=VG= SemlerPDX

Not ours, good luck to you - hope you find the admins.

Easier to answer this recent question in a post: It took me quite awhile to get up to my Type 7 transport, and almost as long to find my "perfect run" - and I pull in half a million per 2-system 14ly jump running Palladium and Bioreducing Lichens. I'm in enemy space, a ways outside the borders of Federation Territory and I get attacked sometimes just pulling into the space stations, but because I've basically put the current controlling faction in power with my trading, I'm allied with both stations and they love me (regardless of my Federation status) so all I have to do is get close to the station and it's defenses protect me. Out in space, I have every weapon station on the Type 7 outfitted with mine deploying units and an evasive maneuvers macro setup so I can "go defensive" and just toss out mines while being chased, spiraling and yawing in a hard to hit pattern and while awaiting my engine cooldown so I can jump back to warp and escape. I collect on average 30,000-60,000 credits in bounties this way every several hours of play (I don't always get attacked, and I don't always kill them with mines, but it happens). This is all on Solo-Play or Private W/Friends (like any sane person plays GTA: V online) as online ED is a world of DPS (damage per second) and you'll die before you realize you're under attack, after hours of no contact with any human players lulled into a false sense of security. Even at my level - military grade alloy armor and all! Thank goodness ships have insurance (never spend all of your cash!!!). This technique I refined for myself isn't for everyone, not everyone will find a 14 light year round trip cargo run like I did, often they have several legs and yield far less cash per run. Mining is less boring, but you'd want to have similar strategies ready for escape and survival while you tool around asteroid belts blasting rocks. Bounty hunting can be done pretty soon, the Cobra's and Viper's are plenty capable once properly outfitted with a setup you can get results with. Again, the insurance is key - you can get killed and save your ship with a good lesson learned, and you will - just keep a reserve amount of money equal to the insurance cost of your current ship and you can learn "what" you need to do a thing for yourself. Some weapons use physical ammo you purchase to restock, some use energy from the ship - some are fixed and some have turrets where you just need to have the enemy in their arc of fire, all you do is maneuver your ship; others are rapid fire, others are single shot, high damage, long reload cannons - it's best to try a few out, and see what style fits you and your ship best. Personally, I use turrets and turn off my flight assist mid flight often, it's a space ship and it can turn around while still traveling in one direction so you can turn on someone chasing you while still flying away from them (if you toggle the flight assist off). All of these things will make similar cash per hour if done properly, my friend Raven prefers bounty hunting as it's the most active and action packed and he's quite good at it; he's now afforded a top tier ship just a few months ago. Exploring can also bring in good cash when done properly, but you don't get the payoff until the end, and if you die AFAIK you lose your exploration computer data hence all the potential money for selling system data is gone, even if your ship is replaced via insurance. For starting out, there are missions that space stations and bases have from various factions from running supplies to hunting down ships. I'd stay away from hunting to start and run cargo or go on mining missions. You should be more concerned with the damage you can take versus the damage you can deal if you go this route to start - put a little of the money you make into your Sidewinder, they can be sold back for equal money (you don't lose money buying and selling back ship parts) but you do lose money if you don't sell off all the non-stock parts you buy for a ship before you sell the ship itself. Make your first money on faction missions, put it into your shields or hull, extra cargo containers and your engines if you're running cargo/mining, or into your guns & Warrant Scanner & FSD Interdictor and shields or hull if you're taking bounty missions. Remember, with a Warrant Scanner, you can just fly around and scan ships, and even if you don't have a specific mission to collect that bounty, you can take them out of "warp" with a Frame Shift Drive Interdictor, kill them if you can and collect the bounty yourself. Raven used to sit in jump zones scanning the ships that came along, and made a fair bit of money because he could choose his targets and wasn't bound by any specific mission. Same with cargo runs you make up yourself, or mining, or whatever. You can do the same things missions send you on, or you can take missions from factions and get auxiliary rewards like reputation and rank. Faction missions are fruitful but you must beware - missions now branch by default, instead of once in awhile or not at all. This means, "run this cargo to this system" will be followed by an "UPDATE" when you get to "this system" that says, "plans changed, now you must deliver it to THAT system". Total bullshit when it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME! I basically closed down my "SemlerUPS" company sending an imaginary letter to the shipping factions telling them "THAT'S NOT HOW CARGO AND SHIPPING WORKS!! AND IF IT DID, I'D HAVE A RIGHT TO CHARGE YOU EXTRA FOR DESTINATION CHANGES, ASSHOLE!" -- but really, this sort of update mid-mission can happen as appropriate for any faction mission you take, so it must be known before hand. Those hunting missions send you up against ships far out of your class with NO indication of what type of ship they are sending you to find, so beware the early bounty missions when you're still rocking a Sidewinder. For actually holding enough cargo to make a mining or cargo mission pay well, you'll want to ditch your Sidewinder asap and move up to the Hauler or better yet, the Adder. A fighter might