Please spell out how to get the other planes into the Hangar!
TIA

Ursus - I've sent an email to your address shown on your FCG website.

Does this have anything to do with it?:

http://gameguru.box.sk/cheat.php3?cheat=9669

Bingo! Works a treat! Thanks Q! So the mods have started already!

You're welcome. Keep posting. I'm following this thread with interest!

For Capt. Jack

KOE is not dead. It's been delayed. Please read the thread on this forum called, "An e-mail from the top about KOE." It should give you all the details.

http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=100;t=000184

That's the one sorry Ivor I should have posted a link

Yep Capt. Jack we are keeping this thread warm for Xeidos2 until KOE arrives

I was partly wrong about the SPAD's guns, what I took to be the recessed twin vickers of the S.13 are actually the fairings over the Hispano-Suiza's cylinder banks, it is a SPAD 7 with the correct single Vickers...but it does have a spurious Lewis Gun on the top of the centre section, as does the Brisfit, pity but not the end of the world. Funny, the Dolphin has Vickers but no Lewis Guns (which they often dropped anyway in RL).

Well, there's still a lot that could use fixing but so far so good. The planes do seem to pull off some UFO moves at times but in that sense it remnds me a bit of EAW, a great sim by most standards and still going strong, but until fairly recently the AI planes could pull off some fancy negative G stuff too.

The guy who posted that all planes fix was in an MP game I hosted (I think) earlier. Haven't a clue about MP so if anyone who's played online with me is reading this and has had probs with some plonker (me!)doing odd stuff like pulling the plug without warning, sorry!

From Polovski's Newcomer Campaign video (WoW_campaign_start.avi):

Settle down gentlemen!!!

Right then........

Ah Butch, this is your first combat mission so be a good lad and try to keep your plane in one piece.............recruits we have lots of, but good planes is another matter.

Right!

LOL.........too funny!!!

Reminds me of somethin' out of a Monty Python's Flying Circus skit.

Right then.......

Sounds like the WoW designers have a sense of humor too!

Polovski - thanks for the screens and videos - keep 'em coming please!

smith

Thank you very much - Appreciated!

No problem Brian thanks for the thanks
My bandwidth usage is shooting through the roof
might have to buy some extra this month or pull the vids at some point.

After looking at the jpegs I got to say this looks very good! And to think it is running well on everyone's machine is great. Is there a lot of FMVs? Is that why it's on DVD?

Just downloaded and viewed the AVI movies. Very nice work. Both me and my son are very excited, and I think even the Mrs. was looking at the flashy Camels. The Albatros DR I looks great! And all those balloons!?!? I live in the states so I stills gotsta wait a week or so.

OK, I bought WoW a few days ago, and I finally played it last night. It has generated a fair amount of excitement here (a good thing) and sparked a lot of discussion (another good thing), and might get more people playing WW1 flight sims (also a good thing). Plus it only costs twenty quid so really there's nothing to lose. However, with all that said, I got the impression from some of the threads here that WoW was going to be a bit closer to a 'real' flight sim than it turned out to be, so I thought it might be useful to give another, slightly less glowing, review here for those who haven't tried it yet. So here goes. (Quite long)

Graphics - well, you've seen the screenshots and movies. On the whole the graphics are very attractive. Some of the terrain is almost photo realistic. There are lots of ground features. Hills, trees, buildings etc are well implemented (though the blocks of forest less so). However, there is a strange fish eye lens effect (even though the view isn't very wide angle). Aircraft are nicely modelled from what I've seen so far. A variety of colour schemes (from realistic to fantasy eg blue with racing stripes) are available for each plane. Frame rates are consistently very high.

Weather - looks marvellous, with banks of clouds, blue skies, rain and snow, fog, all changing in the course of a mission. However, from what I've seen, these are all background visual effects - you can't get into or above the clouds, and weather seems to have no effect other than sometimes limiting visibility (for the player).

Flight model - well to be honest there isn't much of one. I started my first mission on 'arcade' mode, which seems to mean you can't roll more than 45 degrees. So I quickly switched to 'classic', which gives full freedom of movement. This was an instant action fight between me in an Eindecker and an AI oppoenent in some unspecified biplane, and I proceeded to follow him through a series of five or more consecutive vertical loops. Carrying out experiments away from the action, I looped a DH2 repeatedly from a start altitude of a few hundred feet, without losing speed or (much) height. Planes do lose speed while climbing, and gain speed while diving, and the nose tends to drop in a turn. but basically that's it for flight modelling. You are flying a spaceship, in effect. Not a criticism, as that probably suits the target market fine, but do be aware of this limitation.

AI - AI aircraft are agressive - they get behind you, fire accurately and shoot you down given half a chance. They are also tricky to shoot down, manoeuvring vigorously and using the vertical a lot (see comments on flight model above). It is very hard to stay behind an opponent, partly because all aircraft can turn 180 degrees in about 2 seconds and 20 yards horizontal distance (see comments on flight model above).

