Falcon 4 BMS

Gargamel · 04-02-17, 01:50 PM

And looking at the Falcon Gold on Steam, holy crap I don't remember the graphics being that bad LOL.

And they are asking for a 1.8ghz processor minimum. I ran mine on a 66 mhz 386 back then.

CCIP · 04-05-17, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gargamel

And looking at the Falcon Gold on Steam, holy crap I don't remember the graphics being that bad LOL.

And they are asking for a 1.8ghz processor minimum. I ran mine on a 66 mhz 386 back then.

What fascinates me about that is just how much BMS (and other modders before them) managed to do with it - try running Falcon 4 without mods, and it's practically unrecognizable. Heck, even the Allied Force release from 2004 looks completely obsolete by comparison. It's amazing that it's still running on the same engine.

Then again, if you look at something like ARMA 3 - it's also still retains a fair bit of the original 2001 "Operation Flashpoint", while DCS is built on top of 2003's Lock On (which, in turn, is based heavily on the 1997 Flanker 2.5 and its predecessors), while today's versions of FSX/Prepar3D retain most of FS2002's code base and some from even older version. But today's Falcon definitely gets extra cookie points for basically being community-maintained for what's now been 18 years since the last official Microprose patch!

Another honourable mention should go to Jane's F-18, also. Although not nearly as active as the Falcon community, and lacking F4's dynamic campaign, it also received lots of mod updates over the years and is worth taking a second look at!

Threadfin · 04-06-17, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

Another honourable mention should go to Jane's F-18, also. Although not nearly as active as the Falcon community, and lacking F4's dynamic campaign, it also received lots of mod updates over the years and is worth taking a second look at!

Good post CCIP. With a handle like that you have to be a jetsimmer! Yeah, what Team Super Hornet did with F/A-18 was amazing. I haven't flown that in a long time, but it's one of the greats.

CCIP · 04-07-17, 10:59 AM

Yeah, BMS is worth playing and it's great that there's an active multiplayer community as well. It's been eons since I've done Falcon multiplayer - but I'm sure I'll come around to it again! F4 has been installed on my hard drive in some form non-stop since its release in 1998, and I don't think that's ever going to change

Oh, and as to the question about sims with dynamic campaigns - honourable mentions should also go to Rowan's titles, namely MiG Alley and Battle of Britain. I'm not sure whether the former runs on modern systems (I guess I'll have to install it and find out!), but BoB lives on - as A2A Simulations' BoB II. It's a bit dated, but has a very active community that continues developing officially-approved patches. Both had true dynamic campaigns.

It's unfortunate that most simulators don't do true dynamic cam paigns, even if they claim to - in many cases, what's passed for a dynamic campaign is actually just a semi-random mission generator. IL-2 is noteworthy for that.
CFS 3 (which also has been well-maintained by the community!) is somewhere in between - it's closer to a dynamic campaign than a mission generator, but it still vastly simplifies the actual conduct of war; I'd think of it more as a sandbox. Worth mentioning too is the CFS3-based World War I title Wings over Flanders Fields - which while not "truly" dynamic does have an outstanding campaign mode. It's made all the better by a very clever AI, which (at higher realism settings) not only fights well, but also makes healthy choices for its own survival (like disengaging it finds itself at a disadvantage).

And for those who want dynamic campaigns played on a strategic level (i.e. not in a simulator game per se, but a game where you control the air war) - there are the Gary Grigsby titles "Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich", and the recent "War in the West" has some air-only campaign scenarios as well.

Not modern combat like F4 but all worth bringing up nonetheless

Threadfin · 04-07-17, 03:03 PM

Agreed. I was big in to MiG Alley and BoB. As a matter of fact, posts I made at Combatsim back in the '90s about the campaign landed me a gig on the staff of Frugalsworld, if you might have been familiar with that site. Once there, I got in to F4, and for a time, Frug's was the go-to place on the web for Falcon 4.

Jane's sims may be the only ones without dynamic campaigns I've bought that I played the sh!t out of. US Navy Fighters, ATF, Marine Fighters, the whole works. Of course back then, in the mid-90s I didn't have anything better to compare them to and I loved each of those titles.

