33LIMA

I dunno why that might stop working but you may be able to check and re-assign this key assignment in the (CFS3) in-game menu, the one that pops up when you hit 'esc' to stop a mission - look under the 'Controls' option. IIRC this doesn't work with joystick buttons. The other thing is to hand-edit the file that contains the key and button assignments, which does work for joystick buttons too - IIRC it's Mine.xca - in Vista it's in [your user name]/Appdata/Roaming/Microsoft/CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields. You can open this with Wordpad, check that the key assignment for this is right, my entry reads: <Key ID="F6" Mod="Control+Shift" Action="MIXTURE_LEAN"/>

HPW, would you have the time to have a quick look at the attached plan and let me know if you can spot any problems? I'd like to get this off to a good start! TIA!

Wow, those are really good and i Iove maps generally! It'sa great pity the CFS3 map is so awful; P3 has tweaked it a bit but it would be so much better to have a map that corresponds to what you can see in flight, as do the maps in Flying Corps Gold and more recently as they do in First Eagles (in-flight one anyway) and Rise of Flight. Hopefully in P4...if not a better map, then in-game scenery which corresponds closely to a good printed one like these. I must try using the RoF map when flying OFF, would be nice to get to know the names of more of the towns and woods I was flying over, even if the fixed RoF front line won't be right.

Others will know for sure, and you could always try applying the OFF Phase 3 patches to P1 and see what happens - but I'd be really amazed if they didn't either just fail to apply or if they did, just kill Phase 1, stone dead - they are just so different eg the new OFF Manager game/campaign interface. I have OFF Phase 2, but even that is a beta compared to Phase 3. I would strongly recommend doing what I did, and buying OFF Phase 3 rather than tinkering about with Phase 1, even if you have a decent enough system to run the free-to-play version of Rise of Flight (as supplied on disc with this month's PC Pilot, incidentally); excellent tho RoF is, OFF Phase 3 has things now that will take RoF many months, probably. You could wait for OFF Phase 4 but no-one knows how long that will be, and life is short... :)

Understood and thanks for the pointers, HPW. I will press on and see how it goes, and will take up your kind offer of advice I'm sure! My only actual experience of doing this was with that Bf110, which worked as I'd hoped; affecting the dynamics of the AI FM is exactly what I want to do, just not so much that it creates problems. It's hopefully and in most or all cases, liable to be no more dramatic an effect, and possibly less so, than the difference between the DVII and the DVIIF or the different HP-rated SPAD VII and Albatros models, which I'm guessing would be mostly or entirely the same FM but with a bit more, or less, horse power. I suppose that problems are more likely with lower-powered planes like the EIII where extra weight might be the straw that breaks the AI camel's back. After look at the .cfg files last night, I'm thinking that, while there are some refs to weight elsewhere in the file, the important section (taking the Abl DIII AC1) is this one: [WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE] reference_datum_position=0.000000,0.000000,0.000000 empty_weight_CG_position= 0.000, 0.000, 0.000 max_number_of_stations=1 empty_weight=1484.00000 empty_weight_roll_MOI=945.02000 empty_weight_pitch_MOI=1878.50000 empty_weight_yaw_MOI=1664.51000 empty_weight_coupled_MOI=0.00000 max_gross_weight=2002.0 station_load.0= 180, -3.603, 0.000, 0.000, //pilot I believe the empty weight is the one I would need to increase, say to half-way to the max gross weight, which latter figure it seems is what the AI disregards. I had assumed the max gross weight by definition is either the plane's max take-off weight OR its weight with whatever its normal, full operational load might be. And therefore, either way, would include full service loads of 'petrol, oil and lubricants', crew and ammo...and possibly also bombs if they could be carried. Maybe the CFS3 SDK will confirm what's normally (supposed to be in) the sim's convention for 'max gross weight'. So I'm not sure where those extra entries for the DVIII/EV fit in to that max gross weight figure (they seem to be for oil and pilot). While the empty weight in the .cfg file agrees with the three sources I have to hand, the max gross weight is well above what my sources quote as 'take-off' and 'loaded' weights for the EV/DVIII, which they give as either 1238 or 1334 lbs, not the 1503 in the .cfg file. The Albatros empty and gross weights both conform to some of my sources so it seems these weights in the .cfg file are normally the 'book' figures, not inflated for some purpose. Anyway, I will need to check my sources, and any CFS3 definition of max gross weight, to decide how much to add, not so much for the German scouts, but for those planes whose given max weight might include bombs, if the max gross weight is indeed the maximum take-off weight for that type. Even if I'm only adding half the gap between empty and max, I don't want to add too much, just enough to allow for about half the fuel & ammo and the crew (and maybe a camera or an RT set for 2 seaters) - but definitely not allowing for bombs, except for planes which invariably carried them, on the way out anyway.

