Hmm. Online flying...
well, he was also referring to online playability - for which there were other issues: the online gaming code from CFS2 had these "airplane Bubbles" that made the standard Plane DM redundant, and for CFS3 the code was so messed up, the planes spent more time skidding sidaways and underground than anything else.
But - in CFS3 you couldnt mess with your plane like in CFS2. one change, one adjustment, even if it was a "limiting" one was detected, and you were told to bugger off by the error message system "Game version not compatible - go ***k yourself, you cheater"
Not touching the Stock FM
********************
That's the old AAA way to do things. Limited sharing of knowledge, mistrust in the userbase, concurrence thinking, everyone having different opinions...
Prohibition to touch stock, and a Gazillion of Variants of the same plane by a dozen different people.
The result is those famous Java memory limitations getting in the user' s way.
So far that Slots have to be "unified" and small features dropped, because, as you describe, everyone is able to interpret planes in a different way and add/ remove features as they want.
But - and that is an amazing effect i have seen:
Common sense kicks in, at least somewhat.
An example:
You know we had about , like, 50 or so 109s available for use... a ridiculous amount of 109Gs of every mix and Match, erla, tall tail, AS or not, wheel sizes, MG 151/20 in the nose or MK108 only, Wurfgranaten or not, Recce, semi-whatif variants, pressurized cockpits, *head shaking*
you know the mess the 109 is yourself, they botched them together like a desperate nation does...
there were so many (accurate?) variants of Planes available, that for Major Modpacks to be possible, slots had to be merged, some features that made little if any difference dropped.
I found that awesome. Common sense had kicked in - and it had happened in a community of people that broke the laws, a community that hacked games!
Technical limitations were discovered, and people realized they could not expand limitless. They became reasonable. (if i may call it that)
And also - the modders do not touch the FMs much any more. Once a beta plane has had a few limited workovers, and nobody really complains about the FM/DM any more, its pretty much settled.
http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/board,194.0.html
There you see a fair amount of FM discussion, true. But Its not the screaming we have here about a nerfed F4U and entire squads being involved in proving that "TD is wrong" and such things.
And i think that things such as the corrected Loadouts would not be possible either, since FM and loadouts are somehow interconnected.
Online= important
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I see your point!
Il-2 was, and still IS, the only WWII CFS to handle the Online thing well.
I never used the Game' s online interface, but last time i was in Hyperlobby (2007... wayyyy back) things were freaking SMOOTH!
Carrier landings!
Formation flights, wingtip to wingtip!
Racing Mig's and Mustangs around the circuit - sometimes mere inches from one another!
accurate 37mm Shots!
little if any lag spikes!
gee, the developers of the game "had it nailed" in my opinion.
Preserving this great asset for the user, i can understand that people are very passionate about it.
Were my life circumstances different, i would be an "onliner" too, and not be in the "pure offliner" camp.
(I would spend an unhealthy amount of time flying online... i f'kin swear!)
I would be, like you, on the fence.
Switching - Being able to join every Game there is.
-------------------------------------------------
Storebror he made that selector program... be able to switch from Stock 4.101 to "any and all mods" with a click.
And with such a setup, joining a specfic server is much less of a hassle than ever before.
not perfect auto-detection of "server game and mod version" --> launching appropriate game, but still...
Its not so bad, i recon.
whats out there at the moment, server-wise?
Stock?
DBW?
UP3?
HSFX? il-2 1956 (?)
Maybe even DBW 1916?
If so, joining them is a matter of reading the server info, and before jumping into the server via hyperlobby, adjusting your game version in the selector.
Its not perfect... but Its the best there is at the moment.
If i had my way
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I would want it all.
I would want the stuff that TD puts into the game to be in perfect harmony with my favourite Modpack, which is DBW on top of a UP3.
How that? Let me dream for a moment.
Hmm, maybe TD could focus on the code, the features, the "stuff behind the curtain" while the Modders could bring new content , to make use of the "code behind the curtain".
For example:
Let TD Implement the ability to have 12 prop pitch and 12 power axis per plane.
Let the Modders Make a Plane that has 12 prop engines.
Let TD implement Chaff and Flares
Let the Modders create these countermeasures on the newly released Phantom.
Let TD implement code for ground based interceptions
Let the Modders make a Mig-25 Foxbat.
Let TD implement Carrier Features
Let the Modders Create Carriers from USS Langley to Admiral Kuznetzov.
Let TD implement advanced plane features and malfunctions, failures and Systems (icing on wings, freezing guns and windows, ... the forum is full of stuff like that)
Let the Modders create planes that were well know to suffer from said failures, or put the necessary code into the old planes that have existed for a decade now.
(assymetrical Slats on the 109, de-icing ballons on the american Bomber wings, damaged oxygen systems letting AI gunners die, and AI pilots dive for the deck... your imagination is the limit)
I think such a setup would be ... awesome.
Then it is a Matter to decide whet mods come into the official Updates.
But it aint gonna happen...
