This is a guide updating the various DOSBox configs produced for many of the guides, to the latest DOSBox Staging v0.83.0 release candidate 1. This version is a huge change over previous versions and includes: 100% authentic Roland Sound Canvas SC-55 emulation. Authentic CRT colour emulation. Totally overhauled frame presentation. Disk noise emulation. Improved mouse emulation. DOS command improvements, such as merging the IMGMOUNT and MOUNT commands. In short it's a huge release, and it can't be understate just how important the frame presentation changes are. The previous frame presentation discussed in Tech refresh 2026: DOSBox best practice, is now available out of the box with v0.83.0-RC1. This guide will be updating the existing DOSBox configs of earlier guides to make them fully v0.83.0-RC1 compatible. Each config will only detail the changes from the default DOSBox v0.083.0-RC1 config file. Strategy Each game will receive an example config that has been tested, particular points of note will be discussed. These configs are example configs so they will need changing to take account of: Mixer volume personal preferences. Mixer reverb and chorus personal preferences. MT32 ROM folder. Soundfonts folder. Mount command folders and floppy/cd-rom image names. Joystick settings dependant on hardware. However, you will be starting with a complete DOSBox config that can be changed as required, instead of starting with an empty config. Overhauled frame presentation DOSBox Staging v0.82.2 required changing a few settings, so the DOS frames can be presented at a legacy friendly and more constant 70Hz rate identical to VGA card on CRT monitors . Early DOS sims seem to benefit greatly from this by running the game free of subtle timing issues which affected the subjective feel of the game. The settings were: [sdl] host_rate = sdi vsync = off presentation_mode = cfr [dosbox] dos_rate = default DOSBox Staging v0.83.0-RC1 has overhauled frame presentation providing the same 70Hz VGA rate 'out of the box'. The default settings are now: [sdl] vsync = off presentation_mode = auto [dosbox] dos_rate = default Mixer master volume The mixer master volume is now set to 50% to provide headroom to increase the volume without distortion. If the sound/music is too low it can be increased in the DOSBox cmd line or [autoexec] section of a config with: mixer master [:] # Some examples: mixer master 100 # 100% vol on both stereo channels (prev default) mixer master 75:85 # 75% vol on left, 85% on right The games 688 Attack Sub Original article. Mixer reverb and chorus settings follow the DOSBox Staging recommendations. A-10 Tank Killer Original articles. MT32 device set to mt32_old, as recommended in the VOGONS List of MT-32-compatible computer games. Air Power: Battle in the Skies Due to the involved installation and setup process, it's recommended to use this config with the setup guide, Air Power: Battle in DOSBox. The joystick is configured as a ch stick as the Flightstick Pro is supported. Apache (Longbow) Original article. These config files are for the Sound Blaster 16 and Gravis Ultrasound. The joystick is configured as a ch stick as the Flightstick Pro is supported. AV-8B Harrier Assault Original article. Cycles changed to reflect the new refresh rate. Black Knight: Marine Strike Fighter Original article. Black Knight does not support the MT32 properly but does support general MIDI (see List of MT-32-compatible computer games), so fluidsynth is used for music. The joystick is configured as a ch stick as the Flightstick Pro is supported. A revised menu is also provided allowing the setup utility to be run. Chuck Yeager's Air Combat Original article. There are two configs for Sound Blaster 16 and the Gravis Ultrasound. The joystick is configured as a 4 axis stick to allow a TSR to enable a throttle. A menu is also provided allowing the game or throttle setup utility to be run. EF2000 V2.0 The optimum way to run EF2000 remains the EF2000 Reloaded app utilizing a custom built DOSBox based on vanilla DOSBox. However a previous article covered running EF2000 with DOSBox Staging. This config updates the previous DOSBox Staging config. The joystick has been changed to a ch joystick type as the game supports the Flightstick Pro. The MIDI is provided by fluidsynth as the game does not properly support MT32 MIDI (see List of MT-32-compatible computer games). Elite Plus Original article. The autotype command is added as recommended in AUTOTYPE candidates. The Sound Blaster type is set to sbpro1 as the game was originally written for an Adlib OPL2 as noted in List of MT-32-compatible computer games. The joystick is set to 2axis as only 2 axes are supported. F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 Original article. The are two configs for the VGA and EGA version. Both versions use the F-117 menu from the mod article, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 & Black Knight: Marine Strike Fighter: A PixelWings update. F-15 Strike Eagle II: Deluxe Edition Original article. The MT32 model is set to mt32_new and the Sound Blaster type is set to sbpro1 as the game was originally written for an Adlib OPL2 as recommended in List of MT-32-compatible computer games. F-15 Strike Eagle III Original article. The MT32 model is set to mt32_new as recommended in List of MT-32-compatible computer games. The joystick is set to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. F-16 Fighting Falcon Original article. The joystick is set to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. F-19 Stealth Fighter Original articles. The MT32 model is set to mt32_new and the Sound Blaster type is set to sbpro1 as the game was originally written for an Adlib OPL2 as recommended in List of MT-32-compatible computer games. The Innovation sound card is enabled as it is supported by the game. Cycles are adjusted to 3000 for the new refresh rate which seems to increase the effectiveness of weapons which never seemed to work properly as shown in this short video: F-22 Lightning II Original articles. The joystick is set to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. F29 Retaliator Original article. The joystick is set to 2axis as only 2 axes are supported by the game. Falcon 3.0/Gold Original articles. The joystick is set to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. There are two configs, the first using the new frame rate settings only, which doesn't sync the intro videos properly but is less intensive on the graphics card. The second changes the dos_rate and vmem_delay settings to sync the videos but at a higher graphics card usage. Both configs improve the subjective feel of the sim bringing it closer to the legacy hardware experience. A separate config is added for the Art of the Kill video app. Fleet Defender Gold Original article. The joystick is set to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. There are two configs, the first is for the DOS only version of the game while the second is for the Gold version and supports a Win3.x install to run the video presentation app. Both versions set the joystick to ch as the Flightstick Pro is supported by the game. MIDI support is configured for external (to DOSBox) port devices (e.g. VirtualMidiSynth), MT32/CM32L, FluidSynth and Sound Canvas. Once the Sound Canvas ROMs are obtained the Jukebox app provides a useful way of comparing MIDI music. There is an enhanced launcher menu which allows the selection of MIDI output. Flight Unlimited Original Article. The joystick is set to 4axis as the Flightstick Pro, supported by the game, does not support a throttle. The animations in the FBU seem much improved with this DOSBox version. Finally.. Huge thanks to John Novak and the rest of the DOSBox Staging team for such a significant DOSBox Staging release! Good hunting!

A guide to running the Digital Integration 1999 sim, F/A-18E Super Hornet (Super Hornet) in Windows 10. This marks the culmination of Digital Integration sim production, being the last serious sim produced by the British company. Unfortunately many experience issues running this with a modern HOTAS, (which is strongly recommended), which has undoubtedly affected its popularity in recent times. Unlike earlier Digital Integration sims there is no DOS version, with Super Hornet only released for Windows 95. Strategy This guide will examine why such issues exist and provide the required tools and configurations to get it running without issue as well as providing patch, head tracking and sound enhancements. Version & patch history This is a brief version and patch history of Super Hornet including retail releases, re-releases, expansions, official and unofficial patches, followed by a brief installation and patching summary. F/A-18E Super Hornet original retail release The original retail edition was developed by Digital Integration and published by Titus in 1999. Distributed on a single cd-rom the original game featured training in the US and campaigns in the Barents Sea and Indian Ocean. This version of the game is v1.33. The release notes are included below: v1.33 no cd patch (unofficial) An unofficial no cd patch/crack was released by the community in December 1999. This patch is only compatible with the base game v1.33. This patch is not recommended as it is incompatible with the v1.78 expansion and digital editions. Configuration Editor Update (official) The one and only patch was a replacement config utility, released in February 2000 and distributed as a zip archive. This utility fixed joystick options which were disabled in certain scenarios when they should have been enabled. This is a recommended patch for all non-digital editions. This patch is available from: F/A-18E Super Hornet official site (courtesy of the Wayback Machine). Internet Archive. F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign (expansion) The one and only expansion was F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign also known as the F/A-18E Super Hornet Mission Pack was developed by digital Integration and published by Titus in August 2000. Distributed on a single cd-rom, it featured an additional campaign over the Adriatic Sea as well as adding multiplayer support. This version of the game is v1.78. The release notes are included below: F/A-18E Super Hornet: Officer's Edition (compilation) Released in 2000, the Officer's Edition was a compilation release including the base game and expansion. Published by Titus and distributed on 2 x cd-roms. If the versions remain consistent then the base game is v1.33 and the expansion v1.78. This is a recommended retail edition. Virgin Interactive White Label re-release (compilation) Re-released on the Virgin Interactive White Label in 2001. This version is equivalent to the Officer's Edition compilation. The game version is v1.78. This was distributed on 3 x cd-roms as the base game, expansion and a general purpose manials and patches cd for other White Label titles. This is a recommended retail edition and probably more common than the Officer's Edition. Sold Out Software re-release Re-released by Soft Out Software in 2002, this release featured the base game only, without expansion. The version is v1.33. It was released on a single cd-rom. This edition is compatible with the expansion. Digital releases (compilation) The digital editions available on both Steam and gog.com platforms were published by Interplay on January 2023 (Steam) and July 2023 (gog.com). These versions are v1.78 and equivalent to the Officer's Edition with the included expansion. The Steam version is known to be compatible with the FA-18E_SH_patch. The gog.com version is believed to be compatible but this remains unconfirmed at present. FA-18E_SH_patch (unofficial) A fan made patch created by Casqade, released November 2024. This is an additional file patch using a dll injection technique. The patch provides the following bug fixes and enhancements (taken from the release notes): High framerate causes issues with the game, e.g. Course & Heading Select switches stop working properly. The game was clearly designed to run at 30 FPS, so this patch locks framerate to this value (Note: if you use DxWnd, make sure to disable VSync and other timing features). In original game, it's impossible to power off APU & engines using GUI. APU is automatically disabled after a certain time, and engines can only be turned off via hotkeys. This patch disables automatic APU shutdown and allows full control over both APU and engines with corresponding switches. Landing request can only be initiated using a hotkey. The patch adds a dedicated button into UFCD's communication channel selection screen. Some minor ones like IFF and radar altimeter not being inhibited by EMCON mode and some game variables not being reset when mission is restarted. This is a recommended patch for those with the expansion. The game can be run without the patch by calling the game executable (F18.exe) or run with the patch by calling an additional patch loader executable (F18loader.exe). Distributed as a zip archive, this patch is available from: FA-18E_SH_patch GitHub Releases. F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch (unofficial) An unofficial patch released in May 2026 as an xdelta patch, distributed as a zip archive. This patch modifies a v1.78 retail edition to make it compatible with the FA-18E_SH_patch. This is an additional file/file modification patch requiring the use of the Delta Patcher tool. This is a recommended patch for those wishing to use FA-18E_SH_patch with retail (non-digital) editions. This patch is available here: v1.78 no cd patch (unofficial) An unofficial no cd patch/crack was released by the community (although when is unknown) for the v1.78 expansion. This patch is no longer available for download. Patching Strategies The following are recommended patching strategies for each edition. F/A-18E Super Hornet retail release only and Sold Out Software re-release only Install F/A-18E Super Hornet. Apply Configuration Editor Update. F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign Install F/A-18E Super Hornet. Install F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign. Apply Configuration Editor Update. Apply F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch (optional). Apply FA-18E_SH_patch (optional). F/A-18E Super Hornet: Officer's Edition and Virgin Interactive White Label re-release Install F/A-18E Super Hornet. Install F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign. Apply Configuration Editor Update. Apply F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch (optional). Apply FA-18E_SH_patch (optional). Sold Out Software re-release & expansion Install F/A-18E Super Hornet. Install F/A-18E Super Hornet: The Albanian Campaign (if available). Apply Configuration Editor Update. Apply