pcpilot

Lol, good pic NC. Im not a huge cat fan but Ive a cat I found as a tiny kitten wimpering in the bushes at school several years ago that I didnt have the heart to leave for the coyotes. Of course, I couldnt pawn him off on anyone at school, youd think at least ONE of thoase women teachers would have a soft spot, but despite all my best heartstring pulls they refused. Sooooo, I brought the little blabbermouth home. Wasnt thrilled at first, I never heard a cat talk so much. Then there was the dishes in the drainer one night... But at a year old, he was still alive and well so I named him Isaiah because he came out of the wilderness like an old Bible prophet and had a LOT to say, hehe. Now about 6 years later, Ive actually grown fond of the rascal now. My plans to put a perch colored sweater on him, thread a large hook thru the sweater, and use him as Pike bait in Montana have been put on hold... ;) :D :P

BITE your tongue Firehawk... :P :D

Deployments can be pretty exciting, and more than a little confusing. Did a few myself so some advice...Make sure your weapon is clean, your gear squared away and ready to move at a moments notice, keep your eyes open, shut your mouth, and listen to every bit of detail and info from your sgt. Sounds simple doesnt it, but youd be surprised how many DONT get it. ...oh, and good luck pal. Keep us posted and if you need anything at all drop me an email at pcpilot@nethere.com, or PM me here at Biohaz, Ill get it for you. :o ;) Semper Fi...

I used to listen to the good Dr. on occasion when he was aired on KGB-FM here in San Diego back in the early '80's. Ill hafta check out the link... ;)

Gamespot has reported that SH3 has won "Best of Show" simulation at the E3 convention! Read their article below... Silent Hunter III (PC) Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft The decline of the simulation genre was hard not to notice at E3; only a handful of simulations were at the show. But the few simulations that were there all looked impressive. Ace Combat 5 for the PlayStation 2 is a lightweight, action-oriented sim with gorgeous graphics. And on the other side of the spectrum is Pacific Fighters, the next big realistic PC combat flight simulation from famed designer Oleg Maddox. But the simulation that impressed us the most didn't involve flying at all. Instead, the action in Silent Hunter III takes place under the sea. Watch the official trailer of this exciting submarine sim. The third game in this submarine series is visually amazing. In Silent Hunter III, you'll command a series of German U-boats from 1939 to 1945, and the designers have re-created the interiors--and the crews--of various U-boats in stunning 3D. You can stand on the bridge and interact with your crew, or you can climb up to the tower and look out over the beautifully rendered 3D ocean. They've even captured the view out of the periscope perfectly; waves wash over the periscope and temporarily blur the scene. Fortunately, Ubisoft is making Silent Hunter III as accessible as it is beautiful. The game will feature an action-heavy mode that will allow newcomers to simply lock onto enemy ships and launch torpedoes at them without having to fuss with all the details. Meanwhile, hardcore submarine fans will be able to ramp up the realism settings and enjoy a complex and rewarding simulation. The game has a very easy-to-use user interface that allows you to do everything from dispatching damage control teams to certain sections of the sub to calling up ship recognition photos to identify what you're looking at through the scope. Yet at the heart of Silent Hunter III is the thin line between the hunter and the hunted that existed during World War II's naval engagements. During our demonstration, we watched as the U-boat engaged the mighty Royal Navy battleship King George V at close range. The U-boat managed to land torpedoes in the battleship's engine section, and secondary explosions tore through the other half of the battleship. But before the U-boat could celebrate, a British destroyer rapidly closed the distance, firing its canon and nearly ramming the U-boat before dropping depth charges into the ocean. It was a scene that mixed exhilaration with nail-biting tension, and that is why Silent Hunter III is the best simulation of the show. The other Best Simulation Game finalists: Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War (PS2) Heroes of the Pacific (PC, Xbox, PS2) Pacific Fighters (PC) PT Boats: Knights of the Sea (PC)

