Post 'em in here.


Over Flanders Fields Main Page

Polovski\'s OFF Mirror and FAQ

Necessary CFS3 patches (3.1 and 3.1A)

No buttons when you first start


Right click desktop

Properties

Settings

advanced

General tab

DPI setting should be 96

120 will not work.

Graphics Tweak by bzhyoyo

graphic card : radeon 9800 pro with cat3.9 (best drivers for cfs3 with ATI cards)

resolution : 1280x1024 with AAx2 and FSAAx4

Here are the settings I use in cfs3config. It's French but you should make out most of the things as they are in the same place.

HTH

FYI, I installed OFF to:
"?:\Program Files\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" (?=drive letter)

making sure to keep the "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" folder & OFF is working just fine so far.

hip63 :p

I got a warning "WW1Autumn Light folder missing, the game will now close. You need to reinstall Over Flanders Fields" and was kicked back to desktop.
Solution: find the WW1 scenery folder whereever it´s placed go inside copy and paste to the \assets folder in OFF root.
You can get a few "folders missing" calls befor it all will work but be persistent in the copy and paste job and you´ll soon be overhead!!
And if the NoCD discussion is censored I´ll be glad to help via @-mail, drop me a line!

Yikes, not recommended! Did you download ALL the updates and run them?

anywere els to d/l the Off files bothe say unavalible...

Is this still available, all the links at the top of the page seem to be dead ?


cheers,


Pobs

must be a internet glitch on your end, Pobs... they're still working fine for me.

S!

Beowolff

Thanks Beowulff,

must have been a temporary glitch, they are alive again now ,


cheers,


Pobs

I can't get the game to load...

I keep getting missing MSSTDFMT.DDL file...

I downwloaded the missing file from the web site but it doesn't appear to be installing...

Ok can I install it manually and if so what file and where do I paste it into...

~S~

Blaze

I believe .dll's have to be "installed" but it's early and only had one cup of coffee! I can't recall the exact proceedure but:

"If it boots completely, you can use System File Checker (sfc.exe) to repopulate any missing or damaged 'Windows' dll's.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222471/EN-US/"


Perhaps do a search.

OK, On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that the installation this add on was for me about at a 9 (LOL)..

But I did get it to run finally and I must say that it's very cool..

Now I'm tweeking the options to my likeing...

Its a lot of fun guy's thanks for all of the hard work..

~S~

Blaze

Hello!
i installed cfs3 updates 3.1a and laughed the game. after that i installed off v.1.0. i also installed MSSTDFMT.DLL FIX... everything works fine until i go to briefing room its says co-ord errors... and in map screen "accept mission" it always says " run-time error `13`"... what ever i choose. it gives that error and kick me to the desktop!!
help me please. I have played rb2 since 1998 and this is first simulator after that is really worth to play!!!

Paarma

Really wrong thread to post issues Paarma, repost it in a new thread and I'll try to help. All the other posts re problems here are totally wrong place too hey ho..

Combat FS patch links are dead. They're now on an "aspx" page instead of "asp":

http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs3/downloads.aspx#update3.1

Thanks for heads up MonkGF

I am grateful for all the wonderful free Red Baron enhancements enjoyed over the years and am reluctant to complain about the difficulty I am experiencing finding out how to get started with OFF, especially as I am aware that many of the same talented people I already owe thanks to are the same people creating OFF.

That said, I spent several hours scanning the OFF website and Sim Outhouse OFF forum without finding a thread describing recommended system requirements for OFF or a basic tutorial for OFF newbies. I'm lucky if I can find time to fly in tournment games with my RB squad and can't pore over 256 pages of topics at a forum to learn about the next game I'll probably fall in love with.

So far I've learned I should buy the $25 cd version of CFS3 at Amazon rather than the $10 dvd version for XP only. That discovery took a couple hours. Is there somewhere I can "read up" on optimal system/hardware requirements and the steps needed to install and play this great new game?

I would have posted at Sim-Outhouse but my Email address leheureux <at> hotmail.com was rejected. I just got a message that allowed me to register manually, but am not able to post there yet. S! Hex

Hey Hex!
Here's a link to Pol's FAQ page.
http://www.polovski.com/OFFFAQ.htm
Cheers,
shredward

Found the game on sale for $5 (CFS3) The only reason i bought it was to play this.

Getting late so i'll set it up later, but i'll be posting screenies probably.

I just installed Phase 2 and I cannot run the game on a Core2 any more.

I get "cannot load mission" every time.

I installed only OFF 1.0, OFF Videos and OFF 1.9 + 1.9 hotfix. XP is a virgin, SP3 is installed. I did not install the skins which I dont have anymore. I though they were optional?

