Falcon 4

[Homefry 0]

I've been looking for a good flight-sim to get into, other then Lo-mac, and I've known about F4 for some time. I was hoping there would be some people who play OFP that might play Falcon 4, and can give me an idea of what to expect.

[mr. Duck 0]

Yes I do (more did actually) play falcon 4. But, it's heavily upgraded with patches (SP4+some more) which makes it kinda harder than the original one. It really can be hard but it can also be very easy, it al depends on your settings (in the options, etc. etc.). With hard I mean, the AI but also the avionics (try to fire a maverick at a target... It's more than just lock and fire...), well the latter one will become quite easy when you get used to it... I remember me being able to fire off 6 mavericks within 5 seconds at 6 different targets with the original falcon but now...

[mr burns 131]

Yes I do (more did actually) play falcon 4. But, it's heavily upgraded with patches (SP4+some more) which makes it kinda harder than the original one.

i have the same version and find it kinda tooo hard.

after the patch every singly button in the feckin f-16 cockpit was usable and had it´s function  

i don´t rember how but i managed to get airborne one time ( ! ).. havent played since then though..

i like lock:on much more

[FireflyPL 0]

I've been looking for a good flight-sim to get into, other then Lo-mac, and I've known about F4 for some time.  I was hoping there would be some people who play OFP that might play Falcon 4, and can give me an idea of what to expect.

I ve been playing it for several years. Sitll its one of the best and most hardcore sim ever made.

[pajama 0]

I just recently bought a brand new (Still in wrapper) binder edition for $5

I'll too afrade to open it just looking at the size of the manuel

[havocsquad 0]

Do I detect a stinch of laziness from Pajama?

Maybe we should punish your lack of dedication to diligent learning the systems of the F-16C Falcon.  I think his punishment should be a choice between watching 14 straight hours of toddler TV educational videos while chained to a chair, or reading "War and Peace" 5 times in 5 days, plus giving a 40 page report on due in 6 days from start of reading the book.

I await your choice....  

[Victor_S. 0]

I was about to make a post about this and saw yours. Should i get Locked On modern combat or FS2004:century of flight?

Locked on I get to shoot stuff but im unsure is anyone plays online or if its any good.

FS2004 looks amazing but Im not sure if ill get bored of just flying and not shooting anything(though there is stunt flying and crop dusting :P)

which would you guys or girls recommend???

[Billabong81 0]

I was about to make a post about this and saw yours. Should i get Locked On modern combat or FS2004:century of flight?

Locked on I get to shoot stuff but im unsure is anyone plays online or if its any good.

FS2004 looks amazing but Im not sure if ill get bored of just flying and not shooting anything(though there is stunt flying and crop dusting :P)

which would you guys or girls recommend???

LOMAC by far...FS2004 will get boring quick unless you absolutely LOVE flying from New York to Seattle .

[Victor_S. 0]

Thats what i thought and i just went to the lo-mac website and was very impressed by the movies they had there.  

[Waterman 0]

I used to play Falcon4 over a year ago, liked it but always found it a little difficult and the missions took forever to complete. A joystick is a must for this game as all flight sims though, I wore out my old Saitek 3D Cyborg I think it was, then I got the better version of it with force-feedback.

[hellfish6 7]

I have F4, but it started crashing pretty bad, so I haven't been able to play it in a long time. I think the crashes are due to my Nvidia FX5600, which I hear is not a good match with this game.

Otherwise, when I was able to play it I did enjoy it very much - and I loved the dynamic campaign. In fact, my flying lessons in OFP helped me out tremendously while trying to land an F-16 in F4.

[Victor_S. 0]

Im going to go buy one right now. Probably gunna go with lo-mac because FS2004 would probably get boring and lo-mac is 20$.

[Spy17 1]

It is a verry good simulation.

But you have to spend a lot of time with it to master it!

It has the best dynamic campaign I know!

[mr. Duck 0]

I have F4, but it started crashing pretty bad, so I haven't been able to play it in a long time. I think the crashes are due to my Nvidia FX5600, which I hear is not a good match with this game.

Otherwise, when I was able to play it I did enjoy it very much - and I loved the dynamic campaign. In fact, my flying lessons in OFP helped me out tremendously while trying to land an F-16 in F4.

Did you play with the original falcon or a patched up falcon (1.08+SP4)?

[pajama 0]

Do I detect a stinch of laziness from Pajama?

Maybe we should punish your lack of dedication to diligent learning the systems of the F-16C Falcon.  I think his punishment should be a choice between watching 14 straight hours of toddler TV educational videos while chained to a chair, or reading "War and Peace" 5 times in 5 days, plus giving a 40 page report on due in 6 days from start of reading the book.

