General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Bixby on July 23, 2021, 09:16:02 AM
Title: Before Aces High
Post by: Bixby on July 23, 2021, 09:16:02 AM
I was trying to remember the early sims that Dale Addink made before the first Aces High.
Can anyone remember those titles?
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: oboe on July 23, 2021, 09:35:37 AM
Check Six?
I'm sure he worked on WarBirds also, and left to start Aces High after the company was sold and the new guy moved the operation to North Carolina.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: SIK1 on July 23, 2021, 09:59:54 AM
iirc he did a gun camera, or something along those lines for Air Warrior. I'm sure someone with a better memory will chime in.
:salute Sik
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: The Fugitive on July 23, 2021, 10:28:33 AM
HItech post this once......
1. I played Air Warrior (was a +100 hrs a month junky) 2. I started playing with flight model physics and graphic programing (HTSIM). 3. I created in Confirmed Kill at night in 94 early 95. Had 2 partners in the business Killer (John McQueen) and Gunjam (Robert Salinas) 4. We went live with Confirmed kill in May 95. 5. August 95 renamed CK to Warbirds. 6 3 years later we merged with iMagic (I.E. Wild Bill) and I lost control of WB. 7. By late 98 Bill was totally messing up the long term viability of the old company for many reasons (stock went from $14 to less then 1 cent). 8. I left and began work at home on AH.
HiTech
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Nefarious on July 23, 2021, 12:07:45 PM
1. I played Air Warrior (was a +100 hrs a month junky) 2. I started playing with flight model physics and graphic programing (HTSIM). 3. I created in Confirmed Kill at night in 94 early 95. Had 2 partners in the business Killer (John McQueen) and Gunjam (Robert Salinas) 4. We went live with Confirmed kill in May 95. 5. August 95 renamed CK to Warbirds. 6 3 years later we merged with iMagic (I.E. Wild Bill) and I lost control of WB. 7. By late 98 Bill was totally messing up the long term viability of the old company for many reasons (stock went from $14 to less then 1 cent). 8. I left and began work at home on AH.
HiTech
Sometime in the area of 94/95 - There was pc game magazine I found in a local grocery store that spotlighted confirmed kill and I was super interested.
At the time, we didn't have internet - my dad refused to get it lol - so I stuck to single player games like Jetfighter II, Falcon, FOTI, and others. It wasn't until 2000 I discovered Aces High and had the internet to play it. lol.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Hajo on July 23, 2021, 06:52:49 PM
Air Warrior my first online MMOG. Up until that time there was nothing like it! A lot of us Boomers were deeply interested in WWII Combat especially in the air. Since I was eight years old I was reading about WWII Aircraft and building models of the same. When the late 70s and 80s came it was possible to emulate that one your early PC. At that time I was already in my 30s' (1980) and games like Aces of the Pacific, Jane's Fighters, and an earlier version of the WWII Genre I played on an old 8088, no hard drives, 512K memory and had to make a boot disk to free up memory so that I could play Their Finest Hour. Can't do that today..........it was easier then in DOS 2.1 to get into the autoexe.bat file and remark lines that would not be needed that would take up memory prohibiting you from playing the game. So I simply made (first of all before booting I had to insert the DOS disk into the disk drive. Then I designed my own boot file to directly start up Their Finest Hour.
DOS was great at that time. It was truly an operating system as opposed to application systems. I miss it.
Then Air Warrior on a 486 with a paradise vid card........and on to Aces High. Geez.........that's 40 years :joystick:
I miss true operating systems that one could change to suit your needs.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Vulcan on July 24, 2021, 12:54:21 AM
CK Beta was my first online sim, a had a nice guy called Ripsnort show me the ropes :)
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Wildin on July 24, 2021, 06:06:21 AM
Hooked on Warbirds late 90s till Katrina ate my gear 2005. :joystick:
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Eagler on July 24, 2021, 06:34:31 AM
Battlehawks 1942 back around 93 on a 286 and a monochrome video card started this addiction
SWOTL and other box sims followed
Fighter Ace was the first online sim
Been AH fan for around 20 years
Best distraction going!
Eagler
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: oboe on July 24, 2021, 07:41:22 AM
I found this in a WIRED review of the book, "Warbirds: The Story So Far"
"Territorial scuffles that arose between WarBirds' original creators and the company that bought out the game, iEntertainment, were the cause of an angry walkout earlier this year.
"[Game creator] John MacQueen walked out of a meeting with the vice president of iEN and announced to his staff that he was leaving the company," Williams said. "Every single person picked up and followed him to his new company."
WarBirds' original creators, John "Killer" MacQueen, Dale "HiTech" Addink, and Robert "GunJam" Salinas have since formed their own companies. Within the Warbirds community, people feel that groups will split off and coalesce around the new sims that emerge from these companies."
