9/10/2001 

Adding more and more trks to the Sturmovik Page...weeeee this sim is fun fun fun. Send in your trks...be famous, be notorious, be laughed at..???

9/8/2001

Screenshots and downloads.....Awesome new sim by Oleg Maddox

IL-2 Sturmovik

4/22/2001

Just a short note to let everyone know that I have updated the Falcon Benchmark. This is exactly the same mission thats been used for several years adjusted to allow it to work with eRazor's patch and iBeta's RP patches. The adjustment wasnt anything that would change the outcome vis a vis average framerates. Please pick up the file here.

4/20/2001 

Ripping it up in a Thunderbird at 1.46 ghz..

All the way live with 
AMD's latest weapon the Athlon Thunderbird 
1.33ghz 266 axia clocked to 1.46ghz 11x133mhz

Bend over Intel, a little guy by the name of Thunderbird has a little something for you. Kicking that ass with the Athlon Thunderbird 1.33ghz 266mhz in a comparison shootout with my old P-III 743mhz...yea I know its not fair. Big deal fair isn't fun....besides y'all want to know whats gonna happen when you upgrade from that pissant P-III to a big bad ass Athlon. Anyways I have oh a few benchmarks...about 11 benchmarks. Whose your daddy....hehehe.

4/09/2001
Flanker 2.5 has been released ! Not only that but its FREE ! Not only that but its moves Flanker 2.0 into if you don't have 2.0 you might be a big ass dummy. GRAB THAT SUCKERHEAD right here...! Well ? What are you waiting for...?? CompUSA still carries Flanker 2.0. Here is a short list on what has been done from my first hand knowledge:

• Vastly improved Flight Model, improved weight modeling, AoA modeling

• Mean and nastier AI

• Ships that fight each other while moving around.

• MiG 29K is now flyable, well it is if you are good enough....! Are you...?

• Cockpits updated with almost photo realistic textures.

• Missile modeling improved

Read the entire list of improvements here...!

Here is a brand new trk (ScaredyCatx2) of a guns fight between some guy in an unpainted Sue (lazy bastard wont get Photoshop up to paint it Pink) and a couple of pissed off Excellent F-15c's all on 50% fuel. Using 2.51 yea those crazy bastards at SSI have even updated the update...ROCKING. Anyways horizontal fights are really fun against the F-15 and moderating your desire to pull hard on anything within reach is the secret to success. The F-15c's are independent so as to insure their aggression. Download page is purty neat take a look and scream and holler about what I dont have. I like it when people scream and holler.

And HEEEEHAW my 1.46 Ghz Athlon w/256mb of HSDRAM kicks that ass....review coming as soon as I can stop playing Flanker and Operation Flashpoint...!

2/17/2001
To fufill a request from the usenet I have put up a page with x4 FSAA shots of Longbow 2. Go here to see these great excuses to buy a Voodoo 5. Caution this is a large page with alot of high quality screenshots...meaning its slow, dont get angry just fetch a beer and be assured that its worth it if you are interested in this stuff.

2/12/2001 
Just finished the newest version of the Flanker Voodoo 5 fix article. This has details and screenshots about the problem (blurry textures) and the way to fix the problem. As far as I can tell this is the only way to get the best graphics if you are using a Voodoo 4/5 card as the utilities so thoughtfully provided by some very talented Flanker pilots do not take into account the way Flanker handles Voodoo cards, Im thinking of TAR specifically. Maybe some way of selecting an option in TAR to copy all the files into each of the directories would be an addition the author could add...?

1/25/2001
Well this has been the worst two months of my life. My dear Father passed away January 1st and prior to that my daughter was very ill with some type of virus that caused her to lose almost 7 pounds. When you weigh 33pounds that's alot...scariest week in my life. She was so darn tough thru it all....never whining just casually saying daddy I need to go to the bathroom, going and puking or whatever. At one point for 2 days she was going every 5 minutes...scary. My dad sheesh how to say that I miss him so it captures the loss. Its impossible except to say that I do. Moments come and go during the day when I think hey I need to call Dad to ask him about something and am brought up short by the realization that I don't have the luxury of calling him. Call your parents up tell them how you feel...cause literally they can be taken from you any moment and the first thing you will think of is "Did they know how much I loved them..?" Get away from that puter and call...now. 

I have added several new downloads to the download page. Matt Wags Wagner's Valhalla Campaign for Janes F/A-18 and Lars Birkemose ACMI (mission playback tool). Go here to pick them up.

9/28/2000 
I have had several requests for information regarding where the fixes are for the Voodoo 5 in Flanker. I'm sorry that this new format is not as clear as I thought it would be...I have it listed under Sim/Tactics/Benchmarks & Stories but instead of being titled Flanker Beauty School its called Flanker 2 3dfx Help.

9/3/2000 
Well I guess I should announce that I have changed the look of the site. But it is sorta obvious isnt it...? I hope so! Also I am hoping to use this as a template for the rest of the site so that navigation should improve.  On the downloads page you will find a couple of apps that I think are pretty terrific. Foxy2 the terrific Thrustmaster joystick file editing tool by Dr. James Hallows and the excellent Falcon4 Benchmark Graph tool by Marc Staley

8/23/2000 
Doing some minor housekeeping chores. Took a look at the links section of the site (which I think rocks but then I would hehe) and also cleaned up the Su-27 1.5 section. Getting ready to add a couple of sections and some additional files to download.

8/01/2000
I need some Beta Testers for a neat little application. Its NOT a game but a tool used to chart multiple csv (benchmark runs) files.  These files are generated by Falcon when you add the -log command to the command line. The app is the product of Marc Staley of www.prowlercam.com and its really neat.  He is planning some enhancements to it so we need feedback....download the app...and get back to me. plegrand at cox dot net  and naturally you should be using the mission I designed to benchmark computers so we can all be on the same page.

SMELLY OLD NEWS.....

This is a post that I will be spreading around to answer some of the critics of the Shootout. I'm doing this to defend this style of review in the hopes that more and more websites take it up. But never fear if they don't I will...if you don't know what I'm talking about please read this review...The Voodoo 5 vs Geforce 2 Comparison, Shootout at the Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill.

Please feel free to post this wherever you see fit....the revolution is starting, enough with lazy reviewers...off with their heads.

I just finished a Shootout between the Voodoo 5 5500 AGP and the Creative Geforce 2 AGP card and there has been alot of discussions regarding the shootout itself. Because I want to see more tests/shootouts done in this fashion I felt it was in my interest to explain my reasoning on several issues that are being questioned. When I say that I want to see more articles I dont mean I want to write them (naturally I love writing them but certainly dont need this letter to encourage myself <VBG>)...I mean I want you the consumer to start demanding them. 

1. Driver issues: 
First off who would have guessed that Nvidia would have released drivers that were so immature that this much improvement could be claimed. I had no idea that a company would release drivers so immature that users would claim a 200% gain when using them. Wouldn't it make sense to hold the card until they had drivers capable and stable..? A 5% difference would be significant...10% manna from God himself...but when you start releasing drivers that have a claimed 200% difference well at what point do we start asking ourselves if the card shouldn't have been held until the drivers might have stabilized a bit..? Especially when you consider the average users aversion to driver updates...mind that Im not talking about the fanatics of which I am one. And this is beside all the driver stability problems...course that would have screwed with Nvidia's release a product every six months program...well that's not my problem its theirs...

Second this was a shootout, meaning a competition between the two cards. Some of you believe that I was should have searched for beta drivers for Nvidia. So if a Magazine decides to have a shootout between say a Ferrari and a Porsche the Ferrari gets the benefit of going to the tuner and the Porsche doesnt...? I tested both cards with the latest released drivers. That was my limit...released drivers, which by the way 3dfx was gracious enough to enclose in the box containing the card. Imagine that I ran every benchmark and every visual test on the 3dfx with the drivers that came in the box. I started out with the intention of only testing in the box drivers because I have this naive view that a company is supposed to make sure that what's in the box works. I couldn't imagine a company would have enough contempt of the customer to put a driver in the box that doesn't work and doesn't even do what's claimed on the box (Creative's boxed drivers do not support FSAA as it claims on the box). Why shouldn't they have their feet held to the fire a bit...? If I'm doing a respectable review my job isn't to paint the card in the best light. When I open the box I fully expect that at least 90% of the best light is already in there.

We wont get into the fact that during the test 3 different sets of beta drivers came out....if any of you have been involved with discovering and beta testing benchmarks you will know that's its a non trivial task. I wasn't looking for a bunch more work retesting every new driver that Nvidia came out with. I'm embarrassed to say that the combination of discovering what games I can benchmark, how to get the cards working, the Family, work and a slim budget (0$) all conspired to make this test last almost 3 weeks. I really didn't need anymore help in extending it and testing every new driver release would have. Consider that with Rogue Spear Benchmark I was taking about 40 samples each run and I was doing 3 runs...that was the second smallest benchmark. 

Testing release drivers is important...I mean sheesh this is so freaking obvious Im surprised I even have to explain it. Any of you tried running your card without any drivers..? And its important to test release because a company must stand behind those...many of you claim that I should have tested beta drivers. Well I have been on beta teams...and let me tell you if I would have critiqued Beta drivers company reps would be laughing about how stupid can I be ...after all those are beta drivers they aren't supposed to work perfectly. But ahhh release drivers...well now those *are* supposed to work.

