Folks:

Jens/Dux,

I found this fix for Chrome.

http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/backspacemeansbackspace/#.U_KB0PldVpA

I haven't installed it as this is not my computer so I cannot verify that it is safe or works.

In fact, as it was released, CoD would not have run on W8/8.1
(though they had not been released then); and CoD out of the box,
which is to say off of Steam, where it is sourced these days, still
will not run on w8. There is a fix for that, a small shim provided
free by the friend of a community member, called "clodder.dll" I
think (I'm not sure of the extension) which is required to make
the vanilla Steam version run. However, the Team Fusion community
hacker group (a sort of non-sanctioned equivalent of the BDG, who
do their work in spite of, rather than with the support of the
original publisher) has written several patches to the sim, which
are now pretty much as essential as the BDG patches are for BoB/BoB2,
and somewhere along the line they folded in the clodder function
into their patches, so a fully TF-patched CloD will run under w8. However,
the TF patches follow the Maddox upgrade model, rather than the BDG
philosophy, so to get an up to date TF-CLoD, one must install a whole
series of patches, each of considerable size. At the moment, the list
consists of 3.0, 3.1, 4.0, 4.3, 4.312

CloD, by the way, goes for something like $10 these days, I think.

Gents,

Losing the message can happen when previewing, altering and then again checking the preview. After that, it sometimes won't load to forum.

Folks:

PV1,

Thanks for the excellent and comprehensive info.

A few posts back I had mentioned I'd run across the "shim". I was aware of Team Fusion but not aware of all the patches or the fact that they had incorporated the "shim" into their code. Good news I suppose. I do want to try it at least until BoB2 can run on my OS.

Though tempted by all the new stuff, I never modded IL2 1946, passing on that because it all seemed so convoluted a process with blizzards of patches and bags of mods by the time I looked at it. I've done a lot of modding on Strike Fighters 1 in the past and a few other sims. I enjoyed the process and the results.

It seems Maddox frowns on mods for some reason where as other developers like Thirdwire seem to embrace it. I'll give it a try next month then. Doubtless the TF boys will be as helpful as you BDG fellows. If so, I can handle it. Is there a move by the incomparable BDG to make BoB2 compatible with Win 8x? Your much enhanced terrain beckons me my west coast friend.

Dux:

Recovered from your birding journey I see. I haven't seen that particular glitch although, considering my proclivity for finding particularly irritating glitches, I very well may in due course. I'm getting much more time on my son's computer than expected. He'll need it back at some point and I'll be scarce around here for a bit once again. I heard that remark Dux and it was very rude of you to say that....

We had a magnificent thunderstorm last night that lit up the sky (and the dog). The thunder rolled across the heavens and rain fell so heavily I Googled the plans for building an ark. About half-way through reading those plans (or perhaps it was when I was ogling pix of Penelope Cruz) we lost the Internet. Or perhaps it lost us?

The lights blinked several times but stayed on. Later on we all had to spread out upstairs and down to find Jake the dog. Normally a brave little pooch, he cannot tolerate Donder und Blitzen. We found him under my bed. It is somehow comforting to know that little Jake (who is particularly perceptive about such things) believes that under my bed is the safest place in the house when the heavens roar.

JRT: I just answered a post in the forum below, regarding BoB2 and W8.
We at the BDG have been concerned about the W8 problem for a while,
and we fear that if it is not resolved, BoB2 will rapidly slide off
the map. However, our senior coder of the last few years, Buddye, has
been absent for quite a while now, and so we haven't really had a
spokesman for interfacing with A2A, as Bader, our chief communicator
in the past, as you know, has his own issues and has also been absent.
Our current lone active coder, two27, has his own health issues which
render him absent at frequent intervals, and as the junior member, he
has til recently kept a low profile, but recently he has been looking
around and noticing the absence of other actors, and so has been taking
a more active role beyond simply coding. This seems appropriate, as
the major evolutions the code has undergone over the last couple of years
have been due to him, so in some sense it is becoming his baby. We will
see how things evolve.