Other details: German XP, SP3, Regional set to English (USA). I already installed msstdfm.dll.

Pretty frightening if installation doesnt run at all, though for a freeware mod it's acceptable. But this must get 10x better for the pay addon or the makers will be in deep trouble. I will wait until I have positive report that the installation process is working differently next time.

EDIT: It seems to run now, maybe because I hadnt rebooted often enough or because I had to create a new pilot after the change of language, who knows ..

It seems that CFS3 has an issue with dual core CPUs. Have you tried the dual core optimizer? (that's what AMD calls it) There is a similar fix for Intel dual cores also. I'll see if I can find it and get back to you.

CJ

Thank you but that was not the problem. I might run into problems later but the game runs on C2. It was just that I got "could not load mission" every time because some language / pilot setting was not working. Thanks!

EDIT: It seems the problem was definitely related to the language setting again. On a non-english OS you must have it set to English (USA), reboot, create a new pilot (?). From my experience in programming it could have to do with decimal numbers (english use dot, many eruopeans use comma), or some other sign. In some ways this is Microsofts fault, but in the end it must be handled by the programmer, that's actually why my programs are always internally set to either English or Locale Free, we had a lot of trouble with decimal points before that.

The Official Over Flanders Fields Forum has moved temporarily to:

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showforum=206

...or you could stay here and talk about the same thing

OFF members do visit these boards also.

Salut all,
I'm happy to report I flew my first campaign mission last night after a marathon session with my dad trying to figure out how the various cfs3 commands work and how to "put them together" to be able to fly with some semblance of the skill set I learned in Red Baron 3d.

It took quite a while to figure out that I could use the tab key and then tilde key to padlock a bogie and snap from the padlock to guns view (and back). That's how I do it in RB, where numpad slash momentarily helps me orient without breaking padlock, which I find essential to keeping track of a bogie. That CFS3 targeting cone stinks - it's like a bird dog pointing where the bogie is without knowing what the bogie is up to so you can anticipate his next move.

I'm sure trackIR will be great but I'm upgrading a PC (GPU, RAM & CPU) and buying USB CH gear, so cash flow is an issue for a while. Happily I got my gameport CH pedals to work via a USB converter, saving myself about $70 bucks.

Has anyone written a primer on how to use the commands in OFF (or CFS3, I suppose)? I haven't figured out how to find wingmen the way <tab> finds bogies and I don't want to use invisible cockpit. Formation flying is a real challenge without some way to keep them in view. I can deal with sight obstruction caused by my own plane - in fact it helps me stay oriented some. The problem is the lack of a way to readily find what I'm looking for and (again) padlock it if needed. Snap view is fine for routine flying and landing, but scroll view is awkward without TrackIR.

FWIW, I have found what may be the bare minimum system requirements:
Celeron D 2.53
2 Mb RAM
GeForce 9400 GT PCI video card

Frame rates are low even with sliders at 1 or 2, but it's still prettier than Red Baron. I have a Northwood Pentium 4 3.2 on the the way, which I hope will improve things considerably with both a clock speed increase and an 800 fsb instead of the Celeron's 533 fsb. I realize it would easier and maybe even cheaper to just buy a new PC but that's not really an option and it has been fun learning to rebuild my PC. Much easier than I thought.

Hex

Hello LeHeureux, S!
good to see you, i take it you are the Heureux from the RB3d forums ? :-).

The pre-programmed keys from MS's CFS3 are a chore, you have to be an octopus at least to decrease engine mixture via 3 keys in the middle of a dogfight lol.

Biggest change from RB is the panning exterior view with the coolie hat, instead of pressing a joystick button, and then move the stick. There was a mod from LaserGabi (?) to use the mouse in RB3d, but unfortunately THIS does not work in OFF - yet.
From within the plane the coolie hat lets you see in all directions (like the arrow keys at the number pad), with instant coming back to forward when releasing the "hat". If you want a view to stay, press "scroll" so that the light on your keyboard (scroll lock) is on, that way the view you chose stays when releasing the hat. You can accelerate the speed of panning from the cockpit, in changing the number in a file - don't know which it was now - anyone ?
As well you can move up, down, forward and backward in the cockpit, and sideways with the appropriate key commands. Then there is Track-IR, so if you move your head the tracker will display the part of your plane you look at, so no need for the Arrows or coolie hat any more.