Finally though Im not gonna change it now since it feels weird to change something written in a review after its done...I just have to say that Rogue Spear was tested with the 5.30 drivers and I made an error on the site claiming it was the 5.22's. Also Unreal Tournament was tested with the 5.30 drivers....I'm not sure what's so great about the driver but I did test it. (against my better judgment as a journalist) So even with the beta drivers the Geforce did not live up to the hype created by all the lame ass benchmarking efforts of some very famous sites. It is NOT possible to discern the speed of a card by only testing 2 apps. And its completely useless to use a dedicated benchmarking app like 3dMark unless you actually know how to use it. (see Beyond3d for instructions.) It wasn't a horrible card by any stretch...matter of fact it *was* blindingly fast...the important point was when on a level playing field (of testing more than 1 game and 1 benchmark) both cards are blindingly fast. This allows one to choose on the basis of features and stability instead of chasing speed when you have been misled by a review site only benchmarking 1 or 2 games.

2. Testing with old games that favor Glide...
I tested with the games I use. I don't yet have the budget to buy games I have no interest in. But furthermore its incorrect to say that all those games favor Glide. Its even absurd if you consider that I'm one of the very few people to actually test the cards using that many games...but now the complaint is I didn't test it with games that would have favored the Nvidia. I was under the impression given all the reviews prior to mine that the Nvidia was a big boy capable of standing on its power. But now Im told that I have to find games that favor it..??? 

a. Falcon 4 the most popular Military Flight sim ever sold...tested in both Glide and D3D on the V5...beat the Geforce 2 in both.

b. Flanker 2.0 purely a D3D...matter of fact because I am something of an expert on the game. I would say that if any game in the world has more contempt for the 3dfx I havent seen it yet. The Geforce 2 showed well on it...but didnt overwhelm the Voodoo 5 at all and indeed the V5 beat it when the resolutions and FSAA settings went up...and on top of that without any FSAA the Voodoo 5 beat the Geforce in 32bit. Who would have guessed.

c. Janes F/A-18 pure D3D game....Geforce 2 did good until the resolutions went up or the FSAA went on. But again no card overwhelmed the other.

d. Panzer Elite...pure D3D game. Too close to call...though when you turn up x4 FSAA the Voodoo blows it away with image quality.

e. World War 2 Fighters tested in both D3D and Glide...

f. Unreal Tournement Tested both in D3D and Glide....and used the Beta 530 drivers against my better judgement..the benchmarks with the 530 drivers dont show anything special except that its equal to the Voodoo 5.

g. Quake 3 OpenGL nuf said...which should qualify me for a legit review right there since 90% of the sites only test that...

h. Rogue Spear Urban Ops...D3D...even steven here as well and I was using the 530 drivers.

3. Only games tested were CPU bound therefore no matter what Video card is installed the scores will be the same...
Then we have the claim that my benchmarks are invalid because they are CPU bound, baloney. 

Janes F/A-18 640x480 16bit there is a difference of 15% between the losing score of the V5 and the winning score of the G2. I guess that when the V5 turns it around and beats the Geforce 2 the test is invalid cause it doesnt meet your expectations...? Quake3 is held up because supposedly its not CPU bound the difference between the two cards in Opengl 640x480 32bit is...14%. Janes F/A18 is a native D3D app. 

Flanker 2.0 800x600 16bit the the difference between the slowest card and the fastest is 17%. In Quake 3 800x60032bit its 9% of a difference. The cards turn around here as well with the Voodoo5 catching up...video card does make a difference

In World War 2 fighters 1024x768 32bit the difference is 13.2% in D3D. In Quake 3 1024x768 32bits the difference is 9%.

So I guess Nvidia pundits would claim that the Benchmarks are valid when they show the Geforce winning and invalid when they show the V5 winning....? I think everyone is being tricked by their expectations. I would advise everyone to heed the advice to not look for what you expect but instead just look for what happens.

4.If both cards are equal in framerates in games...then you base your buying decision not on Framerates but on features and stability. That hasn't been shown by any review sites....they only show 2 benchmarks which does nothing to help me make a decision....

5. I agree with the complaint that I didn't test enough games. That will be a goal of the next run. Im probably the only one who finds it mildly ironic that no one yells about sites who test one or two benchmarks...but who consider my benchmarks invalid because I ran so many. Nice mental gymnastics.

I would have liked to include Enemy Engaged but could not get Fraps to work...and there was no native counter. I wanted to include Grand Prix Legends since the D3D patch has been so excellent...but couldn't find an acceptable test that was repeatable....so on so forth. 

Finally in regards to FSAA its very important to realize that smoothing the edges is the smallest of improvements. Its the removal of artifacts from the entire scene that makes it such the killer deal. The only thing that screenshots can show is if the edges are cleaned up and if the images are blurry. But its the removal of the artifacts while its running that is the biggest deal about FSAA and that cannot be shown except to witness it. Anandtech did a very poor comparison of FSAA that shows a complete misunderstanding of the issues. And on top of that he is using low resolutions Jpegs...unforgivable considering the issue. I felt it important to display some of the differences between the Geforce and the Voodoo 5 and I used the thing that is most obvious when its screwed up...a HUD in a Flight simulator. Take a look at the Janes F/A-18 cockpit shot on the Cat ready to launch...second row first and second from the left....this shows a significant difference in quality that captures the complaint that many people owning the Geforce have of FSAA its blurry. Well it is..for the Geforce owners...but then take a look at the next shot..same shot same angle same x4 FSAA sample taken in 640x480 nice and clear and then you begin to understand why Voodoo 5 owners think that FSAA rocks. And you can download the tga's to see them in all their glory.

I will agree that even more benchmarks are required with even more current games. Hopefully if the reaction to my review continues to be so popular I may have the budget to do it even better for my Second Video card shootout. 

Anyways thanks for allowing me to state my reasons. 

Pierre PAPA DOC Legrand
www.papadoc.net
http://www.papadoc.net/Voodoo_vs_Geforce2.htm

7/26/2000 Well sharpen those poison pens and get out the knives the Shootout between the two finest cards available to consumers is DONE...go here to read all about how Voodoo 5 5500 stacks up against the Creative Labs Annihilator Geforce 2. Now I can get back to chasing G. Huttu for the best time around the Nurburgring in Grand Prix Legends..

7/16/2000 Wanted to share with you my findings on the speed difference using the notorious eRazor TnL patch for F4. In a comparison between the V5 and the GTS using the Falcon 4 benchmark.

1. Geforce 2 1024 16bit= 27.2 in obviously D3D

2. Voodoo 5 1024 16bit= 25.8 in D3D 

Obviously if you have a V5/V3/V2 you should be running in Glide if you want the best speed. And given the speed differences I havent any idea why anyone would want to use the 1.07 patch by eRazor since you are missing out on so many incredible improvements. 

7/5/2000 Just a quick post then getting right back to testing these two powerhouse Video cards the Geforce GTS 2 and the Voodoo 5-5500. Video Card testing is alot harder than I ever gave it credit for. At the same time I was knee deep in benchmarks a gentleman emailed me to ask if I might have some use of a tool to use when benchmarking Falcon. I haven't been able to get to it yet since I just received it tonight but I have a feeling that benchmarking Falcon is gonna get a whole lot easier.

6/14/2000 Here is a post I just put up on the Usenet about a sim that is just incredible. Go get the demo and be amazed. The accuracy and brilliance of the sim shine thru. For the record Im going on about the current video card flame wars that I am fanning so admirably on the usenet.<VBG>

Here are the guys developing the sim... http://www.esimgames.com/ and you can get the demo here http://www.shrapnelgames.com/SBDemo.htm 

Brothers and Sisters let us pause from our life or death struggle
about things so important that the heavens tremble with anticipation
at the results. For in our midst's we have a humble new sim that
laughs at our desires for the latest features in video cards...it bows
no knee's to the lords of FSAA or the Queens (couldnt resist there
hehe) of TnL....it laughs in the face of AGP, smites the dragon of
MegaTexel....a humble sim that understands not the distinction of
32bit or 512x512 textures...listen brothers and sisters...for off in
the distance you can here the sound of its gun....the sound of the
loader struggling so mightily to cast the round into the chamber so
that the beast can render our arguments moot.

Beware Steel Beasts.....beware the power....the noise and smoke of
battle...beware the 0's and 1's that seek to put dents into our
ego's..beware the mission editor that one man alone has programmed
that shines a bright light of brilliance onto the deserts of making
missions...cower before the power.

PAPADOC

5/10/00 Alrighty been flying a bunch lately in Flanker 2.0 as it's such a awesome sim to just fly around in. I got sort of hooked on trying to do some aerobatics while killing 4 excellent Su-27's with guns. Its down low over the city with some interesting flying around and thru various landmarks. <VBG> Anyways here are a couple of thumbnails to give you an idea of what Im talking about. Btw I haven't managed to get all the aerobatics and kill all the bandits yet. It seems in 2.02 that the bandits have gotten a much bigger boost in power...so I can kill them or fly the aerobatics...not both yet.  But I will....hehe. Get this trk to see the aerobatics....Beboppin

Also you must play the trk back at highest details to see it the way I do...also if you want to see the trk with the same plane I used then get this file PinkFlamingo Camo. To fly with it you must select the Su-27 Russian Knights Texture, if you are just gonna play the trk not to worry the trk will select the camo for you if you put it in the correct directory.

