(The above quote is from the mod thread about BuckeyeBob's weather mod. Sorry, Panama Red for surgically removing your quote and purloining it here.)

You know, since I've gotten more seriously into this sim, I've been more chagrined about the lack of wind influencing my plane and its flight. I have wind on in the workshop settings, yet still my plane is very stable in the air when I'm flying, taking off, and landing. The wind just doesn't seem to affect me even slightly if at all.

I've read elsewhere on these forums about how the wind needed to be toned down because it was disrupting things such as formation flying; these sentiments are echoed in your quote above, Panama Red.

When I was flying alone in training and in quick combat (to acquaint myself with the Nieuport 10C1) I was pretty easily able to fly in straight and level flight making slight adjustments to throttle and pitch to maintain both speed and altitude. (Obviously, with these early planes without trim, this isn't an exact science, and you need to constantly "fly" the plane.) I could fly and fly in straight and level flight at a fairly constant speed seemingly endlessly.

However, when I first started the campaign I was getting frustrated flying in formation. The other planes kept suddenly gaining altitude for a while and then losing altitude again just as suddenly. As these things happened I was flying at a stable speed and altitude, and I just couldn't understand why they were doing this. At first, I kept making the mistake of trying to match their altitude changes which would either result in me losing speed at which point I would lag behind or else gaining too much speed which meant I would rocket past them. Finally, I learned to forget about their altitude changes and just maintain and adjust speed only. This way I could stay in formation more or less.

This still seems very strange and then it hit me in today's flight that it seems like all of their planes are being affected by the wind and wind changes, but my craft isn't being affected at all. While they are gaining altitude and losing altitude for seemingly no reason, I can take my hand off the stick and except for a bit of gyro drift I can more or less remain at the altitude and speed I'm at. Sudden gusts of winds and changes in the wind are the only rational explanations for these changes to the other planes. My plane should theoretically be experiencing these same effects.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this. I really want my plane to be affected by the wind, but every time this is mentioned someone brings up the fact that the wind was lessened because it makes flying nye on impossible. I'm just curious if somehow other planes are being affected by this, but not the player plane. And if so, can this be changed?

T3G, your theory can be easily tested. Turn off the wind effects in Workshops and see what happens to the rest of your flight. I'm willing to bet that ... nothing. They'll still probably fly the same way. If you want to know what they're up to, turn on the autopilot while in formation. Your autopilot is the same as for the rest of the flight. You will instantly notice them constantly playing with the throttle, even when flying straight and level. You may think that they're doing this to match the leader, but the leader is doing exactly the same thing. Can't explain why. If you want to experience the wind effects, pick a windy day in a N11 at high altitude. Have fun catching any Aviatiks flying this high.

Thanks for the reply, Fullofit.

Of course, we could argue that as soon as autopilot is turned on, wind begins to affect the plane.

I have absolutely no idea, though. I don't understand the programming of this (or any other) sim. But I do know that wind is not affecting my plane so much, but it really seems to be affecting the other, computer-controlled planes. Otherwise, why are they flying so erratically? Their behavior doesn't make sense at all.

I'm at cross-purposes here, though, because, as you said, I should turn off the wind in my sim and/or fly autopilot. But I'm so obsessed with reality and accuracy that I never want to experience no wind or autopilot! I only ever want to fly realistically hence my frustrations at the wind in the sim. It's all quite silly and a mental block that prevents me testing my theory!

Anyway, you can just leave me to wander around my padded room alone. I'm fine here. Really, I am.

T3G, how are you able to type with the straitjacket on?
I don't think the wind affects only AI piloted airplanes, or at least that is not the reason they fly the way they do. They've been flying like that even before the wind was introduced to the sim. As far as I can tell wind occurs only in bad weather. When it's present you can tell right away as it is hard to aim at any enemy airplane. In fact someone made a mod to reduce the effect of the wind. If that's possible then maybe it can also be increased? Have a look at Sandbagger's mod page.