Cheers, HPW, I'll have a rummage. The CFS3 ETO expansion pack (which has a 'wellenmuster' JU88A skin I did some years back) comes with a .bdp zapper program (batch file, DOS-style) which IIRC you have to use at some point during installation and that could probably be used (adapted if necessary) to do the same thing for OFF. There's another thing that's possible here, which (depending on which file it uses, can't recall) could well be packaged with one or other of your mods, and that's a 'Lead in the A**' mod. Many years ago I discovered from an authoritative source - might have been one of the Ground Crew or 1% Design Team chaps - that the reason that in air-to-air, the AI always seemed to be faster and more agile, was that they flew at unladen weight, less fuel and ammo. That same thing has been mentioned more than once here, too. If OFF it means your opponents (as well as your wingmen) might as well have an extra 20 HP (top-of-the-head estimate, but even 10HP extra would be too much). It sort of takes away from otherwise-accurate FMs, if the player is always flying the equivalent of a worn-out or badly maintained plane. I don't like kludges so I am not impressed by arguments that this compensates for AI limitations (lots of real WW1 pilots were not experienced or well trained, for one thing) or that it increases the challenge - I'd just play Crimson Skies if I wasn't that bothered about maximising realism, within sensible limits. And if some players have got used to the 'unladen' AI and like it that way, good for them; I haven't, and I don't. I just find it very frustrating, silly even. And now we know from the OFF team that P4 is going to tackle this - which is great! But until then... I hated this so much in CFS3 that I made a CFS3 AI Bf110 clone (from the GC Design version, I think) and added about 70% of its ammo and fuel weights into its unladen weight. Before that, it could literally run rings around my Hurricanes and Spitfires. Afterwards, when I selected the AI Bf110 with the 'lead in the a**', things were much more as they should have been: the 110 was quite sluggish by comparison. I never got around to completing the work, which would have needed AI-only versions of all the CFS3 stock and installed mod planes and the appropriate campaign & mission files edited to use these AI planes, leaving the 'normal' ones for the player. Now, here's where it gets interesting. In this very thread, Polovski recently confirmed that OFF already has AI-only planes, the first and last in any set being the player-flown ones (not sure about the French Strutter 2-seater, which has 5 variants and a different naming convention for them, IIRC). Anyway, all that would be needed to produce a 'Lead in the A**' mod for OFF is to add some 'lead' to the unladen weights of the AI-only planes, to whatever files has the weights - can't recall but easily found out (the .cfg or .air files, if not the xdp/bdp ones. There might, but might not, be other file editing needed, but if so it's not gonna be impossible to find it and fix it. It's coming in P4, so it's been deemed worth having by the OFF devs, too. And unless it's going to be an option, those who've got used to flying against unladen AI are gonna have to learn to love it - which since it's more realistic, we all should, IMHO. So - why wait? We can have it now. Ish. What I'd suggest is I find out which file needs editing. This would tell us which of your mods it needs to go into - I'm guessing the FM mod rather than the DM one, but that might be wrong. If all else fails I think I'm going to make a 'Lead in the A**' mod for my own use, maybe going for 50% of fuel and ammo load as a 'happy medium'. But how about we collaborate to incorporate one for general use, into whichever of your mods it fits? As with ArcMod, I could do the edits, you could do the incorporation into your 'parent' mod, for example. I think this would be a worthwhile improvement in the CFS3 dogfighting experience. having to throttle back a bit for your flight-mates to catch up is not only a small price to pay, it's realistic! The only real problem is that with their bad formation keeping they might take even longer to reform after turns, but again, you can slow down just a little to compensate. What do you think?

