Retro PC gaming on Windows 10, technical aspects, flight sims and space sims a speciality
Search Results
137 results found with an empty search
- The difficult child: Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (3dfx/Glide) in Windows 10
The Jane's pop-up edition How to run the Windows 3dfx/Glide versions of Longbow Gold and Longbow Anthology natively in Windows 10 using compatibility fixes, Glide and DirectX/Windows wrappers. I'll be using cd images to save wear and tear on cds and drive. Your Longbow cds can be ripped to data only iso cd images, there is no cd audio on the Longbow cds. It will be installed and played natively in Windows 10, in theory PCem should be another solution, however the Glide components of PCem fail when running Longbow Glide versions. Before you begin Running Longbow Gold or Anthology natively in Windows 10 is an involved process and although the results are more stable than ever before, there are still issues and workarounds to be aware of. That's why I'm suggesting you read up on the issues that still remain (below) and take a look at the process in setting up, to make sure you're comfortable with the steps of the process and once the work is done, the issues that remain are ones you can live with while playing. Versions and patches For a list the various releases of Longbow and the recommended patches for each version take a look at the Longbow primer . This guide covers Windows Glide versions of Longbow Gold and Anthology only (there is no DOS Glide version. There's a separate setup guide for the DOS and Windows non-Glide versions. The preferred version is Longbow Anthology as does not suffer from the movie issue (described below) which affects Longbow Gold. Installation Before running the installation, set the compatibility option, 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 95' on the setup.exe properties. Running the installation should be straight-forward. For Anthology, choose a custom install and skip installing the GoldFX(A) patch. This will be done later. If you've installed Longbow previously, you may have followed the PC Gaming Wiki advice and added the HEAP_PERCENT option to the ca.ini config file. This can be found in the Longbow installation folder. You should remove/comment out this line in the file, it won't be needed. CD emulation The developers of Longbow, left in a functional cd emulation facility. This is a very useful facility as it saves you having to swap physical cd's or cd images. To use it, copy the contents of each cd to a folder on your machine. Then create a file CDEmu.ini in the Longbow installation folder (in my case C:\Janes\Longbow) and specify the folder for each cd, like so: [CDEmulate] CD001=C:\Janes\Longbow1 CD002=C:\Janes\Longbow2 CD003=C:\Janes\Longbow3 Longbow Anthology only has two Longbow cds, the third and fourth cds are Longbow 2, so the CDEmu.ini file only requires two entries. Patching To patch Longbow Gold you need to run the GoldFX patch only. The GoldFX patch is only compatible with the base Longbow Gold game. To patch Longbow Anthology you need to run the GoldFX(A) patch, the Anthology version of the GoldFX patch. Before running the patch installer, set the compatibility option, 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 98 / Windows ME' and 'Run as Administrator' on the setup.exe properties. Running the installer should now be straight-forward. A quick break We've reached the point where the game is installed and patched. From this point on we'll be using a variety of tools to fix compatibility issues encountered when running on a Windows 10 platform. This starts to get a lot more involved so read ahead, take your time. You may find it tricky when you do this for the first time, I know I did. We'll be setting up three separate components: Windows compatibility fixes. The Windows/DirectX wrapper DxWnd. The Glide wrapper nGlide. Windows compatibility fixes The first step is make sure there are no existing compatibility fixes on the Longbow executable, lbwin.exe . Go to Properties and the Compatibility tab and make sure all the Compatibility fixes are disabled. The Windows compatibility fixes are included in the below zip file. The fixes were created with the Microsoft Compatibility administrator (32 bit) . Follow the link for an overview. There are fixes for Longbow Gold and Longbow Anthology in the application compatibility database file JanesLongbowGlide.sdb . There is a LongbowGlidePatchInstall.bat to install the patch and a LongbowGlidePatchUninstall.bat to uninstall the patch. This is my first application compatibility patch I've produced for others. The fixes should only apply to the Longbow Gold/Anthology Glide versions of lbwin.exe with a particular checksum so 'should' work on any Windows 10 machine. To use the patch, download, extract to a folder and run LongbowGlidePatchInstall.bat . If you wish to uninstall later, run LongbowGlidePatchUninstall.bat. If you prefer to exercise caution when it comes to downloading files from strangers (I can completely understand), then take a look at the Microsoft Compatibility administrator guide. You should be able to download and install the Assessment and deployment kit, use the Compatibility administrator to produce your own patch and install it. You'll need to use the following fixes/shims: EmulateCreateFileMapping GlobalMemoryStatusLie IgnoreException You can also use the Compatibility administrator to open my JanesLongbowGlide.sdb file and see the same fixes/shims for both Longbow Gold and Anthology. Now the fixes are installed it's time to set up the wrappers. Wrappers DxWnd Windows/DirectX wrapper A lot of the work that was done by the Windows compatibility settings, will instead be done by the Windows/DirectX wrapper DxWnd. To quote the maintainer of DxWnd, Ghotik: Windows hooker - intercepts system calls to make Win32 programs run in a window, to enhance application compatibility, to enhance video modes, to stretch timing and emulate CD disk data and audio tracks. It is typically very useful to run old Windows games. DxWnd has been awarded a well deserved open source excellence badge, the latest version (at time of writing) is v2.06.05.fx1 and can be obtained from the SourceForge DxWnd page. Installation Once downloaded as a rar archive, it just needs to be extracted to a folder on your machine, (I used 7zip). Installation complete! Update : Something I forgot to mention, when you first run DxWnd, it starts in 'standard' mode and you only see some of the configuration tabs, shown in the screenshot below. Go to options and select ' Extended mode ' to see the full list of config tabs when you add a profile. Setup Once you start it up things look a little bit empty. Go to Edit and Add a profile. You'll be presented with a profile dialog containing a huge array of tabs and options. A number of options are set by default, so I'll only cover the additional options you need to set. DxWnd options Main tab: Name: give the profile a name. Path: set it to the lbwin.exe in your installation folder. For Longbow Anthology: Uncheck Run in Window. These don't really change anything just personal preference: Check Hide desktop background. Check Keep aspect ratio. Check Desktop. Mouse tab: Check Position message processing. DirectX tab: Check Vsync ON. Check Wait for Frequency. Libs tab: Check Emulate Win9X heap. Check Hook Glide libs. Once they are set click on ok and you should be returned to the profile window with a new Longbow profile. Go to File and Save to save what is called the task list. This doesn't save anything to file, to save your profile to a file, you need to right click on the profile and Export. You can choose a name and location to save to. Using my profile This is the profile (zipped) I created: If you wish to use it (you may prefer to do the setup yourself), unzip it to a folder, there should be a dxw config file (.dxw). Run DxWnd and go to File and Import, select this file and open it. The imported profile will be disabled, DxWnd does not store the path, as my path to the lbwin.exe file could be completely different to yours. Right click on the profile, go to Modify to open the options dialog and specify the Path in the Main tab. Click on ok and you should have an active DxWnd Longbow profile! Note: If you are using Longbow Anthology, you will need to uncheck the 'Run in Window' option as described above. And finally a huge thank you to Ghotik for all his hard work on the DxWnd wrapper! nGlide Glide wrapper The preferred Glide wrapper is nGlide v2.10. nGlide can be obtained from the nGlide website . If you already have an existing Glide wrapper installed then you may want to take a look at the Glide wrapper guide . It will explain options you have, if you wish to keep your existing nGlide wrapper and wish to install nGlide v2.10 as a local Glide wrapper. Installation should be straight-forward. Once installed, use the nGlide configurator to ensure the: Video backend is set to 'Automatic'. Screen resolution is set to 'By app (Default)' or 'by desktop' (I use by desktop). Aspect ratio is set to 'Aspect correction'. I'd recommend setting the 3Dfx logo splash screen to 'On (Default)', to make sure nGlide is being used, then turn it off later if you want to. In my case I have nGlide v2.10 installed as the system Glide wrapper. Controller setup If you have more than 4 axes with your HOTAS controllers combined (and I do) then you'll have to use your HOTAS profile software to create a virtual controller and limit it to 4 axes (joystick x & y axes, throttle axis and rudder (pedal) axis). For a quick discussion on virtual controller, see my earlier article, Controllers and retro sims part 2: Virtual controllers . The rudder will probably be the z-rotation axis (it was for me) rather than the x-rotation axis. Again with a little testing you should discover which. Issues and workarounds The Longbow setup is quite stable but not perfect. There are still a number of outstanding issues, some of which can cause a repeatable crash to desktop, as described below, with a recommended workaround. It is recommended that automatic saving of progress be turned off. If an issue occurs without a crash to desktop the game may continue and automatically set the mission as a failure. With the auto-save option disabled you will be asked whether progress should be saved. Longbow Anthology Early mission planning crash: Trigger: Start the game, go to historical missions and select a mission. On the mission prep screen select mission planning, after a short delay the game will crash to desktop. Workaround: Select a mission with an already loaded terrain set e,g, free flight. Once in the Apache, quit the mission. The crash should no longer occur. In order to guarantee a particular terrain set is loaded, before quitting the sim, start the free flight mission, quit the mission, then quit the sim. Early terrain load crash: Trigger: Start the game, go to a mission that requires the terrain to be loaded, e.g. free flight or historical mission. When the last high terrain set is nearly loaded the game will crash to desktop. Workaround: Select a mission with an already loaded terrain set e,g, free flight. Once in the Apache, quit the mission. The crash should no longer occur. In order to guarantee a particular terrain set is loaded, before quitting the sim, start the free flight mission, quit the mission, then quit the sim. Longbow Gold Longbow Gold suffers from the same two repeatable issues as Longbow Anthology. There is one other issue: Corrupt in-game movies: Trigger: Start the game, the intro movie will play for a couple of seconds in a corrupted state before ending early. The game continues to the on-base screen. Other movies throughout the game show similar corruption. Workaround: Disable intro and end credit movies with the on-base options. Leave the game alone at the on-base screen for 60-75 seconds. This seems to fix the issue and other in-game movies should play without issue. Testing If you wish to test with alternative or additional options to see if you can get better results, I'll be adding a guide with scenarios to test, that were particularly crash prone in the past. Running the Longbow Glide version To run the Longbow game we need to invoke the DxWnd profile. This can be done directly in the DxWnd application by clicking on the Longbow profile. Alternatively we can create a shortcut to DxWnd and invoke the Longbow profile with a cmd line option, by editing the Target field of the shortcut, e.g. C:\Dxwnd\dxwnd.exe /R:1 This runs the first profile in the list. From the DxWnd help file: /R:n Automatically starts DxWnd iconized in the system tray, runs the nth program in the configuration file, and exits DxWnd. Game options and manuals The earlier guide, Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (DOS) in DOSBox Staging has a brief discussion on gameplay options and manuals. Good hunting!
