I miss Jane's Combat simulations.

El-Producto · Post by **El-Producto** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:06 pm

I just got a copy of Jane's F18 for 2 bucks, installed it and I'm practically in tears.

The intro, the menus, everyting about it brings back memories of GOOD flight sims.

Forget LOMAC, this is the real deal. I installed some of the user made mods, and F18 looks great, and I just tried to land on a carrier in the middle of a rainstorm, with a pitching deck. I just about crapped my pants, and my hands were dripping with sweat.

Anyway, now just to get a copy of Longbow 2... my favorite sim of all time.

DiscoJason · Post by **DiscoJason** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:17 pm

El-Producto wrote:
Anyway, now just to get a copy of Longbow 2... my favorite sim of all time.

Mmmmmm.....popping up from behind a hill to get a radar read and then ducking back down behind the hill and raining holy hell on the targets on the other side....good memories.

El-Producto · Post by **El-Producto** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:58 pm

Yeah, those were some of the best multiplayer moments ever. Me in the Weapons Officer seat, and another player flying the bird. Just amazing.

If I can get a copy, I want to try and play some coop again.

Papageno · Post by **Papageno** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:45 pm

I managed to snag a copy of Jane's WW2 Fighters a while back-- I know the graphics are going to make my eyes bleed by today's standards, but how is the gameplay?

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:05 pm

Believe it or not, I still like to fire up Jane's "Fighters Anthology" (with 100 planes) from time to time. Definitely a retro-trip, but there's just something about those Harriers...

Zekester · Post by **Zekester** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:14 pm

I was addicted to Fighters Anthology about 2 years ago.
Then I discovered how similar most of the planes really were, and shelved it.
It was fun while it lasted though.

Nowadays, even though I own most Jane's games, if I see them for sale somewhere I get an impulse to buy them again

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:17 am

El-Producto wrote:I just got a copy of Jane's F18 for 2 bucks, installed it and I'm practically in tears.

The intro, the menus, everyting about it brings back memories of GOOD flight sims.

Forget LOMAC, this is the real deal. I installed some of the user made mods, and F18 looks great, and I just tried to land on a carrier in the middle of a rainstorm, with a pitching deck. I just about crapped my pants, and my hands were dripping with sweat.

Anyway, now just to get a copy of Longbow 2... my favorite sim of all time.

Longbow 2 is still the best helicopter combat sim ever, even after all these years. I know how you feel, though. I'm lucky enough to own all the Jane's flight sims (and I'll never let ANY of them go), and I still load up WWII Fighters, Longbow II, and Fighters Anthology on a regular basis.

Papageno wrote:I managed to snag a copy of Jane's WW2 Fighters a while back-- I know the graphics are going to make my eyes bleed by today's standards, but how is the gameplay?

WWII Fighters is still a very fun sim. Check out this site for a bunch of new skins, missions, and campaigns. It's not as realistic as IL-2 or EAW, but in some ways that makes it more enjoyable.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:33 am

i still have my copies of Jane's F-15 and Longbow on my shelf (complete with manuals and reference cards). one of these days, i plan to go back and enjoy them some more. i just have to get another good joystick first...

El-Producto wrote:Anyway, now just to get a copy of Longbow 2... my favorite sim of all time.

i've been keeping my eye out for Longbow 2 for a long time, but it's hard to find a copy with the manual and ref card in good condition. most people that still have it around at this point are willing to let the game go. they show up on eBay once in a while, but i've never been able to justify the price that they tend to go for. it will be mine of those days though...

RookieCAF · Post by **RookieCAF** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 9:06 am

I lament the fact they were doing an A10 Sim that got canned

Crux · Post by **Crux** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 9:11 am

I've got Jane's f/18 myself... if anyone is interested in playing some co-op with the game sometime, let me know! I'd be in.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:39 am

Sigh, Longbow 2. Those were good times. It was a joy to simply learn how to fly at 15ft above ground level, then come to a stop behind a hill without popping up like a groundhog

.

Gedd · Post by **Gedd** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:53 am

El-Producto wrote:Yeah, those were some of the best multiplayer moments ever. Me in the Weapons Officer seat, and another player flying the bird. Just amazing.