Edit: Just checked the website. The mod is by DukeIronHand.

Sometimes the massive amounts of drool leaking from my slack-jawed mouth drip down and loosen the straps on my straight-jacket just enough for me to type a few clumsy words.

Uh, oh! They are tightening up again! . . .

Hey T3G,

I think Fullofit is correct in that WOFF doesn't reflect wind in the classic sense. I believe that the effect that you feel in the sim is really simulated "turbulence". It seems to mostly manifest itself with random pitch changes.

However in WOFF you never get the experience of drift. You go where you point your nose. This is not the case in an actual aircraft (particularly a slow one). Even a modest cross breeze will require you to crab into the wind, which feels like you are flying sideways. That's just not the case in WOFF...or in most sims for that matter.

If you don't want to generally fly with aids, just create a test pilot with a high enough rank to lead, put the plane on autopilot and watch what he does. My suspicion is that what you are seeing is the lead AI being a little rough with his corrections. In formation flying, every correction by the leader results in a lagging correction by the wingmen, worse the farther you are away from lead. That's how you get that whip effect.

It also occurs in real life, but happens whether there is wind or not. Of course, it's probably a little worse when there is wind. But the more abrupt the lead, the more reactionary the wingmen need to be. That WOFF is a WWI sim is probably something of a saving grace. These planes were light, many were twitchy, and some didn't have throttles as such. So, you might expect a certain "roughness" to their corrections.

Never say never....

Here is a sample of my Wind (or Turbulence) MOD in action. I had a smooth takeoff, then BAM! gusts of wind throw my crate around .... kudos to AnKor's MOD for amplifying the effect.

OldHat, when will this mod be ready for use?

OldHat;

I have always felt that the wind was only demonstrated in the vertical and not in the horizontal planes. Have you been able to address that and if so please explain.

Best Regards

+1
Also interested.

All are into your new MOD OHat..

Hi OldHat;

Yes I did see some latitudinal swerving but it was not clear to me if that was the wind or you just moving the stick. I would be interested in testing this out if you can PM me a link, provided you are willing.

Best Regards

If I'm not mistaken Robert, OldHats mod is already here on the mod page thread titled "Strong Wind Mod"

This looks pretty good OldHat.

I've been playing WOFF 1 and, before I discovered that there was a patch for it, I remember a 90 minute flight in the Morane Parasol through heavy turbulence most of the way (It seemed to ease off at certain altitudes or in certain areas where the conditions were different. It was great fun fighting the aircraft the entire flight, if very mentally tiring and I thought it added a very immersive and important historical aspect to my campaign. (Basically that the weather is dangerous which gets overlooked so often)

Since I patched to 1.27 or whatever it is the turbulence and wind gusts seem to be gone and I'd really like this challenging dynamic weather back. I'm not worried if the occasional collision occurs since I deem that to be a part of the risk of formation flying in very flimsy aircraft of dubious engineering quality piloted by people with little training. I am wondering if can I just rename your weather mod file and replace the one in the game directory? (Making sure to backup the original off course.)

I ask because the mission editor isn't compatible with WoFF 1, or I can't make it work at least, so this precludes me from using your mod in the manner that you recommend.

Adger is correct. But here is the link to it. I have made around 51 variations to span the whole year and working on putting it together then JJJ has agreed to include it inside his Mission Editor.

JimmyBlonde, I think that you'll need to interrupt the process of spawning on the field so that you can modify the OFF_Camp_Mission.xml file. Unfortunately, I don't have a way to do it in WOFF 1 as it is now automatically done in WOFF UE.

Hi OldHat;

I found the reference Adger pointed me to and I downloaded the "OFFDynamicMissionWeatherMOD.xml" file and followed your procedures. Unfortunately I saw little wind effects as is evident in the video clip below. I do have wind turned on in the workshop.

Any ideas as to why?

No I didn't fly the whole campaign mission. Is there a more direct way to test it out rather quickly?