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[Anvilfolk]

Says one of the best pilots I know It could just be the playerbase getting older My squad's average seems to be 40, 50+

[Putnam]

Am I too late to join the party?

I've got MSFSX, and I'd love to try it multiplayer... even if it's dead. There HAS to be a way to get it to work.

Also, what about Orbiter?
Sure, the Orbiter Multiplayer project isn't really that up to scratch, but I still think Orbiter itself deserves a mention here at least.

So yeah, as you can tell I'm more of a modern (and space) flight enthusiast, so if there's any of that going around here, I want to hear about it!

MS FSX is far from dead... Theres probably tens of thousands of active players.

It uses Gamespy, which is dead. So, uh...

[Anvilfolk]

Isn't gamespy just a lobby system? You can probably find other servers online through server trackers and such, and join by IP?

[Erkki]

Am I too late to join the party?

I've got MSFSX, and I'd love to try it multiplayer... even if it's dead. There HAS to be a way to get it to work.

Also, what about Orbiter?
Sure, the Orbiter Multiplayer project isn't really that up to scratch, but I still think Orbiter itself deserves a mention here at least.

So yeah, as you can tell I'm more of a modern (and space) flight enthusiast, so if there's any of that going around here, I want to hear about it!

MS FSX is far from dead... Theres probably tens of thousands of active players.

It uses Gamespy, which is dead. So, uh...

Yeh, except nobody actually uses gamespy... As it just went down.

[Fayrik]

MS FSX is far from dead... Theres probably tens of thousands of active players.

It uses Gamespy, which is dead. So, uh...

Yeh, except nobody actually uses gamespy... As it just went down.

Well, yeah, it was the gamespy part that I meant. I can imagine there's still a very large active player base for MSFSX, as it's stuck in a pretty big niche now, what with x-plane having a massive price tag, and the new Microsoft Flight just not catering to the same level of simulation, I can imagine that MSFSX will prosper for many years to come.
If there's ways around the gamespy shutdown however, I can imagine that might actually help more than hinder.

The only things I've found worse than gamespy itself are the patches that are being released to "fix" the games "broken" by the shutdown.

...Though, speaking of actually joining multiplayer, I'd have to test MSFSX first, since I'm not sure I can run it without it eventually crashing on me. Something about windows 7 and patches, I don't know.

[Cthulhu]

I got the demo of Rise of Flight and holy fuck whoever said this was new player friendly is a fucking liar.

Coming from War Thunder or even Il-2 this may as well be fucking voodoo.  Planes have so much lift you'll crash if you let go of the stick, there's no trim controls to deal with it as far as I can tell.  You seem to be in some kind of nonsense universe where things don't have to happen for a reason.  The enemy range indicators on my HUD disappeared one match and never came back despite still being enabled in the options.  The enemy effortlessly gets and stays on my tail while I flop around helplessly.  The hat switch camera control changes at random from a mouselike setup that makes it impossible to tell what the hell is going on, to an auto-center setup that I much prefer, but I don't know how to control it because I'm in the negaverse and nothing does anything.

And occasionally my engine explodes for no reason.  In like two hours of playing I never managed to shoot someone down.  My only kill was when the enemy accidentally rammed me and we both died.

[Anvilfolk]

I definitely had to configure a bunch of things to get the game to feel a little more natural, but it never really felt perfect. And good grief, do those wings hide a lot of your field of view!

I think you need to be acutely aware of plane performance differences. I think the Axis planes are better at turn-fighting, so you might want to try that in case you can get another enemy plane into a dogfight. The Allied planes are better in vertical fights.

[Erkki]

I'm not sure if any of the WW1 fighters had trim controls. Those paper kites have lots of lift and even more propeller and wash torque!

About views: I use the snap views(auto-centering) + mouse. I've configured it so that the camera instantly points to the wanted direction and centers when the button is released. Getting used to that made the newer Cliffs of Dover nearly unplayable to me: the game developers had the brainfart of limiting the head turning speed, which resulted in the camera following behind the user input in cockpit view. The horror!

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, modifying the joystick curves has taken care of the lift issue, apparently most WW1 planes are designed to climb at neutral for some reason but I don't have as much freedom of motion on a hand joystick as they did so whatever.  And no, there's no trimming.  There's also no bailing out.  I feel like I could love this game if I get the hang of it.  It's hardcore.  Slow-ass planes with rifle-caliber guns that can't hit past 150 meters.  No rigid superstructure, no extreme aerodynamic stresses ripping your plane apart whenever you get a tap, no incendiary rounds and autocannons to fuck you up with a glancing shot.  Seems like the engine and the pilot are the only things you can reliably kill a plane with unless you just shoot the wing up so bad it tears away.  No need to worry about deflection shooting since you can't hit anything at that range.

I've always followed Erich Hartmann's strategy; don't shoot until the target fills your gunsight and once you start don't stop until it's in pieces.  This seems right up my alley as far as that goes.

