Learning curve is steeper than I thought

I received all the bits I needed to install WOFF today and got the job done. Some thoughts:

1) It is annoying to have to play as an "administrator" user.

I have 2 users defined, one admin and one normal. I try to do everything possible with the normal user. I am not sure if this really buys me anything but that is the way it is. WOFF Is the first game/app that has forced me to play as an admin. I wonder if that is something inherited from MSCFS? Oh well, I'll adjust.

EDIT: corsaire31 suggested setting the compatibility properties for the WOFF icon to always start the game as an administrator. Doing this allows my non-admin user [which I always try to use] to run WOFF. +1 for corsaire31!

2) I was under the impression there was a set of training missions/scenarios for us novices.

If there is one, I have not found it. I was looking for a scenario/mission/whatever that would let me practice takeoffs & landings especially. I'll just have to let Alton Learner [my initial pilot] struggle along. Hopefully he is as fast healer. I'll create another pilot when I can takeoff, land, navigate, fly, fight with a degree of ability. Is there a record for crashes [I have this pilot set to cannot die]? I may break it if there is one.

3) Joystick button assignment is hard.

I don't have the experience yet to know which commands are worth having on a button on the joystick and which can languish on the keyboard. Any suggestion for action assignments for a Thrustmaster T.16000M?

4) Thrustmaster T.16000M is nice and will certainly take care of my needs for a while.

I sure hope it is durable. Time will tell.

5) I have adjusted my expectations about learning to fly/fight in this sim.

The learning is curve is much higher than I thought it would be. But, I won't let that stop me I'll just keeep pluggin away until I get it. I have been watching the Daniel Brasco videos to set the mood. I find them very immersive. Also viewed a set of videos by a player named Requiem on tactics. Good stuff, maybe I can learn something if I watch them a bunch of times.

6) The little bit I have looked around while in the air has been impressive.

I found a RB3D video on YouTube and gosh things have improved dramatically since those days. Just flying around looking at the scenery in WOFF is worth the price.

7) I have adjusted my opinion about the need for TrackIR.

I was skeptical that it would be worth the money. The top-hat lets me look all around while I fumble for the pause key and try differ things in the air. That will be good enough for now. Once I get a clue about how to play this game, I can now see how handy it will be to use a natural head movement to check-6 and all the other directions.

Enough rambling. The game looks great and I'll just have to buckle down and learn.

Words of wisdom on how to ease the pain of that process are welcome.

Ben-I'm not sure my comments will be particularly helpful, as I'm a relatively inexperienced pilot-I just don't have enough time to get as proficient as I'd like. With that said, I agree with your comments about having to use the administrative account to play. When playing WOFF, I usually disconnect my computer from the internet and disable the AV software, both to improve performance and to avoid any virus' from getting into my administrator account.

There really aren't any training scenarios. There is a quick combat, which is really helpful for trying out manuvers and new aircraft. Also, there is a "Flight Training" option when you are starting out a new campaign pilot. That may be what you are looking for.

As far as your joystick controllers. Take a look at the .pdf that is downloadable from this post:
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3877271/How_do_I_remap_my_Keys_or_Cont#Post3877271

Regarding the learning curve on flying this sim. All of us here have died virtually many times. Check out the most recently completed DiD challenge here:
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4101274/60

in a three week period, 10 out of 17 of us died from various and sundry causes such as (but not limited to): structural failure, being caught in the blast radius of an exploding balloon, trying to occupy the same point in the space-time continuum with another aircraft, a hill or a fence, and of course, being shot down.

TrackIR is really an important addition, that makes the WOFF a truly memorable game/sim.

One idea: jump into the recently begun Centenary Challenge:
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4123731/DiD_Centenary_Challenge#Post4123731

The BE2 is a very stable aircraft, and thus easy to fly, and the Air to Air environment very forgiving at this stage of the campaign. I'm using the opportunity to improve my rather pathetic virtual flying skills while enjoying the campaign and camaraderie that the game and this webpage offer.

Just have some FUN.... and take things as they go

I addition to the Quirk, there's the Sopwith Half Strutter in single-seater mode. It's a benign handling, rotary engine plane that gets you some stick time behind a rotary engine. It's one of my favorite two-seaters from BHaH OFF sim and I'm assuming it's not much different in WOFF. Choose a flat aerodrome to practice in and shoot lots of landings approaches, you'll be fine.

Have you tried adding in trim to control surfaces?
Some early kites had none, later craft more so.

I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't having FUN. OOH-RAH!

I was naive enough to think I could get up to speed very quickly. Now I know better. I still plan to have fun, fun, fun 'til my wife takes the keyboard away.