- M1 Tank Platoon 2: Gliding with tanks
M1 Tank Platoon II A guide to running the 1998 Microprose M1 Abrams tank sim, M1 Tank Platoon 2. This guide covers installation, patching and the required actions to run with enhanced Glide graphics. M1 Tanks Platoon 2 (M1TP2) is notoriously difficult to run with Glide successfully, without a Crash To Desktop (CTD) occurring at some point. This guide is primarily concerned with configuring, patching and running a vanilla M1TP2, suitable for those new to the game. For additional patches/mods see the ' Documentation & Resources ' section. Methodology There are two methods that can be used, to either: Run M1TP2 natively in Windows 10 (Win10). This method employs Windows and Glide wrappers (DxWnd and nGlide or dgVoodoo2). The core game is stable when running, however this method is not without issues including: The War College app is unable to be used. The default mouse cursor will sit above the in-game mouse cursor. The in-game mouse cursor may disappear after a mission ends/is quit. The in-game intro movies may fail to play properly. Aspect ratio corrections may revert to a native stretched resolution after a mission ends/is quit. At present, tests have been conducted with the latest versions (at time of writing) of the following DirectX/Windows wrappers: DDrawCompat v0.6.0 dgVoodoo2 v2.86 DxWrapper v1.3.7700.25 DxWnd v2.06.09 The following Glide wrappers were tested: dgVoodoo2 v2.86 nGlide v2.10 Alternatively, run M1TP2 in an emulated PCem Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE) machine. This method uses internal PCem Glide components, to provide a suitable environment for M1TP2. This has advantages over native methods including: The War College app works. Only the in-game crosshairs mouse cursor is shown. Intro and transition movies play correctly. Joysticks are supported. At present, the recommended method is to use PCem. Media As usual I recommend converting physical media to images to save wear and tear on disks and drives. The M1TP2 cd can be ripped to an iso, data only cd image, format as there is no cd audio/music tracks on the M1TP2 disc. PCem emulator This guide uses the latest version of PCem v17, available from the PCem website on the 'Downloads' page . Emulated machine approach A drive in the countryside with friends If you've used a PCem guide from this site before, you may already have a PCem emulated machine. This usual machine is not suitable for M1TP2. However, the machine config is very similar and can be altered and replacement devices and device drivers added to create a suitable machine. This is approach I took. Alternatively you can create a fresh machine, using the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup , as a basis, while making the changes detailed below. Emulated machine configuration The major change is to switch from a 3dfx Voodoo 3 graphics card to a different graphics card and 3dfx Voodoo 1 3d accelerator card. Note, the Voodoo 1 is not a fully featured graphics card but a 3d accelerator, requiring an additional standard graphics card in the emulated machine. PCem graphics card options The S3 ViRGE/DX is a suitable graphics card. Speed can be maximised with Fast VLB/PCI and the Voodoo Graphics checkbox should be checked (see screenshot). The Voodoo options can also be maximised with: Framebuffer memory size: 4MB Texture memory size: 4MB Render threads: 4 Installing Windows and drivers If creating a new emulated machine Phil's tutorial can be followed (except for the graphics card) and Win98SE installed. Win98SE will provide default drivers for the S3 graphics card. Depending on the Win98SE installation cd/cd image, it may also provide default drivers for the Voodoo 1 card. However these are not suitable for M1TP2. Suitable Voodoo drivers can be found on the PhilsComputerLab website, on the ' Drivers for 3dfx Voodoo ' page. I would recommend the ' May 1999 - Latest Reference driver '. They should be unzipped to a folder in Win10, as Win98 has not built in zip support. The virtual machine should be shut down and the virtual hard disk (.vhd) file opened in Win10. The Voodoo driver folder should be copied onto the Win98SE virtual hard disk. The virtual hard disk should be ejected and the emulated machine started. The 'Add new hardware' wizard of Win98SE can be used to install the Voodoo drivers. Note : During the driver install, there may be a warning, that a particular driver file is older than the one currently in use. It's recommended to install the older file, I did so and M1TP2 runs very well. Future use At this point you should have a well configured emulated machine with a working Voodoo card without any games installed. You may wish to take a copy of both the machine config and virtual hard disk, for any future games you wish to try and to avoid having to build another machine with this spec, from scratch. Installing M1TP2 M1TP2 should be installed within the emulated machine by mounting the cd/cd image in PCem. The cd should auto start the launcher app and the ' Install ' option selected, but if not, run setup.exe from the cd. During the installation, you will be asked if the War College and movie files should be copied to the hard disk. Both can be copied over, so select yes each time. When asked to install DirectX, select no , the emulated machine should already have installed a later and compatible version of DirectX. Once installed you may wish to leave the cd image mounted as it will be required to play the game. QuickTime for Windows At this point it's worth quickly testing the War College app. It can be run from the Win98SE Start menu. Initialization errors may be encountered, however the app still seems to start and run without further issues. The cause is down to a missing 'QuickTime for Windows' app. Fortunately it is present on the M1TP2 cd/cd image. Go to the dsg folder on the cd and run the qt16.exe installer. Once installation is complete, play the intro/demo movie to ensure QuickTime for Windows in installed, configured and working properly. The next time the War College app is run, there should be no errors. Patching All patches, unless otherwise stated, can be found in ' The M1 Tank Platoon II Archive ' (see ' Documentation & Resources ' below) Before patching you may wish to make a copy of the emulated machine and virtual hard disk. A number of M1TP2 veterans consider the v1.1 patch to be the optimum version of the game. Therefore with a copy of the PCem machine, additional copies could be made to patch to v1.1 or v1.2, allowing you to try both. This guide will be patching to the latest official v1.2 patch. Version 1.1 patch The official v1.1 patch was released April, 1998. The patch addresses issues from M1 Tank Platoon II, including fixed bugs, altered controls, and new additions to the game. There were German language and US/International versions of this patch. Some consider the v1.1 patch to be the optimum version of the game. This patch is recommended if you wish to try the v1.1 version of the game, otherwise this patch was superseded by the v1.2 patch. Version 1.2 patch The official v1.2 patch was released May, 1998 and was the last official patch. It is a cumulative patch, including the v1. 1 changes. The v1.2 specific changes include bug fixes and altered controls, but to a lesser extent than the v1.1 patch. However there are more v1.2 specific additions. This is a recommended patch. Readme The following the readme file from the v1.2 patch which gives a breakdown of all v1.1 and v1.2 changes: nGlide patch There is an unofficial nGlide patch available from Zeus software . The patch is available for M1TP2 v1.1 or v1.2. It is a file replacement patch replacing the m1tp2.exe file. It is not known what the patch changes. As nGlide is not used in this guide, this is not a recommended patch. Running Both the game and the War College app can be run from the Win98SE start menu. It is recommended to reduce the emulated screen resolution to 800x600, before running the War College app, as this seems to improve text readability. In-game configuration Configuration options The in-game configuration page should show the version as 'VER 1.2'. Options should be set as shown, with: Detail level: High Render mode: Glide Alpha blending: On The menu bars option controls the animated menu bars. As novel as they are, the corresponding audio and delay tends to get 'old', so feel free to turn these off, however this is left as a personal preference. Issues A minor issues remains, with the animated menu bars. When switched off, the game starts and after the intro movies, the initial menu page will display a blank/black screen. To resolve simply move and click with the mouse and it should be restored momentarily. This issue does not occur if the animated menu bars are left on. Joystick configuration Now we have a working M1TP2 installation we can take a look at joystick support. As M1TP2 only supports a joystick, native controller support can be used instead of a virtual controller. The first step is to configure the joystick in PCem. A ' Standard 4-button joystick ' is selected and the axes and buttons are set as shown in the PCem screenshot. Once configured the virtual machine can be started. Within Win98SE go to the 'Control Panel' and 'Game Controllers' and add a ' 2-axis, 4-button joystick ' as shown in the below Win98SE screenshot. Once added the Status column should show 'OK'. Win98 joystick options PCem joystick options The last step is to calibrate the new joystick in Win98SE. Once calibrated, the joystick setup is complete. When M1TP2 is started the commander and gunner positions can aim and fire using the joystick. Documentation & resources It is highly recommended to obtain a copy of the manual. Digital versions are available in pdf format. The M1 Tank Platoon II Archive The most extensive collection of M1TP2 resources to be found, including: Additional documentation Maps Strategy guides Patches, official and unofficial Mods and modding guides Fan made missions and campaigns Created by PixelWings from various sources and placed on the Internet Archive . A huge resource of 110MB, including items that would probably have been lost to time, if it hadn't been collated. A huge thank you to PixelWings and the contributors, for creating this essential archive for any M1TP2 fan. Time to get ' On the way! '
- F-19 Stealth Fighter: Hints and bugs
