Hello,
I'd like the quickly run down some of the key features of update 1.008. It will bring two new planes in the store (Fokker Dr.I and Sopwith Camel) and will add new summer textures to the game. It will also fix the AI of pilots who sometimes “got out of hand” with their marksmanship skills and it should increase game performance on some systems as well.

Strenuous testing allowed us to spot some bugs that we had previously missed and we were able to squash them. Another new feature is the 'Fly now' option that has been added to the main game menu. With this, you can play a rather simple “sampler” mission that I hope will be helpful to those of you who find 'Rise of Flight' a bit too difficult. We have placed several typical targets such as an echelon, a vehicle column, Russian roulette, a balloon, etc. along a single flight route. We believe it will be useful for training purposes, and while it's not quite as advanced as the quick mission generator that you are waiting for, it's a good first step in that direction and brings us that much closer to the real thing.

We will develop this mission with each update, adding new elements and content, until we will have finished the real 'quick mission generator', which will allow for much easier, and more dynamic, mission creation.

Realism lovers and sticklers will be glad to find a blip switch added to some airplanes along with all the accurate engine behaviors thereof. It uses the Shift+E keys by default but can also be remapped at your convenience. We have also finished the full version of the 'Rise of Flight Mission Editor manual'. It's well over a hundred pages long and we're hoping it helps out the RoF mission designing community.

Some thoughts:
Reading the forums, I've been struck by the amount of dissatisfaction due to the lack of information from us regarding the development process. This surprised me, as I always thought we should only announce something if we are sure of it. The development of Rise of Flight, and projects like, are not easy tasks. And there are many moments and situations that are hard to foresee. It only makes sense to let you know what's coming when we are sure we can deliver.

But as I read further, I found that many people are simply interested in HOW it is all done. That is something I can definitely fill you in on and I promise to update you more as we move forward on 1.009. Because it's going to be one interesting update.

We know some users are currently experiencing performance issues. Unfortunately, we have not been able to reproduce similar problems on our systems. It might be because of specific hardware configurations. We are looking into all possible solutions.

Lastly, as is our tradition, congratulations and present are in order for our 6000 (Kneedowndean) and 7000 (Smoke218) customers to our store. Thank you all for your interest for ROF project! As for us, back to work we go.

Trying to start RoF tells me to update my game, but the automatic update hasn't happened yet. Must be VERY close now.

:chhers: