peter01

Are you using the... Medium Shadow option ... ? FE is pretty much the same as WOI, so if it was a problem in one it could be in the other too. If not using that option and its still a problem, i'm certain TK will fix it, as he did with WOI. Patch should be out soon.

Hey gambit, welcome back.

From the latest Aug 2008 WOI patch readme, fixes: "* Cockpit ON/OFF toggle not removing the external model when using Medium Shadow option is fixed."

From the Leipzig Game Con, includes two videos. Looks like they have a game. Babel translation. http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?d...TrUrl=Translate

yes you are right silent era film is faster and that aerial sequence could be too. but the rest of the film is slower, smoother...maybe thats been doctored a bit, its certainly amazingly good quality. no. not eyes, looks like the camera guy went off to capture some flying, and their companions were two spads I think from other shots weren't there two seater trainer spads? it looks like a spad too need to have another look...

Glad you liked it catch, it is a good one. FlyR posted it at SimHQ. I was impresed with the plane putting on a show with a very neat and quick climb, roll then dive ( an Immelman?). Pretty sure its a Spad. Just shows how nimble these planes really were, when the Spad wasn't considered nimble at all! Like powered kites. Just imagine a dozen or two of these swirling around in a small space of sky trying to shoot one another down? Must have been unreal! And lots different to anything else at any time since.

Now for some official news from a developer =FB=VikS posted at SimHQ http://www.simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?...296#Post2576296 "A little statement about unofficial news - nothing is decided yet, i mean about setting and mission buillder. So everyone - please wait untill official ones. When? Well, right now we are summing up Leipzig results, so i think "two weeks" is smh close" Now we know exactly what the situation is

LOL catch, feel'n the heat are we...resorting to that ole out of context trick? LOL jus read your "Right of Reply" at SOH http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/show...5661&page=6 allow me the same right :) ..... it started with a previous poster extolling OFF then bagging KOTs. it did and does seem that there is concern or consternation at OFF about KOTS, anybody looking thru that OFF KOTS thread can see that, and then this.....within a day or two LOL: "But against what you get from Over flanders field - best sim of all -, I can't see this KOTS or whatever doing much at all." now don't you just hate that? the game isn't even out and such strong pronouncements!!! Didn't one of the OFF contributors take the high moral ground recently about people stating opinions on P3 without having played the game! the problem in that post above isn't the enthusiasm for OFF, its also not that some may not like KOTS or the unofficial release model/concept, its the completely uncalled for (and can't be based any knowledge of the game) and extreme comment in the same sentence about KOTS, using words like OFF "against" KOTS that type of approach, putting one game down (not even released yet to boot!), talking up another seems like the real attitude problem. it was continued by you... sheesh, give us a break

Good stuff, GV. Any news is welcome, well done.

hey catch, been some time. well the OFF'ers reactions are quite different to those at SimHQ. crocodile tears? but all the information is unofficial, very early (no publisher), and in the end, my sense is that people at SimHQ are just happy that the game has resurfaced with some prospect of reaching the market. no mission builder - it probably will, the question is more mission editor.... does OFF have one? don't know about any campaign at all yet, scripted or dynamic. not sure where you have heard all this...inside knowledge, I'm sure?? rippoff? they had to build a new engine, its waaay different to modding an existing game, and what they have shown us means its the first ever engine to simulate some ww1 flying effects. no mean feat, it won't happen again in the next decade or two. no one is forced to buy it anyway. yes, phase 3 looks good, and I'll buy it, partly to support the effort, the guys are indeed doing a great job. but its still cfs3 - THATS the game engine whether you see it or not, whether you like it or not. And phase 2 does of course bear a strong resemblance to cfs3 :)... have heard talk that some code has been changed, I hope thats the case, it will be a major improvement, far better than all the rest, like the skins etc, cos thats where the biggest issues are. and if that is the case, then i guess when we buy, we'll be paying royalties/licensing fees to MS in the price. Now that is a rippoff - worst engine built still making quids There you go.... just bringing up the competition aspect that so dominates the OFF culture, and causes quite a bit of ill feeling too. You'd think we'd be encouraging any ww1 sim, not comparing them unfavourably with our own preferred one. anyway, I do hope OFF continues to grow, maybe one day it'll grow on me too...