F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch (optional, requires expansion). Apply FA-18E_SH_patch (optional, requires expansion). Digital Editions (Steam & GOG) Install F/A-18E Super Hornet digital edition. Apply FA-18E_SH_patch (optional). Retail media Due to the age or the media and the drives required to read the media, it is recommended to rip cd-rom media to image files, to save wear and tear on media and the mechanical drives. The cd-rom can be ripped to a data only .iso image format as there is no cd audio on the cd. A digital edition of the game is available on both Steam and gog.com platforms. Game management The installation is performed by a Win95 installer app, however some limited game management is still useful, the following folders are recommended as the installation and game management folder: X:\Games\Win\F18 Super Hornet or X:\Games\Win\Digital Integration\F18 Super Hornet X:\Games\Win\F18 Super Hornet Setup With the following game management folders: cd - to store the cd image(s). conf - to store any HOTAS configuration files/scripts. patches - to store any patches/compatibility tool installers or zip files. HOTAS config Super Hornet supports a maximum of 4 axes with 2 control schemes. Only one scheme can be selected. The schemes and the required axes mappings are shown below: Stick, throttle and rudder combination (incl stick only, stick and rudder, etc.) Stick and split throttle. Physical axis Throttle and rudder Split throttle Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS (Left) Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Right throttle N/A DX_ZROT_AXIS Rudder DX_ZROT_AXIS N/A The problem The controls problems experienced with Super Hornet are due to the visible axes. Super Hornet wants to see the above 4 axes and only those axes. Any additional axes result in severe control issues or non-functional controls. Single device HOTAS With most games a single device HOTAS with 4 axes or less usually does not need to reconfigure axes, as many games will assign axes automatically. This may still be true for Super Hornet if your HOTAS uses DX_ZROT_AXIS as the rudder axis. If it uses a different rotational axis you may require the solution presented below, if you experience control issues in the sim. Multi-device HOTAS If we try and use Thrustmaster TARGET to create a virtual controller we can configure these 4 axes so only those 4 axes are functional. However if we look at the joystick control panel we can see that there are additional axes that are non-functional but can still be seen. We run into a similar issue if vJoy is used to create a virtual controller with additional axes. The 4 axes needed may be present but if the sim can see any others then there will be control issues. The solution As TARGET can't configure the virtual controller, the combination of vJoy (vJ), Joystick Gremlin (JG) and HidHide (HH) must be used, but configured specifically for Super Hornet. For background discussing the installation, use and infrastructure models of vJ/JG/HH the following articles are available [6][7][8]. vJoy virtual controller The following screenshot shows the vJoy virtual controller config required by Super Hornet. The number of buttons is more permissive but only 1 POV hat should be configured. HidHide and Joystick Gremlin The HidHide configuration will depend on your physical HOTAS hardware/other game controllers to be hidden and any additional vJoy virtual controller that are configured but not used for Super Hornet. The version of JG used should be configured to 'see through' the HidHide device firewall. The mapping of physical device axes to vJoy virtual device axes will depend on your physical HOTAS hardware. Those creating a profile mapping a single device HOTAS to the vJoy controller, would map the physical axis to the corresponding vJoy axis (e,g, x-axis to x-axis) but map the physical rudder axis to the vJoy z-rotation axis (Rz). Those with a split throttle may wish to create two profiles, a throttle/rudder profile and split throttle profile for testing to find a personal preference. Batch scripting Manually enabling/disabling and configuring HidHide, vJoy and JoyStick Gremlin may become a bit of a chore. Fortunately all three utilities support cmd line options making them suitable for use in scripts. The following are examples of a start script to enable these utilities, configure a Super Hornet joystick config and a stop script to reset these utilities and disable them. Points to note: The scripts must be run as Administrator for vJoy commands to run. These are examples only, you will have to modify them, changing file paths to where ever the utilities are installed and the location of the JG profile. The vJ/JG/HH commands are commented out to prevent the accidental running and reconfiguring of configs. A pause command is added (but commented out) after each vJ/JG/HH commands giving time for other actions to be performed before continuing. The start script windows remains open until the stop script is run, once JG is running the script window can be minimised. The scripts use a traffic light colour scheme, the start script goes from red to green, ready to run. The stop script goes from green to red, everything closed and disabled/stopped, as shown below. PowerShell scripting An alternative to batch scripting is Windows PowerShell scripting. This has the advantage of only running the vJoy commands with administrator privileges. PowerShell scripts (with the .ps1 file type) can run from Windows (like batch scripts) by right-clicking the file and choosing Run with PowerShell. PowerShell scripts can be used with the Playnite game library manager when launching a game. The scripts for Super Hornet are shown below: Playnite PowerShell scripts for Super Hornet Commands with the -Wait argument will not continue until the process has complete. This allows a joystick setup command to finish before executing the next setup command. The command to start Joystick Gremlin does not use the -Wait argument as Joystick Gremlin will be running minimized while Super Hornet is running. Instead there is a short 5 second delay allowing JG to initialize before starting Super Hornet. Head tracking The Super Hornet virtual cockpit uses a mouselook scheme to look around the virtual cockpit. If we can use utilities to convert head tracking data into mouse inputs we can enable head tracking within Super Hornet. The head tracking will be pitch (y-axis) and yaw (x-axis) only as these are the only facilities provided by the underlying mouselook mechanism. Fortunately this head tracking to mouse conversion seems well supported. There are two recommended methods utilising this conversion, detailed below. As the mouse can be used in the virtual cockpit and the default cockpit view, it is recommended to set the head tracking toggle and centre options for each method. The keypresses selected should be unsupported by Super Hornet and optionally allocated to HOTAS buttons. TrackIR This is a pure TrackIR solution, it uses the standard TrackIR 5 software and the TrackIR utility, TrackIR Mouse Emulation (TIRmouse.exe). This is found in the TrackIR install folder. Once a profile is configured for Mouse Emulation in the TrackIR 5 software, the mouse emulation utility is run. Head motion should now be reflected in the mouse emulation utility. The utility must remain open and in the foreground (until covered by the game window), it can not be minimised and will not run in the background. Notes The head tracking toggle is the Pause command in Track IR. There is also a Center command. OpenTrack Opentrack has been covered in combination with AITrack in the article, Head tracking with Opentrack & AITrack. The Opentrack utility supports mouse emulation, so Opentrack and AITrack provide the head tracking solution, and instead of sending TrackIR data to Super Hornet, Opentrack can send mouse data, allowing head tracking in the virtual cockpit. Notes The head tracking toggle is the Toggle Tracking command in OpenTrack. There is also a Center command. When testing it was found OpenTrack must be run as an Administrator. Installation Both Super Hornet and the expansion use a 32-bit installer app compatible with Win10. The Super Hornet installation is straightforward and should complete without issue, however the following points should be noted: If the cd image is autorun then the initial menu is shown with an install option. If it is disabled or fails to work, on the cd/image, in the F18 folder, the game installer setup.exe can be run. The progress bar for the preparation of setup.exe will sit at 99% or 100% for an extended period. It will complete and the installation start. Choose an installation folder which does not use Program Files or Program Files (x86) folders. When asked to Install Microsoft DirectX Media, select No. When asked to Install Microsoft DirectX, select No. Installation of the expansion is straightforward, however the following points are noted: If the cd image is autorun then the language selection menu is shown. If it isn't shown, run the multi.exe app from the cd/image. Once again, the progress bar for the preparation of setup.exe will sit at 99% or 100% for an extended period. It will complete and the installation start. The installer should automatically find the Super Hornet installation folder. Patching The recommended order of patching is listed below: Configuration Editor Update (recommended) Once the patch is obtained, extract the contents of the patch (config.exe) into the Super Hornet installation folder, replacing the existing config.exe file. F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch (optional) This patch creates a game executable compatible with the FA-18E_SH_patch. The F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch is not required by digital editions. It requires the use of the Delta Patcher patching tool available from ROMhacking.net. It is distributed as a zip archive (windows_bin_x86_64.zip). Copy the Animations folder from the Super Hornet base game cd/image into the Super Hornet installation folder and take a backup of F18.exe in the Super Hornet installation folder.. Extract the contents of the Delta Patcher zip file (windows_bin_x86_64.zip) into a folder of your choice, (not the Super Hornet installation folder). The Delta patcher tool is DeltaPatcher.exe. For the rest of these notes we will refer to a patching folder. Obtain the F/A-18E Super Hornet xdelta patch and extract the contents into the patching folder. Copy the F18.exe file from the Super Hornet installation folder into the patching folder. The following files should be present in the patching folder: DeltaPatcher.exe F-18SH.xdelta F18.exe F18.rop f18.tmp Open the Delta Patcher app. Select the following (see screenshot): Original file: F18.exe XDelta patch: F-18SH.xdelta Click Apply patch. The patch should be applied successfully (see screenshot). Copy the following files from the patching folder into the Super Hornet installation folder, replacing files as required: F18.exe F18.rop f18.tmp Once complete the patching folder may be deleted if required. FA-18E_SH_patch (optional) Once the patch is obtained, extract the contents of the patch (F18loader.exe and F18patch.dll) into the Super Hornet installation folder. Compatibility settings The following files should be set to run as an administrator: Config.exe F18loader.exe (if FA-18E_SH_patch installed) The following file should be set to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2): F18.exe Compatibility tools None of the following compatibility tools were harmed in the making of this guide. dgVoodoo2 The dgVoodoo2 wrapper is used to wrap DirectX components. The version used is dgVoodoo v2.87.1. It is available from the dgVoodoo2 GitHub releases. To install: Download dgVoodoo2 (dgVoodoo2_87_1.zip) and extract to a new folder. Copy the following dgVoodoo2 files to the Super Hornet installation folder. Note: the paths are not important you just need to add the files: dgVoodooCpl.exe MS\x86\D3D8.dll MS\x86\D3D9.dll MS\x86\D3DImm.dll MS\x86\DDraw.dll Download and extract the dgVoodoo.conf in the below zip file, to the Super Hornet installation folder. In the DirectX section the dgVoodoo Watermark is turned on for testing purposes, once confirmed working it can be turned off. The following screenshot shows the dgVoodoo2 settings: DSOAL (optional) DSOAL (DirectSound via OpenAL) is used to enable hardware accelerated 3D sound. Those wishing to use headphones may wish to experiment with settings in alsoft.ini to optimise sound. The latest version is used, DSOAL r692, available from DSOAL GitHub Releases. The following files should be extracted from the zip/7z archive: \DSOAL\Win32\dsoal-aldrv.dll \DSOAL\Win32\dsound.dll \DSOAL\Win32\alsoft.ini Note: the file paths are not copied into the installation folder, just the files themselves. Configuration The configuration is set with the config utility (config.exe). The config is shown in the gallery below, with the following notes: The config utility should be run as administrator. It is recommended that the joystick setup be completed before running config to ensure controller options can be changed. The config utility sets registry entries which can be found in the registry at: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Digital Integration\F18 Super Hornet It is recommended to experiment to optimize settings for your hardware. Display The hardware display adapter should be set to dgVoodoo DirectX Wrapper. The recommended resolution is 1024 x 768. Sound The Use Hardware 3D Sound Hardware is unchecked as trying to use this option causes audio issues. However alternative hardware may be more compatible. Controllers The Throttle and Rudder may be selected or the Dual Throttle, but not both. You can not select Rudder and Dual Throttle. The JG profile should match the control scheme. Running To run the game without the optional FA-18E_SH_patch: F18.exe To run the game with the fixes and enhancements provided by Casqade's FA-18E_SH_patch: F18loader.exe After the first run, a dialog box may be displayed stating that Win10 has applied compatibility settings to F-18.exe. Documentation The following pdf documentation is available on the cd/image of each edition: Key Guide Pilots Notes Super Hornet Manual Example video Using the stick, throttle and rudder control scheme Testing scripts and the stick, split throttle control scheme Finally As ever credit and thanks go to the following individuals and groups: The Internet Archive for hosting the Configuration Editor Update. Casqade for FA-18E_SH_patch. The developers and maintainers of vJoy, Joystick Gremlin and HidHide. The developers and maintainers of TrackIR and OpenTrack. SadNES cITy Translations for Delta Patcher and ROMhacking.net for hosting it. dege for dgVoodoo2. kcat for DSOAL. Good hunting!

