Found old MS flight sim - single 720k 3.5" diskette

Found old MS flight sim - single 720k 3.5" diskette - 1987

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First post, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-05-18, 05:45

DaveDDS Offline

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I just found a long forgotten treasure in my basement.

I've always been a big fan of flight simulators, had prob a dozen or move over
the years, and have found the Microsodt ones pretty decent.. My faves were
things like "Combat flight simulator" and "Flight simulator PRO (2000 or 2002
I don't recall)

I happened to be looking for something else and stumbled agross
MS "Flight simulator program disk"
No version shown on the label and being a single 720k 3.5" diskette,
and remembering that it was the first FS Sim I bought, I was thinking
that it might be v1 -- but no, it says v3

Still ran fine on my P3 system... asks a bunch of questions, apparently
supports a number of classic display types (Mono, CGA, EGA, VGA and a bunch
of variations) - and supports XT (Fkeys on left), AT (Fkeys on top) and
Tandy keyboards.

I recall it as being fairly capable and decent, immediatly recognized the
screen in "demo" mode, all in <720k incl. docs and other stuff.

- Immagine some today saying they made a decent flight sim in under a
meg... how much laughter?

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Reply 1 of 5, by TheAbandonwareGuy

Posted on 2025-05-18, 09:11

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Hmm. Seems all the disks I can find online have a 1988 copyright date on the label, as 1988 was the initial release of MSFS v3.0.

Any chance the version you have is a vendor preview or something?

Also interestingly, REMOVED has this but its 2 360k disks. So yours could also be some sort of bootleg (or OEM distribution) that combines both onto a single disk.

Last edited by DosFreak on 2025-05-20, 20:53. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 2 of 5, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-05-18, 14:29

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I'm pretty sure it's a "genuine" Microsoft diskette, It has the standard
MS format label, and I'm pretty sure I bought it from a reliable source,
it's been years, but it would have been one Canadas well known comsumer
stores (from the time) that handled electronics/software.
- Like "Future Shop" or "Radio Shack"

That label does not mention a copyright date - it reads:

1Microsoft(c) Flight Simulator(r)
2---------------------------------------------
3For IBM(r) Personal Computers and Compatibles
4and for IBM Personal System/2(r) Series
5
6Program Disk
7
8
9---------------------------------------------
10                                 Microsoft(r)

All the files on the diskette are dated: 1988

The 1987 copyright date I mentioned comes from the title screen when
you run the software which begins with:

1    MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR
2           Version 3.00
3     For The IBM-PC and PS/2
4Copyright 1987  By Bruce A. Artwick
5 Produced by Microsoft Corporation

FWIW, here is a directory listing (cutdown by a tool I wrote to reduce size of
listings I wanted to post - starts with: yymmdd hhmmA/P)

1A:\
2880421 1132a     13 FS.BAT         880510 1211p     14 FS3.BAT
3880510 1214p    618 README
4A:\FLSIM
5880515 0333p   4306 ANALYSIS.APL   250518 0821a      6 AUTOEXEC.FS3
6880418 0844a     11 CF.FS3         880515 0334p  19026 CGA1.GRA
7880515 0335p  19458 CGA2.GRA       880513 0322p   3245 CONVERTS.EXE
8880515 0333p   5405 CROP.APL       880512 1155a    518 CROP.MOD
9880429 0317p    518 EFISDEMO.MOD   880515 0334p  18578 EGA1.GRA
10880515 0335p  18370 EGB1.GRA       880509 0205p 160768 F1
11880408 1123a   6680 F6             880408 1127a  12234 F6C
12880329 0413p    672 F6CSENS        880408 0121p  17500 F6H
13880324 0348p    672 F6HSENS        880405 0215p    672 F6MSENS
14880406 0329p    672 F6SENS         880513 0322p  16606 FOREIGN.FS3
15880515 0333p   1911 FORM.APL       880408 1008a   1334 FORM1.DEM
16880429 0317p    518 FORM1.MOD      880408 1008a   1633 FORM2.DEM
17880429 0317p    518 FORM2.MOD      880408 1008a   2036 FORM3.DEM
18880429 0317p    518 FORM3.MOD      880408 1008a   1088 FORM4.DEM
19880429 0317p    518 FORM4.MOD      880408 1008a   1610 FORM5.DEM
20880429 0317p    518 FORM5.MOD      880408 1008a    902 FORM6.DEM
21880429 0317p    518 FORM6.MOD      880408 1008a   1228 FORM7.DEM
22880429 0317p    518 FORM7.MOD      880414 0346p      8 FS.BAT
23880503 0103p  10881 FS3.DEM        880516 1143a  83285 FS3.EXE
24880515 0336p  19298 INCLR.GRA      880515 0331p    778 KB1.KBD
25880515 0331p    873 KB2.KBD        880515 0331p   1274 KB3.KBD
26880515 0334p   3615 LESSONS.APL    880509 0758a    518 MODE1.MOD
27880429 0317p    518 MODE2.MOD      880429 0317p    518 MODE4.MOD
28880515 0336p  19746 MONO.GRA       880515 0333p  10659 MULTI.APL
29880515 0335p  23650 PS21.GRA       880517 1108a  13201 README.DOC
30880515 0332p   6293 SIM1.SIM       880515 0332p   7113 SIM2.SIM
31880515 0332p   6453 SIM4.SIM       880513 0324p   1574 STR.FS3
32880515 0335p  21106 TGA1.GRA       880515 0332p   3690 WW1.APL
33880429 0317p    518 WW1.MOD        880414 0337p    705 _LA1.DEM
34880514 0902a   1125 _LA1.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LA1.MOD
35880414 0337p    610 _LA2.DEM       880514 0902a    943 _LA2.FLB
36880429 0423p    518 _LA2.MOD       880414 0337p   1111 _LA3.DEM
37880514 0902a   1002 _LA3.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LA3.MOD
38880322 1026a   1627 _LA4.DEM       880514 0902a   1412 _LA4.FLB
39880429 0423p    518 _LA4.MOD       880414 0541p   3002 _LA5.DEM
40880514 0902a   1363 _LA5.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LA5.MOD
41880509 0623p   1521 _LA6.DEM       880514 0902a   1586 _LA6.FLB
42880429 0423p    518 _LA6.MOD       880408 0336p   6504 _LA7.DEM
43880514 0902a   1965 _LA7.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LA7.MOD
44880420 1222p   3287 _LA8.DEM       880514 0902a   1156 _LA8.FLB
45880429 0423p    518 _LA8.MOD       880414 0336p   1027 _LB1.DEM
46880514 0902a   1178 _LB1.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LB1.MOD
47880406 0206p   8197 _LB2.DEM       880515 0504p    660 _LB2.FLB
48880429 0423p    518 _LB2.MOD       880414 0337p    764 _LB3.DEM
49880514 0902a    889 _LB3.FLB       880509 0305p    518 _LB3.MOD
50880414 0337p   2261 _LB4.DEM       880514 0902a   1719 _LB4.FLB
51880429 0423p    518 _LB4.MOD       880502 0537p    684 _LB5.DEM
52880514 0902a   1128 _LB5.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LB5.MOD
53880426 0423p   1141 _LB6.DEM       880515 0620p   1294 _LB6.FLB
54880429 0423p    518 _LB6.MOD       880426 0424p   3165 _LB7.DEM
55880514 0902a   1179 _LB7.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LB7.MOD
56880422 0305p   1131 _LB8.DEM       880514 0902a   1467 _LB8.FLB
57880429 0423p    518 _LB8.MOD       880502 0533p   1264 _LB9.DEM
58880514 0902a   1407 _LB9.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LB9.MOD
59880422 1048a   2325 _LBA.DEM       880514 0902a   1812 _LBA.FLB
60880429 0423p    518 _LBA.MOD       880414 0337p   1053 _LE1.DEM

