Suggestions for a good fighter plane game?

[luftwaffe]

I was wondering if the more experienced wargamers here would have a suggestion for a good fighter game especially based on WW2, I have a pc joystick that's collecting dust and thought it would be perfect for this type of game. I'm usually into strategy but flying fighter planes sounds pretty cool.

[Sarge]

**LINK**

[Jevhaddah]

Greetings:

A wee heads up about IL-2 here, Sturmovik 1946 is about to be released and it includes ALL the previous expantions.

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/3251021 ... oduct.html

Cheers

Jev

[Doggie]

I have IL-2, (the first edition) and it scared me when it gave me a blue screen error message about how "windows has recovered from a serious error, etc".  I'm afraid to play it anymore.
 
Ubisoft's Pacific Battles wont run properly.  I can't raise the landing gear on my F-4F3 Wildcat - the keyboard controls just won't work.
 
Combat Flight Simulator 3 runs well, but there's absolutely no way to win the campaign game.  No matter what I do, the Germans invade the UK and march up Whitehall in a few months.  Here I got a pilot with gobs of medals, all kinds of kills, and enough ships sunk to walk across the channel on the rusting hulks, and it just don't matter.
 
What I'd really like to see is a mod to CFS-3 that gives me an F-4C and some commie Migs to shoot at.

[Jevhaddah]

Ubisoft's Pacific Battles wont run properly. I can't raise the landing gear on my F-4F3 Wildcat - the keyboard controls just won't work.

Never had any problems running Sturmovik and all its expantions, did yoo try to reasign the keys in the setup panel? Just curious as I played for years in a squadron and still take the O'L flying tank out for spin every other week.

Cheers

Jev

[JudgeDredd]

The IL-2 series (including Pacific Fighters) - they are excellent for the feel of flying a WWII fighter/bomber. However, their campaigns leave me cold. Lots of text to read, looooooong boring flights to the target, to miss or be shot down, and loooooong boring flights back (assuming you don't get nailed). I didn't like it.

For immersion and dynamic campaigns, it's hard to beat Falcon 4 Allied Force (you didn't specifically specify WWII) and Battle of Britain 2...although the latter was pretty bug ridden on release, I think they've sorted the majority of it out now.

I have all the aforementioned but rarely play any. Years ago, flight sims were my dream come true...now I just don't have the time to fly these ultra-realistic flight models...preventing speed bleed and trying to keep the edge. They are excellent games....but as I said, for dynamic campaigns and immersion, you cannot beat F4:AF and BoBII

[Doggie]

ORIGINAL: Jevhaddah

Never had any problems running Sturmovik and all its expantions, did yoo try to reasign the keys in the setup panel? Just curious as I played for years in a squadron and still take the O'L flying tank out for spin every other week.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get my F-4F's landing gear to work. I tried assigning the control to my joystick and everything else I could think of. Some planes worked OK; others didn't. Never could figure it out. I got the blue screen error playing the original IL-2. Blue screen errors scare me. That's what happened to my old computer. Not worth the risk.

[Doggie]

BTW, I can't run Silent Hunter III on my computer either.  The set up screen says there's not enough RAM.  I have the required 512 megs.  Can't figure that one out either.  After the game is installed, there's a red "x" next to "required memory" and the only option is "exit Silent Hunter III."

[Tankerace]

ORIGINAL: Doggie

ORIGINAL: Jevhaddah

Never had any problems running Sturmovik and all its expantions, did yoo try to reasign the keys in the setup panel? Just curious as I played for years in a squadron and still take the O'L flying tank out for spin every other week.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get my F-4F's landing gear to work. I tried assigning the control to my joystick and everything else I could think of. Some planes worked OK; others didn't. Never could figure it out. I got the blue screen error playing the original IL-2. Blue screen errors scare me. That's what happened to my old computer. Not worth the risk.

THat's because those planes have manual gear. Did you keep hitting the key to raise/lower? On the F4F and others, since they use hand crank, you have to keep hitting the key over and over to simulate cranking the gear. You also have to manually define the key. So while "G" is the gear key for all the other planes, you must define a "lower gear" and a "raise gear" key for planes with a crank. I use Shift-G and Cntrl-G respectively, and have to press each about 25 times to lower/raise the gear.

It isn't a bug, it is a design feature. Just press the key and keep pressing until the "Gear Lowered" or "Gear Raised" is displayed. Alternatively, in the F4F, as you hit the keys look to the lower right of the cockpit and see if the handcrank is turning, to confirm it is working right.

[luftwaffe]

Well I was going to get IL-2 but for now I have to wait.  How does a graphics card fan crack?  I got a BFG Geforce 7800GT OC a year ago, booted up the PC this morning and I hear this load clanking sound turn off the computer open it up and the cards fan was cracked in the middle, I have no idea how that could of happened, I treat my system like a baby.  Well the good thing is I called BFG tech support and there sending me a brand new card for free other than the cost of shipping so I'll have to wait to bomb London,lol[:)]

[Doggie]

ORIGINAL: Tankerace


THat's because those planes have manual gear.