The key commands:
Press "Esc" when in Quick flight, mission or campaign screen, and a menu will appear - click at controls and a new window with the key commands will appear. Here you can look for each command and what it does, and as well edit it to your liking - indeed every key command can be programmed to what you like - i switched all this to the RedBaron commands/controls since i am used to it

All control commands are stored in the "mine.xca" file, residing in the main OFF directory or so i think. You can change anything you like, BUT: Do NOT - NEVER change the following key commands: "Ctrl-Shift-E and Ctrl-Shift-R" !! Those commands accelerate and decelerate the time in game, and once changed to something else you will not be able to get this time functions back, without a complete new install of the sim.

As an example: I use F1 for cockpit forward view, F2 for exterior view, F3 for following/chase view, F8 for observer station, F12 for bomb view and so on. As well i changed the cutting-off for the fuel mixture, from the standard "Ctrl-Shift-F6" to a simple "^". As well i use magnetoes on with "Shift-M", and off with "Ctrl-M", engaging the starter is "Ctrl-S" and so on.

Pressing "T" or "Shift-T" will open the target radar screen - you will unfortunately need this. Take it as a compensation for the lacking view on your computer screen compared to what you have in reality. When there are some dots representing planes in your vicinity , you can mark a dot, and cycle the mark along the other dots, and then switch to a view at that dot, and vice versa looking at your plane from the marked one. I guess it was F4 with RB ? But you can program it as you like.

Greetings,
Narsinha









Hex



[/quote]

Yes, I'm the same Heureux - I'm gratified you've heard of me. Real life has kept me out of the air since last Fall. I appreciate your tips - sounds like a great idea to change the keystrokes to the RB3d keys. The more I can play in the manner I am accustomed to the better I'll do. I had no idea I could mark an aircraft contact on the TAC screen to padlock it. I also like the tip on accessing the commands control panel in game.
Thanks,
Hex

I've studied the game and think I've figured out which commands I want to use and how to program them into my CH Fighterstick.

I decided to pretty much keep the commands used by CFS3 the same, since the CH software really doesn't care what you map to the buttons. It will be easier than figuring out what new single keystroke to assign to each function, especially when communicating to someone what I've used. This way all we have to do is figure out which commands we want to use.

I decided to keep the 8 way hat switch the way it is by default. It's too tough to discriminate between adjacent positions when there are eight. Right-left-up-down are about all I can reliably select. Here are the commands I think we need most:

Thumb Hat (#3)
up Shft+T TAC Display (toggle on/off)
down Ctrl+Shft+T Cycle TAC Display (range displayed)
left T Cycle TAC Display (objects displayed)
right Ctrl+Shft+L Aircraft Labels (toggle on/off)


Left Hat (#1)
up Tab Next Target (TAC dot changes color, padlock keys on that contact)
down Shft+Tab Prior target
left Ctrl+Shft+F4 Toggle Player/Target View*
right Ctrl+Tab Next Friend**

(*not sure - have to try it but hopefilly goes back & forth between own view and closeup of selected contact. **not sure - have to try but hopefully works like "F" key in RB3d))

Right Hat (#2)
up F6 Go to Pilot Seat (cockpit views ahead, sights, down & up)
down F4 Next View (cycles available views*
left [ Zoom In (also works in views other than cockpit)
right ] Zoom out (also works in views other than cockpit)

(*- not completely sure how they get selected but can learn by flying I think)


Pinkey button

B "`" (Accent) Padlock View (Toggle)

Thumb Button

B 1,0 (repeating list) 10% power, 100% power "Blip" switch

I flew my third campaign mission last night - this is starting to get good...I learned a couple things.

The BRACKETS button is important because that's the easiest way to tell which of the TAC screen blips you selected (the yellow one) is which contact in the air. In other words, as you change the yellow from blip to blip on the TAC screen, the brackets jump from aircraft to aircraft in the sky.

You move from friendly blip to friendly blip (the blue ones) with the Next Friend command and from enemy to enemy (red blips) with Next Target (I think it is).

Both the brackets and where the padlock is pointed will jump to the aircraft indicated by the yellow blip.

Eindeckers are sitting ducks for the Strutter. I'm surprised I even ran into them - I expected Halberstadts in June 1916 Flanders (flying with RNAS "C" squad). Things should get tougher in October when Boelke's boys begin to appear in their new Alb DIIs

You must end the game with the END GAME command if you want to claim kills. The quit selection on the CFS3 pink drop down dumps you directly to the main screen. I had no claims on my first two kills because of bypassing the end sequence screens. No matter, I was credited 2 I didn't realize I got the very next mission. All I did was give 'em a burst or two and roll so my gunner could take a crack at them as I zoomed or overshot them. I bet it'll be a gas doing that in a Biff later in the war.

#8) PS: I'm not using my 1,0 BLIP command as the motor sputters impressively as one throttles it down. Landings are a dream if you come in low and slow and stall her as she touches down, then chop the power if not bouncing out of control.

