Falcon 4.0 part 3: The official and iBeta releases
- DarkenedRoom
- Aug 9
- 10 min read
Updated: Sep 6
This guide covers the building of an iBeta release and configuring of the officially patched (vanilla Falcon 4.0) or iBeta releases.
The primary reason for an iBeta release is the similarity to a pure 'vanilla' official release but with further fixes and compatibility with TrackIR support.
History
In the Falcon 4.0 timeline, the official patched version takes us from the retail release in December 1998 up to the final official patch release in December 1999. The recommended 'final' iBeta patch takes us a little further into December 1999.
iBeta released the Realism patches as well, but were morphing into the Realism Patch Group.
Prerequisites
This release requires the official patch version to have been built, as described in 'Falcon 4.0 part 2: The official patched version'.
The setup folder prerequisites in 'Falcon 4.0 part 2: The official patched version' and the following additional setup folders are recommended, to store the additional suggested patches and utilities/wrappers:
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\joystick-gremlin
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\cinepak
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\dxwrapper
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\nglide
C:\Falcon4-setup\patches\ibeta
C:\Falcon4-setup\patches\trackirHOTAS configuration
HOTAS configuration is very dependant on the controllers to be used. Earlier controllers with multiple axes on a single physical device (e.g. joystick with twist rudder and throttle axis) or multiple physical devices connected to each other but seen as a single device in Windows (earlier HOTAS controllers) should have little trouble in Falcon 4.0.
However multiple physical devices seen as multiple devices in Windows are more problematic. The normal method is to create a single virtual device with vendor profiling software (e.g. TM TARGET) so the game only sees a single virtual controller, configured with the axes and buttons it needs.
However testing has revealed that Falcon 4.0 experiences severe issues with the TM TARGET vendor software. It isn't known if this issue is limited to only TARGET or if other vendor software is affected.
For this reason TM TARGET isn't used and instead the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin alternative is used instead. Put overly simply vJoy is the virtual controller device and Joystick Gremlin is profiling component assigning physical axes and buttons to the virtual device.
Obtaining vJoy/Joystick Gremlin
Joystick Gremlin should be obtained from the website. In addition there is a manual which explains in detail how to get started with Joystick Gremlin.
The version of vJoy listed in the manual is a fairly old version and the latest version has been driver signed for use in current versions of Win10/11, so should install without issue. It can be found on the BrunnerInnovation/vJoy GitHub repository in the Releases section.
It is recommended to place any vJoy/Joystick Gremlin zip files/installation packages in: C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\joystick-gremlin.
Both vJoy (installed first) then Joystick Gremlin (second) should be installed with the installer apps.
A brief example
This is a brief example of a vJoy/Joystick Gremlin configuration I used for testing. vJoy defines a 4 axes virtual device with an x/y-axis (joystick), a z-axis (throttle) and a (rotation) Rz-axis (rudder pedals), 32 buttons and a single POV hat is defined.
Below, Joystick Gremlin shows the mapping of physical devices to the vJoy virtual device. One window shows the Warthog stick with x/y-axes, buttons and hat mapped, one shows the throttle with the z-axis mapped and the final one shows rudder pedals mapped to the Rz-axis.
Joystick Gremlin is then configured to run this profile when Falcon 4.0 is started.
Device hiding
One of the reasons that Joystick Gremlin isn't used often is the lack of comprehensive device hiding. Older sims and DOSBox to this day will attempt to locate a single suitable controller, with vendor software like TM TARGET the physical devices are disabled/hidden leaving only a single virtual device, visible to the sim/game/DOSBox.
Having both physical and vJoy devices available isn't a problem for Falcon 4.0, as within the controller setup page, the device itself is selected. It does not matter if the physical stick/throttle/pedals and vJoy device are all visible to Windows and Falcon 4.0, as once selected in-game, only the vJoy device will be used.
Wrapper configuration
This next section covers wrapper configuration. DxWrapper, created by Elisha (credit and thanks to Elisha) provides DirectDraw wrapping, allowing Falcon 4.0 to run under Win10. The nGlide wrapper from Zeus (credit and thanks to Zeus) allows the use of Glide rendering by the flight engine, when engaged on a mission.
DxWrapper
The latest version of DxWrapper is used in this guide, at time of writing this is v1.3.7700.25. Hosted at the DxWrapper GitHub repository, the latest version can be found in the Releases.
This version should be download and extracted it's own folder under C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\dxwrapper.
The following wrapper files should be copied into the Falcon 4.0 installation folder (C:\Falcon4):
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\dxwrapper\dxwrapper.dll
C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\dxwrapper\Stub\ddraw.dllThe following zip file contains the dxwrapper.ini configuration file, used during testing:
nGlide
The latest version of nGlide is used in this guide, at time of writing this is v2.10. Hosted at the Zeus Software website. The latest version can be found in Download nGlide.