4/16/00 Minor Change to the screenshots page. I replaced the old cockpit view with the more current 2.02 version. The new version is improved but I still like mine best....course. I like the contrast better. I will be redoing the current 2.02 version cockpit to look more like mine so we can have the best of both worlds. Increased contrast and the benefit of all the bug fixes in the current cockpit.

4/14/00 Happy Birthday to me....Happy Birthday to me....Haaaappppy Birthday dear me Happy Birthday to me.....

I just got the new page up with screenshots of my Improved textures for 3dfx Users who fly Flanker 2.00,2.01 or 2.02. Take a look I believe that if you have a 3dfx Card and you dont have my textures you are missing out. Did you know for instance that all of those gauges actually have numbers on them....woooo hooo. Well with my cockpit textures you can see each and every indication that you are about to hit the ground going very fast...Take a look at The Flanker 2 Beauty School.

Some housekeeping....while I appreciate greatly the linking from other sites to my site please do me the courtesy of linking to my frontpage. My main pay off is seeing how many visitors I have to the sight...I recieve no monies whatsoever its just a kick to see y'all visiting. I miss that if a file is linked directly from your site. Please dont think I dont absolutely love the attention of your site...or that Im ungrateful.

4/03/00 Oooh boy I may have made a mistake going to a ASUS P3V4X Apollo 133a motherboard. Im typing on a 550e. Yea I have had to turn down the CPU cause it dont work at 682mhz like it used to...matter of fact it dont work reliably at anything other than default speed. Can you say SHHHHHHEEEEEEEEETTTTT. Im still doing that tweaking thing but so far Im not happy with this motherboard. And apparently from the reviews around the web its the best one of the Apollo's. 

3/28/00 I just finished polishing up the instructions on how to benchmark Falcon 4 using my mission. I hope this helps some of you who were confused by my last set of instructions. I tried to be as concise as possible. I have dedicated a direct link to the new Falcon4 Benchmark How to page. Hope it works out for you.

In other news the surprise purchase of Gigapixel by 3dfx looks set to help them regain the lead in product releases. That they missed the release date of the Voodoo 4/5 products (VSA-100 chips) was a big deal...whatever helps them get back on schedule is good for consumers. Nvidia wouldn't be the company it is now without the competition of 3dfx. But for it to continue 3dfx needs to win a few. FSAA looks to provide alot of the impetus needed to push 3dfx back into the type of headlines it needs to win back the hearts and minds of the hardcore.

3/27/00 I was recently asked by the Venerable Sleepdoc of iBeta to see what I could find in regards to framerates and the new Bubble fix for Falcon 4 that has so many people absolutely besides themselves. Well Im here to tell you that it is very cool and brothers and sisters its time to upgrade...<VBG> With the -g4 command line option its possible to have a bubble setting of 25.  Ok without further ado here are my results regarding framerates and the bubble fix. (last minute note: the mission used to test the framerate is not the same benchmark mission I have been using, I will not release this one since its specifically made to test the bubble. The reason for the low framerates are the extremely high count of objects)

Test machine Abit BH-6 682mhz P-IIIe 128 mb Twin Voodoo 2's this is sort non important since this is a comparison of what happens with different bubble settings. Anyways I did a clean install of Falcon 4 and patched it to 1.08us. I then turned down all graphic settings except object density to 1. Object Density was kept at 6 thru the entire run of tests and the bubble slider was moved thru the range of 1 to 25. 25 is enabled with the addition of -g4 to the command line starting Falcon. The long and short of it is the bubble setting had zero effect in both 1.08us and 1.08i2 meaning 1 thru 25 saw no change in average frames per second. But with the addition of Sylvains wonderful bubble fix we saw some changes. 

3/24/00 Voodoo anyone seen a Voodoo 5 laying around??? Turn it in cause we have to turn it up.OOH MY. 

I'm working on putting out a shorter version of the Falcon4 benchmark mission that will test some other cool things besides pure framerate. Standby hopefully I will make an announcement soon. (update just got off the phone with one of the good people who mentioned to me that it would be unwise to modify the test so there you are....the Benchmark mission stays the same)

In other news with the work of ibeta and several brilliant reverse engineers Falcon4 is starting to trancend even the high hopes of the faithful. The bubble has been fixed and with this comes a lot of very important game play fixes. Go here to read all about the various wonderful things going on in this wonderful simulator. And thank profusely Sylvain Gagnon (SYLVAING1) cause he is the guy responsible for fixing the bubble. Its a big deal if you are a casual flier.

F/A-18 is here and the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the framerates is predictable. I really wish I knew exactly where the legend began that a simulator had to be state of the art visually to sell. I mean I love F/A-18 but I wouldn't have loved it any less had the graphics been 90% instead of 100%. And so many more people perhaps would have been able to play it. Perhaps its time to question the belief that graphic splendor is all it takes to sell a simulator. Though F/A-18 is certainly not an example of attempting to trade on her looks as she is brilliant and fun as well as beautiful. But consider that this year is the year that so many absolutely beautiful sims came out and its the same year that everyone is saying that serious simulators are dead. Correlation..? Did someone forget to add game play to the mix..? Look at Flanker 2.0 perhaps the most beautiful simulator to have come out recently and it has absolutely been killed at the box office. Good looks didn't sell diddly there...and yet Novalogic sims continue to sell like hotcakes and those sims are not close to state of the art graphics. Correlation...??? Nah. <VBG>

The patch for Flanker is still in testing and that's ok better to get it right than quick, especially after that initial release.

1/26/00 Holy Smokes by the time I get this posted around 12:02am on the 27th I will be going by 6500 hundred visits for the Coppermine Article. Well I guess I know what kind of stuff needs to be posted here. I hope to have some interesting testing going on soon. HINT: I want the definitive answer to what works better CPU or Video Cards...when you upgrade.

I also wanted to thank Toby from BX Boards who not only helped me a bunch by posting a link to my article but also gave me a great tip about where the Sticks of Ram should be placed in a BH6 MOBO. Not in the logical 1 and 2 position if you have 2 sticks but in the 1 and 3 position. This really helped me get the puter up to 733mhz. Still not stable but stable enough to run some Quake 3 benchmarks. After all its PC100 Ram that ANAND Tech gave a 0% of working at 133.

1/24/00 WOW some really gratifying stuff is going on right about now. Some terrific sites have, after a email from me, posted a blurb about DANCING WITH MY COPPERMINE. It is really neat to see my work honored like that...thanks to Simulation Headquarters Pete your the man, Allgames.com Jose' thanks for the mention and the neat email...my head is bigger than ever <VBG>, STOMPED thanks Redwood, and Bluesnews thanks guys. Just floored that my little humble abode got noticed...well ok I was jumping up and down sending all kinds of emails...but still they didn't have to...

1/21/00 I just finished my article on the upgrade of my computer. I went from a Celeron 366 oc'd to 458 83x5.5 to a P-III 550e oveclocked on my Abit BH-6 to 682mhz 124x5.5 unreal price performance. Anyways here is the article have fun and send your questions, complaints and rants to me at plegrand@earthlink.net  DANCING WITH MY COPPERMINE

1/14/00 Woo Hoo the world didnt end. Anyways we are discussing the framerates in Flanker on the listserv and I gave an example of detail levels not really affecting framerates. Here is the mission I used to test Flanker for both that discussion and the review of Flanker 2 that I did. ReviewBenchmark_12_E3.mis

Also I would like to have a moment of silence in honor of a good reviewer gone stupid. T. Liam of PC Lamer just did the poorest excuse of a review that I have ever seen. Calls himself a reviewer of hardcore sims and didn't spot one significant bug in Flanker except the 3dfx Blurriness and he almost blames 3dfx for that....muhahaha. Lets not hire him for any beta testing. Also the part that caused me to write this is the little backhanded slam he does to anyone giving out truthful reviews of the product. I just hope he got kissed before he bent over the kitchen table.

12/28/99 FALCON4 Comes alive...with the additions of the 1.08 patch and the follow on patches by iBeta Falcon4 is rocking hard. In honor of that I have put the link back up to the review I did over a year ago.

