The Forgotten Battles

[Badgerboy 0]

Tovarish, just fired up FB to take a look at your tracks, and when you and Tex plunge into the ground, I hear a farting noise, computer locks, and will no longer post!

Bastards! You planned this didn't you?

(My gaming rig is now stripped bare in an effort to track down the problem)

Damn     . Sorry mate! Tracks run fine on my system:

PIII 733 overclocked ->940

512mb pc133 Ram

ATI Radeon 7500 w/64mb DDR

SoundBlaster Live

Tex, did you watch the tracks without problem? Did anyone else have trouble? maybe I should remove the link...

Nah, it was a hardware problem down my end Tovarish. I'll have it up and running soon I'm sure.

Edit - Just got the bugger to post. Seems there was a voltage problem. I cleared the CMOS, shifted the sticks, and resat the CPU.

Arghh, now atleast an hour of tinkering with the BIOS. Grrr!

[Tovarish 0]

Well, to be on the safe side I added a warning. I'd hate to be causing all that grief...Kind of ironic though, both Tex and I crash and then so does the spectator. Heh.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Well, to be on the safe side I added a warning. I'd hate to be causing all that grief...Kind of ironic though, both Tex and I crash and then so does the spectator. Heh.

talk about an epic fight lol

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Ah Tex, a lover of the F4 I see. You'll be glad to hear that Oleg is tweaking the 20mm cannons and other low calibers. No longer will you have to pour a stream of fire into the bastards to down them, and your machine guns will become more than tracers.

Yup, the Frederick is my favorite early war fighter

I'm glad to see they're upping my firepower- right now you have to be an excellent shot to really do any damage. The only plane I can recall shooting down with MGs alone was a P-39 lol.

[Badgerboy 0]

Seems to be running ok now. One problem I do have concerns an old soundblaster card I have in the machine. I initally had a SBLive, but they have a nasty habit of blowing up MAX2 boards (Really crap voltage management on the soundcard), plus it made my machine unstable when I overclocked. To that end, I ditched the SB, and used the onboard sound (And bloody good it is! )

This is where FB fits in, as I have a MS FF1, and like all old joysticks it has a gameport connector. Not wanting to fly with the keyboard , I had to slide a old SB AWE64 card in to use the port on it. Being a Creative product, it tends to make my machine unstable from time to time, so its a pain in the arse.

Questions :

a) Gameport to USB converters - Will it work, and will it allow me to keep the FF effects?

b) Is there some other sort of sexy USB device to allow me to do this.

c) As I try to keep PCI cards out of machine (The FSB gets screwy when it gets up high) , are gameport pcicards available, and if so what are their FSB tolerances. (Pretty high I'd imagine, a ports quite simple)

Bear in mind I refuse to buy a new stick. I've had this one for years now, and its still going strong. (Plus its better than that ugly FF2, its buttons are in all the wrong places! )

[Tex -USMC- 0]

My Audigy Gamer card has a gameport attachment

[Badgerboy 0]

I don't want to use a soundcard for a gameport. I took out the SBlive with its gameport as it was holding my machine back (Overclocking wise), plus the fact that it could blow it up.

At the moment I am using a crappy old soundcard, withthe features disabled, just so I can use a gameport. I would like to do away with the card altogether, so I'm no longer using PCI cards anymore (Too slow).

My machines legacy free, so no built in gameport, serial connectors, printer ports etc. I do have 14 USB slots however, so I'd prefer to use them.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Lol, I don't know what to tell ya badger. You're like a guy who wants to cross a stream, but doesn't want to get his clothes wet in the process. Just get a new stick- I know you don't like it, but I have the Sidewinder Force Feedback 2- I strongly reccomend it. That way, you don't have to muck around with jury-rigging your hardware.

[bn880 5]

Yes well I also spent the last few hours trying to OC my AMD since I got 333MHz DDR in my board which only runs upto 266Mhz anyway.

