Hi, I used to (very casually and in single player only) play Red Baron 2 many years ago and thought I'd try to find an up to date WW1 flight game for PC. WOFF looks great from what I can tell, however I can't tell for sure whether I would have to have Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 in order to play WOFF BH&H. I'm looking at the overflandersfields.com website where I could buy and download the game but the site makes no mention of any other software being required. I have Windows 10 and have read that CFS3 is incompatible. Anyway can I buy this from the website and play it right away without having to install other software?

BH&H2 is totally self contained. You no longer need to buy CFS3 like years ago.

Just purchase BH&H2, install the game and DX9 (which comes with the game package too) and then play the game now.

This is absolutely not true. You are still legally obligated to own a copy of CFS3 in order to play WOFF. It says so right on their website.

The idea of not needing CFS3 is only because you don't have to have it installed already, the way it used to be at one point.

See under "REQUIREMENTS" here: >LINK<

"You are also required to own Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 - this is for licensing ownership purpose, You do NOT need it to install or use it to actually run WOFF."

Unfortunately, misinformation abounds in internet forums at times.

Thanks for the info.

How playable is this without pedals? I have a joystick (Thrustmaster T-Flight; HOTAS X V.2) that has literally been gathering dust unused for years, how will that do?

I played for a long time without pedals years ago. They're good to have - especially if 'control fidelity' is important to you in a sim - but really not necessary (not like in the sense that head tracking makes a huge difference).

Pedals are helpful in that you don't have to use the typical alternative - the 'twisty' joystick, which can cause/worsen hand fatigue (from having to torque around the rotational axis while also deflecting in either/both X and Y). It's also possible it could interfere with directional control and maybe even firing, since these are pretty much directly related to joystick positioning.

All that said, I still think the twisty stick is a fairly clever solution to the problem of needing a third axis controller (yaw) without requiring pedals (which even cheap ones aren't necessarily inexpensive).

Of all the controllers I've bought, I'd say in order of improving the game/enhancing the experience: stick, head tracking, pedals, throttle. But I can see others may look at it differently, too.

HTH

I have a copy of CFS3, but windows 11 will not allow me to install it (or the external DVD drive). But as you know now, you don't need it installed anyway.

Thanks again for the replies. I am teetering on the edge of buying. Haven't learned controls on a shooter type game in many years and the fastest paced thing I play these days is Total War. Hmm how complicated can it be, these aren't F-14s...

Edit: Actually I just went over the edge and bought. Wish me luck!

Hey, sirwill90! Welcome aboard! Feel free to check out the getting started tutorial I put together for this exact situation!

Getting Started With WOFF!

Also, ask a lot of questions! We get paid by the question!

OK I have tried a couple of sessions and I do have some questions.

First off, I'm running Windows 10, i7-8700K, RTX-2080, 32 GB RAM. I shouldn't be having any hardware based issues right?

How do I get my game to look like the "How to WOFF" videos? As in, when I start I end up hitting C to get a cockpit view, but upon starting the default view is outside of the airplane, not in it like in the videos, with the ability to look around the interior. In general the video looks way better than my in game experience, and I have been through the workshop settings. Maybe I missed something?

Next, I had a mission to destroy balloons with my squadron, Jasta 2. I took off and followed two squadron mates but they never flew toward the target area so I went on my own and died. I was shot down by enemies I could never see, even using the hat button and looking all around. Maybe it was flak but it sure sounded like MG bullets.

Anyone have a good link to a basic combat flying video and/or keyboard shortcuts? I like the "How to WOFF" videos as far as I got, but they were getting extremely detailed and seem more for advanced pilots. I have a young son here I am trying to entertain and I need kind of a more quick and dirty video if one is available.

Last, after both flights/deaths the game seems to hang up forever on LOADING screen. I have to shut it down with Task Manager but then, it resurrects itself and plays through a death sequence with military honors and all, and I can exit normally, but this only after a lot of ctrl-alt-del type stuff. Come to think of it, it takes forever to load too. There must be some kind of issue with Windows 10 I am thinking?

OK that's all for now. Thanks in advance to anyone who cares to offer any suggestions on my issues above, some are undoubtedly just my ignorance.

If you want to have fun with your son, set the game on invincible, or if in quick combat use pilot never dies (you can be shot down but you don't have to make a new pilot).

In the Workshop page there is a list of all key assignments, you can change these to buttons on your joystick or different keys on your keyboard, just remember to hit "save changes".

Use the TAC, it is your friend and will show you if you have enemy aircraft around and where they are horizontally in relation to your position. I find 2.2 miles is a good range on the TAC, you will be able to see where aircraft are at the edge of the circle and they will change colors when they get close enough, red for enemy, blue for friendly, and green for members of your own flight. Also set it to aircraft, you will be able to see air bases, balloons, and ground units when set on aircraft. The TAC will also show you where to go with a blue line.

You can lock on aircraft that you see in the TAC, and using a key (I think it is the tilda, just left of the 1 on the keyboard) then using another key it will show you where the plane is while sitting in the cockpit, your view just changes to face that direction and fly towards it.

When you get into the workshop you can see how to change the view (I think it is F1) and cycle through the views, if'n I remember properly it cycles cockpit, exterior, the third one is the view towards the enemy from the exterior or if you hit "V" it will show you the plane you have locked on oriented to show where you are in comparison to him, the last one is another exterior view. I think F6 will cycle to gunsite and back to the cockpit view.

If you crash your plane and die the next mission will start in the exterior view. If you successfully land or quit without getting killed you will start from the last view you used, like the cockpit view.

Hope all this helps,

Mike

The view is usually saved. I.e. if you are in VC when you quit (quit properly) then it will start like that next time.

You need TrackIR or similar head tracking to get the most out of WOFF, and to spot easier. It's a must have really opens the sim up and puts you in the cockpit much more. It's like playing a flight sim with a keyboard only for years to control the air raft awkwardly, then someone gives you a joystick - an enlightening moment.

Make sure if you have an Intel CPU, you disable the built in Intel GPU if it has one. Use your Nvidia or AMD GPU.

Check the FAQ doc on the Support page, for performance tips - section 15 for example.

The cockpit question is already answered, as for the graphics, my settings aren't the highest, but I am recording in 1440p, so it will probably look a bit different, even when rendered in 1080 on YouTube.



Did they follow the flight path according to the map? Mission routes can often be quite circuitous, especially when headed to the climb waypoint. I will usually just autopilot along with them until we get to the front. You can also order them to skip the first waypoint and get on with it... Additionally, as B_B mentioned, using the TAC and padlock will help a lot. I managed to get through the first BH&H iteration with it a decade ago before I got head tracking. Having said that, TrackIR really does make a huge difference. It's pretty expensive, but you should only really have to buy it once, for hours and hours (and hours) of enjoyment.



There is a document folder in your install somewhere with a keycard that you can print out. It should be *mostly* accurate. You could also do a screenshot of the key bindings from the options page.



Not sure about this one. You are ending the mission with alt-q and then selecting the end mission option, right? This is where the game leaves the cfs3 sim program and goes back into the wrapper that handles all the campaign stuff, which has been running in the background waiting to get the mission results from the sim part. Try not to click around too much while it is doing this as this will occasionally cause it to hang for me. It shouldn't take more than 20 seconds or so, usually it runs a lot faster. I guess check and make sure all you drivers are up to date and that you don't have an antivirus conflict? Let us know and I hope some of this helps! FWiW, I am also running Windows 10, so that is probably not it alone...