The latest installment of Fighting Steel project, ie; version 9.5 has been released. Here's what Christopher Dean, NWS Team Director / Projects Designer, has to say about it... FIGHTING STEEL PROJECT V9.5 IS NOW RELEASED! *** DOWNLOAD THE PLAYERS MANUAL FIRST BEFORE INSTALLING V9.5 TO READ UP ON ALL THE LATEST UPDATES AND DETAILS! **** http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NWS-FSP/files Go here to download the update; http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NWS-FSP/links FSP V9.5 CD FOR DONATIONS START SHIPPING TOMMOROW AND MONDAY! To order your CD go here; http://www.navalwarfare.org/~content/fs.html NOW GO KICK SOME NAVAL ASS ALREADY!! ;-) Thanks for everyones support and patience and we hope you enjoy this major update to the FSP series! Take care Christopher Dean NWS Team Director / Projects Designer This is what the updated manual says for updates, note the new ship classes at the bottom! FIGHTING STEEL PROJECT UPDATE HISTORY FSP v9.5 UPDATES 1) Royal Sovereign class main gun changed to 20-degree-elevation version of 15"/42. 2) Horizontal (deck) penetration values shown for some guns were too low, this has been corrected. 3) Deck armor value on Scharnhorst (and Scharnhorst_15) changed to 5.1". 4) Front turret armor for IJN Takao and Agano corrected to 1.5" from the old 3" value. 5) Deck armor values for Mogami, Takao, and Nachi corrected (wrong modifier was applied in their calculations). 6) Ammo loads for IJN Furutaka and Aoba altered, they normally carried about 100rpg + illumination rounds. 7) IJN Yamato secondary turret armor reduced to 1.3", and only AP rounds now carried for its 6.1" gun. 8) Missing names on ship viewer for RM 'Doria' class added. 9) 2D Graphic for RM 'Abruzzi' (used for ship viewer) corrected. 10) Hit-chances shown in gunnery log now rounded to 2 decimal places, makes gunnery log easier to read. 11) New display system for structure damage, that more accurately demonstrates the way structure loss affects the ship. The structure damage display on the ship data tag will now show either a green, yellow, orange, or red superstructure 'icon', depending upon how badly damaged the structure is. Green is light or no damage (<=25% structure loss), yellow is moderate damage (26-50%), orange is serious damage (51-75%), and red is critical damage (76% + damage). There is a switch added in the 'DbzLib.ini' file that allows you to switch back to the original structure damage (with the squares showing 2% damage each): Change the line that reads 'TAGS= 1' to 'TAGS= 0' to show the original game structure-loss tag. 12) Progressive flooding. Ships can now sustain damage that causes progressive flooding, which like ship fires in the game can grow worse or be contained by the crew. Flooding levels are from level 1 (minor flooding) to level 5 (critical flooding). Nationality does affect the ability to control flooding, much like for controlling fires. Flooding will generally be worse the faster you go and the worse the sea state is. 13) Ships are now limited as to what speed they can safely sustain without causing additional flooding (assuming they have suffered any flooding damage). The ships new max speed will automatically be set to this maximum safe speed if you sustain flooding. 14) AI changes for AI 'fishtailing' in single-ship combat. This should also give more sensible AI ship courses while firing. 15) Fixed CTD at end of campaign (January 1943 date). 16) Searchlight on/off commands should work more logically. The AI will still not use searchlights at present; this will be added in a near-future update. 17) System hit modifier based on ship class and shell size added. 18) New punch thru routine added -- the odds of a punch-thru is now more in line with previous research done by Nathan Okun, and more recent research and calculations by the NWS staff. 19) Penetration values for HE shells now based on shell diameter and type of armor struck. This will give much more accurate penetration values for HE shells. 20) System hits now possible with dud/punch thru shells -- The odds of the dud/pass-through shell causing system damage depends upon a comparison between shell size and the size of the ship area hit: for example, a 14" shell dud/pass-through shell striking an unarmored 5" gun mount is very likely to knock the mount out, while a 5" shell hitting an 11" gun mount is much less likely to knock it out. 21) Flotation damage chance modified with range for hull hits -- at very close ranges the odds of obtaining a hull hit that causes flooding is decreased, while at longer ranges the odds of a hull hit causing flooding will increase. 22) Bombardment scores should now work correctly in bombardment missions. 23) The brief flash of ships name & icon in some situations (when it should not be seen) has been fixed, at least for most occurrences. 24) Obscure torpedo firing CTD fixed. 25) Shell splashes will now show up based on how accurate the salvo was: if the salvo is a straddle, the salvo will appear in a pattern around the ship, while if the salvo did not straddle it will appear in a pattern away from the ship, the less accurate the salvo the farther from the target the salvo lands. Please note that in very rare cases a "missed" salvo may appear near or around another ship (other than the target), but this has no affect at this point. 26) Scharnhorst 15 (15" variant) -- an error in the model caused only one gun per main turret to fire -- this has been fixed. 27) KM light cruisers (K-Class, Leipzig, Nurnberg) main battery ammo load out corrected. 28) New ship classes for FSP 9.5: RM Cavour BB, RM Soldati I DD, RM Soldati II DD, SU Sovetskii Soyuz BB, SU Gangut BB, SU Kronstadt BC, SU Kirov CA, SU Gnevnyi DD Note that the Soldati classes can be used to represent other RM DDs, as some other classes were very similar. The Russians are here! The RM navy is "Regia Marina", the Italians, who already have ships in the game, so these are icing on the cake gents. I'll post some screens as soon as I get the update, I ordered the CD, but Im gonna go ahead and download it today. The file is about 45MB so not too huge. Nice thing about older games, eh? cant wait! ;) :o

