And another quick update for BMS 4.37.
Best posts made by Spyhawk
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Falcon 4 History Chart
Hi there,
[For those of you that haven’t seen this document yet]
Wondering where are all those BMS, openFalcon and FreeFalcon groups coming from? Vaguely heard about SuperPak and ViperOps? Don’t have a clue about what iBeta and eRazor are?
Here’s the Falcon 4 evolution story, in a graphical timeline:
http://sites.google.com/site/falcon4historyLet me know if I missed something or if you have any suggestion
Edit: See also The Falcon Epopee
Regards,
Spyhawk
Note: This document is released under a copyleft license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), so anyone is free to grab it and improve it as long as it is released under the same license. The source file (under the same license) is also on the website.
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RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
And… again a small update for the last 4.37 patch 1 update, so the chart is kept completely up to date for a little longer.
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The Falcon Epopee - The history of Falcon 4
Hi there,
So beside the history chart, another pet project of mine is to keep trace of events that occurred thorough F4 history.
Back in 2002, I started to write the “history of Falcon 4” in my native language, continuously updating the article every few months to keep track of important events occurring within the community. You might have already came across it, for example in this GF thread or on that website (both links dead as of today).
With the release of Falcon BMS, it was time to update the article again. Not only it is available for the very first time in English, but it has also been entirely reworked to understand better the complex legacy our simulator has left behind.
Before proceeding, a few remarks about this work:
- This is a continuously work-in-progress draft, far from being perfect. Remember I’m not a native English speaker, and I actually really need fresh eyes to have a look at it.
- Lot of hours of writing went to this document through the years, not to mention most of its sections have been rewritten many times. It is therefore difficult to grasp the real facts or to stay truly objective, and I will not pretend that what you are about to read is 100% accurate.
- I’m interested in what you have to say, particularly if you are or have been involved in community development. Simply send me a message on the BMS forums with your remarks, and I will use your input to improve future version of the “Falcon Epopee”.
This document is my personal “Thank you” to the numerous people that gave and still give their free time to keep the Falcon alive. I report here the history of Falcon 4, but it is all of you who made it. I hope you will enjoy the “Falcon Epopee” (PDF) as much as I enjoyed writing it through the past decade.
This document is released under the Creative Common BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Latest posts made by Spyhawk
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RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
And… again a small update for the last 4.37 patch 1 update, so the chart is kept completely up to date for a little longer.
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RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
Another smallish update for the more recent updates!
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RE: The Falcon Epopee - The history of Falcon 4
The chart has been updated. The F4Epopee article itself hasn’t been touched since 2017, so I’d probably need to extend it a bit to take 4.34 into account.
However, not much has really changed. Gone are the days of multiple groups competing with different version, BMS won for the good of almost everyone - apart from anyone that wanted to read more about community drama -
RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
At least I flew 1-2 missions so far using every major versions since SP3. Before that was any version which can be considered “major”?
Oh hell yes! All RP patches were considered a major improvement over the original game back in the days. eFalcon 1.09 was like a revolution, and SP1 was a truly major step as it “reunited” two competing groups.
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RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
1.08i2 was an unofficial patch, created by/with the help of iBeta, the same quality assurance group that worked on official MicroProse patches. If you want to read full details about F4 history, be sure to read the “Epopee Falcon” PDF (it’s linked in the very first post of this thread, or in my signature below - I still need to update it as last time I did was back in 2017).
To answer your questions:
1. Many of old timer have played all versions. I personally never played with the iBeta patches nor the first RP patches, but pretty much everything else. Many people have been involved in the various groups over the ages, but I don’t think anyone have been involved in all groups, especially since many of the early guys worked then on the commercial Allied Force (and kinda alienated themselves from the rest of the community, especially the BMS group).
2. There are a few, but not many. And most of them are well below the scope of what Falcon 4 provides. One such example would be nethack (1987), still updated today. -
RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
Sorry for being so late! I know you personally enjoy the chart, but I’m unfortunately not really following closely the F4 world nowadays
I’ll try to be more reactive for the next updates! -
RE: Falcon 4 History Chart
With some delay, the history chart has been updated. Enjoy!