I'll second that sentiment, except I was the pilot and a local buddy of mine was WO. We both had two phone lines so we could talk while playing. Those were some hilarious conversations, particularly when the occasional bug would popup.

One time we were hovering over an objective area, and a target popped up on my screen as friendly and on his screen as an enemy tank. So we argued for a second and then he decides to pop-off a few rounds with the chain gun. I ended up losing points and he earned extra points for that one. We laughed the whole time.

Seriously, this was some of the best multiplayer experience I've ever had. I was *this* close to buying a collective stick to help us do better on the really hilly environments.

khomotso · Post by **khomotso** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:55 am

Longbow 2 was one of those games that actually felt rewarding to master. The learning curve wasn't overly steep, but it was long. I was such a deft operator by the time I was done with the game, rather than the clumsy newb I started out as (who would panic and drive his rotors into the nearest hillside when the missiles started flying). I could go to my locker, see all my medals, remember how each one was earned, and feel proud.

Zekester · Post by **Zekester** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:29 am

Longbow 2 was better than Enemy Engaged:Apache vs Hokum?

I have the demo for LB2, but was never able to get it running under modern OS's

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:44 am

Zekester wrote:Longbow 2 was better than Enemy Engaged:Apache vs Hokum?

I have the demo for LB2, but was never able to get it running under modern OS's

Yes, and it is possible to get it running under WinXP with D3D hardware. I'll post the link when I get home tonight unless someone else can find it first. The EE games are very good, but not as good as Longbow 2...nothing is...

Post by **godhugh** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:47 am

IL2: Sturmovic is the only sim I've played recently that comes close to USAF or LB2. Those were some fantastic games.

Boudreaux · Post by **Boudreaux** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:26 pm

I remember when Jane's F-15 came out, and at the time I was working at Eglin AFB in Florida on F-15s, and there were several of us that picked up the game to compare to the real-life avionics and cockpit. I couldn't believe how accurate it was, down to the MFD pages and fully functional cockpit controls. It was almost to the point that I could go home and play the game and actually be a bit better at my job.

I'd love to see some of those old sims resurrected and upgraded to today's graphical standards. I tried re-installing F-15 a couple years ago and just couldn't get past the max 640x480 resolution. For some reason that looked fine in Longbow 2, but in F-15 everything was a shimmery, jaggy mess after being used to IL-2's views.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:35 pm

Boudreaux wrote:I remember when Jane's F-15 came out, and at the time I was working at Eglin AFB in Florida on F-15s, and there were several of us that picked up the game to compare to the real-life avionics and cockpit. I couldn't believe how accurate it was, down to the MFD pages and fully functional cockpit controls. It was almost to the point that I could go home and play the game and actually be a bit better at my job.

I'd love to see some of those old sims resurrected and upgraded to today's graphical standards. I tried re-installing F-15 a couple years ago and just couldn't get past the max 640x480 resolution. For some reason that looked fine in Longbow 2, but in F-15 everything was a shimmery, jaggy mess after being used to IL-2's views.

Yeah, that game, and several others, was a testament to not only Jane's, but to Andy Hollis, who also helped create Longbow 2. It's a shame that rivetcounters helped drive him away from the industry.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:54 pm

Man. I just got "ATF" working the other night again. I haven't played much LB2, but it's in my Backlog, along with the F-18 sim. I was a HUGE fan of Jane's.

But my all-time favorite sim was the original Gunship game from Microprose. Holy crap did I spend a lot of my youth playing that game. I even got to playing it co-op where a friend would fly with the joystick and the other guy would work the keyboard.

Big fun on my Tandy 1000HX. If I get it working in DOSBox, my life will be complete.

Eduardo X · Post by **Eduardo X** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:05 pm

The sim that had my time as a kid was Aces over Europe. I was SO good at that! It wasn't a hardcore sim, but man did I play the poop out of it.
My first PC game was Maximum Overkill: Comanche by Novalogic. I memorized each landscape in that game to an insane degree. I could kill every enemy in a few seconds at most, knowing where they would be on every mission and how to drop down into a canyon, behind a hill, to avoid their fire.
I played Comanche 4 recently, and it just wasn't the same. I guess nothing beats your first game.

