33LIMA

Some of the OFF planes are very subsceptible to going into a sort of tail-first sideslip in a turn. Worst 'offenders' from what I have flown include the SE5a and the Pfalz DIIIa. I have read reports that the real Pfalz did this sort of thing to some extent, tho it doesn't seem to in RoF (nor the First Eagles add-on Pfalz, with Peter01's 'Hard' setting FM mod). The solution is to use a certain amount of 'bottom rudder' (ie, towards the low side) as you turn. This can convert the sidelsip into a fairly wickedly-tight turn. Bottom rudder usually helps tighten turns with the non-sidelsippers, too. HPW's FM mod (the one compatible with my empty weight mod, if you're using that too) also helps with the Pfalz and some other planes. Some/many OFF planes are nose-heavy while in RoF (as I think in real life?) most I've flown are tail-heavy. So whether or not the real plane had elevator trim (and some did, like the SE5 & RE8 IIRC, and others could be rigged to some extent) the first thing I do after takeoff and getting established into the circuit is trim my plane so it flies level at full throttle, or at least trim out the worst of the nose-(or tail-) heaviness. HPW has a specific FM mod for the Halb DII which reduces that plane's extreme nose-heaviness, which I'd highly recommend. It goes against the grain but I would also advise in Workshop, setting player guns to 'Strong' rather than 'Normal'; personally I find this more realistic and better than using the setting which makes all front guns more accurate (the AI seem to hit me often enough as it is). Even with Player Guns=Strong, you won't tear up your targets with a few hits, like you can in RoF.

Cheers - will give this one a go; tho I quite like the current degree of head movement and the stall buffet effects already in FE/FE2, which are one of the things FE has that I wish OFF did; makes it seem much more like you're flying and doing so in a 3-dimensional machine, rather than sitting at a monitor looking at a flat projection of your cockpit. Makes the world of a difference IMHO.

Wow! For an aircombat sime those look pretty fantastic! Is it possible to disable the dust, if the FPS takes a nose-dive when the little blighters are scuttling about below you, even if it makes them harder to see? PS I take it not installing the emitter file will have that effect, will give it a try if necessary.

I would suggest you go with 'Install Option Three' - worked for me, with Windows Vista - as listed here: http://www.fsww1.com/ Another option not mentioned so far and very well worth considering is First Eagles Gold or First Eagles 2: http://www.thirdwire...project_fe2.htm

Wow - not one, but five, armoured cars! Great work Stephen, and many thanks!

Welcome aboard Dale! Yeah, self-installers are neat, but so much content for so many great sims is in compressed files these days, so it's well worth getting the hang of it. After a bit of practice you'll soon get the hang of it! The payback, in FE terms anyway, is getting to give the V-strutters a tase of their own medicin in the add-on Bloody April campaign, over the add-on flanders terrain, in your add-on Sopwith Pup:

As well as the horizon cloud mod illustrated in the above screenie, I've started using Stary's SARCASM cloud mod for SF2 - http://combatace.com...ds-and-sky-mod/ - and so far it seems to work well and look good:

Wow - a re-install- that was drastic! At least it worked. Yes please, let me know if you get further problems! I'm just back online after spending ages getting rid of a really nasty trojan, the 'UKash Metropolitan police scam' (a form or ransomware) and I'm very glad I didn't have to do a re-install for that, as it would have been a re-install of everything!!! My nerves were already in shreds after a scary 10 Naval Tripehound campaign in First Eagles, V-strutters appearing from everywhere, survived some really hairy missions only to end up getting my tail shot off fourth time out, so a nice quiet patrol or two in OFF's Pups with no more than the odd takeoff incident and some 'Less Aggressive' Albatros DIIs to worry about, will seem like a nice break!

I flew a second 54 Squadron campaign mission last night with somewhat different results. As per last time, the flight I was leading all got off fine. Of the first couple from the AI-led flight, one got off ok, but the second one crashed and burned, again only just past the crest. That left two sitting at the start position. They sat there for a short time, then one took off and made it past the crest. The last one also took off, but it was rather weird. As I orbited above him on the start line I could see he was sitting askew, with his nose about 30 degrees to the right of the runway's centre line. When he started his run, he continued on this skewed path, ran off the airfield proper, past the rear of some structures (tents I think) and then got airborne, again clearing the crest, this time in the 'corner' it formed at the SE ?) corner of the flying field. I have seen this strange diagonal takeoff behaviour once before, with an AI FE2b which crashed into the sheds. Based on this - out of about 20 planes in two missions, two crashes, and two refusals (which - as on the 2nd mission - might have cleared, had I waited or circled above myself) I would be disinclined to reduce the Pup's extra weight, and to put the erratic behaviour down to the sort of takeoff incidents you got in real life due to inexperienced pilots (even with benign planes like Pups) in operational conditions. Plus Chipilly is rather a death trap, with little margin for error. So I'd actually award extra points to OFF for greater realism on this one. A WW1 sim where all pilots flew competently or better all the time would not be very realistic. Another factor is, that I have not seen this affect the flight that I am leading; only the AI-led flight, and only to this limited extent. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to ignore other flights (where there is one; in a good many cases, there isn't) and go my own way in my own time. So I'm generally not that bothered, if the other Flight screws up somewhat, as long as mine does ok At the moment I'm flying Less Agressive AI and will stick with that. Early days but with that setting, in the campaigns I'm currently flying (Brisfit, FE2b, Pup and Camel) I seem to get little of the 'dive for the deck then do roller-coasters' behaviour.