There were some minor glitches in the 9.5 installer that became IMMEDIATELY apparent. The team stayed up late last nite fixing it and VIOLA! there is a NEW installer out NOW called version 9.51. So make sure you get the right one. I played a game lastnite, the Iowas against the Yamatos, yes, you heard right. It was an ugly, brutal fight...The Japs...wait, I aint gonna tell you. you'll just have to read my AAR...hehe. :D Here's what William Miller had to say... Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 17:37:41 -0000 From: "wmiller144" <w-miller@sbcglobal.net> Subject: FSP 9.5 -- update on status..please read... Hello, We have fixed the installer issues, and have fixed the error with the ship count that caused the error messages that some players reported. We are currently working on fixing the Random Battle Generator issue, which at this point appears to be due to data corruption in the campaign file. When the randon battle generator issue is resolved, we will post a new installer. In order to avoid confusion, this new version will be named FSP v9.51 -- this way you will know for certain (by checking the splash screen) that you have downloaded and installed the fixed verision. We do thank you for your patience and understanding on this unfortunate delay in the release. William Miller Assistant Director\ Projects Developer NWS and later on... Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 19:06:08 -0000 From: "wmiller144" <w-miller@sbcglobal.net> Subject: *** FSP 9.51 now uploaded *** Helllo, FSP v9.51 has been uploaded and will be ready for download by the time this message is posted (this is both the English and German installers). To the best of our knowledge all reported v9.5 issues have been resolved -- both installer and game issues. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy the (now properly working!) game. William Miller Assistant Director\ Projects Developer NWS Allright...time for a big group hug...Im so haaaaaaaappy! :D

Congratualations grads, youve passed a MAJOR milestone. keep at school though and get that college degree, it REALLY helps. One chapters ended and another is about to begin, make your book a good one... ;) By the way chief, I graduated in '75... AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! That means Ima CODGER TOO!!! Well, at least YOUR the older fart, the picture proves it, lol... :P

Your right, the Arrrrrrrrmy has Chinooks, the Navy has an updated version with a different landing gear arrangement called CH-46 SeaKnights. I was an Landing Signalman Enlisted, LSE, on the USS David R. Ray, a Spruance class destroyer and we would LAND them on our dinky little flight deck. I remember always looking up and watching the blades whapping the air right over my head 2 feet away from the closed hangar doors. Kinda made me wish the navy still had onship bars for use after flight quarters... Yeah Nick, thats about right. I flew in one several times, as a Marine and the last time as a LSE trainee at the Imperial Beach naval air station. The pilot took us all up for a "familiarzation" ride. You know, I shoulda know better being prior service. He gets about a 1000 feet up over the strip, cuts collective, and while one of the aircrewmen screams his fool head off saying we are all gonna die, down we plummet, pulling to an abrupt halt not very far off the pavement of the landing strip. I can triple guarentee that that bird STILL has about 20 pairs of hand prints in its seating framework and at least one vomit stain on its flooring...(wasnt me by the way, hehe)

I grew up reading about these guys. Manys an hour spent at the library or home or school reading about Ploesti, or Swienfurt, or Midway, Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, or the Marianas turkey shoot. Being a vet, I naturally appreciate all of us, but that generation of vets are and always will be my heros. I wish there was a way to write his family and give our condolences as a group here at Biohaz.