If not already installed, this version should be download to it's own folder under C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\wrapper\nglide.
The installer package (nGlide210_setup.exe) can be run to install nGlide as a system-wide Glide wrapper.
The nGlide 2.10 configurator should be run to config nGlide as shown in the dialog box. You may wish to leave the splash screen on for testing and then turn off later.
Video patching
Falcon 4.0 uses the cinepak codec for playing the intro and campaign movies, however in Win10 these movies don't play. This can be considered a significant problem when playing the campaigns as those videos are absolutely crucial for the player to know how the campaign ended and when it ended (Credit and thanks to RapierCZ, for that crucial bit of info!)
We can partially fix this by adding the cinepak codec (obtained from PCGamingWiki):
The codec should be copied to the C:\Falcon4-setup\utils\cinepak folder and extracted.
Only the iccvid.dll file should be copied to Falcon installation folder (C:\Falcon4).
When started the intro video audio will play (sadly still no video) but more importantly when selecting a campaign, the campaign video will play with video and sound.
This marks the end of software configuration of the official patched version, but it is recommended to continue onto the iBeta release.
iBeta release
The iBeta team would release two later patches v1.08i1 and v1.08i2. v1.08i2 is a cumulative patch including the fixes from v1.08i1 so only this patch is required for the iBeta release.
iBeta patching
The patch (falcon4_108i2.zip) provides an alternative executable to run the sim. It can be found at the Internet Archive in the Falcon 4.0: iBeta and Realism Patch collection.
The patch should be download to C:\Falcon4-setup\patches\ibeta and extracted to obtain the alternate executable, Falcon4_108i2.exe.
The executable should be copied to the Falcon 4.0 installation folder (C:\Falcon4).
F4Patch
An F4Patch OCI package exists for the iBeta release (F4Patch_Standard_32_i2.zip). Using F4Patch v3.2 and packaged with a standard set of patches, it can be found at the Internet Archive in the Falcon 4.0 F4Patch collection.
Further information on patching with F4Patch can be found in Understanding the F4Patch utility.
iBeta TrackIR support
The alternate executable, Falcon4_108i2.exe supports TrackIR. The following ssecrion describes how to config it.
TIRF4 utility
TrackIR support is provided with the use of the TIRF4 utility. The TIRF4 utility (TIRF4.zip) is available from the Internet Archive in the Falcon 4.0 utilities collection.
The utility should be downloaded into the C:\Falcon4-setup\patches\trackir folder and extracted.
The executable file (TIRF4.exe) should be copied into the Falcon 4.0 installation folder (C:\Falcon4).
TrackIR profile
TrackIR comes with a selection of pre-configured profiles. However there are better profiles, one of the best and added to a later Falcon 4.0 BMS release, is the Yassy BMS profile.
The Yassy profile is available from the Falcon BMS forum in the TrackIR 4/5 BMS Profile by Yassy topic. The first message uses a Dropbox location, however there are multiple alternatives throughout the thread.
Download and store the profile in the C:\Falcon4-setup\patches\trackir folder.
This should then be copied to TrackIR profiles folder in Win10, which would normally be:
<drive>\Users<name>\Appdata\Roaming\Natural Point\TrackIR 5\Profiles
The next time TrackIR is started Yassy BMS should be an available profile. Falcon 4.0 should be configured to use this profile within the TrackIR software. Credit and Thanks to Yassy for an excellent TrackIR profile.
Enabling in Win10
The TrackIR software is started followed by Falcon 4.0, then the TIRF4 utility is started. The legacy process involved minimising the sim and then starting the utility, before returning to the sim, however this method is problematic in Win10.
The nGlide wrapper does not allow the sim to minimised preventing access to the desktop. but the Windows Start menu can be opened. The TIRF4 utility can be pinned and added as a Start menu tile before trying to start Falcon 4.0, however even after starting and receiving TrackIR data, head tracking does not work in the 3d cockpit view.
Alternative methods using batch or Powershell scripts also resulted in what seemed to be a successful start but, yet again head tracking did not work. Only one method so far has succeeded.
Playnite configuration
The only successful method found is to use Playnite, an open source game library manager. Falcon 4.0 can be manually added, the play action configured and within the scripts section, Powershell commands to be run before the game starts can be added.
A later script section allows adding commands to be run after the game has started. The TIRF4 utility is added to this section.
The below screenshots shows that before Falcon 4.0 is started:
The folder is changed to the Joystick Gremlin folder (for some reason Joystick Gremlin only works when started from within it's installation folder).
