An even earlier version 1.4 from 1992 was also given on a Greek magazine cover disk, in case it is of any interest.

Thanks for the info! Do you know the licensing terms? I got the impression that everything below v1.20 was not officially freeware, and the previous version patches that are available are for the owners of the commercial release -- unlike some other primarily online games with free clients.

Curiously the site I linked to above does not mention v1.14 at all. I wonder what's with these odd releases? If Kesmai did not approve of the v1.17, why did that version end up on coverdisks for half a dozen PC Gamer issues (if not more)? Was it a leak to the GEnie service that the latter gave to PC Gamer editorial without Kesmai's consent?

MrFlibble wrote on 2021-07-07, 16:38:

Thanks for the info! Do you know the licensing terms? I got the impression that everything below v1.20 was not officially freeware, and the previous version patches that are available are for the owners of the commercial release -- unlike some other primarily online games with free clients.

Curiously the site I linked to above does not mention v1.14 at all. I wonder what's with these odd releases? If Kesmai did not approve of the v1.17, why did that version end up on coverdisks for half a dozen PC Gamer issues (if not more)? Was it a leak to the GEnie service that the latter gave to PC Gamer editorial without Kesmai's consent?

You are probably right, I checked the readme and it doesn't seem to be free. The version (1.4 and not 1.14) is written in both the main screen and the readme, it looks like EGA too

konc wrote on 2021-07-08, 06:36:

You are probably right, I checked the readme and it doesn't seem to be free. The version (1.4 and not 1.14) is written in both the main screen and the readme, it looks like EGA too

Hmm, it seems that they might have switched to different version numbering at some point (for SVGA releases perhaps), because SVGA 1.1x are definitely later - a patch for SVGA v1.13 that I found at the cactus.org mirror is from December 1993 for example. Version 1.20 appears to be the latest in the original DOS SVGA line, but there was an updated DOS version 1.5, for which there is a CD ISO at archive.org, apparently, but again this version is not freeware.

As far as I understand, the "Classic" line continued its existence as a Windows programme, versions 2.xx, with the client available as a free download from the official site. I haven't found this version either but some coverdisks appear to have an installer, albeit not the one that is linked to at the site.

What makes me wonder is that Air Warrior was evidently a very popular multiplayer game back then, and the latest free DOS version seemingly includes a good chunk of offline content plus the ability to play H2H even if the servers are now down. But I have yet to find a free game site from back in the 90s to early-mid 2000s that would mention this game. Maybe poke around at archived copies of multiplayer service sites? I remember one which had intact clients for some games, including Descent and Castles II (actually Windows-based, while the game itself is DOS only IIRC) which I could download. But of course there's no guarantee Air Warrior was supported there too.

I have a .ZIP archive with Version 1.20 and all of the art and extra stuff. It is 11.1 MB and is named AirwarDos.zip. I downloaded it circa June 2006.

If you can't find this archive, we can find some way to get you a copy.

akula65 wrote on 2021-07-08, 15:28:

If you can't find this archive, we can find some way to get you a copy.

I just Googled AirwarDos.zip but to no avail; from what I gathered this version was/is freeware (otherwise I'd not be asking for it), so if it's no trouble to you to upload your archive somewhere that would be really wonderful.

akula65 very kindly sent the file to me (thanks a lot!!!). The only piece of licensing information that I have found so far is in the electronic user manual that is included with the game (AWDELPHI.TXT):

Microprocessor Software License Agreement This software is Copyright 1995 by The Kesmai Corporation. Kesmai Corporation […]
Show full quote

Microprocessor Software License Agreement

This software is Copyright 1995 by The Kesmai Corporation. Kesmai Corporation
hereby grants you the right to use this software freely on your machine as a
stand alone program or in combination with a Kesmai-licensed host program.
This license becomes invalid if you modify the software in any way and Kesmai
Corp. has the right to deny access to the host product to any user who has
modified the microprocessor software or who has otherwise violated this
license. This license applies to Air Warrior software produced by Kesmai Corp.
Air Warrior software written by other developers under license from Kesmai
Corp. may have additional or different licensing restrictions.

Considering that the software is essentially a free client programme for a paid subscription multiplayer game, theoretically there should be no restrictions to distributing it in unmodified form.

I also did some further digging, but most Air Warrior pages that I found linked to downloads via FTP, which are not preserved by the Wayback Machine. However, this Australian page suggested that AW files were available from ftp.clara.net - a place that I know from before to have an HTTP mirror with some files preserved. And indeed it turns out to have the original (I guess) art118.exe, while akula65's zip includes art in unpacked form already:
http://ftp.clara.net:80/pub/games/airwar/index.html

The Australian page I mentioned also explains that the version 1.17 was apparently an accidental leak of a developmental version to become v1.20, and was unsupported by servers due to instability.

Apparently there's also a beta version 1.18, which can be found on this coverdisk:
https://archive.org/details/mbcd9495

Based on available evidence and acting in good faith, I conclude that the Air Warrior DOS client v 1.20 may be freely distributed in unmodified form, and have uploaded the file here: aw120.exe

The Wayback Machine link to the art add-on in its original state is in my previous post. Some additional files can be found here (but these look mostly like individual art which is found in the add-on already):
https://www.gamers.org/pub/archives/cactus/hi … rograms/airwar/

konc wrote on 2021-07-08, 06:36:

You are probably right, I checked the readme and it doesn't seem to be free. The version (1.4 and not 1.14) is written in both the main screen and the readme, it looks like EGA too

I actually found the same version here: airwar.zip

It seems that in addition to the boxed copies, limited downloadable versions were available prior to the 1.18 beta and 1.20 releases, including the 1.16b "Multiplayer-only" demo/client that I found at ftp.funet.fi (see above).

Also this CD apparently contains v1.1 (also pre-SVGA).