Falcon 4?

[Sel94]

I'm really getting into sims now, and I've heard things about a sim called "Falcon 4." Does anybody fly this? I've been searching for an official website, but had no luck. Also, is it good? Thanks.

[Eddie]

http://www.lead-pursuit.com/news.htm

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/83/1/Falcon_4_0.html

 

http://www.freefalcon.com/

 

http://www.f4support.com/forums/

 

Oh, and I seriously can't believe you've not heard of Falcon.

[Sel94]

I've seen it around before, but never really looked into it. Anyway, thanks for the links, looks cool! I'll go to the store later(very later) and pick it up, just wish I could buy and download it online like Lock On.

[Eddie]

I've seen it around before, but never really looked into it. Anyway, thanks for the links, looks cool! I'll go to the store later(very later) and pick it up, just wish I could buy and download it online like Lock On.

 

Free falcon is a standalone download mate, totally free to download community mod. Open Falcon is also free but requires the original Falcon 4.0 disk, you may find one on eBay. Falcon AF is the only one you'll likely find in stores, and even then you may struggle to find a copy nowadays.

 

Open Falcon is the most realistic and Free Falcon has the best eye candy, but neither are very Vista/Win 7 friendly, AF is easier to get running for a newbie but is a retail release based on an earlier version of the community mods for Falcon 4.0.

 

Falcon history is very complicated and there is much more to each variation than I've mentioned here, but as I'm posting from my phone it would take me days to type out a full description/explanation. Maybe another Falcon vet could fill in the gaps.

[Steel Jaw]

http://www.escuadron69.net/v20/images/redactores/falconhistory_timeline.pdf

 

There's another website with recent info on the history but i cant find it right now.

 

sorry, if i have go down that road again today i'll positively puke.

[Steel Jaw]

I'm back.

 

Here's the readers digest version:

 

-- AF is most stable (offline and online) but the worst grafix BUT it runs on vista/w7 fine (even 64 bit)

-- FF5.5.1 looks best but will only run on XP 32 bit and sux at online MP

-- OF 5 is the most complex, looks better than AF, will run fine in online MP provided it's installed a certain way, but only runs on XP 32 bit.

 

Most squads fly EITHER AF or OF but there is a large out there that still flies both...

 

http://firstfighterwing.com/joomla/

 

AF you buy (in theory ;-))

FF is here http://www.freefalcon.com/

OF is here http://www.f4support.com/forums/index.php

Edited September 9, 2010 by Mower

[Sel94]

Ah, too bad, I use Win 7 x64. :[

[Speed]

Ah, too bad, I use Win 7 x64. :[

 

Which is not a problem with F4: AF. It is indeed very hard to believe you do not know about Falcon, but maybe not surprising if you're a long time LOMAC flier. I always believed that the only reason people played LOMAC back in the day was because they did not take the time to learn what Falcon 4 was. I have a hard time understanding the value system that would ever rank pre-FC LOMAC (and to be honest, even FC2) above Falcon 4 SP3+... but that's another debate. If you can stand Falcon 4 AF's outdated graphics, you will be pleasantly surprised. Overall, F4 is actually still the most realistic combat jet fighter sim ever created.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Speed

[topol-m]

-- FF5.5.1 looks best but will only run on XP 32 bit and sux at online MP

 

Why does it suck at MP?

[Steel Jaw]

I have a hard time understanding the value system that would ever rank pre-FC LOMAC (and to be honest, even FC2) above Falcon 4 SP3+... but that's another debate.

 

Oh Gawd, where to begin. As a long-time old Falconeer I was at the forefront of the notorious years-long debate. It got nasty, people were banned. Centered mainly at the UBI and Frugal forums. I remember my Frugal thread when I called out Andy Mahood for his kind words about LOMAC relative to Falcon. For a long time I was a dedicated out spoken critic of LOMAC for its simplicity of avionics and weaponeering, though in my review I did give it an A-. But even FC2 shares the fundamental problem that LOMAC did: with its simplness of operation it does not adequately recreate the stress and workloads a real fighter pilot must deal with.