Version 1 of the 3dfx Cockpit Fix for Flanker2  is NOW up...hehe. Backup your stuff then unzip these files into your flanker2\bazar\world\textures folder...assuming you have followed the instructions below. You have renamed your PCI folder havent you. Knuckle head...<VBG> VIOLA no more blurry unreadable cockpit instruments...any of you suckers see me in a bar I dont expect to be buying...<VBG>

PD-V1-3dfxCockpit.zip

Version3 files to repair Textures for 3dfx Users inside of Flanker 2.0

By Pierre PAPA DOC Legrand 11/24/99 

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK This replaces corrupted Version 2 and updates the Su-27/33 file with my newest Su-27/33

Alrighty then disclaimers aside…GRAB THIS FILE THEN FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS
PDs_ReplacementPCItextures.zip  VERSION 3

Flanker 2.0 Next Year In Jerusalem!
So I have finally finished my review of Flanker 2.0. From the title you might figure out that I thought much had been left out. You would be right. But its not all bad take a look and see for yourself. I realize that this isn't really a review since its not methodical its more a look at an old friend.  And to those who say that its wrong to be harsh with Flanker Im sorry I disagree. The developers if they are honest and actually interested in improving the product should be delighted that people take the time to comment. The very worst thing would be for no one to say anything. Just drop it and never say why. Negative comment is not always a bad thing, this release shows that a bit more critical review was in order prior to release. It bears repeating that since by its own admission the developer left out a bunch of features to avoid the bugfest of Falcon that this release needed to be perfect, its not. I and many others were quite able to forgive Falcon for its errors since it was attempting so much, I hope that people are as charitable with Flanker with its very much more modest features. Since this is the biggest news I have here I have dedicated the entire block to this announcement. 11/15/99

WARNING WARNING KNUCKLEHEAD FOR AN OWNER...JESUS H CHRIST....I BLEW IT. I AM LINKING TO VERSION ONE WHILE I REPAIR MY ATTEMPT AT MAKING IT EASIER... You may now download the file below to correct problems caused by blurry textures. Apparently between my putting togther the self extracting file and uploading it I broke it. DEEPEST APOLOGIES. You MUST follow the instructions so must I yea Im a dumbass.

Version 2 files to repair Textures for 3dfx Users inside of Flanker 2.0

By Pierre PAPA DOC Legrand 11/21/99 

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK Knuckleheads need not apply. Read and think… 

Alrighty then disclaimers aside…GRAB THIS FILE THEN FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS
PDs_ReplacementPCItextures.zip  NOTE THIS IS NOW VERSION 1 Version 2 is corrupt..yea Im a dumbass. If you want the latest and best move upwards and download version 3. That is a much better fix.

1.  First off start up Windows Explorer

2.  Navigate to your Flanker 2 folder

3.  Rename the PCI folder to something extremely clever in payment for all the hard work 

4.  Place the files in this zip into the Flanker2\bazar\world\textures  folder…

5.  Start the sim and be happy you look 95% as good as those TNT pudding heads

6.  Kick much ass….remember Fighter Pilots don’t like looking bad.

7.  If you are a bomber pilot you should be ashamed…geeez didn’t I raise you right. 

Love and Kisses, PAPA DOC

11/11/99 I suck I suck I suck....I feel so bad for not meeting my deadline. But rather than release a buggy version I am deep in beta testing of the review. Rest assured that my graphics will be kicking...not blurry.<VBG> And gotta use this space to apologize to those who feel like I am ruining their fun by pointing out the faults in Flanker. Sorry but trust me Im a great deal more upset than you can know...and I have been that way for a few months. I hate seeing mediocrity in a sim I used to love so much....it just is bad.

11/10/99 PM...Still working like a trojan on the Review. But just had to laugh out loud at the review of Flanker 2.0 on Combatsim. I mean Geeeeez warn me before you throw that amount of bullshit around. I have brown stuff all over the walls. 

11/10/99 Alrighty Roo...some have asked for some evidence of my absolute domination of the Pitiful Gunzo AI in Flanker 2.0. So here it is...PAPADOCvsTheWorld_hehe.zip. Its about 187kb of download. Three trks of varying value all of which show the AI in bad form. Oh btw a manuever kill is a kill in every air force around the world. And the one AI that maneuvers into the ground had been shot...hehe.

Am hoping to get my review up by tonight latest...still working on screenshots and the like.

11/05/99 Working hard on the review of Flanker 2.0 in between playing Panzer Elite (great fun campaign) and doing that family thing.  The amount of rushing involved in getting this sim out the door was made even more evident with the misplaced, mis-sized graphics I found today. For instance for PCI users the Russian Knight Texture was handily sized at 128x128 making it the blurry mess it appeared in sim for the 3dfx users. And probably giving more ammunition to those saying that the graphics look sooo much better with a TNT. Clouds were sized incorrectly, as well also some of the cockpit graphics were butchered....eeee I havent even looked that hard. Glad they didnt have to worry about putting a dynamic campaign in there....they might have exceeded the bug count in Falcon. Right now I am working on getting a TNT2 card for the review to test some theories out. Take care and I want to have it up before Wed. Hope I make it...hehe. 

Man O Man do I miss posting on the Flight Sim newsgroup. In honor of my favorite thread so far this week....I would like to respond.

 U.S.A. U.S.A U.S.A

Being the Best, the Baddest, and the Richest means NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOUR SORRY...
We have the best pilots, finest women, best food, most excellent beer, and finest wine in the whole damn world wherever that might be. Dont like it....? Tough....<VBG>

11/01/99 Flanker 2.0 is out...wooo hoo....<G>.  I have had some requests for my opinion...or a review. Well the review is working...but if you cannot wait for my opinion here it is. Remember Kevin Klein in Fish Called Wanda...yes? Well then imagine him saying "Disappointed....!!!"  We waited 3 years for updated graphics for 1.5...???? Sheesh....kiss me before you bend me over the kitchen sink next time....49.00 Dollars US for a basically a sequel not a brand new sim. Yea I know some are saying brand new flight model...bullocks its a slightly tweaked 1.5 version, some are saying brand new AI bollocks (its the same as 1.5 but worser) some are saying dynamic campaign umm I must have picked up the wrong box. Some are saying 3dfx Support....oh is that why we get to do our own graphics to get what we should have gotten in the first place, sharp cockpit textures and cockpit reflections, well ok some of you didnt even get that far since the sim wouldnt even start. Some are saying that the reason the graphics are worser for 3dfx Cards is the texture limitation...INCORRECT...the reason we have worser graphics is this sim was rushed out the door to see Christmas, so 3dfx Users screw you, you aren't important enough. Sound...sound we got sound...just as long as you like really quiet sound....or hey you can venture out the aircraft and listen to bitching Jet sounds....we didn't have time before Christmas to add anyone to the world . Currently its possible to take off in the Su-33 from the Carrier at MAX gross weight...naturally they had to do that because there wasn't enough time before Christmas to add the refueling that is part and parcel of the operation of the Su-33 from a carrier. Geez this could go on for quite some time and I want to give you some reason to come back and read the review so I don't want to give it all away now.

But the review should be up soon cause I might need to return this bad boy to EB....yea they got petty on me and didn't send me the Gold master I was supposed to get...boo hoo. Looks like it wasn't worth it. I already have 1.5 and the AI is tougher in 1.5 than in 2.0, with my rusty skills I immediately dusted off 4 excellent Su-27 gunzo...thats pitiful and a feat that I cannot achieve in any other sim purporting to call itself realistic. 

Course its not all bad....the graphics, weather effects and carrier landings are reason enough to buy the sim. And wait for the inevitable patches...lets hope they support this sim like MPS had done with F4. 

Oh and a word....there is NO comparison between F4 and F2....one attempted to achieve something never before done (and that many consider impossible, but kudos to them for trying) and the other didn't. Which means that the one not attempting it should have been perfect at release given all the extra resources it should have had. And if the resources weren't there maybe its time to look for a place where there are resources to make the sim we know Eagle to be capable of....I hear Microsoft has plenty of money....<VBG>

Well as you can see that Im a bit let down after all the years of waiting....I guess I feel like those guys did who waited all that time for Tiberion Sun....DISAPPOINTED...hehe. That was a great movie. 

Signed 

PAPA DOC
The Pink Flamingo 
Infamous naturally.....<VBG>

If you havent been by Gordon Berg's Therapy Site recently go now and read and be enlightened. This was a wonderfully researched article on how our wonderful hobby is being hurt by the "so called experts". This has been a pet peeve of mine for some time as I have watched developers I know and respect get trashed by so called experts who probably would puke if they saw the amount of work that goes into a sim. Then they come with their agenda's, some do it for prestige (yea bizarre), some do it to elevate their favorite sim (so they hurt the entire industry for some short term gain, brilliant), and some do it just because they arent smart enough to post a balanced appraisal of the sim. Hell most of them cant even fly the sim to its limits...to my mind I still hold the old Prodigy Ladder rule that if you havent shown enough talent to be number 1 on the ladder then shut your hole. Which was used to shut the little bitches up who only complained...but didnt affect those who were rational and understood that its a game.


3/25/99 Geez sorry for being away for so darn long. I have been computer challenged for the last few weeks. Wifey beating about the head and shoulders demanding that I pay attention to her. SHEEESH Imagine that sort of crap...whats the world coming to.

3/10/99 Adding some links to the Links page for two excellent Falcon 4 sites. The first one is Douglas "MadCow(an)" Cowan's excellent site. He just came out with a neat utility that takes care of alot of the dirty little details of running Falcon 4. You will also find some terrific Video's of some exceptional flying along with more info on some of the other sims out there...this guy knows how to fly a sim.

The second site is the Un-Official Falcon 4.0 Command Center...this site boasts that "We Comb The Web For Falcon 4.0 News, So You Don't Have To"....<VBG> Great site excellent links section. Go visit and tell them the Pink Flamingo Pilot sent you.

3/08/99 Falcon 4 moves to Beta 1.06 version and the improvement is dramatic. This version really does seem to have fixed the majority of the crashing. I haven't crashed in over 15 hours of flying. Great news. Now to get the beta patch all you have to do is go to the Falcon 4 website and sign up. Really quickly you get a email describing the process. Works great and gets the patch out to people quickly....and keeps it out of the hands of those we all know and hate...those who never ever RTFM. Really easy go now and get the patch. FALCON 4 WEBSITE.