This post contains hints and bugs I've discovered during my playthrough of F-19 Stealth Fighter. Hopefully it'll make your flights in F-19 a little easier if you're struggling. Setup These hints and bugs were found using the GOG version of F-19 Stealth Fighter, version 435.04. It ran under DOSBox Staging v0.81.1. The game was configured using the settings described in these two earlier posts: F-19 Stealth Fighter: Running in DOSBox F-19 Stealth Fighter: Optimized settings for DOSBox Staging Hints A career without a Purple Heart means you've done things right, you don't need one! If your avionics are hit and your plane is jinking around the sky it is still possible to make a carrier landing. I know I've done it. Cold war, restrictive Rules Of Engagement (ROE) against elite opponents nets the best score. However elite opponents can feel like a huge step up in difficulty compared with veterans. Forgivable mis-steps against veterans will punish you against elites. Low Altitude stable flight can be achieved at an altitude of 225ft and an airspeed of 100 - 120 knots with flaps deployed. Any lower and you'll encounter low altitude choppy air. Above 120 knots you'll encounter more chop. Having flaps deployed throughout the whole mission is ok, the very minor RCS increase is more than compensated by the low speed low altitude RCS decrease. Low altitude stable flight will reduce your Radar Cross Section (RCS) hugely. However if you are close to detection at 120 knots, apply the airbrake briefly to bring the speed closer to 100 knots. It may not reduce the RCS but seems to reduce the radar energy absorbed. The radar energy bar at 120 knots seems to be longer than the radar energy bar at 100 knots. At elite level opponents, when heading to a target with a time limit, low altitude stable flight is usually not an option. Altitude should be reduced below 150ft. The initial ingress can be made at 300 knots to build up some spare time. As you get closer to enemy radar this can be reduced to 250 knots. If detection by enemy fighter or SAM's is coming close, use the airbrake to drop speed to 120 knots before releasing the brake and allowing the speed to build again. This will eat into spare time which is why it's important to build it up at the start of the mission. Low altitude stable flight is not fuel efficient, if your going to run in this configuration for an extended period take extra fuel. If the mission calls for extra fuel take another extra fuel for a total of 2. Once you're far enough away from enemy radar you can increase speed and altitude to establish a more fuel efficient flight, but be very sure of your RCS exposure and radar activity. In a cold war scenario, fighters may hesitate to attack, especially with a low RCS. If you have enemy fighters behind you, running at 200 - 220 knots will often cause an overshoot and/or a veer off, this can be sufficient to break a radar track as the enemy fighter will struggle to obtain another track as you leave the area at 200+ knots. Applying the airbrake to reduce speed to 120 knots will often catch them by surprise as well. Low altitude stable flight and threading the needle becomes very necessary against elite level opponents. Plan to fly towards pulse radar at or near the target during ingress or egress. Doppler radars are more problematic at or near targets. In a cold war, elite opponent mission, if you have space, take Mavericks to attack SAM radars that track you, without breaking the Rules Of Engagement (ROE). Don't deviate too far from the flight path to do so though. This is practical for the Libya and Persian Gulf areas. For North Cape it's probably not worth the hassle it'll generate. Enemy radars seem to deactivate or reduce energy if they are near a target as you approach, reactivating once you are a certain distance away. This is probably the game trying to prevent an impossible situation from developing. In a cold war scenario, this is both a blessing and a curse, as a tracking radar can be engaged without breaking the ROE. However if deactivated they never get the track on the approach, so can't be attacked, only to activate and begin tracking you later as you egress the area. In a cold war, elite opponent situation, you should expect radar and visual id's to happen. It's often better to take the score hit rather than prosecute an attack which can lead to a rapidly deteriorating situation and failure. Low altitude stable flight means traversing areas of enemy activity may not be as problematic. The SA-14's are very ineffective when you're in this flight profile. Most will fall short or go wide. However those approaching from the rear may still need to be distracted with a flare. These areas are best avoided as they can use up flares, you may wish to traverse at a higher speed and lower altitude. SAM's may also be less effective. Often missiles launched will hit the ground and never reach you or go wide. However for the better ones, you may need to put some on your 3/9 o'clock beam to avoid or drop a decoy. Making tight turns at speed may not be ideal but it may be your only choice. Not all missions are created equal. A timed attack on a primary surrounded with lots of long range doppler radars with multiple areas of enemy activity dotted along the flightpath might not be worth it. It's ok to pick another one. Sometimes what seems reasonable can go very badly very quickly if an IL-76 AWACS is over the target area. The low slow approach may be a bit boring but can also give enemy fighters or AWACS time to patrol out of a target area and sometimes land. For cold war, elite opponent missions, Mavericks are the weapon of choice, far more reliable than the other ordnance, they can frequently be deployed below a minimum altitude of 500ft. Launching at 250ft maintains excellent RCS with a high degree of weapon success. Mission hints Don't be afraid of cargo drops or secret airstrip deliveries, they're fun! There's supposed to be a secret airstrip in the North Cape but I've never got it to trigger. For secret airstrip delivery missions, land, kill the engines, apply the brakes and come to a stop. As the airstrips are short, release the brakes, set the engines to the first setting and head to a corner of the airstrip at about 15 knots. Apply brakes if it feels too fast. When you're close to the corner spin the aircraft around so it's facing down the airstrip crank up the engines to max and take off. The northern secret airstrip in the Persian Gulf is close to a small mountain orientated NW to SE. Head to the NW corner when approaching the airstrip then correct for the landing. You can land to complete a cargo drop. Land, come to a stop and then drop the cargo on the 'tarmac?' Check the mission objectives, should say the mission was successful. This can be a useful tactic if the secondary is nearly 180 degrees in the opposite direction. It means you can orientate the aircraft and take off heading very roughly toward the secondary, without having to make tight turns while in the air, increasing the chance of detection. Terrorist training camps are about 500ft at the highest point, so dropping at slicks in level bombing at 3000ft is going to damage your aircraft, go higher! Terrorist training camps must have flexible radio antenna as you can fly through them without crashing. Photo recons targets need a picture within 5 miles at regular or veteran. At elite for need to be much closer, under 2.5 miles. At regular or veteran one picture will do, at elite it's tricky to get the one picture, so keep snapping away. Be aware: you may need to adjust the flightpath to keep the camera pointed at the target box. At elite level your weapon selection is going to be relatively dull. Camera for photo recon, Mavericks for strikes, Sidewinders for enemy aircraft and lots of fuel. If you want to try other weapons I recommend running a few green or regular missions. Using a variety of weapons at elite is just going to get you detected and the situation will deteriorate. Cold war air to air missions may have to be completed with cannon. Missiles may often track and hit the best target they can find, which can be an escort aircraft rather than the primary target you fired at. There's one unique target, the Severomorsk Sub Pens in the North Cape. No career would be complete without this target! You'll need the only weapon that's effective the FAE and it has to be delivered by toss bombing. I wouldn't recommend elite opponents, the toss bombing technique will increase altitude and guaranteed to get you detected and completing the secondary may be impossible, but regular (recommended) or veteran (if you want a challenge) should be quite feasible. Mission breakdown Each primary and secondary mission is numbered from 0 to 55. This is a list of what each mission type is. The location will vary. A number of missions aren't listed as I haven't encountered them yet. If you know about a missing mission type, please let me know. 0 Secret airstrip pickup 1 Secret airstrip delivery 2 Reach beacon drop supplies 4 Photo SAM radar 5 Destroy SAM radar 6 Destroy mobile SAM 7 Photo LPAR radar 8 Destroy LPAR radar 3 'may' be a secret airstrip in North Camp but this looks like it was an unfixed bug or disabled by design (see F-19 Stealth Fighter: North Cape secret airstrip fixed? ) I 'believe' 9/10 would be photo/destroy Severomorsk sub pens but I haven't been able to get this mission yet. 11 Photo refinery 12 Destroy refinery (assumed) 13 Photo tank farm 14 Destroy tank farm 15 Photo airplane 16 Destroy airplane (ground) 17 Photo airplane 18 Destroy airplane (ground) 19 Photo airplane 11-12 Only seen in Libya, 12 is assumed to be the corresponding destroy mission for 11, not actually seen yet. 15-19 seem to be for different aircraft, one is an Russian stealth bomber. 20 Destroy airplane (assumed) 21 Photo camp 22 Destroy camp 25 Photo missile boat 26 Destroy missile boat 27 Destroy missile boat 28 Photo SA missile 29 Destroy SA missile 20 would seem to be the destroy aircraft mission for 19. 25 also includes the Krivak frigate in the North Cape. 26-27 seem to be for different kinds of missile boat. 30 Photo oil rig 31 Destroy oil rig 32 Photo nuclear plant 33 Destroy nuclear plant 36 Photo cargo ship 38 Photo Typhoon sub 39 Destroy Typhoon sub 32-33 rogue nuclear plant in Libya. 38-39 North Cape only 40 Photo supply dump 41 Destroy supply dump 42 Photo HQ 43 Destroy HQ 45 Photo bridge 46 Destroy bridge 47 Intercept and destroy AN-72 48 Intercept and destroy AN-72 49 Intercept and destroy AN-72 40-41 only ever seen in Vietnam scenario 50 Intercept and destroy AN-72 51 Intercept and destroy AN-72 52 Intercept and destroy Tu-95 53 Intercept and destroy Tu-95 54 Intercept and destroy IL-76 55 Intercept and destroy fighter patrol 47-51 are for different personnel/cargo carried by the AN-72. 52-53 one is a cruise missile carrying Tu-95 and the other is a different Tu-95 type. 55 covers all fighter types, so it can be MIG-29, SU-27, F-14, F-4E, etc. Bugs A lot of these bugs got fixed in the sequel, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0. Weapon delivery can be very very unreliable, laser guided ordnance is always a pass, it just doesn't work properly. Retarded and dumb bombs work some/most of the time but can be very DOSBox cycle dependant. The Harpoon doesn't work. AAM's and Mavericks are pretty solid. The strategic map in the left MFD will replace parts of the map with a solid block of colour. In fact this is probably an environment bug as it'll match the outside environment. Most notable are solid blocks that appear in Libya and Persian Gulf and the northern area around the carrier in North Cape will suddenly become green land (or maybe it's an algae bloom?) This seems to happens during medium/longer mission Enemy aircraft will turn their radars off for a while and may/may not turn them back on again. This mostly happens in longer missions. Enemy aircraft may stray outside of their airspace and on occasion F/A-18's from a carrier have decided to carry out their own missions over enemy territory. I've seen a dogfight over eastern Libya (the F/A-18's kept losing and carrier kept sending more?!?) and incursions into the North Cape so far. On very long missions the aircraft can suddenly flip 180 degrees, so if you are heading 270, the heading strip will suddenly flip to 090 and you'll be heading in the opposite direction! This has only happened once in a mission lasting nearly 2 hours (real time).
- Oolite meet Warthog
These are my TM Warthog settings for playing Oolite. My HOTAS setup comprises a Warthog joystick and throttle and T-Flight Rudder Pedals (TFRP). In this guide only the internal Oolite controller support is used. TM or vendor agnostic profiling software or other utilities aren't used. The Oolite controller support is very comprehensive and additional software just isn't required. Major axes The following is probably standard. Yaw Joystick x-axis Pitch Joystick y-axis Thrust Throttle z-axis Roll Rudder pedals For those attuned to helicopter like controls, the following may be preferable. It requires far more coordination and major engagements can become quite tiring, but can be very immersive. The remaining axes are unchanged. Roll Joystick x-axis Yaw Rudder pedals Major buttons Major fire controls, ident and ECM are assigned to major buttons for speed. Fire lasers Joystick trigger Toggle weapons Joystick button 1 Fire missiles/bombs Joystick button 2 Ident system Joystick button 3 ECM Joystick button 4 Joystick hat clusters Joystick hats are used to cluster non-navigational related controls together. View controls (forward, aft, etc.) Joystick hat 1 Targeting controls (compass/ships) Joystick hat 2 Equipment Joystick hat 3 Weapons Joystick hat 4 Throttle hat clusters Throttle hats are used to cluster thrust and navigational related controls together. Thrust, torus, jump controls Throttle hat 1 Docking controls Throttle hat 2 Mappings The following pdf files show the HOTAS mappings in graphical and table format: Good hunting!