Stumbled across this trying to find confirmation of a colour profile in 'Take Off' (a c.1990 aviation part work) of Albatros DII D491/17 said to be MvR's in Jasta 2 ilustrated painted red even then (incorrectly I believe). Via Google, came across this (Russian?) site. Navigation is a bit strange, select the plane from the list on the left then the country from the little box in the middle, then choose a plane from the list on the right I think; there are ofter multiple pages for each to click thru, listed along the bottom. The link is to the Albatros DV page: http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww1/f/415/59/7 The profiles seem to be collected from other sources (sometimes uncredited? eg a Jasta 4 Alb DV which is from the Profile Publication):

Don't see this posted before, but you can read scans of most/all of the 1960s Profile Publications here, incl;uding their WW1 titles: http://www.scribd.com/collections/2291975/Profile-Publications The Alb Dv one has the text pages scanned unreadably small but the others seem ok. The colour artwork may not have the benefit of the latest research but the main multi-view paintings are rather good and there is a lot of interesting material in the potted histories which accompany the illustrations. Don't think they can be printed or downloaded (I have most of the WW1 titles anyway). Ah, for the good old days when you bought your bagged Series 1 Airfix kits from the corner shop with your pocket money, and could get these little Profile Publications from the local model shop or by mail order ('allow up to 28 days for delivery') if you wanted more than the excellent little type histories the kitmakers gave you with the instructions! I remember the excitement when the Revel 1/72 WW1 planes came out, lovely box art and beautiful models, with easy-to-assemble struts and superior pilot figures. Not a bit of brass etching in sight.

Hi again HPW. There's no facility I can see to attach a file to a PM/email sent from here so I'm trying to attach the zip file with the AcrMod .xdp file set to this message - hope it works - I'll find out when I hit 'Add Reply' right after this!

Yes it's a deal HPW, excellent, good timing there, as it turns out - but please don't give me EQUAL billing as ArcMod is much the smaller and simpler element - that's too kind, it'll be your mod with some bits from me in one version - fair's fair! If a second pair of hands would help with anything, let me know. Put me out of my misery - was I right in thinking that the .bdp files had to be deleted and regenerated too? If not, I wasted a lot of time, doing that! I will bundle the .xdp files and email you them ASAP. Cheers! PS Taking the DFW's .xdp file as an example, the lines involved are those for the rear gun (the second 'Gunstation' entry, with the gun Type=OFF_Parabellum_air_obs' in this case). The changed bits I have highlighted below in bold: <?xml version="1.0"?> <UnitData> <General Allegience="0" LongName="DFW C.V." ShortName="DFW.C.V" ModelName="DFW_CV_QC1.m3d" BlastDamageScale="1.0" ImpactDamageScale="1.0" FireDamageScale="1.0" Priority="1" Type="moving" EnteredService="06/09/1916" LeftService="11/11/1918" BlastDamageMod="1" ImpactDamageMod="1" FireDamageMod="1" Category="level_bomber" Country="Germany" AllowSpawn="n"/> <GunStations> <GunStation UpLimit="0" DownLimit="0" LeftLimit="0" RightLimit="0" RateLimit="0" SystemID="right_guns" Tracer="40" Trainable="0" Trigger="0" Type="OFF_Spandau_air" Name="Front Gun" ConvergeDistance="150" Pitch=".1489" MaxAmmo="500"/> <GunStation UpLimit="45" DownLimit="25" LeftLimit="90" RightLimit="90" RateLimit="47" SystemID="left_guns" Tracer="40" Trainable="1" Trigger="0" Type="OFF_Parabellum_air_obs" Name="Rear Gun" ConvergeDistance="0" Pitch="0" MaxAmmo="873"/> </GunStations>

If interested in Dawn Patrol you might find the pics here interesting, a scan of the Nieuport 28 Profile Publication - scroll down to near the end, there are some pics of the N.28s used in the film(s): http://www.scribd.com/doc/4661814/Aircraft-Profile-079-Nieuport-N-28CI

Sorry this was not in the Readme, but it's recently been discovered that HPW's ultimate DM and ArcMod clash, as they both use modified versions of the same files. So at the moment, it's one or the other, they work quite happily on their own. A merged mod could probably be made quite quickly, if mutually agreeable and there is any demand for it.

