Falcon 4.0 20th anniversary!
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I remember it well. It was just around the same time that I joined the staff at Frugal’s. At the time we were more about XCom. We branched out in to flight sims. MiG Alley had a good following there. We had a European Air War forum. When Falcon was released we started a forum for this sim too. And we all know what happened after that. While other forums stayed popular, Frug’s became the go-to place on the web for Falcon in my opinion. It wasn’t the only place, but for me the best.
For the really old timers…… this is what Frugals looked like before we switched to the UBB board. It used the infamous Comet Cursor. Remember that? Threads were the cascading type. Was so happy to go to Ultimate.
http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2017/01/full-6351-131700-frug.jpg
Frugs is gone, sadly. Had word from Mark a couple months back and he is doing well. He is engaged and writing his second book. The website can still be seen on the Wayback Machine, but most threads cannot be drilled down, just snapshots to remind of how it was.
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Exactly, so I’m not sure how exactly one can gauge the Sun’s position using cockpit shadows…
Not difficult at all, look at the AA and AG buttons… shadows clearly show sun position above, slightly behind and to the right. Simple geometry. If it is a 2d pit then the shadows are fixed then meaningless… but if it is 3d then I don’t think so.
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Long live Falcon 4.0
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Great video ! You really did an amazing job redoing that classic intro.
Only little modification I would have suggested is writing “Falcon 4.0” instead of “Falcon 4” -
Great video ! You really did an amazing job redoing that classic intro.
Only little modification I would have suggested is writing “Falcon 4.0” instead of “Falcon 4”OMG, I did it wrong the text. I rarely see the F4.0 or Falcon 4.0
Maybe I make again and reupload. -
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Or could he put in the end 4.34 or something
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Or could he put in the end 4.34 or something
As intro of 4.34? Won’t be intro of BMS4 the video. Or you suggesting change the Falcon 4 –-> BMS 4.34 in the video?
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Not difficult at all, look at the AA and AG buttons… shadows clearly show sun position above, slightly behind and to the right. Simple geometry. If it is a 2d pit then the shadows are fixed then meaningless… but if it is 3d then I don’t think so.
The images showed the 2D cockpit indeed. It was the standard in the late 90’s and in the beginning of 2000’s. However, Falcon 4.0 has had a 3D cockpit since the beginning. It was very rough with just a texture over the rough 3D cockpit model. HUD, DED and some of the gauges of the right instrument stack worked though. Furthermore, the 3D cockpit at that time was not clickable, and thus the aircraft was mostly operated through the 2D cockpit. Simply put, it was nowhere near to what we have today. An example image showing the 3D pit of SuperPAK 4, taken on August 2, 2004 (the original 3D cockpit was very similar to the one depicted below):
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My time is Dec. 12 already… XD
Celebrating our days with Falcon 4.0 till the end of this week we will.
and Molnigalage, MEGA works! -
Today is the day !
**Happy Birthday Falcon 4.0 !
:birt: :blowpar: :bdance::birt:All the best wishes to you, but longlasting healthiness of your code
and data on top of all.May your community grow, be helpfull and polite to each other,
share nice ideas and maybe even start to contribute in addons,
or further developing someday.**
Yeah, we know it wasn’t always easy, … thinking about your children’s diseases resulting
in lot’s of CTDs, where we were not sure if it was you or our low rig causing that CTD.
After the first patches it was a little better, but still.And yes, I was apoplectic with rage when I’ve heard the Microprose/ Hasbro coders will be fired
short before christmas 1999 and therefor the development on you should be aborted soon.BUT instead, some genius gave your code freedom to the puplic which was a life saving
act to you, and great hope for the already growing community.For me it was sad to see the other childrens pointing the finger at you, singing:
“you’ve been leeeaaaked, you’ve been leeeaaaked” … in six weeks cycles on the forums.Therefor you’ve been forced to duck and cover to save to your life so often, and even
as a teenager you went hidden in the dark and the puplic community called you “DarkFalcon”,
without really knowing if and when you’ll see daylight again.But these are things from the past and if we look at you today, we see a grown, rock stable
and brillant simulation, without the need to hide or duck and cover for any reason.You have made it the hard way but survived, and can be really proud of that fact.
From the first idea to your current state, there must have been thousands of people
involved, and we as community are deeply grateful for each one who has spent his nerves,
time and effort to create and improve you until today, … and in future.We also think about those people who can’t celebrate your 20th anniversary with us,
but have been community members, or involved in your development in any way.
