homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Rise of Flight - The First Great Air War WWI sim, based on the IL-2 engine announced

New Developers Update announced!

http://www.gennadich.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1500

what a beast, let's see planes tho!

^^that thing will never fly^^

Nice DH.4 pics!!

Exquisite paintwork on that tank, BTW, it really brings out a lot of detail that.... isn't there! (in 3D that is).

Agreed the skin on that tank is fantastic.

I'd like to see some updated terrain shots, if this is going to be released next year then they should have something.

I hope this sim isn't pointed towards the online experience the way IL2 is and I suspect BOB will be. I'm not holding my breath though, dev's seem to have forgotten how to make a sim with a decent offline experience. I want atmosphere, RPG style squad management and varied missions. I suspect that what we'll get are nice gfx and technically well modelled aircraft and nothing else, similar to the situation with IL2 and Lock On.

Well gents, there is no one more enthusiastic than i am to see a good WW1 sim. My first sim was FCG and my dream would be that sim with modern graphics. Everything else was OK.
However, most of these posts here seem to be unaware that there is a good WW1 sim about to emerge on 18 December 2005. It is called Over Flanders Field and it is a free add on to CFS 3.
Do a search and go to the website for info, screenies etc. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Also, if you want to fly an Albatross 111 -One of the best planes I;ve had in a sim, with a wonderful FM - do a search for Stuart Green who has made such a plane for FS2004. OK, so you are not shooting anyone :)but just try this plane. The VC is the best VC of any plane i have ever flown. You can see the individual tappetts of the engine going up and down.Wonderful!!

Cas,
did you mean Albatros III? Is this the B.III, C.III or D.III?

A lot of people are aware of the OFF add on, but the problem is, it's a CFS3 add on. That's the turn off for me, and for many others I believe.

Tooz, if you mean by that that your rig won't be able to cope, don't worry if you have a rig that is able to cope with PF with good settings. We've spent some time to optimize things so it isn't as jerky as stock cfs3 is.
If you mean online play is your priority, then you're right to some extent : our focus was the offline campaign.
If you mean the flight models : they're better than the original cfs3, but no miracle if you dislike table flight models.
If you mean DM : they're improved compared to the original cfs3 but not as precise as FB.

It seems this FB engine-based sim will be best for those who enjoy online, and that OFF will be a good one for those who want to customize things to their hearts-content and play offline. And it's free. Pear and apples...

The big problems I for one have with CFS3 are:
a) The game is very, very unstable for me. Lots of crashes to desktop before I fired it into the corner.
b) It's from MS, which kinda implicates a), but that's another story.

So I don't think I'd get OFF if the game engine underneath is as unstable as plain old CFS3. But that's just my opinion, and noone is taking it from me. Get your own

Consumer service, if you still have cfs3 and want to try OFF, get to SOH cfs3 forums : you'll get sorted in no time - all the bugs have been ironed out, and the community knows how to deal with them.

Have they made multiplay better in CFS3 than it was out of the box?

We haven't changed anything about multiplayer as I said in a former post.

Looking forward to this sim but...

Tanks are neat, but I can't see putting to much into them as the airplanes will be nearly powerless against them. If they are just there for eye candy rolling across the battlefield great. The bomb loadouts are miniscule on that era of planes and if the tanks are made to half scale like they are in IL2 than they become incredibly hard to hit also. Also I can not say with absolute assurance, but I highly doubt bomb delay fuzes were used in WW1, so flying down right on top of the tank to hit it with a 20 kilo bomb would not be realistic. (Hopefully bomb delays are left out, they are massively abused and overused in IL2.. IMO ) Personally I would I would LOVE to see trucks and artillery battalions and infantry running around to strafe. (yes I know in some countries this makes me a sick puppy) In IL2 it is so cool when strafing a truck column to see the people running away, its just a shame they disappear. Jane's WW2 Fighters had infantry in limited amounts, it would be awesome to see a whole wave of infantry making a charge across the front lines from above.

Not that my opinion has any import whatsoever on what the dev wants to do, just thought I would drop my 2 cents.

How about compare it to RB3D?

I had the original CFS till I gave it away and it did have I think it was a Spad and a Sopwith and a DrI that wasn't porked. That didn't fly so terribly bad compared to riding the cracks in the RB3D corp FM. The planes did have a slick feel though and a sideslip didn't lose much speed.

Tanks were not that sophisticated at the time.

There are several instances of aircraft disabling tanks noted in books (ie von Greim with a buddy, Udet).
On rare occasions even infantry machine guns could at least stop them.
I liked the way Flying Corps handled it. You would attack the tank from above several times with your machine guns till finally its tracks broke or maybe some bullets went through the softened up roof and it started to lightly smoke.

I hope this new sim to be a success, can't understand why there was no successful new commercial ww1 sim since 1998...

And I dearly hope for a german two seater, the Hannover CLIII or the Halberstadt CLII to have a aircraft for ground attack missions and a Schlasta campaign where you can man the back seat!

Heini,

You're a man after my own heart!

I've been "pushing" for the inclusion of a German Battle Planes component on Third Wire's "WWI" forum for some time now, as the Schlastas were the true offensive fighter arm of the Luftstreitkrafte. If anyone wants to do IL-2 or Strike Fighters WWI, it's the Battle Flights that performed the valuable offensive and defensive ops directly above the trenches:

http://www.brushfirewars.org/weapons/aircraft_armament/wwi_german/ww1_german_aircraft_armament_1.htm

Ground attack tactics and infantry coordination was pioneered by the Germans in WWI, and was to be an even more essential factor in future war planning (of all the warring nations), had the war continued into 1919:

http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v2/v2n1/1919.html

A WWI sim that enables the highly interactive role of a 1st-person shooter (as a Hannover's CL.IIIa rear gunner engaging ground and aerial targets with MG and grenades would be), could open up a whole new avenue for high-fidelity flight simming.........ground attack/defense "Above The Trenches".



Artwork by Stan Stokes.

I just hope they don't forget the french army, which was the most modern one at the end of WWI

Blimey!! haven't got a clue, I'm afraid.You could go and see for yourself and let us know which it is
cheers

Yes, immersion is key. And the FM�s should exhibit fidelity to what is generally known � and accepted - about WWI crates.

But there is MUCH more to immersion than a nice a/c modeling, a great FM and good DM and SFx. One of the reasons people still play RB3D is definitely the dynamic campaign w/ its �anything can happen at any time� feel � and the menus that add additional flavor, log books, kill boards, portrait choices, nationality appropriate cut scenes for medal awards, capture, crashes, death! These are the kinds of things that really add to my sense of immersion and exactly the kinds of things that are lacking in IL-2FB***

To me, flying around in a high fidelity reproduction of a combat a/c is pointless if I�m not doing something historically appropriate w/ it - and can immerse myself in the period(I NEVER could understand the appeal of MS Flight Simulator for just that reason). I just hope that these items are not an afterthought w/ this new sim � as they clearly where w/ IL-2 FB.


***Yes, I know IL-2 FB has a log, pilot portraits and medals. But compare them to the RB3D versions and you must admit that it is apples to oranges � and I LIKE oranges.

Barkhorn.