- Chucking it in DOSBox: Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat box cover A guide to running the standard DOS and Gravis UltraSound (GUS) optimized versions of the 1991 Electronic Arts/Brent Iverson sim, 'Chuck Yeager's Air Combat' in DOSBox Staging. In a list of classic sims that got large numbers of people into the flight sim genre, near the top, would be Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (CYAC). Created by sim designer Brent Iverson, who had already completed LHX: Attack Chopper, in 1990, and would go on to created the Jane's Fighter's series culminating in Jane's Fighters: Anthology and assisted by the man himself, Chuck Yeager, whose flight experience, testing and advice helped make CYAC the universally well regarded and classic sim it became. You can read more about it on MobyGames . Versions There are three DOS versions of interest (not counting the Mac version), two 'standard' DOS versions and a GUS optimised version. The initial commercial release was v1.0 in 1991. Released on 4 x 5.25" Double Density (DD) 360KB floppy disks or 2 x 3.5" DD 720KB floppy disks. A later commercial re-release increased the version to v1.1. Released on 2 x 3.5 DD floppy disks. Later re-releases, budget re-releases and compilation releases would include CD-ROM media. Version 1.1 made changes to joystick handling which makes it more DOSBox compatible. A list of other changes are listed in a readme file from a later release, and included below: A Gravis UltraSound (GUS) sound card optimised version, 1993, was never commercially released as a separate product, but came included with the GUS sound card. It was distributed on 4 x 3.5" DD 720KB floppy disks. This version still uses the v1.1 number within the flight menu, but uses GUS enhanced music and audio and lists the version as 'Advanced Gravis Ultrasound Version 1.0G' within the credits! The recommended version is v1.1/v1.0G and depending on the desired gameplay experience, either the standard or GUS version should be chosen. For those new to CYAC the GUS version is recommended. Media As usual I recommend ripping any floppy disk versions to an img or ima floppy image file that can be read by DOSBox. Physical cds can be ripped to a data only iso image as there is no cd audio/music on the disk (at least none used by CYAC if it's in a compilation release). The media, especially physical floppy disk media may be over 30 years old so saving wear and tear on disks (and drives) is important, so I recommend the use of floppy/cd images. Game management I recommend using my DOSBox game management strategy, the recommended game management folders are: conf - to store any DOSBox or HOTAS configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. cd - to store any cd images ripped from a retail cd (if using a cd image). fdd - to store any cd images ripped from floppy disks (if using floppy images). hdd - the DOSBox emulated hard disk folder, to install the game to. If you want to try both standard and GUS versions then add: hdd-gus - another DOSBox emulated hard disk folder, to install the GUS version to. HOTAS config Only the joystick is supported in the retail game, but throttle support can be added with a utility (see ' Patches and utilities '). 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. As I have rudder pedals I tend to configure all the devices in my virtual controller, even if they aren't used (like the rudder pedals in this case). This prevents DOSBox from trying to assign the rudder pedals as the joystick controller. 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_XROT_AXIS DOSBox Staging config This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging is used, v0.82.1 at time of writing. This sections covers settings applicable to both the standard and GUS versions, which differ from the default DOSBox Staging config. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 10000 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = medium chorus = normal [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] # Example image mount commands # imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Chuck Yeager Air Combat\fdd\*.img" -t floppy # imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Chuck Yeager Air Combat\cd\ChuckYeagersAirCombat.iso" -t cdrom # Example hard disk mount commands mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Chuck Yeager Air Combat\hdd" # mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Chuck Yeager Air Combat\hdd-gus" c: # CYAC joystick TSR utility # cd tsr # cyac_2ja # cd .. # Running CYAC, note the installation folder may be different # cd combat # yeager # Close DOSBox after quitting the game # exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, 10000 seems like a good setting for my machine but you may wish to change this to personal preference . The cpu_cycles_protected setting will use the same cycle count as cpu_cycles when set to auto. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. The [joystick] settings are appropriate for my HOTAS setup so you may need to alter these. The CYAC joystick utility failed with timed set to true and false is generally preferable. Deadzone is set to a personal preference. The autoexec section contains disabled (commented out) examples, these should be enabled or tweaked depending on what images and/or utilities were used, it contains: Example imgmount commands for floppy disk and cd images. A second emulated hard disk folder for the GUS version (if required). Example commands for calling the CYAC joystick TSR. Example commands for running the game. Closing DOSBox after quitting. You should configure the game before running it from the DOSBox config file. Standard version This sections covers sound and music settings applicable to the standard version, which differ from the default DOSBox Staging config. [speaker] lpt_dac = covox The standard version will use Soundblaster for music and most sound, however the default settings do not have to change. CYAC supports the Covox Speech Thingy which provides enhanced speech. The lpt_dac setting enables Covox emulation. GUS version This sections covers sound and music settings applicable to the GUS version, which differ from the default DOSBox Staging config. [sblaster] sbtype = none [gus] gus = true [speaker] lpt_dac = none The GUS version will use GUS for music and sound so Soundblaster emulation should be disabled. In the 'gus' section, GUS emulation should be enabled, the remaining settings can remain at the default values. In the speaker section, the lpt_dac setting defaults to none (so not strictly required), however if you have copied the standard config, remember to disable this or remove it to revert to the default value. GUS driver installation As DOSBox Staging is used, with built in GUS audio support, additional drivers and patches are not required and can be omitted. Installation The floppy images usually have an installer app called install.bat or install.exe , depending on a particular release. These should be run with DOSBox. As there are multiple disk images you will have to use DOSBox to swap between images ( CTRL+F4 ) to complete the install. The floppy install should complete without issue. The cd/cd images may have a similarly named installer app or you may have to look for a suitable batch (.bat) or executable (.exe), e.g. runme.bat, dependant on the release. Once found run in DOSBox, it should complete without issue. The installer will normally copy files to C:\COMBAT or C:\EA\COMBAT , again dependant on release. Ensure the [autoexec] section of the DOSBox config reflects this. Patches & utilities At present I haven't been able to find a v1.1 patch which makes selecting the correct version even more important. If anyone has the patch or knows where it is or can even confirm it exists, please get in touch. CYAC joystick TSR There is a CYAC joystick TSR utility (cyac2j.zip) created by Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein (a familiar name in Tornado patches and utilities) that can be used to enable the throttle in game. Thanks to VOGONS forum rfnagel and some deep digging through his archives, it can be found in his post and to Heinz-Bernd for giving us a throttle in CYAC! The zip package comprises of: Running cyac_2ja cyac_2ja.com - for analogue throttles. cyac_2jd.com - for digital throttles (or second joystick). cyac_2j.doc - instructions. stick.exe - a stick and throttle test utility. The screenshot shows the cyac_2ja.com being run. The utility is also compatible with the GUS version. A suggested location to extract to is a TSR folder under the emulated hard disk folder. Running the utility can be automated through the DOSBox config [autoexec] section. Configuration The standard version of CYAC is configured through command line options. Once the game has started those options are written to a configuration file and used if the game is run without command line options. This means the command line options are only required the first time a the game is run but can be set as many times as needed by specifying options. The order of options does not matter as long as they are separated by a space. The standard version using the earlier DOSBox, config is run with: C:\COMBAT>yeager VGA FASTCARD JOYSTICK HIGH BLASTER COVOX1 LARGE The GUS version, does not support command line options. Using the earlier DOSBox config, it is run with: C:\COMBAT>yeager Command line options The command line options are included for reference: CGA Loads game with CGA graphics. EGA Loads game with EGA graphics. MCGA Loads game with MCGA graphics (Same graphics as VGA, but slower. Maintains compatibility with PS/2 25 and 30). TGA Loads game with Tandy graphics. VGA Loads game with VGA graphics. SLOWCARD When you are MCGA or VGA mode, if the game freezes on startup, or if you get sound but the wrong colors or no colors at all, try this parameter. It slows down the interface between the computer and the video card. FASTCARD Deactivates Slowcard. JOYSTICK Loads game with joystick flight control. KEYBOARD Loads game with keyboard flight control. MOUSE1 Loads game with mouse flight control. MOUSE2 Loads game with high-resolution mouse flight control. LOW Loads game in low graphics detail mode (less detail speeds up game play). MEDIUM Loads game in medium graphics detail mode (less detail speeds up game play). HIGH Loads game in high graphics detail mode. NOSOUND Loads game with sound turned off. NOSPEECH Loads game with digitized speech turned off. It also reduces the amount of disk swapping necessary when playing on four 360k floppies. PC Loads game with PC internal speaker sounds. ADLIB Loads game with AdLib sound card sounds. BLASTER Loads game with Sound Blaster sound card sounds. TANDY Loads game with Tandy 1000 sound. TANDYDAC Loads game in Tandy 1000 models equipped with DAC (such as the Tandy 1000 TL), which results in clearer digitized speech. COVOX1 Loads game with loud speech driver for the Covox Speech Thing on parallel port 1. Note: there is no auto-detect for Covox, so this parameter is required if you want to use Covox. COVOX2 Loads game with loud speech driver for the Covox Speech Thing on parallel port 2. Note: there is no auto-detect for Covox, so this parameter is required if you want to use your Covox. CMS Loads sound driver for CMS music board. Note: there is no speech driver for CMS, so digitized speech will play through the PC’s internal speaker. Also, there is no auto-detect for CMS, so this parameter is required if you want to use your CMS Board. SMALL Use this if you have a computer with less than 640K of memory. It deletes complex versions of some shapes to speed up the simulation. LARGE Deactivates Small. ALL If you want to be able to play all missions without having to win each one, type this parameter to make all missions available immediately. This is a default parameter. CAMPAIGN Starts new campaign. In order to advance in Campaign Mode, you will need to land safely at your home base after successfully completing each mission. (See p.25 in manual) If you quit the game in the middle of a Campaign, and you want to return to where you left off, be sure not to select the Campaign parameter the next time you start up the game, as that will put you at the beginning of a new campaign. Running Once command line options are set, either version can be run with: C:\COMBAT>yeager This can be added to the DOSBox config in the [autoexec] section. Configuration menu In-game configuration The final step is to check the in-game configuration. The easiest way to do this is start a test flight and access the in-flight menu to check all the options are set correctly. Control and graphics options should be checked. Options set here will also be written to the configuration file used by command line options. Documents There are digital copies of both the manual and reference card, obtaining both is recommended. The reference card lists the command line options and the manual is required to pass the copy protection check, being based on the stats of various aircraft encountered in the game. Some versions of CYAC may disable the copy protection but it is still enabled on the GUS version. Updates Thanks go to VOGONS forum member rfnagel for corrections to this guide. 'It's a great day for flying!' - Chuck Yeager
- Tech refresh 2025: MiG Alley
This is a tech refresh article describing additional testing since the original MiG Alley articles were published. The latest release of DDrawCompat v0.5.4 can be used when running under Windows 10. Testing The latest release of dgVoodoo2 v2.84 was also tested but continues to suffer from the same issues as earlier versions when initialising the flight window. The latest release of DxWrapper v1.2.7400.25 was tested but could not initialise the flight window and crashed to the desktop. DXGL v0.5.23 was also tested but could not run the game. Conclusion The advice remains unchanged for MiG Alley with the DDrawCompat wrapper remaining the wrapper of choice. The advice given in the following articles remains valid: MiG Alley: Running in Windows 10 MiG Alley: HOTAS Controllers If there are problems running MiG Alley natively in Windows 10 then the advice to use the PCem emulator remains appropriate: MiG Alley: Running in PCem Update: DDrawCompat v0.6.0 Following the latest release of DDrawCompat v0.6.0 from Narzoul, this version was installed and tested with MiG Alley. Like the previous version, it seems to work particularly well. The latest version can be found on the GitHub project releases page. Configuring DDrawCompat The original configuration ( DDrawCompat.ini ) has been changed to take advantage of this new version and is shown below: SupportedResolutions=800x600,1024x768,1600x1200,2048x1536 ConfigHotkey=shift+f11 Antialiasing=msaa8x(0) DpiAwareness=unaware DisplayRefreshRate=60 The support resolutions remain unchanged but the resolutions are suitable for my monitor and you may wish/need to change for your own setup. The DDrawCompat overlay has been re-enabled and can be accessed by using the config hotkey combination. Anti-aliasing has been increased to 8x. DPI awareness has been disabled as this results in appropriately sized menu pages in the game. Display refresh rate has been set at 60Hz. Again this is suitable for my monitor and you may wish/need to change for your own setup. So a big thank you to Narzoul for the continuing work in enhancing DDrawCompat. Update: Further lessons learned Installation When installing the game if the installer freezes at around 74% then opening Task Manager and using Analyze wait chains will indicate the process the installer is waiting for. In my case it was an Explorer.exe process. This process can be killed off which will cause the installation to complete normally. Loading a mission crash When loading a mission the game may crash with an error message: 'Unable to read data format of analogue device '. This indicates the device either is not calibrated or has lost calibration. In my case the rudder pedals lost calibration and needed to be re-calibrated using the vendor calibration tool. The remaining advice in earlier articles remains valid.