A guide to running the DOS version of F-16/iF-16 Fighting Falcon/iF-16 under DOSBox Staging or the Windows 95 3Dfx version natively under Windows 10. Another sim from the Digital Integration stable, published by Digital Integration and Interactive Magic in July 1997. F-16 Fighting Falcon is also known as iF-16 Fighting Falcon or iF-16. For the remainder of this article it will be referred to as F-16. Unlike the previous two titles, (Longbow) Apache and Hind, F-16 is particularly difficult to get running natively under Win10 with 3Dfx/Glide. This seems to be due to the graphics handling with both DirectDraw and Glide writing to the same graphics surface which creates problems for both DirectX and Glide wrappers Strategy This article will concentrate of running the DOS version in DOSBox Staging and the Windows 95 3Dfx version in Win10. Although there is also a Win95 version using software rendering, it offers no advantages over the DOS version which is easier to run in DOSBox Staging. Version & patch history The following is a brief history of releases and patches, followed by a patching strategy for each version of the game. All patches are available from the F-16 Fighting Falcon patch collection on the Internet Archive. Initial retail release (Jul 1997) The initial retail release was published by Digital Integration and Interactive Magic around July 1997. It was distributed on a single CD-ROM. It included both the DOS and Windows 95 (software rendered version). The Win95 installer uses a 16-bit installer making it incompatible with Win10/11 without compatibility tools. According to the release notes this is v1.0. Version 1.2 patch (Oct 1997) October 1997 saw the release of the v1.2 patch for both DOS and Win95 versions. This is an enhancement patch adding performance improvements to frame rate and a 'check six' view. It is a file replacement patch distributed as a zip file. This is not a recommended patch having been superseded by the later v1.3 patch. It is also available from: Internet Archive (DOS patch) Internet Archive (Win95 patch) Internet Archive (Score 48 cover cd) The release notes are included below: Version 1.3 patch (Nov 1997) The version 1.3 patch was released in both DOS and Win95 versions. This is a bug fix patch resolving issues introduced in the v1.2 patch and other longer term issues as well as a couple of enhancements. It is a file replacement patch distributed as a zip file. This is a recommended patch for certain editions of the game. It is also available from: Internet Archive (Score 49 cover cd) Internet Archive (Score 51 cover cd) Old-Games.RU The release notes are included below: Win95 3Dfx version patch (Jan 1998) The Win95 3Dfx patch, released in January 1998, is applicable to the Win95 version only. This is an enhancement patch adding 3Dfx support to the game. It is a file replacement patch distributed as a zip file. This is a recommended patch for certain editions of the game with supported hardware. It is also available from: Old-Games.RU soggi.org The release notes are included below: F-16 Fighting Falcon: The Afghanistan Campaign (Jan 1998) The one and only expansion, F-16 Fighting Falcon: The Afghanistan Campaign was released in Jan 1998. It provides a new Afghanistan campaign and includes the version 1.3 and Win95 3Dfx version patches. 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade (Sep 1998) The Win95 3Dfx Voodoo 2 patch, released in September 1998, is applicable to the Win95 3Dfx version only. This is an enhancement patch adding Voodoo 2 support to the game. It is an additional file patch distributed as a zip file, contents of which are added to an existing Win95 3Dfx installation. This is a recommended patch for certain editions of the game with supported hardware. It is also available from: Old-Games.RU soggi.org The release notes are included below: 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee patch (Nov 1998) The Win95 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee patch, released in November 1998, is applicable to the Win95 3Dfx Voodoo 2 version only. This is an enhancement patch adding Voodoo Banshee support to the game. It is an additional file patch distributed as a zip file, the contents of which are added to an existing Win95 3Dfx Voodoo 2 installation. There are no release notes with this patch. It is also available from: Old-Games.RU Sold Out Software re-release (Jan 2001) The Sold Out Software budget re-release in January 2001 on a single CD-ROM. This release includes the expansion and manual in pdf format. It allows the installation of three editions of the game (with the expansion included): DOS edition Win95 (software rendered) edition Win95 3Dfx edition The Win95 installer allows the software rendered and 3Dfx versions to be installed, but it is a 16-bit app which is not supported by Win10/11 without compatibility tools. In addition this release includes the following patches: Version 1.3 (DOS & Win95) although the zip archives on the cd appear to be broken. Win95 3Dfx version patch, not strictly necessary if the 3Dfx version is installed. 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade. This is the preferred release of the game to obtain. IF-16 FIGHTING FALCON (Steam digital release, Sep 2025) The Steam digital release is a DOS based release running under DOSBox emulation and includes the expansion. This 'should' be a pre-patched release to v1.3. As a DOS based release it is incompatible with the 3Dfx patches. It is assumed this release uses an earlier variant of DOSBox so it may benefit from replacing it with DOSBox Staging. Patching strategies The following general purpose guidelines should create the most compatible versions. Some patches are optional, dependant on the required 3Dfx hardware being present. Initial retail (DOS) Install initial retail DOS version. Apply Version 1.3 DOS patch. Initial retail (Win95) Install initial retail Win95 version. Apply Version 1.3 Win95 patch. Apply Win95 3Dfx version patch (optonal, if required). Apply 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade (optional, if required). Apply 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee patch (optional, if required). Initial retail and expansion (DOS) Install initial retail DOS version. Install expansion DOS version. Initial retail and expansion (Win95) Install initial retail Win95 version. Install expansion Win95 version. Apply Win95 3Dfx version patch (optional, if required). Apply 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade (optional, if required). Apply 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee patch (optional, if required). Sold Out Software (DOS) Install Soft Out Software DOS version. Sold Out Software (Win95 software rendered) Install Soft Out Software Win95 software version. Sold Out Software (Win95 3Dfx) Install Soft Out Software Win95 3Dfx version. Apply 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade (optional, if required). Apply 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee patch (optional, if required). Steam digital release (DOS only) Install Steam digital release. Switch to DOSBox Staging (optional, if required). Retail media Due to the age or the media and the drives required to read the media, it is recommended to rip cd-rom media to image files, to save wear and tear on media and the mechanical drives. The cd-rom can be ripped to a data only .iso image format as there is no cd audio on the cd. A digital edition of the game is available on Steam. Game management It is recommended to use my DOSBox game management strategy or similar strategy you may have developed. The recommended game management folders for the DOS version are: cd - to store the cd image. conf - to store any DOSBox or HOTAS configuration files. hdd - the folder use as the emulated DOSBox hard disk. patches - to store any patches. The Win95 version will use an installer app, however some limited game management is still useful, the following folders are recommended as the installation and game management folders: X:\Games\Win\F16 or X:\Games\Win\iF16 or X:\Games\Win\DI\F16 etc. X:\Games\Win\F-16 Fighting Falcon Setup With the following game management folders: cd - to store the cd image. conf - to store any HOTAS configuration files. patches - to store any patches. HOTAS config Joystick, throttle and rudder pedals are supported. Configuring axes may not be required if your HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using a combination of devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller can be configured (with vendor software or Joystick Gremlin), limited to 4 axes. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows: For those using controllers from multiple vendors, the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin combination may be required instead of vendor specific HOTAS profile software. You may also have to use HidHide as a device firewall, to hide your real controllers, so only the vJoy virtual controllers are detected by F-16. [6][7][8]. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows: Physical axis Windows axis (DOS) Windows axis (Win95) Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_XROT_AXIS DX_ZROT_AXIS Note: These settings are identical to the predecessor, Apache (Longbow) and Hind. DOS version This section assumes the use of the Sold Out Software edition although it should be equally appropriate to other editions. DOSBox config The DOS version is configured to run under the latest released DOSBox Staging version, v0.82.2 (at time of writing). The next version v0.83 remains in alpha release at present and despite including important and significant changes for running DOS games with more compatible frame rates as default, the released version is used with settings applied to achieve an equivalent result. [sdl] fullscreen = true host_rate = sdi vsync = off presentation_mode = cfr [dosbox] memsize = 32 [cpu] cpu_cycles_protected = 200000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mixer] reverb = medium chorus = normal [joystick] joysticktype = ch timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] @echo off mount c "D:\Games\Dos\F-16 Fighting Falcon\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\F-16 Fighting Falcon\cd\F16.ISO" -t cdrom c: # cd di\f16 # f16.exe # exit The [sdl] settings are suitable for matching frame rates and refresh rates to the legacy VGA standard at 70Hz, identical to legacy hardware. This may eliminate timing issues affecting the subjective 'feel' of the game. The [dosbox] memsize and [cpu] cpu_cycles_protected settings are identical to the preceding Apache (Longbow) and Hind games which use the same game engine. The cyclesup/cyclesdown settings are changed to an appropriate increment. The cpu_cycles_protected is set to a suitably high 200000. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings enhance the music and audio. They are a personal preference and can be adjusted as desired. In the [joystick] section, the [joysticktype], [timed] and [swap34] are suitable settings for my HOTAS (TM Warthog), however you may need to adjust these for your own joystick or HOTAS. [deadzone] is a personal preference and should be adjusted as desired. The [autoexec] section mounts the hdd folder as the c: drive. The imgmount command mounts a cd-rom image as the d: drive, the cd image must be present to play the single player game. The disabled commands will change to the appropriate folder and run the game. The exit command will close DOSBox when the game is quit. Once installation and patching is complete these commands can be enabled. Installation When installing from the cd image the installer would fail as it was unable to read files present within the cd image. It is recommended to mount the cd image in Win10 and copy the contents of the image into an install folder on the DOSBox emulated hard disk folder, e.g. In Win10: D:\Games\DOS\F-16 Fighting Falcon\hdd\INSTALL Which appears in DOSBox as: C:\INSTALL All DOS versions should be installed from within DOSBox using the DOS installer app (install.exe) from the INSTALL folder. The only installation option is the install size which should be set to large/maximum and the installation folder (the default folder is fine). There are no graphics or sound options to set. The installer should complete without issue. The following shows the installation steps: F-16 Fighting Falcon: The Afghanistan Campaign expansion An installation cd of the expansion was not available but it is expected the expansion will come with it's own DOS installer app, which should be installed from the cd image using the expansion DOS installer app. If this fails for similar reasons as the base game it's recommended to follow similar steps and copy the contents of the expansion cd to a DOSBox folder and run the installer from this folder. Patching Depending on your version there may one or more patches to run (see Patching strategies). The DOS patches are file replacement patches which can be extracted and files replaced in Win10 (which may be easier) than using DOSBox. Once installation/patching is complete, the disabled [autoexec] commands in the DOSBox config can be enabled. If the game fails to run after patching, it is recommended to delete the prefs.cfg file and then run the game. Graphics, sound and control preferences will need to be configured again in the Preferences menu. Configuration Configuration settings are fairly straightforward for this title. The initial Preferences menu allows for the following options to be set: As a CH joystick is selected in DOSBox, Joystick, Throttle and Rudder can be set as shown below. This will also depend on your joystick/HOTAS. The joystick, throttle and rudder should be moved to their maximum deflections to ensure they are well calibrated. These sound options require a sound card to be set through the Sound Preferences: Animations and Mission Planner can be Enabled. Menu Sound can have Music and Speech selected. Visual Preferences All settings can be turned On or set to the High, Long or Max setting, as shown below. Sound Preferences The recommended Card is Sound Blaster 16. Once selected you may go Back to the general config options. The sound card auto detection should identify the settings. If this has problems you may need to reduce the DOSBox cycles to a lower value (50000 is known to work). If there are still problems setting a sound card, values can be set manually (using DOSBox settings) by editing prefs.cfg (a text file) and changing the following: From: ... Sound DMA=-1 Sound Address=-1 Sound IRQ=-1 Sound Card=4 ... To: ... Sound DMA=1 Sound Address=220 Sound IRQ=7 Sound Card=4 ... Win95 version This section assumes the use of the Sold Out Software edition although it should be equally appropriate to other editions. The cd or cd image needs to be mounted under Win10. The .iso image format is supported natively by Win10, but cue/bin image pairs may require 3rd party tools like DAEMON Tools or WinCDEmu to mount the image. Installation The Sold Out Software release uses an earlier 16-bit installer app which is not supported by Win10. A recommended solution is to use winevdm/otvdm a tool to provide 16-bit app support on 64-bit Windows. The winevdm/otvdm utilities are available at the winevdm GitHub repository, with the latest version (v.0.9.0 at time of writing) available on the releases page. The process is to: Download the latest version (otvdm-v0.9.0.zip) and extract to a folder, (maybe a sub-folder under the F-16 setup folder if you have one, see Game management). Mount the cd image under Win10. Run the otvdmw.exe utility and navigate to your mounted cd image and open the setup.exe installer app. Installation should run successfully, when asked which version to install, select the 3dfx Version. When asked for the installation type, select Full Installation. Select no when asked to install DirectX components. Patching The Sold Out Software release requires the 3Dfx Voodoo2 upgrade patch to run under Win10. As this is an additional file patch, the patch zip file contents can be extracted into the installation folder from Win10. As an example, if the DOSBox installation folder is: C:\DI\F16 And the DOSBox hard disk folder is: D:\Games\DOS\F-16 Fighting Falcon\hdd Then the patch contents can be extracted to: D:\Games\DOS\F-16 Fighting Falcon\hdd\DI\F16 Compatibility tools The following tools are required to allow the game to run under Win10. nGlide nGlide settings Glide emulation is provided by the latest version of nGlide v2.10. Available from Zeus Software in nGlide download. nGlide is installed as a system level Glide wrapper as explained further in Glide Wrappers: Last Man Standing or Peace and Harmony? Once installed the nGlide configurator is used to set the nGlide settings as shown in the screenshot. cnc-ddraw The limited DirectX compatibility required, is provided by cnc-ddraw. This is the only DirectX wrapper which seems to be tolerant of F-16 switching between DirectX and Glide. It is described by the developer, FunkyFr3sh: cnc-ddraw can fix compatibility issues in older 2D games, such as black screen, bad performance, crashes or defective Alt+Tab. It does also add new features such as borderless mode, windowed mode and upscaling via shaders. F-16 uses the latest version of cnc-draw, version 7.1, available from cnc-ddraw GitHub Releases. The following shows the configuration options used and the corresponding configuration file: Configuration Configuration settings are fairly straightforward for this title. There are no sound options to set as the game uses the sound facilities of Windows. The initial Preferences menu allows for the following options to be set: As a CH joystick is selected in DOSBox, Joystick, Throttle and Rudder can be set as shown below. This will also depend on your joystick/HOTAS. The joystick, throttle and rudder should be moved to their maximum deflections to ensure they are well calibrated. Animations and Mission Planner can be Enabled. Menu Sound can have Music and Speech selected. Visual Preferences Visual Preferences can be viewed but cannot be changed as all options are set to their maximum with emulated 3Dfx hardware used. Running When run for the first time, the Preferences menu is displayed to allow config options to be set. If the game fails to run then the game may be misconfigured. The prefs.cfg file can be deleted, resetting all options. When the game is run again, the prefs.cfg file should be recreated, allowing the game to start and options to be reselected. The cd/image must remain mounted in DOSBox for the single player game to be available, without the cd/image only the multiplayer is available. Documentation The Sold Out Software release includes a copy of the manual in pdf digital format (manual.pdf). It can be found on the cd/image. The manual is also available from the Steam store page for IF-16 FIGHTING FALCON. Example videos F-16 Fighting Falcon v1.3 DOS version F-16 Fighting Falcon (Win95 3Dfx version) Finally... Credit and thanks go to: The Internet Archive, Old-Games.RU and soggi.org for hosting patches. otya128 for winevdm/otvdm. Zeus for nGlide. FunkyFr3sh for the latest version of cnc-ddraw. Good hunting!

