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First post, by buckeye

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Title says it all. Never played one of these before so hoping there's one out there with decent graphics and a reasonable learning curve. Something along the lines of Star Wars Rogue Squadron would work well for me.

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Reply 1 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Jane's World War II Fighters.
Crimson Skies.
Secret Weapons Over Normandy.
IL-2 Sturmovik.
Jane's Attack Squadron.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 2 of 48, by clueless1

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I think IL-2 Sturmovik series might be too hardcore, at least for me it was. But it gets great reviews for realism, if that's what you're after.

I've heard good things about the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator series, but never tried it myself. Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe was released in 2002, so it should work great on XP.

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Reply 3 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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clueless1 wrote:

I think IL-2 Sturmovik series might be too hardcore, at least for me it was.

Same here. If the OP just needs exciting dogfight without the 'World War II' part, Jane's Fighters Anthology never really gets old.

ySnG5Bn.jpg

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 4 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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In any case, Jane's World War II Fighters is beautiful, and easy to get into, unlike the frustratingly realistic IL-2 Sturmovik.

kDhEKjM.jpg

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 5 of 48, by Jade Falcon

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Wings of prey.

You'll want to enable all the realism settings.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtOPm6xQ8k

Last edited by Jade Falcon on 2017-09-15, 16:38. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Jade Falcon wrote:

Wings of prey.

Your want to enable all the realism settings.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtOPm6xQ8k

Wait, you mean toning down all realism? It is IL-2 Sturmovik, you know.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 7 of 48, by Jade Falcon

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
Jade Falcon wrote:

Wings of prey.

Your want to enable all the realism settings.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtOPm6xQ8k

Wait, you mean toning down all realism? It is IL-2 Sturmovik, you know.

No turning it all on. By default all the realism setting are off. With it on the game is very hard core and a lot funner. Even have to manage G-force. Take a hard turn at might speeds and you might brake off a wing or blackout.

And yes its a IL-2 Sturmovik game, but a much newer one based more around dog fighting.

Reply 8 of 48, by SiliconClassics

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This might be a little too realistic but there's also Fighter Squadron: The Screamin' Demons Over Europe from Activision. It's a more obscure WWII sim crafted by Eric Parker of Hellcats / A-10 fame, which means it has a really solid physics engine. It should be possible to turn down the realism to make it easier to jump into.

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Reply 9 of 48, by KT7AGuy

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All PC flight sims have their quirks. All of them also have unofficial community fan updates/mods that greatly improve and expand their features. Some of them are now obscure and difficult to find. It's probably best to decide on one and then ask specifically what you need to do to get it running at its best.

For WW2 flight sims I recommend in order of preference with common concerns:

European Air War
(Works best with NVIDIA FX series or older graphics cards.)

Jane's WW2 Fighters
(No dynamic campaign.)

B17 II - The Mighty Eighth
(A bit obscure nowadays. May have a bit of a learning curve.)

IL-2 Sturmovik
(No dynamic campaign, but unofficial options exist.)
(High learning curve at max realism, but it can be turned down.)

Crimson Skies
(Not realistic at all, but still fun.)

Airfix Dogfighter
(Maybe too silly for you to consider.)

Rowan's Battle of Britain and/or Battle of Britain II
(Ridiculously high levels of realism and stratospheric learning curve.)

Honorable mentions:

1942: The Pacific Air War
(Steam has it, but I'm waiting for a GOG release.)

Red Baron II 3D
(WW1 sim.)
(Hard to choose which of the many excellent unofficial mods to run. They're all great!)
(I recommend Full Canvas Jacket. An oldie, but still a goody!)

Rowan's MiG Alley
(Korean War sim.)
(Very obscure nowadays. Unofficial update may be hard to find.)
(Dynamic campaign can be glitchy, but it's fantastic.)

For a really obscure retro flight sim experience:

Rowan's Air Power.
(Totally ridiculous concept.)
(Totally ridiculous aircraft.)
(Totally fun!)
(Fantastic dynamic campaign with strategy elements.)
(Graphics look like crap unless you can get SVGA mode working.)
(Think of it as a predecessor to Crimson Skies.)
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Reply 10 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Hey, Airfix Dogfighter is a good one. Too bad the missions are too few.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 11 of 48, by Jade Falcon

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Hey, Airfix Dogfighter is a good one. Too bad the missions are too few.

What a interesting looking game, I'll have to give it a try.

Reply 12 of 48, by BSA Starfire

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I highly recommend iL2 Sturmovik, it's a classic and I still play it regularly to this day.

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Reply 13 of 48, by Procyon

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buckeye wrote:

Title says it all. Never played one of these before so hoping there's one out there with decent graphics and a reasonable learning curve. Something along the lines of Star Wars Rogue Squadron would work well for me.