Took this movie ingame using an old version of FRAPS. Be aware that the resolution just plain SUCKS. Im still using WinME so my older version of FRAPS requires that I have to use 640X480 res ingame. The conversion process from avi to wmv is the other main problem working against the movie resolution. You cant even read the small text after converting the HUGE avi's to wmv files. However the movie still gives you an idea of the realism and sounds with the Pacific Aces addon for SH2. It also still shows ever so slightly things like the water effect which is real nice. The sounds are excellent and almost feel sometimes like your in a real boat or a movie. Im calling this movie "part one" as Id like to do another short movie showing a successful attack. All I have to do is, well, a successful attack, hehe. So be patient... :D You'll find the movie in a zip file posted along with this thread down below here. The movie file is called "DiveDive". Just unzip it to your desktop and click on it. Windows Media Player should open and start the movie. It is about 1.8MB and 46 seconds long. dive.zip

Being all excited about SH3, (as old as I am being excited about ANYTHING is a good sign), I decided to load up one of my favorite games of all time Silent Hunter 2. Yes we all know how when the game first came out with Destroyer Command it was pretty wonky. The Multi-play didnt work along with various and sundry other problems. But as they say, time heals all wounds my fellow swabbies. SH2 has come of age... First I grabbed the key updates and mods at Subsim.com and their Downloads page. This would include the 1.1 patch, the Project Mezzerwertzer addon, the Hi-res enhancement pack (which brings the game resolution to 1024X768X32), Vickers Oilslick mod, and the SH2 Sound Effects. There was a TON of other stuff as well but I figured this would be a good starting place. Now everything has to be installed in the order I just listed it, the game first of course, then the patch, and so on. A note on the pics shown, some are from the original unmodded game and some arent. The story is accurate and the features I display are in the modded game too. I just didnt get all the screens I needed from the modded version so used some earlier screens to show you some of the game features. Keep in mind to, these images are compressed so dont show the true detail and clarity in the game. On running the game the first time all ran like a smooth running champ with one minor exception, I had a white line extending across the screen at certain external viewing angles. this was eliminated by turning off Table Fog in the game settings on the main screen. After this, I played several different engagements, including first, against a supposedly unprotected, defencless convoy...WRONG! Those benign looking transports and tankers have GUNS! Blighters put a hole right thru my snitzel before I was able to get below again... The weather was stormy too, and while the sky didnt seem to hold any rain, the swells were quite large, at times engulfing the boat as we plowed towards our objective. Several times the boat porpoised... Capn Jeff on the prowl... Going at high speed as I was might have busted something like a dive plane in real life but that kind of damage from wave action may not be modeled. I know it is from enemy action. Now, to continue the story, being the diligent sort that I am, I keep a careful lookout for enemy ships scanning the horizen with my trusty uzo... Finally, the enemy is spotted and the order to secure lookouts, clear decks, and DIVE! is given... On entering the control room, I order "Upscope!" and begin the long process of manuevering into position, which in this case is made easy as the enemy formation is just off my bow at a mere 5000 yards. I initially take aim at the second ship in line. Once all is ready, I give the order...Torpedos LOS! and away goes number one. I turn to the first ship now and again the order...Torpedoes LOS! Notice the second torpedo track heading for the first ship also. Check out the size of those waves...*burrrp*... The remaining ships turn to flee... The first ship, a tanker, leaves a fiery oilslick... A passing view of damaged ships thru the scope in the unmodded game... My sonarman reports the vessals sinking and breaking up. In the sound room, the terrible screeching of metal changing shape is heard...all is quiet in the control room for a moment as we consider what we have done. Then, realizing that the convoy cannot be attacked from the surface due to their guns and the sub cant quite catch them submerged, I quietly order the boat turned for home. After we are out of range, the boat is surfaced, knots are bent on, and thoughts of home becomes a welcome diversion from this dirty war. The game played GREAT! It is still one of my favorite real sims. There are lots of things that could have been done to improve the simulation by Ubi, but the community has taken care of nearly all the lapses. the visuals are VERY good, even getting reflections of the moon on the water at nite. I payed a $5 stipend to Subsim and got the Pacific Aces addon which I am going to add to a seperate install of silent Hunter 2 so I can still play the Germans when I wish. Ill post some screens of it once Im up and running with it. Ive also got screens I still have to edit showing a depth charging I took at the hands of the british that ended my career. This game will definately tide me over for subsims till SH3 comes out. Here's to hoping SH3 holds a candle to this fine game. Anyone up for some MP? :o ;)

