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DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

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Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#41

Post by snerbles »

ixp_ninja wrote: post #38
snerbles wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USAF veteran here. I grew up on F-15 Strike Eagle II, and unfortunately my copy has long since degraded. I am elated to see this project. I do have one teeny, tiny, personal pedantic grumble that is sure to bring other the branches out of the woodwork to point out how much I love chairs. Air Force. Two words. Thanks.

Fixed (might need a Shift-Ctrl-R reload). Apologies, English is not my first language.

No worries, in some languages it is indeed one word - like Luftwaffe.

I've seen many native English speakers routinely bang out "airforce", so it's not just an ESL thing.

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#42

Post by tecleandor »

sourcegrift wrote: post #12
imrehg wrote: post #8

Oh, this was one that I played a lot as a kid! (Alongside F-19 Stealth Fighter, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter - the two that apparently came before and after this game - TIL, and to a lesser extent F-14 Tomcat) I think, this needs the original game files to run, if I read things correctly. So probably just gonna read the dev journals, rather than fly this particular bird again...

Aren't these names trademarked? I can imagine lockheed selling the rights for a side income lol

The F-19 denomination was never used, they skipped from F-18 to F-20. The game was based on what they believed that the stealth fighter (F-117) was going to be before it was publicly acknowledged. So maybe it wasn't trademarked. (Or maybe they trademarked everything just in case...)

Vaguely similar to the F-29 Retaliator game, that was based in the X-29 experimental fighter, but not in an existing F-29 of any kind.

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#43

Post by tecleandor »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #16

If it's the game I'm thinking of, floppy copies were going around my middle school in France at the time but this was a game that without the manual, good luck even getting the plane off the ground. I seem to recall a mode where you started out in the air. Fun times.

That happened to me, at least, with F-29 Retaliator. Your best bet was starting a mission already in the air, as the game (IIRC) didn't include any tutorials.

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#44

Post by raddan »

imrehg wrote: post #8

Oh, this was one that I played a lot as a kid! (Alongside F-19 Stealth Fighter, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter - the two that apparently came before and after this game - TIL, and to a lesser extent F-14 Tomcat) I think, this needs the original game files to run, if I read things correctly. So probably just gonna read the dev journals, rather than fly this particular bird again...

F-19 is a great game and one of my favorite Sid Meier titles ever. I remember buying it from Electronics Boutique in the late 1980s and playing it on our Packard Bell 286. The game's copy protection mechanism required you to look up aircraft in the manual and identify them. The consequence was that I memorized the entire set of aircraft in the game. I even bought a Gravis Analog joystick to play the game and I still have the keyboard overlay.

I would love a modern reboot of this game...

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#45

Post by raddan »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #16

If it's the game I'm thinking of, floppy copies were going around my middle school in France at the time but this was a game that without the manual, good luck even getting the plane off the ground. I seem to recall a mode where you started out in the air. Fun times.

You definitely needed the manual. But an 8-year old version of me mastered the game so it couldn't have been that hard.

FWIW, the manual is a masterpiece. I really miss all the ancillaries that came with early computer games.

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#49

Post by EdwardDiego »

raddan wrote: post #44
imrehg wrote: post #8

Oh, this was one that I played a lot as a kid! (Alongside F-19 Stealth Fighter, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter - the two that apparently came before and after this game - TIL, and to a lesser extent F-14 Tomcat) I think, this needs the original game files to run, if I read things correctly. So probably just gonna read the dev journals, rather than fly this particular bird again...

F-19 is a great game and one of my favorite Sid Meier titles ever. I remember buying it from Electronics Boutique in the late 1980s and playing it on our Packard Bell 286. The game's copy protection mechanism required you to look up aircraft in the manual and identify them. The consequence was that I memorized the entire set of aircraft in the game. I even bought a Gravis Analog joystick to play the game and I still…

I can still remember the intro music for F-19 as played through the built-in PC speaker, the harsh tinniness just made it more of a banger.

And yep, that copy protection is why I can tell my Floggers from my Backfires at the limits of FLIR range lol.

Re: DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

#50

Post by EdwardDiego »

imrehg wrote: post #8

Oh, this was one that I played a lot as a kid! (Alongside F-19 Stealth Fighter, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter - the two that apparently came before and after this game - TIL, and to a lesser extent F-14 Tomcat) I think, this needs the original game files to run, if I read things correctly. So probably just gonna read the dev journals, rather than fly this particular bird again...

Was this the one that you could play co-op with a friend in a front seat / back seat role? Or was it III? I spent so long ringing my friend on the landline to help set up his modem configuration,then having him dial in again, starting the game, him disconnecting again, me ringing him to see what had happened that time etc. etc. When we finally got it working, we played it so incessantly that his Mum banned him from playing it over the modem as we were tying up the sole phone line for hours.

I would love to find similar multiplayer in other flight sims, or space sims. I also really want to get this game working again and see if I can nostalgia bait my friend.

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