I agree Uther, I hope they keep the FM and DM in house. That was a real sales killer for CFS. I refused to buy it. It's really, REALLY nice to fly IL2 and know there's no hacked planes. Drove me away from Red Baron and into IL2.

If KOE is open to modders and IL2 finally makes a WW1 mod, all other things being equal, KOE will become a coaster.

The first is why I stopped MMP RB.

The second I can agree with in the future. Who knows what will be next after BoB?

Yes Il2 has a real secure feel to it.

CFS while very versatile is definately not an online paradise.


For any kind of online competition there shouldn't be any open architecture.

Third parties can send their work to the developer and be released as kosher. Some may even get picked on a payroll or maybe some royalty work. Leave the skinning to us guys of course!!!! I absolutely love custom skins and WWI ac are just beauties, esp German.

We got alot of beauty ac this way (over 100 total ac now) in IL2 and a fair amount of them didn't cost a penny. FM and DM fidelity to boot.

This constant upgrading for free makes it alot easier to pay for an add on every year or so. It keeps the game going for a long time too. No more "here's your sim see ya later" like the old days. Remember all those waiting periods for the Falcon 4 guys (private volunteers) to fix what the dev team left?

Only problem with this is when everyone gets the patch jitters. Kind of like what's going on in here.

Remember when we were going to buy AEP with only 20 aircraft? The squeals of delight when it was announced it had 29. And 10 more yet to come?

KOE could do the same thing. I hope so.

Well I would go both ways... Example:

For on-line play, the files all have to be the same or "match" for every one to participate. This would account for cheating. The server side checks the dates and sizes of the files before allowing anyone to connect.

Now that said, Aspect could allow full editing of the games files for aircraft, skins, sounds, terrain, GUI and what not. Say a user updates and corrects some flaw in the FM of the Sopwith Camel for example. He could release this creation to the public and people could download it, use it online with other people providing they have the same exact file! Now over time as the community becomes more familiar with the workings of KOE and it's editing tools (Assuming the sim will be open to such) Packs could be put together with new and updated aircraft. Of course they would have to undergo testing and approval... And those that choose not to download them dont have to! The stock game could still be playable and those with the stock game can join online just the same.

What da ya think? All assumption of course, and just my 2 cents.

File checking anti-cheats could go a long way to eliminating porked flight models and such, and of course mod packs are what keeps many sims and shooters alive well beyond their original excellence.

Still we all want Aspect to support KOE like Oleg has for IL-2, and I hope the developers maintain a preeminent interest in the expansion of the KOE franchise if at all possible.

In the meantime after KOE's release, with open architecture you could see mods developing like coverage of the Italian Front for example.

Man it's a tough call isn't, between sim fidelity (especially for multiplayer), and modability for community involvement and growth.

It would seem to me that if its moddable for the community, then there goes addon sales.

Well if a mod is that good, like Day of Defeat was for HALF-LIFE, you just buy up the mod, spruce it up and sell it retail and make cash off of that.

Seriously though, I see your point Pen, still I'd expect companies like Just Flight and Shockwave to be looking at KOE for mod (add-on) development just as they might have at the CFS-series, or IL-2.............they may already be talking to Aspect or their publisher about this already for all we know.

There certainly needs to be propriety and fidelity controls.........

Just thinking.

Good posts! Just to chime in with my "2 cents",
I think that, for the reasons that Uther and Pen
brought up, a closed Sim might be better for the
community in the long run. Yes, there could be
code added to check that everyone is running the
same patches, but why add the extra overhead if
you don't have to?

Flying IL-2 is so much easier. No hunting down
the correct FM/DM, no constantly loading and
unloading of patches depending on where and with
whom you're playing with, and most importantly, no
endless debates about who's patch favors one side
or the other. You may not like all the FM/DMs in
IL-2, but you know that everyone is flying the
same ones.

RDkill

CFS series allows that all ready IIRC. RB has several FM/DM models. I would rather they keep the FM/DM in house. No need for something like RSS or Punk Buster. Just one FM/DM for everybody.

If someone finds a problem with a Camel, by all means, report it. But back up any changes you think need to be made. Not with what you think, but things like NACA charts.

In all the time that IL2 has been out, no one has been able to hack it. You can make your own missions and campaigns and skins. But anything else will lead to bad things.

It isn't a bad idea really, as no one has a lock on what these planes can do. There was a real Camel on ebay awhile back. It is flyable IIRC, but at an asking price of $1,000,000 plus, would you want to fly it?

I really think it best to keep it closed. Better all around. It would be nice to do a McCudden and soup up your plane. But if you can do it offline, someone will do it online.