The mods I listed can be found on the Subsim.com website on their Downloads page. All I think are free with the exception of the Pacific Aces addon which can be had for as little as a $5 donation. You can pay thru paypal and get a email from subsim in less than an hour which opens a page with the link for PA and all the other mods I mentioned in the review. The webpage with the links is good for 48 hours. I have 56K and was able to download everything including the 144MB PA file in less than 10 hours. I did it at nite, starting the download before I went to bed. I use Getright to download my files when on 56K as it will redial and reestablish connections, it will disconnect and turn off the computer after its done downloading, and it starts my virusscanner to scan all downloaded files. The program is shareware that request you pay for it after a certain time of using it. I guess I shoulda mentioned where I got the mods, sorry. I also neglected to mention the game is still available for sale from Subsim and from Naval Warfare Simulations in their online Store. Cost $12. It was writers block...or was it a cramp?

These screen shots were too cool to pass up. I CAN NOT wait for this to come out. Imagine landing on a carrier deck in the early '40's...much smaller, more pitching, no meatball, LSO has dinky little paddles, and you may have holes in yur tailfeathers courtesy of the Japs and maybe some missing parts...THAT sounds like a REAL challenge to me. In IL2FB, normally if Im shot up, I can land real close to the base and the mission often completes. If you miss the strip here, you better be ready for a swim. ;) These shots are from the Ubi website... I would LOVE to do the Battle of the Coral Sea online on a Sunday afternoon with about 30 other players trying to work together. That would be a sim dream come true. There are more at the ubi site here...Weekly Development Update.

This started a few months ago and cant seem to find out the whys and wherefores. If I click on a link that opens a new window, I get a new window that opens but the page doesnt load. For instance, when making this post, there is a link to the left beneath the smilies that says "BB Code Help". If I click that link I get the open window as usual...but it doesnt load. However, if I go to the top of the page and click the link to take me to Biohaz home, it works! Those links dont open another browser window, the original window goes to the new page. It only seems to be when a new window opens that it doesnt load, savvy? :) Now the wierd part is, as far as I know I never changed anything. This is the second time a short time after I reformatted the HDD and reinstalled WinME that this has occured. It seems to work normally, then after a few weeks, something changes, and this problem occurs. I cant seem to pin down when or what it was I was doing when the change occured exactly. This can be really frustrating trying to clcik a link you NEED to read like the rules link for airline tickets or something. My question to all you techies is; what the blue blazes is going on?? Is there a setting in IE that got changed? Im using IE6(?) version 5.50.4134.0100. Thanks for any ideas, or just yur shoulder to cry on...

Guess what! I found the problem...When I installed one of the service packs MS puts out to repair this crappy WinME product and try to fill the security holes, it changed one of the oleo32.dll files. This newer file was causing all my problems. I discovered this on trying to install the patch for Silent hunter 2 and it wouldnt go past the initialization of the install engine without an error message...cant think what the message was at the moment. I had had the same error message doing something else before so remembered it vaguely. On asking in the SH2 forum at Subsim.com about this issue, another member reminded me of the fix located on the MS website. I still had their executable fix file nessesary to replace the newer file with the original older one. VIOLA! Problem solved! Now all my links work, the patch installed like it should, and roses started growing outside my window again... :D Thanks for trying PG, appreciate it pal... ;)

