I am considering OFF to get back into WWI sims after time off from the now fairly obsolete RB3D. The only other choice appears to be ROF. I have a relatively new computer but it isn't close to what is needed for ROF, and I'm more into SP than MMP at the moment. Also, I'm not going to buy a new PC for a game.

I have a ASUS CM5671 Pentium Dual Core E-5500, 2X 2.80GHz; 4.0 GB RAM (3.75 GB usable); Win 7 64 bit. I have an old copy of MCFS3.

I have read the forums on ROF and it appears ENDLESS fiddling is required to get it to work. Is this program less troublesome? Is my computer able to handle it? Thanks!

Welcome Over Flanders Fields, Gregg.
If you are into immersive campaigns and single-player action, you made the right choice.
In OFF, everything is really there all the time, while you fly - not just spawned.
You'd find other aircraft everywhere else, away from your path.
That's real immersion IMHO.

What graphic card do you use?
Your CPU should be able to run the sim. Best advice I can give you is, to check the "Sticky Threads"
with lots of advice, in the other forum - see here:
http://combatace.com/forum/204-off-general-discussion/
and of course the OBD Website:
www.overflandersfields.com
There is all the guidance which is important for installing everything in the right order etc.
It is a lot of stuff you may have to read through, but once your sim is running fine
(and we won't let you alone with any possible problems), you will be the happiest WW1 flyer
on the planet - well, one of them. Among the other OFFers.

The graphics card is whatever came with the machine. I take it I will have to install one, unlikely the onboard piece of junk which runs IL2 46 and RB3D ok will work for this more up to date sim.

I'll check those threads, but at least it sounds like I should spring for the OFF CD at this point. Do you know if the version they are selling now includes all the current patches/upgrades? Thank you for your response/advice.

Greg welcome, you will need NVidia or ATI graphics cards as most PC built in video cards are usually fairly poor (especially Intel ones - not good gaming cards) so depending on your budget, but I'd ask in the general forum for opinions on good recent low price card for OFF.

The OFF CD is v.1.0 so yes you will need to patch BH&H with the two patches available once you install it - fairly easy.
See FAQ near top for full install help and setup.

http://www.overflandersfields.com/FAQ.htm

Gregg, I could run the sim with great looks on my older ATI HD4870.
I would say, that's a good point to start from.
Don't know about the equivalent of NVidia. Just ask NVidia users.

Hi there Greg,

I just have a new, well, used NVIDA GeForce 512 which is quite nice. I had a NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GTX which I found very decent with some 20 - 30 FPS at an airfield, and some 55- 60 FPS in the air looking down from 10,000'.

Cheers,

Britisheh

Howdy

I checked the specs on the ASUS CM5671 we seem to be good to go HOWEVER your available slots are PCI Express x 1, Which only means not any old video card is gonna fit

Plus with only a 300 Watt Power Supply you need to stay conservative . . . I'm looking

You do realize this involves opening up your computer, but then again we all need to start somewhere, if you're game, I'll search. But I need to know what you're willing to spend for the part. I'll try for the cheapest possible but we might be looking at $50

You'll just need to open the computer and see what you've really got in the way of expansion slots, because I get conflicting information as to just what's really there

One source says PCI Express x 1 ( in which case you're screwed) the slot itself is about 2" long

The other says PCI Express x 16 which is what we want for a video card

The Link is to Wikipedia, it features a picture of all the different kinds of PCI Express Slots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

IF it's a GO

I'd suggest a can of compressed air, to clean up the fan and heatsink on your CPU. As OFF Makes allot of heat

That can of air is double important if there's a CAT in the house

Great Idea for Computer Cleaning and keeping it clean. Because the compressed air is needed, but it just blows the Dust Elsewhere

http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Vacuum-Attachment-Kit-Piece/dp/B000BSJCLY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1340659855&sr=8-8&keywords=Vacuum+cleaner+attachment+for+computers

The link doesn't seem to work, but it gives you the idea. It's like $8 and your vacuum cleaner is a bit too large and bulky

Thank you very much for your research. I'll open the case and see what I have. Yes ... cat. Women think they are cute when they are kittens, then they claw, shed and urinate all over the place.

There are 4 open slots: PCI ex 1_1 (looks like the PCI express 1 in the picture in your Wikipedia link; PCI ex 16; and PCI 1 & PCI 2 (these look like the conventional 32 bit slots in the bottom of the picture). I also have two open RAM slots which I assume I may end up needing. You mentioned the PCI ex 16 is what I need. Any product suggestions? I still have an Nvidia GE-Force FX5500 from a now dead PC, but it appears to be an AGP 8 slot so I assume it won't work. Thanks again!

Stay with the 4GB Memory for now. The FX5500 will make a dandy anchor for a very small boat, but that's about it.

You'll have to remain super conservative due to the small 300 Watt Powersupply which verification can only be a good thing. The specs say 300 and that's the Limiting Factor

I'll look, your best bet is a parts house. . TIGER DIRECT

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6896097&CatId=3669

Throw that in, you should be good to go . .Don't forget the compressed air

Whilst you wait

See the STICKY OFF Tips and links Page 4 Scroll Down Till you see my name and start reading

Bring a sandwich as there's a bunch of'em

They serve to limit the amount of questions down the road

Because OFF has a rather steep learning curve

Ordered one of those. I will see how it goes after install, and consider a new power supply (~500W?) later if necessary. In addition to the OFF dvd I guess I also need to order the two patches? Thanks again. I'll read up on install issues as you suggest.