I can't overclock at all and have a 100% stable IL2 FB hour. I think my video or sound card is the limitation, certainly not the CPU temp or RAM. Voltages are ideal also. So anyway Badgerboy, stop overclocking and put a newer soundcard in. That's my advice.

Otherwise, there must be some gameport cards, maybe together with a serial or parallel port? For instance I have one onboard on the K7S5a, but it doesn't meet any gameport specification at all. (as with most hardware these days, bunch of crap) anyway...

[Tovarish 0]

a) Gameport to USB converters - Will it work, and will it allow me to keep the FF effects?

I think that's your best bet if you want to keep your old stick. Here, this is a review of the Logitech WingMan Formula Force Racing wheel - it comes with a Gameport to USB adapter so you can install it either way. The adapters themselves are pretty cheap Here's one at Radio Shack for $14.99 US

[bn880 5]

Yeah and here is the standalone gameport (I trust these will be much better than the ones included with a soundcard)

http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/previews/jan98/l4.html

the're called Gamecards

EDIT: I think what Tovarish suggests is actually your best bet, these gamecards often don't support Midi (like the one above), which means no FF.

[Tovarish 0]

Hmm, then again none of the reviews I see online of any of these converters -other than the one for the racing wheel - mention tests with FF joysticks. Most of them also warn that the converters don't support all functions of some digital devices...so I would ask at the store before buying it.

[Badgerboy 0]

I'll look into the USB converter then thanks.

My machines up and running now, and even faster than ever! I've had it crunching numbers for almost 24 hours and it seems rock solid.

(Upping the voltages, and placing a variable speed 120mm fan in my machine seemed to do the trick! )

All would be well if it wasn't for FB. Now, whenever I try to run the dynamic campaign, I get a 'dgen.exe' error, and it crashes.

I tried a scandisk, defrag, a complete uninstall and registry clean, and I ran it non-overclocked. Arghhh!

Its coming up to my Games Rig 4 month reinstall of XP, so I might do that tonight, and see if I have any luck.

[bn880 5]

Okay, so I have been playing IL2 FB for the last day or so, well 3 days but I spent most of that figuring out my system problems and wiring up some steering wheel pedals as rudders for my TM joystick! That works very well but I have yet to find a way to do something similar with USB controllers. (As you IL2 vets might now, the makers of IL2 are just like the makers of OFP and decided to allow the use of only one controller at a time )

After some flight time my impression of the "game" is AMAZING. Just like OFP is a work of art in its genre, IL2 FB is a work of art when it comes to a WW2 flight sim.

I'm trying to do the Dynamic campaign for a Sturmovik pilot since 1939, and to be honest I've had to restart it after the first 2 or 3 missions several times as I make my mind up about the difficulty settings. I decided to go all realism with the exception of Plane tags and player plane position on map. (I don't want to sit too close to the monitor so I use the tags).

I have a pretty entertaining track of my 2nd Campaign mission in the biplane: IL2 FB track If you want to see a "newb" trying to survive the onslaught. I recommend watching the takeoff which I came up with as I was getting tired of crashing with a bomb load, and then after about 17 minutes the nice situation I was in. (hope it's a good laugh, I was really trying my best and calling for help a lot ;) )

Anyway, some negative things about IL2: The sound delays don't seem to be implemented (speed of sound). Single controller input only, and if you bail out on the ground (stationary) you can't get back in the plane, even if it's perfectly fine (as far as I know).

Another thing which I'm not sure about, the AI skill follows your flight performance during the campaign, I hope i'm wrong about this as it makes the campaign rather childish.

A question to the IL2 FB vets, I'm in the third campaign mission (Soviet biplane 1939), and we (squad of 3) are suppost to engage some AAA at an airfield then engage some Aircraft. Problem is, we get engaged by 12 or more 109's at the same time, what the heck am I suppost to do? Run back to base? i can't take them on with odds of 4 to 1.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Run back to base and then take it down to the weeds. The combination of the friendly ack-ack and the low level ought to allow you to fight them off.