Pete "Pygmy" Marone over at Simulation Headquarters put up a terrific look at SNQQPY DOG'S new cockpit art for Falcon 4. He uses the PD_TIMEDEMO for the tests so you know he knows what he is doing...<VBG> Yea I'm modest too. Don't forget to read the directions on how to benchmark before using the time demo. Yea its not rocket science but hey...reading is good. <VBG>

2/26/99 World War 2 Fighters released a patch to bring that bad boy up to 1.07 Version. Grab it here or here...<VBG> Check the Patchreadme.htm here....this patch adds a bunch of features that users have asked for...these guys may be the Borg but they are cool....<VBG>

Alright the most popular feature here is by far the Falcon 4 benchmarks. Its not finished yet...its just that I hear the latest patch is right around the corner. I wanna wait until then to start ROUND 2. If you disagree with me then email my butt and call me a lazy wannabe. Round 2 is gonna be the same mission run specifically to make your machine puke out slow frame rates. Pentium 60's need not apply.

Real Life, tm. Tales from the Dark side HAS NOT been forgotten. Its just little ole me doing this and unfortunately my little girl has this idea that Daddy spends too much time on the puter. So I'm limited after all how do you look a 23 month old in the eye and say later....??

Bringing me to the last item. I certainly enjoyed working with Antonio Harris on his opus analysis of the Falcon 4 benchmarks, I hope to be doing more great stuff with Antonio. I would now also like to extend a invitation to others who might want to pursue a series of articles regarding Flight sims, Racing Games (seriously hardcore Grand Prix Legends fan here, T.Liam sucks...<VBG>) or something else regarding hardware. I'm completely open to suggestions, nothing is off limits except publishing pictures of me in the Buff...that's too ugly to imagine..

Finally just wanted to say Mother nature is slapping around my bud in Washington. The Maz got hit with a flood thru his Fine Damn Establishment. That kind of shit is NOT required Mom. Lay off he has enough problems trying to keep from flaming....<VBG> Anyways if your living in Port Orchard stop by and lend a hand Mazman is cool and Queeny is even cooler. Mazrammer is a hardware freak and he flies a mean ass jet too.

2/18/99 Wanted to say thanks to the guys that are my start page when I start looking for information regarding all to do with 3-D Cards, Games and Gossip Voodoo Extreme for putting up a mention of all the work that AR and I did on the Falcon 4 Benchmark Page. Very Cool......Thanks.

And no I haven't forgotten my promise to get on with a new benchmark...<VBG> Im just a little toasted after the combination of the push to get AR's analysis up and Mardi Gras. We will be getting started again. Soon....<VBG>

I still have another 10 or so scores to put up. I apologize for not getting them up quicker....look to my excuses up above for my feeble reasons...hehe. ( Just posted a few more...guilted myself into doing it while I had my morning Coke...)

Also reformatted the Flanker 2.0 E3 Report to make it ....easier to read...duh. Geez what was I thinking with the old format it was impossible to read. Sorry and thanks for being so cool to not complain.

2/16/99 Well its Carnival time everyone having FUN.....<VBG> Muhahahahahha...all the Rest read it and weep ITS MARDI GRAS. Y'all be working, we be partying....well ok when you have a 23month old not gonna wake up face down in the Dirt on St. Charles but still can go check out the sights. We BE PAR-TY-ING.....CYA.

2/15/99 Jesus H Alrighty then I just finished correcting a mistake on the AR Harris Report, page 4 was incorrectly showing the TNT beating the Banshee with a 450mhz. This was incorrect. This is embarrassing. This WONT happen again. I have the correct page up now....please god make that the last update to that report....<VBG>

2/15/99 Just fixed the Real Life tm page to help navigate it by adjusting the colors of the hyperlinks to more clearly show which area's you have visited. Also did some more adjustments to AR Harris's Intro report...geeez Im sorry for all the screw up's. I actually was silly enough to believe MS propaganda about it being easy to html Word and Excel documents. I now know a bit more about those promises.

2/14/99 T'was hopeless attempting to format (Graphic Guide to Falcon 4 Benchmark scores) the pages for both Nutscrape and Mickey Soft....so I just Gif'd the relevant graphs and tables and put them up. Be aware that the Appendix's load extremely slowly....not due to graphics. Just a tremendous amount of info. If anyone has a better idea about how to display them please let me know. Im stumped.

2/14/99 AR Harris's introductory to his presentation on Falcon 4 Benchmarks numbers has just been put up. Sorry about the confusion it was entirely my fault. In my defense I HATE trying to transfer Office 97 Doc's to HTML.....ARRRRGGGGGHHHH. Also for Netscrape users the last appendix should be working correctly now. Of course that broke it somewhat for the MS users...neato. But Im done playing with it. Its gonna stay the way it is until I gather up some more patience.

2/11/99 Just added a terrific guide by Noted Numbers Guy AR Harris. He shows relationships between Vid Ram, CPU Power, and various Graphics Cards in the first Flight Sim (Falcon 4) to allow timedemo style benchmarks. Accompanied by all fashion of graphical displays...yea its got pretty pictures for the Attention Deficit Disorder Crowd....<VBG> AR really worked hard on this and it shows. Please take a visit gaze in wonder and either pat yourself on your back for your wise decisions regarding CPU's and Graphic Cards or cry in shame for not visiting us before you bought that brand new Wonder 3d Useless card. AR Harris presents a Graphic Guide to Speed, Power and Glory with 3D Cards in Falcon 4

2/09/99 Just added some cool links the Links Page...also reformatted it to attempt to make it easier to spot the link your looking for....I am gonna really be working on this aspect of the site. Wow look at all these updates...I'm gonna spoil all you fanatics...<VBG>

2/09/99 Just added some more to the Real Life tm pages. Sort of focused a bit on posts of one Sean Long F-15E pilot who no matter the provocation always seems to keep his head and stay focused on the question. Just the sort of behavior one would expect from a guy flying around a Really Big Jet with Really Big Bombs...with really small motors. <VBG> Sorry just a little dig at the amateur flight test engineers who so flamed F-15E about the lack of power.

Just a word about the Real Life tm page....soon to be plural pages. These guys are the real thing and better yet....they love simulators. This is the sort of feedback that is so valuable. They talk about stuff like which fighter is better, how hard is it to check six in a Viper, what's it like refueling, just how far can a F-16 NOT carrying bags can fly...<VBG>. You might learn a thing or two...<VBG> course all you flight test engineers wont believe them. But no matter all the better to laugh at you.<VBG>

2/09/99 Abit just posted the JJ bios revision for the BH-6 Motherboards....not sure what it fixes. And before you go off and screw something up make sure to use the correct protection...<VBG>

the Pink Flamingo Preservation Society

2/09/99 Carl C. Norman Executive Producer Combat Simulations Group just posted this onto the Flanker Listserv about what the addon will be for Flanker 2.0. A Su-25 is planned....ummm.
Flankerites,

As many of you have read on SimHQ, and here on the Flanker Mailing List,
we're going to follow up Flanker 2.0 with a sim focusing on the Su-25
Frogfoot.  At present, the working name is currently just Su-25.  Somehow,
"Frogfoot" just doesn't cut it for a bold and catching name.  The Russians
nicknamed the aircraft the "Grach" which means "Rook", a type of bird.
Su-25 squadrons are listed as "Shturmovik" units.  As many of you know,
this name comes from "Bronironanyi Shturmovik" which translates roughly as
"Armored Attacker" ("Armoured" for those of you in the UK <g>).  I'm trying
to convince our Marketing and Sales folks that we should call the product
"Su-25 Shturmovik" but the "Shturmovik" part is a bit intimidating for most
of the non-sim crowd (i.e. Marketing & Sales people).  I realize EA
produced a variant of their old LHX engine years ago and called it
"Stormovik."

Regardless of what we call it, it really has not been formally announced to
the Press that we are doing this product.  I expect to go formal in the
next few weeks as Flanker 2.0 in final Beta.  We've spent time with Nick
and Igor of Eagle Dynamics putting together a feature list for Su-25.
While I won't give you all the details now, I will tell you that we are
going to enhance the Flanker 2.0 engine to make the ground attack missions
more visual and detailed.  We will also attempt to expand the control
parameters for wingmen and provide air-to-ground coordination for
close-air-support missions.

Our plan is to make this a stand-alone product that provides the Flanker
2.0 user that ability to fly as an Su-25 pilot in the Flanker missions and
vice versa.  This may be more than we can handle technically, but we're
going to try.  The goal is to make multi-player aspects of this system have
multi-role potential.

We will also have the capability to fly the MiG-29 within the Flanker 2.0
engine but we have yet to decide how we are going to present this aircraft
to the user.  It might be an add-on pack or it may be included in a future
upgrade.  We're still making up our minds on this one.   When I know what
we are going to do, I'll pass it on to The Faithful.

We're excited about the future for the Flanker products and appreciate your
suggestions and recommendations.  I encourage you to provide your comments
here on the mailing list but don't be upset if you don't get a personal
response to every message.  Please be patient with us when you write.  I'm
still trying to get caught-up from my Moscow trip and the recent adventures
here on the mailing list.