HiTech went on to create Aces High, and I think WWII Online was another spinoff startup from WarBirds, but I don't know if it was Killer or Gunjam, or both.
My own involvement dates back to WarBirds in late '98. I was home from work recovering from pneumonia, and out of boredom I checked out a WarBirds demo CD that a woman I worked with had given me. She had been on a cruise, and had met and been chatted up by none other than Wild Bill Stealey, who gave her some demo CDs. I don't know how she knew I had an interest in WWII aviation, but once I installed WarBirds and tried it I was hooked, hard. Even though I was still sick, I went out to my local CompUSA and bought a full Thrustmaster "Top Gun" HOTAS package. I think it took me much longer to recover because I spent so much time playing and not enough sleeping. This was back when WarBirds was $2/hr for online play.
I also had played BattleHawks 1942 and SWOTL, but online play with voice comms between players changed everything for me.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: AAIK on July 24, 2021, 09:25:08 AM
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Frodo on July 24, 2021, 12:01:02 PM
Warbirds in 95 and then A/H when it went live. AAIK those pics bring back some memories. :cheers: :old:
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Vulcan on July 24, 2021, 06:03:53 PM
Well if you want first flight sims....
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: iaqmya on July 25, 2021, 07:36:09 AM
First flight sim was a CD F-15 Strike Eagle on an 8088 IBM with two floppy drives and a 4.7 or 4.8 mghz CPU with green monitor. Used an Office computer at Luke AFB in 1986/87. Played for ten minutes and decided that I probably should not us Govt system. Went to the Base Exchange the next day and bought my own, a Commador PC 10-2 with two floppy drives and a 4.8 mghz CPU. No internet of course. A few weeks later I updated it by replacing one of the floppy drives with a few megabyte Hard Drive. Played other CD flight sims, Red Barron, Aces over Europe and Aces of the Pacific and a few others. First on line was Warbirds, then went to Aces (2006)high along with the 475th when they moved from Warbirds. Dawger then got itchy feet and took the squadron to War Thunder in 2017 and now has moved it to DCS this year. Even at my age, I still enjoy flying and still make a great target. Once had the call sigh ibdead . :lol Current call sign, since 2006 is icke1.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Maverick on July 25, 2021, 09:56:06 AM
My first flight game was Battle Of Britain. I played it on my brand new hi tech IBM style 286 PC. Previously I had an apple 2c with a second floppy drive. Wore that sucker out playing all kinds of apple games. I switched to IBM when I saw all the games that were out for that profile vs apple stuff. Never went back to apple and that includes their overpriced phones even today.
My first flight sim was the venerable Flight Simulator. Hated it and went back to BoB.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Nefarious on July 25, 2021, 10:51:44 AM
Battlehawks 1942 back around 93 on a 286 and a monochrome video card started this addiction
SWOTL and other box sims followed
Same. Signed onto AW4win when they realized that not everyone had Windows 95. That would have been around October of 1995, I believe. Once exposed, I ran right out and bought Win95.
There was a span of time when AOL was free. I remember those nights dialing AOL, over and over again, getting the busy signal, hanging up, redialing until the connection was made. Sometimes it took half an hour. Sometimes it didn't happen at all. Shows how important it was to us that we had a person v person WWII aviation combat sim. As easy as the internet is these days, I don't believe you could recreate that level of dedication.
- oldman
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Arlo on July 25, 2021, 06:16:28 PM
Back when I was on active duty a squadron mate of mine got 'Mig Alley Ace' for his Commodore 64. This was considered hot stuff in its day. We played it for hours on end. He could never seem to understand how I knew he was lining me up when I went all sorts of evasive.
Same. Signed onto AW4win when they realized that not everyone had Windows 95. That would have been around October of 1995, I believe. Once exposed, I ran right out and bought Win95.
There was a span of time when AOL was free. I remember those nights dialing AOL, over and over again, getting the busy signal, hanging up, redialing until the connection was made. Sometimes it took half an hour. Sometimes it didn't happen at all. Shows how important it was to us that we had a person v person WWII aviation combat sim. As easy as the internet is these days, I don't believe you could recreate that level of dedication.
- oldman
Same same. I still feel like the best set up was the one in Airwarrior that limited the base capture, had the VoD for those who thought vulching was a way of life, and those fields that encouraged the air combat. When winning the map took over, the air combat became secondary. Those days when we started the "Nomads" squad for a bunch of us initially as a once a week shades squad, were a great time. Pick a the country with lowest numbers and up doing dumb things like goony raids to see if you could drop enough troops to capture one of those coastal bases. Yak sweeps, AW Jugs (which were awful) in a sweep to the VoD to hit the vulcher's base. That and lots of fights in 38s :) ahh the good old days
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Nefarious on July 25, 2021, 11:05:34 PM
Ace of Aces - The first flight sim I ever played - I think I was probably 8 or 9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDJfq6CQ_0
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Arlo on July 26, 2021, 12:54:43 AM
Played that in the navy, as well. More than once when in flight to various bases.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Eagler on July 26, 2021, 06:51:32 AM
If we got that at kind of graphical improvement in 25 years, what will the next 25 bring?