Damage modelling - aircraft (especially the player's) show a good range of visible damage, with buckled spars and ripped canvas. However, damage is clearly hit point based and basically attritional - pour machine gun fire into an opponent and his strength (indicated by a strength bar above his plane, unless you turn this off) slowly reduces. The player's aircraft (in campaign at least) has a shield that protects it from damage, Star Trek style. Rockets (all planes seem to carry rockets in instant action) can often cause an instant kill, even if exploding only in the general vicinity of the target. Shot down opponents (at least in instant action with respawn) either explode or spiral down a short way then vanish in mid air. Machine gun ammunition is unlimited, but rockets are so powerful that there seems little reason to use anything else, while they are available (they are limited in number).

Views - A range of external, chase, no cockpit and cockpit views. Fixed views, hat view and a nice mouse view. Optional markers (including off screen arrows) for all aircraft or your current target. No padlock. Simple instruments in the virtual cockpit give a suggestion of speed and altitude (I think) but are neither very useful nor really necessary. A HUD instrument (optional) shows speed, ammo, damage etc.

Production values - consistently high, with attractive and seamless UI, spoken briefings, very nice maps. All very slick and well put together.

Campaign - the campaign is a progression of scripted 'missions', each mission involving a large number of interim objectives, all described in an initial briefing, and on the lines of "Fly to railway station, shoot down fighters, go to factory, take photograph, go to artillery position, drop bomb" and so forth. In flight, coloured indicators show where to go and what to do, so you are rarely in any doubt. While these indicators can be turned off, it would be very hard working out what to do next without them. Pilots talk to one another in flight. The emphasis is on constant action and lots of opponents to shoot at. Progress is saved automatically at various points, and if you are shot down or (more likely) crash, you go back to the last save point and do it all again. (This happened to me three times in the first mission before I lost patience, but I am perhaps unusually intolerant of the 'repeat until successful' approach). Completing objectives gives powerups (more engine power, extra guns, extra shields).

Instant action (offline) - choose a plane (from those 'unlocked' in the campaign, initially a DH2 or an Eindecker). Choose a number of AI friends or opponents (up to 15 a side). I couldn't find a way to specify the aircraft the AI flies - they seemed to be some generic Allied biplane and German triplane. Action starts with each side lined up a short distance apart and a few hundred feet up, all armed with a number of rockets, plus guns. Close and start blasting. Kills are frequent and (with rockets) mostly instantaneous. Planes can be set to respawn or not. A fifteen a side fight is fast, frantic and fun, but the limitations are serious - rockets dominate the fighting (in fact I got into the habit, after loosing off all my rockets, of crashing so that I could respawn with a fresh load). AI aircraft types can't be specified. The very high turn rates make for tight twisting balls of aircraft all shooting one another. Fun factor is high (eg playing a time limited team deathmatch, scores even, with thirty seconds to go, trying to get that one last kill...), realism factor is very low.

Bottom line - it's a simple bit of fun, nice to look at, that gives a good visual feel of WW1 air combat, while playing rather like one of the 'XWing' or 'TIE Fighter' games crossed with a standard FPS. I enjoyed it. But I seriously doubt whether any amount of patching, hacking or modding could turn it into a 'serious' flight sim, and anyone buying it with that in mind might well end up disappointed. Buy it for what it is, or pass, is my advice.

Thanks, Von Stalheim. It's good to get some balance in the reporting of this game. The bottom line seems to be that it is very limited but fun.

Well Von, everyone is entitled to his opinion, but your last paragraph is a little unfair. Why?
Because of your suggestion that no amount of hacking or modding can make this into a sim!
It was able to be done with EAW and Red Baron,(and others) and the latter especially was awful at first.
Lets look at what you said

"Graphics - well, you've seen the screenshots and movies. On the whole the graphics are very attractive. Some of the terrain is almost photo realistic. There are lots of ground features. Hills, trees, buildings etc are well implemented (though the blocks of forest less so). However, there is a strange fish eye lens effect (even though the view isn't very wide angle). Aircraft are nicely modelled from what I've seen so far. A variety of colour schemes (from realistic to fantasy eg blue with racing stripes) are available for each plane."

I dispute a fish eye effect. Using trackIR
I found it no differenet from any other sim, which can use trackir. Red Baron, which I suppose is the simmest of WW1 sims, cannot!.
The colour schemes -skins- you can choose do have some garish choices. But then you needn't use them. You can stick to sim approved ones!

So, apart from the disputed fish eye, I see nothing here that is not sim-like, yes?

" Frame rates are consistently very high."

Is this only to be mentioned briefly? The highest FPS of any sim there is? Again, in Red Baron, more than one plane takes you to single figure too often.

"Weather - looks marvellous, with banks of clouds, blue skies, rain and snow, fog, all changing in the course of a mission. However, from what I've seen, these are all background visual effects - you can't get into or above the clouds, and weather seems to have no effect other than sometimes limiting visibility (for the player)."

What sim, apart from F.B and BOB gets you into the clouds? What WW1 sim?. What effect therefore do you expect other than limiting vis.?

