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LucShep

Falcon 4 Allied Assault - is it accessible?

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I've noticed (too late) about this other branch of Falcon and I have some doubts regarding F4AF.... if it's worth it at this point or not.

 

I do have Falcon BMS (4.32) installed for some time now, find it absolutely brilliant, but the learning curve is immense, extremely steep if you're not really a dedicated simmer with long time to spare. Too difficult and complicated.

To make matters worse, I'm now in situation where I don't have a HOTAS, just a stick (T-Flight Stick-X, same as the old Fox 2 Pro) and, in my experience, it sure doesn't cut it for BMS (seems not enough for it).

 

I'm reading forums with people mentioning that the F4AF campaign and missions are unmatched, that the learning curve is lower than with BMS, also that you can get away with just a stick.

But I can't see any mentions if it still has a very long and complex learning curve, the kind of "million-page-manual-must-read" simulation, or if it makes things aproachable enough to present a good balance?

Have looked at videos and screenshots, and F4AF does show its age, but I guess there are plenty mods to make it more digestible(?).

 

To resume, my real doubts are regarding the gameplay and the learning curve. If it's good and balanced (specifically for single-player) without becoming daunting (like BMS is), and if it's confirmed that a stick will do just fine?

Edited by LucShep

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Single stick will do fine. used to run it with a saitek evo. Even without a throttle detent on it, F4AF has an automatic "blurred" afterburner detent in-game to make it easier. I was amazed how noob friendly (ala ergonomic) it is.

 

learning-curve: AF is the easiest. but there still is one. probably best to start with instant action. once you get the hang of it and can shoot down those bombers with ease, go campaign go. --> it is not necessary to ramp start and not necessary to know what all the buttons means. They are nice to know but not really needed. The essentials are weapons and navigation which are covered with instant action already. And most of it in AF is "lock-up and shoot".

The campaign UI is not "loaded with info" and mostly self explanatory but that's further down road i guess.

 

PS the graphics was already crap when it was initially released:D:D

Edited by Do335

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Yes it still has a learning curve.....I used to think the 500+ manual in that was nothing more than a quick start guide. Things like the radar modes in BMS are still there.............and you will want to learn where some things are because accidentally switching your engine off during flight was not fixed with a single key. Also switching between the 2D and 3D pits was a bit of a pain.

 

You need to get the latest patch from 2009 and there are a few mods around..there are some on here still.

 

There were some payware ones like Toms hitiles and Aeyes widescreen 2D pits that I still have...........don't know if they are still available though.

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  Quote

Things like the radar modes in BMS are still there

For BVR, RWS all day long. For WVR, Boresight all day long. Don't need nothing else. For HOBS missile, uncage it and the seeker will slave to LOS. That's it.

 

  Quote

and you will want to learn where some things are because accidentally switching your engine off during flight was not fixed with a single key.

bah... don't go clicking stuff around the pit.

If feeling curious and want to mess around, discard your campaign mission and fire up tactical engagement.

 

  Quote

Also switching between the 2D and 3D pits was a bit of a pain.

aahh!!!!!! BUT the 2D pit boasts the much missed, very nice navigation tool the KNEE MAP and Flight data card. And for ppl without TrackIR, 2D pit saves TONs of framerates while still looking nice.

 

If one can afford 5000 buck flight gears, 20,000 buck hardware pit, have 2 hours free time before actual flying and don't need to wake up early the next day, ofc, one would find those redundant, and prefer to jot down the infos on paper for every flight. ---> OK so you're l33t and hardcore but pffft how many flight does one campaign take to finish? 100 or thereabouts? And you're not bored? So.. just go fly MP in TEs... single campaign players still find the knee map module useful.

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Hmmm... not looking good in F4AF's favor, have to say.

 

If the long manual reads and slooooow learning are still there, one would say that might as well just stick with BMS then?

I do have FTrackNoIr with a PS3Eye cam and use it most of the time (a cheap alternative to TrackIR). So, I would want to be with 3D all the time.

And payware mods? (wtf?)

 

Guess I should stay with Strike Fighters 2 and Flamming Cliffs 2 for now. And waiting for Combat Air Patrol 2 to be released.

 

Thanks guys for your responses. :-)

Edited by LucShep

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*heh* if looking for another "strike fighters" just with a name "falcon" on it... there isn't one ofc.
I suggest make up ur mind on what wanting to do

 

 

 

 

and couldn't resist: on a case by case basis the AF pay mods are very good. Quality is top notch and integration with base game is smooth. To say bluntly, if ya wanna ask ppl for money for a 3rd party mod, you better bring the A-game. Which there they did. There wasn't any criticism on the flame-war fested forums, only recommends. I think most of the pay mods for SF2 otoh are... polite word questionable; honest word a little crap.