- EF2000 Reloaded & VirtualMIDISynth
EF2000 Reloaded A guide to using VirtualMIDISynth with EF2000 Reloaded. This guide assumes properly installed and configured EF2000 Reloaded and VirtualMIDISynth apps. In earlier articles VirtualMIDISynth was used with DOSBox Staging, ' DOSBox Staging and VirtualMIDISynth ' and with DOSBox-X in the article, ' Jetfighter III: Tech refresh 2025 '. EF2000 Reloaded is based on a highly modified and patched version of vanilla DOSBox, called DOSBox-EF2000 (see EF2000 Updated Part 3: EF2000 Reloaded & DOSBox ). So, if vanilla DOSBox supports Window synths, then so should DOSBox-EF2000 and so should the Reloaded app. DOSBox-EF2000 configs The Reloaded app uses two config files to setup DOSBox-EF2000, a default DOSBox-EF2000 config file and a launcher DOSBox-EF2000 config file. When the launcher starts the default settings are applied and then the launcher settings are applied, replacing any default settings. If we take a look at the Reloaded installation folder, we can see a number of files and folders, some of the more interesting ones include: The Reloaded launcher app (EF2000_Launcher.exe). DOSBox-EF2000 (dosbox-EF2000.exe). The launcher DOSBox-EF2000 config file (EF2000_Launcher_User.conf). Config settings panel My installation folder is D:\DiD\EF2000 Reloaded, but obviously this will depend on where you installed EF2000 Reloaded. The launcher DOSBox-EF2000 config file is written each time a change is made to the config settings panel (see screenshot) in the EF2000 Reloaded app. The VirtualMIDISynth changes should not be made here as they will be overwritten when changes are made in the config settings panel. So any VirtualMIDISynth changes should be made to the default DOSBox-EF2000 config file. This configuration file is usually hidden away in a DOSBox folder in user settings in Windows. On my Win10 machine this was: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\DOSBox Where will be your own username. The AppData folder is normally hidden by default so you may need to unhide it with Windows Explorer. Within this folder you should see the default config file (dosbox-EF2000.conf). VirtualMIDISynth setup The first step is change the default config file ( dosbox-EF2000.conf ) to use Windows MIDI devices, by applying the following change: [midi] mididevice=win32 Now we need to find the device number. To do so, run DOSBox-EF2000 ( dosbox-EF2000.exe ) NOT the launcher app. This will start DOSBox-EF2000. At the DOSBox command prompt issue the command: Z:\>mixer /listmidi mixer /listmidi The results should be similar to the screenshot. We now know the VirtualMIDISynth device is device 0. ( Note : depending on the software installed on your machine it may show a different device number). We can now complete the changes to dosbox-EF2000.conf by setting the MIDI device number in the 'midiconfig' setting as shown: [midi] mididevice=win32 midiconfig=0 That completes setting up VirtualMIDISynth in EF2000 Reloaded! Below is a demonstration of changing MIDI soundfonts with VirtualMIDISynth as EF2000 Reloaded is running, but mostly using the expansive Timbres of Heaven soundfont. Good hunting!
- Air Power: Battle in DOSBox
Air Power title screen A guide to running the Rowan 1995 steampunk sim, 'Air Power: Battle in the Skies' in DOSBox Staging. This guide covers installation and configuration. Considered by some to be a spiritual precursor of the more popular Microsoft game, Crimson Skies. Both games take place in alternative timelines but roughly within the same time period, 1930 for Air Power and 1937 for Crimson Skies. Crimson Skies takes place in the New World of the Americas, whereas Air Power chooses the Old World of European states and noble families vying for a throne as its setting. Huge airship carriers provide a base of operations in both games. It also shares elements in common with the Domark sim, 'AV8B Harrier Assault' with both sims including strategy elements in their respective campaigns. Some consider it a bizarre sim due to the steampunk setting and the uncommon strategy aspects of the campaign. It seems to have generated polarizing reviews, when released, with some considering it a worthy sim, whilst others hated it! Something it shares in common with other Rowan sims. You can read more about it at MobyGames . Credit where it's due The vast majority of this guide is due to the work done by VOGONS forum member ragefury32, detailed in the VOGONS post, ' Airpower: Battle in the skies - a config guide and game review '. Air Power had a reputation for being difficult to configure and setup on legacy hardware and within DOSBox, so a huge thank you to ragefury32 for figuring out how to get it working. I've taken ragefury32's guide and tweaked it for DOSBox Staging and added a few more sections to this guide. Media Air Power was distributed on a single cd, but as usual cd images will be used in preference to physical media, to save wear and tear on discs and drive. Physical cd's should be ripped to the cue/bin image pair format, as cd audio tracks are on the disc. At present there are no digital releases of Air Power. Game management I recommend using my DOSBox game management strategy, the recommended game management folders are: conf - to store any DOSBox or HOTAS configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. cd - to store any cd images ripped from a retail cd. hdd - the DOSBox emulated hard disk folder, to install the game to. 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. 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_XROT_AXIS DOSBox Staging config This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging v0.82.1. Changes from the default configuration are detailed below: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] machine = svga_et4000 # or machine = svga_s3 memsize = 32 dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 62500 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = auto # or model = cm32l romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = ch timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\dos\Air Power\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\dos\Air Power\cd\AIRPOWER.cue" -t cdrom c: cd airpower airpower exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. The [docbox] machine is set to either ET4000 or S3. In the post from ragefury32, the ET4000 seemed to produce a clearer image. The ' Installation ' section will detail the changes required for either setting, if S3 is preferred. Memory size is increased to help performance. In [cpu] settings, 62500 cycles was suggested by ragefury32 . The cpu_cycles_protected setting will use the same cycle count as cpu_cycles when set to auto. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. The [midi] and [mt32] settings enable high quality Roland midi music. The model value, auto, will default to a CM32L device (Air Power supports a LAPC1/CM32L device), although you can specify a 'cm32l' device if you wish. The MIDI ROMS folder is described in the DOSBox midi article. The [joystick] settings are appropriate for my HOTAS setup so you may need to alter these. The 'ch' joystick type allows the use of stick, throttle and rudder. The deadzone setting is a personal preference. The [autoexec] has example imgmount commands for the cd image (which uses the cue file of the cue/bin pair) The mount and imgmount commands use the ' Game management ' folder structure. The rest of the commands run Air Power and close DOSBox after quitting the game. These should be omitted until after installation and configuration is complete. Installation Installation is the key to getting Air Power to run successfully. The installer can be found on the cd/cd image ( install.exe ) and should be run from within DOSBox. Checks and installation options The installer will make various checks and it may fail both the cdrom speed check and the EMS memory check, however the warnings can be ignored. It's recommended to install into the default folder ( c:\airpower ). The CD installation type should be set to ' Large ' to allow limited cd access for radio chatter and animations. Selecting 'Full' will result in no cd access and those enhancements will be missing. Starting the install Choosing an installation type Music & sound Soundblaster or Roland options can be chosen for MIDI music, either should work with the DOSBox config. Roland is recommended, for higher quality music. If Roland is chosen for MIDI music, Soundblaster can be chosen later for digital audio/sound effects. The Soundblaster settings for base address ( 220 ), IRQ ( 7 ) and DMA ( 1 ) should be chosen. Note : the installer may suggest different defaults, make sure you select the correct settings. Music settings Audio settings Graphics The resolution is the next option to select. The resolution is limited to VGA or SVGA in the airship and in the air. SVGA should be chosen for airship and flight aspects of the game for optimum graphics. The 1st driver selection menu will be shown, with a large list of drivers. At this point the process differs for S3 or ET4000. Resolution selection 1st driver selection menu S3 SVGA settings From the 1st driver selection menu select ' Advance ' (option D ). The next screen is a description of the SVGA graphics test to be run. 2nd driver selection menu (only applicable to ET4000) ET4000 SVGA settings From the 1st driver selection menu select ' Go Back ' (option S ). This presents a 2nd driver selection menu, select ' ET4000 '. The next screen is a description of the SVGA graphics test to be run. From the SVGA test description screen, hit any key to continue. The SVGA test screen should look like the screenshot shown below. Due to the high DOSBox cycle count, the disc will spin and numbers change rapidly. After 15 seconds the test concludes and you are presented with the final driver selection menu. Select ' Install selected driver ' to complete the installation. SVGA test description SVGA test Final driver selection menu Running Run the game from the DOSBox installation folder with: C:\AIRPOWER>airpower Changing settings If you wish the change the music, sound or resolution options, Air Power can be run with a command line option: C:\AIRPOWER>airpower ? Note: this option cannot change sound card address, interrupt or DMA settings or the graphics card SVGA driver. During installation, the installer utility ( install.exe ) was copied to the DOSBox hard disk folder and can be rerun from this folder as many times as needed. The installer utility allows the sound card address, interrupt and DMA settings to be changed and allows a different graphics card driver to be selected. In-game configuration The in-game configuration is available from the main menu. The configuration menu is shown in the screenshot below. The following are some recommendations for testing or if you haven't played Air Power before: Vulnerability Off Control Type FlightStick Pro Arms Unlimited Joystick Sens. (itivity) Low Targets Soft Sep. (arate) Rudder On Enemy Activity Low Auto Detail Off Mouse Sens. (itivity) Low Auto Window Off Radio Chat On Configuration menu Turning down the difficulty allows you to get a handle on the flight model. It's also recommended to turn down mouse and stick sensitivity for similar reasons. A FlightStick Pro provides stick and throttle controls with the rudders provided by the separate rudders options. The first time a stick is chosen, you'll be asked to calibrate the stick/throttle/rudders. You may receive a warning about the calibration, just choose ' Accept ', it normally seems to be fine. There is also a ' Recalibrate ' option under the Control Type menu for the stick/throttle/rudders. The game will automatically try to adjust the detail and window size in order to maintain FPS. This is distracting and unnecessary, so should be turned off. Radio Chat should be ' On ' (at least initially) to test cd/cd image access. Testing The Scramble option provides instant action and is recommended for testing. Use the ' D ' or ' L ' keys to test speech, streamed from the cd/cd image, during flight. Joystick testing jtest tool The flight model is challenging, but if you believe the calibration is seriously 'off' or a calibration warning was received during in-game configuration, there is a 'very' simple joystick test tool included. From what I can gather if all the axes reach a similar minimum and maximum then I believe calibration should be good. Note : the visual indication from the test tool will be substantially different depending on the joystick 'timed' setting in DOSBox. Run the game from the DOSBox installation folder with: C:\AIRPOWER>jtest Use the ' Esc ' key to quit the tool. Documents Digital versions of the manual and reference card are available and are very strongly recommended. The view system alone has a learning curve (very complex) which makes the reference card a 'must have' and there's a strategic campaign to run. Finally... To be honest I'm still not sure about the joystick handling or whether it is just the flight model used in the game, to the point where I might try it in PCem, just to see if it is significantly different. If anyone who has played it on legacy hardware could shed some light on this, I would appreciate it! Good hunting!
