I've just been playing Ace Combat 6, and I always loved the Rogue Squadron games, but now I'm after something a bit more... serious, I guess. Something where I don't end up shotting down 100-200 enemies in each level. The X-Wing games sound good, but I can't find a legal download source for them, and can't be arsed with ebay right now. Something on Steam would be most convenient, but any good flight sims would be welcomed (except for those Microsoft ones where you fly commercial planes around an airport, because I NEED some explosions please).
EDIT: I've been looking on Steam, and IL-2 Sturmovik and the F-15 and F-22 games look like what I'm after, but I've no idea if they're actually any good.
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I'll look at IL-2, but I'd probably prefer either modern or scifi. Lomac looks good, but I'd need to import it from either the US or UK, so other recommendations are still welcome.
Also, will I need a joystick? The 360 controller seems to handle Ace Combat ok.
If not, then your question is answered. Really definitively answered. SO forcefully definitively answered that it goes into negative raging question, "WHY HAVE YOU NOT ALREADY GOT FREESPACE 2 YOU MORON!?" territory.
And yeah, joystick is preferable.
EDIT: Also, in case you're interested in other sims, Silent Hunter 4 is awesome once you wrap your head around it.
Seriously though you do not have to spend $200 on a flight stick, throttle and food pedals. All you need is a $30 joystick and that should be good enough. The only problems I experienced with cheap joysticks is a little floating that forces you to recalibrate it.
I wish to god I could get it working on my Win7 64-bit system. My Saitek X45 needs some loving.
Pretty pissed IL-2 Sturmovik Birds of Prey was console-only.
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So I understand that there is some way to play Freespace 1 on the Freespace 2 engine, or something. Is this something we're allowed to discuss here?
If not, Freespace 2 from GoG is good? Is there anything on GoG stopping non-Americans from buying their games?
Also, I was going to buy Silent Hunter 4 during the steam sale, until it disappeared from the Aus store and still isn't back, dammit.
We're allowed to discuss it since the project still needs to make use of the game files (it didn't when the project first started off IIRC, but that was because the game wasn't on sale anymore at the time). And GOG is an international store. CD- Projekt (the guys behind GOG) are actually based in Poland. GOG is good, they tailor the games to work on modern OS's, and especially cool is the fact that none of their games have any DRM. You download the installer and you can use it wherever and whenever you want, on as many systems of yours as you'd like. They also provide extras like soundtracks and stuff.
Anyway once you've got the games, what you're looking for is the Freespace 2 SCP, or "Source Code Project". Basically the devs released the source-code to Freespace 2 years back, and a community's sprung up and have been tweaking and visually improving the game since, including porting FS1 into the FS2 engine.
More details and you can ask more questions and stuff in the space sim thread:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=89021
Awesome, thanks. I'll download those and pick up lomac at some point.
I also just noticed that I got X3 during a steam sale, so I guess I should give that a shot too.
Birds of prey was arcadey bullshit that they pretended wasn't going to be arcadey bullshit. It's pretty much not worth owning if you liked previous IL2 games.
X3 is a pretty good space sim, although you kind of have to make your own fun. It's better without a joystick, in my opinion.
Honestly 90% of modern flight sims is 'press these exact buttons every time you take off, learn to press buttons to use radar and launch missiles beyond visible range, rinse and repeat'. I generally only have fun with ground attack in them. For WW2 flight games I prefer sims, but modern ones I prefer arcadey things like Ace Combat because modern fighter piloting just isn't that much fun. Pressing that button to wait another 20 seconds to find out whether they evaded your missile or not will never compare to diving out of the sun and training your cannons over the enemy, blowing their wing clean off and watching them trail burning fuel into the sea (and then doubling back and shooting their parachute if they particularly annoyed me). Much more visceral.
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Saitek's Cyborg series joysticks (the adjustable ones) are really nice and comfortable. I haven't tried their new one, but they should be good.
If you're looking at MS Flight Sim X, also give X-plane a try.
I play LOMAC with a 360 controller and the keyboard. If I tried a little harder I might be able to take the keyboard totally out of the equation but I think it would overcomplicate things.
My recommendation if you try it:
triggers as rudders
left stick as joystick
right stick as freelook
bumpers for throttle
back/select? to toggle chaff/flare combo
start to switch to cannon/gunsight
X is switch weapons
Y is pickle
A is trigger/cannon
B is lock
D-pad is to slew the targeting cursor, which controls things like the Maverick seeker head, radar slew, etc.
Keyboard for everything else, which there is a lot of, but they're usually for very specific uses. Honestly the default key config seems really silly to me because a lot of common functions seem to use modifier keys and some things like extending the refueling boom are just R.
There were simulation modes (you could also customize it, I believe) that made it very hardcore. The game also works with flight sticks for the Xbox 360, too. I used my Ace Combat 6 one with Birds of Prey.
Isn't Wings of Prey the PC "Now with all the Sim stuff you wanted" version? At least that's what I thought.
(Because I want to get it if it is.)
That's odd. I've gotten it working.
