Try patch 1.14.

I knew I forgot to mention something.

I tried that patch yesterday, and it gives me an error ept0036... complaining about the old file not being found, finding one that has the same name, and then not updating because of the contents not matching.

All this on the file 1.LIB, if I recall.

That's unfortunate. Might the 1.03f patch be buried deep somewhere on the NATO Fighters disc?

Does your NATO disc have non-English writing on it? (I noticed that your disc was made in Europe and its text is in English. I wouldn't expect a British version to be different from the American version, but maybe you've discovered there was a unique British version that did not receive patches.)

Are you trying to mix DOS and Windows versions of ATF and NATO Fighters? (If the NATO Fighters disc has "GOLD" on it, then it's definitely for Windows.)

I did some more Google searching and only found more mirrors of that 1.14 patch.
EA FTP mirror at archive.org
Jane's ATF at archive.org
The Fighters Anthology Resource Center

Mixing Windows and DOS? Nope. Both games install through DOSBox without issue and run in it just fine. And as far as languages go, the disc and small manual in the jewel case for ATF are both completely in English.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175285033072?hash=it … YEAAOSwpcRiZwIF

That's a copy of ATF that I have. No Gold written anywhere, and most of the exe/bat files on the disc won't install/run outside of DOSBox because of them not being able to run on Windows 10. It also says ATFOEMBBC for the title when it's in the disc drive.

That's what my version of ATF NATO Fighters looks like. It also installs the DOS version and won't run outside of DOSBox for the same reason as above, and the title for the disc has 1.00f as part of the title when it's in the disc drive.

As for what's on the discs, ATF NATO Fighters doesn't have all that much. A trio of folders for various flight sticks, a read me that mentions nothing about a patch 1.03f, and the usual DOS files to be installed. For regular ATF, there are all sorts of folders for flight sticks, a Gateway folder that brings up the logo for EA's CD-Rom Classics menu (it has the only game-related files that run in Windows, and it makes me think that this is basically a repackaging of that version), folders for Adobe Acrobat (DOS and Windows) and the thick original manual in PDF form. Outside of that, it's the usual files to install the game in DOS.

I'm guessing this is a UK version based off of the disc title that comes up when it's in the drive. But the fact that someone was able to make an ISO of the 1.03f version means it's out there, or that a patch exists... somewhere. Add in that there are at least five versions of this game, and it's getting a bit stupid when it comes to finding the version ATF NATO Fighters wants. I just hope someone will be able to tell me which of the versions I posted is the need 1.03f version so I can grab a copy of it.

That said, thanks for helping to poke around with this thus far, STX.

I admit that I misread your first post. You wrote that you own ATF disc version 3, which was made in the USA. BBC in your disc's label ATFOEMBBC may stand for Best Buy Co., which sold PCs and PC games in the USA in 1999.

It's odd that your disc doesn't contain the fully patched DOS version of ATF because the 1.14 patch was available in 1997, and your disc has a 1999 copyright date. I have a hypothesis: In 1999, somebody at EA screwed up Best Buy's order for a pile of bargain bin titles by sending files for a pre-production version of ATF to the CD presser. If my hypothesis is true, then congratulations! You own a rare copy of ATF 1.00f that no customer was originally intended to get (which would explain why the ATF 1.14 patch doesn't work for you and there is no ATF 1.03f patch).

You are not the only person who has been unable to find a 1.03f patch for their ATF version 1.00f: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/196546-atf-a … pgrade-to-v103f
That other person got ATF version 1.00f bundled with a CH joystick and also couldn't install NATO Fighters on top of it.

I've attached English, French and German NATO Fighters Cyrix CPU patches to this post. Tantalizingly, the German NATO Fighters patch is called "Patch 1.03F". If I were you, I would try the attached English NATO Fighters 1.01F patch on your ATF v1.00f installation, but I doubt that it will work because the patch instructions do not address a problem with the installation of NATO Fighters. It's worth a try though.

Thanks for sticking around with this STX.

Well, I gave it a try, and the Cyrix patches won't install. Much like with the 1.14 patch, these Cyrix patches can't find the old file, finds one with the same name, then doesn't update because of the mismatch. But where the 1.14 patch was trying with the file 1.LIB, the patches you posted are trying with the file AF.EXE (yep, I tried all three).

This is ridiculous. An apparently unpatched game that can't be patched or have it's expansion installed because of an unupdated set of files that don't have a patch to update them.

Looks like I'll have to keep poking around and hoping that someone with one of the other disc versions shows up. I can't be the only owner of ATF on this site... I hope *lol*

Yeah, I'm sorry that we couldn't find a working patch. Maybe there's some music in the ATF Digital Music Update that will ease our sorrow.
https://archive.org/download/ATFDIG/ATF_DIG.EXE

I remember this issue: Trouble with installing NATO fighters over a certain ATF (DOS) base version. For that reason I bought the big box, which is a match with your version 4 CD image, as it has the letters "KA" on the top right. It has the volume label "ATF_1_03F", This big box edition allowed me to combine it with NATO fighters.

