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Author Topic: Tornado mods - where do i start?  (Read 4513 times)

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Offline Agathosdaimon

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Tornado mods - where do i start?
« on: September 29, 2019, 07:10:41 AM »
Hi! have had the time to play some more Tornado at last - i love it - its up htere as one of the best sims next to Falcon 3.0 gold/4.0 but i like the Tornado more than the Falcon for some reason.

i was just looking at what mods there are and i am a bit confused as to what one downloads and where - what is teh flight.exe? i also saw mods at the moodurian.com site - TMF 1.07 interests me as well as the 1.04e action sixteen sound patch -, do you know about these? do i need to then put the soundblaster cannon patch over teh action sixeen patch?

the action sixten version of Tornado is what i current have installed - it contains ODS and is version 1.04e
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Offline Agathosdaimon

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2019, 09:29:25 AM »
okay i have gotten the premade Tornada folder and added the latest flight.exe to it (i decided to do this as was going to make a new folder in any case) - i notice the Desert.exe doesnt get changed at all? will the desert missions have the same modded benefits?

do i need to do anything else then?

i went into the game and went to quick start, and the IDS option doesnt work, only ADV - why is this?
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2019, 06:56:19 PM »
Hi Agathosdaimon

It is always nice to meet a Tornado kindred spirit, simulation speaking. ;-)
Thank you for your questions and let me try my best to answer.

(1) What is the FLIGHT.EXE file?

The FLIGHT.EXE file is found inside your game's TORNADO\FLIGHT subfolder. It is actually the 3D simulation engine of Tornado (European land/objects, Green Tornados). The land is green. The part of the game that runs in 320x200 pixels. It contains the 3D modelling, avionics, weapons management, and much, much more. 99% of it was written by Kevin Bezant of Digital Integration. So if you take the Tornado game and remove the following components...
  • Advanced Mission Planner
  • GUI VGA menus
  • Missions data
  • Campaign data
...you will end up with just the Tornado flying around a green (European) landscape. That Tornado of course has the full set of avionics, weapons handling and delivery. That part of the game is the 3D simulation engine which is FLIGHT.EXE.


(2) I notice the Desert.exe doesn't get changed at all? Will the desert missions have the same modded benefits?

The DESERT.EXE file is also found inside your game's TORNADO\FLIGHT subfolder. It is the 3D simulation engine of Tornado (Desert - Iraq? - land/objects, Desert pink Tornados) that is used with the ODS missions and campaigns. The land is desert brown, as you know. So yes, the DESERT.EXE is unchanged, and it is always the original 1994 version. The desert missions DO NOT have the same modded benefits and features.


(3) do i need to do anything else then?

The source code which I have is for FLIGHT.EXE, not DESERT.EXE. So there ODS addon for Tornado is untouched and unaffected by any of the 150 mods that I have done for FLIGHT.EXE. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do since the source code for DESERT.EXE is missing and unavailable.


(4) TMF 1.07 interests me as well as the 1.04e Action Sixteen sound patch. Do you know about these? Do I need to then put the Soundblaster cannon patch over the action sixeen patch?

Both patches were written by Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein between 1994 and 1999. You'll have to read the Readme files.

Action Sixteen Patch - "The Action 16 edition (mainly sold in Europe) of Tornado is a budget version that has the Desert Storm extension on it (version 1.0e) and comes on a CD-ROM, either in a box or in a jewel case with an online Adobe PDF manual. A similar edition was published as a cover-CD-ROM on the German language magazine "Bestseller Games Collection" (issue 12). The problem with these versions is that Soundblaster sound effects were disabled in these editions with the exception of the Quickstart option where you still can hear digitized sound effects. I've written a patch that will allow you to hear Soundblaster effects in all parts of the simulation. Note that this patch will probably not work with the American Trimark edition that also had it's SB effects disabled."

Soundblaster Cannon Patch - "European (DI) versions 1.0c, 1.0d, 10.e; American Versions 1.0c, 1.0d; and American Versions 1.0d patched with the European 1.0e patch"

I believe if you can install the Action 16 Edition SoundBlaster patch over your original Action 16 1.04E game, and successfully enable the SoundBlaster effects in all parts of the game, then there is no need to install the SoundBlaster cannon patch.


(5) I went into the game and went to quick start, and the IDS option doesn't work, only ADV - why is this?
Are you referring to the Quick Start's "ADV Simple" or "ADV Hard", right? On my system, Quick Start's "ADV Simple" works every time. For Quick Start's "ADV Hard, I need to try at least 5 or 6 times before it runs. I don't know why this is. How many times did you try to run "ADV Hard"? My advice is to click the QuickStart "ADV Hard" at least 6 times. If 6 mouse-clicks fail, then I have no answer. If you manage to run the QuickStart "ADV Hard" at least once in 6 attempts, then I also have no answer for this.


