I bought a disk, very sizeable physical book, and keyboard/button layout on eBay for a whole $14.00. Sure, I can access all this stuff on-line, but there is something to be said for holding a book in one's hands as opposed to reading the same thing on-line; Same goes for the keyboard layout.

New-bought Disk has the visible logo on the Mustang aircraft of "Sweet Sue".. Disk says Win 95/Microprose 1998.

Disk of EAW bought long ago came without any sort of book or keyboard payout. Later disk says Infogames, and Win 95/98, 2002, I reckon this disk is a different version than the one I just acquired.. Not sure of the specific version of either disk. Of course, I can apply on-line patches as desired.

So, what versions of the game do I have on OEM disk?

V1.0 with a 1.2 patch included.
That disk should have the manual and qucik keys in pdf format. It should also have the "art-kit"
The manual and installer text was changed to reflect Infogrames. Not sure if the installer is the exact same one as Microprose or if they just redid it.
I think the manual has corrections in it.

If itis indeed an origional Microprose CD which was released Oct.21,1998 it won't have the patch which was released August 1999,,I have 4 cd's all with the infograms logo on the right side and only one has the 1.2 patch..Some where in the vault ,,can't find it..I have a first edition Microprose cd bought in Florida the week of release when they were stocking it at Electronics Boutique If you look on the face of the cd see if there's an Infograms logo there

I still have my original 1999 Microprose EAW box with disk and that 1/2" thick real paper players manual. Those were the days

Same here Moggy. I ran out and bought my copy the day it was released and have warm memories of it. Still have the full box set in my bookcase.

That was half the joy of a new sim back in the day,,to have a printed manual to kick back and read after firing it up for a quick look..And a nice key card ..I hate reading PDF files especially if the manual is close to 100 pages..My EAW manual is lost in the sands of time But stilll have the original key card

Hi,

On the page 258 I read
Microprose
Made in The UK
Microprose LTD The Ridge Chipping Sodbury , Sout Glos BS37 6BN MP193 300 MANR
1998 Microprose Software Inc

Darn Gus good to see you my friend been awhile

There's an address.

Could only be bettered by Pratt's Bottom.

As an aside, I found my Crimson Skies game to finally be able to enable all its' features with a modern Gfx card. With Very capable Win 7 machine, and Nvidia 730 Gfx card, the game was visually hum-drum; Some key Gfx features were not accessible. The Win 7 machine was far more capable of playing CS than any vintage machine.

With a FAR better Win 10 computer, with a vastly better Gfx card, the remaining features of this 2000 vintage game were finally accessed, and it is visually stunning.

Now, I don't know if any particular game will have its full Gfx capabilities activated with any particular Gfx card, but I can certainly say that Crimson Skies looks a whale of a lot better with a modern Gfx card. Night and Day.

My Win 7 computer is FAR in advance of what the original CS game required , In every respect. The Win 10 computer is almost cutting edge. Even so, the difference, as I see it, is in the Gfx card, at least in playing Crimson Skies. CS fails to reveal full potential with Nvidia 730 Gfx card (which is wildly in advance of Gfx cards available in 2000) , but enables all features with Nvidia 2060 Gfx card. That's a HUGE genernational Gfx card jump, but the results speak for themselves.

So, my friends, at least as far as the ancient Crimson Skies game goes (and perhaps other games), GFX cards DO make a difference; In the case of (at least) CS, a HUGE difference.

As to whether modern GFX cards make a difference with other, older, games is a question unto itself. With respect to more modern games, the answer must depend on the individual game, but since there are many games, the general trend to be more demanding, the answer must be in favor of more modern GFX cards.

In sum, consider how your Gfx cards might be upgraded, and also work with your computer in mind. I did a Head-to-Head comparison on my win 7 and Win 10 computers with ancient Crimson skies as the test vehicle. Game played the same, as should be expected, but the Win 10 computer/modern Gfx card allowed the inherent visual features within the game to to be exploited. The only functional difference between the two computers, as far as this ancient game is concerned, is the Gfx card.

In most instances, the Gfx card upgrade, as allowed within your particular Operating System/Computer, will be far less a hassle than moving to an altogether different different Opsys.

ETA: It occurs to me that some users may be incrementally augmenting their older computers, since there may not be much room for improvement.

When I upgraded to a vastly better Win 10 computer, vice my not-so-bad Win 7 computer, I noticed that various Gfx features were enabled on the newer computer. Exactly why this was so remains a bit of a mystery. Was it the better computer CPU? More RAM? Much better Gfx card? Don't know.