- AV-8B Harrier Assault: A DOSBox Staging battle plan
AV8B Harrier Assault box cover This is a guide on running the original Simis Limited 1992 sim, AV-8B Harrier Assault, in DOSBox Staging. This is not a guide for the remake, Super-VGA Harrier. A broken UN resolution and a politically limited US task force, form the backdrop of AV-8B Harrier Assault campaign. Not just a flight sim of the AV-8B but a strategy game as well, as you can stick to or modify the battle plan, to try and tip the scales of the conflict. This guide is for DOSBox Staging v0.82.0, the latest version at time of writing. Versions There are at least two versions of AV-8B, the version number doesn't seem to be listed in game. However the earlier version uses a blue/monochrome install utility while a later version uses a colour install utility. It's not known if the changes are limited to just the install utility or if additional bug fixes or enhancements were made to the later version. However it is recommended to use the later version in case changes were made. Both versions came on either 2 x 5.25" 1.2Mb High Density (HD) floppy disks or 2 x 3.5" 1.44Mb HD floppy disks. For the purposes of this guide, it is assumed the disks have been ripped into disk images, (.img or .ima files). Earlier installer Later installer HOTAS Config As it is a DOS based sim a maximum of 4 axes are supported. AV-8B supports all 4 axes, including throttle and rudder, although the manual states a Thrustmaster joystick and throttle is supported, but doesn't mention anything about other devices. When using HOTAS/controller profiling software to limit the controller to a maximum of 4 axes the following device axes to Windows axes mappings were used: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_XROT_AXIS DOSBox config This DOSBox Staging config for AV-8B assumes the latest version (at time of writing), 0.82.0 will be used. The changes to the default config are shown below: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 20000 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\AV-8B Harrier Assault\fdd\*.img" -t floppy -ro mount c "D:\Games\Dos\AV-8B Harrier Assault\hdd" c: cd av8b call av8b.bat exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, 20000 cycles seems appropriate, you may need to tweak this setting but this seems like a good starting point. The cpu_cycles_protected setting will use the same cycle count as cpu_cycles and must be set to auto, otherwise the sim will run far too quickly at the default 60000 cpu_cycles_protected setting. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. The [midi] and [mt32] settings enable high quality Roland midi music. The model value, auto, will default to a CM32L device. AV-8B supports the LAPC1 sound card which is equivalent to a CM32L device. The midi roms folder is described in the DOSBox midi article. The [joystick] settings are appropriate for my HOTAS setup so you may need to alter these. The swap34 setting is recommended to be set to true, due to the calibration process (see Setup and running below). The deadzone setting is a personal preference. The [autoexec] has example imgmount commands for the floppy images. As there are multiple floppy images the imgmount command uses the '*' wildcard. The imgmount and mount commands make use of a folder structure described in my DOSBox game management article. You may wish to change the batch command used to run the game (see Setup and running below). Installation There is an installation utility ( install.exe ) that should be run from within DOSBox. The install utility allows selection of the installation drive/folder and sound card. You will also be asked to choose between a full install with intro animation or a small install without the intro. It's recommended to choose the full install, the sim can be run, skipping the intro movie. Once selections are made the installation will begin and should complete without issue. The install utility will only unpack the sound files it needs, based on the selection, (not all sound files). This means changing the sound card means re-installing the game and choosing a new sound device. The DOSBox config, will allow Roland LAPC1 or Soundblaster sound to be used. It's recommended to use Roland sound. Alternatively a Roland sound version of the game can be installed into one folder and the Soundblaster sound version of the game, installed into a different folder, if you wish to try both out. Setup and running There is a choice of running with the intro movie: call av8b.bat Or if you want to jump straight into the game, without intro: call av8bfly.bat When starting the game for the first time, you'll need to configure and calibrate axes. There is a config page available from the command page in-game. The throttle and rudder pedals should be set as shown in the screenshot. Calibration screen Rudder should be on channel (axis) 3. Throttle should be on channel (axis) 4. Thrustmaster stick and throttle should be left as no. The DOSBox config swapped axes 3 and 4 to ensure when the calibrate option is used the throttle appears in the vertical calibration scale and the rudder appears on the horizontal calibration scale. When calibrating, the throttle and rudder pedals will need to centred and should either be able to reach (or come close to) either end of their respective scales. You may need to adjust the throttle centre position and calibrate a couple of times. Once calibrated to your liking, click (channel/axis) save, Documentation The following documents are available from various websites: The manual in pdf format. The reference card as an image. The campaign map as an image. Finally... This guide covers the original AV-8B Harrier Assault, in the future, a later guide will cover the SVGA remake, Super-VGA Harrier. I wanted to cover the original because, it's often overlooked in favour of the later SVGA remake. However, the VGA 320x200 resolution is very reminiscent of the MicroProse sims around the time, e.g. F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 and Gunship 2000. In fact it feels a lot like a slightly higher fidelity MicroProse sim with a comprehensive dynamic campaign added, which is rather ironic given MicroProse's own Harrier sim, Harrier Jump Jet was released the same year, (nothing for ages then two come along at once!) So hopefully any MicroProse fans will take a look and maybe give AV-8B Harrier Assault a try. It has a charm of its own. Good Hunting!
- Jetfighter III: Tech refresh 2025
Jetfighter III Platinum title page An updated guide for Jetfighter III. This guide covers running Jetfighter III in DOSBox Staging with 3DFX Glide and using VirtualMIDISynth with DOSBox-X. This guide uses a fully patched Jetfighter III Platinum install detailed in the previous Jetfighter III guide, ' Jetfighter III: Running in DOSBox-X with Glide passthrough '. DOSBox Staging & 3DFX Glide A recent release of DOSBox Staging has increased the version to v0.82.1. One of the most notable features listed in the release notes is: The CPU usage of the 3dfx Voodoo emulation has been reduced by about 50%. Quite an increase in performance efficiency and worthy of investigation, so this guide covers the DOSBox Staging configuration required to run Jetfighter III with Glide enabled. The previous guide, ' Jetfighter III: Running in DOSBox-X with Glide passthrough ', should be followed for installation, setup and patching advice, the one exception being the Glide library discussed below. HOTAS configuration The HOTAS configuration remains unchanged from the previous article, both DOSBox-X and Staging can use same axes assignments, as shown below: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudders DX_XROT_AXIS Configuration The following config shows the changes applied to the default DOSBox Staging v0.82.1 configuration file specifically for Jetfighter III: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] memsize = 32 dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 48500 cpu_cycles_protected = max cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo_memsize = 12 [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = fluidsynth [fluidsynth] soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\Shan SGM-X48 v2.0.sf2" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Jetfighter 3\hdd-staging" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Jetfighter 3\cd2\jf3p.cue" -t cdrom c: cd jf3 call jf3 exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, cpu_cycles cycles seems appropriate for my setup. As Jetfighter III is a protected mode game the cpu_cycles_protected settings increased to max seems to work well and increases frame rates to around 30fps. Voodoo memory is increased to the maximum to increase performance The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. In the [midi] section, the fluidsynth device is used for MIDI. This allows the use of soundfonts to enhance the audio experience. Although Roland sound is supported in the Jetfighter III config utility the VOGONS wiki article ' List of MT-32-compatible computer games ' lists it as bugged/non-functional. The [fluidsynth] soundfont setting is set to a good general purpose soundfont for retro games although you should feel free to experiment and find a personal preference. The [joystick] settings are appropriate for my HOTAS setup so you may need to alter these. The deadzone setting is a personal preference. The [autoexec] has example imgmount commands for a cd image. The imgmount and mount commands make use of a folder structure described in my DOSBox game management article. The hard disk folder is a copy of the DOSBox-X folder so DOSBox Staging specific setup changes can be applied (see Setup and Glide Library ). The rest of the commands to go the appropriate folder and run the game. After quitting the game, exit will close DOSBox. Setup and Glide Library If you are already using Jetfighter III with DOSBox-X and Glide passthrough, it's recommended to take a copy of the emulated hard disk folder for uses with DOSBox Staging to apply the Staging specific changes. Then you can try both and choose your preferred DOSBox variant. In the Jetfighter config utility the 3D Accelerator Setup should be set to ' 3Dfx Voodoo card '. The Glide library, glide2x.ovl used for DOSBox-X is a special version specific to DOSBox-X and is incompatible with DOSBox Staging. An appropriate glide2x.ovl exists in the Jetfighter III Platinum cd image (this is the only one I've found that works). To use it: Mount the cd image in Windows 10. Go to the 3DFX folder. The G24RTVG.EXE file is a self extracting archive that can be opened in 7zip with the '7zip > Open archive' option. In the archive, go to the Drivers\Voodoo\Dos folder and copy glide2x.ovl to your Jetfighter III installation folder. DOSBox-X and VirtualMIDISynth The current version of DOSBox-X has some quirks which makes using VirtualMIDISynth the preferred option with Jetfighter III, as: SDL doesn't seem to be compatible with HOTAS devices with the 64-bit versions of DOSBox-X. The 32-bit versions are compatible with HOTAS devices but seem to have a bug with the fluidsynth component causing it to sound strange. Using VirtualMIDISynth allows you to use HOTAS devices, have working MIDI music and retain the Glide passthrough facility of DOSBox-X. VirtualMIDISynth can be used with DOSBox-X quite easily as it's installed and available on Windows 10/11. To install and configure (if not already) refer to the previous article ' DOSBox Staging and VirtualMIDISynth '. DOSBox-X configuration The steps for configuring DOSBox-X are a different to DOSBox Staging. Staging will show all MIDI device types while, DOSBox-X only shows MIDI devices of the currently enabled MIDI device type. So the first step is to tell DOSBox-X to use Windows MIDI devices, with the configuration file setting: [midi] mididevice = win32 Then you can start DOSBox-X and run the following mixer command. to list all the MIDI devices of that type: mixer /listmidi in DOSBox-X Once we have the list of devices (see screenshot) we can specify the VirtualMIDISynth device id in the midiconfig setting: [midi] mididevice = win32 midiconfig = 0 Setup In the Jetfighter config utility the Music Device Setup should be set to ' General MIDI '. Note: the test option may not work but MIDI music should play in-game. And that's the DOSBox-X config complete. Notes on testing can be found in ' DOSBox Staging and VirtualMIDISynth '. Happy hunting!
- Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0: Running in PCem
Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 A guide to running Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 under PCem emulation. The Battlecruiser franchise has had a long and tumultuous history. The original Battlecruiser 3000AD went through a number of publishers before a very broken commercial release. Controversy followed and the rest, as they say, is history. Version 2.0 (v2.09 to be exact) was made free to download in July 2001. So rather than cover old ground, this is a guide to get it running under Windows 10 (Win10) using the PCem emulator. A chance for a new generation of players to give a try, if they wish. This guide will cover PCem setup and configuration, obtaining Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 (or BC3KAD), installation, configuration and where to find further information. PCem setup 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 . Before following the steps in the tutorial, take a look at the advice in the Sound card section below. Once you have a basic, clean Windows 98 (Win98) 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. Sound card The sound card specified in the tutorial is the Soundblaster PCI 128, however running BC3KAD with this emulated card results in distorted audio during gameplay. It's recommended to replace the PCI 128 with a Creative AWE 32 sound card. The PhilsComputerLab website has drivers for the AWE 32 as a self extracting archive executable. When installing drivers, Win98 may request the Win98 installation cd, so make sure it is mounted in the virtual PCem cd drive. The process to follow is: Shutdown the PCem emulated machine if it is running. Download the AWE 32 drivers, from the link above. Mount the PCem emulated hard disk in Win10 (open the .vhd file in Win10). Copy the driver executable file to a new subfolder under 'My Documents'. Eject the hard disk in Win10. Change the PCem emulated machine config to use an AWE 32 soundcard. Start the PCem emulated machine. Once Win98 has started, run the driver executable file to extract the contents of the zip archive. It extracts to the current directory, which is why it was placed in it's own sub folder. Use the 'Add hardware wizard' to search for the AWE 32 soundcard. The AWE 32 is not plug and play so you need to use the wizard. Specify the location of the AWE 32 drivers, if asked (the subfolder under My Documents mentioned earlier). Restart the machine when instructed, as new AWE 32 hardware is installed. Once complete you may wish to take a copy of this clean Win98 AWE 32 machine config and hard disk, for future games that struggle with the Soundblaster PCI 128. Additional software Once BC3KAD is installed, it includes a complete manual, however many of the documents will be in pdf format. Win98 does not have a default pdf viewer, so if you wish to view documents within PCem, a pdf viewer will need to be installed. Alternatively the documents can be copied to Win10 after BC3KAD installation. A recommended pdf viewer is Foxit PDF Reader v2.3.3309. This older Win98 compatible version can be found at OLDVERSION.COM . Note: despite the website stating this version is not compatible with Win98, it does work. The process is similar for the sound card drivers: shut down the emulated machine, mount the emulated hard disk in Win10, copy the installation executable onto the hard disk, eject the hard disk and run up the emulated machine. Installation within Win98 should be straightforward and complete without issue. Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 The latest version is v2.09 which was released for free in July 2001. It is available from FILEPLANET . Once again the executable installer should be copied onto the virtual hard disk before the starting the emulated Win98 machine. A list of old download locations is available on a BC3K page still hosted by 3000ad.com . Installation The most important point to note about installation is that it can take longer than usual. It may seem as if the installer has frozen, but remain patient and it will eventually complete without issue. Running the installer will update the Win98 installer components. This will result in a Win98 restart. Following the restart, the installer will automatically continue and begin installing the game. It's worth stressing again, this can take some time, so remain patient, give it a few minutes, it will eventually complete without issue. Recommended patches There is a single recommended patch for v2.09, the 'BC3K 2.09 Freeware intro anim fix'. It removes the CD check when not running in debug mode and fixes a crash in the intro movie. The patch is available at FILEPLANET . Again, the executable patch should be copied onto the virtual hard disk before the starting the emulated Win98 machine. Like the installer, it can take some time, so some patience is needed. The patch should complete without issue. Finishing touches Debug mode With v2.09, both the software rendered and Glide versions of the game have the debug mode enabled by default. Debug mode may cause unforeseen problems and issues, so it is recommended to disable debug mode. Debug mode is disabled by removing the debug flag ( d1 ) in the batch (.bat) files used to run the game. For software rendering, the bc3k.bat file should be edited, with the line: bc3000ad /d1 becoming: bc3000ad And for the Glide batch file, bc3k3dfx.bat , the line: bc3000ad /g /v1 /d1 becomes: bc3000ad /g /v1 DOS extender The Game Builder System (GBS) uses the old (and buggy by today's standards) DOS extender DOS/4G and can be replaced by DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender. The dos4gw.exe files present in the GBS and GBS\BIN folders should be renamed, as a backup (e.g. dos4gw.bak). A modern DOS/32 extender and utilities can be found at the amindlost/dos32a GitHub repository in the binw folder. Download the dos32a.exe DOS extender, copy it into the GBS and GBS\BIN folders and rename it dos4gw.exe . If the modern DOS/32 extenders cause issues they can be deleted, and the old DOS/4G extenders returned to their original filename. Game icons As a purely optional and cosmetic step the bc3k and bc3k3dfx shortcuts do not set the icon properly. The shortcuts can be changed to use the bc3k.ico icon file in the game folder. Windows versions There are native Windows 9X versions present and packaged in the bc3k209win.zip file, located in the game folder. However the Windows executables were always unsupported, lack certain features and exhibit spurious issues and can only run in a software rendered mode. As such they are not recommended. Configuration Configuration covers the sound, in-game options and finally HOTAS setup. Sound configuration Configuring sound options Before running the game the sound options should be set by running the 'BC3K Sound Setup' from within Win98. As the emulated machine is using the AWE 32 sound card, the Auto Detect option can be used to set the digital device to 'Sound Blaster 16/AWE 32'. The MIDI device should be set to 'Sound Blaster AWE 32' (as shown in the screenshot). Both digital audio and MIDI can be tested to ensure they are working. In-game configuration Configuration options In-game configuration options are available from the title screen 'Configure' option. Most (if not all) graphics options can be set to their maximum settings (see screenshot). HOTAS setup The previous article ' Controllers and retro sims part 5: PCem ' covers creating a suitable virtual controller and adding it to PCem as a custom 4-axes, 4-button controller. Once complete, I found the 'CH Flightstick Pro' joystick option (in the in-game configuration) provided joystick and throttle control (see screenshot). You may need to experiment with your own setup to find a suitable option. You may be asked to calibrate the controllers in-game before continuing. The 'Xtreme Carnage' option drops you straight into a fighter, which is useful for testing. Running After installation and patching the following should be completed before running the game: Sound configuration Disabling the debug flag (see Finishing touches ) As the PCem emulated machine includes an emulated 3dfx card, the game can use the Glide version available from the Win98 start menu ' BC3K v2.09 Freeware ' folder as ' BC3K 3DFX Glide '. The software rendered version is available as ' BC3K '. Manuals and further information The game comes with a manual found in the ' BC3K v2.09 Freeware ' start menu folder, under the ' BC3K Docs ' folder. Alternatively the 'BC3K Docs' folder can be copied to Win10 after BC3KAD installation, if you wish to view docs without PCem. There is a steep learning curve, so new players may appreciate a gentler introduction and tutorial provided by Tim Howgego on his Battlecruiser 3000AD page . Tim's info is based on BC3KAD v2.0. Thank you to Tim for his newbie friendly info. There is also a FAQ/guide available at GameFAQs on the Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 page . Good hunting!