Months ago I asked the question:

>>Has anyone written a primer on how to use the commands in OFF (or CFS3, I suppose)? I haven't figured out how to find wingmen the way <tab> finds bogies and I don't want to use invisible cockpit. Formation flying is a real challenge without some way to keep them in view. I can deal with sight obstruction caused by my own plane - in fact it helps me stay oriented some. The problem is the lack of a way to readily find what I'm looking for and (again) padlock it if needed. Snap view is fine for routine flying and landing, but scroll view is awkward without TrackIR.>>

Months later I have played around with the game to the point where I think I can address the above issue myself. I am posting this in the hopes it may help another newbie catch on with less effort. Feel free to add or correct anything I write. I'm still learning:

Use of the TAC screen to select contacts (instead of "N", "E" & "F" in Red Baron 3d):

Instead of using an "N", "F" or "E" key as one does in RB3d, in OFF, you move from friendly blip to friendly blip (the blue ones) with the "Next Friend" command and from enemy to enemy (the red blips) with "Next Target". There are also white blips when the contact is farther away and the contact is unknown, kind of like the Red Baron "N" key working when "F" and "E" won't yet pick up the contact.

Toggling "Brackets" on is an easy way to quickly tell which yellow TAC screen blip is which contact in the air. Tabbing to the next TAC screen blip and following the brackets to indicate which aircraft is the yellow blip, allows you to situationally aware. As you move the yellow from blip to blip on the TAC screen, the brackets jump from aircraft to aircraft in the sky. Both the brackets (and where the padlock is pointed if engaged) jump to the contact indicated by the yellow blip. That makes it much easier to tell if that blip moving behind you (for example) has a altitude advantage or not - a critical thing to know.

Sometimes the padlock view will jump, but you won't see the brackets (especially common when the contact is behind you somewhere). I'm not sure, but I think this happens when the view of the contact is obscured by your own aircraft. At any rate, you can find find them by toggling the "invisible cockpit". I don't leave it on because I need to see where my own aircraft is as a reference point, but quick peeks are helpful. It also seems one has a slightly better span of vision with the invisible cockpit (ie: can twist the head a little further to see the contact).

Use of views to see the contact (like "F8" in Red Baron):


Target ID is greatly simplified if you use the "Player/Target" toggle to see the contact in the foreground. The label at the top of the screen will changes for each view. Hit "Next View" until you get to "Player/Target View". Then hit "player/target view" toggle and you will to see the other aircraft. You should only have to do that once -after that just hit "Next View" until that view comes up.

Once in "Target View", you can use "Next Target" to cycle through the view of each target aircraft, as you cycle through the blips on the TAC.. This is an easy way to see how many of each type there are, similar to repeatedly hitting "N" in Red Baron when in F8 target view.

You may find it necessary to pause the game when doing this because it's hard to fly when you're not in the cockpit.


Making it more realistic (and Harder)

It occurs to me that one could tailor the amount of help the game provides in identifying contacts. On the one extreme you could use all the above, plus enable labels that tell you what it is you are seeing. Steps along the path to reducing the help include 1) reducing dependancy on the TAC screen by dragging it nearly off screen, then using the brackets and padlock view just to watch the sky while tabbing from contact to contact; 2) losing the brackets and just trust that you are looking in the direction of a contact, and 3) you could even rely solely on visual ID. I suppose with TrackIR, you could 4) go entirely "au naturel" and constantly scan for pixels to turn into aircraft. It is a lot harder to have to pick out a tiny dot that is a contact rather than using the brackets which track the contact like police helicopter FLIR locks onto a pursued vehicle, and even harder to visually ID it as friend or foe. You might need a different type of help, if that's you idea of fun, such as a silk scarf to reduce friction and Ben Gay liniment for neck muscle aches. 8^)

Thanks for posting that Le Heureux. Just for reference there is a key chart linked from the main FAQ page now too, plus many hints and tips over at combat ace forum that cover targetting etc (links on our website).

Can't recommend TrackIR enough for OFF (or any sim) by the way for anyone without, makes viewing and tracking completely natural.

I might have overlooked it, but is this game running on Vista 64 without anyproblems?

S! vH

Hello Mr. P, Uther or whomever,

I noted on CombatAce some aircraft, missions and campaigns additions for OFF. The site does not qualify if the creations are for versions 2 or 3, though some of the available maps are from Rabu, which gives the material credibility.

But before my next computer FFU, my mind inquires if they are safe to import.

Yes it runs on XP, Vista 32, 64, Win7 too.

5555 I think you asked already. You need to check with the 3rd party authors that made the missions. However old missions made BEFORE P3 came out will likely NOT work properly without some editing.