I've just started my first serious Bristol Fighter campaign and I have to say that the OFF F2B must be one of the very best plane models in the OFF stable and one of the best in any sim, anywhere. With the hi-res textures enabled and a suitable skin selected for 48 Squadron, in the external view (which is how I fly, pre- and post-combat) it looks absolutely surperb, down to the printed markings on the undersurfaces of its doped irish linen to the stencils on the fuselage and its other authentic markings and service-worn appearance. The 3d model itself is a joy to behold, complete with cowling apertures and shiny metal nose ring, not to mention the working wing-mounted 'fan' generator, bomb racks and authentically-marked 112lb bombs. The cockpit would benefit from higher-res textures and the Aldis sight gets in the way a bit but it is well-detailed and convincing. Also the more distant Level Of Detail models are very good with details visible at longish range. Flight characteristics are fairly benign too, not quite as tractable as the scouts but with ArcMod enabled to give my gunner a fighting chance it was a real pleasure to head off into the rain and low clouds to knock the spots off the nearest railyard, confident that we could hold our own with the Huns in the air afterward. And so it proved, here's the claim form which resulted: 14/;3/;1917 ;8h;26 ;Flanders ;Bellevue ;Bombing Behind Enemy Front Lines ; Flying: Bristol F2b. On this day claims: ;1 ;AlbDII . ;Approaching the target between cloudbanks we were pursued by a flight of Albatrosses which turned after us but we opened our throttles and soon left them behind, scoring numerous hits on the target railway yard whose buildings we left burning in several places. On regrouping after coming off the target, the EA caught up with us and a low-level dogfight ensued. I and my gunner repeatedly hit a brown and green DII whose engine started emitting black smoke before he lost power and was last seen descending towards the ground just above the treetops, roughly between the Lines and Douai. My engine was hit during this fight, by ground fire probably, and so I then had to turn back and land at the first friendly airfield I found. Witnessed by: Jack Boyd After this I'm looking forward to some more 2-seater careers with the other OFF 2-seaters 'fighter-bombers' too, particularly the Roland and the Hannover. But the Bristol is a particularly fine model, and a real credit to the builder, painter, and DM/FM makers.

No, no, your work on the Pfalz FM isn't a distraction! It's work of the utmost importance to the German air war effort! The prayers of OFF Pfalz pilots everywhere, are with you!!!

OK I THINK I've found out what the problem is and what will be needed, to sort it. The problem comes in three parts: First, 54 Squadron's airfield at Chipilly is a death-trap. It has a sudden incline at the far end, rising sharply over 100 feet from airfield level, with some trees around too. Second, the AI in OFF are pretty marginal at taking off in lower-powered planes, to the point they can't cope with a full load of fuel and ammo (let alone, the AI Empty Weight Mod's full load minus 80 lbs) if there's an obstruction near the airfield boundary...like Chipilly's 100 ft-plus ridge. Third, the AI can behave like Lemmings. With no AI empty weight mod, I once saw a flight of Fokker E3's in quite leisurely fashion follow their leader who crashed into a hill, which they proceeded to do, despite having plenty of time, space and power to pull up or turn aside. What happened when I tested was my flight took off fine (I have 'always lead' selected, plus I have load control not unique skin selected - I believe theis means my own flight fly without the mod's extra weight). But the other flight...well, the first few took off ok. But one of them crashed. Strangely, he made it past the tip of the incline, but crashed and burned about 50 feet past the crest, where the ground seemed level. The interesting thing was, the last two Pups in that same flight, stayed stationery at their start positions. They did so, I believe, because the plane ahead of them in their flight 'disappeared' when he crashed, leaving them like lost kids. All dressed up, nowhere to go. It's possible that if one of the surviving members of their flight, who had taken off ok earlier, had flown past close enough, they might have reacted and took off to follow, but I didn't wait too long to see if that happened. The prob that REALLY needs fixed here is the AI, not the AI empty weight mod, tho I say so myself. They need to be able to takeoff and generally fly, at up to and including normal full load, or otherwise much as the player's plane can; and they need not to follow their leader like Lemmings (and/or the next guy ahead whichever it is they do) regardless of whether the leader/next plane ahead is crashed, heading to destruction etc. Another symptom of this 'Lemming behaviour' is although not crashing themselves, I have noticed they follow you down to the deck (if not engaged with enemies) when you're gliding down with a dead engine and won't obey the CFS3 Split command as far as I can see, which ought to signify their leader has absolved them of their duty to stay in formation. But we can't do that; thank goodness it looks like P4/OFF2 will. So that leaves doing what was done with the AI Halberstadts ie reducing their extra weight in the AI empty weight mod, even tho that also lets them keep more of their 'lower weight' advantage, in air combat. HPW is I think still working on a new combined mod with the extra weight cut back to ramp weight, which may turn out to be the best compromise in the circumstances. If that doesn't appear soon I'll make a Pup Mod update to the AI empty Weight mod, and upload that. In the meantime, I may be wrong, but I don't think the AI empty Weight mod will affect YOUR flight, if you 'always lead' and if you have 'choose fuel and ammo load' selected, as I do. Only planes in AI-led flights. Anyway thanks again for the feedback!

Ja, we haf deployed the devilishly cunning anti-magneto ray, und Perfidious Albion will soon learn the price of their terrible folly! Gott strafe England!