By the way, the word 'mod' as used by me is actually misleading. A true mod is one which can be installed and uninstalled/removed. Like a patch. Like some of Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein patches. Like in Silenthunter 3.0/4.0/5.0 mods. When I use the word 'mod' on the DogsOfWarVU.com Tornado forum, what I actually mean is a modified FLIGHT.EXE.

What I have done, is to make 150 different FLIGHT.EXE files. Each successive FLIGHT.EXE has more functionality that a previously created FLIGHT.EXE. To do this, I first make changes to certain assembly source files. Then I compile the source files that have changes. Lastly I link all the compiled code into the end product which is FLIGHT.EXE. For example, to create a new flyby view, I modified VIEWS.ASM. I then compile VIEWS.ASM which creates the VIEWS.OBJ. I then run the L.BAT batch file that links all OBJ files and creates a brand new FLIGHT.EXE (assuming there are no compile-time errors).

Mod#1 is the Hello World 'mod'. It is a modified FLIGHT.EXE that is the same as the original FLIGHT.EXE, except that I cheekily added my name to the Satellite View (F2) screen.

Mod#2 is the Hello World 'mod'. It is a modified FLIGHT.EXE that is the same as the original FLIGHT.EXE, except for the following:
  • Added a small cockpit shake when lowering or rising landing gear
  • Added tire touchdown/rumble sound (placeholder) when pilot makes a good landing

Each successive Mod number may or may not include functionality of earlier modified FLIGHT.EXE files. Mod#150 contains much of the incremental functionality that I added to FLIGHT.EXE over the last two years. It contains most, but not all, of the functionality of Mod#1 to Mod#149. So all you need to do is to download the latest FLIGHT.EXE I created which is inside this post and substitute your game's original FLIGHT.EXE with mine. Of course it would be wise to first save or backup your original FLIGHT.EXE.

The more recent the modified FLIGHT.EXE you download, the more functionality is packed into the FLIGHT.EXE. Which hopefully adds to the game and not detract from it. For the Tornado purist, the original FLIGHT.EXE will suffice. However the lastest FLIGHT.EXE includes a ton of new features. Like full-screen FLIR (for IDS and ADV) and NVG view (for ADV only) modes.

This post contains the new key commands that I have coded into the modded FLIGHT.EXE.

You can download the FLIGHT.EXE source code from here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ja7LnhnJahLVl4AvMh3DlDKwoXpTrKSm
To compile, link and run FLIGHT.EXE, you will need DOSBox.
To know how to compile, link and run FLIGHT.EXE, see:

My observation on Tornado. After 150 'mods' of FLIGHT.EXE, I have come to realise that what makes Tornado, Tornado, is not the amount and nature of the modifications I have done. What makes Tornado, Tornado, is for me, the Advanced Mission Planner (AMP) and the missions/campaigns part of Tornado. The gamer of 1993-1996 spent many an hour planning 6-plane coordinated strike missions with the AMP. Only to fly, bomb and land in 15 minutes. After 26 years, the original and unmodded AMP has stood the test of time. IMHO, the set of AMP, missions and campaigns are what makes Tornado enjoyable and challenging.

Cheers
Frankie Kam
« Last Edit: September 29, 2019, 07:29:19 PM by Frankie »
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Offline Agathosdaimon

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2019, 01:12:29 AM »
thanks for your lengthy reply, - i tried to apply the action16 patch but its instructions didnt make any sense to me - it wanted to copy Force_sb.exe to the flight.exe and desert.exe files and i have no idea what this means or how one copies an exe to another exe.

truthfully i am having enough of a challenged with just the standard 1.04e version of tornado - though i like some of the little additions like snow for the european map, the nvg and that terrain height follow tweak

i havent spent much time with the mission planner, perhaps that is why i have been having such poor success surviving AA and SAMs

i have another question - perhaps it is a dosbox question but i cant seem to get DOSBox to recognize numlock -i switch on in DOSBox and out of DOSBox and nothing changes
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2019, 03:00:33 AM »
Hi Agathosdaimon

I've read the readme. It says:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2) make a complete back-up of all files in the FLIGHT subdirectory of the
TORNADO directory, e.g. put a blank diskette in drive A: and execute

copy c:\tornado\flight\*.* a:

(the file path to the flight subdirectory may vary on your system)

3)  rename two files:



flight\flight.exe ->  flight__.exe
flight\desert.exe ->  desert__.exe

copy FORCE_SB.EXE twice: to flight\flight.exe and flight\desert.exe
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


In simple, non-geek language, here's what it is saying.