Nice work firecage, looks a treat. thanks

Ah, okay, okay. lets refine it a bit more. "...WWI sims? That are Windows-compatible? No DOS! A flight simulator!? A Microsoft product!? Engine at least 6 years old??? Original game now costs less than $10!! An add-on?? Available free?!!!!? i'll admit it, last time I checked, seems like there is just one. in terms of "best sim", well I'll just say that KOTS has all the makings, of actually being over time one of the best sims, without the ? and ! and italic highlights and extrapolations.

Not a debate, some discussion. Maybe real consternation amongst OFF fans, for good reason, hence this post. Mission builder is probably included. Best sim? I could name a dozen better, and its a addon to CFS3. Lots of problems with CFS3. Maybe a bit early to say you can't see KOTS doing much, don't you think?

....a new Se5a FM. I'm currently redoing some later war FMs, and to me, they seem like the best I've done, a few more things fell into place the past few weeks. They are all for the Unpatched EP. I'd like some feedback on one of these, the Se5a. If you are willing to give feedback, please post here and say so. If no takers, well, I'll keep it until I've completed a number and tried them out over some time...if there isn't much interest then there's no point in rushing. If there are some takers, I'll post the Se5a FM. Its good I think to have some discussion of these things here too.....on the forum. So why so chuffed about this one? Good question . Of course this is my own opinion, so pardon the immodesty and feel free to contradict me, but.... Overall, easily the best Se5a FM done, in any version of the game, and anybody's FM. Maybe my best FM too, given how difficult it is to do. I'd say it would convert many to flying this plane. Feels right, at least how I imagine the Se5a should feel. Heavy, but responsive. Feels alive. Its very stable (needs to be for the gunsight), but unlike all my previous efforts, not bland or boring, and not too smooth. A favourite tactic of mine with this is to extend away, turn around to go for a a headshot using the Aldis telescopic sight and the planes stablity. Its a blast when they pass in the opposite direction in smoke or flames. Performance wise very capable. Not that manoeuvrable, but all up very capable. Climbs very well. Dives like a brick. You can even beat FokkerD7s with this one. Stalls seem about right, you need to maintain a high speed, but thats not hard to do. AI wise its a very good ZnB'er, and even in a FokkerD7 (the best overall plane), its an tough battle against an ace ai Se5a. This one maybe an easy one to convert to the April 2008 patch. If any interest let me know, and I'll have a look at it.

Thanks Bucky for trying it out, hope it was fun. Good to get another opinion, and seems like its similar to mine too, so thats encouraging. Don't have 'Aeroplanes Of The Royal Aircraft Factory', but seems like its worth getting. Interesting about the Dr1, 103 mph, many books and many sites on the internet stating 115mph. Pretty hard to believe, I wonder how that higher speed was ever accepted. Anyway, thanks again.

Not sure I agree that it was a dog in a climb Bandy. Sustained climb was the same as the Camel's, pretty good. Sudden climbs probably weren't as good, mainly the weight difference I suspect, because it had an excellent drag profile. But then again, its heavier comparative weight and engine size to the Camel would also mean it could easily convert energy gained from a dive to fast climbs too, making it a better BnZ plane. From a game perspective - and this is important - it needs to have decent climb. Combat in WW1 wasn't exactly like it is in the game (or other ww1 sims too for that matter), for example, in 1917 and 1918, surprise and height advantage, and most importantly performance at altitude was, including climbing ability at higher altitudes. I have no doubt that it completely outperformed the Camel in climbing maneouvres at say 15000 ft and above. Rotary engine performance deteriorated significantly at higher altitudes, their major drawback. Flying and fighting at higher altitudes was "the edge" by 1917. So what to do? My approach is that, in a different way, it should be about as effective as a Camel. I'd say this wouldn't be far off the mark. People have always argued about which was the best, and still do. So climb is a bit better than the Camel. I think thats a reasonable way of simulating its real merits. I learnt doing FMs that you can't simulate reality really, because the sim itself doesn't and no sim ever will. So you have to make choices. Of course, apart from all that, I also like flying this plane now, and you know, like shooting things down :).

