I've been a Red Baron fan for years. Played the heck out of it, and always was my favorite Dynamix flight simulator. Unfortunately 2 particular things always annoyed me. First is how weak Joystick support actually was, with no option for calibrating with dead zone settings and being buggy as hell, even worse when the expansion introduced support for rudders. Second annoyance was how the speed sensitve nature of the engine. The game is too slugish too enjoy on even the fast 386 amd can be too fast on a medium speed 486.

While the second can be somehow mitigated with slow down utilities and such, recently i went looking for fan patches for Red Baron. Holy hell. Why didn't i search for this before? I found this old web page that seems to have survived all these years:

http://www.themaverick.us/home/rbfiles.html

In there you'll find the most amazing collection of patches and enhancements for Red Baron.

=== INTRODUCTION === […]
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=== INTRODUCTION ===

The XBaron package consists of a patch and support programs for use with
Dynamix' Red Baron w/Mission Builder. XBaron provides several extensions
which will improve and enhance the performance of Red Baron, especially on
486/33 and faster computers.

The major features of XBaron are:

1. A Frame Rate Limiter in the simulation that limits maximum frame
rate to a value that allows Red Baron to run at optimum performance.

2. A Frame Rate Limiter in the VCR that regulates playback time so
it is the same as the record time.

3. Additional keyboard functions available in the VCR for adjusting
tape speed during playback.

4. Improved joystick routines with provision for adjustable response
curves and adjustable dead zone settings.

5. Additional joystick button functions as well as the capability to
reassign individual functions to any available button.

6. Built-in support for the Thrustmaster FCS/PFCS hat switch for
controlling cockpit views.

7. Built-in support for proportional analog throttle to replace the
'ratchet' analog throttle that RB provides.

8. Optional support for proportional analog rudder to replace the
'off-on' analog rudder that RB provides.

9. Optional support for a partial rudder-aileron linkage that adds
a little roll whenever the pedals are depressed.

Not only this but a configuration tool called XBSETUP will allow you to calibrate your joystick. Not only point 1 and 2 are absolutely awesome because everyone can now enjoy the game without worrying about machine speed completely screwing the game i also love the joystick enhancements. Point 8 and 9 are awesome, add realism and make Red Baron an absolutely JOY (pun intended) to fly! Really it is that amazing how this patch improves the game.

There are other packages like realism flight models for the different airplanes, aces, historical accuracy stuff and much more. Forget about the GoG version, i'm running the CD "Aces Collection Series" version with this patch and i can never go back.

This is so good i wish these enhancements existed for the other Dynamix games like Aces of the Pacific and Aces over Europe. Heck i would even throw A-10 in there. A good exercise would be perhaps check the RB file before and after the patch, disassemble them and compare side by side. Maybe its possible to at least implement the frame rate for AOTP and AOE for maximum enjoyment. I searched the internet for similar patches for those games but unfortunately there is none.