[Erkki]

Yeah, modifying the joystick curves has taken care of the lift issue, apparently most WW1 planes are designed to climb at neutral for some reason but I don't have as much freedom of motion on a hand joystick as they did so whatever.  And no, there's no trimming.  There's also no bailing out.  I feel like I could love this game if I get the hang of it.  It's hardcore.  Slow-ass planes with rifle-caliber guns that can't hit past 150 meters.  No rigid superstructure, no extreme aerodynamic stresses ripping your plane apart whenever you get a tap, no incendiary rounds and autocannons to fuck you up with a glancing shot.  Seems like the engine and the pilot are the only things you can reliably kill a plane with unless you just shoot the wing up so bad it tears away.  No need to worry about deflection shooting since you can't hit anything at that range.

I've always followed Erich Hartmann's strategy; don't shoot until the target fills your gunsight and once you start don't stop until it's in pieces.  This seems right up my alley as far as that goes.

What kind of a response curve do you use? I'm a great fan of linear response for all control axis myself with no dead zone or filtering. Only rudder has shallowed curve near the center.

I think Hartmann used to basically "camp" in the areas of known high activity - he was a known ace and and later a regiment commander so he had the priviledge of flying pretty much the way he wished without being bound patrolling a certain area or escorting bombers or strike aircraft. He basically flew free hunting all the time through most of his career and had free hands to engage and disengage where he wished, how he wished, had a personal aircraft(or 3... like Rudel and Galland) and picked his wingmen.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

IL-2 Sturmovik Cliff of Dover currently at 75% off dropping it to $5 on Gamersgate.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-IL2CODUS/il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover

Worth getting?

[Erkki]

IL-2 Sturmovik Cliff of Dover currently at 75% off dropping it to $5 on Gamersgate.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-IL2CODUS/il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover

Worth getting?

IMHO not for a first sim. Great for making machinima films, awful for single player imho. Like Il2, it does have the mission builder, though.

[Anvilfolk]

Yeah, definitely do NOT pick it up for single player, or for a casual combat flight sim experience. Multiplayer is where it's at, and there it's basically full-real. And it's a lot more realistic than IL-2 '46, so it can definitely take a while to get used to... mandatory manual reading and all.

I'm surprised you can use linear. Most joysticks I've ever tried have a zone near the centre where the inputs aren't very precise, so I definitely use an S curve for most flight inputs except throttle. This reduces the impact of noise near the central position.

[Erkki]

Yeah, definitely do NOT pick it up for single player, or for a casual combat flight sim experience. Multiplayer is where it's at, and there it's basically full-real. And it's a lot more realistic than IL-2 '46, so it can definitely take a while to get used to... mandatory manual reading and all.

I'm surprised you can use linear. Most joysticks I've ever tried have a zone near the centre where the inputs aren't very precise, so I definitely use an S curve for most flight inputs except throttle. This reduces the impact of noise near the central position.

I wouldnt say that Clod is 1:1 more realistic in everything, even with mods. Damage model(except for G stress and random failures that Il-2 has) and system details? Oh yeah. Flight physics? Not so much, it becomes pretty apparent in some extreme situations and many ordinary ones, such as simple 1-wing power on stalls.

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, modifying the joystick curves has taken care of the lift issue, apparently most WW1 planes are designed to climb at neutral for some reason but I don't have as much freedom of motion on a hand joystick as they did so whatever.  And no, there's no trimming.  There's also no bailing out.  I feel like I could love this game if I get the hang of it.  It's hardcore.  Slow-ass planes with rifle-caliber guns that can't hit past 150 meters.  No rigid superstructure, no extreme aerodynamic stresses ripping your plane apart whenever you get a tap, no incendiary rounds and autocannons to fuck you up with a glancing shot.  Seems like the engine and the pilot are the only things you can reliably kill a plane with unless you just shoot the wing up so bad it tears away.  No need to worry about deflection shooting since you can't hit anything at that range.

I've always followed Erich Hartmann's strategy; don't shoot until the target fills your gunsight and once you start don't stop until it's in pieces.  This seems right up my alley as far as that goes.

What kind of a response curve do you use? I'm a great fan of linear response for all control axis myself with no dead zone or filtering. Only rudder has shallowed curve near the center.

I think Hartmann used to basically "camp" in the areas of known high activity - he was a known ace and and later a regiment commander so he had the priviledge of flying pretty much the way he wished without being bound patrolling a certain area or escorting bombers or strike aircraft. He basically flew free hunting all the time through most of his career and had free hands to engage and disengage where he wished, how he wished, had a personal aircraft(or 3... like Rudel and Galland) and picked his wingmen.

I have an old/cheap joystick with some issues around neutral so I have to use a curve, though I'm still figuring out the details of it.  Finally got a legitimate kill on an enemy fighter.  Also got a kill on a bomber with the Albatros's trophy Lewis gun, that was easy.

But this is beginning to feel pointless.  Joysticks have never been any good for me.  I find it impossible to maintain situational awareness.  I've been using a mouse so long that I've got a feel for where it is, so even if I look away I can maintain a maneuver.  On a joystick though even though intuitively I should be able to feel that since I can feel where I'm pulling the stick, I can't do it.  If I look away for a second I may as well start flopping the joystick everywhere, and when you throw an enemy in I find it basically impossible to use a joystick.

Tried facetracknoir to take some of the load off my hands, and it seemed pretty cool, but in what's become a pattern with Rise of Flight its settings and sensitivity changed at random without input from me, and eventually it stopped working altogether.  Every time I turned it on it misread my face as pointing in a different direction.  I guess I'll have to put together a tracking clip if I really want to do it properly.