A guide to configuration, enabling and disabling the vJoy, Joystick Gremlin and HidHide utilities with the Windows Command Prompt and PowerShell command lines. The command line options are very useful to configure an environment for a HOTAS profile to be used for a particular sim. Finding details of command line options for these utilities is not easy, so this guide acts as a useful reference. Note: This guide assumes HidHid and vJoy are installed in the default location. HidHide The HidHide client, (HidHideClient.exe) has a analogous Command Line Interface (CLI) client, (HidHideCli.exe). In most scenarios it is probably easier to configure the HidHide device firewall with the HidHide client and use the HidHide CLI to enable and disable the firewall via script. When running the HidHide CLI from the Command Prompt, this opens the HidHide CLI console (with a $ prompt) as shown in the screenshot. HidHideCli.exe The following options are supported: Option Description --app-clean Remove absent registered applications --app-list Lists the registered applications --app-reg "" Grants ability to see hidden devices --app-unreg "" Revokes ability to see hidden devices --cancel Exit without saving configuration changes --cloak-off Deactivates hiding of HID devices --cloak-on Activates hiding of HID devices --cloak-state Reports the current cloaking state --cloak-toggle Toggles between active and inactive --dev-all Lists all HID devices --dev-gaming Lists all HID devices used for gaming --dev-hide "" Hide the device specified --dev-list Lists the hidden devices --dev-unhide "" Unhide the device specified --help Summarizes the commands supported --inv-off Turn off inverse application list --inv-on Turn on inverse application list --inv-state Display the inverse application list state --version Displays the configuration client version Examples Enabling/disabling HidHide with the Command Prompt: "C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\HidHide\x64\HidHideCLI.exe" --cloak-on "C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\HidHide\x64\HidHideCLI.exe" --cloak-off Enabling/disabling HidHide with PowerShell: Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\HidHide\x64\HidHideCLI.exe" -ArgumentList '--cloak-on' Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\HidHide\x64\HidHideCLI.exe" -ArgumentList '--cloak-off' vJoy The vJoy client (vJoyConf.exe) also has a CLI client (vJoyConfig.exe). The vJoy CLI client is very useful as it allows the vJoy driver to be enabled or disabled, allows the vJoy configuration to be reset to a default state and allows a vJoy virtual controller to be configured. This means a script can be used to enable the driver and create a virtual controller for a specific sim. Once the sim is quit another script can be used to reset the vJoy config to a default state and disable the vJoy driver. Fortunately there is also documentation courtesy of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Documentation consists of: vJoyConfig usage. vJoyConfig Syntax. Important note: vJoyConfig must be run as Administrator to make the required changes. To use in a Command Prompt, the Command Prompt must be run as Administrator. If there are other commands run within the same script using the same Command Prompt they will all have Administrator privileges. You should ensure this does not pose a security risk for your machine. PowerShell can run individual vJoyConfig commands as Administrator so poses less of a risk. Examples Enabling vJoy and creating a controller with the Command Prompt: "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" Enable on "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" 1 -f -a X Y Z Rz -b 8 -p 1 This creates (or replaces) the first virtual controller with x, y, z and z-rotation axes, 8 buttons and 1 POV hat. Resetting all configs to default (with the -r argument) and disabling vJoy with the Command prompt: "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" -r "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" Enable off Enabling vJoy and creating a controller with PowerShell: Start-Process "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" -ArgumentList "Enable on" -Verb RunAs Start-Process "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" -ArgumentList "1 -f -a X Y Z Rz -b 8 -p 1" -Verb RunAs The -Verb RunAs argument allows individual commands to have elevated Administrator privileges. This creates (or replaces) the first virtual controller with x, y, z and z-rotation axes, 8 buttons and 1 POV hat. Resetting all configs to default (with the -r argument) and disabling vJoy with PowerShell: Start-Process "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" -ArgumentList "-r" -Verb RunAs Start-Process "C:\Program Files\vJoy\x64\vJoyConfig.exe" -ArgumentList "Enable off" -Verb RunAs Joystick Gremlin The Joystick Gremlin client (joystick_gremlin.exe) supports a limited number of important command line arguments useful when writing scripts to run a particular profile. The following options are supported: Option Description --enable Enable Joystick Gremlin upon launch --profile Path to the profile to load on startup --start-minimized Start Joystick Gremlin minimized Examples Starting Joystick Gremlin loading a profile and enabling it with the Command Prompt: "X:\\joystick_gremlin.exe" --start-minimized --enable --profile Closing Joystick Gremlin with the Command Prompt: taskkill /F /IM joystick_gremlin.exe There is no Joystick Gremlin command line option to close it, so taskkill is used instead. Starting Joystick Gremlin loading a profile and enabling it with PowerShell: Start-Process -FilePath "X:\\joystick_gremlin.exe" -ArgumentList '--start-minimized --enable --profile ' Closing Joystick Gremlin with PowerShell: Stop-Process -Name "joystick_gremlin" There is no Joystick Gremlin command line option to close it, so the PowerShell command Stop-Process is used instead. A complete example The Digital Integration sim, F/A-18E Super Hornet requires a very specific set of axes to be present on a controller and only those axes, with additional axes causing severe control problems. Using vJoy/Joystick Gremlin and HidHide to set up each utility specifically for this sim and then to disable it all afterwards would become a chore. Instead we can use the command line options to create a script to build a suitable virtual controller, load and enable the Joystick Gremlin profile that uses it and ensure the HidHide device firewall is in place. Once we quit the sim, another script closes Joystick Gremlin, disables vJoy and removes the HidHide device firewall. The following screenshot shows the Playnite game library manager configured to run PowerShell scripts to perform the above actions. This has been tested and found to work. The Start-Sleep commands add pauses allowing the configuration actions to complete. Playnite startup and shutdown scripts for F/A-18E Super Hornet Finally... Credit and thanks go to: The developers and maintainers of the vJoy, Joystick Gremlin and HidHide projects. Good hunting!

A guide to running the sequel, Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer 2 to the classic, A-10 Tank Killer. Developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra in 1996, Silent Thunder tries to one up the original in every department, more missions, more weapons, insanely large targets, the graphics are textured, the sound is improved and the soundtrack isn't half bad... and the joystick dead zone, is larger than ever. What could have been a fun little sim, is dealt a huge blow by the awful dead zone which feels even larger than the one they introduced with A-10 Tank Killer v1.5. It's hard to tell exactly how large of a dead zone is, but at a rough estimate approximately 35%-45% on each half of each axis making it borderline unplayable with a stick. These seems like an bizarre decision for a game that supports stick, throttle and rudder, so presumably was expected to be played with a period HOTAS. What's even stranger is that the dead zone is only present on the x and y axis, with the throttle and rudder axes operating normally! Can this sim be saved and made playable with a HOTAS? Strategy The retail install cd supports both Win3.1 and Win95 which means DOSBox Staging running Win3.x, PCem or native Win10 are all potential options to run the sim, but the most stable seems to be 86Box. Building a suitable VM becomes an important part of the install. When it comes to HOTAS config, creating a stick, throttle and rudder config is straightforward but suffers from the excessive deadzone on the stick axes. However, this can be used to create a suitable HOTAS in the VM and calibrate it in-game. Once fully calibrated another HOTAS config is created replacing the absolute axes with key mappings. This increases responsiveness to the same level as keyboard control at the cost of converting stick absolute axes into relative axes. Like the prequel A-10 Tank Killer v1.5, using the keyboard remains a viable option for playing this sim. An option made more attractive by the patch which introduces self levelling controls on the roll (x) axis. Version & patch history Initial retail release (Feb 1996) Developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra On-Line in Feb 1996 on a single cd-rom. The game featured both Win3.x and Win95 installers. This initial retail version is v1.0. The release notes (converted to pdf) are shown below: Silent Thunder Patch v1.01 (May 1996) The one and only patch was released in May 1996, upgrading the version to v1.01. This is a bug fix and enhancement patch. The bugs fixed include: joystick code changes, increased sound card support, better DirectDraw support and flight model changes. Enhancements include: a new joystick calibration option, an additional DirectSound option and weapons release changes. This patch is a self installing executable. This is a recommended patch for the initial retail v1.0 release. This patch can be found at: Internet Archive Old-Games.RU The Sierra Help Pages, A-10 Tank Killer Series Updates Compilation releases (1997-2000) Silent Thunder was included in a number of compilation releases from 1997 until 2000. It's not known which version was included with each compilation, but it is expected to be v1.0A. Xplosiv retail re-release (2003) The Empire Interactive budget label, Xplosiv released Silent Thunder in 2003 on a single cd-rom. This is v1.0A (v1.0 pre-patched with the Silent Thunder Patch v1.01) created at the same time as the patch in May 1996. Both Win3.x and Win95 installers are included. Media This guide assumes any physical cds will be ripped to an image file, to reduce wear and tear on media and drives. The retail versions of Silent Thunder contains 12 cd music tracks and should be ripped to a bin/cue image pair format to preserve the music. At present there is no digital release of Silent Thunder. Game Management As a windows game running under 86Box emulation, the installation folder will be created in the 86Box virtual machine. However some limited game management is still useful for files used in the setup. The setup files for Silent Thunder can be found in the same 86Box setup folder (my own, as an example): D:\Games\86Box\ D:\Games\86Box\Silent Thunder Setup The following setup folders can be used: cd - to store any cd images. conf - to store any HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any useful documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of recommended patches. 86Box The optimum method of running Silent Thunder is with 86Box emulation. This guide assumes the latest version of 86Box, (v5.3 build 8200 at time of writing). This is available from 86Box GitHub repository Releases. Virtual Machine (VM) The Silent Thunder release notes state the minimum spec is a 486 DX 66, 8MB RAM, Win95. The spec used is higher, but not too high. Having a spec that runs the game too quickly and makes it unplayable is not the intended result. Instead the spec used is: System Machine: [ALi ALADDiN V] ASUS P5A CPU: Intel Pentium / 120 MHz Memory: 128 MB Display Video: [AGP] 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 Storage Disks: 3.2 GiB (IDE) Floppy: 3.5" 1.44M CD-ROM: 32x 86Box 86B_CD 3.50 (ATAPI) Audio Audio: [ISA16] Sound Blaster 16 MIDI Out: System MIDI Network NIC: None Input devices Keyboard: PS/2 Keyboard Mouse: PS/2 Mouse Joystick: CH Flightstick + CH Pedals Ports Serial ports: None Parallel ports: None The preferred operating system is Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE). Notes The above is a suggested spec only and can be changed if required. The following can be changed to suit personal preferences: A 3.2GB hard disk is large enough but can be larger. Audio is provided by a Sound Blaster 16 but an AWE 32 could also be used. MIDI Out is using the host Win10 MIDI support but this can be changed to an 86Box emulation option. A Network Interface Card (NIC) is not required and has been omitted. The Joystick option is suitable for a 4-axes HOTAS. Those with 3 or fewer axes may wish to omit rudder pedals or switch to an option which more closely matches their joystick hardware. Serial and parallel ports are not required and use machine resources that could be allocated elsewhere. Configuration The following is the configuration file created by 86Box for this specification. It is the config file only and does not contain a hard disk image with Win98SE. 86Box should be used to replace the hard disk image in this config file with one of your own. Building the VM A complete set of instructions to build an 86Box Win98 virtual machine is beyond the remit of this guide. However, before trying to create your own it is recommended to become familiar with the process by reading the following guide by milnak: Install Windows 98 SE in 86Box Phil of PhilsComputerLab has produced the following recommended video. The video description contains links to some downloads also used in this virtual machine. 86Box Windows 98 Setup Notes The following notes are supplemental to the above to assist in creating a virtual machine. The hard disk image file type should be vhd. This hard disk image type can be mounted in Win10. This allows downloaded zip file contents to be extracted in Win10 and then copied onto the mounted vhd disk image. The disk image can then be ejected in Win10 and used with 86Box to run the virtual machine. Before installing Win98SE the BIOS configuration menus should be used to disable serial and parallel ports in the virtual machine. A Win98SE OEM installation cd image should be used, as this is a bootable cd image which does not require a separate floppy boot disk image. A suitable image may be obtained from WinWorld. This virtual machine should not require additional chipset drivers, being fully supported by Win98SE. The Voodoo 3 drivers used are Voodoo 3 driver kit v1.07.00 (voodoo3tm_driver_kit_1.07.00-whql.zip) available from PhilsComputerLab. The Sound Blaster 16 drivers are included in the Win98SE cd image, however the latest Win98 drivers for the Sound Blaster 16/AWE 32 (sbw9xup.exe) are available from PhilsComputerLab. This virtual machine uses DirectX 6.1a included as part of the Win98SE cd image. Once complete the Win98 Device Manager should show all hardware working and there should be no errors reported from the DirectX diagnostics, as shown below: Taking a copy Once the virtual machine is built and working it is recommended to take a copy of the 86Box virtual machine folder or to zip up the virtual machine folder. This ensures a 'clean' working virtual machine is available for any other future games requiring a similar virtual machine to be emulated. HOTAS Config Joystick, throttle and rudder are supported by Silent Thunder. Configuring axes may not be required if your single device HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using multiple HOTAS devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller can be used, limited to 4 axes. For those using controllers from multiple vendors, the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin combination may be required instead of vendor specific HOTAS profile software. You may also have to use HidHide as a device firewall, to hide your real controllers, so only the vJoy virtual controller is detected by 86Box. Setup config As 86Box only supports a single HOTAS device, we can create a fairly standard 'setup' 4 axis virtual controller in Win10 (see setup axis mapping). This controller can be mapped to the 86Box CH FlightStick and CH pedals joystick devices configured in 86Box. Once the 86Box VM is started, the CH FlightStick & pedals are added in Win98SE and calibrated. This 86Box virtual device can be used in Silent Thunder. When playing a mission for the first time the in-game joystick calibration is used to ensure a well calibrated controller. 86Box mapping 86Box joystick mapping The following screenshot shows a fairly standard axes mapping, from the Win10 virtual controller to the 86Box virtual controller. The Device is the Win10 virtual controller as seen by 86Box. Win98SE controller As a CH FlightStick and pedals have been configured in 86Box we now need to add them to Win98SE. In Control Panel the Game Controllers option allows a CH FlightStick to be added. As pedals are also available the rudder option is checked. For those without a rudder acis this can be omitted. Finally the CH FlightStick is calibrated and once calibrated can be tested. This concludes the HOTAS config until the game is installed and the in-game preferences are set. Play config This Win10 'setup' virtual controller can continue to be used, but if we wish to increase x-axis and y-axis responsiveness we can change the config (or create a new config) to replace the DirectX axes with roll and pitch 'hold' keypresses instead to create a 'play' virtual controller. As an example the changes are shown in this TARGET config. Similar functionality exists in Joystick Gremlin, you may have to split axes, and then map each side of the split axis to the appropriate hold keypress. e.g. split the x-axis into two and map the left side to a roll left hold keypress and map the right side to a roll right hold keypress. The existing 86Box mapping and Win98SE controller remain unchanged. Due to the previous 'setup' controller calibration we know the throttle and rudder should remain well calibrated. We can't calibrate the 'play' controller as it is sending keypresses rather than DirectX axis data for the x-axis and y-axis. This may be easier to visualize using the axis mapping table below. Axis mapping The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows for setup and play virtual controllers: Physical axis Windows axis (setup) Windows axis (play) Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Roll left and right hold keypress Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Pitch up and down hold keypress Throttle DX_Z_AXIS DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_XROT_AXIS DX_XROT_AXIS Installation To install the Silent Thunder cd image should be mounted in the 86Box virtual cd drive. The cd can opened to begin the install process. Note: There should be no virtual hard disk or cd-rom images mounted in Win10 before installing Silent Thunder as they will be identified by 86Box and cause the testing phase of the installation to fail with an error. If this occurs shutdown the virtual machine, unmount the images and restart the virtual machine. The Sierra installation menu allows the hardware to be tested, which can be done first or as part of the install process. The installation process is shown in the gallery below: Running To play Silent Thunder the cd image must remain mounted in the 86Box virtual cd drive. Game config In-game configuration options are accessed through the Preferences menu option (see screenshot). Sound, Direct Sound, Voice, Music, Joystick, Clouds and Fullscreen can be enabled. Low Res should be disabled. Detail and Distance options should be set to maximum. Initial mission After starting the initial mission (use the Fly One Mission option and select the training mission), the Preferences should be accessed and the Joystick Calibration performed. It is recommended to fly the training mission with this 'setup' joystick control scheme, the keyboard control scheme and the 'play' joystick control scheme to find your preferred scheme. To set the 'play' joystick control scheme, see Play config. Documentation The core documentation is supplied as a Windows help file, available in game. However certain releases also supplied an installation booklet and quick reference card available from: Internet Archive, Installation booklet, pdf document. Internet Archive, Quick reference card, pdf document. Old-Games.RU, pdf documents. Example video Silent Thunder running in an 86Box virtual machine Finally... Credit and thanks go to: The Internet Archive and Old-Games.RU for hosting the patch and documation. The Sierra Help Pages for hosting the patch. The developers of 86Box. milnak for the Win98 installation guide for 86Box. Phil of PhilsComputerLab for his Win98 installation video for 86Box and for hosting Voodoo 3 and Sound Blaster drivers. WinWorld for hosting Win98 Second Edition. The developers of vJoy, Joystick Gremlin and HidHide. RedLir Live for the Joystick Gremlin split axes video. Good hunting!

