Tips and Advice for BOBII Newbie's or Novices Flight Sim'ers
Posted: 14 Aug 2008, 14:26
I had a very frustrated Novice who purchased BOBII at another forum. This is the advice I offered him at the time. I offer this information here in hope some other BOBII interested Novice players or buyers will come along and read it. I also hope some of our outstanding community will offer some New/Novice tips to this sticky thread.
Hi NOVICE/NEWBIE, welcome to BOBII, and sorry for any disappointment and frustration you have experienced. I have been there myself when I was new. I hope you will stick with it as the rewards are significant for player interested in history, WWII, A/C , flying, and BOB. The game simulates each and every day of the BOB in the campaign and you can play on either the RAF or LUF side but you must learn to fly, shoot, and control the game first.
The game has a learning curve even for the very experienced flight simulation players (100's of features and options with over 200 key commands) so controlling the game takes some time and effort. The features are explained in the Users Manual (located in the BOBII folder in the Docs folder) for the GUI (Graphic User's Interface), options in appendix A, and Keys in Appendix H. You will need to scan and read the User Manual.
Take you time as BOBII is more of a hobby (if interested) than a simple game. We like to think of BOBII as "The BOB Time Machine" where you can get the closest feeling possible to a real life BOB pilot fighting in the BOB that any simulation can provide.
Yes, a Newbie Guide would be outstanding but the game is being maintained and update by an all unpaid volunteer group called BDG (see other sticky threads for BDG information). We do not have the people to do another document. Most all information about the game is in the Users Manual but I do agree the information is not directed at the new flight Simulation player. Actually, all Flight Simulation games are that way in my experience.
I will give you a few tips but the best thing is for you to come to the A2A forum (if you are reading this then congrats you made it) and meet the community and ask questions. Our community is a G rated and very mature group of BOBII fans who will gladly help you with your questions, concerns or comments.
BTW, I recommend reading all the sticky threads on both the technical forum and the General forum as they contain some very useful information.
Now for Buddye’s Newbie Tips (or BoBII for beginners). This is how I started my grandson out on BOBII but I hope many players will add their Tips to this thread in the future.
First, try to set you game up for Novice.
Options->Sim , set flight model = Novice
Second, Go to your BOBII folder (where the game is installed) and find a file called the BDG.txt (Appendix A in the Users Manual). Double click on the Bdg.txt file to open, or open it with NotePad so you can edit it (be sure to save your edits). Find and set the following Bdg.txt parameters (use the find under the edit for Notepad):
Novice_AI=ON #Only valid in Instant Action missions
Novice_Target_Size=ON #Note: Larger target for easy kills (practice or testing)
Novice_Gunnery_Predictor=ON # NOTE Must padlock target to see predictor, switch to view F8 to practice
Also for a bit more punch for your bullet hits:
Player_Stronger_Bullets=ON #NOTE Only the player has the stronger bullets (not the AI)
The Novice_Gunnery_Predictor will require you to padlock a target (the enter key is a toggle for ON/OFF padlock) but it will help you learn to shoot (and deflection shoot) by showing the "lead" (a big red X to shoot at).
Stick to the Instant action Missions (Turkey Shoot, 1-on-1, and single fighter against single bomber) until you get comfortable with flying and shooting. It seems that most people keep interest if they are flying and killing AI A/C.
Then you can slowly back off the Novice setting one at a time.
If you are really not interested or you do not have the time for learning how to control BOBII then you should consider other games which are simpler to play.
Hi NOVICE/NEWBIE, welcome to BOBII, and sorry for any disappointment and frustration you have experienced. I have been there myself when I was new. I hope you will stick with it as the rewards are significant for player interested in history, WWII, A/C , flying, and BOB. The game simulates each and every day of the BOB in the campaign and you can play on either the RAF or LUF side but you must learn to fly, shoot, and control the game first.
The game has a learning curve even for the very experienced flight simulation players (100's of features and options with over 200 key commands) so controlling the game takes some time and effort. The features are explained in the Users Manual (located in the BOBII folder in the Docs folder) for the GUI (Graphic User's Interface), options in appendix A, and Keys in Appendix H. You will need to scan and read the User Manual.
Take you time as BOBII is more of a hobby (if interested) than a simple game. We like to think of BOBII as "The BOB Time Machine" where you can get the closest feeling possible to a real life BOB pilot fighting in the BOB that any simulation can provide.
Yes, a Newbie Guide would be outstanding but the game is being maintained and update by an all unpaid volunteer group called BDG (see other sticky threads for BDG information). We do not have the people to do another document. Most all information about the game is in the Users Manual but I do agree the information is not directed at the new flight Simulation player. Actually, all Flight Simulation games are that way in my experience.
I will give you a few tips but the best thing is for you to come to the A2A forum (if you are reading this then congrats you made it) and meet the community and ask questions. Our community is a G rated and very mature group of BOBII fans who will gladly help you with your questions, concerns or comments.
BTW, I recommend reading all the sticky threads on both the technical forum and the General forum as they contain some very useful information.
Now for Buddye’s Newbie Tips (or BoBII for beginners). This is how I started my grandson out on BOBII but I hope many players will add their Tips to this thread in the future.
First, try to set you game up for Novice.
Options->Sim , set flight model = Novice
Second, Go to your BOBII folder (where the game is installed) and find a file called the BDG.txt (Appendix A in the Users Manual). Double click on the Bdg.txt file to open, or open it with NotePad so you can edit it (be sure to save your edits). Find and set the following Bdg.txt parameters (use the find under the edit for Notepad):
Novice_AI=ON #Only valid in Instant Action missions
Novice_Target_Size=ON #Note: Larger target for easy kills (practice or testing)
Novice_Gunnery_Predictor=ON # NOTE Must padlock target to see predictor, switch to view F8 to practice
Also for a bit more punch for your bullet hits:
Player_Stronger_Bullets=ON #NOTE Only the player has the stronger bullets (not the AI)
The Novice_Gunnery_Predictor will require you to padlock a target (the enter key is a toggle for ON/OFF padlock) but it will help you learn to shoot (and deflection shoot) by showing the "lead" (a big red X to shoot at).
Stick to the Instant action Missions (Turkey Shoot, 1-on-1, and single fighter against single bomber) until you get comfortable with flying and shooting. It seems that most people keep interest if they are flying and killing AI A/C.
Then you can slowly back off the Novice setting one at a time.
If you are really not interested or you do not have the time for learning how to control BOBII then you should consider other games which are simpler to play.