I await your choice....  

Hey, hey, hey! I'm a grognard too! Just not the hex type

I just don't want to rune the callecter's value thast all!!! And sell it for high price to you guys

I think i'll take the first choice as long as its Mr. Roger's Neighborhoo. Noting better then having a sniper teach you about friendship

[hellfish6 7]

I have F4, but it started crashing pretty bad, so I haven't been able to play it in a long time. I think the crashes are due to my Nvidia FX5600, which I hear is not a good match with this game.

Otherwise, when I was able to play it I did enjoy it very much - and I loved the dynamic campaign. In fact, my flying lessons in OFP helped me out tremendously while trying to land an F-16 in F4.

Did you play with the original falcon or a patched up falcon (1.08+SP4)?

FF3.

[ozanzac 0]

Been playing it on and off for years.

The original, and even the last official v1.08 patch .exe's are extremly buggy, but with the latest SuperPak (4.2), BMS Data Update. The game is transformed to show its true potential.....which is why I still consider it the best flight sim out there.

There are guides out there to help get the game, and the 3rd party add-ons working in unison.

Be sure to read this comprehensive guide before patching, playing, and asking questions.

But my last install 'dance' went something like this:

1) Original Falcon4.0 CD

2) Microprose 1.08US Patch, Available here: http://www.atari.com/us/support/faq/falcon40downloads_pc.asp

3) SP4, Available here: http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/88841.shtml

4) SP4.2 Patch, Available here: http://simmersworld.com/files/patches72/SP4.2_Hi-res.zip

5) BMS 2.0 Available here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_6102.shtml

6) Sp4.2 BMS data patch, Available here: http://homepage.hispeed.ch/voodoo/Sp4.2_BMS_DATA_v1.0.zip

7) Other stuff....Cockpits, skins e.t.c.

Happy patching, and happy falconeering.

Edit: Links fixed

[Konyak! 0]

FS2004 is getting a little flak for being boring, understandable if you want to shoot stuff.  But if you are getting the simulator to master flying in it's many levels, FS2004 is far from boring when you:

1. Get yourself real IFR and VFR maps of your local airports, and try to perform perfect touch and go's in correct traffic patterns.

1.b:  Add the possibility of engine failure anytime in the next 30 minutes and you'll keep your senses focused on the perfect reaction to losing the engine(s)

2. Set visibility to absolute zero, complete cloud cover and rain, and tune in the correct frequencies for the local Instrument Landing System for that runway and fly 5nm out and come back and land using only the IFR chart and instruments.. highly rewarding

3. Do extreme cross wind touch and go's.

4. Land a 747 on Hong Kong's old East runway, the one over the city on a left hand approach... You'll see why they built the new airport  

5. Find the smallest lake you can land and take off from in the float planes, more fun if they have steep hills around them..

There's endless stuff to keep you busy, but you need to read up on stuff, it's all in there, and you'll end up with some real knowledge of aviation.

I still look for F4 though, every time I'm in a big computer store abroad.. not seen it yet.

Konyak

[pajama 0]

Could some one explain BMS to me? What it stands for? Dose? Changes?

[ozanzac 0]

Could some one explain BMS to me? What it stands for? Dose? Changes?    

Stands for BenchMark Sims.

The BMS patches are kind of a continuation of the work that the F4UT (Falcon 4 United Team) started with their F4SP (SuperPak) patches.

Unfortunatly, the F4UT group were forced to disband, and pretty much abandon all further work as a team, due to an agreement with the proprietry owner of the 'Falcon' brand. The team had a deadline to get their work out to the public before work was stopped, and this is why SP4's release was a debacle....All hotfixes to SP4 (i.e. SP 4.2) have been undertaken as privatly, non F4UT releases.

This is where the BMS team picks up....where the F4UT was forced to drop off.

Anyway, here's an overview of what the BMS patches are designed to do.

Quote[/b] ]

FEATURE OVERVIEW

GRAPHICS ENGINE

New features include: D3D-compliant hardware TNL (transform and lighting), ZBuffering, DXTn compressed texture support, light scattering, specular lighting, terrain vertex lighting, volumetric vertex fog, highly detailed 3D cumulus, cirrus, stratus, and overcast clouds, cloud shadows, heavy cloud transitions, lightning, rain, and an all-new particle system for high quality FX.

NOTE:

Due to fundamental changes in the weather engine, bad weather is undergoing a complete rewrite and is not yet fully implemented, and has therefore been disabled from the UI.

