Falcon 4.0: Allied Force part 3: Skunkworks release

Skunkworks logo

A guide to building the Skunkworks release of Falcon 4.0: Allied Force (F4AF) and the configuration steps to run it under Win10.

This release will use the previously difficult to find, Skunkworks v2.0 patch.

This release is based on the earlier last official patch release, with much of the configuration remaining unchanged from that release, due to the nature of the Skunkworks patches.

History

Skunkworks history

The Skunkworks v1.2 and v2.0 patches were data patches. The executable code wasn't changed and functional enhancements were not added. Instead this was an attempt to update the sim data and model skins to try and bring F4AF to a somewhat comparable level as FreeFalcon, BMS or OpenFalcon.

The first Skunkworks patch was v1.2 released in August 2010, with the second and final patch v2.0 released in February 2011.. This final patch would mark the end of community driven F4AF development.

For a far more detailed and accurate description, The Falcon Epopee is highly recommended.

Prerequisites

The folder prerequisite is listed below:

C:\f4af-setup\patches\skunkworks

Release patches

The following patch is required to build this release:

• Skunkworks v2.0 patch (AF_SkunkworksMOD_v2.rar).

This can be found at the Internet Archive in Falcon 4.0 Allied Force: Skunkworks patch collection. This patch should be copied to C:\f4af-setup\patches\skunkworks and the executable extracted.

Starting point

This build is based on the earlier Falcon 4.0: Allied Force official release, using the last official patch. Details on how to build this release can be found in the earlier Official release.

Building

The following describes how to build this release:

• The first optional step is to install the HiTiles for Allied Force terrain addon, if not done so already. The Skunkworks patches are fully compatible with an existing HiTiles for Allied Force installation.

• Extract the contents of AF_SkunkworksMOD_v2.rar and run the patch installer, falcon4_AF_SkunkworksMOD_v2.exe. The patch should run and complete successfully under Win10.

Note: 7zip can be used to extract the contents of rar archives.

Configuration & running

Due to the Skunkworks patches being data patches much of configuration remains unchanged from the earlier Official release. The various configuration sections link to the previous article section:

• HOTAS config.

  
  

• TrackIR Support.

  
  

• Wrapper config.

  
  

• Running.

• In-game config.

Skunkworks campaigns

In order to allow switching between the default sim and the Skunkworks mod, the Skunkworks changes are installed as additional campaigns within F4AF. There are Skunkworks Balkan and Korea campaigns accessible through the Battlefields menu.

Once the battlefield is selected, load the Skunkworks saved campaign file and commit. Skunkworks v1.2 used the name 'Use_This_One' while v2.0 uses a default name.

New Skunkworks battlefields

Skunkworks campaign save

Documentation

The documentation listed in the official release is also applicable.

Unfortunately there is severely limited information on the Skunkworks mods, but what is available is:

• A brief readme found within the patch archive, AF_SkunkworksMOD_v2.rar.

  
  

• PMC tactical forum topic.

  
  

• SimHQ forum topic.

Example video

Skunkworks v2.0

Finally...

Credit and thanks go to the Skunkworks development team for the Skunkwork patches and the data enhancements to Falcon 4.0: Allied Force.

Good hunting!