Journeyman

Ok thanks folks! I guess it's 'a wedge it into a corner job' then. I usually find a way around these things! Just out of interest though, how many driving games are there out there that actually support both a clutch pedal and also a H shifter? Â

+1 I borrowed the last Thief game to a friend for a year now. Time to get it back. Does anyone know if Thief Deadly Shadows will play on Vista?

The problem with all pedal sets that I've had to date is that I have had to bolt or strap them down to part of the desk or floor to stop them from moving all over the place when using them! Is this still a problem with the G25 pedals? How is it secured or does it weigh at least 25kg?!!

When I tried it with DX10 I had no textures ... Just pure white A380's! I had to disable DX10 preview for the textures to show. Are you using Windows Vista SP2? Also where can I find the Overlands A380?

I agree with that statement! I purchased Abacus' A380 pack a few weeks back and was not at all impressed! Firstly NO textures would show up when I had DX10 preview option enabled. Without DX10 enabled you get textures and sounds but no flexing wings and a crapy looking flaps anim not much else, apart from far too many variants of the same crappy model! I'll stick with freeware from now on! Â

Yes indeed! It sounds like your itchy finger is hovering over the button! Â

Absolutely agree! This video absolutely blows it away! Check out the helo model in This Clip! Â

What I have seen so far is really impressive! Much more than I would expect at this stage, so I won't be ratting about anything yet! I would hardly call head bob a bodily function! More of a movement simulation IMO. The same way that the tank you are driving passes over obstacles or the car jumps over bumps etc. On the other hand having the need to stop for a drink every now and then, or to piss or shit and perhaps the occasional urge to scratch your scrotum, or an involuntary violent sneeze and then having the appropriate animations to match … I think would be somewhat more down the lines of simulating bodily functions! Â

Indeed GR is a totally different game to OFP. The emphasis with OFP is with large-scale military engagements over open terrain and the ability to manipulate/use different weapons/vehicles during play. GR on the other hand was more geared to small street battles or engagements in and around buildings although it was able to simulate quite large outdoor maps also it was best played in urban environments. You cannot interact with dropped weapons or vehicles in GR and your environment is smaller, but it is the detail that went into these environments and the atmosphere created by the detail to the enemy characters and their behaviour and the various sound effects that stood it apart from OFP. In OFP most of the time you are shooting at small pixels with a set death animation which gets monotonous after a while. In GR your enemy is often hiding around the back of that door that you just past and would be in your face with a bullet if you weren't quick enough! The animations were better done and there is much more tension in sneaking and engaging. Unfortunately GR was never sequeled. The GRAW games play differently to GR and are not any way near as impressive IMHO!

If the ACOG was in his eye he would be looking down the sights, so it must be just to the right of his eye! I agree though that the weapon needs to move down a bit so as not to be blocking his peripheral vision. Don't forget though it is early days yet and like one of the team said they are listening to the community, so a lot of things we see now could change. I followed all of this sort of thing when ArmA was at this stage! It's quite funny how we kept bashing BIS too for all their early WIP screens and videos! Â

Watching the video shows the weapon close to his face in the ready position whilst jogging, but he seems to move it out of the way when sprinting. I didn't see the bit where the ACOG was in his eye whilst jogging maybe I missed that!

I played coop with my wife with this game for over a year, we loved it and still sometimes play it despite all the newer titles. In terms of graphics it was well ahead of its time and still looks quite good against all the newer stuff. But it is the CQB element and the seemingly realistic enemy reactions and animations that make it such fun! Also like has been said there is still a big community and an incredible amount of downloadable content available which is equally impressive! There are two official expansions 'Desert Siege' and 'Island Thunder' which are a must have also. I recently just bought the 'Gold Edition’, which is a 3 in 1 from Focus with the two expansions and all the patches on a DVD for around 10GBP (UK)! A great way to reinstall everything official without having to find all the various cases and patches. It also plays fine on Vista ... not many old games will do this! Just like OFP1 this game is a legend in it's own right and you have no business not having it! Â

Pity I couldnt turn mine off when I tabbed 40kg for 5km afew days ago. Exactly! This is supposed to be a game of realism, and that is one of the things that I will be buying it for! Running anywhere with a lot of kit will not look like you are flying a plane! ... I say DON'T make head bob optional, unless you are able to ditch your heavy kit and go roller blading!! Â

We need a 'thunderdome' section here! Â

You started off fine, then you contradicted yourself! Â From what I've seen so far OFP2 will be everything that OFP1 was and more! That means having a realistic pace of action and that perfect sandbox also. .... so let's wait and see! Â