My Best Regards,

Carl C. Norman
Executive Producer
Combat Simulations Group
Mindscape Entertainment Division

"Retreat!?  Hell, we just got here!"
                                           - U.S. Marine Captain, 1918
France

"When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is important to remember
that the primary mission was to drain the swamp."
                                  - U.S. Marine Corps Proverb

1/31/99 I have begun readjusting the way the Data on the Falcon 4 Benchmark Results page is displayed. Because of the affect of CPU power on the Framerate of Falcon 4 I have re-arranged the Table to display the fastest CPU's to the slowest in order. This generally reflects on the scores. It also makes it much easier to find your interest. Sooner or later I am gonna also break it down by Video Card.

1/30/99 Finally got the Real Life tm page up. This is gonna be my attempt to show what makes the Usenet such a valuable resource for some of us. This page is dedicated to those posters who bring it all together for us by telling us the way it was from their real life perspective. So far posts from Robey (former F4 Phantom/F-16 Pilot), Sean Long Active Duty F15E Pilot are included along with a great perspective from a Military Controller on their particular problems...thanks to Tony Boogaman Bruno. Redshift the absolute Master of Disaster of the Flanker FAQ contributes a terrific story of Harrier vs F-15's. Now being me, I have included posts that I thought were funny as well as posts that were informative. I think both types of posts are useful...you know if your not having fun do something else. This is just the start and I have a bunch more stuff to post, I'm really excited about this idea. I think this is gonna be fun and useful.

1/29/99 Wow Earthlink is warning me to watch my bandwidth, they recommend taking off the porno, but they will have to remove my pictures of the Pink Flamingo themselves. I vow to fight any attempt at taking my Beautiful Pink Flamingo off. She is so beautiful and I havent the foggiest idea why they think that Pictures of Flanker are Porno. I mean they look great but Porno...???? Well ok maybe..<VBG>.

OOOH YEA...thanks for the visits and keep them cards and letters coming.

I sort of knew that I was gonna bust the Bandwidth limits set on my personal 6mb site and did make provisions to move to a much larger site. Not only will my limits be set much higher but I will finally have enough space to post screenshots with reviews. The new site will be http://www.PAPADOC.net when Internic finally gets off their asses and registers the Domain Name. Supposedly it will be registered tomorrow, based on my phone call today.

Im happy to announce that Mark "Stinger" Shepheard has got a website going. Its just a start but take a look at the excellent Su-27 Flanker shot he has...also pick up on the Flanker Model in the lower left. After that take a look at the Review of Flanker 2.0 Alpha at Combatsim that he and Ed "Brandor" Reddy put up.

1/28/99 Just added a bud's Komputer Scores to the benchmarks. He also made the top scores category with a overclocked Celeron matched to my emerging Favorite Video Card...the Banshee. He kicks that ass in the full detail column. Mazman has a computer shop and is a long time Falcon fan. I think he was the first person I ever flew H2H with in Falcon 3.

1/28/99 Ive added a bunch more scores to the Falcon 4 Benchmark Page. Man O Man I have to say that the Banshee is looking sweet. The Banshee being the 2d/3d Card from 3dfx the makers of the Voodoo 2 card. I've also worked a bit on a form for those interested in sending in results. Its extremely important for my sanity to get some kind of standard issue reports for the computers. Im not completely satisfied yet so look for that to change. For complete instructions on the benchmarking go to the How To Page of Benchmarking. We are also getting ready to start another round of Falcon 4 Benchmarks that will be a bit easier to complete but tell us a little more about what works and what doesnt. I had in mind to wait until the patch to start this round but word is the patch may not arrive for a bit more. I also want to break the scores down by CPU so that it would be easier for you to find the CPU your interested in and finding out which Video card is reporting the best benchmarks. Keep in mind though that this may change radically if they get several issues with the Memory and other CPU issues straightened out.

Ive also gotten permission from several interesting people to start what I hope will be both a funny and informative new Column. Its not quite ready for prime time yet but it should be out within days.

1/24/99 Butter up them CPU's we gonna be trying to melt them some more with a new set of benchmarks coming soon. This will be a more limited set of guidelines meant specifically to test Hardware. The last set was really only to learn about what settings helped run that Bad Bad Boy Falcon to the best of everyones meager ability. (mine most meager of all according to the benchmarks...oopsy). I have also dedicated a page as HOW TO BENCHMARK to send in numbers for the current benchmark table. I encourage you to participate. Lets send a clear message to other sim makers that we consider this to be a valuable tool. Like they say....USE IT OR LOSE IT.

I have also redone the tables and cleaned up the main Benchmark Page so that Hopefully the numbers will be a little bit more evident. I think Im getting it alot tighter now...but if you dont agree send me a note with some suggestions.

So Im about due for another rant...its building a head of steam up now....

1/19/99 Damn got some good news. Da Man ARHarris has sent me some preliminary findings on a little project he took on when he found out about the Falcon 4 Benchmark Project. He is kicking much ass with the first report and I have to warn you to wear eye protections as this stuff is sharp. This is the kind of stuff we have been needing in the flight sim community for awhile. I love Quake and Half Life as much as the rest of you, but hehe I didn't build my puter to play Quake. I built it to run Flight sims. Take a look at Anthony's Report to see where the best places are to spend all that cash you got.

We have decided to only ask for 25% of the money your gonna save by reading this information. We figure that should buy us both Dual P3-500mhz. So anyways go now and take a look at the report that finally answers the questions about what stuff you should buy to run Falcon 4...

ARHarris's excellent report on what works when trying to make Falcon 4 fly....

And NEVER forget kiddies to keep them reports flowing in...Anthony is a monster and wants more input. Go to the Falcon 4 Benchmark Page and see what the fuss is about.

1/18/99 Nice at some point or the other I managed to break the link to the Flanker 2.0 Report I put together...brilliant work. Sorry to those bothered...yes I have crap for brains at times.

1/16/99 I have added even more scores to the Falcon 4 Benchmark Page. I have also started another table showing the best scores in order. I hope this helps everyone understand what works and what doesn't. Seeing those scores makes me wish I would have bought a Celeron and a TNT. Damn TNT's are kicking much ass.

1/12/99 I've updated the Benchmarks page again. If you haven't run the tests please do take a look and see if you would like to contribute. I have a volunteer who wants to take a look at the numbers and make some charts based on what types of computers are running and the results. Even if you don't feel like turning in some numbers, download the mission I've used and take a look. It really helps to set up Falcon as it puts a severe strain on the puter.

I'm still getting results in though that I am not sure of...meaning I don't know what column of settings they are meant for or the computer is not fully described. Please take the time to read the directions for your own sake. These benchmarks if they are all run will take some time and if your doing it to post I must absolutely be sure of what your running and what column its meant to be for. Currently I have several results files that I don't know what to do with. I will be contacting the concerned parties.

Im truly sorry to not be able to post them. But if Im not sure I wont post. Anyways the directions are simple...but you do need to peruse them since Imp not intuitive....<VBG>

Im sorry to say that I have decided at this time to not include custom setting (meaning settings not covered by the columns I am reporting on.  I feel guilty for every moment Im not hammering the North Koreans...you must understand....hehehe.

Anyways take a visit...to the Benchmarks Page

1/8/99 Got a email from Len at Combatsim looks like we are going big time...hehe. Len is gonna mirror the Falcon 4 review on the  Combatsim site. Thanks very much Len. My Oh My the whole wide world will know my madness...

Put some more scores up on the Falcon 4 Benchmarks page. Its very important if you want to post scores to give me a hand by being clear about your puter specs, and clearly naming the Excel files for the column you are using for setting up Falcon. i.e. if your using column 1 for the Falcon setup then name that fr_summary file fr_summary_test1, fr_summary_test2 and so on....remember Win9x has support of longfile names...hehe. Can tell we have a bunch of old Falcon heads sending in scores...they are still naming the files in the old 8.3 convention. DOS is dead guys...hehehe.

1/5/99 Eeeek...screwed up the dates..but I will leave them alone. Anyways made a big update to the Falcon 4 Benchmarks page go see the numbers. I'm having a serious case of Celery envy....<VBG>

1/3/99 Ooopsy as was generously pointed out to me by Neil "Mayhem" Kiser I've forgotten to post some of the parameters I used in benchmarking Falcon. Very sorry...please take a look at the Falcon 4 Benchmark page and if its not too much trouble rerun your benchmarks.

1/2/99 Gonna break the rules cause I can and post the Falcon 4 review on the front page...hehehe. Hey its my site I will do as I please. Besides I've been waiting for this sim for years.....its here and I'm happy.

1/2/99 Go here to see my Falcon 4 benchmarks and to download a neat little mission that's consistent...when benchmarking. If there is a response I would like to post other benchmarks...to the page. Course my little old AMD will be overshadowed by the mighty PII's but it will still be fun. Please read the instructions and download PD_TIMEDEMO to run the benchmark.

10/07/98 Thanks to Stinger for the Flanker Trk demonstrating his solution to a CAP, I've put it on the Flanker Missions Page. And thanks very much as well to Dan Sullivan for the set of linked missions. I haven't had a chance to try them yet due to some damn company releasing a Landmark sim...but I wanted to put them up in case not everyone is playing.....GRAND PRIX LEGENDS. But drop me an email if you like them and I will pass it along to Dan cause let me say that making a set of linked missions is not a trivial matter and encouragement is always nice. I've put them in one zip on the F15 Missions page.