Duh![&:]

That's one thing that never entered my mind.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Doggie

What I'd really like to see is a mod to CFS-3 that gives me an F-4C and some commie Migs to shoot at.

Have you played Wings over Vietnam, Doggie? Cracking sim, as long as you don't expect uber-realism.

[JudgeDredd]

Also, one of the BIGGEST turn offs for me, with Pacific Fighters, was the lack of any torpedo bombers on release. Even now, there are no US ones (not for the campaign, anyway)...I mean...that's like leaving the spit out of the Battle of Britain!!

[Doggie]

Have you played Wings over Vietnam, Doggie? Cracking sim, as long as you don't expect uber-realism.

Haven't seen that one. I've got some stuff I picked up in the bargain bin at Best Buy that are pieces of crap, like Lock On. I don't really care about ultra realistic skins where you can see every rivet, I just want the game to run smoothly, and I don't want to burn up my printer on a three thousand page manual full of crap I got to study for three years before I can play the game. If that's what I wanted, I'd go to MIT and get a degree in aeronautics.

What works for me is a relatively simple flight sim where I don't have to worry about crap like monitoring the exhaust gas temperature and the cowl flap settings, because I'm setting at a keyboard; not in a cockpit. In a real cockpit, I don't have to break out a flight manual to find the trim tab controls because they're right there staring me in the face. And all I have to do to locate a bogey is look out the window instead of taking my attention away from flying the aircraft to select all the different views and flick a hat switch.

What I want is a keyboard overlay that lists all the hot keys so I can find them with a little practice, more or less accurate flight characteristics, and if there's additional crewmen on board, I don't want to have to engage my autopilot and jump back and forth between all the stations doing their jobs for them. If I'm flying an F-4C with a WSO in the back seat, I expect my AIM-7s to be boresighted and ready to fly when I select them.

More realistic scenarios would be neat as well. It was a rare world war II pilot who could chase down a whole staffel of cyber nazis and flame them one at a time as they obligingly circle the target area.

[LitFuel]

In case you get interested in WW1 flight, this just came out: http://www.first-eagles.com/main.shtml

[Jevhaddah]

Also, one of the BIGGEST turn offs for me, with Pacific Fighters, was the lack of any torpedo bombers on release. Even now, there are no US ones (not for the campaign, anyway)...I mean...that's like leaving the spit out of the Battle of Britain!!

There was a big Stooshy between Oleg Maddox and Grumman (i think it was) there Legal team wanted Oleg to pay for using the Grumman name in the fighter descriptions, there was a big debate about it on the Sturmovik forums.

Oleg basicaly told em to go.... erm.... torpedo themselves and thats why none of their air craft are in the game.

Sad really

Cheers

Jev

[Sarge]

@ Doggie

You have to assign for deploy and retract then tap the key assigned repeatedly till locked, this is to accurately represent the F-4 only having a crank instead hydraulics.

A good tip is to look down to the left in cockpit view while tapping the key and see if the crank is moving

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Jevhaddah

Also, one of the BIGGEST turn offs for me, with Pacific Fighters, was the lack of any torpedo bombers on release. Even now, there are no US ones (not for the campaign, anyway)...I mean...that's like leaving the spit out of the Battle of Britain!!

There was a big Stooshy between Oleg Maddox and Grumman (i think it was) there Legal team wanted Oleg to pay for using the Grumman name in the fighter descriptions, there was a big debate about it on the Sturmovik forums.

Oleg basicaly told em to go.... erm.... torpedo themselves and thats why none of their air craft are in the game.

Sad really

Cheers

Jev

I remember that flap, but over all got to say it is a "story" he likes to use, since he did have the Wildcat and Hellcat in the game

but over all, I think it is a pretty game and very enjoyable, but I still wish they would make a good flight model, and drop the Bias

he likes to scream how he has his own data, and his planes are perfect, but then makes major changes to the FM each time he releases a patch, the AI does not cheat, and then patch the cheats the AI uses

(which so saying, I got IL-2 FB, and about 8 added ons

[Jevhaddah]

(which so saying, I got IL-2 FB, and about 8 added ons

heheh aye me too and ordered the Il-2 1946 just have them all on one DvD I am a sad git [:D]

Cheers

Jev

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Jevhaddah

(which so saying, I got IL-2 FB, and about 8 added ons

heheh aye me too and ordered the Il-2 1946 just have them all on one DvD I am a sad git [:D]

Cheers

Jev

Speaking of which, does anyone know for certain if IL-2 (1946) has StarForce protection? I can't seem to find a straightforward response from UbiSoft on the issue.

I'd like to get it as there are so many huge patches to the IL-2 line that it's a real pain for update and getting everything on one DVD would be fantastic. The promo movies for IL-2 1946 look great.