RoF ? Good or bad ? Statements wanted

[Eric Petras]

Originally Posted by JFM

If they ever put out a Gotha, though, I'll take it and go quietly on my way.

neoqb has modelled a Gotha for RoF (the G.IV, if I remember correctly) so eventually you will have it!

[JFM]

I know! That's why I keep making noise about it. I'm guessing it's far back in line behind a zillion scouts but, as you said, someday...

[Eric Petras]

Originally Posted by JFM

I know! That's why I keep making noise about it. I'm guessing it's far back in line behind a zillion scouts but, as you said, someday...

I'm waiting (im)patiently too ... I want to shoot one down!

[Bleddyn]

Originally Posted by Eric Petras

I'm waiting (im)patiently too ... I want to shoot one down!

They will make a juicy big target.. lets just hope they tone down the AI gunners so we can get close to the darn things!

[TheBlackPenguin]

Just bought it and installed fine, actually it was the SE.5a which prompted me to finally buy it.

If you do go through the training scenarios be aware that subtitles come in very handy!

Only got to training 3, then tried a mission in the SE.5a and figured free flight would be wise and yes managed to stall it on take-off. Certainly felt different than the Spad!

Last mission was a balloon bust, but didn't take this seriously which led to me crash landing and dieing after destroying the balloon.

I'm really enjoying it and hope over time the need to connect to their servers will be relaxed and also much more new content and improvements in the campaign happen.

Overall I consider it an investment .

Matt
PS the SE. 5a was payware.

[sightreader]

After reading the internet reviews (sites like "metacritic" summarize them for you), I realized the sorts of stuff people were complaining about - menus, settings, not enough aircraft, little graphics glitches, and so forth - were all stuff that are easy to patch. The stuff that CANNOT be patched so easily - flight model, graphics engine, even net code - all get outstanding reviews.

It turns out that this is indeed the case. The game has automatic patching system that fires up as soon as you launch the game (which is why an internet connection is required) so they can "push" you the latest fixes. With each fix, there are sometimes radical changes (when I got the game 4 days ago, there were four planes to choose from, now there are six, and I heard that two weeks ago there were only two!) and some of changes totally change the look and feel of the menu system (progress bars, mission and menu selection, etc). The patches seem pretty stable when they're pushed out, and at the moment they're starting to slow down. Nevertheless, all these changes mean that the manual you get is pretty to look at but rather vague as to how things actually work. I guess some of the new additions are payware, but I don't know how that works yet.

The flight model and flight interface feels almost identical to IL2 and if it weren't for the better graphics (especially lighting), you'd think you WERE playing IL2.

The loading times are also very much like IL2: whether that's fast or slow I guess would depend on your machine. I use hardware that barely meets the minimum standard and it runs fine for me. Most of the minimal resolutions are for a 4:3 monitor: if you want to use a 16x9 resolution you'll have to choose one of the highest two resolutions. I use a 16x9 resolution and haven't had any frame rate problems; however, I also use minimal effects settings because pretty graphics and gorgeous terrain aren't important to me (I just want to see the enemy and don't care if he's "aliased" or not), and up to this point I've only flown dogfight missions (no ground targets, just other airplanes).

An architectural annoyance that probably cannot be patched is the key mapping and settings system. The game has to know your key mappings before it starts, which means you have to run this little utility first (which also controls settings for graphics, sound etc) before you start the game. The result is that you can't fly around, set some keys, fly again and see how it feels, fiddle some more, so on and so forth: you have to completely exit and reload the game each time.

Multiplayer seems solid, but you have to play whatever missions are on your computer - there is no "quick mission" setup where people can change what sorts of planes they flying or fighting. The canned missions have set flights of aircraft for you to choose from (for instance, a 5 on 5 dogfight where both sides have to take off) and any slots not manned by players are filled in by AI. Once again, this is an architectural choice (probably to reduce loading times), so I doubt it will ever change, but on the other hand you can play whatever missions are installed on the serving computer.

As time goes on, I'm sure there will be more downloadable missions as people figure out how to use the mission editor. I've been looking into editing missions myself, but it's sort of hard to figure out, as most of the tutorials out there are by Russian guys whose command of English is unsteady (which will obviously change over time as well).

[Blackclaw]

I really wish I had done more research before ordering Rise of Flight. I got excited on seeing that a new World War One sim had been made, was impressed with the screenshots and ordered it. Had I known that connection to their server is required to play the game at all, I would have been much more hesitant.

I like being able to play games years later, sometimes games hold up for a long time. But with a required connection to their server, you will only be able to play so long as they maintain their server. When their server is down, you don't get to play the game you bought. It's true, it's the same way with subscription online games such as Everquest and World of Warcraft, but you have a much better idea of what you are getting into when you sign up for such games.

I don't know if Rise of Flight is a good game or not. I did the install fine, but when I registered, I never got a confirmation e-mail. Without the confirmation e-mail, you cannot enter your key code. It's possibly the dumbest thing that has ever prevented me from playing a game. I can't play a game I paid for because I didn't get an e-mail. I can't even log onto their forums. They might as well have sent me a blank disk.

I've gone ahead and ordered Over Flanders Fields. I'm not sure what I'll do with the Rise of Flight game. I e-mailed someone at support, maybe I'll an e-mail back in a few days. If not, I might try to return it (which is unlikely to be successful) or, more likely, it'll just sit in the corner behind my computer out of my sight for a few years until I just toss the cd into the garbage along with a stack of demo CDs and AOL offers.

[Albatros_Ace]

Anybody else notice in the hanger (when you choose gun converge distance and paint scheme) that if you turn the plane around(click and drag to look at the paint sreen there is an Polikarpov I-16 slightly outside of the hangar doors?

[Gremlin_WoH]

Originally Posted by Albatros_Ace

Anybody else notice in the hanger (when you choose gun converge distance and paint scheme) that if you turn the plane around(click and drag to look at the paint sreen there is an Polikarpov I-16 slightly outside of the hangar doors?

Yes, and you will find an information related to that in my interview with neoqb -> Wings Of Honor Interview with neoqb

Cheers

[JFM]

Hi Blackclaw,

ROF registration was flawless for me and of all the times I went to fly, only once could I not connect--and then I immediately tried again and it fired right up. I understand the dislike for the online requirement--many share that view--but regarding connection, at least for me, the average user, I've had about a 99.9% successful connection rate.

Which does you no good if you can't get going! Others have had your problem so I suggest going here Rise of Flight - The First Great Air War - SimHQ Forums and looking for help. There are threads concerning similar issues so you may even find an answer pretty quickly via a search.

I understand you are frustrated and I wish I could offer you more help. Good luck.