A guide to running the DID/Rage 2001 sim, Eurofighter Typhoon and Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker (2002), natively in Windows 10. Not considered one of DIDs greatest as during mid development the planned sim, which was envisioned as a evolution of EF2000, Air Dominance Fighter (ADF) or Total Air War (TAW) underwent a change of direction to become a more casual sim when DID was bought out by Rage. This guide will concentrate on the retail editions, however those having problems running the digital editions on Win10/11 may benefit from some of the fixes described later. The retail editions have not been tested on Win11 but these fixes may provide a Win11 compatible solution. Note: Many of the fixes are registry fixes performed by running an appropriate .reg file. You should be comfortable using the Registry Editor before attempting these fixes. Strategy This guide will be installing and configuring both the original retail edition and the gold edition including the Operation Icebreaker expansion. The guide will be covering: a version and patch history, installation and patching on Windows 10 including the registry fixes required to make it run and the necessary compatibility wrappers. During the remainder of this guide the following abbreviations will be used, Eurofighter Typhoon (Typhoon), Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker (Operation Icebreaker or Icebreaker). Version & patch history The following is brief look at the versions and patches available. Eurofighter Typhoon The initial retail release was in May 2001 on a single CD-ROM. The game uses a 32-bit installer making it compatible with Win10. This initial retail version is v1.2 according to the release notes (prepared in Nov 2000). This edition uses Safedisc v2.10.030. The game uses DirectX 8.0 which caused a number of issues with joysticks and HOTAS controllers at the time (see HOTAS config ). The release notes are shown below: Eurofighter Typhoon v2.1 patch The Eurofighter Typhoon v2.1 patch, released in March 2002, addresses three main issues: Fixes all known joystick and throttle problems. Fixes Windows XP compatibility problems. Fixes all previous bugs. This patch also has the added benefit of removing DRM from the game executable. The patch is distributed in as a zip or 7zip archive containing either a set of executable installers to apply a new game executable ( typhoonpatch.exe ) and registry fixes ( typhoon_registry_fix.exe ), or containing a file replacement game executable ( typhoon.exe ) and a set of registry fix files ( .reg ). The executable installers are 32-bit making them Win10 compatible. Due issues with DirectX 8 and joystick/HOTAS controllers the registry fixes revert to DirectX 7 controller support. The release notes are included below: The patch is recommended for Eurofighter Typhoon, initial retail release only. This patch can be obtained from: Internet Archive (file replacement patch) PCGamingWiki (executable installers) soggi.org (executable installers) Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker (Gold Pack) This is not so much an expansion pack but an extended edition, containing both the original game and a new Operation Icebreaker campaign in which Russian forces have taken Iceland. In addition it includes new weather effects and the official strategy guide is included. It was released in May 2002 and is pre-patched with the Version 2.1 patch. The installer is 32-bit making it Win10 compatible. This is the preferred retail edition to obtain, as it can be considered the optimum retail edition. This edition uses Safedisc v2.60.052. The additional Operation Icebreaker release notes are included below: Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker no cd patch This patch is crucial in allowing WIn10 to run Icebreaker as it removes the Safedisc DRM which is not supported by Win10. This is an unofficial patch created by C.L.O.I.E in June 2002. It is a file replacement patch replacing Typhoon.exe with a version without Safedisc. The patch is distributed as ACE compressed file (.ace). This patch is available from GameCopyWorld . The required patch is Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Ice Breaker [ENGLISH] Fixed EXE . Eurofighter Typhoon (Steam digital release) This digital edition is believed to be equivalent to the original retail Eurofighter Typhoon, patched to version 2.1. It does not include the Operation Icebreaker campaign or enhancements. It was released in 2014 and again in 2018 by different publishers. Eurofighter Typhoon (Zoom digital release) This digital edition is believed to be equivalent to the original retail Eurofighter Typhoon, patched to version 2.1. It does not include the Operation Icebreaker campaign or enhancements. It was released in 2021 but was replaced on the Zoom platform with an enhanced release, so is no longer available. Eurofighter Typhoon: Gold Edition (Zoom digital release) The Zoom platform digital edition is believed to be equivalent to the Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker (Gold Pack) retail edition. It was released in 2023. This is currently the only digital release of the extended Operation Icebreaker (Gold Pack) edition. Retail media This guide assumes any physical cds will be ripped to an image file, to reduce wear and tear on media and drives. The retail versions of Eurofighter Typhoon and Operation Icebreaker do not contain cd audio and can be ripped to a data only .iso format. Due to the Safedisc DRM present on both disks, errors will be encountered on the first 10000 sectors, as the disk is read. This means the ripping process will take an extended amount of time. Eurofighter Typhoon without the expansion is available digitally on Steam . Eurofighter Typhoon: Gold Edition is an extended digital edition available on the Zoom platform. Game management As a windows game running natively, the installation folder will be created by the Eurofighter Typhoon installer. However some limited game management is still useful for files used in the setup. The installation folder and setup files for Eurofighter Typhoon and other Windows games can be found in the same folder (my own, as an example): D:\Games\Win\ D:\Games\Win\ Eurofighter Typhoon Setup The following setup folders can be used: cd - to store any cd images. conf - to store any HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any useful documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of recommended patches or compatibility tools. Installation & patching This section covers installation and patching of both Eurofighter Typhoon and Operation Icebreaker. Installation Setup properties Due to the Safedisc DRM it is recommended to mount the discs using tools which support Safedisc, e.g. DEAMON Tools Lite . It is also recommended to run the installer ( setup.exe ) as an administrator as shown in the Setup.exe Properties dialog. Eurofighter Typhoon The install is compatible with Win10 and the process is shown in the gallery below. It follows a standard install process, the only points of note are: Once the game is copied a warning is displayed that a reboot will be required if DirectX is installed. However this should be unnecessary under Win10. When asked to setup DirectX, select Close . A reinstall of DirectX is not necessary and may damage the existing DirectX installation . Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker The install is compatible with Win10 and the process is shown in the gallery below. The game may check the version of DirectX installed but should not make any changes. Patching The following are the patching steps for Typhoon and Icebreaker. The purpose of patching is apply fixes and remove the Safedisc DRM which is no longer supported in Win10/11. Eurofighter Typhoon Eurofighter Typhoon is patched with the Version 2.1 patch . There is both a executable patch version and a file replacement patch version. This patch removes the Safedisc DRM. The following shows the process for the executable patch, points to note are: The patch requires the patch installer, typhoonpatch.exe to be run. The patch replaces the game executable and extracts a registry fix, ForceDX7JSOn.reg . The Registry Editor dialogs appear as the registry fix is run. This fix switches to DirectX 7 axes. If this is incompatible with your HOTAS hardware the other patch executable, typhoon_registry_fix.exe can be run to return to DirectX 8 axes, (see HOTAS config ). The file replacement version of this patch comprises of the following files: Typhoon.exe A replacement game executable with fixes applied and Safedisc removed. ForceDX7JSOn.reg A registry fix to use DirectX 7 controller axes. ForceDX7JSOff.reg A registry fix to return to using DirectX 8 controller axes. To apply the patch simply copy Typhoon.exe to the game installation folder replacing the existing file. Refer to HOTAS config for further details on the registry fixes. Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker is patched with the no cd patch. As this uses the ACE compressed format, standard tools are not compatible. The preferred tool is PeaZip . The recommended distribution is Windows Portable 64 bit as this can be extracted to a folder and removed easily. An additional unace plugin is required by PeaZip to open ACE archives. The replacement Typhoon.exe file should be extracted and copied into the installation folder, replacing the existing file. Compatibility settings The following are the recommended compatibility settings for both Typhoon and Icebreaker. To access, right clicking on an executable file, select Properties and navigate to the Compatibility tab. Typhoon.exe Check Run this program in compatibility mode for : Windows XP (Service Pack 3) Check Run this program as an administrator config3dr2000.exe Check Run this program as an administrator Registry fixes The following are the registry fixes required by both Typhoon and Icebreaker. Following this the registry fixes specific to Typhoon only are covered. Ensure registry settings have been applied by running typhoon_2000.reg . Software Transform and Lighting (SWTnL) There are registry settings to force the game to use software transform and lighting (SWTnL). The registry fixes can be found at the following locations: Eurofighter Typhoon On the installation cd/cd image in the config\SWTnL  folder. Operation Icebreaker In the X:\\regkeys folder. The following files are present: ForceSWTnLOff.reg Force software TnL off, to use hardware TnL. (recommended) ForceSWTnLOn.reg Force software TnL on SWTnLReadMe.txt Short description (Eurofighter Typhoon only) Font Support (optional) There are registry settings to modify the texel origin used by 3Dream for rendering text. They should be used if the in-game text appears corrupted. This issue may only affect certain hardware, so is considered optional. The registry fixes can be found in the following locations: Eurofighter Typhoon On the installation cd/cd image in the config\FontSupport  folder. Operation Icebreaker In the X:\\regkeys  folder. The following files are present: AlternativeFontTexelAlignmentOff.reg Sets a centre texel origin used by 3Dream. AlternativeFontTexelAlignmentOn.reg Sets an alternative texel origin used by 3Dream. FontReadMe.txt Short description  (Eurofighter Typhoon only) Eurofighter Typhoon only When trying to run the game the following error may be encountered (see dialog). This indicates a required registry entry could not be found. The registry entry has been added just not in a registry location the game is expecting when running under Win10. HOVAPPDATA error in 3Dream The registry entry is HOVAPPDATA and can be found in: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Digital Image Design\Typhoon To correct this issue: Add a new key named Hovis to: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Digital Image Design Add a new String Value to the key, named HOVAPPDATA . Set the Value data to your installation folder, this should be identical to the HOVAPPDATA string value already present (e.g. D:\Games\Win\Eurofighter Typhoon). Note : Double quotes around an installation path containing spaces is not required . The below gallery shows the Registry Editor before and after adding the new entry. Note : the HOVAPPDATA entry is the same value in both windows. Wrapper utilities The following wrapper utilities are appropriate for both Typhoon and Icebreaker. dgVoodoo2 This guide uses the latest version of dgVoodoo2, version 2.86.5  (at time of writing). Update : The latest version became v2.87 shortly after this guide was published. This version also works but due to false positives with virus protection, it had to be downloaded and unzipped on a non-Windows machine. This can be obtained from the dgVoodoo2 GitHub repository  in Releases . To install: Download dgVoodoo2 ( dgVoodoo2_86_5.zip ) and extract to a new folder. Copy the following dgVoodoo2 files to the Typhoon/Icebreaker installation folder. Note : the paths are not important you just need to add the files: dgVoodooCpl.exe MS\x86\D3D8.dll MS\x86\D3D9.dll MS\x86\D3DImm.dll MS\x86\DDraw.dll Download and extract the dgVoodoo.conf  in the below zip file, to the Typhoon/Icebreaker installation folder: Note : This configuration uses Max ISF, refrate:30 as the DirectX resolution. You may need to change this if your chosen resolution does not match your desktop resolution. Setting the refresh rate with refrate must be done manually by editing the dgVoodoo.conf file. Refresh rates of 30 and 60 seem to be valid options. DSOAL DSOAL (DirectSound via OpenAL) is used to enable hardware accelerated 3D sound. The latest version is used, DSOAL r692 + OpenAL Soft r10513 , available from DSOAL GitHub Releases . The following files should be extracted from the zip/7z archive: \DSOAL\Win32\dsoal-aldrv.dll \DSOAL\Win32\dsound.dll \DSOAL\Win32\alsoft.ini Note : the file paths are not copied into the Typhoon/Icebreaker installation folder, just the files themselves. Those wishing to use headphones may wish to experiment with settings in alsoft.ini to optimise sound. TrueSpeech codec Speech in Typhoon/Icebreaker uses the TrueSpeech codec. This was included with earlier versions of Windows (up to WinXP). With Win10 this codec must be installed, if we wish to hear in-game speech. It is available from PCGamingWIki as the DSP Group TrueSpeech codec installer , distributed as a zip file. Installation requires extracting the installer, tsp_codec_install.exe  and running it. It should install without issue. Note : If the TrueSpeech codec is already installed, running the installer will cause the codec to be removed. If this happens simply run the installer again to reinstall the codec. HOTAS config Joystick and throttle are supported, however rudder pedals are not supported. Configuring axes may not be required if your HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller  can be used, limited to 3 axes, as Typhoon/Icebreaker will automatically try to detect the HOTAS controller. With a 4 axis controller the correct 3 axes in use should be identified correctly. For those using controllers from multiple vendors, the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin  combination may be required instead of vendor specific HOTAS profile software. You may also have to use HidHide as a device firewall, to hide your real controllers, so only the vJoy virtual controllers are detected by Typhoon/Icebreaker . Typhoon and Icebreaker will use DirectX 8 axes, which includes using the DX_THROTTLE axis to control the throttle. Many controllers at the time did not support this axis and a registry fix was supplied with the Typhoon Version 2.1 patch and included with Icebreaker, that switched to the older DirectX 7 throttle axis, DX_Z_AXIS. The registry fixes can be found in the following locations: Eurofighter Typhoon In the file replacement version of the Version 2.1 patch. With the executable version of the patch ( typhoonpatch.exe ) will enable the DirectX 7 axes. If they are enabled but not needed, typhoon_registry_fix.exe  can be used to disable DirectX 7 axes and return to DirectX 8 axes. Operation Icebreaker In the X:\\regkeys  folder. To enable DirectX 7 axes run the registry fix: ForceDX7JSOn.reg To disable DirectX 7 axes and return to DirectX 8 axes run the registry fix: ForceDX7JSOff.reg The physical axes to Windows axes were configured for both DirectX 8 axes and DirectX 7 axes, as follows: Physical axis Windows axis (DirectX 8) Windows axis (DirectX 7) Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_THROTTLE DX_Z_AXIS Configuration The configuration is applicable to both Typhoon and Icebreaker as the same configuration utility, config3dr2000.exe is used by each. The gallery below shows the recommended settings to use: Registry enhancement Update: The registry enhancement to use a higher resolution is no longer recommended as it breaks weapons targeting. It is recommended to leave the resolution at 1024x768 as described above. The text below in grey is left for reference only. Note the preferred width and height The following registry enhancement is recommended for Icebreaker and highly recommended for Typhoon, as the dgVoodoo2 maximum integer scaling factor is improved by the higher resolution. The config utility only supports a max resolution of 1024x768 while both games support a resolution of 1280x1024 . To set this resolution requires manually changing the registry. The steps to do so are: Open the Registry Editor with regedit . Navigate to: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Digital Image Design\Typhoon Select PREFERRED WIDTH . Set the Base to Decimal (to make things easier) and set the Value data to 1280 . Click OK to set the value. Select PREFERRED HEIGHT . Set the Base to Decimal (to make things easier) and set the Value data  to 1024 . Click OK to set the value. The Registry Editor should match the screenshot. Close the Registry Editor. Running Both games are started by running Typhoon.exe . If the following error is encountered then the game was unable to correctly set your joystick/HOTAS hardware and you may need a virtual controller or to use the joystick registry fix (see HOTAS config ). Failing to set up the joystick/HOTAS Removal This section covers the removal of the game. Eurofighter Typhoon Uninstalling Eurofighter Typhoon is a straightforward standard process. It is recommended to use Revo Uninstaller to clean up additional files and registry keys not removed by the standard installer. The following will need to be uninstalled manually: The installation folder as it contains the dgVoodoo2 and DSOAL wrappers used by the game. The Hovis key in the registry as this was created manually. Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker Uninstalling Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker is a straightforward standard process. Revo Uninstaller should not be used, as the post uninstall scan seems to pick up many files not associated with the game. The following will need to be uninstalled manually: The installation folder as it contains the dgVoodoo2 and DSOAL wrappers used by the game. Example videos Eurofighter Typhoon running at a scaled up 1024x768 resolution Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker scaled up from a 1280x1024 resolution Finally... Credit and thanks for this guide goes to: The Internet Archive and soggi for hosting the official patch. PCGamingWiki for hosting the official patch and TrueSpeech codec. C.L.O.I.E for the Operation Icebreaker no cd patch and to GameCopyWorld for hosting the patch. The developers of DAEMON Tools Lite, PeaZip and Revo Uninstaller. dege for dgVoodoo2. kcat for DSOAL. Update : Further credit and thanks go to: Richard Stinchcomb for identifying the high resolution targeting issue and fix. meier47 for the Current Target-Selected indicator will ONLY work in 1024 screen resolution post on the Steam discussion for Eurofighter Typhoon Good hunting!

