Thanks Coot I'll spend some time reading there I tried it before but EF 2000 wouldn't install..I was thinking about trying a 98/win 7 dual boot for other sims Might see If I can do that..GOG just put out the Full Throttle game remastered..I grabbed it because I belive that was the first CD game I bought and it was a kick,,

Heh, I remember "Stunt Island". That came out around 1992 I think. You know, back during the Cretaceous epoch of PC gaming.

Yeah I saw that and it looks like it could be fun. Let us know what you think. I still love the way some older games look. If the gameplay and story is there that helps but I think there are still some oldies that look great. There's something about the way those designers and artists could create such detail with very little compared to nowadays. There are some breathtaking games today, no doubt but many are so shallow and plastic. I've really been enjoying Rune Classic and Outcast from GOG. Those were some I didn't get to back when and I love the way they look. Its newer by comparison but to me Witcher 1 is gorgeous. My nephew had a little bit of a hard time when I sat him down in front of Jane's Fighters Anthology after he'd already seen and experienced Rise of Flight.

Nothing but respect for the coders and artists back in the day, creating their art with such limited palettes and pixels.

EF2000's 640x400 was a higher resolution for a DOS title vs. the standard 320x240, and sometimes it was done just right (see pics below).

The last pic is a mission I'll never forget. I was RTB and wasn't scheduled for a refueling, but those pesky SU-27s made me burn up all my fuel around the target area, and I didn't think I could make it back to base. Upon locating the closest refueler, it already had a long queue of thirsty birds waiting, but they cleared a basket for me anyway. Got my gas and made it home.

Still working on this stuff as time allows..

I'd love to have a pc version of Over G Fighters from the 360. Perfect blend of sim and approachable game. Better voiceover work would be good, but they nailed it for the aircraft, weapons and variety of terrain. Great missions too.

I've always been on the shallow end of the flight sim pool, to be honest.

Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Aces of the Pacific, Hind, and Red Baron 3D were my formative sims, and to be honest they're heavy on flying and not much on the doings of aircraft.

IL-2 was a huge godsend for me, as it was still mostly flying with a few mechanical things thrown in.

Black Shark was great because it was a helicopter, and one could ignore 90% of the switchology and have a lot of fun flying and blowing stuff up - even on "full difficulty." LWin + Home was the difference between flying the sim or not.

All the other DCS stuff (A-10, etc.) is managing a weapons platform more than flying. It's interesting, but not my cup of tea. Switchology leaves me cold.

Rise of Flight is more my speed - adjust the air, adjust the fuel, charge the guns and GO!

Btw, my real flying experience and preferences match this. My little plane has one switch (master on or off), one button (starter), and two levers - one for the throttle, one for the brakes. The carb heat is always on, so nothing for that. Single ignition, so no run-up. My panel is basic six pack, but all I ever really look at is the ball, the oil temp, and the oil pressure...as well as the stick on a bobber poking up out of the gas tank in front of me for fuel level.

mikew, I'm confused (it has been a while). Is that the F-22 in EF2000 or (most likely) EF2000's terrain in TAW?

In any case, fantastic that it's still being worked on. I've also flown a couple of training missions in TAW recently (stock game) and while I was quickly reminded of a couple of quirks, they don't bother me as much as they use to. Either I'm mellowing with age or I better appreciate how much effort it takes to make the parts that are really good and work well.

I'd put TAW in the borderline DOS era, since it's hardly updated from F-22 ADF (a campaign engine add-on) which still shared so much with EF2000 (D3D 5[?]/Glide, but still using 256-color palette indexing and low-res tiles). In 320x200 or 640x400 Software Mode, it definitely matches the DOS era. But of course, you guys are extending it's better capabilities, looking really nice too (especially compared to what I'm use to right now).

I thought about starting back with EF2000 or TAW (the TFX sims) but I wanted something completely new and different. And at least for the time being, a plane that launches from a boat.

It's never occurred to me just how pretty and atmospheric F-14 Fleet Defender really is, how well done the contrasting daylight and nighttime hours are presented, both inside and outside of the cockpit.

I've been out of flight sims for quite a while now, racing is easier and more immediate.

But the news that CLOD source code is with Team Fusion... they are tempting. Gimme a nice Hurricane with a minimum of system/engine management, a nice gunsight and that's that.

I played Fleet Defender quite a lot and the backseat/frontseat cooperative mode was great. Man, that sim came out 23 years ago! LOL

I don't think there's any getting my mojo back. I was very comfortable with sims back in the DOS days. I mastered 'Tornado' and SVGA Harrier and I was a very happy virtual pilot.

I've dabbled with later sims on and off but NOTHING gave me the thrill I had back then. When I saw Black Shark I thought,wow,this is just what I want only to discover it was EXACTLY what I didn't want.

I bought a TrackIR 5 about 4 months ago to try and get the bug again but it just collects dust. So glad I never bought that HOTAS as well. All that's left to try now is VR and that's an investment I'm not willing to make.

I might suggest ArmA3. You can fly helos but in a lo-fi simulation (with an option to increase it to a realistic model, your choice). You will also get good mileage from your TrackIR on the ground, it works in 1st person foot-soldier mode

It's not that easy DM. I've started playing different genres of games that do hold my interest. I was only thinking this morning that when I next tidy up my PC desk the joystick is going into storage (or the bin). I'll keep the TrackIR,as you said,it's useful in things other than flight sims.

That's perfectly normal and quite typical what you went through with flight sims Chucky. It's really no different from any other hobby where something maintains your interest for a while but then eventually you lose interest and move on to something else. It happens to us all.

I really enjoyed ArmA2 but ArmA3 with all of it's futuristic/fictional weaponry just leaves me cold. I'll take a Cobra or Huey any day.

Thankfully we at SimHQ (Military Mondays) play a heavily modded Arma 3 which eliminates all of the futuristic hardware.

I'll have to look into that! Thanks.

I know how you feel, Chucky. While I might be 'feeling it' again, what I don't feel like doing is pulling out my X-52 and dealing with large profiles, sticking with my Logitech Wingman Extreme.

I've started with the Manuals/Guides pictured on my first post, contained in one big 3-ring binder, already learning interesting facts about how the F-14 came to be (some I knew, some I didn't).

Yeah, I was flipping through the different frontseat/backseat screens, this game is cool as f. Better graphics than the paperback I read about once a year or so (pic from a recent fanny pack thread, see below).

Point is, I have no problem using my imagination when I need to, picturing things in my mind that may not be displayed so clearly on the screen. Something I miss about some of the old sims is having multiple theaters in a single game, made possible without the excruciating detail we have today but requiring some imagination and suspension of disbelief. I'm ok with that tradeoff.