Some ppl are somehow ideologically against pay mods, which i don't get. I like good pay mods, and hate bad ones. I just wanna make the games better.

Edited by Do335

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No, not looking for another SF2 in F4AF.

What I'm looking for is something that sits in-between F4 BMS and SF2 in complexity, with dynamic missions and campaign. Thought F4AF could allow for that, and why I find myself looking at something so outdated.

Flamming Cliffs 2 is more or less that, but then the whole thing feels lifeless, missions and (poor) campaigns are all scripted, game performance is very inconsistent (over cities, Shkval in SU-25T, Mavericks in A-10A) and etc.

Edited by LucShep

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Well.. it took me 3 days to get the hang of AF and a week to complete the first campaign. (not... complete but a draw since i bombed all the bridges......) I dunno if there's anything easier than that which still have a DC except SF:| CAP2 might be onto something. i'm also waiting to see how it turns out. In the meantime SF2 korea modding keeps me busy.

Edited by Do335

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OK, I'll have a go anyway.  :) Got a CD copy here doying nothing, might as well just have a go.

 

Latest patch I believe is 1.013, right?

 

As you guys seem experienced with it, any recommended "best mods" that are not payware?

I've seen SkunkworksMOD_v1.2 being mentioned... is this some sort of compilation?

 

I know Falcon was never about eye-candy, but would want it to get closer (somewhat) to more modern standards.

Edited by LucShep

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umm... might be best to stay off mods if freshly starting, mods add to confusion to no end. i think it's universally agreed sound way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but... stay away from skunkworks mod!! it immensely phucks up the database. It's like someone taking a personal adventure with F4Browse....

Probably first mod are redbird33's skins as migbuster mentioned in other thread. There was a slight off on the fuselage texmap however and i got the correction (mod of the mod) on HD backup. But there is some tinkering required with photoshop after that........... umm see how complicated it becomes!

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  On 4/23/2016 at 7:37 PM, Do335 said:

For BVR, RWS all day long. For WVR, Boresight all day long. Don't need nothing else. For HOBS missile, uncage it and the seeker will slave to LOS. That's it.

 

 

 

Amateur   :biggrin:

 

  Quote

 

bah... don't go clicking stuff around the pit.

If feeling curious and want to mess around, discard your campaign mission and fire up tactical engagement.

 

 

Nothing to do with clicking around...talking about clicking something by accident........but if you are happy aborting

 

  Quote

 

 

aahh!!!!!! BUT the 2D pit boasts the much missed, very nice navigation tool the KNEE MAP and Flight data card. And for ppl without TrackIR, 2D pit saves TONs of framerates while still looking nice.

 

It certainly did save framerates because it didn't work with certain Nvidia cards drivers at some point........hope that's fixed now.

  On 4/24/2016 at 11:50 AM, Do335 said:

 

but... stay away from skunkworks mod!! it immensely phucks up the database. It's like someone taking a personal adventure with F4Browse....

Probably first mod are redbird33's skins as migbuster mentioned in other thread. There was a slight off on the fuselage texmap however and i got the correction (mod of the mod) on HD backup. But there is some tinkering required with photoshop after that........... umm see how complicated it becomes!

 

The ones on here are not the originals and should be fine.

Edited by MigBuster

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  On 4/24/2016 at 12:14 PM, MigBuster said:

Amateur   :biggrin:

hah! the other modes are simply not as good as RWS/boresight or have bugs. condensed experience is different from newbie ignorance :beach:

 

 

  Quote

Nothing to do with clicking around...talking about clicking something by accident........but if you are happy aborting

an interesting subject of Falcon4 keystroke assignment. I've always found it funny that to press something, you need an "octopus hand". i always feel lol while doing it. fat fingering is still possible, but rare. you reassign the usual suspects to something easier anyway. and if we're talking SP there's no biggie in discarding --> as we know discarding is different from aborting.

 

  Quote

It certainly did save framerates because it didn't work with certain Nvidia cards drivers at some point........hope that's fixed now.

works fine on my win7 puter but,, this one is inevitable. years later it's like running dos games on windows boxes. i guess it's a dice roll.

e.g. i can still run mig alley, JF18, CFS3... but MS's extremely fun game Crimson Sky is no go as all the texts are fubar.

 

 

i remember in Openfalcon days I bought an Gtx260. the FSAA just didn't work with OF and had to sell it for a loss!:X Then got a second hand 8800U. it was a bloody defect. went to return it and the seller refuses, had to go through the hoops and lastly the creditor stepped in and forced the refund. Finally got a second hand 8800GT that worked well.