I didn't realise the DM had modified 2-seaters, as well as the scouts! Looking at the files, I see the dM supplies (presumably modified, otherwise there would be no point) .xdp and .bdp files for all the OFF 2-seaters, as well as the scouts. As Arcmod also works by providing edited versions of these 2-seater files, there's a clash. I think the solution would be a DM with Arcmod folded in. Unless I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick, the problem with just editing the .xdp files - which is indeed the source file for these settings - is that CFS3/OFF uses the .bdp files that it generates from the .xdp files, not the .xdp files themselves. Changes made to just an .xdp file will be ignored. That's why such mods - ArcMod, the DM, Bletchley's mods - supply both the .xdp files, and a CFS3-generated .bdp file. To get these new .bdp files, you have to copy your modified .xdp file into CFS3/OFF, then delete the old .bdp file, then run the programme (eg quick combat) so CFS3/OFF generates new .bdp files from your mod-ed .xdp ones. If I got that wrong please someone set me right, about half the time spent on these things is doing that rigmarole! I remember it was the same with various other files in CFS3, like the terrdata.zx file you had to zap and allow to be regenerated, when installing Winding Man's CFS3 scenery. So I think the solution would be a new version of HPW's DM, with the ArcMod edits folded into it, and new .bdp files based on that. I would be very happy to do this work - time-consuming rather than difficult - but as it would in effect be a new version of the DM, and 90% HPW's work, releasing it would obviously require HPW's permission and it would have to be clearly labelled and described as such. What do you think, HPW?

Well 'ArcMod' is now uploaded at CombatAce, pending clearance: http://combatace.com/topic/68251-arcmod-for-off-phase-3-2-seaters/

