TaillyHo

Thanks, Olham - sounds easy enough!

Plenty of action there, Olham - tho you were fortunate not to lose your top wing judging by the pepper marks shown from below in the bottom pic! Whan you say you "marked the SPAD", is that simply Tab-ing through until his craft goes from a red to a yellow square on the TAC? = or do you also have to 'padlock' his SPAD before hitting 'A' ? I have only limited success trying to 'command' my wingmen.

Cool! Well spotted, Morris - thanks for sharing.

Apologies in advance if there is an 'obvious' post or fix for this problem. I've checked the BHaH FAQ, annd looked back over the last 12 months of posts here and couldn't see any. I have been running OFF - mostly campaigns, but some QC sessions - for a few months now with no problems. Last few weeks, I have been exiting certain campaign missions (as per FAQ: Esc and then End Mission) only to encounter a CTD or boot back to the OFF Manager menus with the date and time reset as if that mission hadn't happened at all. No debrief, mission stats, claim forms or additional hours in my pilot's log either. The only system change that I can associate with the emergence of this seemingly random problem is a new nVidia driver. I have tried deleting some 'deceased' pilots to free up space (but I only had 10-12 in total (ie. current and deceased). I've also tried removing and re-enlisting a couple of newer pilots where this problem happened more than once. It doesn't seem to affect my more established pilots (but that may just be chance). I'm suspicious of the graphic driver (even tho the in-game graphics are working fine). Running XP btw. If anyone has had similar problems and has any advice I'd be very grateful.

Thanks for your reply, Pol. I'll have a close look at the 'tips' again.

Thanks James, but I'm in the coolest part of Australia - and if it was heat and dust I think it would be reaking havoc across all apps and ops, not just picking on OFF (sometimes). Just one of those quirky and slightly annoying things it seems. cheers

Yeah, I hear what you're saying uncleal. I know I have options - like going back to the 'older' drivers, or just putting up with it. I was just hoping if I put it out there, someone might say "yeah I had that problem once, I did this [whatever] ... and it went away".

Thanks, Olham

Brownred colour you say, and would that be before or after you add the rum, my friend?! ps. do you know there is a downloadable 'flight adventure' for FS2004 made by my countryman, Bruce Kennewell, described as follows: FS2004 1926 - East Frisian Islands. Set in 1926, this compact flight sees you flying a Junkers W-33b on your twice-weekly "milk-and-bread" run from Emden and through the islands, including Heligoland (or "Helgoland") before terminating at Borkum, the western-most island in the German Frisian islands. Your flight plan takes you in an anti-clockwise direction and you terminate at Borkum. There is no schedule... if you feel like having a chat with the locals en-route, feel free to do so, just so long as you get to Borkum to pick up the mail before the post office closes. Additional scenery files are required, OSTFR40.ZIP and HELGOL09.ZIP. Also the Junkers Ju-W33b aeroplane by Hauke Keitel and Rolf-Uwe Hochmuth is required, JUW33FS9.ZIP. By Bruce Kennewell. I imagine you'd be disappointed at the spartan rendering of your homeland in FS2004, but if you're interested, you can get it from FlightSim.com Hope all goes well with your mother, and you can be back in your trusty 'Tros again soon.

Thanks uncleal. I'm no driver junkie - fact is I hadn't updated drivers for a couple of years and figured with installing OFF and then TrackIR, it might be good to do so. Hellshade gave a heads-up on some new ones that seemed to be good with OFF, so I grabbed them. May or may not be the culprit, just seeing if this issue rang a bell with anyone else before I started swapping stuff, changing settings, installing and re-installing just per chance the problem goes away. Will try the detail sliders - tho I don't know how they'd be fine where they are most of the time and then just act up every now and then. Realise I'm not the only here with tech 'issues' tho!

This from the OFF/BHaH FAQ: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_LOGON_NAME\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields (XP) C:\Users\YOUR_LOGON_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields (Vista) Hope this helps.