When I run "AF.EXE /N" it says the following while still in the DOS text mode:
"ADVANCED TACTICAL FIGHTERS (NATO FIGHTERS), v1.00F Release

In the Readme.txt it says: "All items in the ATF_114.EXE Patch are also included in NATO Fighters."

There was also a NATO Fighters patch v1.01F specifically for Cyrix 6x86 systems, as STX already wrote. But I am not using that by default.

This is the listing of a normal (midi music) installation from the "ATF_1_03F" CD, prior to merging NATO:

1ATF.BAT      28-01-1996  12:17         346 
2AF.EXE       01-03-1996  19:21   1.307.792 
3AF.SYM       01-03-1996  19:21      56.592 
4
5READ.ME      29-02-1996  20:49      28.487 
6BRIEFING.TXT 25-02-1996  19:59       8.452 
7CHAT.TXT     19-02-1996  17:58         591 
8EXAMPLE.MT   22-02-1996  10:22       1.152 
9
101.LIB        01-03-1996  19:27  11.019.290 
112.LIB        01-03-1996  19:40  16.607.982 
12
1340.2D        01-03-1996  19:14       8.704 
1441.2D        01-03-1996  19:14       8.704 
1542.2D        01-03-1996  19:14       8.704 
1643.2D        01-03-1996  19:14       8.704 
1744.2D        01-03-1996  19:15       8.704 
185.2D         01-03-1996  19:14      12.800 
1950.2D        01-03-1996  19:15      12.800 
2051.2D        01-03-1996  19:15      12.800 
2170.2D        01-03-1996  19:15      12.800 
2290.2D        01-03-1996  19:15      16.896 
23
24EGY.T2       01-03-1996  19:16     132.637 
25FRA.T2       01-03-1996  19:16     132.637 
26VLA.T2       01-03-1996  19:16     132.637 
27
28IREAL.XXX    01-03-1996  19:13          95 
29MREAL.XXX    01-03-1996  19:17          81 
30SREAL.XXX    01-03-1996  19:13       1.552 
31TIMEINT.XXX  01-03-1996  19:21          52 
32VREAL.XXX    01-03-1996  19:17         382 
33
34MODEM.DAT    26-02-1996  13:56       3.516 
35MODEMDB.TXT  29-02-1996  21:10       5.076 
36
3729 files       29.550.965 bytes

AH HAAAAAAH! So it's the lighter "sky blue" disc that comes in the big mostly-black box. I had a hunch that was the one, especially when I found a German ISO of ATF earlier this evening that was also listed as 1.00f when installed (which made me doubt version #1 was the needed disc). Good to know.

Thanks for working with me to try and figure this out, STX, and a big BIG thanks to you gerwin for solving this issue for me. Now I'm off to find myself the needed copy. Hopefully this thread will be of use to anyone else who finds themselves in the spot I was in.

TheCoop wrote on 2022-07-28, 03:27:

So it's the lighter "sky blue" disc that comes in the big mostly-black box.

That is the one. Attached is a picture that matches the box that I have, with the golden sticker on the left and again a "KA" logo on the bottom left. It comes with the spiral binder manual.

TheCoop wrote on 2022-07-28, 03:27:

Thanks for working with me to try and figure this out, STX, and a big BIG thanks to you gerwin for solving this issue for me. Now I'm off to find myself the needed copy. Hopefully this thread will be of use to anyone else who finds themselves in the spot I was in.

Glad I could help.

I posted the file list earlier, to determine the feasibility of making an unofficial v1.00 to v1.03 patch. Which would be easy in case just a few small files are involved. But since so few people care about this, it may not be worth the effort... Also, I now read in your initial post that you found the ATF v1.03 files already, but that you are trying to obtain a v1.03 physical copy regardless.

gerwin wrote on 2022-07-28, 15:36:

Glad I could help.

I posted the file list earlier, to determine the feasibility of making an unofficial v1.00 to v1.03 patch. Which would be easy in case just a few small files are involved. But since so few people care about this, it may not be worth the effort... Also, I now read in your initial post that you found the ATF v1.03 files already, but that you are trying to obtain a v1.03 physical copy regardless.

I don't know. An unofficial patch to make the 1.00f versions into 1.03f would be handy. There are really only a few copies of the 1.03f version on ebay (I think six), and someone might run into an issue where none are available. Plus, if they've already bought the CD-Rom Classics version or the jewel case version (like I did), they might not want to buy another copy. So if they search and find this thread, it would be helpful. Folks here have made patches to fix things like this in the past for other games, so I don't think the effort would be wasted 😀

On the technical side, we can't patch any files that are read from the CD at runtime. We would need to determine if there is a difference between the ATF 1.00f CD-stored files that are used at runtime and their ATF 1.03f counterparts. If there is a difference, then creating an unofficial patch wouldn't be worth the effort.