want to make for the Viper(s) then the Asp Scout or Vulture, a pirate would prefer the Asp Scout for it's cargo capacity. You're gonna want to use the Wiki's to get a feel for the ships and what they can be outfitted to do - this is the one I'm looking at as I write this: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Ships Click the different tabs under Ship Stats to get a feel for a ship outfitted with appropriate gear for the various roles, ship parts are everything and all have classes up to A Class (most expensive/efficient) I went from Sidewinder to Adder to Dimondback Explorer in a multirole config (I did some fighting, some exploring, and some cargo - little ED sampler). I've got her parked at some station, and I mostly use my Type 7 these days, saving for a Python (probably, either that or Anaconda). If you go white hat and play good, you avoid carrying elicit cargo such as drugs, human slaves, or banned materials to stations - I didn't exactly play black hat, but more Han Solo grey... I used my Adder to run every smuggling mission the Factions offered on the missions screens at space stations, I got very good at not getting caught by avoiding missions to bases and preferring Outposts - these are like floating oil rigs with landing pads, no security, seldom get scanned if you land swiftly. Any smuggling mission that didn't have a destination on an Outpost style base, I'd ignore. I'd make a quarter to half a million in one run, once I did enough runs to get better missions on offer, so you can choose this if you want to get a quick load of cash for your first new ship. If you get busted, they just slap you with a fine anyway, and it's like 30,000 to your 300,000 run, so I didn't care and I paid them off before they turned into bounties against me (Han Solo's biggest mistake) When you get allied to a minor Faction you complete missions for, higher reward/risk missions from them open up to you. There's power play with the major factions as well, and by involving yourself, you can gain rank and get a weekly cash income eventually making it very worth it (5,000,000 per week is nothing to scoff at, but it is mid/late game before you'd get to that level), it's a thing to be doing over the long course of your game. I'd not choose a major faction first off, but make it a priority once you've play a little bit, and found a sector of space you enjoy. If you have plans to explore our star system and see Earth in the game, called the Sol System, you'll need a permit, and you must be allied to the Federation to be eligible for the permit (guides online for how to). You can leave a faction, but it will cause them to agro you for a week of real world time, but you don't have to be playing for the timer to keep counting down. They send ships to kill you, but you can just escape as able. The Federation and the Empire both have a top tier ship on offer if you level up with them, only available to purchase if you're allied with them of course. The Federation actually has 2 sub factions, a sort of "civil war" over who is the rightful governing body (not fully sure, I don't keep up with the story line if you can call it that). Best to choose your way of getting money, stick with it for awhile and gain rank with a faction, unlocking better missions, setting bookmarks in your galaxy map for future reference, and getting to know what you like to do in the game. When you're ready to buy your first or second better ship, you'll know what direction you want to take from your research on the Wiki Ships. On that note, for trading, most people use Thrudd's Elite Trading Tool which can find all sorts of cargo runs from one-way to round trip, and anytime you need to move from one system to the next, you should check to see what you can fill your hold with to make the jump worth while - just note that what is a 2 jump trip with NO cargo can be a 5-7 jump trip fully laden and you must budget gas so you do not run out (or get a fuel scoop to harvest from a star, but again, not all stars yield fuel so know your runs). There will always be a grind eventually - I just run cargo while watching reruns on Netflix on the other monitor, puts me to sleep after a few hours, but by then I'm 2-3 million credits richer and closer to my end goal of a Python or Anaconda. Raven prefers to stay active in his time online and hunts other ships. My favorite Twitch'er prefers the mining and it seems like a good middle ground between the two styles. One of the guys in TS3 went on an exploration mission in one direction for a very long time, more than a week of game play I think - of course, it takes just as long to get back to civilized space, but the cash rewards he got I'm sure more than compensated in the form of millions and millions of credits for pages and pages of discovery data to sell. And these days, there is the Horizons content with planetary landings where you can mine specific materials to micro-enhance your ship in various ways like temporary boosts to different systems. Plenty to do to find what you want and like most and that will determine your direction past early game to mid and late game goals. Happy to answer any questions if you have them, or just chat about Elite here - anyone should feel free to toss up some screenshots if they want. I know there are several people here who've played Elite Dangerous and likely have different experiences and tips to share. This game got me into VoiceAttack voice control software for my games, and these days I use it for damn near every game I own now, and many other functions as well. Not that I ran out of buttons for Elite Dangerous - it's so well controlled, it uses only the buttons on the X52 flight stick/throttle that it was designed for and truly needs nothing else, not even the mouse if you didn't want to use it. It's just cool to tell my ship to "Request Docking" and have it reply like some Star Trek ship; that, and the evasive maneuvers macro I have set to voice control... something so geeky cool about yelling, "EVASIVE MANEUVERS" and "DEPLOY HARDPOINTS" to my ship's "computer" while I prepare to launch a steady volley of mines for my pursuer to chew on.