Joystick Gremlin is started in a minimised state.
The TrackIR software is started.
The script is paused to allow the software time to startup.
The folder is changed back to the Falcon 4.0 installation folder.
After Falcon 4.0 is started:
The script is paused to allow the Falcon 4.0 time to startup.
The TIRF4 utility is started. When this occurs the Falcon 4.0 desktop will be on screen with the menu music playing. The music will stop as app focus is lost by Falcon 4.0 and app focus is gained by TIRF4. Once this happens clicking on the Falcon 4.0 desktop returns app focus to Falcon 4.0 and the music resumes.
Once Falcon 4.0 is quit:
The Joystick Gremlin app is closed.
The TIRF4 app is closed.
The TrackIR app is closed.
Running Falcon 4.0
To enable TrackIR support in Falcon 4.0 itself, it must be enabled with the -head parameter. So the command to run it becomes:
Falcon4_108i2.exe -headCommand line options
The following is a list of Falcon 4.0 command line options (credit and thanks to LytningRod for this info):
Option | Description |
-file | Starts mission with ACMI recording on. |
-event | Records an event file for debugging. |
-repair | All objectives are repaired when a campaign is loaded. |
-armageddon | All objectives are destroyed when a campaign is loaded. |
-log | Log frame rates during gameplay to the files 'framerate.csv' and 'fr_summary.csv'. |
-C | ? |
-UA | ? |
-g <n> | Set graphics detail to <n> with useful values being 1 thru 5. This allows the setup sliders to have higher maximum values. |
-full | Run in full screen mode. |
-window | Run in a 640x480 window. Useful with the -time switch to act as a server. |
-hires | Allow higher resolution to be selected. |
-version | Print out the version of Falcon and exit, e.g. Falcon 4.0 - Version 1.071z:Release Mode |
-norudder | Disable use of rudder control on joystick. |
-nosmoothing | Disable joystick smoothing (filtering out of spikes). |
-numhats <n> | Set the # of hats your joystick has. DirectInput can get this wrong. |
-nosound | Switch off all sound. |
-nopete | No pilot voices, named after Pete, the guy who recorded it. |
-tacedit | Allows you to edit and save training missions. You still have to rename them to .tac from .trn and back again. |
-norsc | Use the raw art files, for debugging. |
-usersc | Don’t use the raw art files, for debugging. |
-auto | Starts the program without the debug menu, debugging only. |
-nomovie | Will not play the intro movie when you launch Falcon 4.0. |
-noUIcomms | In the UI you will not hear the radio chatter or takeoff sounds. |
-screen | Take screenshots in the UI, in TGA format. |
-time | Run as a Server. You will not be able to join the 3D world. |
-noloader | The graphics load around you rather than at start-up. Gets you into the game faster as it misses out part of the pie loading screen. |
-bandwidth XXX | Used for debugging network play, in debug version only. |
-urview XXX | Union reality headgear set. XXX is the angle of view. Between 50-160 degrees, default is 160 degrees. |
-latency | Used for debugging network play, in debug version only. |
-drop | Used for debugging network play, in debug version only. |
-session | ? |
-hostidx <n> | Select between different network cards, will default to first otherwise. |
-hostid | ? |
-alive | Sets the timeout for network play, default is 1 minute. |
-mono | ? |
-nomono | ? |
-head | Turns on the head tracking system. |
-swap | Used for debugging network play, in debug version. |
-ef | ? |
-ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx | Use the given IP Address, rather than the default. Useful for NAT routing. |
-pf xxx | Packet flow, used to set network packets to a certain number. |
In-game configuration
The final step is in-game configuration, the two most relevant sections being graphics and controller options. The graphics options settings are shown in the screenshot
The video driver is set to Glide, video card set to Voodoo3 and the resolution can be increased to 1600x1200.
The other graphics options can be maximised and canopy cues can be set to both line and reflections.
These settings result in 60fps frame rate.
The controller options are also equally important:
The only selection to be made is the controller should be set to vJoy Device.
The stick axes, throttle and rudder should be well calibrated. The afterburner detente should be set for the throttle.
Documents and manuals
An excellent resource is Falcon 4 history, which has a manuals sections, including the historical:
Manual (both first and second editions).
Communications handbook (both first and second editions).
Theater map of Korea.
These manuals and documents should be applicable to both 'vanilla' and iBeta releases. Addendum and additional information can be found in the readme files of patches.
Example video
Finally...
Undoubtedly there have been hundreds of individuals that have contributed skills and time to produce the game, patches and utilities used to run it as well as it does. Too many to mention by name, be sure to look out for them in documents and readme files. Credit and thanks to one and all.
Good hunting!