If you are talking about the two BH&H patches, they are just downloads from the OBD site, you do not have to "order" them.

As far as the Larger Power Supply is concerned. Some investigating on your part is needed, the really High Tech cards are physically HUGE. Many times too Huge for your case

My GTX480 is 12 inches deep, and Double Space, and creates a lot of heat within your case

You might be better off with something a little tamer
.................................................................
Power Supplies are all the same physical size, until around 1000 Watts

If some is good, more is better

The Book on my Video Card calls for 600 Watts, I run a 750......WHY ?

The cheaper Power Supplies never make their advertised rate, normally less

What's going to work harder . . the 600 or the 750 ?

Theoretically at least the one that is not stressed will last longer, at the time it only $20 more

That's Cheap Insurance in my book

Got the video card, OFF DVD, and installed both along with the patches. Used the FAQ recommended graphics settings for a low or medium performance PC, and managed to play for a while. At some point I sense I will need Track IR, because the MSFS view controls are so cumbersome compared to the old RB3D keys, that it is difficult to keep track of friends, enemys and cons. Maybe it is because I played it for so long, but geez, I liked those controls, and I sure wish there was one source for a good "equivalent key command" set of instructions.

Still, the game seems to be working OK with relatively little "tweeking." I would like to raise some of the graphics sliders to see whether I can get some better graphics, but I am afraid of causing something to crash. So, perhaps a stupid question, does the power effect my ability to run the higher level graphics? I note this video card requires a 350 watt supply, and mine is 300, so I assume the answer is "maybe."

Thanks again, Gregg

Since day 1, OFF has screamed for Trackir. As a cost cutter you only need Trakir4 if it's still offered. I used to be heavily into CFS2, but since I bought Trackir it only gathers dust
The views on CFS3 are pretty poor, I myself stubbornly carried on till mid Phase II, then kicked myself in the butt for waiting that long

OK the reason it calls for 350Watts is due to the extra memory, as the 8400 was the card that I got with my DELL in XP with a 300PSU, but mine was 512mb
The 8400 is fairly basic. You ain't gonna get any eye-candy

Run object density low. . . 5-3-3-4-1 on the graphics sliders . . . ( Z ) Brings your FPS on screen. . . probably wont go high than 35

Ready for a punch in the guts, here it comes there are PCIE 16X - 1 and PCIE 16X - 2 that's your motherboard. That's where the bottleneck occurs, the fastest transfer of data (eye candy )
is from the Video card through the motherboard to the CPU. Meaning you can boost your wattage, and install a much better Video card, but IF there's a bottleneck you're screwed in the ( eye candy department )

My DELL was a PCIE-1 300Watt PSU is still there, running an 8600 512DDR3. . . 5-3-3-5-3 . . Runs Smooth

I'm willing to bet folding green, you're also running a PCIE 1

You have the basis for a sweet running machine, but as far as transforming the 98 pound weakling into Charles Atlas . . . that's only in Comic Books

While I was searching for the 8600 - 512DDR3 ( 512DDR2 is commonplace) I ran an ATI 4670 with 1GB DDR3 no complaints ( But I'm a Nvidia guy )

Well, its running smooth and the graphics are not bad at those settings. Started a campaign to get used to the program. I think I understand the power issue a bit better now, although I'm curious about the additional demands that Track IR will place on the system, running at the same time as the game. I guess the only way to find out for certain is to try. Thanks again for the explanations.

Trackir runs just fine with couple simple rules, you have primary and secondary USB's. You want a primary, that's directly off your motherboard, the secondaries are usually part of the case

You MUST be in administrator mode for Trackir in OFF

In Windows 7 you'll get a large Icon for Trackir on Desktop . . Double Clic the Icon . . gives the Trackir window . .which you minimize to the taskbar . .good to go

The only Tweeking then will finding the optinum postion of the camera unit atop your monitor . . meaning how far off of center, mine about 1 inch

It's EXTREMELY Light sensative, it hates sunlight

and my computer is in my Florida Room, drove me nuts, for the first year I only flew at night. Then came the Huge Cardboard Refrigerater Boxes, now it's 2 folding room dividers

But between 3pm - 5pm find something else to do

Now that you've seen what is possible to grab from your machine, it's an excellent time to buy the expansion package Hat in the Ring for the $10 ( Download only ) which after buying it and uncompressing it, the smart money saves a copy in Documents or burn it to disc or both, after you install it, it needs 1 more Patch ( Free )

It not only adds additional aircraft but more possible variations in Workshop. From controls that don't even exist yet.
Now as soon as the manager deems the aircraft is non-flyable the mission just ends . .Period
With Hat in the Ring you be able to ride that bird all the way down to a Dirt Nap, you're just as dead, but you'll feel better about it. I know I do
It was released over a year after Heaven and Hell so all the little nags, have been addressed
The riding all the way down involves some of the controls you don't have yet

Looking Down the road a ways, there will come a time in your quest for additional ( eye-candy). The next step up the Video Card ladder is the 8600 it has 32 Stream Processors to the 8400's 16
There are many 8600's available, but they are mostly 256 MB NO GOOD With TRACKIR. You need 512 MB sooo you're talking used, or I've seen some ads in the $150 Range

I found it Geforce 8600GT DDR2 2GB "BRANDY-NEW" Roughly $70 USD

I can only imagine the shipping

AMAZON.COM in France . . .PAYPAL can handle the money part the actual cost 57.99 Euros

Returns wouldn't be possible, but it's worth the gamble

IF they'll do it