A guide to running the third Discworld game, Discworld Noir on a Win10 platform. Discworld Noir was developed by Perfect Entertainment and released in 1999 by GT Interactive and Infogrames. Like the first two games, it remains a point and click adventure title. However, the colourful Discworld environments of the past games are replaced with a film noir style of 1940's detective movies, which is apt given you play the Discworld's first PI, Lewton. Discworld Noir can be played in an aspect correct fashion under the PCem emulator, but achieving the same result natively in Win10 takes a little more work. History There has only been a single version of Discworld Noir, all editions of the game from initial retail and budget re-releases have used the same version. There haven't been any official patches released, which makes this a very short history. Discworld Noir fix by loma Considered to be the only fix required to run the game under WinXP to Win10, this patch was created by loma in 2018 and is still considered the optimum (and only) patch required. It is a file replacement patch, distributed as a zip archive, the contents of which should be extracted to the Discworld Noir installation folder. The patch is available from: MediaFire MyAbandonware PC Gaming Wiki There are two remaining issues with this patch, the mouse can leave the bottom and right side of the screen, this is considered a very minor issue. The loma fix will always cause the screen to stretch to it's full width. This is more of an issue for this game, written for a 4:3 aspect ratio, but can be corrected with a utility. Retail media This guide assumes any physical cds will be ripped to an image file, to reduce wear and tear on media and drives. The retail version of Discworld Noir does not contain cd audio and can be ripped to a data only .iso format. At present there are no releases on digital platforms. Game management As a windows game running natively, the installation folder will be created by the Discworld Noir installer. However some limited game management is still useful for files used in the setup. The installation folder and setup files for Discworld Noir and other Windows games can be found in the same folder (my own, as an example): D:\Games\Win\ D:\Games\Win\Discworld Noir D:\Games\Win\ Discworld Noir  Setup The following setup folders can be used: cd - to store any cd images. patch - to store a copy of recommended patches or compatibility tools. Installation The Discworld Noir installer app is a 32-bit installer which remains compatible with Win10. The installer requires all 3 cds/cd images to be used, so before starting the install, ensure you can swap cd images (or eject and mount a different cd image) in the virtual cd drive. Patching The Discworld Noir fix by loma requires the contents of the zip archive to be extracted to the DiscWorld Noir installation folder, overwriting any files as required. The following files are included in the patch: dn.exe tin3_dxd.exe Wrappers and utilities All wrappers and utilities are optional and they may be considered unnecessary, in which case the installation of the wrapper or utility may be omitted. dgVoodoo2 The film noir style of the game means the environment remains dark throughout the game. As there is no longer a gamma setting in the Discworld Noir options, another solution is required to increase brightness. For this we can use dgVoodoo2. This guide uses the latest version of dgVoodoo2, version 2.87.1  (at time of writing). This can be obtained from the dgVoodoo2 GitHub repository  in Releases . To install: Download dgVoodoo2 ( dgVoodoo2_87_1.zip ) and extract to a new folder. Copy the following dgVoodoo2 files to the Discworld Noir installation folder. Note : the paths are not important you just need to add the files: dgVoodooCpl.exe MS\x86\D3D8.dll MS\x86\D3D9.dll MS\x86\D3DImm.dll MS\x86\DDraw.dll Download and extract the dgVoodoo.conf  in the below zip file, to the Discworld Noir installation folder: Note : This config file does not change the brightness but can be used with Discworld Noir to do so. DSOAL DSOAL (DirectSound via OpenAL) can be used to optimise sound through headphones. The latest version is used, DSOAL r692 , ( DSOAL_r692.zip ) available from DSOAL GitHub Releases . The following files should be extracted from the zip/7z archive: \DSOAL\Win32\dsoal-aldrv.dll \DSOAL\Win32\dsound.dll \DSOAL\Win32\alsoft.ini Note : the file paths are not copied into the Discworld Noir installation folder, just the files themselves. Those wishing to use headphones can change settings in alsoft.ini  to optimise sound. QRes QRes allows the screen resolution to be changed, compatible with the loma fix, it was created by by Anders Kjersem. The loma fix always uses the full width of the screen, so QRes is used to force the loma fix to use a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution. The latest version is v1.1, available from: MajorGeeks.Com The utility is distributed as a zip archive ( qres.zip ), the contents of which should be extracted to the Discworld Noir installation folder. A batch file (.bat) can be used to set a 4:3 aspect ratio, run Discworld Noir and after quitting the game, return to the original resolution. The following is an example batch file: @echo off D:\Games\Win\DiscNoir\QRes.exe /x 1440 /y 1080 # set a 4:3 aspect ratio D:\Games\Win\DiscNoir\dn.exe # run Discworld Noir D:\Games\Win\DiscNoir\QRes.exe /x 3840 /y 2160 # back to original resolution Running To run the loma fix only (using the full screen width): dn.exe To run with a QRes corrected aspect ratio, create a batch file suitable for your hardware (e.g. dn.bat) and run it with: dn.bat To run with the Playnite game library manager, set a play action to dn.exe , and set the QRes commands in the script section. The following shows example script commands: Finally.. Credit and thanks go to: loma for the Discworld Noir fix. dege for dgVoodoo2. kcat for DSOAL. Anders Kjersem for QRes and MajorGeeks.Com for hosting it. Play it again Sam...

This article covers adding enhanced MIDI components to the 2026 edition of F22 Air Dominance Fighter (ADF). We'll start with a quick history, explain what it means for ADF and then move on to installing some recommended apps to restore missing MIDI features. Much of this has been taken from the guides for the original ADF and Total Air War (TAW), only the sections relevant to the 2026 edition are included. Note: At present the soundfonts that were included with the original ADF (are also the same soundfonts supplied with TAW) are not included with the 2026 edition. Hopefully they can be included in a future update. For now they will have to be obtained from an original retail cd or cd image. History In the early days of DOS, the MT32 synthesizer was the optimum way to play music (encoded in the proprietary MT32 format) in games. Each game required you to choose the MT32 device when configuring the game. A few years later and the proprietary MT32 was supplanted by General MIDI supported by a wide variety of sound cards at the time. Again, MIDI music options required a suitable MIDI capable sound card to be selected when configuring. With the advent of Windows, MIDI was still in use but was in decline, being replaced by audio music tracks on cd or by digital musc. However, Windows games no longer required the user to select a MIDI device for each game, the game would simply 'hand off' the midi music to the MIDI components within Windows. The user could use the default Windows MIDI synth or select the MIDI synth provided by a sound card for all MIDI music. As MIDI music declined there was a corresponding decline in the MIDI feature set offered by later iterations of Windows. Today we have the rather basic default Windows MIDI synth with a limited set of features. An alternative MIDI device with a richer feature set can't be selected. Soundfonts, which change the sound of each MIDI instrument and can substantially change the music landscape of a game aren't supported. What this means for F22 Air Dominance Fighter ADF being the 2026 edition of a much loved classic and enhanced for modern hardware continues to use MIDI music. However, under WIn10/11 is very much constrained by the MIDI facilities provided by these Windows OS's. The original ADF and it's sequel TAW, even had a set of it's own soundfonts for use with the Creative AWE 32 sound card. This means it can only play MIDI music using the default Windows MIDI synth (which does not support soundfonts). This is not an oversight from the developers, simply the reality of playing MIDI music on a modern Windows OS. However, third party apps have been created to restore this lost MIDI functionality. Coolsoft has created VirtualMIDISynth ,  a MIDI synth that allows soundfonts to be used and MIDIMapper  which allows an alternative to the default Windows MIDI synth, (like VirtualMIDISynth) to be used as the default MIDI device. Once properly configured the apps allow ADF to play MIDI music with VirtualMIDISynth using soundfonts (including the original ADF's own soundfonts). If you have used soundfonts in DOSBox, then you're probably aware the developers of modern DOSBox variants like DOSBox Staging and DOSBox-X have had to do something similar by integrating the fluidsynth component into DOSBox to add improved MIDI and soundfont support. VirtualMIDISynth and MIDIMapper Installing and configuring these utilities is optional if you prefer to run ADF without MIDI music and just wish to use sound fx and speech. If you have previously installed  VirtualMIDISynth and MIDIMapper to play the original F22 ADF or TAW, then you don't need to install them again, you're all set. If you only installed VirtualMIDISynth then it's time to install MIDIMapper as ADF does not allow you to choose a preferred MIDI device (this is done by MIDIMapper, see below). If you haven't installed either then... The first step is to download and install VirtualMIDISynth, as described in the article, DOSBox Staging and VirtualMIDISynth . The DOSBox Staging config section can be ignored, as we aren't using DOSBox. Then download and install MIDIMapper, which will integrate with VirtualMIDISynth, as described in the earlier article, VirtualMIDISynth and MIDIMapper . Now we select VirtualMIDISynth as the default MIDI device with the MIDIMapper configurator: Run the MIDIMapper Configurator. Choose VirtualMIDISynth as your preferred default MIDI device. Selecting VirtualMIDISynth as the default MIDI device Or with the VirtualMIDISynth configurator (that integrates with the MIDIMapper): Run the VirtualMIDISynth Configurator. Select the MIDI Mapper tab. Choose VirtualMIDISynth as your preferred default MIDI device. Selecting VirtualMIDISynth as the default device As shown above, both utilities allow you to do the same thing and set the default MIDI device. That concludes installing and configuring VirtualMIDISynth and MIDIMapper, adding the soundfonts is next. Soundfonts This is optional is also optional if you added the soundfonts earlier when setting up the MIDI music for original ADF or TAW. They have already been added to VirtualMIDISynth and are still available. Original ADF and TAW has three soundfonts, (one for each of the Creative AWE 32 sound card memory configurations, so each soundfont is a different size), as described below: File Size tfx3512.sf2 443 KB tfx31meg.sf2 897 KB tfx3.sf2 1.4 MB You may add all three to VirtualMIDISynth, but only one should be active when playing. It's recommended the largest soundfont ( tfx3.sf2 ) be used, as it provides the highest quality music. To configure VirtualMIDISynth: Run the VirtualMIDISynth Configurator app. Add the original ADF (or TAW) soundfonts to VirtualMIDISynth and select one of them ( tfx3.sf2  recommended). TFX3 soundfont selected for use This concludes adding the original ADF soundfonts to the 2026 edition. Other soundfonts Now that you have soundfonts set up and working you should feel free to experiment with others, you may find a favourite, here are a few examples to try: Fluid R3 - a retro sounding soundfont by Frank Wen. Shan SGM Pro 12  - a very large and impressive soundfont, created by David Shan. Timbres Of Heaven - a very large and 'expansive' soundfont created by Don Allen. Finally... Credit and thanks go to: Krishty and bored for their amazing work on F22 Air Dominance Fighter (2026 edition). The Coolsoft developers for VirtualMIDISynth and MIDIMapper. Frank Wen, David Shan and Don Allen for their soundfonts. Good hunting!