Available here (once the mods have cleared it): http://combatace.com...fields-phase-3/ Contents of the Readme: Dedication ArcMod is respectfully and humbly dedicated to the crews of the 2-seaters on all sides in the Great War, who did the really important work - recce'ed the objectives, took the photographs, ranged the guns and bombed the targets - day in and day out, taking risks and facing dangers at least as great as the scout pilots, and deserving at least as much recognition for their skill, their courage and their achievements. 1. Description ArcMod alters the arcs of fire for the observers' guns in all OFF Phase 3's 2-seaters (except the the double-Lewis-gunned FE2b and the fixed-Lewis BE2c). The aim is to provide a better experience for 2-seater missions and campaigns, whether flying or gunning, and without making life too much more difficult when flying scouts and attacking them. The spur for this was the quite severe limits in the stock arcs, which sometimes prevent gunners from firing when it looks like they should. If manning the gun yourself, it becomes very clear how severely your arcs of fire are limited, downwards in all directions, especially. The main change is that ArcMod increases the depression limit for all aircraft (exceptions above) from 10 degrees stock, to 25 degrees. Elevation has been changed from 30 degrees (stock, except Brisfits) to 45 degrees (roughly the same as the stock Brisfit), again across the board. This will obviously give all observers a significantly better field of fire, including yourself when manning the gun, and thus a better chance of survival when attacked. Lateral fields of fire have been adjusted a little. Stock, there was a fair bit of variation but I have instead put planes into two groups - those with observers sitting roughly level with a wing trailing edge get 90 degrees either side (0=fully aft) while those who can fire ahead over the upper wing (just the Hannover, Brisfit, Roland) get around 160 degrees, leaving just a small-ish gap dead ahead. These new arcs are all somewhat arbitrary of course. Greater tho they are, they are still less than the theoretical maxima; but I hope they still take some account of the practical limits for effective fire, within the limits of the game engine. For example, I realise observers had some field of fire forward between the wings, but I have stuck with something close to the stock OFF approach, limiting the ability to fire ahead to those planes whose observers can readily fire ahead over the upper wing, without risk to struts or wires - the Hannover, Brisfit and Roland. ArcMod still leaves a significant 'blind spot' underneath in all directions, but it is naturally a smaller one and on balance I think is much more realistic. There is still a considerable blind area ahead as well, except for the Hannover, Roland and Brisfit. By comparison, the Rise of Flight DFW CV has much greater depression (when player-manned, anyway) and has 360 degrees traverse (tho it will damage its own aircraft, unlike OFF). The changes were made simply by using Wordpad to edit the stock arcs in each plane's .xdp file. So ArcMod contains an edited .xdp file for each variant of each plane, plus a .bdp file. OFF/CFS3 generates these .bdp files from the .xdp file and uses the former (.bdp files are less readily editable, as an anti-cheat feature for MP I believe). If you look at the file structure, you will see there are actually six variants of each plane, which each needed their .xdp files edited with the new values. Not sure why the different variants are needed, maybe to support different skins; apparently the first and last are player-flown and the others, AI. ArcMod was developed and tested in OFF Between Heaven & Hell + Hat in the Ring, both patched to date, but I've no reason to believe it won't work just the same with just BH&H 2. Known Issues (i) CFS3 seems to have a minimum effective range, inside which rounds do no damage. I suspect this is deliberate, so as to prevent the CFS3 bomber gunners hitting their own tails, since the sim doesn't simulate real-life safety mechanisms as fitted to powered turrets. So in OFF, you can safely fire thru any part of your plane which comes inside your arcs of fire. So your tail, rear fuselage, wings etc do provide your potential targets with cover from view, but not cover from fire. Even at the OFF stock 10 degrees depression, you could in most planes fire through your tail and in some cases, rear fuselage or wing trailing edges, without doing any damage. The increased depression, in most cases, merely increases this somewhat. I think this is a price more than worth paying, for a respectable field of fire. You can always hold fire rather than take advantage. (ii) OFF observers do not change their stance as weapons elevate or depress, so they do not line up too well with their MGs when they are at maximum elevation or depression, even stock. The generally increased arcs in ArcMod somewhat exaggerate this effect, from those angles and ranges where it's visible. And the Strutter observer, with an Etevée mount rather than a Scarff Ring, has his hands held rather high, so they come into your field of view somewhat, up near the new maximum elevation. (iii) ArcMod has been tested to make sure that it 'does what it says on the tin' - which it does - but not enough to establish fully how it affects the balance between 2-seaters and scouts. I certainly don't believe ArcMod will make flying 2-seaters too easy, just give you a fighting chance against scouts. It may not make flying scouts too hard either; but if you find it does, I'd suggest first trying it with AI rear gun accuracy set in Workshop to one or two levels below front gun accuracy, and rear guns one or two levels higher when flying 2-seaters (I'm citing HitR settings here, not sure they are also in BHaH). Or if you still find it too hard, just disable the mod and re-install for flying 2-seaters. Remember, 2-seater 'specialist' Maj JTB McCudden VC considered a well-handled 2-seater more than a match for a single scout, so it wasn't easy, in real life. 3. Installation The procedure described here is for installation with the widely-used Jonesoft Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME), with JSGME in your main game folder. Unzip the contents of the compressed Arcmod file you downloaded, retaining folder structure, into your OFF MODS folder, in the usual way. You will then have a new folder in your MODS one, 'Aircraft', with the new subfolders for the different versions of each 2-seater, inside each of which is an .xdp file and a .bdp file which contain the changed arcs of fire. Activate or disable using JSGME; simple, safe and fast. Of course, ArcMod can be installed manually, by over-writing the .xdp and .bdp files in the relevant OFF game folders; don't forget to take backup copies first. JSGME is much easier and quicker. 4. Feedback Feel free to post questions, bug reports, comments or other feedback on the appropriate OFF forum at www.combatace.com, or to PM me. 5. Disclaimer Use ArcMod at your own risk. There are no limitations as to use. No responsibility is accepted by me for favourite pilots killed off by 2-seater return fire, or for anything else, come to think of it. 6. Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Bullethead whose observations and insights helped crystalise my thinking, and to Polovski for confirming that AI and player use the same settings, which saved me rather a lot of testing; and to those in the uniquely friendly and helpful OFF community who took an interest. Thanks also to the good folks at CombatAce for the valuable service they provide for all of us. And of course thanks also to the whole OFF dev team for this great sim (and for putting a decent and exceptional selection of flyable 2-seaters into it, from the beginning!).

