I'm with Von Paulus on his reply above. If it wasn't for a friend of mine directing me here with regards RoF, I would likely still be without OFF:BHaH, which I really enjoy, despite any niggles.

I also discovered BoBII here and absolutely love flying that sim as well, again despite any niggles. I have IL2/PF on my HD as well, and have simmed there for many years now, again despite all that games flaws/fixes. I still have RoF on my HD, and I'm under no illusions that its got probs too, but I still have fun when I fly it.

So, yes, trust me I understand there are problems in flight sims, regardless of the historic period, but I'm still going to support them as best I can because I love flight sims- just don't expect me to write 'gloom and doom' (nor do I bother to read those types of posts anymore- I'll read constructive critiques however) bits unless I'm crying/moaning over my best D.i.D pilots death.. !S!

Seems there's quite a few who've stumbled onto OFF as a by product of RoF's publicity. Strike me pink those canny OFF dev types ! I just knew they had a master plan ! Beautifully executed.

Shortly after RoF was released and people started complaining the Missus and I were discussing that very thing. Before RoF's released I must admit that I was concerned that it might overshadow OFF to the point that OFF's sales would dwindle and we (the flight sim community) would never see a Phase 4, which would be a bloody shame. My concerns faded after a couple of weeks when I started seeing quite a few new faces on the OFF forums here at SimHQ and at CA.
All BS aside, RoF has been a good thing for the flight sim community at large and for OFF in particular, because IMO it brought much needed attention to the genre.

Well said and that is why we should try hard to support all new Fight Sim's that our PC's will run. I purchased ROF and I tried very hard to play ROF but I am getting older and when ROF frustration (outages where you can not play, slow load times, no SP, no real campaign, stick sensivity problem, bullet issues, no instant on dog fight server, no User Manual for ROF or Mission Editor, etc.) became greater than the benefits (wonderful GFX, FM, DM and AI), I gave up. We can only hope it will get fixed and become a real WWI sim.

I was very surprised when the OFF3 guys wanted to limit the ROF discussions at the OFF3 forum as I saw it as money in the bank.

Excellent perspective, Buddye1. I don't own ROF and won't buy it (I'm more into SP than MP) but I agree with your comments. Although I have to express surprise that some people would never have heard of OFF if not for ROF. I don't get the connection. If you're a hardcore flight sim buff you make yourself aware of all flight sims by visiting sites such as SimHQ on a regular basis. It just stretches believeability for me that anyone who has heard of ROF never heard of OFF. I would think it would be the other way around.

Maybe that applies to hardcore sim buffs I'm only speaking for myself- I love flight sims, but I'm not HC about any game so prioritization may be differing on my part :P , and did not know OFF even existed, and neither did any of my gaming colleagues until we started coming here because of the RoF info in the RoF forum area. I started reading the other areas a bit and got intrigued by what OFF had to offer. Same for Buddye and Co's BoBII. Sorry if that stretches your believability still. Cheers.

Exactly. I'm no HD flight sim buffer. The last time I played a flight sim was "Flying Corps". Because I've read (and read) a "lot" about the historical period in question I was always, since Wings on Amiga, have a certain appetency for WWI flight sims.

Well, the more PR the better it seems. I think non-hard core players will give Sims a try if they just know about them but so few read the forums.

As with most of us it is an issue of time and interest.

I stumbled onto OFF Phase 1 back in mid 2006. One of those revelatory moments one has from time to time. I had made a decision in early 2006 to investigate PC flight simming as a hobby. Being a complete noob and knowing nothing about it I promptly went out to my local EB store and bought CFS3, Pacific Fighters and BOBII WOV. Of course, there were no titles available for my real love the WWI air war.

I tried CFS3 first and as I'd never flown a PC plane in my life (and because it was a M$ title who were flight sim leaders right ?) I was excited at first but it waned quickly as lifeless with drab scenery. So onto PF, but as the Pacific Air War wasn't really my scene I lost interest in it too. Onto BOBII .... bugsville ! But I wanted to persist so I began lurking at the forum and promptly downloaded the 2.05 patch I think it was .... and bingo ! A game I could enjoy that was about the greatest aerial defeat in history. Hmmm, better get a twist stick ... these guys are serious. And I was hooked.

But yet the WW1 air war hounded me constantly. Where were all the titles ? There was a bunch of them in the 90's. What happened ? It began to bug me. So I began searching the world wide web but couldn't find anything of any substance really until I came across some screenshots of OFF Phase 1. How I stumbled onto OFF I can't remember exactly but I'm glad I made the effort. Those screenshots looked like heaven to me back in those days ! And then I found out you also needed
CFS3 to install OFF. Oh Joy ! I have that !

And so a complete nooby went off on an amazing OFF adventure with a learning curve going straight up to the heavens ! WWII, unfortunately has taken the second fiddle position. Sorry Buddye ... but good job man.

So the question is, and following on from Buddye's comment .... why do/did so many WW1 simmers apparently not know about OFF or at least not until RoF brought OFF to their attention ? It has always puzzled me. I think I just used google and I was not a member of any forum at the time for any insider info. I do see a lot of comments saying "wow where did this come from" or words to that effect. I don't get it ?

Frankly I don`t understand it either, I`ve been aware of OFFs phase1 from it`s conception, and have followed it thru until it`s present state. Like a lot of OFF players I had CFS3 laying around gathering dust, and was more than happy to put it back to use. Puts