The story of Troy is a cool story, but I havent seen any previews, dont watch TV but rarely. Dont mind a good movie though once in awhile. Loved Gladiator and Private Ryan. Any good battle scenes? Hope they minimized the romance crap... <_< ;)

Took challenge one and...well...Im ashamed... :( It doesnt give you a number score per se. You keep track of how many you missed yourself. The page said that If you got them all right, you are AMAZING! If you missed 1, you are ALMOST amazing, hehe. If you mis 2 or more, try to be amazing NEXT TIME, lol. Me? I guess Im a wannabe... <_< Cool link bhern... ;)

By the way Zagnut, if you havent already become aware of this, a fellow on the Ubi IL2 forums called Extreme_one has done a real nice US and British campaign. They include the appropriate voices, medals, and campaign folder added to the game. Ive been enjoying the US campaign he did of late. With the addition of the folder and medals, you can do your own US and Brit campaigns now too. These campaigns are installed via their own installer so everything is pretty easy. You can find them here...Netwings.org If THIS addon doesnt have a US campaign, something is most definately amiss. The Pacific war was mainly an American show. For all you about ready to complain, note I said "mainly". That doesnt preclude all the other countries and their significant contributions. China, Austrailia, New Zealand, Phillipines, and Britian come to mind without even trying.

I dont know yet the name of the gemtleman writing this article but will add it when I do. He is from the subsim.com website and is at E3 to report on the newest naval sims being displayed there. Check out what he has to say about Silent hunter 3... First look. I took some photos of the game as it was being played on the monitor but they do not do the gfx justice, this game looks terrific! Lead Designer Tiberius Lazar and Project Manager Florin Boitor kindly led me through the many aspects of the game and answered all my questions. I am going to relay some quick notes now with a full report to follow this afternoon. You can command the crew to use the AA and deck guns, you can even specify which parts of the ship to target--the water line, wheel house, etc. Or, if you choose, you can man the guns yourself with several choices of ammo. A recurring theme throughout the sim is Crew Competency. Here's the scoop on the part you all have been waiting on--the campaign model! What you are looking at is the familiar Kriegsmarine grid map. According to Tiberius, the campaign will use a branching career style. After completing a mission you will have a choice of one of three new missions. Once you accept one, the next three choices that follow will be different than the other two choices you did not take. Missions begin in the U-boat pens or shop where you will designate repairs, upgrades, and manage your crew awards. When you start a patrol, you are given orders and a patrol zone to travel to. There will be an Aces-style cinematic of your sub leaving port. Then you will study the grip map and a red line will mark your subs progress to the patrol zone, similar to using time compression in Aces/SH1 while watching the map. Now get this--there will be chance encounters of solo ships and convoys between port and your patrol zone, so in much the same way Silent Service II worked, you will have a dynamic campaign. The odds of running into an unreported ship or convoy vary, much the same as it does in real life. Unlike SH2, where the career campaign always started out in the middle of the patrol zone and the ships were always the same, SH3 will allow you to sail to the patrol zone with the possibility of meeting unexpected ships. I inquired about letting the player interrupt the grid map travel session and be able to take the bridge at any time but Tiberius said at this point that is not planned. If you did manage to stop the travel routine, there would be nothing but empty sea anyway. Overall, the graphics are utterly breathtaking. No hype, just fact. The sea and ships look very, very good. The SH3 trailer we've all seen is not composed of a movie or cinematic--those are the in-game graphics. I can hardly begin to convey how WOW! the overall look of this game is, from the shudder of the torpedo as it passes the camera, to the opening of the outer tube doors, streams of bubbles rising off the limber holes in the superstructure, to the amazing amount of detail in each ship and plane. Now, to answer some specific queries quickly and then on to PT Boats (more SH3 detail later): The world is round in SH3, very much so. Ships appear mast first over the horizon There is a full crew, they move, and they react to the player's presence You can pan 360 degrees the control room, bridge, radio room, and sonar shack. Convoy ships will react to an attack by taking evasive maneuvers When you raise the scope, there is a squiggly film of water that looks as real as anything I could have imagined! The TDC will be auto and manual, according to the player's desire. In Auto, you can assign the chores to your crew (and depending on how good your crew is, thus will be your results). In manual, you must do everything in manual, from target ID, using the stadimeter to determine range, a stop watch to determine speed, angle on the bow, everything. The damage model is very comprehensive--you can assign certain officers and petty officers and crew members to each compartment. Again, the better the individual crew members, the more efficiently they can effect repairs. If you think ol' Karl is not working fast enough, assign the Chief to oversee his work and he will do better. The map looks more like a hand drawn chart than in previous subsims. You have better chart tools to use also. I know you will love this: sometimes when you get damage, the screen shakes, lights flicker, and I even saw a flange burst and water spray across the control room! Tiberius and Florin know their U-boats and naval history very well. Their dev team has been working on SH3 since January 2003 and they consider it in alpha stage now. To me, it looks very polished and complete at this stage. This sim exceeds my expectations. Sounds pretty cool eh? One way you can keep tabs on the happenings there yourself is clicking here... Subsim E3 updates.;) :o