Gedd · Post by **Gedd** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:19 pm

RunningMn9 wrote:But my all-time favorite sim was the original Gunship game from Microprose.

I played (and loved) Gunship on my C64. It was one of the first games that turned me on to sims and MPS games in general.

That said, Gunship isn't fit to clean the bugs off Longbow 2's windshield. LB2 is just *that* great a sim.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:21 pm

Gedd wrote:That said, Gunship isn't fit to clean the bugs off Longbow 2's windshield. LB2 is just *that* great a sim.

Maybe I should bump that up on my backlog then.

The Preacher · Post by **The Preacher** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:33 pm

Ah, Gunship... the game that taught a generation about autorotation. That and the difference between BMP's, BRDM's and ZSU's.

It's beautiful, man.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:12 pm

Gedd wrote:
RunningMn9 wrote:But my all-time favorite sim was the original Gunship game from Microprose.
I played (and loved) Gunship on my C64. It was one of the first games that turned me on to sims and MPS games in general.

That said, Gunship isn't fit to clean the bugs off Longbow 2's windshield. LB2 is just *that* great a sim.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Mudfrost · Post by **Mudfrost** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:25 pm

Ah, Longbow 2. I must reinstall.

El-Producto · Post by **El-Producto** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 7:01 pm

F15 is one of the great sims for just MOVING MUD.

Yeah, some of the Ingress were like 200mi. but it was so cool. I am on a huge retro sim kick lately, and am trying to get all of the sims that I for some stupid reason got rid of. I managed to get a ripped copy of LB2 from an unnamed abandonware site, and am going to get it running until I can get a copy of Longbow Anthology, that isn't $30.

I think we should start up a Jane's Combat Sim gaming group at OO, and play some coop.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:12 pm

El-Producto wrote:F15 is one of the great sims for just MOVING MUD.

I think we should start up a Jane's Combat Sim gaming group at OO, and play some coop.

i just wish they would have made a better co-op implementation in F-15. fighting on teams together just isn't the same as if they had let two guys work together in the same plane...although i can imagine it might get a little boring for the RIO once you wind up in close-quarters fighting.

anyone care to comment on how the pilot/gunner co-op worked out in Longbow 2? i never had the chance to try it out, but would think it has the potential to work out well...plenty for both guys to do there.

the last time i was in my local EB, they had a copy of Jane's Naval Warfare Collection in the bargain bin...that's F/A-18, Fleet Command, and 688(i) together (unfortunately without printed manuals). all this talk has me tempted to see if it's still there just because i never had the chance to play F/A-18...

i also have a copy of Mig Alley i've never installed that someone from GG threw in as an extra on a trade when i got F-15 and Longbow. you guys have opinions on that one?

Gedd · Post by **Gedd** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 10:22 pm

The Preacher wrote:Ah, Gunship... the game that taught a generation about autorotation. That and the difference between BMP's, BRDM's and ZSU's.

It also taught me that when you're out of Stingers, that a properly aimed FFAR was just as good at taking out HINDs. That concept was further reinforced by the 100% accurate to real-life, Fire Birds, except in Gunship, you didn't have to "lock on" your unguided missiles.

[edit]

anyone care to comment on how the pilot/gunner co-op worked out in Longbow 2? i never had the chance to try it out, but would think it has the potential to work out well...plenty for both guys to do there.

Yep, it worked really well. The pilot is obviously focused on flying the whole time, figuring out the best entrance and exit points for the objectives while the WO is using the radar, looking for targets, and controlling the weapons systems. No real down time for anyone.

I tell you, I got such a thrill everytime I went through my startup sequence. Just hearing the engines revving up while I went through the briefing with my WO gave me a chill.

The only thing I'm not so sure of is how well the multiplayer would work today. If I recall correctly, when we were playing we did direct modem connections, but EA was supposedly working on putting up a matching server to let folks connect through the internet. I don't think they ever actually got it up and running.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:22 pm

Okay guys, here's some handy links to get LB2 Running in Windows XP

Detailed Instructions that I used to get it to work.
Here's an installation package I just found which also might be helpful.