Hey Wayfarer, When I said about 'reporting from the front', I didn't mean from your front room! But I did enjoy your re-counting the picture of domestic bliss, rudely interrupted by the immersive powers of OFF! Thanks to a tip from Olham, I have been reading one of Peter Kilduff's books: Red Baron - The Life and Death of an Ace , and in it there is an interesting observation by MvR when he was part of a raiding party on a Russian airfield in 1916 and saw a plane taking off: "Did he have in mind to attack us? I believe not. More likely, he sought security in the air, for most certainly that is the most comfortable place to be to avoid personal mortal danger during bombing attacks on an airfield." This doesn't address the question some have raised as to whether there are too many 'scrambles' in OFF, but it does offer an alternative logic to refusing to fly and jumping in the nearest slit-trench. And on the subject of frequency, my impression is that you've been flying your B.E2 for quite a while now, and over several months of campaign in 1915 - so only recently coming to a 'scramble' for the first time would seem about right in a WW1 sim. In my limited experience, I'd say one's response to a 'scramble' mission depends on both the plane you are in - and the type of craft flying overhead. In my DFW squad (which is my only German plane experience so far), if we are scrambled against incoming B.E2s, I'm with Hellshade - let me at 'em! But given your weapon of choice (!), I think a rather more conservative attitude (like staying firmly on the ground) would be entirely appropriate. RFC-2 was another option I was considering, but at RFC-6, one would have the tempting prospect of a 'Fee' before the end of 1915. Hhmmm. Good luck there ... and mind your language!

Getting a new campaign up and running in the Bristol Scout - in the hope that TrackIR might help this bird's unique 'angle of attack!! Fingers-crossed my pilot will last long enough to justify a 'report from the front' soon, but for now, this is his career highlight ... never mind the hun in the sun, beware the 'cock-eyed' Lewis!! .

Well done, that man! Wonderful detail, Dej.

Hello Si, Pardon me, I didn't mean to ignore your earlier 'letters' from Victor Timm on the subject of survival in a B.E2. I read those a while back, and after your message above, read them again. They are very good - and on second read I think I got more out of them in terms of actually flying the B.E2 (I think the first time I was more interetsted in your character development and wasn't taking so much notice of the tips and strategy stuff). I think Jim Attrill was also an earlier campaigner of some length with the 'Bee', but I don't believe he 'reported from the front'. I am 'feeling the suicidal need' as you put it, Si - and thinking RFC-6 might be a good place to start. Which squad are you with, Wayfarer?

Tee-hee! Spot the alien! Very nice vid, Hellshade - should be required viewing for all OFF newbies. I think the real art you demonstrate - but that is not so easy to replicate - is the hanging back to not lose your target, yet being right there for that close-up 'kill' shot. No doubt you do a lot of work with that throttle, but I think you must also have the experience to know where the target is likely to go next. I can almost see you leaning over prior to a newbie's first flight and saying "I'm now gonna show you the most important thing in this cockpit for shooting down the enemy ... and to his/her surprise, instead of pointing to the trigger button, you lovingly tap the throttle lever.

Hey Lewie, guessing you know you're not comparing apples and apples here - but you asked for a reality check. There was a thread here some time ago asking folks to 'vote' on their accuracy in OFF. From memory, I think the majority were in the 15-20% slot, but quite a few were 20%+, with a few 'aliens' managing 30%+. The good thing about player stats is that they come up immediately after each mission, so you get some verification immediately if you thought you had a good 'show'. Of course, if you've only been getting 10-11% for a while and then discover a better way of sighting or whatever, it can take a while to drag your career average up. Sure the advice above about getting in close is spot-on, especially if you opt for 'less accurate' gun settings. Hope you get your copy of OFF soon!

Hey Wayfarer, how about posting a 'report from the front' every now and then. It would be great to read about early-war life in a B.E2 squad (with or without 'scramble' missions!)

Ah, what a resourceful fellow you are, Olham! Surely, if you can't be flying the unfriendly skies of OFF, then keeping up with life on the forum is the next best thing. (or perhaps a nice cup of sweet, black tea instead!)

Good, Olham - thanks for that advice.

Olham, is this considered to be one of the better (English) books on MVR? What do you think of it? I saw a copy in a second-hand bookshop today, so I know where I could get one very quickly!

I see a number of people post screen-shots of their pilot's log (especially the left side page showing pilot's photo, dates, squad, stats and medals). How do you extract this from OFF? I'm fine with the Ctrl + : trick for my in-flight screenies, but the same approach doesn't seem to work for the log-book. Any clues gratefully accepted.

Success! Thankyou, my friend. I recall now, this was the same technique I had to use to get race reports out of GTR2 - only there I ran the game within a 'window', so could print the screen, drag the 'window' aside, and access files on my desktop to get 2 or 3 reports one after the other. cheerio

Ah, that doesn't sound too hard. Much obliged, Olham.

Just had a quick search, Carrick - this one is as close as I could see from Osprey (www.ospreypublishing.com), but doesn't look like the cover you describe. Looks interesting, for sure! .