F22 Air Dominance Fighter part 1: Primer
- DarkenedRoom
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
A primer on the different releases and versions of the classic Digital Image Design (D.I.D.) F-22 sim from December 1997, F22 Air Dominance Fighter (F22 ADF).
This article will cover the various releases and versions possible with F22 ADF.
Acknowledgement
Most of this article is based on the excellent work done by Menrva with this post on Krishty’s Sim Forums, and from the patch collection compiled by Krishty, without which this would have been a far more difficult (if not impossible) endeavour. Credit and many thanks to both.
Overview
Putting it simply, there have been a lot of different editions/releases of F22 Air Dominance Fighter. Edition/release is used to refer to a product sold as a retail product or bundled with OEM hardware.
A number of editions were released in multiple languages, so each of those were a separate language specific product in it's own right.
Many editions supported multiple graphics API's. So an edition may have a Glide API version and a Direct3D API version.
This resulted in a rather large array of versions from what could be considered the 'standard' F22 ADF product. This in turn resulted in a large number of patches for the 'standard' product.
Then we can add it the OEM editions bundled with some Intel MMX hardware. Again these came in multiple languages.
Then there are the Japanese editions which rather strangely came in Japanese and English!
This means there are a lot of editions requiring a lot of patches. So even if you only need a couple of patches, you still need to be able to navigate your way through all the rest. For this reason this primer is here.
Patches
All patches covered below can be found on this post, DID F22 Games Collection on Krishty’s Sim Forums.
F22 Air Dominance Fighter (F22 ADF) Standard editions
This section will concentrate on the most common 'standard' retail editions.
The standard retail edition came in the following languages, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Each language edition supported both Direct3D or Glide API versions. This results in 10 versions based on language and graphics API.
I believe that F22 had both a build version number and a release version number. It looks like the last build was on or around 20th November 1997, so has a build version number of v5.108. This build version number only seems to appear in the associated readme.txt file and although not listed I believe this would have a release version number v1.0.
There are a number of standard edition patches but only the v5.144 patch is recommended.
v5.144 patch
This is an upgrade patch providing multiple fixes and increasing the build version to v5.144. There are 10 versions of this patch, one for each language and each graphics API (Direct3D or Glide) in each language. The patch required will depend on the language and graphics API in use, e.g. English language, Glide API version or German language, Direct3D version.
The patch readme file refers to this patch as v5.144 and a few lines below as v1.544! I believe v1.544 is the release version number. This is the only recommended patch.
Union Reality Gear patch
The Union Reality Gear headset was a helmet like head worn tracking controller, providing early head tracking support. This patch adds support for this hardware and must be installed after the v5.144 patch. There are again 10 versions of this patch, one for each language and each graphics API (Direct3D or Glide) in each language.
Due to the esoteric nature of the hardware this is not a recommended patch.
Multiplayer patch
The multiplayer patch was a multiplayer upgrade patch which may have followed on from earlier multiplayer upgrades in the v5.144 patch. This patch must be installed after the v5.144 patch. It is a 'file replacement' patch, however the file it replaces, f22.dat is different from the patch file supplied, _f22.exe. Replacing _f22.exe causes the game to crash on start.
This patch is not compatible with the Union Reality Gear patch so only one of these patches can be installed. This patch is also not compatible with the Read Sea Operations expansion. The readme supplied with this patch describes it as 'Patch Version 2'. I believe this is either:
A reference to it being the second set of multiplayer upgrades.
The patch release version number.
Due to the incompatibility with the F22 Red Sea Operations (F22 RSO) expansion, this is not a recommended patch.
F22 Air Dominance Fighter OEM (Intel MMX) editions
This section will concentrate on the OEM edition bundled with early Intel MMX hardware in Europe.
It is distinguished from the normal retail release with the Intel MMX logo present on the menu screen.
These editions of the F22 ADF will only use the Direct3D graphics API. This version is not compatible with the F22 RSO expansion. There is no build or release version number in the readme file.
There is a single patch for the English language Intel MMX edition.
3dfx patch
This is a file replacement patch replacing the existing f22.dat file. This replaces the Direct3D API used by F22 with the Glide version. It is only applicable to the English language edition. When running with this patch a dialog box appears (very briefly) before the game begins indicating the 3dfx version.