Ive been a member of the Ramona Bilingual Seventh Day Adventist Church for over 5 years. I taught Sabbath school classes for several of those years. One of the kids in my class was a young man by the name of Ramon Ojeda. I remember him as a handsome young man with an engaging grin that came quickly to his face when I'd tell one of my dumb jokes. Yet he always seemed to listen intently to the class subject. I ALWAYS had a good impression of him as a serious lad who was honest and would be a good, responsible adult one day soon. He came from a good family whose father had served in Vietnam whom I count as a freind. I remember all too well one day him and some of his freinds coming up to me and asking me about military service. Everyone knows Im prior service and proud of it. The young men wanted to know what it was like. I told them both sides, that it was the militay and not always easy. I also told them about the benefits to be gained by military service, training, experiance, education, pride... Ramon got married soon after and both he and his beautiful bride joined the Army. On his second tour, he was sent to Iraq. A few days ago, his convoy was ambushed. Ramon is being hailed as being one of the first to return fire with the .50 mounted on his truck and allowing several other men to fall back to safer fighting positions. In the course of his action, Ramon was killed. He was 22. Tommorrow is his service and Ill be there. We will take him to lay him to rest with the other heroes at Fort Rosecrans Nat'l Military cemetary, which has a fine view of the Pacific Ocean beyond the inumerable rows of crosses. Its not the first funeral Ive attended, but God how I hope its the last. Im gonna miss Ramon, he was a good God fearing young man who was thoughtful of more than having a good time, who wanted to do his part and his duty. Its men like him, of all colors, backgrounds, and stations that make this country great. We here in Ramona have lost a fine son, sacrificed on the alter of freedom...today is an incredibly sad day... Via con Dios mi hermano...

Cracks me up how he always looks so tough in his photos. But you know, he loved to laugh and joke and was a very easy going young man. I wish I coulda teased him about his pictures...then MAYBE admit that I take the same kinda pics... :) This article with accompanying pic was posted in our churchs' Conferance website...Pacific Union Conferance.

www.pigstye.net/iraq Looks like I cant make his service, a freind called this morning and is stranded 400 miles away and needs my help. I'll look to the living first. But my heart will be there. My prayers go up for his family, that their faith remains strong and they remember the good hope we have thru Christ. Chief, I hope we see this thru too. I couldnt stand the thought of Ramons' death being in vain.

Take a look at the SCREENSHOT page of the Silent Hunter III website. There is also an update mentioning that "Silent Hunter III’s damage system relies on the detailed modelling of ships and physics: destructible internal structures and equipment influence the behaviour of damaged ships and how they sink. For example, a vessel hit in the bow will go down bow first; a hit to the ammo store will set off multiple secondary explosions." Take a look...Im impressed! This has to be some of the best eye candy Ive seen in a sim. Now all we have to hope for is a game that works on release, decent gameplay, and a good editor for all us roll yur own 'rs... :D ;)

There are two zip files, about 1mb each. #1 has 5 versions of the spit IX plus 2 versions of the I185, #2 has all 4 versions of the B25. The thread announcing this and the URL to download the skins is located HERE! The link to download the skins is here...Void skins. I understand they will also be available at www.il2skins.com/. Not sure if they are yet or not. This is a GOOD indication of the imminent release of the patch. Cant wait to fly that B-25! :D