I've had a few headsets before, I prefer over-the-ear styles for max sound and comfort but I have noisy fans around me at times. Gotta throw in my quick review of the G35 by Logitech - killer sound, impressive virtual 7.1 Surround Sound emulation, and the best mic I've ever used; plus it has 3 buttons on it that I find myself using all the time (programmable, I use one for Mute, Pause, and "Next Track" for my music player) and of course they can be set to any ingame buttons as well, with various profiles for different games. Problem with laptop mics is they are entirely dependent on software to keep noise from the speakers from interfering with voice input, you can use your laptop like that for as long as you can take it before you get serious about your hobby here and get yourself a proper headset mic like the rest of us. Sounds like the guys can hear you fine, even though it's not top quality. Not to poke fun, but hell, next you'll ask how to make your touchpad mouse on the laptop work better in an FPS game (j/k) Gear up, soldier

Thanks for the input - if you could pass the word around to the others as you see them, so we could get their input as well, I would appreciate it. I don't want to turn off the same AC data required rule if one of you guys already know that it's not a smart idea, and also opinions on the weather from the regular players would be great.

But Microsoft is so wonderful and so popular - from the Zune to Bing to the highly secure IE web browser, how could the new OS Win10 be at fault? Everyone knows that Windows 7 is garbage, that's why you can only buy a PC or laptop with Win10 installed these days. Why would such a wonderful company release a new operating system if their last one wasn't unusable trash? (j/k sorry, I couldn't help myself. Half the troubleshooting threads online everywhere right now are due to Win10. Fuck Microsoft)

Thanks Outlanders - yea, at the new website here, ya gotta put the tags into your name manually. Looks like you're in the right forum group now "VG Clan Members" We didn't do any member pruning, these issues are leftovers from the website migration. Good to hear from you both, Murder and Outlanders! Take care, see you around!

It takes a man to admit his mistakes, learn from them, and move forward. Thanks, man! Best of luck to you!

