ETIQUETTE
The first rule of etiquette that everybody learns during their first on-line furball is to salute your opponents after shooting them down and after having been shot down yourself. This is done via the chat bar. By hitting the Backspace key while on-line, you'll activate the chat bar along the lower edge of your screen. You can type in anything you want to say to the other game participants in this chat bar, hit Enter, and it will appear in the chat scroll that's ongoing in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
At the bottom of the chat bar you should also notice four different "chat options", i.e., "All," "Team," "Visible Team," and "Squad." When the "All" box is checked, all game participants can see your message. When the "Team" box is checked, only those game participants on your team can see your message. When the "Visible Team" box is checked, only those teammates within visible range can see your message. When the "Squad" box is checked, only members of your squad can see your message. (See Squadrons under ODDS & ENDS, below). "Team" chat is only used during a Team Target or Team Melee game when you want to send a message to your teammates that you don't want the enemy to see - e.g., your current heading.
I remember being absolutely amazed my first time on-line at just how quickly some of those pilots could type, fly, and fight all at the same time! The trick to this is in the use of a little "macro" program that's already built into your RB3D program that can be found in your mplayer.ini file. Without doing anything extra, to activate these "macros" all you have to do is pull up the "chat bar," then hold down your "Shift" key and hit any one of the following keys on your numeric keypad (usually off to the right on your keyboard): INS, DEL, END PGDN, HOME, PGUP. One of the little "macros" you'll pull up by doing this is the game's pre-programmed salute which appears like this: <S!>. If you want to change the pre-loaded "macros" to something a little more personalized, you do this by either using "Notepad" or by going into your RB3D program via DOS and editing the mplayer.ini file. For those of you who are "DOS-challenged," in order to do this from Windows, get into DOS via your MS-DOS prompt and change to your RB3D program by typing cd/sierra/redbaron3d at the DOS prompt. Your screen will look like this:
C:\WINDOWS>cd/sierra/redbaron3d
Hit "Enter" - Your DOS prompt will now look like this:
C:\WINDOWS\SIERRA\REDBARON3D>
At this prompt, type the command to edit your mplayer.ini file. Your screen will look like this:
C:\WINDOWS\SIERRA\REDBARON3D>edit mplayer.ini
Hit "Enter." A blue DOS screen with white lettering will appear. Towards the bottom of this screen you'll see [Quick Chat] followed by the pre-programmed "macros" and their corresponding keypad assignments. Simply move your cursor to the "macro" you wish to change by left-clicking on the start of the line you're going to change and type away. Then, when you're done, left-click on "File" in the upper left-hand corner of your DOS screen, hit "Save" followed by "Exit." and you're done! You can now simply close your DOS window and return to Windows.
If you have a joystick with programmable buttons, an even better option is to simply write your own "Salute!" command and assign it to one of the buttons. Most (if not all) of the programmable sticks out there will let you do this. When I tried to do this with my joystick, however, for some reason it wouldn't recognize the "macro" commands built into my mplayer.ini file. Therefore, I ended up having to write my customized "Salute!" command by simply typing it all out on the keyboard myself. But it works, and, believe me, it's a lot easier to fire off my "Salute!" with the touch of a single button during the heat of battle as opposed to having to divert my attention to the keyboard.
Vulching Every now and then you'll hear somebody accused of "vulching" on a server. When I was a newbie, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but it was obvious to me that they were referring to vultures, those lovely birds who circle overhead and feast on dying or dead animals. What exactly constitutes "vulching" has long been open to some animated discussions on the various RB3D forums, and a lot depends on the individual server operator's "house rules," but from what I've experienced most pilots seem to agree on the following definition: "vulching" consists of 1) shooting at planes while they're on the ground or taking off, 2) firing rockets at aircraft in flight, or 3) zooming in on another pilot's kill as it spirals to earth and putting a last bullet into it so that you get credit for it. Now, I will say that #1 and #2 will not be considered "vulching" if you're part of an organized war or in a Team game where strafing and attacking enemy aerodromes is allowed. #3, however, is always considered "vulching" when it's done intentionally.
The Flamer Bug. At some point during your on-line experience, you're going to get shot up to the point where your plane catches fire. When this happens, immediately hit your ESC button, start a new life, and salute the opponent who shot you down. If you fail to do this and elect to "ride out" the flamer, you risk booting everybody off of the server. The reason is that the flame graphics create a huge amount of "packet loss" making it impossible for the server to function properly. You cannot put out an engine fire in MMP via engine shut-down and diving like you can in SP.
Finally, as with any competitive game, emotions can run pretty high at times when flying on-line. It's particularly frustrating when you find yourself getting shot down time and time again by the same pilot and even more so when that pilot seems to take real pleasure in throwing little "barbs" your way via the "chat scroll" - e.g., "Salute x3!" It's easy to get angry. However, I've also found it best to keep things in perspective and I refuse to get dragged into any "flame wars" on the "chat scroll." Keep your cool. Salute your opponent, start over, and fight again—and always remember that this is ONLY A GAME! Fly with honor in memory of the young men who flew these crates in real life over 80 years ago without the benefit of a Start New Life button.
ODDS & ENDS
Squadrons. A lot of pilots end up joining one of the many RB3D squadrons that are out there; there are literally dozens. However, there are as many pilots that choose to remain independent. You don't need to be in a squad to fly on-line and to have fun. However, anyone who's in a squad will tell you that it's a great place to learn strategy and tactics and also to get help if you ever have any computer problems or questions.