[bn880 5]

Yeah thanks... I should start reading the FB forums, this campaign stuff is not a piece of cake.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Just watched your track, and I have to say you did well. Two kills in a Chaika is nothing to sneeze at. I would've hopped out of the aircraft earlier though, as you were lucky to survive that strafing run. You missed a few opportunities and turned into trouble a few times, but once you get better at situational awareness you'll improve.

[Badgerboy 0]

@ June 11 2003,20:41)]Just watched your track, and I have to say you did well. Two kills in a Chaika is nothing to sneeze at. I would've hopped out of the aircraft earlier though, as you were lucky to survive that strafing run. You missed a few opportunities and turned into trouble a few times, but once you get better at situational awareness you'll improve.

Thats the problem with a 2d display Tex, your SA is primitive to say the least. Having flown a sim in a full 3d bubble, I can say it was almost as good as RL. (Which is pretty much the benchmark! )

[Tex -USMC- 0]

@ June 11 2003,20:41)]Just watched your track, and I have to say you did well. Two kills in a Chaika is nothing to sneeze at. I would've hopped out of the aircraft earlier though, as you were lucky to survive that strafing run. You missed a few opportunities and turned into trouble a few times, but once you get better at situational awareness you'll improve.

Thats the problem with a 2d display Tex, your SA is primitive to say the least. Having flown a sim in a full 3d bubble, I can say it was almost as good as RL. (Which is pretty much the benchmark! )

That's why I fly with padlock and other 'unrealistic' features on. Until a sim allows me to turn my head around easily and naturally without taking my hands off the stick, I'll use those options. And I use exteriors because sometimes I just gotta admire how good the game looks

[bn880 5]

@ June 11 2003,15:41)]Just watched your track, and I have to say you did well. Two kills in a Chaika is nothing to sneeze at. I would've hopped out of the aircraft earlier though, as you were lucky to survive that strafing run. You missed a few opportunities and turned into trouble a few times, but once you get better at situational awareness you'll improve.

Thanks, actually I didn't want to bail out as I didn't know yet if they would leave me alone or what (in the simulation). I wanted to get off the ground after the rest of my squad caught up, but they are really terrible at this dogfighting stuff anyway.

I brought the sucker down as I didn't know what exactly was wrong with my wings (well except the hole I could see to the right), I couldn't get any good lift without going into a spin. Damn, it was exciting.

[Badgerboy 0]

Those bastards willattempt to kill you even if you have bailed out. Its not pretty to see flak emplacements open up when dozens of paratroopers are floating to the ground.

Dastardly AI!

As for the Ubi forums, be careful. They are vicious bastards!

[Badgerboy 0]

Yes well I also spent the last few hours trying to OC my AMD since I got 333MHz DDR in my board which only runs upto 266Mhz anyway.  

I can't overclock at all and have a 100% stable IL2 FB hour.  I think my video or sound card is the limitation, certainly not the CPU temp or RAM.  Voltages are ideal also.   So anyway Badgerboy, stop overclocking and put a newer soundcard in.  That's my advice.

Otherwise, there must be some gameport cards, maybe together with a serial or parallel port?  For instance I have one onboard on the K7S5a, but it doesn't meet any gameport specification at all. (as with most hardware these days, bunch of crap) anyway...  

Bear in mind, if you use DDR Ram, then the speed is doubled. I use TwinMOS 3200 (400mhz) memory, and run my FSB at 200mhz. Therefore my memory bandwidth runs at 400mhz. I recommend downloading Sisoft Sandra,as it will tell you all sorts of useful information, even for those not overclocking.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

As for the Ubi forums, be careful. They are vicious bastards!

Indeed. Our mods would have a field day in there, and that's just covering the (usually obscene) accusations of purposefully undermodelled German A/C- not to mention the new P-47.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Damn, it was exciting.

From what I gather, during the early stages of Barbarossa every time you left the ground in a Russian airplane was *ahem* exciting.

[Hit_Sqd_Maximus 0]

As for the Ubi forums, be careful. They are vicious bastards!

We should give them some of our mods