Teapot

Sounds interesting m8. Does it model the radar suite, symbology and avionics suite of the Tornado? Cheers!

All in a days work old chap! All in a days work! Nothing to it really ... happens all the time. Cheers!

Well, I can recount a RL experience I had recently while flying as a passenger in a 747 on - route from Singapore to Milan ... @ approx 1900 hours the flight was settling in nicely, I'd just stretched out in my luxurious buisness class seat sipping a 100 y.o. scotch when an obviously distressed voluptuous blonde 30 something stewardess made a dramatic entrance and cried in a stressed but melodious voice ... "can anyone here fly a plane?" ... I shot a glance at a guy across the aisle whom I'd earlier seen reading a "Flight Sim X" manual and he tentatively put up his hand ... DOH! I thought ... Microsoft Flightsim doesn't come any-where near the fidelity required to count as real flight experience ... X-Plane on the other hand is a different matter, so I confidently put my arm around the stewardess and grunted into her shell like ear (she had the scent of lavender) while fixing her with my steely grey eyes (after moving away from her shell like ears .. of course!) ..."sweetheart" I said trying to sound like Bogart without spitting over her make-up ... "sweetheart, I'm an X-Plane virtual pilot and I can fly a 747 down to finals on Kai Tak with my eyes closed, bra straps wrapped around my head sipping a dry-martini, what's your problem" "Oh sir .." she cooed, laying her perfumed halo of golden hair upon my manly chest ... "you must save us ... the pilot has had a heart attack and is dead". I strode into the cockpit and sure enough ... there was the pilot with a huge grin on his face and a glazed look on his face .. poor sod, at least he went happy, I thought. Gingerely, I prized open the port window and pushed him out so that I could take over the controls; the damsel of a stewardess crushed her foreward portions on to my (manly) shoulders as I took stock of the situation ... It's all true I say, every word happened exactly as I've said ... Did I tell you of the time I had to do a wing walk from a crop duster into the pilot's seat of a Tornado @ angels 15? The pilot had had a heart attack there as well and the WO (just happened to be a beautiful busty brunette) couldn't thank me enough for that one! Luckily for me that I had stick time in DI's Tornado ... I had to apologise to the brunette because as I explained I was a little rusty and DCS hadn't made a Tornado yet ... nevertheless, we were able to complete the mission (even managed to loft some bombs onto a SAM site before heading home for tea!) The short answer is yes ... with the right sim under my belt and enough motivation, I can fly any damn thing :D. Where's my Bacardi?

If you've manually removed files by way of an un-install attempt, AFAIK you're going to stuff up a clean un-install anyway. I'm not an XP/Windows guru but I did a little delving around and found the following that might help ... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310750 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314481 If editing the Registry is scary, then here's a link to a tool that supposedly does the same job... I haven't an opinion on it as I haven't used it (although I've used something similar in the past) ... you should probably do a little research first, or maybe someone else here can point you in a good direction. http://www.majorgeeks.com/AddRemove_Program_Cleaner_d5111.html Finally ... once you're squared up @ step one again you need to identify that you have the required hardware and software to run the simulation as advertised. It sounds like you got caught short initially without a good enough graphics card! Do a search of the forums and see what specs other people have for their gaming platform for Lock On. Solid & meticulous preparation is the key to painless software installs. I hope this post has some use for you, Cheers!

Lol ... I hope it's not too big! It looks proportional on my end, however if you're saying what I think you're saying; ay, I hope ED will take note and produce some nice new Tornado's for us to fly. It'd be a milestone in the combat flight simulation genre wouldn't you agree? Full circle from Digital Intergration's famous "Tornado" to Digital Combat Simulations "DCS Tornado". Cheers! :thumbup:

Due to it's pedigree and breeding, there's no question that the Tornado should precede the Harrier (sniffs) ... rather common airframe, while the Buc is from a by-gone era as is the Lightning. Apart from that the ADV & Lighting are for the air-superiority types who enjoy lobbing exploding telegraph poles at each other in a weird undignified highly volatile kaber tossing tossers kind of way ... Cheers!

Stop with the overt suggestions already ... stick with my subliminal one ... please check sig :D

All planes are flying compromises in one way or another; and everyone has their own cherished assumptions and opinions about which plane is the best ... in my case absolutely *nothing* comes even close to a Tornado GRx in terms of beauty and functionality ... but being a good air force guy (virtual of course ;)) I fly what I'm given or what I can get ... and the F-16 (in Open Falcon 4.7) does a pretty good job providing similar mission types/roles with the same degree of believability and intensity. Cheers!

