DukeIronHand

Flying one of my several careers recently, this one with 60 Squadron in March, 1917 using the Nieuport 17 (Lewis). In every sim I have ever played, books read, etc, etc I have always had a sweet spot for this plane along with my usual cabal of favorites (Sop/Cam, Se/5, Alb series, Dr.1, Br/F2B, heck - all of the darn flyables!) In OFF though I find myself almost dreading this career for one reason...cockpit visibility! When I fly I feel like I am blind and my SA feels poor. And the Aldis sight...yikes! To top it off I find it hard to target the enemy. No other plane makes me feel quite as claustrophobic. I have a big monitor, TrackIR, FOV set well...its just the layout of the cockpit This is not a slam on the modeler and I am sure the cockpit is quite realistic - there's just something about the set-up. And no, I have never sat in the cockpit of a real Nieuport. Do you have a plane that you feel you should like and love but some quirk about it makes it tough to fly?

Hmmm...next time I fly with 56 Squadron against Jasta B you know who I will be gunning for!

I am glad to see I have the biggest monitor so far...and you know what they say about "big monitor" guys. Big monitor= big...well, you get the idea!

New Rig vote for me. I am due anyway but to run P4 maxed out is my goal so I guess that vote is valid.

Is that a Windows 7 or Vista thing? My German is quite rusty - sorry Mom! P IV 3.6 MHz 2 GB RAM Nvidia 7950GT Windows XP with SP3. 27" Flat screen monitor. TrackIR 5 Saitek X52 Pro Running OFF at 1920 x 1080 at 5, 3, 2, 5, 5 Am quite satisfied with visual quality and frame rates on this machine. New machine is coming though...before P4 is released anyway!

I looked pretty well at the .txt and .xml files last night for the above. Could not find anything but of course in some of the files the numbers you are looking at is not always easy to decipher what they mean. *Sigh*

I voted on my hardware but I could not find the "blue number" you were referring to.

Very nice! Thank you elephant.

Just got back from a flight and fight with 60 Squadron on March 9 1917. 1) Notice that in the duty room Billy Bishop was called "Major" (his final wartime rank and he only got to Captain while with 60 Squadron IIRC) and was leading a flight (presumably because of this rank) with zero kills to his credit. Of course he was a Lieutenant at this time. Anyway to have the rank corrected? To have it advance historically would be nice! 2) Notice that their are usually (always?) two flights per mission for the squadron with both apparently having the same objective, i.e., the whole squadron is on the same mission. Of course there were squadron size patrols but not always - is this a coincidence or will you sometime see flights with different objectives? Are there always two flights flying per squadron? 3) On the subjects of flights is it possible to change "Flight 1" and "Flight 2" to "A Flight" and "B Flight" via a .xml edit? If so, through the magic of JSGME I could have another one file for the Kettes of the Jastas. I have done a lot of little things with a .xml editor and, with JSGME, I have a "mod" that I use when I fly German and another when I fly Allied. A lot of minor tweaks can be done if you know where to look.

I am a great fan of Billy Bishop - well, all WW1 fliers actually - but there has always been a big debate. Any WW1 aviation fan is aware of it - the great debate on Bishop's raid on a German aerodrome that greatly contributed to him getting the V.C. Over the years I have read much from both sides and heard him called both liar or a hero. Whats is the latest and greatest word? Has there ever been concrete proof from the German side that this event ever occurred? I remember that being the main argument against it - the lack of corresponding information from the Germans on this. Pro-Bishop people respond that most records of the German Jasta's were destroyed in WW2. And so the debate goes back and forth. What is the latest from historians and book writers?

Atta boy Creaghorn - catcher was my position back in high school and summer leagues. Is baseball big in Europe? Guess I never heard of it being big (or even small) in the old countries.

I will guess you are correct again plus the water vapor/droplets joining with the dust/smoke/particles of the explosions and burning. I believe the air particles was the main contributor but aided by the concussions - gotta find that study.

Actually I have heard this before. Something about the smoke and concussion (shock wave) of all the explosions doing something to the atmosphere. I will try to find it. In the end I am not sure if it was just a urban legend, statistical trending, or actual scientific proof behind the article.

Huh. In the states we have always thought of it as "cleaning up" the language!

Indeed! Once you try TrackIR you realize that its almost as indescribably critical as the joystick. Makes me wonder what I did for all those years previous. Oh - and I like the gunsight view.

I'd better brew a pot of tea. 26 episodes at ten minutes each. Thank goodness for satellite internet out in the country here! Thanks Shiloh.

You are correct sir. The "cockpit floor" view does show an instrument - the compass in the Alb D-series where I have done the bulk of my flying lately. I thought it may be related to a lack of an observer in a single seater. I presumed some CFS3 quirk but clearly you are on top of it. Now, let's discuss the definition of "that insane"... Edit: grammar

That would be very cool especially if some observer tasks, besides working the MG, could be programmed into the game - my ideas on it though would require much code time!

Ah yes...I have tried that a few times with TrackIR (wonderful thing that it is) but never really worked at it or used it long term. I'll give it a try more often.

You are apparently correct uncleal because when I am in the "gunsight" view TrackIR does stop working...which ain't a bad thing in this view. It also explains an annoyance with this view and that is when used for single seat fighters it toggles the gunsight view then the cockpit floor then back to normal. I have always wondered what the "cockpit floor" view was about - presumably its the "observer" view in a single seat scout.

Must be getting old. On my 4th check of the card I found the F6 for "Go to Pilot seat". Hardly intuitive! Guess that's why it didn't jump out at me. Thanks TSmoke

Hmmm...interesting. F6 is not on my OFF key card so that may be it. Hope this is not the "Wonder Woman" gunsight!

Programming my new joystick and am a bit lost. On my old stick (Logitech 3d)a thumb button pulled up a gunsight view (i.e. looking down my MG's from the cockpit)that I didn't need to program so I am not sure which command it was. Now I am looking at the OFF key command card and I am not seeing anything obvious for this view. Anyone know the key card name for it? Thanks in advance.

Beautiful skin as usual Olham. As I said previously...the white tail is quite nice looking. Wish I had some damn talent for skinning. Must be cool to paint your bird as you like!

Ahh...that was supposed to be a Part 2 to my original question that I forgot to ask in the original post. Thanks to both of you for the info. Maybe in P4 the observers will be a little more "visible" in the squadron.