Now about that sim that's been so distracting.GRAND PRIX LEGENDS , if you love computer simulation, if you are a closet speed freak, if you wonder what SPA looked like in 1967, if you wonder what a 1967 Vintage Ferrari Formula 1 car sounded like....well then GO NOW AND BUY THIS SIM. You think ummm nah...wrong, trust me this sim is a landmark event in the history of PC simulations.  It is a better simulation of a real event than anything else currently released...flatly better at being a simulation than many, if not all, so called hardcore sims, be they Flight or Auto or Combat. Its much better at being a game than most of the strongest hardcore sims and it does so while being more realistic than them. The sounds are breathtaking, with both the Ferrari and Eagle sounding much much better and closer to reality than any of the sounds ever emanating from your TV...if you have been to a car race you know how nasty and loud these cars can be....and you will understand that TV does NOT capture that......well this sim sure does. The Ferrari simply is stunning....this is the first time I have ever thought of a sound before the graphics but this sim is that way.

Not to say that the Graphics are bad for surely they are not, do they approach the landmark proportions of the rest of the sim, nope but if they did then what you would see on your screen would be what you would see in real life. That's how good I feel this sim is. The physics of the Cars have to been felt to be appreciated. Drifting in a four wheel drift through Curva Grande, or dipping the throttle a bit to encourage the front end to gain traction to throw the car into Ascari, or attempting to negotiate Eau Rouge all grab you by the throat and challenge you to say you have felt anything more lifelike on a PC. This is a harsh mistress and she doesn't like to share. To say that my flight time has evaporated would be mild....all I would have to admit to is that if my mistress asked for all the space on both drives to spread her incredible self on...I would begin deleting immediately and nothing would be spared.

This dedication is all the more important when you consider the time the sim is simulating. 1967 the time of Gods in Formula 1, yes Fangio was great, yes Senna was great, but here in 1967 we had names like Clark, Hill, Gurney, Ginther, Rindt, Bandini and they raced at tracks like the awesome SPA, over 8 miles of high speed unforgiving, unrelenting country road. With barriers consisting of short stone fences, apex's consisting of some Bar's front door step, this is the shit ladies and gentleman, this is when you had BIG BRASS ones to race these cars on these tracks. Thank god someone thought to model it before all memory faded from view.

With a options for difficulty to suit everyone this is one hellacious sim to have. Buy it now.

9/23/98 Thanks to Chesty for the new Flanker mission its on the Flanker Missions Page.

Wow...If you haven't downloaded the new World War 2 Fighters Demo from Janes then drop this and go there NOW and get it. Makes a person glad he has a Voodoo2 card. Of the demo's neat features I think the one where you can  move your seat and change your perspective is maybe the most brilliant. In one neat sweep Janes has gotten rid of alot of problems regarding FOV and the arguments about what is realistic...cause like the burger now you can have it your way. Like to see the planes large in your view....then bring your seat up.....rather have a wide FOV (field of view) then move that sucker back.....feel too low in the cockpit...ooopsy then just raise the seat. Simple solutions to complex problems are always the hardest to see. The graphics are amazing easily the very best graphics Ive seen in a Demo. And I like the EAW graphics....but alas EAW is just a bit too washed out to be competitive with WW2 Fighters. But EAW will have the major advantage of being a dynamic Campaign and offering more planes to fly. I know I have enough space on my drive for both of them....and probably a couple more...hehee. Screaming Demons, Fighter Duel 2 spring to mind.....<VBG>

Course all of this is speculation until we see the actual sims....since judging the final product from a demo is unwise....usually the Developer is the one who loses since many extremely important items that make the sim special are missing from demo's....you know small stuff like flight models, time to play....campaign mode.....flight planning....basically I look at a demo as a neat way to avoid having to stare at a box that says coming soon. Or having to read and reread mags staring at pictures of sims coming until the corners of the mag look like some HUSTLER mag in a Frat house. With a demo I get to look at pretty in game pictures and go ooooh ahhhhh....hehehe.

RED BARON 2 well if you don't have this sim yet...shame shame shame on you. Sierra blew it when they released this sim too early and without Voodoo Support. They have since corrected that and more with the release of the latest patch. The latest patch brings a much more believable flight model...(amazing actually when you consider how many planes are modeled) and better AI along with much much improved graphics. Sierra apologized to their customers about releasing the sim too early and I have to tell you they are making up for the lack in spades. Truthfully I played the sim without patch's for awhile and boy they really did have awful graphics...but man o man did they come through on the campaign and immersiveness...even without the graphics patch. We can go on and on about graphics and such but it always helps to understand that gameplay is somewhat important at one point or the other in a GAME....<VBG>. RED BARON 2 had it right from the start and it gets even better with the patch. Now if they will only bring back my soldiers...yea soldiers. I was on a strafing mission when I hear this WAR cry....I reversed my turn and flew back over a CHARGE....YEA A CHARGE of little soldiers....about 50 or so...and when you got close enough to them you could see their legs....MAN OOOOOOO MAN but alas due to framerate problems they were removed from the 3D patched version. I WANT THEM BACK...hehehe. Truthfully this is must have game....course if your one of those who cant have any fun unless the flight model is perfect then go away....hehe. Me I understand that I'm supposed to be having fun...not critiquing flight models to the nth degree.

9/08/98 Well sheesh....PAPA DOC is soooo lazy....sorry I haven't updated it in a while. I've tried to make the site more compatible with Nutscape. Probably not as successful as I wanted to be but its all I can do right now. If your having major problems...let me know and I will work on that spot. Pretty much it looks the same in both browsers...but a lot of the borders get screwed up in Nutscape....weird.

OH I NEED MISSIONS>>>>>>>>HELP PLEASE<<<<<<<<<<I WANT FLANKER, F15, RED BARON2, FLYING CORPS Whatever you have...I will post....here is your chance to get others opinions on your missions. Trust me its a blast.

Flanker 2.0 ummmm when when when....that is the question. An unconfirmed rumor last week had it delayed until next year. This is possible but I stress I have no information regarding the release date. I do know that it had been considered to hold off until next year....for a very specific reason. No I'm not talking...<VBG> And I would say that while what was discussed is exciting I hope they can release it before next year. A demo was to be released in September but that too has been delayed....probably to avoid the kind of thrashing in the newsgroups that IAF is getting. Oh and I hear a rumor that there is NO PINK PLANE IN FLANKER 2.0...WTF..!!!!!!!! Say what...do I have to round up an airstrike on those Russians and drop 20 or so cases of Jack Daniel's Beer on their heads...???? Say Igor what's it gonna take to get a Pink Plane in Flanker 2.0..? Couple of cases of Jack Daniel's Beer...???? NAME YOUR PRICE....!!!!

PHANTOM F4 PHANTOM F4.....the chant continues, the desire to have a HARDCORE IN YOUR FACE SIMULATION OF THE F4 PHANTOM proceeds with as much result as previous efforts...meaning none....zip....zilch....WTF....? Here we are years after the Berlin Wall tumbled...and well into a Golden Age of Personal Computers and still no one has taken up the challenge of producing a Simulation of what the AirWar in WW3 would have been like. Most if not all the Jets flying today were specifically built to fight in the Big One. So why haven't we seen the big one...? Take a look at General John Hacketts book World War 3 to see what we might be in for if someone takes up the cause of the Hardcore. The Phantom would have figured prominently...and its a beast of an airplane from conversations Ive had with pilots who have flown it. Indeed I was told by one who is also a developer that the Phantom Sim if produced with as much fidelity as say...Flanker would be very unpopular and almost impossible to fly. I say ooooh oooh yea bring that bad boy on....the challenge to fly the plane correctly while fighting it in a sim are to me what being a Simmer is all about. I have become bored with sims that are just point and shoot....what's the fun in that...? Give me a sim where its just as hard to fly it as it is to fight....and now I have something with replay value. I mean WOW can you imagine shitty missiles....crappy counter measures....being neck deep in a cockpit....then making the mistake of touching the ailerons while slow....and poof spin...hehehehehe. Now that would be the H2H machine to sort the Pilots from the Wannabe's. This is one of the reasons I love F15 so much....its just damn difficult to fly the sim and be effective. Its always challenging....Su-27 Flanker was the same in a more subtle way...as it was very much point and shoot. Unless the other guy was as good then it became a sim of .001ths...neato. But imagine a Phantom Sim over Europe in the 70's....shit flying every which way....ooooh my. And online sim....man o man this would be the arena to have an online sim. Can you imagine how much more seriously an Englishman takes defending Merry Old England...than defending Korea..or the Crimea...or the guy in New York whose Family is from Italy and he is tasked online with the CAP of his families hometown...! And due to Satellite mapping he can look down and see where his family lives...can you say he is gonna be serious. Carrier Duty in the North Sea....flying Phantoms off in the dead of night into the kind of weather the North Sea loves to dish out.....MY OH MY. I only can shake my head in bewilderment that we don't have such a sim yet...its so damn obvious.

