Initial research.
-
Doesn’t appear to be a warez distro (hi, Retroism!) which is nice. Wish they would have included the .ISO of the original media, though.
-
No GLIDE. Direct3D results in corrupt screen. Software mode only at the moment. Using a DDRAW wrapper from GitHub - narzoul/DDrawCompat: DirectDraw compatibility and performance enhancements for Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10. This is where the NVidia GSync errors come from. Turn it off.
-
Version 1.2. Includes manual PDF in install directory.
-
Tried monkeying with it using nGlide and dgVoodoo2 - no go. Looks like software mode’s back on the menu, boys.
BONUS: maybe how to get Mig Alley working More help with MiG Alley please! (WIndows 10) · Issue #129 · narzoul/DDrawCompat · GitHub
Woweeeeee!!! So darn happy!!!
I played M1TP2 so, so much. Piped the sound through a big ol’ stereo to annoy my parents. Heavy metal guitar wasn’t obnoxious to them at all, but artillery barrages… whoo boy!
I was such an asshole kid. Guess I still am :D
JeffL
4967
Wow. Tom needs to add the “Like” function just for this thread.
@Editer I remember you calling me at work and seducing me to start writing for you at CGW by giving me a nice two pager on strategy in WWII sims. And there were probably 4 of them on the market at the time. I used quotes from WWII aces to lead each section, and I was amazed at what the CGW art folks did to make my article and screen shots look so nice. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Agree on the rivet counters and overly negative people driving away accessible sims (and Andy Hollis.) It probably also hurts that software companies today consider anything that sells less than a major MMO shooter or something like Elden RIng or GTA to be a failure.
Watching the video for that DCS Apache brought back memories of Longbow 2 back in 1997. 1997, and we were able to fly a Longbow, in a coop mode with a friend in the other seat, in a dynamic campaign that was incredibly immersive. I remember flying low and fast and shouting at my brother to hit the SAM to our 10 oclock, with missile trails in the sky and action all around us. It took practice to learn to fly that chopper well enough to do well in combat, but it didn’t take months to learn. Nothing like that sim out there today.
And then watching the clip from WOFF 2; one of my favorite sims of all time was RB23D and the dynamic campaign and a living world that existed outside of the bubble in which you were flying. The clips from WOFF 2 make me want to build a PC (I don’t have one right now) and get a HOTAS and VR just to play that game. It also makes me wonder how in the heck pilots back then, with no “labels” they coudl turn on and no ability to have a POV from outside the plane, ever found the rest of their squadron after a fight, and how they ever found their way back home.
I’d be tempted by the DCS Apache but I really want a combat sim with a full living war going on in which to fly and fight (i.e. a living dynamic campaign a la WOFF 2) than I do a great chopper simulation.
Even without a complete full on Falcon4.0 style war on in the background, “a day at the range” in co-op with a buddy or two is great big fun. The insane fidelity of the sim as inherited from it’s training tool roots make foolin’ around that more fun.
I found the Apache a remarkably simple airframe to learn to do basic stuff in. Theres many layers of stuff to dig into below that, all kinds of neat tricks lie in wait to be discovered.
One of my best recent multiplayer experiences was figuring out how to buddy lase. Shine a laser at a target for someone else to drop a warhead on. Remarkably tricky to pull off, as it’s pretty hard to not mask your laser in a moving airframe for the time needed for the thing to work. Hovering chopper might be easier ;-)
Anyway, to each their own. Does WoFF have VR these days?!
Nah, likely never will due to its CFS3 roots.
JeffL
4970
Wait, that video above for WOFF 2, the guy wasn’t using a VR set? All the looking around was via keyboard or programmed stick, etc?
I believe it does support TrackIR.
JeffL
4972
Ahhh, forgot about that. Must be what he was using.
Those artillery barrages were amazing for the time.
JeffL
4974
This sounds like an old guy talking (because it is!) but I look back at how much I enjoyed the old games like M1TP2 and how hard it is to find games like that today, and I wonder if developers who had the understanding of how to make a great game like that just don’t exist these days. I assume they’re the ones with indie games on Steam today.
It is a bit perplexing there doesn’t seem to be “middle ground between rivets and accessibility. I always though the microprose stuff was hood middle ground.
So y’all Gunship 2000 still slaps.
I flew through a fucking train tunnel.
Bluddy
4977
It was a small niche to begin with, but the limits of PCs brought two separate camps together: those who wanted enjoyable games that focused on what was fun, and those who just wanted the most realistic simulation possible. Essentially, Sid Meier and Bill Stealey. Once the PC got strong enough, the camps split, and it’s only worthwhile to develop for those who will pour money into it i.e. the rivet counters. The fact that your average PC no longer has a joystick makes it even harder to get the non-specialists into it nowadays.
You guys I am so happy right now.
JeffL
4979
Amazing game, so jealous.
Don’t be, it didn’t cost too much thankfully.
Comte
4981
Dude so nice show a pic of the manual 😎
Oh sorry I’ll take one soon.