 

Then got into BMS beta that finally supported later gfx cards and bought another gtx260!

 

but... the 8800gt and gtx260 offered the same fps!!!V02CNQQJOIA8VJM_W.gif

^tis not to illustrate a point just a flash back to the adventurous timez!

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Hi gents,

 

Speaking of Falcon 4.0 Allied Force, I was wondering if it is possible to tweak the speed of the radar cursor or bring back the RPM on the HUD, but unlike SP3 or other versions of the game, I found no Config Editor.

 

Any ways to work around??

 

Thanks.

Alex

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in your base install directory, make a file called "bfops.cfg" without the ". the config switches are the same as other falcon versions

set g_bEPAFRadarCues 1
set g_nPadlockBoxSize 8
set g_bAWACSRequired 0
set g_bTaskAnyWaypoint 1
set g_bAllowOverload 1
set g_bUseAggresiveIncompleteA2G 1
set g_bMFDHighContrast 1
set g_nLoadoutTimeLimit 0
set g_fRadarScale 0.750000
set g_bLabelShowDistance 1
set g_fPOVSpeed 4.500000
set g_nNoPlayerPlay 48
set g_nNearLabelLimit 40
set g_bEnableABRelocation 0
set g_bForceSoftwareGUI 1
how do you know the command is working? when you launch FalconAF.exe it will generate a file called "BFOpslog.txt". if the command is working, it will show

set g_bForceSoftwareGUI 1    //default = 0

 

if it is not working, the command line will not show up in bfopslog.txt

 

list of commands below, they are probably extracted from readable ascii text within the exe and no documentation/explanation exists of what most do, so trial and error.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Edited by Do335

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Thanks Do335 for your quick and detailed reply.

 

I noticed that there are 3 types of syntax (or whatever they’re called, I’m not a computer guy anyway), set g_b, set g_f, and set g_n. From the examples, I presume that set g_b the ‘b’ means binary no., either 1 or 0. Do you happen to know what the other two stand for?

 

Anyway, I’ll give it a try and see how it works.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

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yah good eye b is boolean/binary 0 or 1, n is like integer values, f probably float but... the better idea is if having other falcon versions like bms, you can look it up and see if it's n/b/f and get some info outta it - sometimes they come with explanations in the .cfg. I remember referencing the shit outta them old bms2.0/FF/OF!

Edited by Do335

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Hi Do335 ,

 

Tried on Win 7 and XP, vanilla install/latest patch, but have to report not successful.

I simply put the following lines in the bfops.cfg file for testing:

 

set g_bNoRPMOnHud 0

set g_fCursorSpeed 1.5

set g_bForceSoftwareGUI 1

 

but the BFOpslog file didn’t show any of these,

 

0.718(4624) <general/anytime>:SystemLevelInit: Starting BFOps Falcon 4.0 Allied Force  1.013  (build 80119)

0.718(4624) <general/anytime>:SystemLevelInit: Using data files version BFOps Falcon 4.0 Allied Force Build Fri Jan 25 2008 at 06:07:59

0.718(4624) <general/anytime>:SystemLevelInit: Current time is 2016-05-04 16:34:22

0.718(4624) <general/anytime>:Number of processors detected: 2

1.578(4624) <general/warn>:TrackIR NPClient_Init failed. Is TrackIR software loaded?

11.937(4624) <general/anytime>:SystemLevelExit: Exiting BFOps Falcon 4.0 Allied Force  1.013  (build 80119)

11.937(4624) <general/anytime>:SystemLevelExit: Current time is 2016-05-04 16:34:33

 

RPM shows only when I select simplified avionics.

 

But still thanks for the digging up the info.

 

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that's unlucky:( but maybe check something basic like is file extension enabled in windows? like do you see "FalconAF.exe" "BFOpslog.txt", i.e. are the ".exe" ".txt" present.

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Good gracious, I’ve no idea why but seems that does it!!

I’ll experiment with the other commands later.

 

You’re my hero!  :good:

 

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LOL... willing to help if you're willing to solve it.

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Hi Do335,

Sorry to take up your time again.
I found videos on Youtube that shows one can export AF's MFDs images to a second monitor by using Lightning's MFD extractor.
While I managed to export the MFDs but found the images flicker a lot, using Standalone or LAN option yield the same result.  
Just wondered if you or anyone of this forum have a solution.

Thanks.
 

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ehh as a firm believer of the urban myth "flying skill grows opposite of amount of 'pit" I never use external cockpit ware... hopefully someone can have the answer for ya mate! or check Simhq, viperpits.org even...

Edited by Do335

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