In some games, the combination of advanced features allows the enabling of features within the game that were formerly inaccessible. Some games may not show such improvements. Crimson Skies certainly allowed vast Gfx improvements. Other games will need investigation.

The point to all this rambling is that the older computers used by many flyers might not allow them to upgrade to a sufficient degree to see any improvement.

The older computers have their limits, as I very well know, vis-à-vis my Win 7 computer; It is maxxed-out in all respects, and does surprisingly well, all things considered. Upgrading to a more modern computer, even while using an older OpSys, like Win 7, should allow significant upgrades that just might transform your visual experience.

The more modern computer will likely allow a more modern, faster, CPU, more RAM, and provide the ability to use a more modern Graphics card whose capabilities far exceed those of the Gfx card one is currently using. I have no idea whether EAW, in particular, will allow any Gfx features to be "unlocked" with a better computer/better Gfx card. However, the frame rates are almost guaranteed to increase.

NOT asking anyone to take the major leap to Win 10, although that is the future of gaming, IMHO. What I'm saying, in a roundabout way, is that upgrading your computer, even if using a Win 7 Opsys, to play vintage games, might be a very good idea.

FWIW, on my Win 10 machine, I have 2 x 2Tb SSD drives. Master is Win 10, and Slave is a complete Win 7 clone from my Win 7 computer. I have zero problems running most games installed on the Slave drive right through my modern Gfx card; This set-up "seems" to bypass Win 10, AFAIK It works. IOW, Start Win 10 computer, go to "My computer", select Win 7 "Slave Drive", Select a given game within the Slave Drive, and launch it. Works, using new Gfx card, with all the improvements accruing to such.

Submitted for your consideration.

Added content to previous post.

The more modern computer will likely allow a more modern, faster, CPU, more RAM

Y2k era software can not use more then one core of a CPU or more then 2 Gigs of memory unless it was specificly instructed to use it in the code. Or, like DosBox, you use a wrapper to dumb down your computer. Pre Y2k era, the OS mindset was that we could never need numbers greater then xxxx. DX10 was to force you into Win7 and above.

Multi-Thread requires a compiler flag in VS6. Though, a single core of a modern CPU is still faster then Y2k.

2 Gigs is the limit for a signed (int32) 32 bit number. I had to write a patch for Panzer Elite so people with Graphic cards with more then 2 Gigs of memory could play it. It was a simple bit flag that ignores all your memory above 2 Gigs.

The advantage to Win10 is that they placed wrappers into DX11 to replace the functions that they discontinued supporting in DX10 (this backfired on them for retro gaming). Better said, they reinstalled the functions that they removed to force Win7 upon us and tweaked them to optimize hardware changes, so your current hardware creates a speed advantage. I believe DX9c was the last that had native support for DX5. EAW started life under DX5.

So yes, I guess that DX11 is better then Dx9, but DX10 is still unusable for retro gaming. And, M$ can do the same to you again.

Your CPU and GPU are one of the dumbest things on the planet. It only understands a yes or no question (assembly language). It's saving grace is that it continues to have more Y/N possibilities added by adding more switches to the process flow (bit, byte, int, int64, etc).

My intent is not to cause trouble, but to make you think. When the steam ship was invented, did the raft become a concept that should be abandoned?

No problems, Aldo. I agree with everything you've said, so far.

Now, that said, let's take the case of a game made circa 2000-2003, called Crimson Skies. A fun, semi-arcade flight sim, unless one dials up all the GFX settings, and Realism/Difficulty settings. Then it is a little more than "Semi-Arcade". But I digress.

It appears (Hell, I have done it) that I can have an old (2000) original version of Crimson Skies, apply the widely available and essential Official patch to it, and then update it with the installation of a single[/I ]downloaded patch/mod (Crimson Skies Widescreen) to run on Win 10, and in full native resolution of one's monitor, as opposed to the very limited original resolution.

The point to this is that with a modern computer, using a modern GFX card, some formerly un-accessible Gfx features became available within the [I]ancient CS game, which features transform the visual aspect of the game. These features were formerly inaccessible on my Win 7 Computer, which is presumably similar to the Win 7 computers used by many players of games such as EAW. Details of both computers on request.

So, using this as an example (and who knows how many more there might be) I submit that upgrading one's computer (not necessarily one's Opsys) might be something to consider. Fundamentally, one needs to upgrade one's Gfx card, and upgrading the computer is the simplest way to do so, and may be the only way to do so in some instances.

