earlybird

Well, he'd get at least $70 ... Mike (waiting for FC to d/l)

I was thinking about one of the dell widescreen LCDs; any experience anyone? One thing that I hope someone can clarify: I've read that LCDs work best at their native resolution. I currently run at 1024x768. 1600x1200 would be far too slow. How tolerant are these monitors of being run at less that full res? Mike

Exchange of emails with simware: Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:00:13 +0100 To: "earlybird" <earlybird@nest> Subject: RE: Lockon: flaming cliffs Dear Sir, It will be available as a boxed version. You'll find more information on our website : http://www.simw.com Please let me know if you have any other questions, I'll be pleased to help you. Best Regards, Marlene Hallard -----Message d'origine----- De : earlybird [mailto:earlybird@nest] Envoye : lundi 14 mars 2005 22:26 A : Info - SimWare Simulations Objet : Lockon: flaming cliffs Hi, I see that this is listed on your site. Will you be making CDs (presumably Russian imports) available for sale? The publisher is only making a downloaded version available to the Western markets, but because of the intrusive copy protection they are using ("Starforce") I would much rather buy the CD version that they are releasing in Russia. If this is what you are intending to sell I will definately order one. Regards, Mike

Maybe we slashdotted him :) I have the file on my HD at home. I'll try to make a yousendit.com link this evening and we'll see how long that one lasts. Mike

Another good clip with some superb views, this time of the Russian Knights. Some creative camera angles! Interesting to see just how much stick input they have to give from the in-cockpit shots. edit: cannot link direct. The file is rk.avi http://members.lycos.nl/luchtmachtnl/Foto%20Page%20V_bestanden/ Contributions. anyone? Mike

Just to take my mind off starforce I had a look around for some real life video clips. Here are a couple of the better ones I found. Anyone else care to provide a few favourites? Notice in this how the idiot cameraman cuts away spoiling a beautiful curved landing in this one. http://videos.f16techs.com/su35show.wmv Loading up with big firecrackers... http://videos.f16techs.com/su27_combat.wmv Carrier landings and take offs. http://www.military.cz/russia/air/suchoj/Su_33/su33_firstflights.mpg Both the above sites have a nice selection of other delectables. Not really a video, but a detailed acro routine with a few supporting clips. Can anyone do the 'somersault'? Is it possible in the sim? http://aeroweb.lucia.it/~agretch/RAFAQ/display.html The squadron commanders edition of flanker 1 came with a clip (ANATOLY.AVI) containing some lovely in-cockpit shots showing the pilot working throttle and stick. Am I free to repost it if anyone has not seen it? Finally, here is a new variant on the catapult launch :lol: (and a new take on 'lose sight....') http://jetworksmodels.com/videos/flanker/F3%20Su-27%20RK%20Maiden.WMV (PS I am trusting no-one would have the poor taste to post a clip showing fatalities!) Mike

Try googling for 'russia software "mail order"'. (Then get your russian bride to bring it with her when she comes :)) Mike

Here is another solution: a windows system install fits into less that 1G. Given how cheap HD space is these days, why not create a new partition for lomac alone. The benefits are that you can keep it nice and minimal with small registry, minimal services, minimal drivers etc. If SF causes system instability or security anxieties then these are kept confined. You can then retain full confidence in your main install. Rebooting to a dedicated partition for games in not a big time-waster in general; I do it anyway system hogs like LOMAC. Another plus is that if you image it before you install your games then you can go back to a clean sheet very easily if you are worried that things are going wrong. Mike

I wonder will we be able to mix'n'match: buy the CD, then partially populate the install from download (unactivated) to get the crucial EN files for menus and so on? I see a new definition of 'hardcore' coming: it used to be 'cyrillic hud'. Now it will be cyrillic menus, Russian Betty, etc etc :) Mike

