Getting my butt kicked in vanilla Falcon 4.0 (Win 10)

The quality is very poor I know.
I've recorded the video @ 800x600 but youtube brings it down to closest res it supports - 480p. The original video isn't as blurry as this. Maybe I will try to play with Shadowplay settings and record it in higher resolution (although if I try to record @ 1080p the aspect will be wrong - the screen will be stretched) or @ 640x480 so at least there will be no downscalling on youtube's part and the picture will be clearer and more readable.
Anywho, this is GOG version of Falcon 4.0 running on Windows 10 64-bit with the help of Nglide (glide emulator by Zues) which you can download from here:
www.zeus-softwa...
Note that this release worked out of the box (Direct3D renderer) on my Windows 7 64-bit laptop with Radeon 6850M GPU. The GPU is crucial part here though, while game works on my Nvidia GPU in Direct3D mode, it have trouble with displaying readable text (HUD, radio menu, etc.) hence the help of glide emulator.
There are still random crashes, but that's normal as this was the case when the game was originally released and even when patched with 1.08 official patch.

[@damsonn]

New Falcon 4.0 video with HD quality uploaded here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r37Qkp1jqpWAq9E

[@spearPYN]

This might be the best flight sim out there.. not too complicated like BMS or DCS, but still it is a simulation. Perfect balance of playability and realism. And I still like to play it on the CRT monitor, love that phosphor glow.

[@Netbug]

"Too complicated" is subjective but I know what you mean. It's nice to have options. My go-to when I want to relax is F-22 TAW; it has some avionics to play with, a clickable cockpit, and dynamic campaigns... and it's rock solid stability-wise on modern systems.

[@captaincurd2681]

It is the same as BMS. Don't let the graphics fool you. DCS is nowhere complicated as all the falcons.

[@limatwofive8951]

Omg vanilla falcon4.. I really really feel old now. Thanks for that :D

[@damsonn]

Check the link in the pinned comment. There is full intro, some cinematics from campaign and entire mission from take off to landing in better quality than this vid.

[@limatwofive8951]

@@damsonn I started with Falcon back on the Atari ST and stayed with it all the way to today's Falcon4 BMS. Still the best F-16 sim imo. Thanks for this vid, man

[@damsonn]

@@limatwofive8951 I also played the first one but on Amiga 500. Then Falcon 3.0, 4, SP+BMS mods, Allied Force and now BMS 4.x. It's long running series for sure ;)

[@gerodinis]

I first played Falcon back in late 2000. I was 11 y.o. at the time and never let go of it since then. Today I'm playing BMS 4.33. It's amazing how far the devoted community has brought this game (sim) and that's not an easy feat. The original always had issues with me until recently. It kept crashing randomly during missions or in the UI under Windows 98, XP and 7 (with their respective systems, from Pentium III to i5). Now I have it installed on a Kaby Lake i5 with Win10 x64 and also use some help from the nGlide wrapper for graphics, so it runs on Glide. Now it's running rock solid for the first time. And it's just the 1.08i2 version! Amazing, isn't it?

[@ForestKicks]

God that music brings back memories. Such a memorable soundtrack.

[@Perich29]

The music is amazing

[@lupahole]

Oh wow... i've forgotten those days... no threat rings on the HSD and no on-time RWR warning...heh, was hell. I also remember being unable to outrun adders no matter how far out i started pumping.

[@damsonn]

The biggest shortcoming is the lack of radar type recognition by the RWR for air threats, it can only tell if its advanced or regular emitter. So you can't really tell if there is enemy MiG-29 or friendly F-16 nearby painting you. For the missile warnings - they were there - for radar homing missiles, for IR seekers you have to rely on your wingman spotting them or your own eyes ;)

[@Myterriers]

This was my first flight sim. When I bought it my PC specs were so bad it ran like a slide show. Later with a PC upgrade I got it running. I still have the original CD and the huge flight manual. I'm now flying the A-10C Warthog in DCS.

[@nyiceone2075]

i remember loving this game..and yes that manual was so thick lol. i used to love the dog fight just to see the skin color of team. it was pretty advanced for it time...so i only played in simple mode. now trying to get into dcs which is much harder regret not reading that manual lol.

[@Perich29]

I've played that before, flying around South Korea, Modern Falcon, its more relistic than Jet Fighter 2 that I've played on DOS. The music are amazing.

[@nomoreluke]

This would have been my favourite ever game if it weren't for the ridiculous number of bugs.

[@JonHuhnMedical]

I sucked at this sim sooooooo bad. All I ever heard was "Archer inbound" and then BANG!

[@danlippincott7833]

all you need now is BMS 4.33 Mod from Benchmark Sims

[@damsonn]

ekhm... this one? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ_MhWR8bpagZsk kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXjdfaKIZb6CeM0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/laCUe6CjbLJjobc kzbin.info/www/bejne/maPCXoJjl6qrjLs ☺

[@towedarray7217]

Whoa! Does your rig have the MMX & additional 25 commands for the math co-processor??

