No internet = FU loyal customers

This is probably not news to most of you, but I was shocked yesterday to discover that none of my flight simulators worked while the internet was out. At best, some would start in a limited trial state.

The worst part is, the outage was a legitimate reason to skip work and get some stick time in.

Which flight sims were these? I play DCS World and IL-2 Stalingrad and both have an "offline" mode.

I thought I remembered an offline mode but couldn't find a way to activate it:

DCS - all my modules were considered unauthorized and were not available
IL2 - stuck on "Cannot find update"
X-Plane - reverts to free trial version

That is concerning.

But also, consider if we had an apocalypse and civilization as we know it was gutted, including the internet, flight simulators likely wouldn't be something we would be entertaining ourselves with. We'd be too worried about cases of lead poisoning and proper meat over a spit recipes.


As far as I know, Falcon BMS doesn't require an internet connection...

Just checked, and apparently DCS allows 2d20h54 minutes (strange number) between server authorization and not being able to play, IF you have allowed the game to save your login data.

Considering the thievery in the flight sim community, (developers included) it is not an unreasonable timeframe.

Aren't you able to use your phone as a Wi-Fi point and use it to authorize every 3 days?

Possibly, if I had a phone and my PC had a wifi adapter. Good to know that it is possible, though!

Naturally since BMS is running on a base game that was released 22 years ago.

Nor do any Third Wire [PC] sims.

My primary flight simming/gaming PC doesn't even have online capability.

True and while those titles all came out post 2000, they were made by a team of essentially 2 guys. I don't think such a small scale operation will bother with online authentication.

Looking over some of my sims, IL-2 1946 is another (from GOG).

B-17: Queen of the Skies doesn't need online activation.

Also, the sequel B-29: Superfortress doesn't need online activation either.

OBD,S sims WOFF and WOTR also don't need any online activation fellas...SP goodness only

Right with you there mate

Today (and for the foreseeable future), the only older games almost guaranteed to work properly are DOS games (same with AutoCAD). That is, as long as DOSBox gets updated if necessary.

I haven’t played a DOS game since about 1996.

You're missing out, Panzer.

I still play NES games.

That could be a possibility but the PC games I currently have installed are keeping me plenty busy. I think the oldest game I currently have installed is Total War Rome 2 which was released in 2013.

Getting back into EF2000, I'm inspired by the possibilities. The V2.0/Super Win95 version (looks and plays exactly like the pure-DOS version) runs so fast on my new laptop that a hat pan whips my head around the pit several times a second! Flying through the fjords and valleys and around icebergs is a trip at this speed (not really playable, but entertaining). Add Time Acceleration (Shift + T) and you're flying the Firefox! The EF2000 map is so freggin' big that it's doable to fly this 'fast', with the low-res terrain being detailed enough (IMO) that the blur of flying low-level through Scandinavia at Mach 6 is quite exciting!

I'm also pleased that DOSBox runs everything as expected on new my laptop.

Mark what OS do you have EF200 up on..I tried win 7 64 bit and couldn't even get it to install..Great sim and would love to be flying up the fjords again

My oldest games... IL2 (the first one), and Hidden and Dangerous, still on my hard drive!

That is a bona fide classic! I played the original release from 1999 and I also played the "Deluxe" edition with the improved graphics which came out several years later.

It's probably the installer. I know the original 32-bit InstallShield program (3rd-party installer) won't work with 64-bit Windows.

Some good news and bad news, the good news first...

Something that has always endured me to DID sims is that they don't have to be formally installed. That is, you have to install them once for the installer to build the game folder and files, but then you can zip and copy the single game folder (directory) into any PC and simply run the executable. All dependencies are included in the game folder vs. installing libraries in ...\Windows\System32. Even the Win32 F-22 ADF/TAW works this way, like a DOS program, it's self-contained. So install it in 32-bit Win9x/XP if you have access (or some virtual equivalent, maybe also Linux/Wine?) and then [optionally] Zip the folder to archive (~40 MB) and to copy wherever you want, any PC or location (it's not directory sensitive).

Now the bad news...

Unless you're playing EF2000 on a really old PC (I play it on a 1GHz CPU/256MB SDRAM), it's going to run waaay too fast! Even on this PC I have to use a CPU throttler (at 50%) for game clock speed (time of day displayed at bottom of screen) to match real-time, which often misses an input on a skipped cycle (most noticeable with joystick button presses). The faster the PC, the more you have to throttle, the worst it gets. A PC capable of running Win7 probably won't work very well. At least, that's my experience with EF2000 V2 (Super EF2000) for Win95.

Yes mate, same here, I had H&D when it came out, then H&D2 followed by Sabre Squadron, played them to death!