Good luck!

Zekester · Post by **Zekester** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:45 pm

Awesome! Thanks for the links, Veloxi

the last time i was in my local EB, they had a copy of Jane's Naval Warfare Collection in the bargain bin...that's F/A-18, Fleet Command, and 688(i) together (unfortunately without printed manuals). all this talk has me tempted to see if it's still there just because i never had the chance to play F/A-18...

i also have a copy of Mig Alley i've never installed that someone from GG threw in as an extra on a trade when i got F-15 and Longbow. you guys have opinions on that one?

F/A-18 is soooo worth it.
Considered by many to be the ultimate modern warbird sim...especially with all of the 3rd-party stuff made for it.
Fleet Command and 688 are just icing on the cake.
No printed manuals sucks ass, though. I ended up using the printers at work to make my own.

Mig Alley....other than lacking a little in the graphics dept, it was an excellent pure dogfighting sim.
Rockets and cannons made it so. 8)

Crux · Post by **Crux** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:50 pm

Well, El Producto and I were chatting in #gonegold and figure we will try to fire up F18 for some multiplayer this weekend. If Producto gets around to posting a good selection of the patches/community content stuff so we're all on the same page, then we might just get some coop going. I'll put a post in multiplayer gaming about it tomorrow probably.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:59 pm

Mig Alley is an awesome sim, no doubt. It is a little long in the tooth graphically. Luckily, there's a group of very talented individuals who've used the source code to enhance the game a bit.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 12:40 am

Veloxi wrote:Mig Alley is an awesome sim, no doubt. It is a little long in the tooth graphically. Luckily, there's a group of very talented individuals who've used the source code to enhance the game a bit.

thanks for the link...i'll have to check it out before i load up MA one of these days. it does look like a fun sim just because it's all about getting up close and personal. considering that we're comparing to the old Jane's sims, however, i wouldn't think the graphics is Mig Alley could be all that bad...it is a couple years newer than most of those after all. the graphics of older sims don't really both me though considering that you spend so much time looking at cockpit displays and radar screens in a modern-era sim anyway. those still look fine in the older games 8)

as for the copy of the Naval Warfare Collection, i'll have to see how much they want for it. F/A-18 is the only part the really interests me, so i may see if i can pick up a copy just of that with an actual manual for a decent price. of course i also need a new joystick before i can do any more flight sims...my old one gave out quite a while ago and i never got around to replacing it...

El-Producto · Post by **El-Producto** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 5:27 pm

http://hardcoresims.thatshayne.com/foru ... ic.php?t=7

Check out that for an indepth install guide for F/A-18.

Get'er up an running folks. We're flying this weekend.

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:00 pm

Aaww man, that looks awesome. I am all over that. Thanks for the link!

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:29 pm

what kind of joystick do you guys use now? i'm currently in the market for the first time in years and wouldn't mind a little input. i am on a fairly tight budget, so a HOTAS system or pretty much anything from CH is off my list for now. right now, it looks like a decision between the Saitek Cyborg Evo or a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro...but i'm leaning toward the Saitek. any other thoughts?

El-Producto · Post by **El-Producto** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:41 pm

I'm getting a Saitek X-45. They are the best bang for your buck. YOu can even get referbished ones from the website.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:54 pm

El-Producto wrote:I'm getting a Saitek X-45. They are the best bang for your buck. YOu can even get referbished ones from the website.

hmm...a refurbished X-45 for only $40 is a little tempting (same price as a new Cyborg Evo). thanks for the heads-up! 8)

Veloxi · Post by **Veloxi** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:14 pm

I was using an original Saitek X-36 digital for many years until I just got an X52 for review. I like it a lot. Saitek makes excellent and affordable sticks.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:57 pm

Except why can't Saitek make a SMALLER version of X52 for smaller hands?

I have a good set of Jane's Sims... I think I only missed F-18 and WW2 fighters.

Octopus Overlords

I miss Jane's Combat simulations.

I miss Jane's Combat simulations.

Re: I miss Jane's Combat simulations.

Re: I miss Jane's Combat simulations.