[@Tamburello_1994]

That " Alright, listen up" @1:22 is perfectly placed even though you prolly didn't intend for that, but it works.

[@gpgp01]

When I played this sim first time, I got rather strange feeling about the gloomy tone colors of it. I'm living in South Korea.:)

[@damsonn]

Yeah, this was fixed by the modders giving the more natural tone in subsequent SuperPak releases. Nevertheless I kinda like the original color tone. It gave the game its unique character.

[@pinfox4117]

it sucks I can't play the campaigns in this completely (usually crashes in the middle of it) but man, Falcon 4.0 got me into flight Sims even while it was buggy!

[@damsonn]

Yes, even one year after release the Falcon 4.0 was still a mess. The last official patch (1.08) while fixing a lot of bugs didn't cured all problems, especially annoying crashes during campaign. After Microprose demise, there was no one else to fix the code, so the community took the matters into their own hands. Edit: To be honest I've got one crash while attempting to record this ☺

[@pinfox4117]

+damsonn I just wish there was a patch for the original that just fixes most of the bugs, I dont mind Falcon BMS but I would love a fully fixed version of vanilla Falcon 4 where it doesn't crash. (same with Jane's F-15 but that would be asking for too much)

[@damsonn]

I feel the same. Despite having all the modded, prettied up versions of the cult classics I still like to fly the original releases just as they were when they first came out. Recently I finished both campaigns (Desert Storm and Iran) in Jane's F-15 on my old XP rig. And it was a blast!

[@Perich29]

Don't put drop fuel tank on your plane or you will pop.

[@tass9329]

lmfao, thats the one thing i hated about F4 your wingman tells you SAM launch as its hitting you!!!

[@runninggames771]

How does this game differ from falcon 4 allied force when both playing the korea campaign?

[@damsonn]

In Allied Force you have additional Korea 2005 campaign setting with more modern aircraft and weapons for both sides. For F-16 you actually can get AIM-9X with helmet mounted cueing system.

[@surject]

Wow, the music sounds much better than the original somehow.

[@damsonn]

But this is the original music.

[@berlinflight_tv]

I know I’m four years late, but I’ll reply anyway. 😀 With classic PC games, the quality of the music could very much depend on the sound card you had installed. So, if the system you played it on back then didn’t have a top-of-the line card, you probably heard a more basic arrangement of the music than you get on modern hardware.

[@surject]

@@berlinflight_tv Damn, 4 years... Anyway. Since the music is not FM Synth but digitized/Wave format on CD ...and I had a Sound Blaster AWE64 or Live! in 1998/1999 (aka 44kHz/16bit) ...and also good speakers - it's probably just my bad memory ;) I know there are huge differences between Soundblaster and Roland (MT-32) when it comes to Midi music ..like in Sierra games etc. or Stunt Island sounded much better on Disney's Sound Source ...but WAVE/CDDA etc.? Strange..

[@dejanstamenkovski2607]

Can anyone point me to the ramp-start take-off procedure in the Falcon 4.0 manual? I've looked through the entire document but couldn't find it. Back in 2001, when I first got the game, I didn't have the manual and struggled with take-off from the ramp. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@damsonn]

There is no ramp start procedure in vanilla Falcon 4.0 - you can either start from a "Taxi" position on on the "Runway". Ramp Start was added later by modding community. IIRC it was first introduced in SuperPak3 (or maybe even 4?).

[@dejanstamenkovski2607]

@@damsonn Thanks! With over 20 years gone by, my memory's a bit hazy. It's likely I shifted to Allied Force or one of its successors most likely Free Falcon. Your clarification is appreciated! By the way, are you familiar with the F-16 Aggressor by General Simulations? I noticed your impressive collection of retro flight sims on your channel 😃, but I couldn't seem to find that one.

[@damsonn]

@@dejanstamenkovski2607 Yeah, actually I have that one - it was rekeased as a cover CD in one of the gaiming magazines in my country long time ago. Though it's pretty problematic to get it to run properly on modern PC.

[@divinuminfernum]

is it possible to both install and play thisas well as having falcon BMS 4.34 installed?

[@damsonn]

Yes. In fact you need this to install and run BMS, but only as a check as BMS is basically a standalone install. You may even have several versions of BMS installed at the same time. Currently I have 4.33 and 4.34.

[@divinuminfernum]

@@damsonn oh thats cool, i got 4.33 a while ago but never had time to play it, and then i saw there was now 4.34 and so got that, though i uninstall 4.33 first thinking i had to (though admittedly i needed the space) - i havent touched 4.34 yet, but does it also have playable hornets and tornados too? what would be the best way to start as a beginner to the Falcon games - have played many of the old action sims of the 90s and more indepth ones like iF/a-18 but Falcon 4.0,AF/BMS look so complex, where does one start?