 

But F4's HIDEOUS grafix have taken their toll and I am now flying FC2 exclusively now until the DCS A10c arrives.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Mower

[Steel Jaw]

Why does it suck at MP?

 

The code is broken. And the FF team has not made fixing online MP a priority, prefering to focus instead on pretty grafix.

[HiJack]

-- FF5.5.1 looks best but will only run on XP 32 bit and sux at online MP

 

I'm running this in Windows 7 64 bit and had absolutly no problems at all with it. You only need to disable UAC and make sure you install to a separat game folder like "D:\FF5" or similar ;) I've not tested the MP so that may sux :P

[sobek]

The code is broken. And the FF team has not made fixing online MP a priority, prefering to focus instead on pretty grafix.

 

Despite all the hot air that mower puts forth in this regard ;), there's regular FF5 MP flights which can by joined by ways of the freefalcon forum. It still is a bit of a 'dance' to get it working, and there's several don'ts that hinder some functionality. However, given some proper knowledge of the needed procedures, one can obtain some nice and comparably stable MP flights. The guys at the MP forum are always happy to introduce newcomers to the sim.

[asparagin]

I'm running this in Windows 7 64 bit and had absolutly no problems at all with it. You only need to disable UAC and make sure you install to a separat game folder like "D:\FF5" or similar ;) I've not tested the MP so that may sux :P

 

Win 7 is not the only problem, Nvidia is another.

[Steel Jaw]

Despite all the hot air that mower puts forth in this regard ;),

 

 

That's old news. :P :D

 

Anyhow, the FF online community, few there are, mainly can be found here...

 

http://www.veterans-gaming.com/news.php

[Rusty_M]

I'd love F4AF so much more if the 3D pit was better. Love the feel that you're part of a larger war!

[hassata]

Try Zerk's. Better than stock (and the only one available for AF as far as I am aware).

 

http://www.pantherden.net/home/downloads.php?do=file&id=1

[104th_Crunch]

So there is no way to run Free Falcon in Win 7-64 with a Nvidia GTX 280? Thanks

[happyslayeruk]

The new nvidia beta drivers (260.63) out today have improved backwards compatibility with DX7. Falcon 4 AF is mentioned in the release notes.

 

On the nvidia blogs/forums a nvidia admin mentioned that they were aware of FF problems so maybe if this beta driver has no joy maybe the full release of the 260 driver (normally 1 week after beta) will finally get it working.

 

I have just installed the beta driver and will see later this evening or tomorrow if that gets FF5.5.1 running with win7 64

[104th_Crunch]

Thanks for the reply. Please let us know how you make out.

[Steel Jaw]

So there is no way to run Free Falcon in Win 7-64 with a Nvidia GTX 280? Thanks

 

I would be AMAZED if so. I just got through trying with W7/64 bit on a GTX 9800x2.

[Slayer]

So there is no way to run Free Falcon in Win 7-64 with a Nvidia GTX 280? Thanks

 

I've just downloaded and installed the new drivers(get them from the beta section). I almost wet myself the game was working fine on my brand new 480 GTX SLI setup. No weirdness or crashes or anything.

 

The fix wasnt specifically for FreeFalcon, it was for AF. So you just have to rename your FFViper.exe to FalconAF.exe and it will work. THis will fake the Nvidia driver into thinking its AF and apply the DirectX 7 driver level fixes.

 

I'm using Windows 7 x64. It's the first time I have ever been able to run this game outside of forcing it to window mode.

 

Some users over at the FF board are supposedly petitioning Nvidia to put a profile in the driver for FF so hopefully they listen.

[104th_Crunch]

Great Slayer, thanks for all the info. Downloading FF now.

[happyslayeruk]

Slayer you beat me to it was about to post exactly the same thing, I had a bit of trouble till I saw the rename fix on the FF forum.

[104th_Crunch]

The renaming of the exe to FalconAF.exe works! Running at 1900x1200 with 16X AA and it looks pretty good. FC2 Quality? No, but better than Falcon 1999. I think I will actually get into Falcon again after all these years.