Along the lines of Rogue Squadron? Look no further than Secret Weapons over Normandy, also by LucasArts and probably made by the same people.
Other games like that are the two Blazing Angels games and City Interactive still makes these kind of arcade shooters like Battle of Britain and Dogfight 1942.
And I just remember on Steam they sell the Air Conflict games which are also like these.

Reply 14 of 48, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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BSA Starfire wrote:

I highly recommend iL2 Sturmovik, it's a classic and I still play it regularly to this day.

With all realism turned on?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 15 of 48, by buckeye

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Resurrecting this post. Can anybody tell me how Jane's WWII Fighters runs on an XP system like mine? See my sig for specs, tried it on my stronger W98 sys but it was kind of buggy with the mouse not being able to select any thing in the options screens. Probably has something to do with my V2 SLI I don't know, perhaps a patch might fix?

So far tried European Air War and it too gave me glide problems so might try it on XP also. Crimson Skies runs w/o a hitch and is fun, just the type I was looking for.

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Reply 16 of 48, by Errius

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IL-2 is a lot of fun, but novices need to stay out of the single engine fighters. First of all learn to fly the Bf-110 or Stuka, or of course, the Sturmovik itself. They're stable, easy to control and rarely get you into trouble. Only after you've learned your way around these should you try the fighters. Jumping straight into a Bf-109 or Fw-190 will just get you killed again and again which is no fun.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 17 of 48, by KT7AGuy

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buckeye,

European Air War is happiest on a Win9x system. It and Red Baron 3D are the primary reasons I keep my old Win98SE systems going. While you can get it to run under XP with unofficial patches, nothing is guaranteed. Also, it uses 8-bit palletized textures and fog table, so you don't want to use a video card newer than a GeForce FX. It runs perfectly on my Voodoo 1, 2, 3, and 5 cards and also my GF4 Ti4600s, all under Win98SE.

Also note that European Air War has problems running in GLIDE in SLI mode. Disable your SLI mode and it should run OK.

Janes WW2 Fighters was always a bit flaky to me, but it works well enough. I never tried running it under WinXP, but I assume it should work OK.

Ages ago, a community effort compiled a "Base Mods CD" of all the various add-ons, patches, mods, etc, for WW2 Fighters. I can't find it online anymore, but I still have a copy of it. If you want it and are unable to find a download of it anywhere, let me know and I'll upload it somewhere so you can get it. Also, there's a thread here about running the game on modern systems:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4114774

Reply 18 of 48, by Qjimbo

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Hope this isn't considered a thread hijack, but going with the WW2 theme, can anyone recommend any good steampunk games as well from the same era? I have a feeling there were a few around I missed out on at the time.

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Reply 19 of 48, by buckeye

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KT7AGuy wrote:
buckeye, […]
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buckeye,

European Air War is happiest on a Win9x system. It and Red Baron 3D are the primary reasons I keep my old Win98SE systems going. While you can get it to run under XP with unofficial patches, nothing is guaranteed. Also, it uses 8-bit palletized textures and fog table, so you don't want to use a video card newer than a GeForce FX. It runs perfectly on my Voodoo 1, 2, 3, and 5 cards and also my GF4 Ti4600s, all under Win98SE.

Also note that European Air War has problems running in GLIDE in SLI mode. Disable your SLI mode and it should run OK.

Janes WW2 Fighters was always a bit flaky to me, but it works well enough. I never tried running it under WinXP, but I assume it should work OK.

Ages ago, a community effort compiled a "Base Mods CD" of all the various add-ons, patches, mods, etc, for WW2 Fighters. I can't find it online anymore, but I still have a copy of it. If you want it and are unable to find a download of it anywhere, let me know and I'll upload it somewhere so you can get it. Also, there's a thread here about running the game on modern systems:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4114774

Thanks KT7aGuy! I was under the impression that V2 SLI was solid with pretty much all period correct games but guess that's not the case. Everything seems to run OK with my GF3 so may have to be content with that.

If I get time this weekend I'll try WW2 Fighters on XP and post the results. I'll look into the Base Mods CD, may still be lurking somewheres.

Thanks all for the input!

Asus P5N-E Intel Core 2 Duo 3.33ghz. 4GB DDR2 Geforce 470 1GB SB X-Fi Titanium 650W XP SP3
Intel SE440BX P3 450 256MB 80GB SSD Radeon 7200 64mb SB 32pnp 350W 98SE
MSI x570 Gaming Pro Carbon Ryzen 3700x 32GB DDR4 Zotac RTX 3070 8GB WD Black 1TB 850W