Q: Not in the FAQ: Time acceleration ?! And how to get it working again?

C

Catfish

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Q: Not in the FAQ: Time acceleration ?! And how to get it working again?

Hello,
first an explanation:
there is a possibility to use time acceleration while flying in OFF.

Edit the file "OFF.BAT" in the OFF directory to read "Shell.exe -time".

Starting OFF now you can use "Ctrl-Shift-e" for accelerating time, and "Ctrl-Shift-r" for decelerating again. So far so good (Hello Gimpy ;-)).

Now you have this working, and are very happy. But you decide to change your "mine" configuration a bit, e.g. in a way that you assign other keys to certain actions than the preset ones.

If you now assign one of the keys like "Ctrl-Shift-r" for accelerating time for any other action in OFF, this key will then do domething different.

Now let's say you did that by error, and want your time accleleration key back for accelerating time - but this does not seem to be possible !

So PLEASE, how do i get the "Ctrl-Shift-e" and "Ctrl-Shift-r" keys back to work for time acceleration again, if i - by error - assigned those to another action ?
De-installing and re-installing the whole OFF thing again only for getting this to work again ??

I would be very thankful if anyone could tell me how to do this.

Thanks and greetings,
Catfish
 
Some further info:

After looking for the OFF.BAT file in the OFF folder
it still reads "shell.exe -time", but it does not work in-game anymore.

I deleted the entry "CTRL-SHIFT-r" in the "mine" configuration file, which i had set to change the range in the "radar screen". Just did not think of it already being used for this time thing.

While this time acceleration does not seem to be an original feature (is it?) in CFS3 this whole thing is a bit "unsatisfying" :kilroy:

Greetings,
Catfish
 
It's not in the FAQ, because basically WARP accomplished the same end, and it was trouble free.

By the way, have you ever discovered WHY ? you need to reinstall OFF every few few weeks.

I had to reinstall Phase 2 ONCE, but then I keep my hands in my pockets a lot

If God didn't want them Buggered, He would not have made them Sheep :ernae:
 
:173go1:
:icon_lol:
Well, ok, i guess one more re-install after a dozen times should not be a problem.
Nevertheless i would prefer another, umm, solution lol

Greetings,
Catfish
 
I think the subtle differances between warp and compression are important.

With warp, you get no time... with accelerated time you get credit for the time.
Warp wakes on contact with enemy and calls wingmen, time compression does not.

Warp takes you to a way point... Compression takes you in the direction you are heading.

I don't like warp, and I want the sim to run out the session on its own time
but sometimes I don't have 45 or 90 minutes and speeding that up would be great.
 
Hello,
maybe this works - have not tried it before, but will next time. It is from someone else and i saved it long ago in a pertsonal OFF tips file:

" ... As soon as I changed the .bat file I had the possibility of acceleration.
When I change keys to "Mine" or my own "OFF-settings", I lose the possibility of acceleration, but as soon as I switch back to "CFS3" settings, it is back. ..."

I just re-installed - so will not try it until i screw up things again ... but if someone else gets the problem - you can at least try this before a re-install ...

Greetings,
Catfish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCbkBfdBrQ
 
I don't think you can re-bind those keys they are hidden generally, and messing with them messes them up. Don't do it ;)
 
OK let me see if I have this straight.

Time acceleration (much preferred than Warp) in OFF is possible by changing the name of the file "OFF.BAT" in the OFF directory to read "Shell.exe -time". That allows the use of "Ctrl-Shift-e" for accelerating time, and "Ctrl-Shift-r" for decelerating again, which is what these keys are programmed for. And then do nothing else! Correct?

By the by what is the time compression rate? Is it x2, x4, x8, x16?
 
In defense of Warp

It takes you waypoint to waypoint, if you look at the top of the TAC, the distance in Nautical Miles tells you if it's 12 miles to the next waypoint, in which case you might as well Fly it. If it states 37 miles, I warp.

If there is enemy aircraft in the area, you will-be pulled out Mid Warp, and informed of their presence. I used to think Warp caused more contacts, actually it doesn't. They'd be there no matter what, but without Warp you'd have the choice of avoiding them before they see you, when you Warp into an area it's like announcing your presence. I don't mind it AFTER my mission, but before, it has cancelled alot of missions

Also if there are enemy aircraft in the area, Warp is not allowed, and you are informed of their presence.

Just Last Night, I tried Warping, I was told NO, when I turned on my Labels it was a flight of about 10 Pfalz DIII, they NEVER saw me. Didn't like the odds :d
 
No don't change the name of the file. EDIT it.


See the FAQ it is in there under

"Q. I can't get "WARP" speed to work with some planes? -OR- is there an autopilot or speed time function?"

further down it says...

"To enable the TIME function :

if you know how to edit .bat files, you can change the OFF.bat file (found in your OFF game folder "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields") to read:


D:
cd "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\"
shell.exe -time


(change D entries to be your drive letter that has OFF installed too)
(note the " only need adding for Win9x or ME).


Then while in OFF, get the faster:
CTRL+SHIFT+E

and slower time frames:
CTRL+SHIFT+R

to work.

(thanks to exc141ac)"
 
Oooohhhh Kaayyyyyyy. I think I understand what your saying Pol.

If I right click on the OFF.bat file I can choose 'edit' which then opens the file in Notepad. And I see this:
C:
cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\
shell.exe

So all I have to add is "-time" at the end of the shell.exe line? And then save and I'm right to go?
 
Hello,
exactly.
Change the "shell.exe" to read "shell.exe -time"
That's all.
Just do NOT apply the keys "ctrl-shift-e" and "ctrl-shift-r" to anything in the Controls settings (Mine). Otherwise you will have to de- and reinstall OFF to get the time acceleration with those keys working again.

Greetings,
Catfish
 
Yes and when you save, make sure it doesn't save with .txt on the end of the file. It must end up as OFF.bat as it was. So in notepad change "save as type" to *.* before saving the file name as OFF.bat
 
Now how do I get "time compress" and "time extend" to show up as assignable commands in the controls menu? Or do I just need to use the keyboard? I had it working at one time on my joystick, but the main computer died and I've forgotten how I did it before.
 
Hello ns13jarhead,

you will not see those time accelerate- and decelerate commands show up in the controls menu, seems they are hard-coded in some file.

If you edited the OFF.BAT file to read

shell.exe -time

you can immediately use the "ctrl-shift-e" for accelerating, and "ctrl-shift-r" for decelerating time advance via the keyboard without changing your "mine" settings file.

But as soon as you apply the keys above to something else via your control settings, you will never again be able to use time acceleration or decelaration.
The keys then work for the new command you applied, but there is no going back to time acceleration, until you completely re-install OFF.

To use the "warp" feature (accelerated time with automatic autopilot towards your waypoints) you can use the vanilla "x", or change this key in the control settings to something else you like - this command holds no perils in regard of going back to original settings or whatever - all will still work.

HTH,
greetings,
Catfish
 
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