Panama Red

Fortunately I have stopped at the 12.4 drivers for my 6970s, and zero problems (plus I still have all the different game profiles with 12.4 drivers too).

Just because the "official" ODB site has moved to SHQ does not mean everybody else has to move there too. There are certain members of SHQ that do not always make it pleasent to post over there, and since they can not post over here, it makes CA a lot nicer, IMHO.

All we did is add an "access point" box (it is tied back to your router with a cable). With this we have Wi-Fi at the other side of the house from the modem/router.

The Dorner problem could be one of crewmembers mislocated, or the fake pilot method not having the item in the mod.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

What is the main difference between Scenery Detail "4" and Scenery Detail "5" ??? I know it drops my FPS by about 10 FPS using "5" versus "4", but I can not really tell what the main difference in the game is that is causing the drop in FPS using "5". Is it the distance that trees appear in the distance or what ??? Thanks; Panama Red

For further reference, Polovski gave an excellant explanation to this question over at SHQ as to what the Terrain Detail and Scenery Detail sliders do in the game: In OFF Phase 3 (Between and Hell and "Hat in the Ring!"): Scenery slider increases the density of all scenery objects, trees, houses, etc. i.e. more of them and more dense patches. They don't go further out from slider 4 to 5. Between 1-4, it does mean they go further out to the horizon. If you do not see a difference leave it on 4 of course. There is just a few percent extra, 8% or something, more from 4 to 5. Different people look for different things. Terrain slider higher resolution tiles to further out- CFS3 uses rings of detail basically. Often looking directly down you will see super high res etc at higher settings. Note they are totally different to CFS3.

Stary and Hellshade: Thank you,. BirdDogICT over at SHQ gave me the most detailed answer as to the difference between a "4" and a "5", and I am coping his answer below in case someone ever does a search for this topic in the future: Keep in mind that the CFS3 engine is DirectX 8 (8.12, I think), the first DirectX version to allow programmable pixel shaders. FWIW a Pixel Shader is a graphics function that calculates effects on a per-pixel basis. Depending on resolution, millions of pixels may need to be rendered, lit, shaded, and colored for each frame, at 60 frames per second. That in turn creates a tremendous computational load, especially for surface detail. Some early Microsoft flight sim products bragged about the number of "meters per pixel" of ground scenery, and it wasn't until DirectX 10 that Microsoft was able to claim "1 meter per pixel" for it's flight sims. As Uncle Al mentions, early ATI cards, and nVidia cards, as well, even if they supported DirectX 8 pixel shading, struggled with OFF scenery settings on high. That's still a problem, even with modern cards due to the huge computational load (CPU and GPU) imposed by high scenery settings. This load increases dramatically near airfields, in large furrballs, and over the fromtlines due to the number of objects that must be rendered with high surface detail. It's always been my impression that the scenery setting in OFF increases the demand for pixel shading over a longer distance, and the number of ground objects that must be rendered grows geometrically (not completely sure about how it works...developers chime in here....). A lower scenery setting doesn't negatively effect the visuals all that much, since the much of the rendered detail is far in front of you, and if definitely reduces the lags one can experience in furrballs, over airfields, and at the front. A higher scenery setting is largely wasted when you are at altitude, because you are rendering details that you may no longer be able to see clearly at height.

Hellshade: Even though I have an OC'ed i7 975 and a ATI 6970, the 10 FPS is not worth it from a "4" to a "5", so I went back to the "4" for the little bit of horizon trees that you really do not notice. Thanks

The normal method for coping files or folders in Windows is to "left click" on the file or folder to select it, then "right click" on this file or folder to open the selection list and pick "copy". Then go to your selected drive or folder, "left click" to pick that location, "right click" to open the selection list again and pick paste. Remember I'm using Win7 and you are using XP, so the "important folder" for you is located in a slightly different location, and you will have to track it down or see if anybody else here can tell you where it is in XP. On my Win7 system, the "important folder" with your OFF setting, pilots, etc. is located at "User/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" (the important folder is the "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields"). Your other folder you need to copy is your original "OBDSoftware" folder, located where ever you had that folder installed on your system. So coping both the "OBDSoftware" folder and your "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" folder, you have just copied all of the OFF game folders to another location for back up.

I keep several copies of OFF (as well as the important folder in the User/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields, using Win7). This way if something really messes up, I can simply delete the two original folders and use the copies versus reinstalling the BH&H with it's two patches and then HitR and it's patch. As long as you put the copies back to where the original two folders existed, OFF will play fine since this is where they are located in the Windows Registery. Where you keep your copies is irrelevant, jut put them back to your original location to keep playing the game.

Since Weapons in SF2 do not require the Weapons Editor, just individual folders, make the new folders to avoid this problem.

Since the Devs moved over the SimHQ, you might want to post this problem over there in the OFF Technical Problem area.

Thank you.

Yes,1,000 more gives him a Triplane alright , but it's a Sopwith :grin:

Thank you.

Olham: I use a "3" also. The "4" setting causes black or white squares in my game and a "2" does not have a much detail as a "3".

Olham: Thank you. I have never seen a train in the game, so I was wondering what it looked like. A question, do you run your Terrain setting at "2" or "3" ???

Olham: I agree, it is getting harder and harder to find the CFS3 game for new players. I fortunately have both the old CD and newer DVD version of CFS3, but for new people wanting to play the upcoming WOFF, no CFS3, no WOFF, no matter how good WOFF appears to be on the videos.

Olham: Unfortunately the "buy it" link located at you above "download" link does not work for me. If it did, this would solve a looming OBD problem of new people aquiring a copy of CFS3 (a 10 year old game) so they can play OFF / WOFF.

Lothar: Thank you. This way people can pick which version of HPW's FM's they would like to use, his EW FM or Non EW FM with your OFFice. I'm just thankful that HPW does put all this time and effort into improving the OFF FM / DM. It takes a lot of work to test, test, and test some more to get the planes to fly correctly.

Here are the two fixes: http://combatace.com/topic/72767-hpw-fm-20-is-now-available/ , look at Post #13 and Post #24.

Lothar: The only planes that I have found that have a problem in HPW's FM 2.0 are the stock planes he did not touch (like the FE2b). Other than that, this is suppose to be his last FM before he EW'ed the AI planes and the crashing / no takeoff problems started multiplying. Just make sure you have his FM 2.0 N16 and Dr1 fix included or you will have problems with those planes.

Or you can just go back to HPW's FM 2.0 and you have none of these problems with crashing planes or those who refuse to take-off.

They crash and explode.