Another update to the FM Packs for Oct 2007 EP. Will be available as a seperate download, as well as updates to the main packs. Will upload tonite, maybe tomorrow. Fokker E3a - fixed having only one gun Dh2, Tripe, N28, PfazD3 - improved, especially Tripe and Dh2 (also fixes double windscreen identified by Southside Bucky) F2b, Dolphin, Se5a - Main reason for the update. The Se5a is the trickiest of all FMs to get reasonable, and always has been due to the Aldis gunsight. It needs to be stable, which in EP means very "smooth" too, and doing that and getting performance, feel, stalls right is quite difficult. I'd say this one is pretty good. From posts around the place it looks like a patch may be imminent, once that happens I'll more than likely look at FMs for that rather than updating FMs for the earlier EP version. But its good to get one reasonably good, as redoing FMs and AI will take some time. Whether I do FMs depends on the patch itself ... whether it seems stable, what the changes are, what improvements. And of course, if I have time. Cheers

No, no intention of doing that. But anybody is welcome to use my FMs, if they want, and add the gun combo's. You and Christian59 did that before?

No bother helderm, not surprised you are confused its incorrect, and appreciate you raising these errors. You should download p10ppy's Spad 12 package. Do not "Copy Spad7_180 folder, rename to..... SPAD_XII"....thats incorrect. But yes, install the contents in the FM pack for the Spad12 to the Spad12 folder, ie my FM. The FM is the same as p10ppy's, I have just added ai parameters to make it fit with the rest of the planes as AI. Hope that helps.

Thanks for volunteering Bucky , and would really appreciate your feedback. Slight change of plan, I'll email it to you. Seems like everyone is somewhat FM'd out, at least for the Oct 2007 version. So I'll upload it with other FM changes, when I'm ready. "It certainly sounds as though you finally nailed it!" Ah, that was the sales spiel ... :beta1: .... just kidding. It does seem to have a wow factor to me. Like the first time I flew TKs Camel or Spad 7s. Maybe its partly because a decent FM wasn't available before for this plane, and that was a pity, as it is such a nice and important plane. The difficulty with the Se5a is the tradeoff between performance, feeling good to fly/fight in, and stability (for the Aldis). Its a helluva FM to do. And there is one compromise. It seems a good one to me, at least... this one isn't that stable if you fly around shooting like your in a nimble rotary. But it stabilises quickly when you settle the plane and is very stable in high speed dives. Lots of fun attacking ground objects and following planes in dives at very high speeds - the Aldis becomes an advantage rather than a hindrance. It requires a slightly different approach to dogfighting, say compared to Camel, and I like that too. Anyway, do need some objective feedback, so feel free to contradict or whatever. Thanks again. Cheers

Hi helderm, yes, thats the one. Its MontyCZ's work, compiled and uploaded by christian59. I'll change the Readme so its clearer.

Been flying all the planes a while now, and although Thirdwires Dr1 FM is interesting and has some character, must say I tend not to fly that one much...pity, the Dr1 was THE WW1 plane. So I've redone one, without the tail heaviness/propensity to climb, better roll, climb and rudder. Its fun to fly for me, not dissimiliar to TKs but substanially redone. But not sure whether to upload this one as an alternative , so.... waddya think? Do people or does everyone like Thirdwires? If interest in an alternative I'll upload here on forum, for feedback. I'd hate to upload to CA's download section an alternative FM for this plane especially, that even slighly detracted from the game experience.