My guess it will be bringing monitor resolution to VR and improving it so the FOV is not the periscope view it is now
Eagler
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: icepac on July 26, 2021, 02:51:29 PM
Add an electric shock seat cover to simulate combat wounds.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Fencer51 on July 26, 2021, 03:00:48 PM
In Airwarrior by Kesmai, Hitech made a viewer where you could analyze your dogfights. It might have been the first film recorder in the game. If I remember correctly it had a in cockpit view and an exterior view which you could move around. It was wire based graphics and I believe that you could actually fly your plane, changing its path etc, at any point but the other planes never changed from their actual recorded paths.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: The Fugitive on July 26, 2021, 03:56:04 PM
In Airwarrior by Kesmai, Hitech made a viewer where you could analyze your dogfights. It might have been the first film recorder in the game. If I remember correctly it had a in cockpit view and an exterior view which you could move around. It was wire based graphics and I believe that you could actually fly your plane, changing its path etc, at any point but the other planes never changed from their actual recorded paths.
I dont remember Hitech doing any programming in AW.....other than rumors of possible hacking :noid But yes the film viewer was cool. You could take control of your plane in the film and fight the fight again. The other plane wouldnt react to your "new moves" and would continue the fight as it was run originally.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Volron on July 26, 2021, 04:25:28 PM
My first is well known by a few, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. F-15 Strike Eagle II, Red Baron, Aces of the Pacific, Aces Over Europe and Their Finest Hour: Battle of Britain followed. I also played the hell out of the DOS version B-17 Flying Fortress. :joystick:
Oddly enough, one of the ads that HiTech ran on the Discovery Channel is what got me into Aces High. Not right away mind you, as I looked it up then sidelined it for a small while before finally giving it a go; Primarily because I forgot... :o I honestly remember fuel being "pork-able" to 25% and "zone strats" when I first started... :uhoh But score page says I started after that. *shrugs*
What is funny, I had a 350+ kill career in both Red Baron and B-17. The Iron Cross kill marks in B-17 got pretty big. :D Course it was extremely easy to get very high kill careers in B-17 since you were the only bomber that shot back. The others were just for more ords and to draw fire. :noid
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: guncrasher on July 26, 2021, 10:56:47 PM
I dont remember Hitech doing any programming in AW.....other than rumors of possible hacking :noid But yes the film viewer was cool. You could take control of your plane in the film and fight the fight again. The other plane wouldnt react to your "new moves" and would continue the fight as it was run originally.
used to practice gunning in my b17's that way. I got pretty good at it.
semp
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Brooke on August 09, 2021, 05:13:33 PM
How many of you remember when this was new and amazing?
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: turt21 on August 09, 2021, 05:34:16 PM
Anyone ever played Secret weapons of the luftwaffe or F22 flight sim. ?? havent heard those mentioned. Cut my teeth on one of the original Microsoft Flight Sims then graduated to these. I remember being pleased when I made my first landing. MAny years back...
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: TequilaChaser on August 09, 2021, 06:45:53 PM
In Airwarrior by Kesmai, Hitech made a viewer where you could analyze your dogfights. It might have been the first film recorder in the game. If I remember correctly it had a in cockpit view and an exterior view which you could move around. It was wire based graphics and I believe that you could actually fly your plane, changing its path etc, at any point but the other planes never changed from their actual recorded paths.
That is near exactly as I remember it happening, Fencer....
<S>
TC
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: bj229r on August 10, 2021, 07:13:07 PM
I happened upon Air Warrior in '95 on AOL-hell-dialup......25 wasted years followed :aok
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Brooke on August 10, 2021, 07:18:18 PM
I happened upon Air Warrior in '95 on AOL-hell-dialup......25 wasted years followed :aok
25 *enhanced* years followed! :aok
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Swoop on August 11, 2021, 08:11:18 AM
For me, before Aces High came European Air War.....followed by the complete let down that was Microprose's B-17 II.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: SIK1 on August 11, 2021, 09:44:36 AM
In the very beginning, when I was a kid I would pretend, and use my imagination that I was flying a fighter. I remember thinking how neat it would be if there was some way to experience what I imagined. This was even before Pong was was released, so I couldn't have dreamed where we would end up.
<S> Sik
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Eagler on August 11, 2021, 09:57:21 AM
In the very beginning, when I was a kid I would pretend, and use my imagination that I was flying a fighter. I remember thinking how neat it would be if there was some way to experience what I imagined. This was even before Pong was was released, so I couldn't have dreamed where we would end up.
