This is my guide to running F-19 Stealth Fighter in DOSBox Staging. This guide will cover setup using a GOG installation.
We are using the GOG release as it's the last version of F-19 Stealth Fighter, version 435.04.
GOG installation
I used GOG Galaxy to install F-19, it obviously includes all the GOG specific files and it's own copy of vanilla DOSBox which we won't be using. Where GOG Galaxy is installed will determine where your copy of F-19 will be installed.
In my case, my copy of GOG Galaxy was installed at D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy, which meant F-19 was installed at D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\F-19 Stealth Fighter.
It's worth noting that the GOG release has changed and been updated over time. Not the game itself, but more F-19 documents have been added later. So if you have an older installation, maybe check those extras for additional docs!
Game folders
I use my DOSBox game folder scheme described in DOSBox game management. So in my case I have a D:\games\dos\F-19 Stealth Fighter folder with the following sub folders:
conf (DOSBox Staging configuration file).
docs (optional: manuals, other docs, etc.)
A hdd or cd folder isn't required as we'll be using the GOG installation folder.
Command line options (optional)
F-19 supports a number of command line options. You should use a command line option to specify a sound card otherwise F-19 will default to the PC speaker (emulated in DOSBox Staging in our case). It's recommended to pick something other than PC speaker from these options, your ears will thank you!
/AA Adlib or compatible (Soundblaster emulated in DOSBox)
/AB Innovation (can be emulated in DOSBox Staging)
/AI Internal PC speaker (default)
/AR Roland (can be emulated in DOSBox after patching)
/AT Tandy sound (can be emulated in DOSBox)
Each sound option has it's own in game sound driver (xSOUND.EXE) so if you have a look in your F-19 installation folder you'll see ASOUND.EXE, BSOUND.EXE, ISOUND.EXE, etc.
The following command line options are optional, if you don't specify them F-19 will ask you about a joystick and give you a graphics menu to select from at start-up. The detail level can be adjusted in game. Options are:
/J if you use a joystick
/NJ if you use a keyboard without a joystick
/GE if you use EGA 16-color graphics
/GM if you use MGCA or VGA 256-color graphics
/GC if you use CGA 4-color graphics
/GT if you use Tandy 1000 16-color graphics
/GH if you use Hercules monochrome graphics
/D2 if you prefer exceptional ground detail (for very fast machines)
/DI if you prefer moderate ground detail (for AT class machines)
/D0 if you prefer very little ground detail (for slow machines)
So in my case I would use:
f19 /AR /J /GM /D2to run F19 with Roland (MT-32) sound, with a joystick, with VGA graphics and at a high detail level.
Patching and gaming experience improvements
The GOG release is the latest version of F-19 but unfortunately they didn't include the Roland retrofit patch which allows you to enjoy MT-32 midi music. This would be the Roland in-game sound driver RSOUND.EXE. This file needs to be in your GOG installation folder in order to use the Roland sound option. See damson menu below.
damson menu
Firstly a huge thankyou to damson for his batch file menu (it's awesome) and allowing me to link to his video, steam guide and download. damson menu is the one gaming improvement you need for F-19 Stealth Fighter, it is very highly recommended.
It provides the following improvements:
A scenario selector, allowing F-15 Strike Eagle II scenarios to be used in F-19.
Pilot roster backup and restore options. Who wants to get through 98 missions only to die on the 99th? (not me!)
An external model selector, choose from the original F-19 or F-117.
The secret sound board selector, allowing you to choose from PC speaker, Tandy Adlib and Roland sound (no need for command line options!)
And if that wasn't enough the download package includes the Roland retrofit patch for F-19, RSOUND.EXE so no need to go hunting for the patch!
The menu is self-explanatory and very easy to use. damson has put up a YouTube video showing the menu and how to install and use, and there's a comprehensive Steam guide explaining it all as well. So go grab that download package!
If you haven't seen damson's YouTube channel I recommend taking a look there's some very informative and entertaining flight sim videos there!
Finally, the GOG menu problems in DOSBox Staging I discuss in the post, DOSBox Staging: Why do GOG menus look bad?, don't apply, as damson's menu is already in it's own batch file.
DOSBox Staging setup
The DOSBox Staging video and rendering setup defaults provide a solid set of options that don't need to be tweaked for a really good gaming experience. You may find the 'out of the box' settings never need to be changed.
CPU setup
This is my subjective opinion so your experiences may differ. The CPU settings are often overlooked and get left on auto, I know I normally did but I've recently discovered that the CPU settings may affect the gaming experience.
In short, I think the simple core may be underused for older games not requiring protected mode.
Now the F-19 detail level menu suggests settings for a fast 286 and 386 machine, so we know F-19 would have coped with a 386 pc. The DOSBox-X wiki suggesting that a fast 286 is 3300 cycles and a 386 is 4595 cycles. So I'll set my CPU type to 386 as the menu suggests F-19 wasn't developed for anything faster.
Now with the core set to auto/dynamic and 4595 cycles we're going to get a lot of weapons misses. With a normal core we get fewer but still a lot of weapons misses but with a simple core we get fewer misses still, they still happen just not as many.
If we drop the cycles down to 3300, the auto/dynamic core is still getting weapons misses, it's a bit better with normal but a simple core gets consistent weapons hits. It looks like a simple core with a 386 CPU at 3300 cycles is a bit of sweet spot for F-19.