"This was an instant action fight between me in an Eindecker and an AI oppoenent in some unspecified biplane, and I proceeded to follow him through a series of five or more consecutive vertical loops. "

Why did you choose to do that, and then make a criticism of it.? I certainly don't do that when I fight in Instant Action, and neither does the AI.. If I climb I will lose speed with the engine finally spluttering, then I begin to drop randomly left or right, then the engine whines as it gets turned by the prop until I rev up and pull out? If this is unsim -like,what should a sim do different? Are you sure you have not left an arcade setting on?
I agree there's no torque, but apart from that..
.
"AI - AI aircraft are agressive - they get behind you, fire accurately and shoot you down given half a chance. They are also tricky to shoot down, manoeuvring vigorously and using the vertical a lot (see comments on flight model above). It is very hard to stay behind an opponent, partly because all aircraft can turn 180 degrees in about 2 seconds and 20 yards horizontal distance (see comments on flight model above)."

I agree with this, except the last sentence. The only times I had this happen was when the opponent was a dridecker- I figure the've over modelled the agility aspect. Against other models, if you can keep them in view, you can get behind them. They lead you a merry dance, but my experience is a 50 -50 success rate. This is too hard for a sim then? It should be easier?
Those rockets are a complete arcade thing- the sooner they are rid of the better- You don't think a patch or modder could achieve that? ( if I read your last para !)

"Damage modelling - aircraft (especially the player's) show a good range of visible damage, with buckled spars and ripped canvas. However, damage is clearly hit point based and basically attritional - pour machine gun fire into an opponent and his strength (indicated by a strength bar above his plane, unless you turn this off) slowly reduces........."

This is what would happen with WW1 aircraft being peppered by machine guns bullets! Remember, in Blue Max where the CO rages at Bruno for leading them into a dogfight, the state of bruno's plane when it landed?. Ripped canvas doesn't make for efficient lift ! Strength bar?? Press letter "I" and its gone. Again, why didn't you turn these arcade features off?

"Views ..."

Same as all sims...yes? Except padlock of course. Don't want that. None of that newbie nonsense. So this is more simmy than the sims ?? .. well,well.

"Campaign - the campaign is a progression of scripted 'missions'"......

The campaign is total arcade nonsense having no place in a sim. I would have hoped that a review to ascertain its sim credentials would have ignored this campaign. You must have known from the manual that it made no pretence to be like other sims' campaigns , as understood by hardcore simmers.Because it can be ignored completely, especially now that access to all planes no longer relies on flying the campaign at all. ( see other posts re the "cheat" available )
To fairly judge whether this game has sim aspirations or not, I ask all fliers to judge only on Instant Action with arcade features turned off. This equates roughly to FB QMB situation.

"Instant action (offline) - choose a plane (from those 'unlocked' in the campaign, initially a DH2 or an Eindecker)....."

You're right, those damn rockets have no place in a sim. A patch could take them out. When that is done, then, how would the dogfight be compared to say Red Baron.?
I don't care for re-spawning myself, but it is a part of multiplay, is it not?
But no doubt, for offline,this would go when the missions got written ( patch or modders)

" (in fact I got into the habit, after loosing off all my rockets, of crashing so that I could respawn with a fresh load). "

Really trying to fly this like a sim, eh? Von. Don't worry I don't mind you having a bit of fun, !

"But I seriously doubt whether any amount of patching, hacking or modding could turn it into a 'serious' flight sim, and anyone buying it with that in mind might well end up disappointed. Buy it for what it is, or pass, is my advice. "

Come on now, after flying most of the (one ) night with arcade features obviously not all turned off, it is a strong summary to make and a little unfair in view of the fact that you are talking about whether patches , modding et al can or cannot make this into a sim.
Look what was done with EAW and Red Baron and F4 etc from what came in the box.
Oh, did you mention that it runs straight out the box, no stutters, CTD etc. ( The only bug I found was that the player shouts to the opponent as if he was being shot at by a team mate )

This is not a sim yet - but I'm sure, folks, that it can be if patched or modded. (It can be dogfighted (sic!) at the moment, if arcade turned off in Instant Action.)
All I ask when making your assessment, if you risk your $20 or so, is to ignore the Campaign and use the Instant Action in cockpit view, with all arcade features turned off.

cheers

BTW, the Lewis gun on the Brisfit is -not- an ahistoric feature.
Though it wasn't a standard fitting, some aircraft were fitted with a Lewis on the top
wing in a similar fitting to the one on the S.E.5a.
If you live near London in the UK, the Hendon RAF Museum's Brisfit has a Lewis gun on the top wing.

The SPAD VII's Lewis is another matter, though.. not to mention the bizarre Nieuport triplane (I know it did exist, but still, a late-mark biplane Nieuport would have been a more worthwhile addition.. particularly as the Allies already have a triplane in the form of the Sopwith)

I intend to give it a go when it shows up here. Thanks all for the input.

Thanks, Cas141. It's good to get some balance in the reporting of this game. The bottom line seems to be that it is very limited but fun.