[@damsonn]

@@divinuminfernum Other planes are still modelled in BMS, but I still consider them reskinned Falcons. The best way to start is to read the documentation that comes with the sim and fly the training mission (while referencing the BMS-training manual) which will introduce you to fundamentals one by one (more or less). You may also search for tutorial videos on YT which are plenty. Here's a quick & dirty guide to Falcon 4.32: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4aWoaCOq9OWZs0 Bear in mind that many things have been added since then, like more complex comms, proper IFF, and few new weapon systems, so follow up reading still required.

[@toomuchlean]

Hey ppl I’ve bough the original falcon 4.0 from steam, i got a i7 win 10 64bit: do you think i can run it with no issues? I ask because i got to buy a joystick or an hotas but if there is no chance to run it properly i will not buy anything.

[@raymondyee2008]

Wished I could have gotten this from Steam but as this video shows the gameplay is unforgiving if you’re a rookie.

[@lucaswoods1155]

I have this game just started playing it does anyone know how to make it so when your looking around the aircraft from the cockpit view u can see your missiles on your wings I can only see the missiles when I’m viewing the aircraft from the outside

[@damsonn]

You need to increase the graphics detail in options.

[@lucaswoods1155]

damsonn thank so much man I’m huge into flight sims mainly DCS but I frequently go back to the classics are used to play a 10 Cuba from 94 and FA 18 Korean gold from 97 for some reason the classics always seem better to me it’s not all about looks do you know if the multiplayer server still work for the game I haven’t tried yet my computer is not with me I was actually looking for falcon 4.0 allied force but couldn’t find it on steam kinda disappointed but stumbled on this game and I’ve been playing it for a few days really into it

[@lucaswoods1155]

damsonn sorry not trying to be a nuisance I’m just new to the game and I would really like to play with someone and I need help troubleshooting something’s in game

[@damsonn]

A-10 Cuba and Hornet series from GraphSim - good games, played them as well. And you are right those old titles despite crude looks does have something that modern titles like DCS lacks. They were genuine games. Don't get me wrong I love DCS World, but to me it's very good sim with not much to do in terms of pure gameplay for single player. There are some campaigns on the way probably for latest modules and you have mission builder but in old days you just got single package with everything you need. I hope that the future will change that as Matt Wagner said they have huge plans for some kind of dynamic campaign (probably something like persistant MP server with a war going on? I'm not sure, not a big MP guy). I'm not sure about the multiplayer for original Falcon 4.0, there is active community for BMS 4.33 though. You should try it if you haven't. www.benchmarksims.org/forum/content.php Falcon 4 Allied Force did not got any digital release that I'm aware of. I bought myself boxed one on auction site few years ago. There are still many copies floating around ebay: www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=falcon+4+allied+force&_sacat=0

[@lucaswoods1155]

Thanks Man U wouldn’t also happen to know how to completely reset everything like for example when I play instant action it keeps my old profiles scores and I don’t want them I wanna reset them because when I first started I was just dicking around flying not really playing for keeps so now that I’ve actually started playing for real I only want those scores

[@Perich29]

Too bad you press Control E at 22:37

[@tommyzDad]

Does anyone know how to edit the config files so that the Thrustmaster Cougar works properly with 4.0? As it stands right now, not much is mapped as it should be.

[@damsonn]

Have you tried editing the controls in the SETUP -> CONTROLLERS window in game?

[@tommyzDad]

Yep. It was the first place I went to. But Setup will not allow me to change what is already in place. My Cougar shows up in the list of available controllers, but I can't change the binds for the stick and throttle, only the keyboard. Damn frustrating.

[@damsonn]

I just checked and it works fine for me. That's what I did: 1. I find the key function that I want to assign my button to, for example the "d - Dogfight Mode Override". 2. I click on the "d" with the mouse, the letter will change its color to blue. 3. I press the desired joystick button. 4. I confirm that the function was assigned correctly by pressing the button again and checking what function will show up. Hope that helps.

[@damsonn]

OK I reread your post - you have problems with the axes not buttons, sorry. In BMS and even in AF they added another window where you can assign specific axes for specific controls. But in vanilla there is no way to reconfigure your axes ingame. You could probably use external program. Some joystick have built-in hardware options to swap axes, like Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X which I own.

[@tommyzDad]

I completely forgot about the actual software for the Cougar, even after having messed with it to get the Cougar to work right in Falcon 4.3! Damn that HOTAS X is ugly. LOL.

[@mhn2da]

Hi, how can I install falcon 4 in windows 10 without the error 71?

[@damsonn]

This is the GOG version, it installs fine on Win 10.

[@greenbananas5385]

How'd you get it to work?????

[@damsonn]

If you have AMD GPU the game should run fine without any tweaks. With NVidia you probably will have some graphical problems. I used nglide for 3dfx emulation with a patch found here: www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide/compatibility scroll dow to find Falcon 4.0 entry and follow instuctions. Also make sure you install 1.08 patch if you use retail version, GOG version is already patched.

[@harrypotter9050]

i don't believe that there are still people waste their time on this.

[@damsonn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqarqKp_ZbaCeZY