I like hunting with primitive sights and methods... when I'm the Cat...good to know what to flee from when I'm mouse.
It's all good fun, until ya die... Gotta have Fun on both sides of the Curve of Hunter and Prey.

Depends on what year you're piloting...you can set yourself up for either side of the war and have a good time.

Cat...Mouse...

Hey, with the TrackIr stuff... bind some keys to your HOSTAS... like center and pause.
I'm sure you will find your way

"I still plan to have fun, fun, fun 'til my wife takes the keyboard away."

Awesome... that's funny.

As all of us in aviation love acronyms.. I had invented on years ago during my RB3D MMP days...

POWER
Pissed
Off
Wife
Entered
Room.

So I had a lot of POWER back in those days... to bad I couldn't use it for positive influences.

Good luck with WOFF. I'm glad you decided to jump in.

All the best

OvS

Perhaps it's more of a Road Runner vs Coyote thing for me.
Still much fun to be had on either side...

Don't be worried,everything will set,just a couple of things,when you choose a Career,you can specify "training before going to fight" that way you'll have to accomplish several flights,first with instructor,than alone,on various tasks,so you'll get accustomed with the plane and the area in wich your Squadron is located,and you will start with easy to handle twin seaters.All will be logged as flight time.
Also if you enlist say three pilots as start(one French,one German,one British),in Quick Combat you can test all the planes for each Nation and get the idea on how they behave in flight! That's a must for a starter,believe me.remember to check "pilot never die" in QC,that way you won't risk anything and won't lose a pilot for a stupid mistake.In Quick Combat there's "Turkey shoot" so you can choose one or more enemies to fight from an advantage position when you start,and you can also choose the level of the enemy/ies skill,that's another plus for undertsanding things,start with Rookie enmies and then increase their skill as you learn how to fly your crate!
Edit
Don't install into Windows "program files x..." just creat in C: a folder for WOFF.

It is odd that you need an admin user.
Do you use WOFF v2 with DX9 Enhanced Shaders enabled?

Have you installed the game into "Program Files" subfolder or into something like C:\Games\WOFF?
In the former case there indeed might be a problem with permissions because by default Windows doesn't allow writing to "Program Files" unless you are admin and WOFF does quite a bit of file copying inside its folder.

1/You can define in the desktop icon properties/compatibility to "always launch as administrator". I do it for all games. Never install games in "Program Files x86"

2/ My T16000M assignments

trigger : fire
B 2 : Cycle labels (I fly with dots)
B 3 : Drop bomb
B 4 : Autopilot on/off
B 5 : Show map
B 6 : Blip switch
B 7 : Zoom out
B 8 : Zoom in
B 9 : Track IR center
B10 : Toggle TAC
B13 : Cycle TAC range
B14 : Cycle TAC category

1) Yes you need to be an admin to write to C: and other folders. Nothing bad will happen, 1000s of people do it fine. Try as Corsaire says.

2) training missions.. go to Pilot dossiers, Enlist New Pilot, at the top left, under the "fly for Britain" or whatever country you choose, click the cycle button under it and change "Direct Deployment to Front (No Training) to "Pilot Training then Deployment to the Front" choose your other options, and voila you have training missions.

In Quick Combat you can also choose "landing" as the altitude or "field" (bottom left of the screen) or even an altitude so you can start in the air.

Many craft are easy to fly. Se5a is a good choice.

Wow! It is great that a game developer has his eyes on the forum and gives timely advice. I'll check out your suggestion about training missions when I get off work today. Thanks.

I did as corsaire31 suggested and my non-admin user ID can run WOFF just like I wanted.

Thats what you get from OBD,their support is second to none and they are constantly changing things for the better with patches,Add ons ect even if sometimes they might feel a bit unappreciated with the work that they do, they still work tirelessly to make this THE best ww1 air sim available..Welcome to the forum BK,you wont find a more helpful bunch around..well most of us anyway

PS..dont be afraid to ask ANY question big or small about WOFF,there always somebody on here willing to help you in any way..Happy hunting pal

BK,
I have a test pilot, thats his name, for each country. As some have suggested, take your British test pilot, for example, set workshop to log "campaign only" so he never dies, then go to quick combat and select "free flight." Set start for "field" and off you go. If you crash, fire it up again and have another go. On the British side, Sopwith Strutters, Pups and the SE5 are nice stable planes. Once you feel comfortable flying, pick "Combat", pick an enemy to fly against, and have a dogfight. Again, if you are smoked, fire it up and try again. Then you can join a campaign, which is the heart of WOFF in my opinion, and really have some fun.

As Adger has noted, the support from OBD is first class. You bought a whole lot more than the flight sim. Good luck and remember the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I know, I've seen me do it!