baffmeister

One of the best older flight sims I played was the helicopter sim "Hind". I had to run it in software mode as it requires a 3DFX card. There is a terrain upgrade available as well for 3DFX. The game was very immersive with lots of ground and air action, airport activity etc. Lots of fun!

Go to Davids Strike Fighters Addons. You will find some other nice airplanes to download as well.

img00009.bmp img00010.bmp It took a bit of work to get into this situation but have managed to do it twice. Aircraft was rotating at about 120 degrees a second, pitching +/- about 15 degrees, VSI pegged at 6000 Ft/Min down. I didn't bother attempting recovery, it was too much fun just watching. COOL! Edit- Still having problems posting photos and links. [computer challanged] Fates, can you just make the photos show up like all the others?

After bit more research it appears the altitude record is held by a Russian E-266M [Experimental Mig-25?] at 37,650 meters. If my math is right, thats almost 127,000ft. Might need a 3rd engine for the Vigilante!

Interesting Altitude Attempt. I did a quick internet search and I think the official altitude record for an air breathing aircraft taking off from the ground is held by a modified F-104 Starfighter at around 103,000 Ft. This was set in the early 60's and I guess indicates some potential for rich guys or companies to set some new records in this area. Record setting attempts get somewhat muddied regarding altitude, powerplant, [airbreathing or rocket] and other issues. Apparantly, NASA'S rocket propelled Starfighters were reaching around 120'000Ft in the mid sixties, but they had thrusters to control pitch and roll at high altitude. The air breathing aircraft would start their record breaking attempts from a high mach level flight probably around 35'000 t0 40'000 ft then pitch up an optimum angle [maybe 45 deg?] then continue upwards to an engine flame out point [guessing around 65'000ft] then coast upwards from there. Interestingly, the Starfighter took the high altitude record away from a Navy F-4 Phantom. [around 98'000ft] The low altitude record is even more muddy, but I think a modified F-104 Starfighter holds this at around 988mph. [Daryl Greenamayer] I'm not sure how low the low altitude record has to be[how low is low?] but it is very difficult to overpower the air resistence at low altitude so the older small wing high speed fighters are probably hard to beat in this regard. I recall a good book [not Thud Ridge] where a USAF pilot was describing his exit from North vietnam at low level in an f-105 Thunderchief. Hard on the deck and pounding on the throttle, 1000mph indicated airspeed! So the F-104 has a rival and maybe someone will prove it some day! As for the record in the Vigilante, I would consider it a good contender for a high altitude attempt, [for real !] However, stability is a real concern at these altitudes. Regards.

UPDATED OK! The Direct X 9.0c download did the trick. Thanks again. Regards, Baffmeister.

Thanks guys, I will try the direct X 9.0c first. [3 hour download on my 26.4kbs dial up!] I currently have early direct X9 drivers installed.Graphics card drivers are quite new but might try the old ones if I can figure out how. Probably should have mentioned I'm using Windows 98SE, which hasn't been a problem yet but may be someday. The 3.1 patch installed fine so I'm a little surprised I'm having a problem with this one. All for now, Baffmeister.

Greetings, I just installed the new SFP1-3.2 patch on an up to date and quite clean installation and I got a crash to desk top. I keep 2 separate installations of Strike Fighters and usually try official updates on the clean one. Anyway, the CTD happens after selecting a single mission and hitting the fly button. I get no loading screen and it goes straight to desk top. Futher investigation revealed my graphics card was not being recognized in the Graphics Options, the Display Device box was blank and so was the Resolution Box. I also noticed in the Options.ini file that the DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, and Display Depth were corrupted. Tried a reinstall on the patch and checked the Options.ini file again and it looked OK. Ran the game again and got the same CTD as before. Checked the Options.ini file again and now it was corrupted again. I compared the system files between the two different installs and noticed lots of changes in the file sizes after the 3.2 patch , so a lot of work has been done on this upgrade. In order to get the game up and running I copied the old system folder into the newly patched game and was somewhat surprised when it worked. [This game is quite forgiving in a lot of respects!] So now I have a game patched to about 3.15. I am wondering if anyone else is having problems with the patch. My system is an Intel 2.4GHZ with an ATI 9600SE. Also, I downloaded the patch twice, once from here and once from Third Wire, and had the same problem with both. Looking forward to some assistence for this issue. Regards, Baffmeister.

Just wondering if anyone else is unhappy with the recent change to the F104G flight controls. [or am I the only one that flys that plane] While I wasn't thrilled with the way it behaved before, at least it would turn a little bit. The new game update apparantly contains a revised flight data file but I don't believe it is very realistic. I have never flown an actual Starfighter and realize it's not the best turning airplane ever built but the new flight characteristics seem a bit extreme. [extremely bad, that is] One change I do agree with - the real Starfighter had stall protection in the form of a stick kicker\pusher and the new control file does seem to keep you out of the buffet zone. I just don,t believe the turn rate is realistic. Anyway, I modified a few things in the F104G data file to improve the turn rate. I used the Mig- 21 as a guide but kept the numbers lower as I am sure The Starfighter can't turn with a Mig-21, it requires a different approach to dogfighting. [fast and vertical] The changes I made were in the elevator deflection and stall angle. I am happy with the results and if anyone shows interest I will post the changes. What I would really like is for one of the "Aircraft Builders" out there to have a look at the new F104G data file and see what they think of it. Regards, Baffmeister.

You could try a minor edit in the controls folder.[Note-This is for Strike Fighters Project 1 but it might work for WOV] I didn't like the ratio of pitch versus roll imputs so I did some experimenting. Look in the controls folder [i don't remember if I extracted the file or if it was just there] and look at the default data. If you scroll down you will find a section called [RangedControl001] Underneath it should say AxisControl=PITCH_CONTROL. Below that are a max value and a min value. Try changing them to 500.000000 and -500.000000 from the default +\- 1000.000000 I did this and it makes pitch control much easier with a lot less bobbing around. You can still adjust dead zone and response in game using the slider controls. Hope that works for you, Regards, Baffmeister.