Hi Bucky, "...if the one-piece rudder caused handling as described in the article" Yes, thats all very interesting, and didn't now that. Food for thought. I think Charles did the first FM for FE that had a flat turn, maybe the Tripe from memory. I used this in some pre-EP FMs too. Tho it works in the EP FMs as well, it has far more of a downside in terms of overall feel of the plane (everything effects everything in these FMs!). I might look at it again, its a good idea. I'm guessing you are using my Se5a FM? You should be able to easily to reach/maintain a speed of around 125mph - its pretty stable, easy to keep level. If you are using TKs not sure, some of his seem to have higher/lower top speeds. The Dr1 is a bit too fast, but theres a lot of different views on this. My guess is that'd it be lucky to be faster than 103 mph. What do you think? Cheers

Hi Mike, As you probably know, they are ai parameters relating to ai skill levels. There are default values in the Aircraftobject.ini that are used if they are not defined in specific plane data files, the FMs. Putting them in the FMs allows you to refine ai skill level data for specific planes. TK just uses the generic default ones, so no, they were not in the stock FMs. Cheers

Thanks for post Bucky. Happy to discuss any shortcomings of the FMs or AI. Actually, its frustrating that there is so little specific comment. Its discouraging too. Unfortunately the downside to this is not the criticism, its not I know in this case, but even it were, the difficulty is answering things easily or quickly. Its complex stuff, there are many compromises. I changed the E3 FM in an update, and improved its rudder capability. It turns better and its a bit harder to beat probably (as compared to an earlier version) for that reason, as Bucky pointed out. I probably will redo it again because of its roll speed, its endless stuff, compromsing for example in this case between feel on the one hand (feels pretty good now) and performance (fast roll) on the other is one of many many compromises... it usually seems you can't achieve all simultaneously (theres a few more in addition to feel and performance). So thanks again for bringing it up, will look at the AI again then too. As you say there isn't much difference in capability between the E1 and E3. I don't think there would have been. A bit faster, a bit better climb, a bit better altitude effectiveness, the potential to carry two guns, these don't make a whole lot of difference in the game, although these improvements probably did in the real war. I'm glad you are trying out the Dh2, and 1:1s. The Dh2 is the pivotal plane in my testing for 1916 plane vs plane capability, against mainly the same EA you mentioned, the E3, AlbD2, Halb D2, as well as the Fokker D3. Actually, all the AI and FM of planes for the 1915-1916 period are based performance-wise around the Dh2. So I know it well. In my testing I use the Very Hard Aircraftobject.ini with only Aces. The AI are tougher then maybe you are using? Anyway, my results are quite different to yours. The E3 is easily beaten by me in the Dh2 in two or three maneouvres (as it is by N11 too). My concern with the E3 AI currently is not its turn or capability as an AI, but its slipperiness if you like, once you are on its tail - that part was on my "To DO" list... very long too LOL. Its probably due to its rudder as well, so worth looking at that part again as well as for the reasons you raised too. BTW the converse too - the E3 is inferior if flown against a Dh2 AI etc. Its very unlikely I can beat a HalbD3 and or an AlbD2 (Borts Albs, different FM to the one I did for TKs, not sure which you are using...FMs being redone too BTW, reason in this case more to do with feel then performance!). The Halb CAN outturn the Dh2, the Alb can't but just flies a bit above so the Dh2 is always flying at or just above stall speed, so is pretty ineffective and won't win. The tactics I use flying the Dh2 against the E3 (and to a lesser extent the Fokker D3), do not work at all against the HalbD3 or AlbD2. So bit surprised that you and Tailspin can't shoot E3s down. Not sure why. It could be that the since the rudder is improved, that at lower difficulty settings the rudder is relatively more important eg E3 compared to Halb, AlbD3. Might look at that, but it shouldn't make that much difference. Its certainly true that you just can't outturn the E3 AI. The reasons for that start from the obvious - nothing in life is/should be that simple and you shouldn't be a war hero with no skill needed at all - and go all the way thru an entire spectrum of reasons and end with the major difficulty that there is one or two areas that have been a weakness in the FMs from the day the game came out, and still are - how both AI and player planes pull out from diving vertical manoeuvres. Its an advantage for the player in some ways against some opponents (Dh2 vs E3), its an annoyance in the AI. I can't change it, but done the next best thing, and have used this to get the results I want anyway...eg, Dh2 vs AlbD2, as against E3. Like I said, its all complex...and believe it or not this is the really brief version of the full explanation.