30.01.2010, 15:05
Held off from mods initially - suspicions about dubious files, Mickey Mouse FMs, playing people online with uber Mickey Mouse FMs etc, but eventually gave them a try. Started with UI1.1 - seemed great at first, but long load times, poor fps soon resulted in me sticking to 4.08/9. HSFX 4.0/1 came along and I gave it a try - very pleased, mods AND no real performance hit, so my default offline version was HSFX for a while. Didn't like being forced to use mods that were for SEOW only (eg, the 'S' button thought-police), but not a major handicap. Very reluctant to go UP2 at first; a lot of what I heard made me suspicious and their answers only seemed to confirm the suspicions.
Then I actually looked at the different FMs - did some work of my own with Infomod, looked up old IL2C data, and the new stuff done for UP2. Frankly I was very surprised at the total lack of quality control in all the previous mod packs. I'd assumed FMs released in mod packs went through some sort of screening and testing. Thats one reason I started with UI1.1 and not individual mods at an earlier stage. When some mod FMs are very different from almost identical stock planes the game is not being enhanced, it's being made a joke. Anyway, having looked at the changes UP made I could see they were at least doing something to make these mod FMs 'fit' into Oleg's world. The bonus with having moved to UP2.0 was being able to ditch those SEOW mods or at least be able to chose when to use them.
The gameplay mods, like MDS, wind, realistic bomb/torp, carrier mod etc are all excellent and make mods worthwhile on their own. They're the main reason to have mods, IMO. There are new flyables which are great to have too and which have been very well done, but quite a few merely look the right size and shape while flying like something else. They may be 'flyable,' but until they're fixed they aren't useable, and for that reason I'll probably be sticking with UP2.
Then I actually looked at the different FMs - did some work of my own with Infomod, looked up old IL2C data, and the new stuff done for UP2. Frankly I was very surprised at the total lack of quality control in all the previous mod packs. I'd assumed FMs released in mod packs went through some sort of screening and testing. Thats one reason I started with UI1.1 and not individual mods at an earlier stage. When some mod FMs are very different from almost identical stock planes the game is not being enhanced, it's being made a joke. Anyway, having looked at the changes UP made I could see they were at least doing something to make these mod FMs 'fit' into Oleg's world. The bonus with having moved to UP2.0 was being able to ditch those SEOW mods or at least be able to chose when to use them.
The gameplay mods, like MDS, wind, realistic bomb/torp, carrier mod etc are all excellent and make mods worthwhile on their own. They're the main reason to have mods, IMO. There are new flyables which are great to have too and which have been very well done, but quite a few merely look the right size and shape while flying like something else. They may be 'flyable,' but until they're fixed they aren't useable, and for that reason I'll probably be sticking with UP2.