The best fun I had in FS9 was in attempting severe crosswind landings in various sized birds especially the big airliners. Inspired by This video clip from alexisparkinn.com of some Boeing severe Xwind test landings I thought I'd give it a go in FS9. Problem was that the due to the way that FS9 handled the rolling down the runway was not as it should be and tended to make planes continue to side slip too much even though we now had rubber on tarmac! There was a tweak that I eventually found from a modder that seemed to improve things quite a bit but it was still not perfect! I've not had a chance to try it in FSX yet to see whether this aspect of the sim has been improved, but from what I've heard FSX has if anything has 'veered' more toward arcade in some areas anyway so I won't hold my breath when I give it a go! If anyone else has tried it I would care to hear. Â

Hmmm I've been flying the FS series on and off for years now. I've had FSX for a while but only just upgraded to Vista and a decent machine and must say it looks a lot better esp. with the new acceleration pack. I havent played arround with it as much as FS9 yet but will try a bit more soon. What exactly is this 'Nhance' feature? I find that normally selecting AA ingame makes quite a bit of performance drop so tend to disable it. FS Global 2008 looks good I might go for that! Default grids on the FS series have never been that accurate!

Hmmmm!! When I'm laid next to the wife I don't generally play video games!! Â

Thanks for those You-Tube links -snafu-, very interesting stuff there about Russia’s Roswell. Advanced alien technology will always be a sensitive subject. Unfortunately the word UFO has always had that suspect reputation, especially when everyone just wants to call anything and everything they see and alien space ship! For those who have witnessed true Unexplainable Flying Objects such as myself however, it is a completely different story. It is when things move in a way and at a speed and acceleration that is way beyond anything that we have or of any natural phenomena that you know they are not just flying party lanterns drifting on the wind of futile excitement!

Worrying about the potential side effects of a man made particle accelerator is the least of our worries! You might want to read this new article about climate change: http://ap.google.com/article....1G3IBG0 Then when you've finished that you can read this interesting little article about recent sunspot observations: http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008....by-2015 But again we cannot be sure? ... OK then now read all about our evolving energy crisis and where it is gonna take us: http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ Still worried about the LHC?   …If a big black hole does form and swallows us all up it might not be such a bad thing after all!!

For over 3 years I was looking forward to Enemy in Sight! Enemy in Sight now = Vapourware! ALL games are Vapourware until they are produced! Never count your chickens until they have hatched! OFP2 = Vapourware. ArmA2 = Vapourware. OK I'm being harsh! But I won't be getting excited about ANY of them yet! Well not until I see some exciting gameplay footage at least!

Yeah I’m also a ‘very experienced RL helo pilot’ and have flown countless different types in my role as a test pilot for the Hyperoll test company. … I have flown so many types and so many hours in fact that I get bored with it and have to resort to flying in ArmA to get my much needed helo adrenalin fix! … LMAO! Get over it, it’s a game! Even full-blown simulators won’t give you the same experience of real flight dynamics. I agree OFP was better from a ‘feel’ point of view, but was still crap compared to the real thing!

... No, it is pretty much 'on topic'! So is this flash animation from Powerswitch. ...and a much simpler animation from u-tube to show where we are at!We are at the 'peak', the peak of our industrialized society. Why? Because the very fundamentals of our industrialised society is based on cheap and plentiful oil. Our entire global economy was constructed on and is totally dependant on it. Just about everything around you was either made from or transported by it (including the very food you eat)! The problems you see with the economy now are just the very beginning of much worse to come. Global demand for oil will soon outstrip supply. This is a very, very scary scenario indeed! Someone asked my a while ago what sort of cars we would all be driving in the future. Hover cars, electro magnetic levitation vehicles or space/time machines? ... No I said! … How about something like THIS!

Russia is already in decline too even though it has untapped reserves. Venezuela’s and other new finds are not on any significant scale and those that are known about are either very deep or very difficult and expensive to extract. Add to that it takes over ten years for a well to come on line once it has been explored and then only at start-up capacity. Don’t assume therefore that ‘peak oil’ is not playing some role in the current US slowdown. Speculation plays a major role too, and those investors that fully understand the potential impact of global peak oil are likely to already be taking evasive action.

Of all your lengthy (and interesting) writings, the most accurate and to the point concerning the US slump is that one liner! It is increasingly unlikely that the current US national debt will ever be fully serviced. I'm just waiting for the day that the U.S. Treasury declares a force majeure on dept! This is definitely a worse case scenario but a very real prospect when you start to factor in other realities like peak oil and food supply shortages leading to ever increasing fuel and energy costs. I've already traded in most of my risky shares and bonds. My UK property will be next. I don't fancy taking chances with investments here anymore. Emigrating soon to a tropical island! Â