F22 Red Sea Operations (F22 RSO)
The one and only expansion was F22 Red Sea Operations (F22 RSO) developed by Simulation Technologies Limited (SimTech) in August 1998. The expansion added Ethiopian, Egyptian, AWACS and Saudi/Yeman tours.
The expansion is only compatible with the original upatched game or the v5.144 patched game. During the install the appropriate language, patched/unpatched game and graphics API selections must be made.
Training mission fix
There is a single patch for the English language F22 RSO edition. Due to a bug in the install, training missions will be replaced with tour missions, requiring the use of the patch to restore training.
This patch is applicable to original/patched game and Direct3D/Glide versions of F22 RSO.
Japanese Editions
The Japanese edition was released in both Japanese and English language versions. Each edition was released with Direct3D and Glide options available.
This is the only version with a cd check and requires the cd/image to be present to start the game.
v5.144 patch
This is the Japanese Editions version of the v5.144 upgrade patch providing multiple fixes and increasing the build version to v5.144. There are 4 versions of this patch, one for each language (Japanese or English) and each graphics API (Direct3D or Glide) in each language. The patch required will depend on the language and graphics API in use.
This is a recommended patch for the Japanese Editions.
F22 Desert Missions (F22 DM)
The one and only expansion, F22 Red Sea Operations, was renamed F22 Desert Missions. The expansion is only compatible with the Japanese edition unpatched game or the Japanese edition v5.144 patched game.
During the install the appropriate language, patched/unpatched game and graphics API selections must be made.
US Edition (F22 ADF and F22 RSO compilation)
The US edition is a repackaging of the standard edition of F22 ADF and F22 RSO in a single retail package.
The cd contents seem identical to the standard edition, down to the F22 ADF install. installing build version v5.108 and the F22 RSO install has the same issue with training missions.
The recommended patches are v5.144 patch for F22 ADF and the training mission fix for F22 RSO.
Installation & patching strategies
The following are not detailed instructions but installation & patching strategies for each of the possible F22 ADF and F22 RSO builds. They can be used to ensure you have the required cd/images and patches for a particular build.
The F22 ADF and F22 RSO build will probably be the optimum build for Europe/International/UK/US builds.
F22 ADF only
Install F22 ADF with the required language and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install the v5.144 patch matching the required language and graphics API.
F22 ADF (Union Reality Gear)
Install F22 ADF with the required language and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install the v5.144 patch matching the required language and graphics API.
Install the Union Reality Gear patch matching the required language and graphics API.
F22 ADF (Multiplayer)
Install F22 ADF with the required language and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install the v5.144 patch matching the required language and graphics API.
Install the Multiplayer patch matching the required language and graphics API.
F22 ADF and F22 RSO
Install F22 ADF with the required language and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install the v5.144 patch matching the required language and graphics API.
Install RSO and select the patched version of F22. Select the appropriate language and graphics API.
Install the RSO training mission fix for the English language version.
F22 ADF (Intel MMX)
Install F22 ADF (Intel MMX) with the required language.
F22 ADF (Intel MMX & Glide)
Install F22 ADF (Intel MMX) with the English language.
Install the 3dfx patch.
F22 ADF only (Japanese Editions)
Install F22 ADF with the required language (Japanese or English ) and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install Japanese Editions of the v5.144 patch, matching the required language and graphics API.
F22 ADF and F22 DM (Japanese Editions)
Install F22 ADF with the required language (Japanese or English )and graphics API (D3D or Glide).
Install Japanese Editions of the v5.144 patch matching the required language and graphics API.
Install DM and select the patched version of F22. Select the appropriate language and graphics API.
F22 ADF (US Edition compilation)
The 2 cd's in this release are identical to F22 ADF and F22 RSO, so the same steps for F22 ADF and F22 RSO should be followed, including using the same patches.
Finally...
This primer was created to help understand the different versions and the myriad of patches for F22 ADF you may encounter. Hopefully this should help you decide what is needed and what can be omitted, when trying to create a required build of F22 ADF.
In the next article PCem will be used to create the F22 ADF and F22 RSO build. F22 ADF can be played using the PCem emulator or the F22 install can be transferred from the PCem virtual machine into Win10. In either case a suitable PCem virtual machine is required.
Good hunting!
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