Still Benchmark Sims and it's still free. (Still need Falcon 4.0)
https://www.falcon-bms.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_4.0#Digital_distribution_re-releases
It has outlived Allied Force
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_4.0:_Allied_Force
Note: 26 YO game kept alive by it's community looks Awesome and It's still going strong.
maybe a lesson here?
It's amazing a bunch of enthusiasts can keep that moving so far forward for so long.
Weird. I was just thinking about Falcon the other day. And IL2 1946. They have added like a hundred planes or something insane since the company abandoned the game. Overhauled sound system, all kinds of amazing hacks. Not the best way to have to develop software, but they have a dedicated base willing to make that level of effort.
Why could they get so much done on completely dead and abandoned games and AH can't even get a terrain rotation list modified?
In Falcon's case, the company was defunct and someone leaked the source out. Rabid dedicated players grabbed it and ran with it out of passion.
In 1946 case, the company was still there, but no longer going to expand or support 1946 and so when it was cracked and the base started making additions and improvements they just shrugged it off and didn't officially support that effort, but took a neutral stance and made no attempt to stop them. Why not. There fact that there is still a faint pulse in 1946 just gets them continued residual sales. There are still people who go out and buy a $4.99 copy of 1946 not for the base game, but because of the universe of player mods.
So 1C continues to earn sales off a game only because they allow the base to hack it and add content they won't. Clever.
AH is stuck in an awkward middle ground.
The company is not defunct and the source is not released. There is no further development, but a legal entity still owns the code so everyone else is locked out of making changes either without violating the license.
So all you can do is skins and terrains. Both quite well done, but that is the limit. Oh, I guess someone could fiddle with sounds.