Got my copy a long time ago, quite an oldie but a goldie, not Windsock or Squadron Signal standard but better than Profiles, worth having if you're a fan. Has 1/72 plan views and other details drawn for all major variants, some colour and b/w profiles including lozenge pattern diagrams and some nice colour then and now illustrations of the AWM DV D5309/17: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Albatros-Scouts-Described-Charles-Schaedel-/120794634889?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item1c1febda89

Mine's an Nvidia but have you tried Olham's recommeded in-game settings? As in the graphic, here: http://combatace.com...graphics-setup/ The only stuff I set in my graphics driver, as opposed to via the OFF config settings described above, is anti-aliasing at 4x, over-ride application setting, and anisotropic filtering, also 4x, any more hurts my FPS on my 512Mb 8800GT. The Nvidia driver settings panel is easilt accessed via the pop-up menu which appears if I right-click on any unused space on my Windows desktop, which is probably the same for ATI cards too. Olham I think has an aTI and there's liable to be more good advice for those in his post, above.

I've seen a few posts re sound probs but none like this so I'll post in case it helps someone else do a needless re-install. Like I just did. I was fiddling with the keyboard as an OFF mission loaded and about the time the 3d world appeared I evidently hit my keyboard's 'mute' button. Many 'boards seem to have these 'helpful' extra buttons along the top. In this case it was anything but helpful. I got no sound in 3d of course, having inadvertently muted all the sound, just as it was loading. I eventually realised what had happened, seeing the red ring and bar over the status bar's speaker icon, on my next visit to my desktop. Opened the sound settings and un-muted the sound slider. Now I got interface sound but no game sound. Tried everything I could think of, including toggling on and off the offending keyboard mute button. Sound was ok in other games and everything else checked out, so I figured the button must have done something to OFF. Checked CFS3config and sound was not disabled. Checked in-game sound was not disabled, via the drop-down cFS3 menu. Checked uisel.xml in my user appdata folder and bingo, SoundOn was set to 'n'. Changed it to 'y' and all was well - for about one mission. Then back to interface sound only. The uisel.xml setting was probably something I'd done during troubleshooting, not the original problem. Don't know why it worked once and not again. Finally gave up and assumed some other OFF/CFS3 setting was corrupted. But using the Workshop reset options did not help. So I uninstalled, deleted ALL folders and re-installed, the whole shooting gallery. Still the same problem. After a while I had a hunch. Fiddling with the sound settings that pop up when i clicked the usual little system speaker icon in the status bar at bottom of my desktop, I'd noticed there was one sound slider for each application running. They were not muted. I couldn't see one for OFF, but...what would I see when I launched it? Might the OFF sound setting be muted, but invisibly, until I launched it? And so it proved to be. I launched OFF, and checked the slider which appeared for it - not muted. But that was just for the interface, not the 3d world. So I started a mission and hit the keyboards 'Windows' key so I could see the sound settings as they looked when the sim was running in 3d. Sure enough, an extra slider ('CFS3', IIRC) had now appeared for it and sure enough it was muted. So I unchecked 'mute' and my sound was back to normal. A most tiresome lesson, but one I won't forget - beware of hitting the keyboard's mute button! Worth checking before re-installing, if your in-game sounds suddenly stop.

Superb workmanship there, Lou, and a good advert for the squad, whose players will be proud to have your awards pinned to their virtual breasts!

Thanks guys! At this stage, I'm not planning to package any other gunnery adjustments with this, given some can be made in Workshop if it seems necessary. We'll see how this goes in gameplay for a while. Cheers!