Okay, the server just ran though a complete campaign in 4.33.3 with the new weather setup, and it reached Day 26. Input? Thoughts? Was the weather acceptable and playable? It's also been requested that we allow players to use custom aircraft skins, but to do this, we'd have to turn off the config rule "same AC Data required" - I'd like your thoughts and opinions for or against this. So few people cheat at BMS, it's more of an issue of server stability and I'm not sure if custom skins will cause any instability, but still I'd like to discuss it first. Should we allow custom aircraft skins?

The role of the Commander is not to micro-manage players, vehicles, and squads, or to supply unsolicited tips or morale boosts (though used appropriately, they are indeed appreciated in any game). If people don't go to the objectives you mark, don't try to enforce it or start yelling at players. Just play the game. Being a commander doesn't grant you rank over other soldiers in the game. Also, pro tip: don't keep taking on a role you're not familiar with or good at yet, this isn't a training server. PTFO Plenty of places you can have a go at being commander; when you're well practiced and you know the maps and tactics of PR, and how to not micro-manage players, you'll be properly accepted as a commander by these guys, instead of just a blind vote from blueberries pressing buttons.

Welcome to the site, bro! Plenty of cool people around here playing many different games; I don't play Project Reality myself anymore, but I like Arma, Falcon BMS (F-16 Simulator) and our Minecraft modded server quite a bit. A few of us also play some Elite Dangerous (space truckin, space sim action), and even Star Trek Online (free to play). Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home Unsolicited Advice Section -- Some stuff I wish I was told when I first got into all this many years ago: I remember when I made the switch from console to PC exclusively - expensive but worth it. Getting the PC is the first step; don't get fooled by Best Buy and some of the "boxed" PC's you'll see on shelves. Only specialized stores or online outlets have the good gear for good values. I went with CyberPowerPC for a majority of my last build when they had a big sale, and only needed to buy a few additional components online and add them myself. Xidax PC's also have some great deals on entry level Gaming PC's. Wait for a Holiday to buy and there will be a big sale. The graphics card will be one of the most integral and expensive parts you want to invest in, it's like buying a next gen console in and of itself and is what makes the difference between a "computer" and a "gaming computer". Buy the most expensive "single GPU" card you can afford; expect to pay over $200 and less than $400 on average, often there are diminishing returns on the highest end cards. In my example I got the GTX 970 instead of the GTX 980 - a fraction of a performance difference (~15FPS less maybe) but a savings of over $100 on what was then a $350 card. Got an SSD with the $$ I saved. *Beware of cards that tout the chip number (i.e. 970) but look like a thin cracker when others bearing the same chip number (i.e. 970) look like huge thick rectangles with large fans and visible copper heat pipes - anyone can make a GFX card using the latest chip, only good companies like EVGA, MSI and a few others will take the time to build a GOOD card out of the chip with good cooling fans and heat pipes. Tom's Hardware is THE website to go to find the top 10 cards right now (or any PC part for that matter), select one of their picks when you get into building/buying a good Gaming PC. PC's can cost as much as an old used car - research will benefit a new buyer immensely. Also, currently (they flip-flop over years, gotta keep up) nVidia is the best GFX performer, and Intel is the best CPU performer (sometimes it's AMD or ATI respectively)... that being said, ATI GFX cards are often more affordable, same thing with AMD CPU's. And Windows 7 has more support, fixes, and articles regarding games than Win10, but Win10 is coming along. When PC gamer's talk FPS, it's frames per second and it's the ultimate limiter here - the way to kill it is with a good CPU and good GFX card, but then your monitor will only display as many FPS as it's native Refresh Rate (most are around 75Hz, or 75 refreshes per second; anything more than that will not be drawn to the screen). So, the last most expensive part of a good Gaming PC will be the monitor itself. The newest thing is the 4K monitors - 4 times the resolution and sometimes almost 4 times the price - I would not say that it's necessary yet, but if you can afford it, go for it. ASUS makes some of the best 144Hz monitors for gaming, but do your research at Tom's. Also note that not all games work with multiple monitor setups or dual graphics card setups (SLI/Crossfire) - it's why I prefer and recommend a good single GPU graphics card on a single 144Hz monitor (I use the ASUS VG248QE, $279 on Amazon). I have 4 different monitors connected, but only that main "good" display is used for the games. A TV Monitor is not the same as a PC Monitor, even now that TV's have become HD with all the bells and whistles. The way a PC monitor works is slightly different due to the way 3D graphics are displayed, there are some articles explaining it on the internets, sorry I don't have a link ready. But it's a good thing to note that even a expensive smart HD TV that costs a few thousand dollars will not necessarily out perform an HD PC monitor designed to push 3D graphics at the stated refresh and response rates, with a higher pixel density as they are designed to be viewed between 18-24" from the eye, unlike a TV. Eye fatigue used to be a bigger thing - but for hours of gaming with minimal eye fatigue, the Response Rate is the spec to watch on a monitor. 1-2ms (millisecond) response is about the best you will get, but anything more than 5ms and you will notice problems in a long gaming session perhaps including headaches or eye strain. The best in industry are the IPS displays with a different kind of tech running the screen, but of course, they are very expensive even as compared to an expensive gaming monitor. Your goal when buying any gaming monitor is the Refresh Rate - get one with 144Hz (sometimes called 3D Vision "ready" or the like). You won't be using it for the 3D, but it's capable 144Hz refresh will be able to display up to 144 frames per second on the screen for a very, very smooth gaming experience. It's all about eliminating bottlenecks like the one described above with PC gaming when trying to get the best performance for the best value. Feel free to post up here with any questions, make a thread if/when you go to start building or buying a PC and many here will be happy to give pointers or personal experiences with what we've all used over the years. Cheers!