"Backup your original installation folder of Tornado. Rename your original FLIGHT.EXE file. Rename your original DESERT.EXE file. Then make two clones of FORCE_SB.EXE. Rename one clone as FLIGHT.EXE. Rename the other clone as DESERT.EXE. Move both the new FLIGHT.EXE and new DESERT.EXE files inside the FLIGHT folder of your Tornado installation."

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLY THE  action16 PATCH
Okay, here's what you do. I assume you are using Windows 7,8 or 10. If you are using DOS or Windows XP (or Windows 98!) because you're using a retro PC (or your original 1995 486SX) to play Tornado (haha), please let me know.

Phase I: Backup your original Tornado installation folder - as a backup
1: right-click your original TORNADO folder and from the shortcut menu that appears, click Copy.
2: click anywhere in the window so that your TORNADO folder is no longer selected.
3. right-click again and from the shortcut menu that appears, click Paste. You should now have a new folder named TORNADO - Copy

Phase II: Rename your original FLIGHT.EXE and DESERT.EXE files
4: rename the original FLIGHT executable file (found inside the TORNADO\FLIGHT subfolder) to FLIGHT__
5: rename the original DESERT executable file (found inside the TORNADO\FLIGHT subfolder) to DESERT__

Phase III: Make a copy of FORCE_SB and rename is as FLIGHT__
6: make a copy of the FORCE_SB executable by right-clicking FORCE_SB and from the shortcut menu that appears, click Copy.
7: right-click and then from the shortcut menu that appears, click Paste. You now should see a new file named FORCE_SB - Copy
8: right-click FORCE_SB - Copy and then from the shortcut menu that appears, click rename. Rename  FORCE_SB - Copy to FLIGHT__
9: move FLIGHT__ into the FLIGHT folder.

Phase IV: Make a copy of FORCE_SB and rename is as DESERT__
10: make a copy of the FORCE_SB executable by right-clicking FORCE_SB and from the shortcut menu that appears, click Copy.
11: right-click and then from the shortcut menu that appears, click Paste. You now should see a new file named FORCE_SB - Copy
12: right-click FORCE_SB - Copy and then from the shortcut menu that appears, click rename. Rename  FORCE_SB - Copy to DESERT__
13: move DESERT__ into the FLIGHT folder.

Phase V: Enjoy the fruit of your labours
14. Fire up Tornado, keep your fingers crossed and enjoy the new SoundBlaster sounds.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Frankie Kam

P.S., Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein is pure genius due to the sheer number of Tornado patches that he churned out between 1994-1999. He managed to do this without even one line of source code. My hats off to him. Imagine what he could have done with the original source code. I managed to contact him via email but he only replied once to me. I tried to interest him to revive his Tornado patching work. To no avail. He's studying the stars and galaxies these days and is making the Cosmos a better place to live it for the rest of humanity. Brainy chap, if ever I met one.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2019, 03:15:35 AM by Frankie »
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Offline Agathosdaimon

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2019, 03:55:53 AM »
thanks, my first thought was that the instructions were wanting me to rename force sb.exe to flight and desert, but what was throwing me is that the force_sb file is so much smaller in size than flight and desert exes - also i applied teh TMF107 patch already and that created already a flight_.exe and desert_.exe so i wasnt sure if i just rename the tmfpatched new flight and desert exes to something like flight_1.exe or something but then again these patched exes are so much larger in size and if they are teh bulk of where the patching and modding happens, if i just replaced them with force_sb.exe files wouldnt i be screwing those patches up?


current on my windows 10 laptop i have 3 tornado folders -

1 is the original game i installed from the action 16 cd (well i copied its contents over to my games folder as it doesnt have an install, it just assume onen would run it from the cd)

2. the copied version of my action 16 folder that i used to apply the TMF1.07 patch (which is the one i was wanting to add teh action16 sound patch to)
3. the tornado folder from your mod thread which is a ready to go version of tornado and all i have done to that is added the latest flight.exe
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2019, 06:58:10 AM »
Do you have the original paper manual of Tornado?
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Offline Frankie

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2019, 07:07:58 AM »
My guess is that the force_sb executable actually calls the renamed FLIGHT and DESERT executables. The only way to know for sure is to try it. As long as you have the original TORNADO folder untouched, you don't have to worry about screwing up the folder where you have already applied the TMF patch. Of course you should also backup your TMF-patch-applied TORNADO folder just to be on the safe side.
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Offline Agathosdaimon

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Re: Tornado mods - where do i start?
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2019, 07:16:31 AM »
okay i will try that and make copies of it all in case it goes wrong.

i do have the paper manual and such from the original tornado box yes.  i would like to get teh box for the action sixteen version though , as i just have the cd for that edition
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