Consider checking out Arma II, which has a lot of vehicle simulation (including aircraft) in a modern setting.
LOMAC has already been mentioned. For its creators, there's also DCS: Black Shark, which is their sequel--the DCS games will basically be built around incredible simulations of individual aircraft (right now, the Ka-50 helicopter, to include the A-10, the Mi-28, and some others).
However, it might be a little too daunting, and it pretty much requires a joystick. There is a "arcade" mode, simulation involves a +70-step routine to start the actual helicopter. Similarly daunting is Falcon 4.0, which has a lot of different modifications.
If you don't need to shoot things, check out Microsoft's FSX, which is basically the best civil aviation simulator commercially available (maybe tied with FS2004). The community and downloads for it are HUGE.
Maybe it was different on PSP then? Because that's what I have it on, and there are no such options anywhere to be found. You don't even land or takeoff, ever.
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Yeah, I cannot imagine it being very good on the PSP given...well, the controls among other things.
The console version (at least on Xbox 360) had a very unforgiving simulation mode. That did involve landing.
The PSP version was nowhere near a sim, you silly goose. Ace Combat X was more of a sim, or at leas felt more like it with the better controls.
Assuming you're talking to me, silly goose, I'm fairly certain it was called "simulation mode" (or "expert mode") on the Xbox 360.
Again, I'm not familiar with the PSP version.
Indeed, the 360 version had three difficulty settings: Arcade, Realistic, Simulator. Realistic turned off assists like showing you where to lead your target, and used a complex damage model for planes (for both you and the enemy). Oddly enough, Realistic is far easier than Arcade on some missions simply because your wingmen are no longer useless. Simulator was brutal to the point where you need to drop your sensitivity on the controls to 50% to avoid constantly spiraling out of control. You had severe limitations on maneuverability based on your plane, including climbing. A quick fight could become a half hour battle in some cases where you're trying to climb back up to the enemy with gaping holes in both wings.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
Sounds like....a console conversion of Il-2 1946. I actually tried the simulator level in the demo, and sure enough, got my ass shot down very quickly by enemy aircraft.
On the subject, I'm sure I'm the only one who enjoyed the game, but anyone looking into console flight "simulators" (instead of just another arcade game) might want to check out Lock On: Modern Air Combat. The game makes up for a mediocre story by not being Ace Combat levels of ridiculousness and having an incredible attention to detail--cockpit gauges and computer displays are all included, aircraft display and vocalize warnings in their native language (very cool on MiG and Sukhoi aircraft). Control is also much more complex--covering things like landing gear, tail hooks for carrier landings, deploying chaff and flare, and the like.
Unfortunately, the game had one serious flaw that made it goddamn impossible at times--namely, enemy aircraft would periodically spawn behind you (rather than having to travel into the combat area) on 'critical' missions making it goddamn impossible. Add to the fact that your aircraft is exactly as vulnerable as your enemy aircraft, and an aircraft spawning behind you with an AIM-120 locked on your engines pretty much meant you were fucked.
The names have been tossed out there, but I'll put it in one concise post for simplicities sake. There currently exist 5 Flight/Space simulation games that are readily accessible (one or two more than aren't). Oh, there are others who "claim" to be Flight/Space simulation games, but those are pure crap or non-combat based.
WW2: IL-2 Sturmovik
Modern: Falcon 4.0
Space Combat: Freespace 2
Space Freeform: X-3 Terran Conflict (will accept X3:R just because its almost the same thing)
Space Crazy: Independence War 2 (Not all that accessible, but such a unique and amazing game, it deserves special mention)
(Honorable mentions go to Orbiter and X-Plane for non-combat based, and X-Wing Alliance for inaccessibility)
Edit:
Oh yeah, another Honorable Mention for the Star Wraith games.
Modern Combat: LOMAC, Black Shark, and Falcon 4. If you are going to get into player vs player combat with these three, you better get a joystick. Mapping functions to your joystick is a must if you are serious. LOMAC has the graphical edge, but Falcon nuts are definitely the more serious of the bunch. It is a blast in LOMAC to lock a target in the A-10 with your maverick and watch the flight until impact from within the cockpit.
WW2 Combat: IL2 is the only one. Don't settle for any others. I still recall years ago flying winter missions in a BF-109 online with others, no external cockpit, no tags. It was pretty intense.
Modern/Classic flight sims: Microsoft's FS still rules the roost here. You can find just about any plane you ever dreamed of in this game. I believe X-Plane is still around as well, not a bad sim at all.
Space sims: No opinion.
I started mapping them to my Cyborg 3D's 14 or so buttons and ran out before I'd even got through half of the targetting options.
Does anyone have any recommendations for key mappings that keep keyboard usage to a minimum? ie: what's essential and what can I do without?
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90% of the time you'll probably only need to fire guns & missiles, change gun & missiles, increase/decrease speed (potentially an afterburner key as well, not sure how the Cyborg 3D is setup and if it will let you set afterburner as max thrust), break/reform wingmen, your favorite target hostile option, and a target subsystem button.