Folks:
PV1,

Thanks for the info. I was unaware of the drift away by important people and for various reasons. I know a tiny bit about Bader's problem regarding his family but nothing else regarding him or others. I am glad someone has stepped up to carry the flag. This has been a long journey for us all. At least those of us who were here at the beginning. There is bound to be some normal attrition over such an expanse of time.

Like others I've come to think of the BDG as being there in the background beavering away forever for everyone's benefit. The BDG seemed super human, immortal, altruistic to the bone. You fellows have much to be proud of and we are remiss in not thanking you more often than we do for all you have done. I remember Buddye of course for he has been a great help to me in the past and my old Hawaiian pal Vadenstick. Is OSRAM still around?

My friend, I fear that I must agree that if the problem with Win 8x is not quickly addressed either by some MS upgrade or more likely by you chaps our ranks will, if not immediately thin, stop growing until it is. BoB2 must keep up with the latest OS. You've certainly managed to do that up to now/
.
I'm a pretty good example myself. No denying I am a loyal card carrying BoB2 fan myself however the inability to run BoB2 on this new machine and the unpredictability of the USB system on the ancient XP sent me scampering over to the ATAG site to gather even more detailed info on CLoD than you gave me. After almost a decade and a half I must have my BoB fix.

Sorry to hear that the BoB team is a bit of disarray and I do hope that the personal difficulties facing some of its members may be alleviated or solved satisfactorily. Although BoB2 is a time machine, none of us are getting any younger. So I do add my very best and most heartfelt wishes to all the team members, past and present, because Churchill's words about the few and the many certainly apply in this instance.

It may just be, that one should hang on to the copy of Windows XP and/or 7 in case the only possibility to restore BoB2 to flying would happen to involve running it in a virtual machine such as VirtualBox on future Windows OS's.

Folks:

MG,

Well said. What a wonderful job they've done.

Well, shortly after Bader's initial absense, Osram, the
perennial lone wulf, found himself with a life outside
of simming, including a marriage and a new town and
job. He has been able to appear on occasion, as when we
were foxed by the difficulties getting v2.12 finished,
and he was able to determine that the problem was we had
added so many new pieces of eye candy that we had run
up against a limit left by Rowan (there's no way we'll
ever need more than 8192 different *somethingorothers*,
right? - shades of Mr Gates and ms-dos), and so repaired
the code to allow 2.12 to get out the door only 3 months
later than we had hoped. But otherwise he has no time
in his new life for the endless hacking that BoB2 demands.
And that is only reasonable, this stuff is for eager kids,
and relaxing elders, not for those buried under the middle
years of family life and the rat race.

Chaps,

We can ill-afford the departure of BoB luminaries like Bader and Buddye. I hope this doesn't herald the end of an era. Probably not.

I well remember, back in Victorian times that the long awaited upgrade to Paper-Scissors-Stone was not forthcoming and many wrung their hands in anguish. However, that Association still flourishes today which should stand as proof that games of all types can survive indefinitely even when further development ceases.

And now to more important things...

After dropping my camcorder in a rock-pool, the bally thing stopped working. You just can't get the quality these days. It came on briefly but would not respond to touch screen instructions and the battery won't charge. It has had 10 days to dry out but remains dormant. My main question is: Will a battery discharge instantly and completely (becoming useless) if submerged in water?

I was planning to get a camcorder with a higher resolution but would like to pass the one I have on to my daughter if it can be made to work again. The cost of repair would certainly exceed its present value.

I have had good luck drying out wet electronics by packing it in rice after removing the battery. But it concerned smaller items like earpieces, cellphones. It does take a couple of weeks it seems, but everything has worked afterwards. The only problem I had with dropping a camera was something inside the lens broke. Canon repaired it for free. In my book, that makes it a good company.

Folks:

PV1,

I appreciate the information. I was not aware OSRAM had tied the knot. Good for him. I know he is missed.