But a couple years later, 1999 to be precise, I picked up MiG Alley and F4 and the rest is history. Any sim I've bought since then that does not have such a campaign was short-lived. Like Strike Fighters for example. EF2000 sort of bridged the gap. A better campaign experience, but not on par with F4 or the Rowan titles.

The exception is Il-2, and that only because we had so much fun flying multiplayer. If the single player campaign was the only way I could fly, even the classic Il-2 would have been gathering dust long before it did.

To that list I would also add LB2 and EECH, rotors sure, but good campaigns that kept my attention for a long time. And of course what dynamic campaign list would be complete without Silent Hunter series?

I think it says a lot about both Falcon 4 and the F4 community that out of all of these classic titles, F4 is the only one I still fly.

Threadfin · 04-05-17, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gargamel

And looking at the Falcon Gold on Steam, holy crap I don't remember the graphics being that bad LOL.

And they are asking for a 1.8ghz processor minimum. I ran mine on a 66 mhz 386 back then.

Well, I think Falcon Gold has Falcon 4.0 included right? So that may be why there are higher CPU specs?

CCIP · 04-05-17, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Well, I think Falcon Gold has Falcon 4.0 included right? So that may be why there are higher CPU specs?

Yes, I think it's that - I don't remember how it's packaged on Steam, but on GoG it's packaged in an odd way (probably for licensing reasons) - it's sold as a pack of Falcon (1.5) Gold, Falcon 2.0, and Falcon 3.0 all together, with Falcon 4.0 being a "bonus item" rather than a core part of the package. F4's license status has been a bit of a mess for a while, so I think everyone (not the least the BMS) team prefer to stay as low-key about dealing with it as possible - although I'm sure that the success of BMS is part of the reason it has gone back on sale now.

But I think you're also right that the specs are higher than you remember for Falcon 4.0 - I'll have to look at my original manual when I get home, but I think when it shipped, it listed a 233 MHz Pentium II as minimum. Considering how horridly unoptimized on release it was though, 1.8 GHz would've been much more realistic

I played the thing for at least 5 years on systems waaay below that 1.8 GHz spec though! First on a 400 MHz Celeron, then an 800 MHz Pentium III. I even managed to be part of an online squadron for years - on laggy 56k dialup!

Man, those were the days

Gargamel · 04-05-17, 04:23 PM

IIRC, Gold was the last expansion of the 3.0 series. I believe that the gold on steam doesn't include 4, might be wrong though.

I got to laughing today in the car, realizing I had posted a recount of a single mission I flew about 25 years ago in a game.

I then realized I remember other games, like in the dial up head to head dog fight tourny I was in. I had my wings holed by his cannon, and was losing fuel quickly. I ran out of gas, and had to dive to gain speed, he followed me down to the deck, but I was able to pull up better than he was, and he crashed before I did, giving me the win.

CCIP · 04-05-17, 07:16 PM

Well, you have to admit - if you can still remember missions you played 25 years ago, chances are it was a pretty good game after all

I never actually got to play Falcon 3 - it was just a little bit before my time. Perhaps I should actually install it now that I have the pack of them from GoG.

Threadfin · 04-06-17, 11:52 AM

We are flying BMS a lot these days. We have a dedicated campaign server and have a good old time. Of course you have to install 4.0 to use BMS now. I had snapped a couple of shots to compare the old and the new. Quite frankly, original Falcon 4 still holds up well. When I attach pics here they explode to massive size, so I will just link the post from SimHQ comparing the old and new 'pits.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ey#Post4336731

04-02-17, 01:50 PM	#1
Gargamel Lucky Sailor Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Rome Posts: 4,272 Downloads: 81 Uploads: 0	And looking at the Falcon Gold on Steam, holy crap I don't remember the graphics being that bad LOL. And they are asking for a 1.8ghz processor minimum. I ran mine on a 66 mhz 386 back then. __________________ Luck is a residue of Design.