<S> Sik
Well said -- same for me. :aok
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Arlo on August 11, 2021, 06:06:33 PM
Well, if we're going back that far, this gave me hours upon hours of enjoyment (circa 1967ish):
Arlo these started my addiction also. I then moved up to the hard stuff. Plastic model kits. :devil :cheers:
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Maverick on August 12, 2021, 09:23:38 AM
I was bitten by the aircraft bug before I was able to form sentences I am sure. I was always fascinated by planes. When much younger I was very much into building model airplanes. I had enough that there was no way I could store all of them on my dresser or desk. I divided up the ceiling in my bedroom into aircraft era's. I had WW1, WW2 and Korea. I had suspended the models from the ceiling in dogfight poses with those of opposing sides as I imagined them flying. Then along came my little sister who gleefully cut the strings and let them hit the floor. All that time carefully building and painting gone, not to mention all the money I scrounged and did odd jobs and washing cars to get. After that I never built another model lest it too fall victim to my mother's little princess.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Wiley on August 12, 2021, 10:59:34 AM
I started out with Jet by SubLogic. Played the heck out of it when I was a kid. Then came Red Baron and F-19 Stealth Fighter. In the 90s, I found one of the online sims, Confirmed Kill or possibly Warbirds at the time, and saw that it was an hourly fee. I knew myself and what would likely happen with that, and instead chose rent and food.
Discovered Warbirds in 2007 and played it for a while, then came over here.
Wiley.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Vulcan on August 12, 2021, 02:56:23 PM
Who remembers Flight Unlimited and EF2000? They were my first VR flight sims, both supported VR out of the box (mid-90s).
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: save on August 14, 2021, 07:34:43 PM
Sublogic flight sim (1980) on Apple II. SWOTL Warbirds from early -97 AH for 9 years Cliffs of Dover Currenly I play Il2 Sturmovik Box with Loose Deuce squadron.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Drano on August 15, 2021, 01:28:35 PM
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, LHX Attack Chopper and Red Baron were the formative sims for me. Then Air Warrior. Recently put my old Franken PC back in operation to run them and stuff like Duke Nukem fur fun. Can video capture that stuff now waaay better than was even possible then. After that I moved to Aces High and dabble in IL2. DCS is too much of a stretch for me. Appears too hard to fly and get even the slightest drink on.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Volron on August 21, 2021, 06:38:29 PM
I KNEW I was forgetting one. I had a copy of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat as well! For kicks I would "jump" B-52's with the 190. You can figure how well that generally went. :D
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Treize69 on August 24, 2021, 04:42:21 PM
I remember playing Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Fighter Duel, Air Warrior, Red Baron, WarBirds and a few others before Aces High.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Mister Fork on August 25, 2021, 09:42:08 AM
I remember playing Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Fighter Duel, Air Warrior, Red Baron, WarBirds and a few others before Aces High.
CYAC - great game. Loved Red Baron - remember being recruited for the various squadrons by the aces? And you could customize your paint job? Such a great game!
When was the last time anyone released a decent WWII flight sim game?
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Drano on August 25, 2021, 09:54:33 AM
Like Chuck always said "It's a great day for flying!"
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Mister Fork on August 25, 2021, 11:10:35 AM
CYAC - great game. Loved Red Baron - remember being recruited for the various squadrons by the aces? And you could customize your paint job? Such a great game!
When was the last time anyone released a decent WWII flight sim game?
That was the best part about Red Baron, being able to have custom paint jobs. Didn't have a ton of options, but had more than enough in my book. :aok
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Gh0stFT on August 27, 2021, 02:13:08 PM
Close before AH (1998) anyone remember the small company Simguilde? They have created Flying Circus a WW1 Sim, massive online Multiplayer. That's where i got my multiplayer wings :D First i flew with the Hells Angels (HA) and ended up as a Flying Tiger (FT). Loved it and made many friends around the world, especially with the AK's (Arabian Knights) guys :D
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: fd ski on August 28, 2021, 01:04:32 PM
I remember playing Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Fighter Duel, Air Warrior, Red Baron, WarBirds and a few others before Aces High.
i played Fighter Duel a lot back in 1995-1996. We used Kali service for gamematching - all different games where there, so those playing fighter duel would put fd- before their nickname. To this day i'm fd-ski :)
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Treize69 on September 02, 2021, 12:54:43 PM
I never played FD in multiplayer, I had a terrible connection I just loaded up 1v8 AI and went to town. First one I was able to play online was WarBirds starting in 1999.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Vulcan on September 02, 2021, 04:47:28 PM
Same, I used to play Fight Dual Corsair vs Zero on the Amiga.
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: turt21 on September 03, 2021, 12:54:40 PM
Anyone play Secret Weapons Luftwaffe and F22 Stealth
Title: Re: Before Aces High
Post by: Oldman731 on September 03, 2021, 10:28:36 PM