WW I flight sims?

[HMCS]

I've been away from PC games for a bit. Is there anything good happening in this genre?

I used to like RB3d, it had a few flaws but overall a pretty good sim.

[Chock]

Right now you have two choices: First Eagles - The Great Air War, and Over Flanders Fields (a multi-part free add-on for Combat Flight Simulator 3).

First Eagles is good fun, and it will run well on pretty much any computer, but it is somewhat generic in that it is developed with the Third Wire flight sim engine which is used for Wings Over Europe and Wings Over Vietnam, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it is a reasonably good flight sim engine, just don't expect to be wowed by the ground detail, as it is only 'adequate' rather than 'amazing'. If you want the world's most accurate flight model, this is not it, although you do have to get pretty extreme for the flaws to start showing up, and it is generally good fun. TrackIR is a bit of a pain in the ass to set up for First Eagles, but there is very good support for it on the Third Wire forums, and there are tons of repaints and mods available for it too. I would say it is worth having.

Over Flanders Fields is kind of like the GWX for Combat Flight Simulator 3, it's more like a completely new sim than just an add-on. Remarkable when you consider that it is free. Modeling, terrain and campaigns are all good, and it's kind of hard to believe it is based on CFS3, as it takes that sim into a new league. Shove all the detail sliders up on it and you will need a fairly decent computer, but if you have TrackIR and a reasonable fast computer, it really does take some beating. and if you have CFS3 (available for about 7 quid), then you can't argue with the price of Over flanders Fields, because it is free.

There are a couple of WW1 flight sims in the development pipeline, but don't hold your breath waiting for them, as ventures like that fail more often than they succeed, so they may never materialise.

Here is a link to a couple of vids I made on Youtube, one was made with First Eagles, the other with OFF in CFS3.

Made with First Eagles:

Made with OFF in CFS3:


Here are a couple of screengrabs of a plane in First Eagles, this is one of my repaints for it:





Chock

[Camaero]

Which one would you say has the best campaign?

[Chock]

O.F.F. defintitely has the better campaign. First Eagles is more fun for a quick, uncomplicated blast.

Beware of First Eagles if you want lots of multiplayer action too, M/P options in Third Wire titles are severely limited, O.F.F. is definitely better on that score.

Chock

[Sir Big Jugs]

KOTS will be amazing once it's released, be sure.

[Stealth Hunter]

Word of warning about Over Flanders Fields: be ready for a lot of reworking files, uninstalls, reinstalls, and downloads. For some reason, it's a huge pain in the ass, as it doesn't want to run without any flaws on the second day after installing (as was my case all 2 dozen times...).

Basically, it's inevitable for it to have a problem, even if you didn't modify anything on it. I'd buy First Eagles if I were you and wait for Knights of the Sky to be released.

[silentrunner]

Originally Posted by Chock

Right now you have two choices: First Eagles - The Great Air War, and Over Flanders Fields (a multi-part free add-on for Combat Flight Simulator 3).

First Eagles is good fun, and it will run well on pretty much any computer, but it is somewhat generic in that it is developed with the Third Wire flight sim engine which is used for Wings Over Europe and Wings Over Vietnam, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it is a reasonably good flight sim engine, just don't expect to be wowed by the ground detail, as it is only 'adequate' rather than 'amazing'. If you want the world's most accurate flight model, this is not it, although you do have to get pretty extreme for the flaws to start showing up, and it is generally good fun. TrackIR is a bit of a pain in the ass to set up for First Eagles, but there is very good support for it on the Third Wire forums, and there are tons of repaints and mods available for it too. I would say it is worth having.

Over Flanders Fields is kind of like the GWX for Combat Flight Simulator 3, it's more like a completely new sim than just an add-on. Remarkable when you consider that it is free. Modeling, terrain and campaigns are all good, and it's kind of hard to believe it is based on CFS3, as it takes that sim into a new league. Shove all the detail sliders up on it and you will need a fairly decent computer, but if you have TrackIR and a reasonable fast computer, it really does take some beating. and if you have CFS3 (available for about 7 quid), then you can't argue with the price of Over flanders Fields, because it is free.

There are a couple of WW1 flight sims in the development pipeline, but don't hold your breath waiting for them, as ventures like that fail more often than they succeed, so they may never materialise.

Here is a link to a couple of vids I made on Youtube, one was made with First Eagles, the other with OFF in CFS3.

Made with First Eagles:

Made with OFF in CFS3:


Here are a couple of screengrabs of a plane in First Eagles, this is one of my repaints for it:





Chock

The graphics on the pics look kinda bad I must say.

[Egan]

Got to agree with JScones. I've never once had a problem with it either, and I've been playing it for a long time now.

Couple of (Slightly edited,) OFF screenies for you HMCS:











It's my favorite flight sim by quite a big margin and has been for a while. Never played the First Eagles one but from what I can gather it's pretty moddable.

[Stealth Hunter]

All on its own, FE is a mod that is meant to have additions made. By that, I mean you just need to add aircraft, maps, skins, etc.

[moose1am]

https://fighterace.ketsujin.com/

One of the least know games out is Fighter Ace 3.93. For the life of me I can't seem to figure out why this game is not very popular with the flight Sim crowds. Maybe it's because it's a Russian Programming Team that did the game modeling etc. Maybe it's because it was arcade like at first?

I just know that I really enjoy playing this game if I am in the mood to play a computer flight simulation type game.

Right now the game developers has an OPEN BETA going on to test the new Korean War Planes. Yes I said Korean Jets. The Mig 15 bis vs the F86E Sabre jets are being tested and tweaked right now.

The cost to get a subscription may be one reason why people don't play the game. But if you compare the costs today vs ten years ago the cost is minimal. Ten years ago people paid $2.00/hr to play Warbirds online. Today you can play an entire month for only $15.00/month. If you played one night it was almost $8.00/night for 8 hours of play.

Oh well I won't go on and on in here. You have the link above and can see what the game is all about at their web site.

Unfortunately the game owner won't open the forum to posting without a subscription. But you can read the "Debriefs" forum and see what people talk about.

Flight modeling can be tweaked instantly from level 1 to level 10 with level 10 being the most realistic. Views can be tweaked independent of the flight modeling. Each aspect of the flight modeling can be tweaked independently of the others. So the variables are almost endless. That could be a bad thing as everyone gets used to one setting and if something gets changed they get upset.

The graphic are great. As good or better than MS Flight Simulator 3. In fact the guy that led the development of FS 3 worked on the FA game at that time too. Since that time the Original owner of FA 1.0 has purchased the game back and is developing it again.

BTW: In the future Mark Vange (FA owner/developer) is planning on making a new WWI flight simulator game. Plans are not known in detail about that project but it will be different from his first attempt.

Right now the WWII game has over 100 different planes that you can fly.

In the future if all goes well they will have the WWII game, a Korean Early Jets game and then a WWI game. No one else will have this combination of games.

I have been following FA since 1998 when I first discovered it and signed up to play it for $20/month. Today it's much improved and cost half as much to get a subscription.