OK I've now tried out the 'Arcmod', using JGSME, and all the arc of fire adjustments work as now re-set (for all the tractor 2-seaters; I left the Fee alone as it looked ok, even the 20 degree depression for the front Lewis). I had increased all elevations from 30-40-odd degrees to 50, and all depresions from 10 degrees to 30. Traverse I had left alone in some cases. After test flying, I think I will set elevation limit at 45 instead of 50 (stock, 30-40-odd), and depression at 25 instead of 30 (stock, 10), and traverse at 90 degrees for those whose observers sit near a wing's trailing edge (for some like the Strutter and DFW this is a slight decrease, for the RE8 it is a slight increase). And set the Brisfit's and Hannover's traverse to be the same, at whatever the former's is now (as both can fire forward over the upper wing to similar degrees from what I can see) keeping the Roland's traverse slightly better and still the best of them all. From the standpoint of attacking a 2-seater, even with 30 degrees depression, there is still a considerable blind spot. Even attacking two 2-seaters in close formation it's still possible to stay our of their arcs of fire; it's just more diifficult. Coming up behind and just slightly below will no longer keep you safe. But I think 25 degrees depression rather than 30 (and 45 elevation rather than 50) will be a better balance, overall. Slightly reducing my original settings will certainly somewhat reduce the visual effect caused - when you are looking the right way - by the observer figure not changing stance as the gun elevates or depresses. The Strutter's observer's hands are rendered higher (maybe since he looks to have a French Etevée mount not a Scarff ring) and they impinge on your field of view at high angles of elevation but it's not bad and will be less obtrusive at plus 45 degrees. I think this mod will make 2-seater campaigns a lot more fun, especially manning the Lewis/Parabellum, and hopefully more realistic, on balance (observers could shoot thru tails and rear fuselages before, too, even at the 'stock' limit of 10 degrees depression). If this does make scouts too vulnerable for individual tastes, the easiest thing to do would be to change the rear gun accuracy in Workshop, to one or two notches below the front gun setting, whenever you're flying a scout campaign, and back to a more accurate setting for rear guns, when you're flying 2-seaters. Assuming it's necessary at all, which it might not be. I'll make the final adjustments, do a readme, zip it up and upload, over the next few days, for anyone who's interested. Incidentally, can anyone confirm which way the 'AI Gun Range' scale in Workshop, operates? I'm assuming 'Easy' gives the AI the shortest range (ie easy for the player) and that 'Hard' gives them the longest range (ie hard for the player). Is that right?

Thanks for the tip about ranges. The reason I was thinking of tinkering with this if poss, was that on a test flight against DFWs, their observers were shooting at 400-500m whereas in RE8s, I had the impression my gunner was waiting for that 'whites of the eyes' moment, at whatever cost to my somewhat frayed nerves. Possibly there is no difference and other factors were at work. The reason I think it's gonna be that bit easier to clear a stoppage for the observer is nothing to do with the mechanism or model of weapon; he can get at the gun's breech and its ammo supply rather better than a pilot, who - assuming his gun(s) are actually placed where he can reach the breech(es) - will have to work at or near full stretch, reach past a windshield, and fly at the same time, possibly with one hand while he's doing the IA with the other. Granted an observer might have had difficulties of their own, like their pilot deciding it might not be a good idea to fly straight and level while he tried to do the necessary. 'Cock, hook and look' is probably a bit harder if you're upside down, never tried it myself.

Thanks for the tip!

I'll continue to post on my fiddling about with 2-seater arcs of fire on the 2-seater campaign thread, as the topic has moved further ahead there, following some helpful information posted there by Polovski: http://combatace.com...gn/page__st__20 In short, it IS possible to improve significantly your gunner's performance - by increasing his currently-quite-curtailed arcs of fire in 2-seaters' .xdp files. I don't know yet how to make him fire at longer ranges (which may or may not be necessary or desirable anyway). Observers do seem to have the correct amount of ammo; stoppages may account for any impression to the contrary. If so I would like to find out how to prevent stoppages occurring, not in all guns as per the Workshop setting, but just in Lewis guns, given they could probably be got going again more easily than a fixed Vickers eg cock gun, drum off, new drum on. Maybe Parabellums, too.