…Show last 11 lines

61880514 0902a   1388 _LE1.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LE1.MOD
62880420 1237p    880 _LE2.DEM       880514 0902a   1532 _LE2.FLB
63880429 0423p    518 _LE2.MOD       880414 0337p    522 _LE3.DEM
64880514 0902a   1234 _LE3.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LE3.MOD
65880414 0337p    626 _LE4.DEM       880514 0902a   1152 _LE4.FLB
66880429 0423p    518 _LE4.MOD       880414 0337p    780 _LE5.DEM
67880514 0902a   1556 _LE5.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LE5.MOD
68880414 0337p    940 _LE6.DEM       880514 0902a   1753 _LE6.FLB
69880429 0423p    518 _LE6.MOD       880414 0338p   1165 _LE7.DEM
70880514 0902a   1785 _LE7.FLB       880429 0423p    518 _LE7.MOD

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Reply 3 of 5, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-05-19, 20:31

DaveDDS Offline

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Ok, so I do have a lot of flight simulators...

I even still have the book for the one mentioned above!
(which btw sez it comes on single 3.5" diskette -or- 2 5.25" diskettes)

I decided to visit my old gaming system, set up in a room I built over
my garage - In my stack of "flight sim stuff", I found DVDs for:

1MS Flight Simulator for Windows95
2MS Flight Simulator 98
3MS Flight Simulator 2000 - Professionl Edition - boxed
4MS Flight Simulator 2004 (A Century of Flight) - In its cool metal box
5MS Combat Flight Simulator 2
6MS Combat Flight Simulator (Battle For Europe)
7MS Combat Flight Simulator (WWII Europe Series)
8IL-2 STURMOVIK - WWII COMBAL SIMULATOR- Boxed "Commanders Collection"
9FLANKER 2.5 - COMBAT FLIGHT SIMULATOR - ""
10Abacus Warbirds Extreme

No doubt there's a few more - I really haven't looked at this stuff much
in the last five years.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Reply 4 of 5, by the3dfxdude

Posted on 2025-05-19, 21:44

the3dfxdude Offline

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I would think that Microsoft provided the game on 720k 3.5" to support PS/2 just like they were already doing for their other software. People that documented the media options probably just didn't have a copy in their hand. Perhaps mobygames is wrong, and Dave has the 1998 release on 3.5".

Reply 5 of 5, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-05-19, 21:58

DaveDDS Offline

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the3dfxdude wrote on 2025-05-19, 21:44:

I would think that Microsoft provided the game on 720k 3.5" to support PS/2 just like they were already doing for their other software. People that documented the media options probably just didn't have a copy in their hand. Perhaps mobygames is wrong, and Dave has the 1998 release on 3.5".

Like I said ... all the files are dates 1988 on the distribution diskette (so obviously the master wasn't made before then)
I gave the 1987 date in my original post because that's the copyright date it displays at startup (my guess is that it was
"finished development" in 1987 but not released to distribution until sometime in 1988.

The manual sez it's for a "IBM PC Compatible" -or- "Personal System 2" as does the startup screen.
I don't think there is any difference in the software other than a couple of .BAT files which run things from
various places...

And I'd guess that you are right, they released 3.5 to accommodate the PS/2 - not many people had only 3.5"
in non-PS/2 PC compatibles at that time - I had (and still do) have both, I chose the 3.5" because I liked that format
better!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

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