Hi Gentlemen and welcome to the new forum :)

[BlackLion]

Hello!

Some of you might now me from simhq forums;
Some time ago, I made a proposal to the whole community there to create our own IL-2 manual, something like the LOMAC guys got;

the impetus for this proposal came from a browsing session thru my IL-2 archive, containing lots of files and d/l stuff like various guides on how to sim more efficient, how to set up ones system correctly, how to use the various excellent user made addons that are available and so on;

most of this info came from various user guides, found on sites like this one, or from forum threads where many people have contributed their wisdom to solve various issues;

piecing all these little bits of information together, mixing it with personal experiences, spicing it up with historical stuff and rounding up the whole thing with screenies shall be the main purpose of this guide I had in my eyes;

and now, I, or better we, have the chance to create this guide and discuss how it should look like and what we want in and how we want it to get included;

for this purpose, Jim has made it possible to open a new forum-this one-to discuss everything, guide related;

I would love to get input from all of you;
Currently, I am in the process of "creating" the basic structure, or better, a proposal for the basic structure of the guide;
once this proposal is finished, I will post it here to get all the feedback possible to enhance it, either by adding stuff or giving up some, it will be up to our choice and liking;

Although the whole thingie is my idea, I would love to make this the most comprehensive guide to Il2/FB/AEP/PF around and something, every serious user of this great gem of simming software must have
so I encourage you to post ideas, tidbits of info that could be useful, proposals, everything that could help;

lets make this thingie our baby and one that we can be proud of once it is finished

best regards and welcome to this new forum

BlackLion

[CrazySchmidt]

This is a great idea. I'm looking forward to watching this forum develop further, I could use it myself.

Cheers, CrazySchmidt.

[Luckyboy1]

I just finally stumbled on this forum and think it's just the thing to promote the game. Bearcat's essentials list of liks is nice, but it's a mess of links to other sites and duplicate information etc. the same is true of many other guides. Luckyboy's Guide For Compete users is geared to address some technical issues and some issues in using the game. However, it is far from complete. Eastern Skies has an excellent users guide, but it is geared for non-technical questions and again is incomplete.

Ideally, a complete guide would NOT be worded short answers. It would give follow your nose, step by step, click by click instructions.

Due to the International component of the IL-2 gamers, it would be better not to use contractions like... it's would've etc. Any time you do this, it gives fits to most universal translators.

It should have as few pictures as possible to keep download times down. You could incluude links to pictures instead and this will further proote the game.

The game should not only tell people what to do, but why to do it. If you can't tell them why, then there's little reason to do it and the guide is for the most part, wasted.

It should also tell when to do things like patch order and when to install drivers and how to completely unistall the game before loading it again.

The Guide should be structured in 4 major sections in my opinion...

1) What to do to get your computer ready to install the game including driver and general computer tweaking setups that are pretty much universal to all computers. It should include the options people have for playing online like HyperLobby and how to make sure their PC is secure for online play.

It should include the correct patch order for all versions of the game and describe in detail why there are different versions of the game.

Then this section should go on to describe how to use the game in the basic form.

2) Mission building and custom mission genration.

3) Making skins

4) Technical


As you can see, it is a big job, but not a job that cannot be done.


Any comments?

[MaXMhZ]

Just one comment LuckyBoy I think you worry a bit too much about the use of abbreviations - most of the people (if not all) coming here see a lot English language movies/series and hear a lot of english songs too. Most - if not all (and the latter will probably be at some other site/forum based on another language) I myself find abbreviated terms often easier to read.

Perhaps it's a good idea to have multiple language explanations in the future - (if that is possible - but I believe Wiki can support that. And I don't mind misspelling and wrong use of punctuation as long as the message is clear - that's what this project is about I believe - getting more out of the game and educating users.

I also believe online translators are of little or no help (sometimes they can help if the original language is completely unknown to you but then try them with languages you do know and you'll see that they often produce the most hilarious nonsence - they got a long way to go yet before they work satisfactory.

Anyway - Airwarfare strikes again - after the site and the forums now a wiki guide

[EURO_Snoopy]

Anyway - Airwarfare strikes again - after the site and the forums now a wiki guide

and all within 11 months !!

if we don't get something new going soon we'll look like were standing still

[MaXMhZ]

Yeah - "this site is dead" lol best thing I read in a while roflmao

[Blackhawk]

If you're looking for someone to help with the writing, or with anything else, I'll volunteer.

I've done (and continue to do) this sort of thing for the Steel Beasts folks.


Hawk

[EURO_Snoopy]

Hi Blackhawk, thanks for offering your services.

Have a look around the guide and see what you think.

If you have any ideas let us all know here what your plans are. If you need any help with wiki (we're all pretty new to this) just give us a yell and we'll try to find a solution.

[Blackhawk]

Okay, will do. I have no idea what wiki is, but I'm sure I'll learn quickly.

Is there an organizational structure, with individuals assigned to various tasks?


Hawk

[MaXMhZ]

wiki is sort-of an open-source software package - you can make sort-of (or real) encyclopedia's with it.

Anyone can use and contribute - see the rest of the posts in this forum.

For the main WikiPedia go here:

http://www.wikipedia.org

You won't need M$ anymore and Wiki is allways more up-to-date

WikiPedia has won several major awards and prices in the last years, and rightly so...

[EURO_Snoopy]

Is there an organizational structure, with individuals assigned to various tasks?

Not really,,, just let us know what you plan to do.

At this stage if a section is already being worked please don't edit it until contacting the author or letting us know here. So long as we all communicate there shouldn't be any problems.

This page will let you see where people are working:
http://airwarfare.com/mediawiki-1.4.5/i ... entchanges

Practice formatting etc in the sandbox. http://airwarfare.com/mediawiki-1.4.5/i ... ge#Sandbox

Enjoy!

[Blackhawk]

OK. Good enough for a start. My ISP and I are having issues, I may be in and out for a while.


Hawk