Re: 1.1 Copy Protection Update Ohhh, boy! Don’t be ridicules!!! What a nice chap you seem to be! Why is it 'ridicules' to ask a straightforward question? ED are perfectly entitled to charge in whatever way they choose, including the full fee everytime the game is started, if that is what they want :) I have bought other sim software with a similar bind to hardware and restricted number of activations. Its developers told me that their intention is to reserve the right to withhold registration if they feel that someone is abusing the system, but to date they have never refused a new registration to someone who has asked for it. Is this the position that ED will take? What this rubbish has to do with anything I said escapes me. Mike

Re: 1.1 Copy Protection Update Thanks for the update, Do we know what ED's intention is here? Is it actually to make us pay if we exceed the three config changes as part of their revenue stream, or do we expect that they will waive this and reset the counter unless they think someone is taking the piss? Bear in mind that while three new computers last a long time, if you are fiddling around to optimise a new system you can make three major changes in as many hours! Mike

Re: How to fy as #2 If you do a ramp start, then let your w/man go past you can take off after him. If you then try to form up behind him you get into a bizarre 'turn fight' each trying to form up behind the other. Can anyone beat the wingman at this game and stay glued to his 5 O'Clock? I can't! This works fine in the full game but I cannot get it to work in the demo. Is alt-j supposed to work in 1.1D? Very hard to match his maneuvres, especially the way he can shed speed. I overshoot very easily and then lose sight with the rather restricted vis of the 25's pit. Reinforces to me just how awesome the Tigrou videos are! The w/man logic does cheat, mind you: telepathic communication. If you drive from external view :oops: he responds exactly synchronously with your stick inputs. Mike

Yes, that is what I meant. Is is also not possible to simulate that by starting another flight a few seconds ahead of mine? It seems that the airport is only big enough for a single flight :)

I still have a TIR 1. What are the benefits of an upgrade? Is it more than marginal (leaving aside the 6dof issue). Mike

I thought I'd try some formation flying with the nice new FM, so I changed the SU25 mission to take off and land at two adjacent fields. I could not figure out how to make myself No 2: the 'player' seems only to be available for jet 1. OK, so I'll just add another flight. I started him 10 secs ahead on me. No go. Tried a ramp start: I dont spawn until the first flight has his wheels up! All I wanted to do was a nice formation roll! Is this impossible? Or am I missing something very obvious since it is 02:00 in the morning? Mike

Why not Fulcrum then? :wink: Done! It's a deal :partyman: Mike

Some of the annoyance is undoubtedly due to the fact that it has been put on our systems NOW.

Nice to hear from the Men That Matter! Good reason to drop the helicopter and do the AFM for the flanker then :wink: and many thanks to them for a great job!

It seems to me that for ED to install a program that not only failed to uninstall but actually ran as a process on startup when the game is not running would be a gross betrayal of trust towards a group of users who are very supportive of the company. This would particularly be the case if a) this program is widely distrusted, rightly or wrongly b) it was installed secretively and c) many users would not have chosen to install it had they known. Please, ED, tell me I have misunderstood what is going on here, because I really would rather not believe it! Mike

This freeware utility is easily found on the web. It makes a snapshot of your registry and disks before and after an install (or any other operation for that matter) and reverses any changes partially or totally on request at uninstall time. (execpt changed configuration files). I discipline myself to use it for any install despite the fact that the scans take a while. First, you can inspect the changes and spot any possible malware. Second, said malware will go when you uninstall. Finally, many normal uninstallers leave a lot of registry entries behind, leading to registry bloat. LOMAC and the FC demo make hundreds of entries. Even some simple user made utilities make enormous numbers of registry changes. This keeps your registry small and stable. Fortunately I used it before the 1.1 demo install, so the starforce rubbish should be no problem. (No connection BTY, just a user). Mike

Voted for neither. For me new flyables are likely to divert resources from things that are more important: flight models, flight models and flight models :) Oh, and other game play and immersion feature sdiscussed at length elsewhere.

For me the priority should be extending the advanced flight model to the existing aircraft., so I voted for no new flyable. After that comes more environment modelling improvements as discussed in many other posts above.