Previous articles have covered an introductory overview of the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide combo solution for virtual controllers in Controllers and retro sims part 6: vJoy & Joystick Gremlin . This was followed by an article covering some simple hypothetical examples, as an aid to understanding in Controllers and retro sims part 7: More vJoy, Joystick Gremlin & HidHide . Finally the virtual controller models used by  vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide and Thrustmaster TARGET were examined as a more detailed overview in Controllers and retro sims part 8: vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide & TARGET, looking further. Hopefully this has provided suitable background as to how vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide creates and manages virtual controllers and you can apply this understanding to the sim of your choice. However, some later sims do not require a virtual controller and allow a particular device and axis to be configured in the sim itself. This level cf configuration is what I call native controller support . Surely with this level of configuration a virtual controller is unnecessary? This article covers the 'advanced' topic of why, if and how to use a virtual controller in these sims which, at first glance, seem not to need one. This article covers the general topic, discussing the concepts rather than providing detailed instructions. Definitions Before starting the discussion it's useful to define some terms... Physical controllers The actual real world device that sits on your desk. This may be a joystick, a joystick with throttle or rudder control (or other axis), a single device HOTAS, a multi-device HOTAS and associated controllers like rudder pedals or Multi Function Display (MFD) controllers forming a multi-device flight control combo. Logical controllers If physical controllers are what you see on your desk, then logical controllers are the view of the device you see in Windows. The number of logical devices will match the number of separate physical devices (each plugging into your pc). If it's a single joystick or single device HOTAS then you'll see a single logical device in WIndows. If it a multi-device HOTAS, like a Thrustmaster Warthog stick and throttle, then you'll see a joystick device and a throttle logical device in Windows. If you have multi-device flight controls, like a Warthog stick & throttle, with rudder pedals and MFDs, then you'll see the Warthog stick, Warthog throttle, rudder pedals and each MFD as a separate logical devices in Windows. An example of logical devices. MFDs: 1st and 2nd devices top row, rudder pedals: 7th device top row, Warthog joystick & throttle: 6th & 7th devices bottom row. Examples Some useful examples of physical devices and corresponding logical devices. Joystick with throttle The Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X is an example of such a device featuring a joystick with an additional built in 3rd axis. As expected this is a single physical device and a single logical device in Windows. Single device HOTAS The single device HOTAS normally has two components a stick and throttle component, however, one usually plugs into the other (usually with some proprietary connector or cable) and a single USB cable runs to the PC. This can be seen in the Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X image below. This makes it a single device HOTAS, despite have separate stick and throttle components. In Windows this will be seen a single logical device. Some examples below: Multi-device HOTAS The Thrustmaster Warthog is an example of a multi-device HOTAS with both the stick and throttle being separate independent devices, each plugging into a pc via USB. In Windows the stick is one logical device and the throttle a different logical device. Multi-device flight controls With each of the above examples we could add additional devices to make it a multi-device flight controls combo. For example we could add a separate rudder pedals physical device connecting to our pc via USB which would create an additional logical device in Windows. We could add a pair of MFDs each of which are a separate physical device and each connecting to a pc via USB. This would create two additional logical MFD devices in Windows. A Thrustmaster Warthog stick and throttle coupled with rudder pedals and a pair of MFDs would give us a total of five physical and logical devices! Swap the Warthog for a single device Saitek X45 HOTAS and there are now four physical and logical devices. Virtual controller The virtual controller is a software created logical device that replaces one or more (and often all) logical devices created from physical devices. Virtual in that there is no physical device that corresponds to the virtual controller. The virtual controller will be configured with the axes, hats and buttons it needs. In an earlier article, Controllers and retro sims part 8: vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide & TARGET, looking further , vJoy (as part of vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide) and TARGET were the apps responsible for creating virtual controllers. Auto assigned controller support Auto assigned controller support is a name I've given to DOS and earlier Windows based sims that will automatically assign the device and axes to use. These sims were created at a time where there were no multi-device HOTAS products, only sticks with various numbers of axes and single device HOTAS. This would mean the sim would have to identify the single device and assign (probably a maximum of four) axes. This would happen automatically and was, for the most part, very successful with a few hints. This is why these sims often ask if you have a throttle or rudder pedals. Fast forward to present times and we have multi-device HOTAS, rudder pedals with toe brakes and MFD's. These earlier sims will make a guess at which device and axis should be assigned to an axis in-game but can easily get things very wrong. This is one of the major use cases for vJ/JG/HH and TARGET. To combine all your devices into a single virtual device configured with the axes your sim is expecting. You have to combine all of your devices, as only combining some of them (e.g. stick and throttle) while omitting others (e,g, rudder pedals) means the sim can still choose between the virtual device (configured as stick and throttle) and the rudder pedals, and it may choose the rudder pedals! Native controller support As touched on briefly some sims (created in a pc ecosystem of multi-device HOTAS which may be combined with additional controls) do not try and automatically configure a device and axes. Instead they have what I call native controller support. With native controller support, the sim natively supports multiple logical devices, it is the players responsibility to choose the logical device and axis to be used for a particular 'in-game' axis. This is normally done through some in-game controller configuration menu. With this mechanism there is no risk of an device axis being auto misassigned, only manually misassigned by the player! Below are examples of various games with native controller support. Advanced native controller support A very few sims have taken this a step further and provide what I call advanced native controller support, providing the sort of facilities normally found in HOTAS profiling software like Joystick Gremlin or TARGET. Falcon BMS Device Setup Guide, 147 pages long! In these sims, some or all of: dead zones, saturation points and axis response curves can be configured in the sim itself or supporting utility. These are normally the higher end sims, some examples of which as listed below (links go to some controller setup guides): Digital Combat Simulator World (DCS World, DCS) Falcon BMS Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (FS2024) Oolite (Elite in 2026) The why? So given we have a sim with native controller support, why would we want to introduce a virtual controller? There are really only two general reasons, they are: Corrective Enhancement Corrective None of us is getting any younger and the same is true of our controllers. As time passes and with extended use we may find very minor issues begin to occur. Maybe the weight of the stick means it doesn't quite sit at the neutral centre position and is off by a tiny increment. Maybe the rudder pedals have a minor jitter at the centre position. These very minor issues may not justify replacement but instead require the cost effective solution of applying minor corrections through profiling software. Enhancement With native controller support we are reliant on the facilities the sim provides. They may initially seem comprehensive enough, but what if we wish to introduce more commands from buttons presses or chain multiple commands to a single button press (and the sim does not allow us to)? Maybe we would like to introduce a refuelling mode so switching mode allows us to use a different set of axis response curves with larger physical/logical axis movement translating to smaller axis movement in the sim. This can even be useful in DOS sims, in F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0, weapon deployment involves opening the bay doors (increasing Radar Cross Section (RCS), firing the weapon and closing the bay doors (reducing RCS). These commands could be chained together in a profile, to be accomplished with a single button press. Again if the sim does not support these facilities it does not mean they are unavailable, just that we need to use additional profiling tools to provide them. This is the last objective question covered, the rest of these questions are subjective in nature. You may feel the reasons are not justified or disagree with an approach. The important point is to discuss the options available, whether or not you agree/disagree are comfortable trying them out or would prefer not to is entirely personal preference, but just knowing what is achievable is important as well. The rest of this article is descriptive not prescriptive. The if? The next question to ask is: 'If a virtual controller is the right solution?' Someone who spends a majority of their time flying in DCS or FS2024 (both with advanced native controller support) may have invested the time and energy to set these sims up specifically for their equipment. They may feel a virtual controller provides no added benefit given the work they have already done. Alternatively someone who tries a wide range of sims from early DOS Falcon 3.0 to DCS may want to create virtual controllers for DOS and earlier Windows sims, continues to use them with native controller support sims and even with DCS. This may especially be true if a 'corrective' profile was created and is used as a basis for sim specific profiles. The same virtual controller solution (be it vJ/JG/HH or TARGET) may also be preferred for native/advanced native controller support sims as the experience gained in using the profiling software may make it the more comfortable/easier/preferred choice and it also provides a single solution across multiple sims. Some may prefer to use the physical/logical controller device with the native/advanced native controller support in some sims and use a virtual controller in others. In short, it's a subjective question and one opinion is equally valid as another. The which? The next question to ask is: 'Which devices make a virtual controller?' This may seem like an odd question, when using a virtual controller, as the prefered option may be to add all the devices to it. This is a useful approach for DOS and earlier Windows sims as then they can't accidentally auto assigned the wrong physical/logical controller as there is only a virtual controller available. This is what I describe as full device replacement . I believe this is the approach taken by many when using vj/JG/HH or TARGET. It's also the approach I usually find myself using. However taking the earlier example of the joystick from the corrective section above. We could simply replace the joystick device with a virtual device and employ a suitable dead zone. In this scenario a 'corrective' profile uses a virtual device to replace the physical/logical device. This what I describe as single device replacement. This can be taken a step further, again using the example of the joystick and rudder pedals from the corrective  section above. This time we create a virtual controller with joystick and rudder pedal axes and create a corrective profile, adding a suitable dead zone to the affected axes. In this scenario the virtual controller replaces some (but not all) physical/logical devices. This is what I describe as multi-device replacement . This requires understanding the relationship between physical, logical and virtual controllers, as described in the definitions above. The how? The final question is: 'How do we use our virtual controller with native controller support?' The answers as you may imagine are straightforward. With full device replacement we only configure the sim using the axes from the virtual controller. With single device/multi-device replacement we configure the sim using the virtual controller axes (instead of the physical/logical device(s) and axes it replaces). For those physical/logical devices not replaced we continue to use those physical/logical device axes in the sim. Many may prefer full device replacement as a simpler approach, but it is possible to mix physical/logical and virtual controllers with native controller support. As an example the following is MiG Alley without a virtual controller, with single device replacement, multi-device replacement and full device replacement: To HidHide or not to HidHide? One point of note concerning sims with native controller support is that HidHide becomes an optional component. As native controller support allows a choice of device and axis to use in-game, the fact that the sim can see controllers we don't want it to use doesn't matter, they just aren't selected during controller configuration. There is nothing wrong with continuing to use HidHide and you may wish to continue to do so if it's become part of your setup 'routine' or you use a batch file or script (which includes HidHide) to set things up. It also means there are less options to choose from when configuring axes. Again this comes down to what you are most comfortable with or find easier. And now for something completely different... Or HidHide is for life and not just for flight sims. After a long day of configuring profiles and virtual controllers and maybe even some flying, you may wish to kick back and play a game. Out comes the Xbox 360 controller, you plug it in and fire up your game and nothing. Your game of choice is now expecting you to use your joystick/throttle/rudder pedals! Do you have to forage under the desk, tracing USB cables and unplug them from the pc or USB hub only to have to plug them all back in again later? An alternative solution with HidHide is to hide all of the flight controls behind the HidHide device firewall, leaving the Xbox controller as the only controller your game can see. You may have the opposite problem in that the Xbox controller is left plugged in and it frequently gets picked up by sims. In this case you could hide the Xbox 360 controller behind the firewall (along with the physical/logical flight controls about to be replaced by a virtual controller), leaving only those devices your sim will use! Finally... As mentioned earlier there is no definitive right or wrong way to set up your kit and if it works for you, then it works! Hopefully this article has shown what might be achievable and provided something to think about. Credit and thanks for this article go to: The developers of vJoy, Joystick Gremlin and HidHide. The developers at Thrustmaster for TARGET. Good hunting!

This guide will attempt to improve Win10/11 compatibility using techniques that have proved successful with other sims. These compatibility improvements are very subjective in nature as their success is gauged by an absence of crashes or other issues. Only through long term use in long duration missions can a subjective assessment be made. Despite this, it is hoped these changes will improve compatibility. Note : this guide should be used in conjunction with: Tech refresh 2025: MiG Alley MiG Alley: Running in Windows 10 MiG Alley: HOTAS Controllers While currently working well in Windows 10, the following was reported in the Combat Ace forums post, Rowan's MiG Alley by Dornil: With this MA is running well under Win10 even without any compatibility settings. Unfortunately, it's not perfect after all - CTDs happen often during long missions :( Although it could well be inherent problem of the Mig Alley itself - I vaguely remember something like this from the days when it was a relatively new game. To try and correct this issue the following techniques are used: Disabling/removing Windows libraries in the game folder, which will cause MiG Alley to revert to the later Windows system libraries. Replace 3rd party libraries with later versions that are compatible with MiG Alley. Later libraries should have increased compatibility with later versions of WIndows. Any bugs or memory issues may have been resolved with later versions of libraries. Upgrade to the latest version of DirectX wrappers. Disabling the Microsoft library The msvcrt.dll library is found within the MiG Alley installation folder. There are a couple of methods that can be used to disable it: Delete the library (not recommended). Rename the library, as this allows the lib to be restored, e.g. adding .bak  to the filename, msvcrt.dll  becomes msvcrt.dll .bak  (preferred). Replacing Miles & SMACKER libraries MiG Alley uses the Miles Sound System (MSS) library ( mss32.dll ) and the SMACKER library ( smackw32.dll ). The old version must be disabled (using the same method as above) and then replaced with a newer version that is more compatible. A collection of MSS and SMACKER libraries are available from this VOGONS post  by DosFreak. To replace the libraries: Download Miles(use 7z as ext).zip and rename to Miles.7z . Extract the contents of Miles.7z (with 7zip ). Copy the 32-bit library 4.0d-mss32.dll  into the MiG Alley installation folder. Rename to mss32.dll . Download SMACKER(use 7z as ext).zip  and rename to SMACKER .7z . Extract the contents of SMACKER .7z (with 7zip ). Copy the library 4.1a-smackw32.dll  into the MiG Alley installation folder. Rename to smackw32.dll . Upgrading DDrawCompat wrapper The latest version of DDrawCompat, v0.7.0 continues to work well with MiG Alley. It can be obtained from the DDrawCompat GitHub Releases . The existing DDrawCompat.ini configuration should continue to be used. Finally... Credit and thanks go to: Dornil for his post on the Combat Ace forums. DosFreak for the VOGONS post with additional Miles Sound System and Smacker libraries. narzoul for DDrawCompat. Good hunting!