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS

Optimized graphics and sim performance is one of the highlights of F4-BMS 2.0. The infamous “Falcon stutters“, especially in feature-rich areas, and over the FLOT, are a thing of the past. Coupled with the offloading of graphical chores from the CPU to the GPU (video card), and SSE optimizations throughout the executable, Falcon 4 is no longer the performance dog it once was. (Although there is still MUCH room for improvement.)

NOTE:

One remaining campaign pause (rare 1-2 second stutter) has eluded us so far and is currently under investigation.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Various additions and bug fixes have been introduced, such as more realistic helicopter operations, improved BVR logic, individual aircraft attack speeds, and the ability to customize Air-To-Ground attack altitudes.

AVIONICS

Avionics upgrades and bug fixes constitute a significant portion of this update. Much time and effort has gone into refining many areas in the avionics department. This includes a massive Auto-Pilot overhaul, HUD enhancements and weapons employment.

SOUND ENGINE

The Falcon 4 sound engine now features doppler and distance effects, improved engine effects, and general positional sound improvements. Users may now customize their sounds more than ever via the f4sndtable.txt file, and control the properties of all sounds in any way they so choose.

2D / 3D COCKPIT

Automatic 2D cockpit resizing, a clickable 3D pit, and a host of other enhancements.

INTERACTIVE TRAINING

Interactive training missions can now be written, which can teach the user hands on how to fly and operate the aircraft.

INPUT DEVICES

Falcon 4 now has fully native TrackIR support and a new mouselook mode. The controller polling routines have been substantially rewritten, now allowing the simultaneous use of up to 16 devices for up to 23 in-sim axis.

COCKPIT BUILDING

Much work has gone into adding support for those who build their own physical cockpits. Endless callbacks and exports have been made, as well as a key file with every function and every state available in Falcon 4. This should make the cockpit builder’s life much easier.

[pajama 0]

I have a question for those whom have the Limited Binder edition of Falcon 4.0.

Is the game cd located inside the large white envolope?

Thank you.

[Newleafman 0]

It should be. $5, are you kidding me??

Great deal,..more like a steal.

I just bought the same off Ebay. I payed $45, and I was happy!

I have LOMAC also. F4 is my favorite of the 2.

But like has been mentioned, patch it up to SP4.2, you will love it!

Go here Frugals Site

You will find all the info you need. And the proper way to install and upgrade. There is a sticky in the F4 forum. Good luck.

I'm gonna dedicate myself to F4 for the next while, ..with some OFP sprinkled in also.

I need to control my urge to buy games and sims all the time, and dive right in, and enjoy a game full potential.

These 2 can keep my attention I believe.

[crashdome 1]

I can't remember if i posted these here or not...

I posted them on Frugal awhile ago.. the threads a bit dead, ahhh but this one seems to have been resurrected....

Video:

Excitement Gang

Another Video (Kinda an inside joke I guess... if you've ever had the "wait forever for takeoff" bug)

Waiting Room

[Jimpy 0]

@ pajama:  Errr...why not open it? And install and patch up

this absolutely cracking game/sim and play it?! Be prepared to

study and work at it, though! The "superpak" patch sets

really improve it (the original game was too buggy to play)

and are an absolute "must". It even now supports "head

trackers" so you can look around in the virtual world by just

moving your head - amazing!

I admit I got extremely "interested" (read: obsessed!) in this

game for a long time. I read the manual, read the SuperPak

manuals, flew all the training missions; practised, practised,

practised for weeks and weeks; and on my first "operational"

mission in a campaign got lost and ended up perpetrating a

horrific "blue on blue"  (sickened, I was; and I still can't

hear the words "ROK ground forces" or "CBU" without a pang

of guilt)      It didn't stop me coming back to play it again

though.  

I leapt to buy LOMAC as soon as it came out. I tried it a few

times then forgot about it in favour of my trusty Falcon (4).

LOMAC has nicer graphics sure (if your PC can handle them.

Not many can - the published system requirements for LOMAC

are rather "optimistic" shall we say), but I personally missed

the degree of interactivity with the aircraft controls that

Falcon 4 offers.

It's an excellent flight sim experience though. Rip open

that "white envolope" and start flight school!

[hardrock 1]

Well, I actually got F4 _after_ LOMAC. I think I'm like the guys that play newer ego shooters and whom you tell to grab OFP. I noticed that there were _loads_ of addons and packs, didn't really know what to get and what not, fired it up once, the graphics weren't as nice as LOMAC and I was too lazy to get into it

So it's not on my harddisk anymore. Maybe some day . . .