LOL .. me too! My wife complains that she can't ever just vent ... she just wants me to 'listen'; not to solve her problem :D. Cheers!

It's a real pity you can't get it going RT; as for me, I'm having a blast with the depth of immersive detail in this sim. Most of my time is still designing and flying self learning/teaching sorties to get a grip of the avionics & weapons suite. I also found the install to be incredibly easy on XP ... F4, HiTiles (optional payware), OF 4.5 then OF 4.7. Runs smoothly as a babies bum .. heheh. Hey, I love Lock On too, but for me it feels more of a vignette of an experience (with a severly cobbled avionics/wpns suite) ... a slice from an overall reality, whereas with OF 4.7 I feel like I'm getting near the whole experience. I expect that once the DCS jet modules come out, I'll have that experience in spades within DCS, but until that time arrives, I'll have to get my fast jet fix through OF 4.7! Best of luck friend, catch you around the traps. Cheers! P.S. ... and on the plus side, if DCS ever model a Viper, I'll be well prepared! :D

Ah, that's a toughie! I've been trying to get around the spousal unit problem for years ... with little success. "yes dear ... coming dear ... no I'm not on the computer playing those silly flying games ... dear :mad: " ...:D Cheers!

That's an affirmative for flight instruments & MFD's, although some switches are better accesed via 2D, if you haven't already got them mapped. Also DED might be difficult to read depending on your screen resolution (I fly in 1280 x 1024 and it's fine) but I've noticed an option for larger fonts in the OF 4.7 Installer/Config application (which I haven't had to use). Cheers mate!

oUCH! :cry::D

AFAIK TrackIr works in both pits .. certainly the options are there in SETUP. However I'm making a wild guess there as I don't have TrackIr; I'll soon be setting up and using the free alternative though :D. FWIW, I rarely go into the 2D pit these days ... except going through my pre-flight routine. I then tend to fly the entire mission in 3D which still has substantial switchology active. Agreed about AF ... cheese and chalk though, absolutely no comparison, to the point they are essentially two different sims IMO. Thanks for the endorsment for the Ka-50 ... it has more substance coming from a fellow virtual jet jockey! Cheers!

I wonder how Jet Thunder is going?

Thanks mate! Rep inbound! Cheers!

Oh please ... a Tornado, before I'm too old to fly computer games!? BTW, I'm thinking of developing a walking stick that plugs straight into a HOTAS recepticle. Users will have a choice of different replica's of RL joysticks as the head of the walking stick. To enhance multi-functionality, I'm thinking that if can get the buttons on the stick to do something useful while *out* of game (i.e. being used as a walking cane) ... e.g. rotary switch to open garage door, pinkie switch to turn on home security alarms etc ... good idea? :D Cheers!

Re mission designing I see what you mean. As far as I know you are correct, the break-down to detail w.r.t unit size and placement isn't there. One has to use a broader brush to practice the same thing. However as far as detailed mission timings, from my perspective it is a strength :). It takes some getting used to, I find it fairly simple now working back from TOT for each sortie. From memory not much different to Tornado. I'm looking forward to getting BS when it comes out on CD/DVD, although I must say that flying a chopper doesn't exactly rock my boat :D. However if it's a prelude for things to come, I'll be a happy camper. Cheers!

to continue ... Documentation? It's exhaustive and readily available ... and why not read up on available F16 operational doctrine, because it will be applicable also. Personally I have no beef with the current mission editor (TE) as it stands. It is very complete and there is more under the hood than will be apparent from a cursory appraisal. IMO it has the right mix of automation with tweakability, allowing me to create complex intergrated sorties with a limited amount of tedium ... truth be known, it's actually not far off from the ID Tornado editor in terms of funtion and performance. Maybe the provision of the in-game Data Cartridge pips it over the post :D. Cheers!