You'll notice that some pilots have letter/number abbreviations before their names. Some might even have military rankings following their names. These are squad designations. My on-line "handle" reads LWulffe_Herr Mac indicating that I'm a member of the Lone Wulffe Squadron. We are primarily a "Hun" squadron (although we do fly Allied on rare occasions). Other squads are primarily Allied, and still other squads fly both sides equally. Choosing a squad is no different from choosing your friends. As such, there's only one rule to follow: find one that your comfortable with, one that fits your personality and flying style, and one that satisfies what you're trying to get out of your on-line flying experience. There is a complete list of squadron links available here at Wings of Honor; I recommend you visit some of their websites to learn more about them. If you like what you see, you can inquire further with them about joining up. Both Wings of Honor and Sierra's RB3D forum even have special sections devoted to "Squad Recruiting."
KALI
A lot of pilots have switched to KALI as their platform-of-choice for launching RB3D on-line. When you access KALI, go to their "Downloads" section to download the necessary software.
KALI charges a one-time fee of $20 to utilize their services. However, you're able to download their software free-of-charge and use it in "demo" mode. The "demo" mode automatically shuts down after fifteen minutes, which is more than enough time to access a server and get going. You are not booted off the server when the KALI "demo" shuts down. The only problem I've ever heard of is the one I experienced myself; when I first tried KALI, all of my pre-programmed joystick buttons returned to their factory default mode when the "demo" timed itself out. I found myself in the middle of a hot chase totally unable to keep track of my target! Since the KALI platform was not affording me with access to any more servers than I was already getting, I don't use it due to my joystick problem, but a lot of pilots out there love it.
Custom Paint Schemes. Virtually all of the dedicated on-line pilots out there are flying with customized paint schemes for their aircraft. Some of these paint schemes were created by the pilots themselves, many others by the on-line squadrons, and virtually all of them are available for download into your computer at "Flybert's Chateau." Flybert is a long-time member of the RB3D community who's dedicated his website to collecting many of the custom paint schemes that are out there and putting them together in one convenient place for downloading.
When I first started flying on-line, I'd occasionally see pilots compliment another pilot in the chat scroll about the cool colors that their planes were sporting. I had no idea what they were talking about, however, because I certainly couldn't see them! In order to see all the pretty colors, you have to go into your Preferences on your Pilot Roster screen. You'll see a box there for paint schemes that's set to "Default;" you need to change this to "Custom." Without Flybert's paints, however, you won't see everybody else's homemade creations; all you'll see are the Allied or German squad colors that came pre-packaged with the game. This also means that other pilots won't be able to see your custom "masterpiece" unless you can convince Flybert to include it in his collection. Trust me on this one - Flybert's paints are well worth the download.
As mentioned, many of Flybert's paint schemes were designed by the on-line RB3D squadrons. When you join a squad, you'll be told which numbers to use to apply their paint schemes to your plane when flying on-line. The Lone Wulffe squadron has two different paint schemes - i.e., everyday colors (39), and organized war colors (38). When you select your aircraft in the server's lobby, the pop-up screen contains a small box at the bottom marked "Squad I.D." By typing either of my squad designations in this box, either 38 or 39, I can fly with the Lone Wulffe's colors.
This "Squad I.D." also applies to the on-line "chat" while flying. If you're flying on-line with one or more of your squad mates and you're both sporting the same colors (meaning you've both chosen the same "Squad I.D." number), by selecting "Squad" in the chat bar you're able to communicate only with your squad mates and nobody else. This comes in handy when you find yourself on an open server (as opposed to a squad-organized war) with some of your squad mates and want to discuss private squad tactics or tips for shooting down a particular type of aircraft.
Gunsights. A lot of pilots use artificial gunsights than can be easily downloaded and added to your game. There are many different types out there and are usually available at a squad's website once you've joined up. I've found it to be a real boost to my gunnery skills, particularly while flying in transparent cockpit mode.
Unofficial Game Patches. You'll find a lot of "unofficial" game patches on many of the numerous RB3D websites that are out there. These are called "unofficial" patches because they've been created by individual gamers and not by Sierra, the company that created RB3D. As such, Sierra will not accept any responsibility for damage that you might do to your game as a result of downloading one or more of these unofficial add-ons. Still, a lot of pilots are using them without any problems whatsoever and absolutely love them. Most of the patches improve the game's graphics, but there are others out there that have been created to improve the game's FMs. Some of these patches only work in SP and not in MMP, and some of the patches aren't compatible with other patches - it can get complicated. For this reason, if you choose to start fiddling around with patches, the first thing you should do is download von Tom's "Campaign Manager" software that makes adding and removing patches quick and easy. All of the available patches have conveniently been organized into a central downloads section here at Wings of Honor.
RB3D Webring. In addition to the websites previously mentioned, be sure to check out the RB3D Webring! Here you'll have links to a ton of great RB3D websites in one convenient location!
Well, there you have it - over nine months of learning
experience crammed into one tutorial. I wish I'd had
this document available when I flew on-line for the first
time; it would have accelerated the learning curve and
greatly enhanced my enjoyment of MMP.
Good luck, and good hunting!