04-07-17, 10:59 AM	#4
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Yeah, BMS is worth playing and it's great that there's an active multiplayer community as well. It's been eons since I've done Falcon multiplayer - but I'm sure I'll come around to it again! F4 has been installed on my hard drive in some form non-stop since its release in 1998, and I don't think that's ever going to change Oh, and as to the question about sims with dynamic campaigns - honourable mentions should also go to Rowan's titles, namely MiG Alley and Battle of Britain. I'm not sure whether the former runs on modern systems (I guess I'll have to install it and find out!), but BoB lives on - as A2A Simulations' BoB II. It's a bit dated, but has a very active community that continues developing officially-approved patches. Both had true dynamic campaigns. It's unfortunate that most simulators don't do true dynamic cam paigns, even if they claim to - in many cases, what's passed for a dynamic campaign is actually just a semi-random mission generator. IL-2 is noteworthy for that. CFS 3 (which also has been well-maintained by the community!) is somewhere in between - it's closer to a dynamic campaign than a mission generator, but it still vastly simplifies the actual conduct of war; I'd think of it more as a sandbox. Worth mentioning too is the CFS3-based World War I title Wings over Flanders Fields - which while not "truly" dynamic does have an outstanding campaign mode. It's made all the better by a very clever AI, which (at higher realism settings) not only fights well, but also makes healthy choices for its own survival (like disengaging it finds itself at a disadvantage). And for those who want dynamic campaigns played on a strategic level (i.e. not in a simulator game per se, but a game where you control the air war) - there are the Gary Grigsby titles "Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich", and the recent "War in the West" has some air-only campaign scenarios as well. Not modern combat like F4 but all worth bringing up nonetheless __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

04-07-17, 03:03 PM	#5
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,079 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Agreed. I was big in to MiG Alley and BoB. As a matter of fact, posts I made at Combatsim back in the '90s about the campaign landed me a gig on the staff of Frugalsworld, if you might have been familiar with that site. Once there, I got in to F4, and for a time, Frug's was the go-to place on the web for Falcon 4. Jane's sims may be the only ones without dynamic campaigns I've bought that I played the sh!t out of. US Navy Fighters, ATF, Marine Fighters, the whole works. Of course back then, in the mid-90s I didn't have anything better to compare them to and I loved each of those titles. But a couple years later, 1999 to be precise, I picked up MiG Alley and F4 and the rest is history. Any sim I've bought since then that does not have such a campaign was short-lived. Like Strike Fighters for example. EF2000 sort of bridged the gap. A better campaign experience, but not on par with F4 or the Rowan titles. The exception is Il-2, and that only because we had so much fun flying multiplayer. If the single player campaign was the only way I could fly, even the classic Il-2 would have been gathering dust long before it did. To that list I would also add LB2 and EECH, rotors sure, but good campaigns that kept my attention for a long time. And of course what dynamic campaign list would be complete without Silent Hunter series? I think it says a lot about both Falcon 4 and the F4 community that out of all of these classic titles, F4 is the only one I still fly. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

04-05-17, 04:23 PM	#8
Gargamel Lucky Sailor Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Rome Posts: 4,272 Downloads: 81 Uploads: 0	IIRC, Gold was the last expansion of the 3.0 series. I believe that the gold on steam doesn't include 4, might be wrong though. I got to laughing today in the car, realizing I had posted a recount of a single mission I flew about 25 years ago in a game. I then realized I remember other games, like in the dial up head to head dog fight tourny I was in. I had my wings holed by his cannon, and was losing fuel quickly. I ran out of gas, and had to dive to gain speed, he followed me down to the deck, but I was able to pull up better than he was, and he crashed before I did, giving me the win. __________________ Luck is a residue of Design.

04-05-17, 07:16 PM	#9
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Well, you have to admit - if you can still remember missions you played 25 years ago, chances are it was a pretty good game after all I never actually got to play Falcon 3 - it was just a little bit before my time. Perhaps I should actually install it now that I have the pack of them from GoG. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

04-06-17, 11:52 AM	#10
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,079 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	We are flying BMS a lot these days. We have a dedicated campaign server and have a good old time. Of course you have to install 4.0 to use BMS now. I had snapped a couple of shots to compare the old and the new. Quite frankly, original Falcon 4 still holds up well. When I attach pics here they explode to massive size, so I will just link the post from SimHQ comparing the old and new 'pits. http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ey#Post4336731 __________________ What? Behind the rabbit? Last edited by Threadfin; 04-06-17 at 12:21 PM.