Dux,

Too bad about the camera. Wasn't ogling those nudists with yer umum.. naked eye enough? You had to stand in the rock pool and film them, eh? Serves you right some might say. Not me. Life is short said Mickey Rooney and I agree. Live it to its fullest. Every day an adventure.

There is an excepted method for drying out electronics but it wouldn't be a guarantee even if I could remember what that is. Microwaving the drippy item doesn't work.... I found that out the hard way with the wide screen TV....

Thanks,JRT,Fittop,

I had tried putting it in a Tupperware dish with the camcorder surround by salt, then sealed with the tight-fitting lid but obviously without the desired result.
I removed most of the tiny Phillips screws but the thing won't come apart. There is always the chance that it won't go together again even if I could separate the parts for drying, so I won't go down that road. It's a Sony with a very handy hard drive which may still have some holiday video on it - although I wouldn't want a camcorder service shop to spot that bit of video which covered the opening ceremony of the 32nd Pembrokeshire Naked Druid Choirboys Ballet Extravaganza.

Off to Argos tomorrow for a new Panasonic job with 1080 resolution for a much clearer image.

Treated to a splendid view on TV of the two Lancasters flying together today and touching down. Not sure where that airfield was. Apparently, there is to be a Bomber Command memorial built in Bomber County - that's Lincolnshire y'know. Perhaps the Lancaster - minded Jens can provide us with a few pics of that event when he isn't menacing the traffic with his new velocipede.

Unless there a lot of humidity in your home, I would suggest you do not cover or tightly seal the Tupperware container in which you're keeping the dunked item. It does seem to take a couple of weeks, or it did for me. I occasionally just stirred up the rice, but did not take the cam apart. Less chance for rice than salt to get into the works or scratch anything.

Folks:
Dux:

Rice is better, that's it. It is a very good desiccant used properly it can resurrect a damp piece of electronics over time. Then a good blast from a can of tinned air and who knows.

WD40 can be used to "dry out" some things. a drop will certainly renew a sticky potentiometer. It worked for me more than once. I'd use the rice for a week or two. Good advice Fittop. I was typing as you popped in thst last time.

Hmmm. Choirboys? Maybe if you squeezed in a few teenage choirgirls and a nekked cheerleader or two it might pass inspection. When is the 2014 running of the Derbyshire naked female jockeys steeplechase, pontoon boat regatta and naturist's exhibition fete being held? I do hope we haven't missed it again. Good luck with the camera.

My son's new smart phone camera is so good he doesn't even use anything else anymore. It is no longer just a point and shoot. He has full control, high res. and an optical zoom.

" From today's special flypast formation for the turf cutting ceremony at the new Bomber Command memorial at Canwick Hill. We had cameras at RAF Waddington, the new memorial site and on the roof of Lincoln Cathedral for a truly spectacular view. "




Gorgeous!

Was passing by, and couldn't help popping into this famous thread to remark on that wonderful footage of the Vulcan and Lancasters. Tingling stuff, thanks!

Happyflier,

Nice of you to drop in. Please continue to do so, anytime!

Gents, JRT & Jens...

Great video! Who would have thought that we would see two flying together ever again? The two Lancs will be over Holmfirth sometime next week. Meanwhile, Just Jane stirs uneasily at East Kirkby.

Pleased to report that the Sony has partially recovered and I got my limited holiday vid back and put it to DVD! Unfortunately, it wont operate unless plugged into mains. On its own, the battery will only power up the title screen. A fresh battery has been ordered.

I don't think I've ever posted in here before but something drew me in. Then I saw that wonderful video you posted McGonigle. I've downloaded it and will show it to my mum shortly,she will love it I know.

Thanks for your kind comments on the video gentlemen. I have a suspicion that the aforementioned Lancs and the Vulcan are part of a new force designed to win over the entire world with iconic aircraft shapes. Who would not agree to raising the Union Jack and intone Land of Hope and Glory after such wonderful sights (perhaps the Scots will even decide to stay in the Union?)

Visiting my local shopping mall today I saw the the old pub has been closed down and a shop with appliances for kitchen and home sprung up in its place...... "They got the Rose and Crown".