I do believe that any games that are not easily played on Win 10 are doomed, eventually, but that is simply my belief. It is all well and good to have a "legacy' computer, using, say, an older Opsys to run one's games. But what is one's Plan "B" when the old computer fails--as all computers will eventually do?

As always, my comments are intended to create discussion on whither all the variants of EAW are headed. I hope that all the variants will be playable on modern Opsys's, and hopefully gain an ever-growing number of players.

If not, then the games will die out as the users and/or their computers pass away. I hope that doesn't happen.

Crimson Skies was made by fan boys of M$. It is no wonder that there code updates well now that M$ has rectified there mistake of abandoning legacy DX. My only point is that the game could have updated well In Win7 and Win8 IF M$ had not tried to force the gaming community into new OS by breaking legacy support.


I disagree for games who's intellectual property has some value. Linux has done wonders with porting M$ software. The other thought would be what drivers are available for the hardware. I still surf the web with my win98 computer, thanks to an XP emulator.

But then again, I am now forced to pay a surcharge on my utility bills because I do not pay them electronically. Society has chosen to abandon old knowledge that created the modern world. This is why I have chosen to ensure what I have learned from almost 40 years of motorcycle repair dies with me. I hope that some time in the future, everything that I was exposed to is as lost as Greek fire. yes, I do become more bitter as the world tells me that I am the reason they are not progressing like they think all the worker bees should.

Sorry, the last paragraph was a rant.

My father, who worked with computers in the 1960s when that expression meant a warehouse full of IBM gear with the current power less than a cheap calculator, always called them "fancy bead frames". It's an attititude I cheerfully continue.

Concur with all, with some reservations about the rant. While I respect your point of view, Might I point out that allowing your expertise, developed over decades, to vanish will not hurt the "system" against which your rant is directed? Not in the slightest. In fact, a case can be made that allowing such expertise to vanish plays into the "System's" hands.

Again, I respect your point of view, and no offense is intended.

I have great sympathy with your rant. However, Ribob has a good point about maintaining your irreplaceable knowledge. When the overly complex utopia our masters are building comes crashing down around their ears, we will need motorbikes again. We're only another Carrington event from complete literal meltdown of our entire informational system, and that's only one foreseeable catastrophe. Goodness knows how many other foreseeables are out there, not to mention the unforeseeables, but the greater the complexity and the narrower the specialisation, the higher the vulnerability.

Moggy, you and your father are right. Computers are just very fast abacuses.

Which features are you referring to specifically? You are saying that Crimson Skies was written with graphical features that were beyond contemporary hardware? That's pretty visionary of the developers. More likely, your hardware couldn't handle it, but the leading edge of contemporary hardware could. I'm not doubting your observation, just your conclusion.

I have joking for 20 years: What killed the Martians ( the people from Mars that populated this planet when there's became uninhabitable.) was there reliance upon technology. When a sun spot destroyed there technology, they did not know how to feed themselves. don't get me started on washing your hands every 5 minutes. You need exposure to build anti-bodies.

Pen and paper can exist for an extreme time when oxygen and/or bacteria is limited. The data is visible with the human eye. You do not need a machine to decode the data, well, so to speak. You only need to look at our ancient history. Without the Rosetta stone (spelling?), would we have any clue about ancient Egypt? What would have happened if you needed "special optics" to see the words. Do not run blindly into the future. The future can kill your descendants

SkyHigh,
I think I am too far gone. Society has told me for more then 10 years that I have no value because of my race and gender, unless I work for there goals. In fact, they tell me that I am the cause of all the worlds woes. If I am truly the problem, then why shouldn't I post onto there media that I would rather die then help them in any fashion, even in the smallest way. No, I do not own a gun. I will build a zip gun that uses gas expansion to move a projectile, shortly after setting an incindery in the basement of the house I grew up in. After, mother passes. She is the only one that I do not wish to disrespect.

yes, I have thought it through too the end game.

Dbond,
I assume he is referring to the hardware features that hardware developers came up with when computer rendering was in it's pre-teen years. When Glide and DX competed head to head on the latest hardware was truly an interesting time.

All,
If you think I am just a conspiracy nut, then simply do the research on how hard it was to convert DX6 code to DX9, circa 2005. PEx would not exist without the help of a brilliant computer science student.

WIsh all of you good. Maybe more GooglyEyes then TWI.