Falcon Gold: DOSBox digital release

DarkenedRoom
Jun 28
5 min read

This is a guide to optimising a gog.com or Steam digital release of the classic Falcon 3.0 flight sim collection, Falcon Gold, within DOSBox Staging.

The guide will cover using the gog.com digital or Steam digital release and either a client install and/or a fresh install of Falcon Gold for reasons covered in the strategy.

It will reference many of the earlier articles for Falcon.

Strategy

The recommended strategy is to create a fresh install of Falcon Gold using the digital release. There are a number of reasons for doing so:

The use of 3rd party utilities and tools can enhance the campaign aspect of Falcon Gold. Using the existing digital release installation may result in an installation folder more difficult to manage or contain utilities that may conflict with each other.

Additional 3rd party Red Flag missions may be harder to manage.

The verification of a digital release installation folder with the gog.com or Steam client may result in any 3rd party tools or additional 3rd party missions to be removed, or damaged if they have changed existing Falcon Gold files.

Additional installations allow tools and configuration changes to be tried without affecting any on-going campaigns.

Given the popularity long time fans have had to create and use tools to enhance campaign management, it seems likely those new to the sim would reach a point in using these tools for their own campaigns. Having a fresh installation folder supplemented with additional tools folders becomes easier to manage.

It is therefore recommended to create a fresh install unaffected by gog.com/Steam verification for this reason and this is covered in 'Using a fresh installation'.

However for those who would just wish to optimise an existing digital installation and jump right in and begin flying, should take a look at 'Using a client installation',

The client installation can be used to begin with before moving onto a fresh Falcon Gold installation. Both methods will require a client installation as the first step.

Client installation

Either the gog.com Galaxy client, gog.com offline installer or Steam client should be used to install Falcon Gold. It should complete successfully without issue. The installation folder will be dependant on the client installation folder or the chosen gog.com offline installer destination folder.

Using a client installation

This section uses a gog.com digital release, however the steps should be similar, if not identical, for a Steam digital release.

Game Management

I recommend using my DOSBox game management strategy. As the gog.com digital version is used and installed by the gog.com client or offline installer, the following folders are recommended:

conf - to store any DOSBox Staging/HOTAS profile configuration files.
docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc.
patch - to store a copy of the recommended patch.

DOSBox config changes

This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging v0.82.1. This config only details the changes from the configuration found in the previous article, 'Falcon 3.0: Operation DOSBox Staging'. Changes to this configuration are detailed below.

[autoexec]
mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold"
mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold\cloud_saves" -t overlay
imgmount d "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold\game.gld" -t iso

c:
cd falconcd	# for Falcon Gold cd-rom install folder
darkmenu		# my startup menu

The [autoexec] section mounts the gog.com installation folder under the Galaxy client as the c: drive.

gog.com releases often provide a facility to save your game in the cloud, it does this by providing an overlay mount in the gog.com DOSBox config. I've recreated this mount in the DOSBox Staging config. I'm not 100% sure if it works correctly (it seems to), so please be aware and don't rely on it!

The Falcon Gold cd image is included in the release as game.gld and is mounted as an emulated cd d: drive.

The remaining commands run my Falcon 3.0/Gold darkmenu.

Patching TM-STICK

A recommended utility is TM-STICK which reduces the joystick deadzone and allows changes to be made to the throttle detent, after which the various stages of afterburner are applied. It's usefulness will be determined by your specific controller setup but it's certainly worth trying out.

Note: The Falcon Gold edition has the TM-STICK v1.9 utility included as an extra, but Falcon Gold requires TM-STICK v2.1, available at the Internet Archive.

3rd party patches

This guide assumes a vanilla experience for new players so the only recommended mod is F3 missile which changes the characteristics of the Stinger/SA-7B SAM missiles, making them less overpowered and more realistic.A huge number of utilities with various version have been distributed over the years, an earlier article. 'Falcon 3.0: Unofficial mods & tools', details them and the utilities that remain compatible with the latest versions.

This concludes using a client installation.

Using a fresh installation

Game Management

The game management for a fresh install extends the game management shown above for a client install. So we have the existing three folders:

conf - to store any DOSBox Staging/HOTAS profile configuration files.
docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc.
patch - to store a copy of the recommended patch.

Supplemented with:

cd - to store the cd image.
hdd - to act as the DOSBox hdd folder.

The game management folders will be identical to those used in .

Obtaining the CD image

A Falcon Gold cd image is included within the client installation, it is the game.gld file.

This file is an iso image and can be renamed to game.iso (or falcon3.iso, falconcd.iso, etc.). It can be mounted and opened in Win10/11 as a cd and the contents viewed in File Explorer. Once satisfied the image seems ok, the cd can be ejected.

The iso file can be copied into the cd game management folder.

DOSBox config

The DOSBox Staging config is identical to one used earlier in the article 'Falcon 3.0: Operation DOSBox Staging', but is listed below for convenience (some settings are omitted as they are now the default in the latest version of DOSBox Staging). A description of the various settings can be found in the DOSBox setup section.

[sdl]
host_rate           = vrr
vsync               = off
presentation_mode   = vfr

[dosbox]
vmemsize           = 8
dos_rate           = 1000

[cpu]
cpu_cycles           = 18000
cycleup              = 1000
cycledown            = 1000

[voodoo]
voodoo               = false

[mouse]
dos_mouse_immediate = true

[mixer]
reverb     = medium
chorus     = normal

[midi]
mididevice      = mt32

[mt32]
model       = cm32l
romdir      = "D:\Midi\Versioned"

[joystick]
joysticktype                = 4axis
timed                       = false
swap34                      = true
deadzone                    = 0

[autoexec]
mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold\hdd"
imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold\cd\game.iso" -t cdrom

c:
cd falconcd	# for Falcon Gold install folder
darkmenu		# my startup menu

The [autoexec] mount and imgmount commands will depend in which folder the game management folders are stored. In the example above I used:

D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold

Installation and patching

Falcon Gold should be installed under DOSBox using the installer app (install.exe) found on the cd image. It should complete without issue. The Art of the Kill should also be installed, if desired.

Patching Art of the Kill

The gog.com client installation includes the Art of the Kill patch, an updated video player (newaotk.exe). This file needs to be copied to the aotk folder in the DOSBox hdd folder.

It's not known if the AOTK patch is also included in the Steam digital release. If not the patch should be applied under DOSBox.