- The Tornado (Digital Integration) guide
Tornado splash screen A guide to running the 1993 classic DOS sim, Tornado by Digital Integration (DI) in DOSBox Staging. The guide will take a quick look at the different versions of Tornado, required patches, running in DOSBox Staging, with particular emphasis on sound and HOTAS configuration. Continued development and documentation will also be covered. Versions & official patches There are at least five retail versions of Tornado available, each one will be briefly described with any patches appropriate to the release. Each PC version was v1.0 suffixed with a letter, although a later Amiga release may have used v1.1 as the version. Version 1.0a Tornado v1.0a/c Digital Integration box art The initial big box retail release from Digital Integration (DI) around June 1993. It was supplied on 3 x 3.5" High Density (HD) floppy disks or a single CD-ROM. This release used the silver/grey Tornados on the box cover. Version 1.0b patch The elusive v1.0b patch was released in September 1993 for the European release only. It provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements to the game and hardware support. It is only applicable to v1.0/v1.0a. It is available from the Internet Archive . Version 1.0c patch The v1.0c patch was released a month after the 'b patch' in October 1993. There were separate patches for the European and North American editions. The European patch is a cumulative patch including the v1.0b patch with an almost identical patch readme but including additional Soundblaster bug fixes. The North American patch is a comprehensive patch including the previously unreleased 'b patch' bug fixes and enhancements. This version seems to fix many of the reported Soundblaster issues, with only some Soundblaster 16 issues remaining. This patch is only applicable to v1.0a and v1.0b. It is available from the Internet Archive . Version 1.0c A updated/re-released retail edition from DI was available around October 1993, comprising the pre-patched game. Again supplied on either 3 x 3.5" HD floppy disks or a single CD-ROM. It features an identical box cover to v1.0a making it indistinguishable from the earlier release although a v1.0c sticker may be added to the media. Operation Desert Storm v1.0d Operation Desert Storm retail box The only expansion to Tornado, bringing the version number to v1.0d, features an additional campaign in the Desert Storm theater. Released by DI in 1994 on a single 3.5" Double Density (DD) floppy disk, in a slim orange coloured retail box. Tornado Limited Edition A later, 'Tornado Limited Edition' was released by DI in 1994 combining Tornado and the Operation Desert Storm expansion. Media was either 3 x 3.5" HD and 1 x 3.5" DD floppy disks or a single CD-ROM. The packaging used an identical design but with gold Tornados on the box cover. Version 1.0e patch Another comprehensive patch was released for v1.0d only, upgrading to v1.0e, comprising of further bug fixes and enhancements based on customer feedback. It is available from the Internet Archive . The patch readme explicitly states this patch is not applicable to the American Spectrum Holobyte twin pack (v1.0f) edition. Version 1.0e Amiga box identical to the PC version This version was released as European budget edition on the Action Sixteen label featuring Tornado and Operation Desert Storm pre-patched to v1.0e. It was available as either 3 x 3.5" HD and 1 x 3.5" DD floppy disks or a single CD-ROM. The Steam version is very similar (if not identical) to this version, being compatible with the Action 16 SB patch. There were still some Soundblaster 16 issues with this release with Soundblaster support being partially or completely disabled, relying instead on Adlib sound. The American Trimark release has Soundblaster support removed. Version 1.0e is the preferred version due to the Action 16 SB patch. The Tornado Falcon 3 Twin Pack (v1.0f) This was a Spectrum Holobyte compilation cd retail release, featuring Tornado v1.0f, Falcon 3.0d and Merlin, a lightweight DI sim of landing the Merlin helicopter on a frigate, initially developed as a Royal Navy recruitment tool. This version does not include the Operation Desert Storm expansion and is not compatible with the v1.0e patch. The file timestamps seem to indicate it is based on v1.0c although the readme file contains the same bug fixes and enhancements as v1.0e (it even mentions the missing Desert Storm expansion), so this suggests it may be the v1.0c base game patched to a v1.0e standard. Unofficial patches, mods & tools The first section covers critical patches recommended for a fully functional game under DOSBox Staging. There are other patches listed that add enhancements or fix particular bugs on some versions. As many are down to personal preference, they are listed in the 'Other patches, mods & tools' section. All of these patches can be found at the TornadoGame GitHub page . Critical patches Action 16 SB patch This restores Soundblaster support to the Action Sixteen v1.0e release. Created by Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein. Tornado Joystick Doctor This improves joystick responsiveness on fast machines (fast meaning anything faster than a 486DX @ 33Mhz). This is recommended for use with DOSBox Staging running at 20k cycles. Created Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein in 1995. Other patches, mods & tools A host of other patches, mods and tools exist, including the Tornado Command and Staff College (TCSC) strategy guide, additional campaigns and other tools to enhance your Tornado experience. As they are optional, use of these is personal preference. Here is a brief list of the many available: Tornado Map Fax Machine Soundblaster Cannon patch Generic Tornado Patcher The Logbook Editor A Safer Keyboard Layout Soundblaster Auto-detect patch An image tool, showPT2 TCSC (For Windows 3.1/Windows 98) Tornado Spouse Reminder Tool Tornado Ordinance Management TCSC add-on: Desert Storm: Gulf '96 add-on campaign Time Compression TSR program Liberation Campaign Morale patch Terrain Following Realism patch Default Speed patch BDA patch Tornado Mission Exchange Tool Mission Summary Text Extractor Continued development No Tornado guide would be complete without mentioning the incredible development work done by Frankie Kam. The source code to v1.0a of the flight engine was released as open source. Frankie has spent eight years examining the assembly code and developing a huge number of enhancements. As of 13th October 2024, Frankie has developed and released an incredible 210 mods! Truly an incredible achievement, a huge thank you to Frankie for all his hard work on this classic sim! You can find out more about all the mods at the Dogs Of War Vu, Tornado forum under the Modding Tornado topic. Probably the easiest way to download the latest flight engine is to join the Digital Integration Tornado Discord where you should be able to find the latest flight engine in the latest_flight_exe channel. This guide uses the v1.0e version for an initial vanilla experience, after which you may want to use Frankie's version of Tornado with all it's enhancements and improvements! Running in DOSBox Staging This section will discuss the basic DOSBox Staging settings required required for installation and patching, followed by specific settings for music, sound and HOTAS/joystick. This requires a combination of DOSBox and game settings to be applied. Basic settings There are remarkably few changes to be applied from the DOSBox Staging default settings. The settings differing from the default are shown below: [dosbox] memsize = 31 [cpu] cycles = fixed 20000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Tornado\hdd" C: Memory size is increased to ensure there is far more than enough required (it will run with the default 16). The cpu cycles is an important setting as, too high, contributes towards sluggish joystick response. In my config file, 20000 works well. You may need to tweak your setup but 20000 is a good starting point. Cycles up/down is a personal preference. The autoexec mounts a folder used as the DOSBox emulated hard disk. I use my DOSBox game management strategy. These settings will allow the game to run and patches to be applied, the sections below cover installation and specific optimisations. Installation & patching When installing from floppy disk (or floppy image). images should be mounted in DOSBox and installed using the installer and config app on the first disk. You may need to run the Operation Desert Storm installer separately. More likely the release is on cd (or cd image). It can be ripped as an iso data only format, as there is no cd music present. You may have noticed there is no imgmount command to mount a cd (or cd image). The cd editions of Tornado use an installation method where only config files are written to the hard drive, with the game running from the cd. This makes applying patches problematic. To install from cd (or image), it should be mounted in Windows and then the contents of the cd copied into the DOSBox emulated hard drive folder, in my case 'D:\Games\Dos\Tornado\hdd'. This completes the installation and makes the game available under DOSBox. DOS setup utility To run Tornado, there is normally a batch file ( go.bat being a popular name across cd releases) that allows the sound to be configured during a first run and then runs the game. During the first run, Soundblaster should be selected as the audio device. To reconfigure settings run setup.exe in the tornado.cd sub-folder. Patching It is recommended to apply the Action 16 SB patch first with the Tornado Joystick Doctor. only being applied after completing the HOTAS/joystick config. For the Action 16 SB patch, the instructions in the patch readme should be followed. It is a file replacement patch resulting in additional flight__.exe and desert__.exe files, in the flight sub-folder. The files can be replaced under Windows. Music and sound settings These are the mixer settings: [mixer] negotiate = true reverb = large chorus = normal Reverb and chorus is personal preference while negotiate is set to true to try and optimise audio throughput. Preference page with sound and joystick options The default DOSBox Staging soundblaster options are ideal and don't require changes. On the game Preferences page, the Soundblaster option should be selected (if it isn't already). Roland only settings The game supports the Roland LAPC1 device (which is essentially a CM32L device) providing higher quality music. However the CM32L will also replace the Soundblaster flight engine sounds. First the DOSBox midi settings should change to: [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = cm32l romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" For some background, consult the earlier, DOSBox midi post. To reconfigure settings, run setup.exe in the tornado.cd sub-folder and select the Roland LAPC1 device. On the game Preferences page, the Roland option should be selected (if it isn't already). Roland & Soundblaster settings To get the best of both worlds, Roland music and Soundblaster flight engine sounds. The DOSBox midi settings can be changed as follows: [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" The mt32_new model is less capable than the cm32l and is unable to provide flight engine audio while still providing better midi music. For some background, consult the earlier, DOSBox midi post. To reconfigure settings, run setup.exe in the tornado.cd sub-folder and select the Soundblaster device. On the game Preferences page, the Soundblaster option should be selected (if it isn't already). You can now select the Roland option as well. The game may need to be restarted before the Roland midi music is used. HOTAS configuration This will cover the physical and virtual controller setup in Windows, followed by DOSBox Staging settings and finally game settings and applying the Tornado Joystick Doctor patch. TARGET settings Like many other DOS sims, Tornado requires a HOTAS setup limited to 4 axes. For those with 4 axes or less this won't apply. For those with a HOTAS with more than 4 axes, HOTAS profiling software will need to be used to limit axes. In my case I'm able to use TM TARGET to create a suitable profile for a virtual controller with only 4 axes. They are specified as follows: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder pedals DX_XROT_AXIS If you can't use TM Target or your HOTAS supplier profiling software, then other profiling software, like Joystick Gremlin may provide a suitable alternative. DOSBox settings The following changes are made to the joystick section of the DOSBox configuration file: [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 4axis allows the use of throttle and rudder pedals in flight. Timed false is appropriate for my setup with the Tornado Joystick Doctor patch applied. You may wish to set to true, if your particular HOTAS setup doesn't require the use of the patch and/or setting to false results in joystick drift. Again swap34 true was appropriate for my setup, however you may need to test your particular HOTAS to see if this is required. The deadzone setting is personal preference and works well for my HOTAS. Game settings and testing VSI on HUD, G-meter on panel To configure the joystick/throttle and rudder controls, go to the Preference page and select the Joystick 2 option (a misleading name IMO) in the Control Devices menu and click on Standard to calibrate the devices. Note : The throttle and rudder pedals/control must be calibrated together. It's not known whether this option allows the calibration of a throttle only. The first flight may reset to keyboard flight control, requiring Joystick 2 to be selected from the in-flight kneepad options. To test, start a simulator mission and ensure a joystick pitch up can reach near maximum VSI on the HUD and near maximum G on the G-meter (see screenshot). Tornado Joystick Doctor patch If joystick response seems overly sluggish and high VSI or G can't be reached, you may wish to try the Tornado Joystick Doctor patch. The patch readme says it should be unzipped into the flight folder, but this failed in my case and had to be unzipped into the flight parent folder. On Windows this was: D:\Games\Dos\Tornado\hdd\TORNADO.CD And within DOSBox this was: C:\TORNADO.CD A backup of the flight folder should be taken before performing the following steps: Read the enclosed patch instructions, to determine how to use the patch. I ended up using the patch for all axes. Run the Tornado Joystick Doctor ( t_jsp_p.exe ) from within DOSBox. Follow the on-screen instructions. The patch will be applied to various areas of the existing flight and desert exe files. The patch is also compatible with the Action 16 SB patch and will select the correct files to patch. Re-calibrate controllers from the game Preferences page. Re-test the controllers checking VSI and the G-meter in flight. If it is too sensitive there is also a t_jsp2_p.exe with 75% sensitivity, or you may wish to only apply the patch to certain axes. This will be dependant on your HOTAS setup. My configuration My DOSBox Staging configuration is shown below, the rest of the config follows the default DOSBox Staging configuration: [dosbox] memsize = 31 [cpu] cycles = fixed 20000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [mixer] negotiate = true reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Tornado\hdd" C: call go.bat pause # read the goodbye msg exit # close DOSBox Documents The Tornado manual and Operation Desert Storm manual are available from the VOGONS Vintage Driver Library, thanks to Stiletto and Frankie Kam. The Tornado maps and keyboard reference are available as a Steam guides, many thanks to Hiuuz for providing them. Further Info This guide written to help you get up and running (and hopefully running well) with Tornado. For further info I'd recommend Frankie Kam's Tornado portal , which has been collecting Tornado patches, mods, tools and further information for years! It even has the TSCS strategy guide converted to web pages. Well worth a look for Tornado fans! If there are any mistakes or omissions, in this guide, please get in touch and let me know. Good hunting!