=RV= -AS- thanks mate! :) @Frostie, off the top of my head there's been some graphical enhancements, sound enhancements, installe enhancements and flight data enhancements - particularly the Mirage 2K .. . but if you want a complete list, download and read the PDF. @Red Tiger, it's fine to have doubts friend :D ... I disliked Falcon 4 for a very long time, mainly because the feeling of flight issue, but also because of stability concerns, the glitchy AI and the horrendous terrain! My own concerns have been alleviated beginning with Open Falcon 4.5; the feeling of flight is vastly enhanced ... dare I say on par with Flanker/Lock On. The graphics are vastly improved (especially with Tom Waetl's HiTiles for Falcon 4 addition!), the AI is believable and the campaigns are immersive ... but most of all, I love Open Falcon because it does what an 'entertainment' combat flight simulation purports to do, and that it provides IMO, the most complete (of currently available jet sims) 'simulation' of a pilot work-load in a hostile environment. To this end 'switchology' and as complete a suite of avionics as possible is invaluable. Dumb down that suite too much and I'd be left with the feeling that I'm playing fantasy within a fantasy. OF 4.7 allows me to feed my fantasy, satisfied that it touches on reality on more points of the simulation than any other out there in the popular market. The process was not immediate, because I had to get over my initial prejudices, particularly w.r.t the terrain/graphics. The modding people have done wonders with the graphics ... to the point that it is no longer an issue for me. The amount of learning required to operate the 'jet' the way it was meant to be operated is staggering, especially considering that this is essentially a decade old sim! Should anyone be interested in simulating an amazingly complete psychological, tactical and procedural environment of a modern jet fighter pilot on a home PC ... Open Falcon 4.7 is definitely IT. Cheers!

Fantastic! Some people say it is an old sim; but I suspect that those people have not really taken the honest time to dig deep into the immersive environment provided by OF 4.x. It cannot in truth be categorized as an 'old' sim any longer in its current iteration. Is it complete? No it isn't, but given it's share of warts, it is currently the most complete high fidelity air combat 'JET' simulation available that "I" have experienced. Some other sims are great in some aspects of the simulation (like graphics and 'feel of flight' for instance), but severely lacking in other area's of function and believability. OF4.x on the other-hand has made great strides in evening out the discrepancies that earlier existed (like the very subjective "feeling of flight" for example) to give a sustainable, credible and persistent experience of the suspension of disbelief on the theme of an air combat in a war environment simulation experience. All this and more, courtesy of a great bunch of guys (and gals?) whom I've never met, who have each and every one contributed something freely and of great value, to share with the air combat flight simulation community. For these people I profess a deep affection, a camaraderie evoked by the sharing of the Open Falcon experience ... guys, I love you all and salute you! Cheers!

.. or even better ... don't know why I didn't think of this sooner! How about a module that kicks off a medico romantic NCIS type mini series on a networked PC/Entertainment module!!! That should keep 'em happy! P.S. ... and a Tornado ...

I want a DCS module that simulates scalable physical trauma, linkable via Lua Script to external interface-able pain delivering device so my wife doesn't have to stand behind me, to whack me with the telephone book each time I'm wounded or have to eject in a dangerous combat mission (... trust me, it does wonders for the realism in your flying!). Or ... a lua script that switches off the wife's complaining when I want to do a bit of well earned flying ... please? :D Cheers!

We all have our opinion, that is natural. For just the pure feeling of flight, I have always loved the feel of flight in the Flanker series and have never liked Falcon 4 because like many have expressed the feel of flight was too artificial. This is certainly NOT the case about Open Falcon 4.5 IMO. I fly it with HiTiles (payware) and the amount of enhancements done to this sim to make it what it is today is spectacular. One just CANNOT compare Open Falcon 4.5 to F4AF or even to Red Viper IMO; F4AF is a toy compared to Open Falcon - chalk and cheese. For me Open Falcon 4.5 is currently the premier Jet Sim that has the right balance of feeling of flight immersion, complex/realistic avionics/systems which allow practice of procedural practice and of course there is the persistent AI world albeit with warts it still has enough going for it to make it great to interact with. Open Falcon 4.5 gives me the immersion in a Jet Sim environment that I haven't experienced in spades since DI's Tornado. I've always wanted Flanker 2.5 & Lock On to take that place for me, but I feel that what I have as far as avionics and the immersive environmental mix is missing. As far as damage modeling ... well every sim I know is deficient in that area with IL2 & X-Plane being notable exceptions in that area. In the end it's a personal thing that makes us hold dear to a flight simulation experience ... I haven't flown DCS yt, so I have no opinion of DCS yet. I'll be getting the boxed versions, because my dl speed is very slow, and I will primarily be getting DCS because I want DCS to succeed ... I want this damn helo to fly well financially, if only to get my jet ... a real jet, not a pretend jet like the A-10 ... an F-16 would be great, even an F-18 if you really have to .. an SU-27 would be superb and a Tornado or Harrier would be bliss. Cheers!