Oleg - It works! ITS ALIVE!!!!

[jamesdietz]

I'm in the U.S. & couldn't wait to buy this sim , so downloaded it from JustFlight ( I knew there wasn't a chance to get the "Collector Edition,and Amazon .com has delayed the box release to who knows when...) Anyway even with a pretty up to date rig I had ( have) all the usual problems...I'm not techy so I have no idea on how to really get the best out of my PC without really screwing it up,but I have paid attention to the threads I could understand & paid no attention to the really rabid negative ones...after all I'd seen the vids & screenshots.Ok I was disappointed by the limits of what you got as apposed to what was( is) promised , but that's for another thread.
I'm a hunt & peck kind of typist & solution guy...I screw things up ( many times in modded Il-2 ) I go back & start again....anyway after many CTDs and freezes after 5 minutes of play ( alot of these...) I started fresh sort of : I installed all beta patches ( warts & all, in order- they aren't perfect but they're all we've got right?) Started sim & backed off video screen settings ,fooled around & came up with 1366x768 60Hz ( my screen size is 1920x1080..which I had used in the past to get best definition , but I had had problems somewhere using this size..) all options here anti-lazing etc.turned off and a variety of the realistic setting on high and medium ,grass & shadows turned on ( the major reason I bought this sim were the shadows inside & outside the aircraft,,,I'm a sort of an artist &I love the eye candy!) Using Free Hunt as my marker mission ( it has land & sea handy & lots of planes to measure FPS one of the major gripes so far..) I started the game:

I got an aveerage of low to mid 20s over land attacking Wellington Bombers ( I use Track IR BTW)
Not too bad ,perfectly usable. Over water mid 30s...great!

and NO CTD or Freeze in play or when I quit ( the usual suspects in my game play- I could fly forever!!!
Next I tried with 1X anti-lazing hoping this would sharpen up the views- it did a little ,but also froze the screen after a few moments of play...my bad!
Feeling I had something that I now knew would work ,I upped Video settings to the gold standard 1920x1080 & flew the same mission:

Checking FPS I had an average drop of 6-8 FPS in the same spots tested before...alot more lurching going on for a bit shaper image, but again no CTDs or screen freezes...Really a pleasure to fly if a bit less smooth.

I am a happy camper...but I don't have a perfect sime yet,problems:
Some key strokes won't work.
Can't change skins.
Can't sharpen image as much as I'd like ( see above)
Hits on aircraft ( yes I shot down quite a few now ...of course I'm on easy settings...)sometimes appear below & to the left in midair beside the target ( most unrealistic!)
109s & 110s sometmes show up powder blu , obviously missing their skins- I have no idea why..I have seen a Huricane flicker between cammo & light blue as well while I was tring to target him ( again most unrealistic!)
Haven't test ammo load outs ( tracers etc.) but hopefully they do work and I'd really really like to get rid of the text that sometimes all but covers the screen during combat...maybe someone can let me know how this could be done?
I hope Oleg reads this & maybe its a help to those others out there - I have high hopes for official patches that will probably come and additons too - I have a feeling it will all work & hopefully I won't need to but a new PC!
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name JIM-PC
System Manufacturer System manufacturer
System Model P5Q-E
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2403 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1003, 7/9/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name Jim-PC\Jim
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.25 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.21 GB
Total Virtual Memory 6.50 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.70 GB
Page File Space 3.25 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

[CharveL]

I haven't been able to find the anti-lazing option but it's ok cause the bomber gunners aren't very good and pretty much just fire bullets anyway.

[sigintwarrior]

Good for you, buddy! I am in the same boat as you. I downloaded it from Justflight and hopped right in. I am not that computer savy either, so I am just enjoying messing around with it. Haven't downloaded any of the beta patches, cause I know I will end up setting my computer on fire if I can't fix it... Sure is a pretty game and I am sure they will fill up all of the empty potential that it has. Hope they make it easier to set up your gun loads in single player. Anyhow, grats on getting the game and I hope we both get many hours of fun out of it.

[Rattlehead]

Nice post...the title made me smile.

Congrats on the purchase and here's hoping the game gives you many hours of enjoyment.

[ATAG_Doc]

Congrats to you. Be prepared to be ridiculed now. Lots of haters out there. I've been trying to understand why this happens and can think of a few reasons. They are part of a clique and they are threatened their friends spending time with it and not with them because they do not have the hardware to do so yet. Or perhaps they haven't purchased it and can't yet. But just be ready when you post photos or videos of anonymous people giving you grief about it you breaking though to the other side. You have your hands on an item that was never intended to be complete but something that will be added onto for years and years. Chapter by chapter.

[Chopa]

I see no mention of your graphics card Jim? I believe a graphics card upgrade will work wonders with this game. I'm getting 30 to 40 fps with a GT220. Models and effects are on high, and everything else is on low settings.
Needless to say a decent card is on my birthday list

[White Owl]

I'm kind of in a similar boat. My computer imploded awhile back, and I just got things running again. Bought the game from Just Flight last night, downloaded from Steam, patched with the latest beta and played around just a little bit.

The game works!

I haven't even started optimizing and fine tuning things yet, and I have an ATI HD6950 graphics card so there are some issues... but the game worked for me the first time. It's fun.

I didn't think of installing all the patches. I only installed the latest and assumed it would include all previous fixes. Is it a good idea to go back and do them all?

[Buchon]

You just should have up to date the game through Steam, then install the beta patch manually if you wish.

There only one beta patch available always, because the previous has become official or rejected due a problems.

If you installed a beta patch and wish revert the changes go to game properties in Steam and click on "verify the integrity of cache", Steam will revert the changes to the last official version.

[pupaxx]

@Jamesdietz

welcome in CloD,
please, in your specs among your blood group and shoe size you missed your graphic card! Would be nice u share with us this info, I have your own Cpu
Cheers