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=1ja7LnhnJahLVl4AvMh3DlDKwoXpTrKSmTo 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