

I think that nv4 error is a driver issue, I had it on one of the updates I did for my 8800 GT. It was resolved by a later driver. Beard

Allas I too will not be able to fly tomorrow, I have to letter some doors at a local Medical Group and Sundays are the onliest day they are closed. Beard

Pappy, There is a simple fix for the X52's looseness. Take the top of a DVD stack canister, cut the center out of it, cut around the circle, do a slit to the center then put it between the spring and the handle, than walla it isn't loose anymore. That was suggested by somebody somewhere, I use basicialy the same method with the top of a 35mil film canister, which you can get anywhere that still develops film (Walmart, photomat, grocery store, etc) just cut the center out, slit to the center and put it in that spot. It is cheap and easy. Beard

Rabu, I have fooled with the N17 a little bit and getting everything to line up properly must have been a real feat. When I finally release it you will definitely get credit. Beard

OVS, My apologies to OBD for not mentioning the original credits on the skins I have reproduced, but at the moment they are just a work in progress. With each SPAD skin I have done, I have been developing a template which I will release with the final Showbird Spad pack which will represent the changes I have made. At that time I truly intend to credit the original OBD base skin. Beard

Check in the model section at the Airdrome, there are at least one SE5 builds going on right now. Beard

I really have no preference at this time. Beard

Thats my theory Firecage, active pilots get the kill. Beard

Photo Paint plays well with Draw in that it will import cdr files and leave the backgrounds transparent. However my version does not save as bmp's so I have to take the native cpt (photo paint) files back into Draw to convert them. Photo Paint will save in psd format and open those files without losing layers. I dont think it has all the same filters as photoshop, but since I dont use that program I have no way of knowing. Beard

Yes, in "Draw" you have a full range of textures, fills, and all sorts of useful stuff. You can make custom textures for fills of shapes, do fades across objects ad depth with a 3d rotation tool, rotate you light source, etc. You can even do a start out as one object and morph into another as you drag it across a screen. Its real value to me is the advanced font manipulation, easy kerning of letters, drop shades, envelopes and the like. I am currently using version 13 (X3) and started with version 4, so I have a lot of familiarity with the program. It does a lot of things I don't need, but it is nice to know they are available. It is only recently that I have been fooling around with the Photo Paint side of the program (mainly just for skinning) and the tool usage in it are kind of backwards to Corel Draw, in other words pretty frustrating. Mainly with this type of program you discover things by accident, or try something that you think ought to work and then Wala! you have a new tool. The use of layers in Corel itself is different that a the Photo Paint program in that each object is treated as its own layer and can be moved independently across the screen of the other objects. Like say you are working on a skin which is 2048 x 2048, you can import a profile (like the Rising Sun)from somewhere, trace the lines of the small drawing with your vector tools then drag and enlarge (without changing the resolution or losing definition) them to fit the area needed on the skin, then you can manipulate those vector shapes (by using nodes) or add curves to them as needed. If something doesn't fit correctly you can use envelope tools to warp the shape to fit the item. You can then take this object and place it above or below anything else you have drawn without having to open a diffent layer. You have choices like front of page, back of page, in front of (think click on a different object) behind, one forward, one back, etc.... Like I said though it is kind of steep learning curve and it works differently than other programs. But once you are used to it, it is very good. Beard

My favorite for skinning is Corel Draw. This is a vector tool which allows you to draw lines and shapes instead of "painting". It also has the advantage of letting you easily resize objects without causing distortion of the edges, everything stays nice and crisp. If you buy the suite it comes with Photo Paint (like paint shop or other similar programs) which makes it easy to take the "shapes" you develop in Draw and layer other objects over or under them, using transparencies and other tools. But, unfortunately it is not very intuitive. The price is usually better but it is geared towards people who run things like plotters. Beard