And if we start the sim then IMHO we should think about them, for just a second,
before we enjoy the result of 20 years of your development, and such an amazing history.Ladies and Gentlemen, … Falconeers,
let’s raise our glasses and drink on all those brothers and sisters, … cheers!
:drink:
(request AAR from tanker)Let’s raise our glasses and drink on the best sim which was, which is
and which ever will be, … skoal!
:drink:
(request AAR from tanker)Let’s raise our glasses and drink on the past 20 years,
and the time in front of us, … to your health!
:drink:
(request AAR from tanker)And finally let’s raise our glasses and drink on the sim that will never die !!! , … cheeeeeerio!
:drink:
(request AAR from tanker and repeat the cycle, but try to avoid hard landings
under any circumstances.
I case of problems with your gear, visual or orientation, proceed emergency checklist. :p)At the end of my post, please allow me to quote an old lyric
from a community member back in the day, directly from old SP3_manual.pdf.**The Falconeer
with permission, by D. “Dada” Miller 2001A bit of wisdom for those who dare
To build our dream sim of the air.
So gather round.
Come gather here
Learn how to please the Falconeer.
This is not for the weak, the bent, the bowed.
This is only for those who know their code.
Code at idle.
Code under stress.
And what’s the effect on my F.P.S?
Does the code crash
If I pull some G’s?
Or bring my beige box to its knees?
Will my Windows finally seize?
If not, then you’re coming near
Starting to please the Falconeer.
Ignore the rants, the raves and bitches,
Just give us all a lot of switches.
This one to pull.
This one to push.
This one for firmness under tush.
Switches to start.
Switches to stop.
A switch so my load won’t prematurely drop.
This will take you to the top
And pose you there without a peer
In starting to please the Falconeer.
So make it hard, don’t skimp on that.
It should take newbies and squash ‘em flat.
Checklists galore
For this work, not play.
Starting the engine should take half a day.
Emergency drills?
That circumstance
Should make even Chuck Yeager crap his pants.
Takeoff denied!
Switch frequencies!
(You forgot to pay your airport fees.)
It’s little things such as these
That make it quite clear
You’re out to please the Falconeer.
Leave room for improvements, that’s certainly key.
One patch a day for sheer ecstasy.
Morning defragging.
Defragging at night.
But still defragging program is not quite right.
So tweak the FM
Tweak the A.I.
Tweak till your tweaker lies down just to cry.
Look up at the sky, you do or you die.
Finally facing your deepest fear,
You might not be pleasing the Falconeer.
The final thing: some room to complain
Is really the most vital part of this game.
I paid for a beta?
This sim sucks.
Is this all I get for my 40 bucks?
The FM’s too easy.
The FM’s too hard.
Was this thing coded by a blind, deaf, retard?
Abide yourself by the words of this bard
Though an F-16 I’ve never been near
And you will,
Most certainly,
Be pleasing the Falconeer.**Cheers, :yo:
LS -
Well written Lazy…
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I still remember well the frustration of being shot down / gunned out of the air straight after take-off in Falcon 1 on the Amiga, so welcome to the club all you Falcon 4.0 noobs
It may have been some sort of copy protection and I’ll freely admit my juvenile sins of trying to pirate Falcon for the Amiga (I was a rather poor pupil back then and had to save up some dosh for quite some time in order to legally purchase Falcon).
What an amazing 30 years this has been watching and actively participating in the development in IT, from hacking on an early ZX81 to my 24GB RAM gaming system under my desk today. Thanks to the community for keeping this amazing sim alive, both devs and modders have done a fantastic job and cannot be thanked / rewarded enough for their efforts.
All the best,
Uwe
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Excellent ! Thank you for writing that
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:birt::drink::birt::birt::drink:
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Happy 20th Anniversary Falcon 4.0 !!!
Even if BMS was 3 to 4 weeks from your first release
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Happy 20th Anniversary Falcon 4.0 Team!
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It is an honor for me to have been like the same simulator for 20 years. Thanks Falcon Developers Team for these wonderful 20 years, without you we would be nothing.
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checking hour by hour to see if 4.34 is out
gonna need a new F5 key soon -
lol Would be nice but I would not count on it hehe….
Would be very epic if they did that tho.