Landings seem to be a bit of an issue with F-19 and I think it might be due to the flight path indicator (on the HUD) not tracking with speed properly during approach. Again it's subjective but I think it tracks a lot better with a simple core at 3300 cycles. I'm finding smoother landing far easier with these settings.
This is subjective and this is running with my hardware, so you may disagree or need to tweak the cycles a bit, either way give it a shot, it might surprise you. You can always switch back to your previous settings in DOSBox.
Soundblaster setup
Normally we would skip past Soundblaster setup as the default settings are normally optimal. However F-19 supported Soundblaster stereo but only for the Soundblaster Pro (1) which had dual OPL 2 chips on the board. The Soundblaster Pro 2 and Soundblaster 16 only had a single OPL 3 chip.
In the sblaster section of the config file the sbtype option affects the oplmode option. So for stereo you can either:
Set the sbtype to sbpro1 and leave the oplmode as auto.
Leave the sbtype as sb16 and set the oplmode to dualopl2.
I opted for the later.
Innovation setup
The GOG release include BSOUND.EXE the Innovation sound card driver, so I was a bit cheeky and added an Innovation option to Damson's menu to try it out. To enable it, in the innovation section of the DOSBox Staging config set sidmodel to auto.
It's an interesting alternative, the Innovation tech is based on the SID chip in the C64. The title music is completely different, sounding a lot like an enhanced version of the C64 music and there's even some speech when you're ready to take-off!
I don't think I'd stick with it permanently but it's good for a session or two.
Midi setup
For a discussion on midi setup see DOSBox midi. For DOSBox Staging the versioned MT-32 roms are used. F-19 works well with the CM32L and MT32 new roms, so leaving the MT32 model, (in the mt32 section) as auto will default to CM32L roms which sound good.
Controller setup
For an in-depth look at modern HOTAS controller configuration for retro flight sims, take a look at my series of posts, Controllers and retro sims.
F-19 only uses 2 controller axes, the joystick x-axis and y-axis. No throttle or rudder axis is needed. Those with a HOTAS with an integrated throttle/rudder axes should be fine. I didn't even need a TARGET profile to use my joystick the game calibration just found it.
Autoexec setup and cloud saves
As F-19 is such an old game it has problems with large amounts of conventional memory, so you'll want to use the loadfix utility. From the DOSBox wiki:
LOADFIX is a program to reduce the amount of available conventional memory. It's useful for old programs which don't expect much memory to be free.
It can be run without parameters, to use the defaults.
GOG releases often provide saving your game in the cloud, it does this by providing an overlay mount in the GOG DOSBox config. I've recreated this mount in the DOSBox Staging config.
I'm not 100% sure if it works correctly, so please be aware and don't rely on it!
This is a guess on my part but I'm assuming that there's a GOG process running which is scanning the cloud_saves folder in the GOG installation folder and uploading those save files to the cloud.
My example config
This is my example config with the changes/options most likely to change from the DOSBox Staging default.
[sdl]
fullscreen = false
fullresolution = desktop
windowresolution = default
viewport_resolution = fit
[render]
aspect = true
glshader = crt-auto
integer_scaling = vertical
[cpu]
core = simple
cputype = 386
cycles = fixed 3300
cycleup = 100
cycledown = 100
[midi]
mididevice = mt32
[mt32]
model = auto
romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" # your dir may differ
[sblaster]
sbtype = sb16 # or sbpro1
oplmode = dualopl2 # or auto for sbpro1
[innovation]
sidmodel = auto # to try Innovation
[joystick]
joysticktype = 4axis
timed = true
deadzone = 0 # my preference
[autoexec]
loadfix
mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\F-19 Stealth Fighter"
mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\F-19 Stealth Fighter\cloud_saves" -t overlay
c:
call f19scen.bat # damson menuShortcut
Don't forget to create your game specific DOSBox Staging shortcut as described in DOSBox game management.
Manuals and other documents
There are already some manuals in the GOG installation folder and with GOG Galaxy you can download more manuals as extras, which will be downloaded to the !Downloads folder in the GOG installation folder. Documents include:
Manual
Reference card
Technical supplement
The Official F-19 Stealth Fighter Handbook (strategy guide)
This is entirely optional but I like to copy these docs to my D:\games\dos\F-19 Stealth Fighter\docs folder and then place a shortcut to this docs folder on my desktop when playing. That way if I need to consult any docs, I can pause F-19, switch from fullscreen to window, open the docs folder shortcut and check out any docs without having to hunt around for them.
Missing documents
If you were playing F-19 back in the day there's some documentation you might remember but not listed above, the ONC maps. It may take a bit of hunting but they are available on-line in fact both versions of the maps are available, the original maps and the later colour glossy maps.
Running F-19
A couple of pointers:
The <Ins> key sets keyboard and joystick sensitivity, my personal preference is for the highest sensitivity.
The game is speed sensitive so if your weapons are missing what should have been an easy kill, your DOSBox cycles may be a little too high. The 3300 cycles recommendation works for me, but you may need to reduce the cycles a little, try a 100 cycle decrement.
Good hunting!
References
F-19 command line options? VOGONS
F-19 Stealth Fighter Scenario Selector (tool for using maps from F-15 Strike Eagle 2 + download), damson's channel, YouTube
How to add more scenarios, change 3d model and save your pilot. Guides, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Steam
CPU core, DOSBox conf, DOSBox wiki
LOADFIX, DOSBox wiki