A guide to running the NovaLogic 1998 sim, MiG-29 Fulcrum. This guide will be running the sim natively under Win10 and although untested, it is hoped this strategy will increase compatibility on Win11 platforms. This guide will be installing the base game and the Integrated Battle Space (IBS) multiplayer app as it also includes the Fixed Wing Mission Editor. Although run on Win10, the game is patched using a PCem virtual machine. Strategy Installing and running the game under Win10 works well, however the patch cannot be applied on a WIn10 platform. To create the most recent patched version of MiG-29 involves: Installing the base game and IBS aoo (which includes the mission editor) under Win10 to create any necessary registry entries. Installing the base game under a PCem Win98 Second Edition virtual machine. Patching the game in the virtual machine, as the patch fails to work under Win10. Moving the installation folder from PCem onto Win10. Version and patch history The initial release was in 1998 on a single CD-ROM. THe game uses a 32-bit installer making it compatible with Win10. Not only was the base game included but a multiplayer capability with Novaworld and Integrated Battle Space (IBS) which allowed a number of different NovaLogic sims to be played against each other. The FIxed Wing Mission Editor was also included. These apps also use a 32-bit installer. MiG-29 Update patch Released on the 23 June 1999 this patch was described as an IBS update which made changes to the base and multiplayer game. This was primarily an enhancement patch increasing support for more hardware, and multiplayer facilities. The patch uses a 32-bit installer which can run under Win10, however, the patch fails to install correctly under WIn10 and must be installed on a appropriate earlier Windows 98 virtual machine. From the release notes: Cheat code capabilities during multiplayer have been addressed. The update provides additional 3-D support for some video cards. Side passwords have been included for some multiplayer games as well. The update also provides public and private NovaWorld hosting capabilities, allowing users to join other user-hosted games through NovaWorld. The update also modifies the flight model and air-speed information to provide more realistic aircraft performance. The game will now support force-feedback joysticks, 16-button joysticks, simultaneously connected joysticks, multiple hat-switch joysticks, and other additional joystick capabilities. This is a recommended patch, it is available from: Internet Archive (archive of the NovaLogic FTP site). NovaLogic (http download only). PCGamingWiki . Retail media This guide assumes any physical cds will be ripped to an image file, to reduce wear and tear on media and drives. The retail version of MiG-29 does not contain cd audio and can be ripped to a data only .iso format. MiG-29 is available from Steam . Game management As a windows game running natively, the installation folder will be created by the MiG-29 installer. However some limited game management is still useful for files used in the MiG-29 setup. The installation folder and setup files for MiG-29 and other Windows games can be found in the same folder (my own, as an example): D:\Games\Win\ D:\Games\Win\MiG-29 Fulcrum Setup The following setup folders can be used: cd - to store any cd images. conf - to store any HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any useful documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of recommended patches. Installation & patching Windows 10 installation The retail version uses a 32-bit installer which is WIn10 compatible and will install without issue. There are only two choices to be made, the destination installation folder and a large or small install, the large install should be selected. The purpose of this install is to ensure any registry entries are set correctly. Immediately following the base game installation, the Integrated Battle Space (IBS) installation will begin. The only choice is the destination installation folder. This must be different to the folder chosen for the base game install. PCem virtual machine If you're completely new to setting up PCem or need a refresher, I highly recommend the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup . The virtual hard disk should be created as a .vhd file as this file type can be mounted in Win10, making it easier to transfer files. Once you have a basic, clean Windows 98 virtual machine and hard disk image, I recommend: Taking a copy of the basic virtual machine to create a game specific virtual machine. Taking a copy of the basic hard disk image to create a game specific image. Use PCem and reconfigure the game specific virtual machine to use the game specific hard disk image. If things go badly wrong, you'll always have the basic image to try again with and it'll save a lot of time and effort if you ever want to try a different game with PCem. Note: Earlier articles have recommended keeping a clean version of the virtual machine and virtual hard disk for future use. Using a copy of an existing 'clean' virtual machine to install and patch MiG-29 is an ideal use case, saving time and effort. PCem virtual machine installation Start by mounting the CD/CD image in the PCem virtual machine. Installing both the base game and IBS app is exactly the same as installing under Win10. Both the base game and IBS will install without issue. This provides the installation that will be patched with the one and only patch. PCem virtual machine patching The first step is to download the recommended MiG-29 patch and copy it onto the PCem virtual hard disk, to do so: If the PCem virtual machine is running, shut it down and exit PCem. Mount the virtual hard disk ( .vhd ) file in Win10. Copy the patch onto the virtual hard disk. Eject the mount virtual hard disk. Start the PCem virtual machine. When the patch is run it should find the MiG-29 installation folder and apply the patch, once complete you should see the licence agreement dialog, as shown below: Copying the installation folder Now we have a fully patched version of MiG-29 on the PCem virtual hard disk. We just need to copy this folder back into Win10, to do so: If the PCem virtual machine is running, shut it down and exit PCem. Mount the virtual hard disk ( .vhd ) file in Win10. Copy the MiG-29 installation folder from the mounted hard disk and use it to replace the existing MiG-29 installation folder created under Win10, replacing any files as required. Once complete eject the PCem virtual hard disk, it is no longer required. Note : Only the MiG-29 installation folder needs to be copied, as the IBS installation folder won't be used. Windows 10 configuration During MiG-29 installation, a M29.CD file is created, it contains the CD-ROM drive letter, which allows the game to know where the CD is located. When installed in the PCem virtual machine, this will be the PCem virtual CD-ROM drive letter (probably D: ). The contents of this file should be changed to the drive used in Win10 when the MiG-29 CD or CD image is mounted. As an example when I mount the CD image it becomes the F: drive. Wrapper utilities MiG-29 uses 3Dfx/Glide technology and requires a suitable Glide wrapper, nGlide. The earlier version of DirectX used, requires the use of dgVoodoo2. nGlide nGlide settings Glide emulation is provided by the latest version of nGlide v2.10. Available from Zeus Software  in nGlide download . nGlide is installed as a system level Glide wrapper as explained further in Glide Wrappers: Last Man Standing or Peace and Harmony? Once installed the nGlide configurator is used to set the nGlide settings as shown in the screenshot. dgVoodoo2 This guide uses the latest version of dgVoodoo2, version 2.86.5  (at time of writing). This can be obtained from the dgVoodoo2 GitHub repository  in Releases . To install: Download dgVoodoo2 ( dgVoodoo2_86_5.zip ) and extract to a new folder. Copy the following dgVoodoo2 files to the MiG-29 installation folder. Note : the paths are not important you just need to add the files: dgVoodooCpl.exe MS\x86\D3D8.dll MS\x86\D3D9.dll MS\x86\D3DImm.dll MS\x86\DDraw.dll Download and extract the dgVoodoo.conf  in the below zip file, to the MiG-29 installation folder: Note : This configuration uses Max ISF as the DirectX resolution. You may need to change this if your chosen resolution does not match your desktop resolution. HOTAS config Joystick, throttle and rudder pedals are supported. Configuring axes may not be required if your HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller  can be used, limited to 4 axes. For those using controllers from multiple vendors, the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide  combination may be required instead of vendor specific HOTAS profile software. The vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide examples  may help in configuring your HOTAS. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_ZROT_AXIS Running Once you have loaded and enabled your joystick/HOTAS profile and the MiG-29 CD or CD image is mounted in WIn10, the game can be run with: M29.exe Configuration There are comprehensive in-game configuration settings shown in the gallery below. Most can be left up to personal preference but those of particular note are: Video / Performance : All settings can be maximised, 3D Acceleration should be Enabled. Control / Performance: Should be optimised for the available joystick/HOTAS hardware. Those using a virtual controller created by TM TARGET or vJoy should make sure it is selected in Current Joystick . Keyboard Map : Allows keyboard commands to be remapped. Joystick Map : Allows joystick/HOTAS buttons to be remapped, which may be useful for those not using joystick/HOTAS profiling apps. Example video MiG-29 running in WIn10 with HOTAS Finally... Credit and thanks go to: Internet Archive, NovaLogic and PCGamingWiki for hosting the patch. Zeus for nGlide and dege for dgVoodoo2. Sarah Walker for PCem v17. Phil of PhilsComputerLab for his PCem Windows 98 setup tutorial. Удачной охоты! (Good hunting!)

A further look into the vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide model as an aid to understanding their function and how they fit together to provide a complete solution. The Thrustmaster TARGET software will also be compared and contrasted. There are some excellent tutorials and articles out there that give an overview of Joystick Gremlin and provide detailed in-depth instructions about advanced capabilities and functions. The same is of vJoy and to a lesser extent HidHide. However this article will be looking further and taking an overview of the solution they provide and how each component app contributes to the solution. By looking further into these 'solution models' it is hoped that this will help built a mental model of how the components fit together and provide a solid understanding, which should help in configuring your hardware for your sim of choice. It's recommended to take a quick look at previous articles, Controllers and retro sims part 6: vJoy & Joystick Gremlin and Controllers and retro sims part 7: More vJoy, Joystick Gremlin & HidHide . For brevity we'll use the following abbreviations vJoy ( vJ ), Joystick Gremlin ( JG ) and HidHide ( HH ). TARGET is the acronym for T hrustmaster A dvanced p R ogramming G raphical E di T or. The vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide model The vJoy/Joystick Gremlin/HidHide model In the vj/JG/HH model, there are 3 major components HidHide providing a device firewall, vJoy providing a virtual controller device and Joystick Gremlin tying the solution together, reading data from Windows devices through the firewall, remapping the device data using the profile and sending it on to vJoy. Hiding devices HidHide is the component restricting access to the physical/Windows device(s). It does this through the creation of a 'device firewall'. HidHide specifies the devices hidden by the device firewall. Applications (e.g App X) or games (e.g. Game Y) are not allowed through the firewall so have no idea the Windows device (or associated physical devices exist), only those apps specifically configured in HidHide will be allowed through, in this case Joystick Gremlin. Virtual device vJoy is the component configuring and creating the virtual device (usually a virtual joystick or HOTAS, but could be any controller). The virtual controller is the only 'controller' device that will communicate with the sim. Profiling Joystick Gremlin reads data from Windows devices through the firewall as HidHide is configured to allow the hidden devices to be accessed by JG. Physical/Windows controller data is read by JG, adjusted/remapped as defined in the JG profile and sent to vJoy. Joystick Gremlin is also communicating with the sim. This allows the JG profile to map controller buttons to keyboard (or mouse) commands so when the controller button is pressed the appropriate keyboard command is sent to the sim. The Thrustmaster TARGET model The TARGET model In the TARGET model a single TARGET app provides the three components of the solution. Both the TARGET app and TARGET Script Editor provide these components. The TARGET app provides a simpler (but still quite advanced) GUI based profiling app, while the TARGET Script Editor provides a IDE like interface for fully programmatic profile configuration, allowing very advanced features to be implemented. As TARGET is a proprietary product it only supports Thrustmaster devices. Since both apps provide the same solution components we'll use TARGET to refer to either the TARGET app or TARGET Script Editor, both are interchangeable in this discussion. Hiding devices TARGET takes a different approach to restricting access to the Windows device. When a profile is run the Thrustmaster Windows device is disabled, effectively disappearing from the list of accessible devices available to apps or games. Virtual Devices TARGET provides a complete suite of virtual devices. Like vJoy it provides a virtual controller but also provides a virtual keyboard and mouse. When a profile is running only these devices communicate with the sim. Profiling Again the profiling component ties everything together reading controller, mouse and keyboard data, remapping it as required by the profiles and sending it to the virtual devices (which in turn send it to the sim). Due to the proprietary nature of the TARGET apps, it's not known whether TARGET is able to read Thrustmaster controller data from the disabled Windows device or directly from the physical Thrustmaster device. However the exact details of how it is done isn't important, just that the controller data can be read. In the following screenshot we see the TARGET profile running window, within it you see the physical devices (numbered 1 - 5) that are hidden and creation of the virtual devices in the bottom lines. The TARGET profile running window Common components Despite these two virtual controller solutions taking two different approaches we can see a great deal of commonality between them with both solutions providing: A device hiding mechanism . vJ/JG/HH uses HidHide to create a device firewall. The TARGET mechanism disables the Thrustmaster device while still allowing the Thrustmaster TARGET software to get data from the device. As HidHide does not have access to proprietary information and works across devices from any vendor, the device firewall provides the mechanism to keep devices active but hidden from sims. Virtual controller creation . vJ/JG/HH uses vJoy to create a virtual controller that the sim will use. TARGET creates a set of virtual devices: controller, mouse and keyboard, that are used by the sim. Profiling . Both vJ/JG/HH use profiling apps with JG being a single profiling app for both simple or complex profiles while Thrustmaster uses the TARGET GUI based app for simpler profiles and the Script Editor to program more complex profiles. Finally... Hopefully the models presented help clarify the understanding of how vJ/JG/HH work together, and by comparing with a different solution, helps clarify the role of each component and their place in the vJ/JG/HH framework. Good hunting!