People askin if server will return to normal operations and when this may happen is a valid query, not some personal attack. Just sayin

All this time zone confusion is getting to be a bit much. Just to clarify - some people seem to be missing the point of PRT if DST or other concerns are being mentioned. PRT is a common time, obviously based on Zulu clock (GMT). If it's confusing, here's an example: I am in West USA - if PBAsydney were actually in Syndey, Australia for this example, we are both looking at the same clock that says 17:47 PRT -- for me it's 9:47 AM -- That is all that matters to me here in Portland -- if an event were at 18:00 PRT, that means it's a 10 AM clock for me -- for ANY calculation to find out what PRT is for YOU, just look at it right now, note the difference. Bringing time zone maps into this is just crazy, and makes the whole PRT thing redundant (read: you're doing too much work!) Whatever it is for PBAsydney in this example is arbitrary, same with DST - because our goal in this example above was merely to meet on a server at 18:00 PRT, a common time. More importantly, the date should be clear for anyone west of the international date line which is a simple correction for them, but certainly DST and Time Zone Maps should not even come up when we are looking at a common clock on a website.

No worries. I changed it in the master file for good, only losing an hour of game progress at the time - it won't come up again now. I see that it could have just run out as you had changed them manually though, I see the point - I could have just left it and changed the master day 1 down the road at the next campaign restart.

Those squadrons are supposed to be human only - I did not verify any of the squadrons in the save file Sinu provided, I assumed it was correct based on the list above. FIXED I went through the squadrons and ensured our human ones are not set by HQ. If I missed any others, please let me know. Server restarted once again to day 1 first hour. Thank you for the heads up, CobaltUK! 3rd time's a charm, right?

Okay - gonna try this... I do not see a file called veterans.fmap, but in the RAR Day1 save files, you did include a file called VG Master.fmap I've added the many .fmap files to the appropriate campaign weather folder, and I've started again with only the Day 1 (VG Master) files you provided. I've selected VG Master as the Weather Map following the above instructions to auto update and save with. If any of this is incorrect and you meant to include another set of save files and another master .fmap file along with this set of .fmap files, please let me know. Thanks again, Sinu!! I'm sure most people will appreciate dynamic weather!

Threaded optimization, AFAIK. Been thinking about conducting a poll vote to see how many are unable to run the 64 bit version due to their PC limitations. 32 bit is fast becoming the minority among computers and even laptops, might be time to re-evaluate the common standard with regards to this server as well.