RANT MODE ON As a sim player and a beta tester I have really come to appreciate the games that are coming out. I find it almost beyond comprehension that some exhibit the type of behavior that's becoming more and more prevalent on the net towards game developers. People these are games....they are extremely inexpensive considering the amount of enjoyment derived. Sure occasionally you get a dud...a game that doesn't appeal to you. Big deal...the games that do appeal to you cost what maybe $45.00US....and you played them how long...maybe 100 or so hours...(just a wild guess since I wont admit how many hours I've played Su-27 Flanker....<VBG>) You are getting the entertainment bargain of the century...shut the hell up. Constructive critiques are extremely useful...but the YOU GODDAMN MORON YOU HATE ME CAUSE YOU DIDN'T PUT XYZ INTO MY FLIGHT SIM....or YOUR INCOMPETENT MY FRIEND HAS A FRIEND THAT SAW A FRIEND OF HIS AND HE TALKED DIRECTLY TO A JANITOR WHO OVERHEARD THAT PILOTS DON'T THINK FLIGHT SIMS ARE REAL....YOU INCOMPETENT MORON YOU ADVERTISED IT AS REAL...blah blah blah...get over it. Find another hobby...cause your too stupid to be in Flight sims.

The newsgroups are cool because you can actually have some input into Flight Sims in development....well you could until it became the cOoL thing to scream about Bastard Developers not giving us sims with 22 flyable aircraft...each modeled better than NASA, with at least 3 dynamic Campaigns, Front Seat/Back Seat handjobs, Free Upgrades till the end of time and blah blah blah. Sheeeet....get a life. You get a chance to make some input....do it in a rational way. Talk to a person the way you want someone to talk to you....these people don't have to be in the newsgroups. People like Andy Hollis take so much abuse that others like Jim Mackonochie, Neil Soane, make only token appearances at best. Why..? Well go to dejanews and just take a look at the type of abuse Andy Hollis has taken....its amazing. Here is one of the premier developers who used to take the time to get our opinions....and he is just dumped on without end. WOW....this same developer put out sims like Janes Longbow, Flash Point Korea, Longbow 2, and F15...exactly what is so bad about these sims that a person has to abuse him for....?

Often he was being criticized for problems that were caused by the User...and that same user being a complete and utter fool would scream foul language at Hollis. Like Andy was the one who was foolish enough to try to run F15 with every Virus Checker running, IE 4 minimized, Bryce 3 rendering, and some bizarre set of start up commands for this turkeys Voodoo1, and this clown gets upset when his whizbang 486/100 4mb Wonder Machine Pukes. DUH...!!! But here he comes...Andy Hollis is a MOTHER F#$%()R and I hate him and his stoopid flight sims....!!! Then there goes another developer that says...nah this isn't a wise use of my time....and we lose the ability to influence yet another set of flight sims. Damn.

Some say that well he deserves it since he is just on the newsgroups promoting his product...well duh...really...? Should he be promoting some other guys flight sims...? Its a two way street, we get to promote our agenda for flight sims...and he gets to talk up his products. Really a case of helping each other out. Why is that such a hard concept....why does it seem that people look at the act of being in business as enough evidence to convict a person of foulness.

7/22/98 Alrighty then the screenshots were a hit....great fun eh. Not as much fun as flying is gonna be though....I cannot wait to fly Flanker 2.0 again...ooh me ooh my. Well if I buy a ticket to Austrailia I could fly it again as soon as this September cause the bud who got me and GLW into Flanker has a squadron that is having a Topgun Competition and they are gonna be using Flanker 1.5 as the sim of choice. Also on display will be Flanker 2.0 but here let me allow Michael Barnes to tell you about it.  Here is the Press Release he sent me....btw glad you liked the Mission Michael.

            Australia’s Top Guns
    The 1998 Australian Topgun Championship
        19th and 20th September 1998

In September this year, at least twenty hot shot fighter pilots
will be in Sydney, Australia, squaring off to work out who is
the best of the best.  Between them they have experienced over
a thousand engagements with enemy aircraft, yet most of them
have never flown a plane.

They are all keen flight simulator pilots; virtual warriors
who have found that you do not have to be one of the elite few
in order to experience the thrill of flying a fast military jet
in combat. In fact, you can do it while keeping your feet on the
ground!

Utilising the latest flight simulation software, these simulator
pilots are able to connect their computers together in a network and
fly in teams, wingtip to wingtip.

The Topgun championship is an annual event that has grown to the
point that it now involves five clubs from Australia and New Zealand.
Over the two days, clubs and individuals compete in five gruelling
event to determine who is the best of the best.

This year the championship will be fought using Su-27 Flanker, 
chosen for the fidelity of its simulation, and for the remarkable
flexibility that enables it to be used for the following events:

* 2 vs 2 guns-only dogfight.  A round-robin event in which two-man
  teams will take on each opposing team in a battle to the death
  using only the fighter pilots basic tool - the gun.  This is the
  traditional "knife fight in a phone booth".

* 2 vs 2 BVR Missiles.  This time the two-man teams are armed with
  radar and heat-seaking missiles, introducing a whole new range of
  tactics and challenges.

* 4 vs 4 BVR Missiles.  Add two more pilots on each side, and it
  becomes an exercise in coordination and control, tactics and
  deception.

* 4 vs AI 'campaign' mission.  Just being able to fight is not enough!
  This event tests the pilots ability to conduct a coordinated strike
  mission against computer controlled aircraft and ground defences.
  To succeed, you must complete the mission objectives and get your
  team back alive!

* Solo navigation and bombing time trial.  Precision and accuracy in
  navigation and striking targets is an essential skill for a combat
  pilot.  This final test requires the contestants to pass waypoints
  and hit targets over a several hundred kilometer course, with a
  margin of error measured in seconds.

As well as these official events, the Topgun will also include
8 vs 8 'campaign' missions, and 16 vs AI 'campaign' missions, to test
the pilot's command and control skills to the limits.

An added treat will be demonstrations of Mindscape's much anticipated
Version 2.0 of Su-27 Flanker.

This year the competition will be held in Sydney, Australia, on the
19th and 20th of September at the School of Military Engineering,
Moorebank Avenue, Moorebank, opposite the Military Engineering
Museum.  The competition is open to anyone and spectators are welcome.

For more information on the 1998 Australian Topgun Competition, or to
get in contact with your local squadron, you can call Michael Barnes
of the 62nd Fighting Falcons Club, in Australia on (07) 3303 3148 (wk)
or (07) 3201 1256 (hm), or email michaelb@onthenet.com.au, or get the
details from http://www.onthenet.com.au/~michaelb/topgun.htm

7/13/98 Big Big NEWS....SCREENSHOTS OF FLANKER.....ooooh my.....I have taken down a few things to insure that I have enough Web Space...I only have 6mb to work with here....hehehe. So I apologize in advance if you are here looking for the tourain.zip for F-15 thats down for a bit as it was large. Also took down the Quake page...was useless anyways since I never did anything with it...

Anyways I almost feel sorry for other flight sims....they have to be jealous of Flanker...hehehe.

Wanted to put the word in for my buddy Lenn "Archer" Collins new business....Collins Interactive Computer Specialists. Archer was a good guy from the day I got on the Falcon Ladder and was one of those guys who was always willing to show you how he just killed you in H2H....<VBG> Taught me how to shoot in Falcon much to everyone's regret....hehehe. He invited Karen and I to the 96 Lake O Fire party get together and we had a blast.....he is one hell of a guy and if you have a question about puters talk to him. He doesnt bullshit....and is honest to a Fault. (never understood the meaning of that cliche..)

Gonna be putting up more benchmarks for the AMD-K6 BadBoy with my New Voodoo2 card....OOOH MY...one quick benchmark....71.0 Fps in Demo1 of Quake 2....hehehehe.

6/29/98 Well sitting here waiting for AMD to post the 3dnow drivers.....we need more news. I dont mind breaking new ground cause hell for me piddling with my puter is almost as much fun as playing a game on it...but sure would like more information. Like why isnt there any information regarding Voodoo1...and the 3d now drivers....???

See the benchmarks on my new AMD K6-2 333 processor now....ooh la la.

Made some small updates to my AMD K6-2 333mhz (83x4) Benchmark page. Cleared up which Quake 2 demo I was using...I only use Massive1.dm2 for benchmarks. Doesnt make sense to use anything else. I want the puter loaded down, not some wimpy demo1.demo.... Also made an update to the Unreal Framerate figures...didnt change anything just added the timedemo version 2 scores. This is a neat little mod allowing a person to bench Unreal. Very cool.

See the benchmarks on my new AMD K6-2 333 processor now....ooh la la.

Had some requests to benchmark Warbirds 2.01r D3D version...uh oh the version I have is broke. I think Direct X 6.0 is not playing well with it......any help appreciated. Im getting a page fault in D3Dim.dll....upon request I can  send a Dr. Watson Dump.

Just finished reading this latest issue of Boot...man what a neat magazine. Damn shame its gonna change...and who thought of the new name...??? Maximum PC...(maximum bullshit..??) anyways they had a great section on the AMD K6-2 300 and various benchmarks. The one that caught my eye was their comment that Quake 2 running with 2 Voodoo2's sli'd was running at 62.2 FPS a second...hehehe. They said they havent ever seen Quake 2 run like that at that resolution...OOOH MY. Thats the neat thing about the new 3D Now instructions it increases the amount of information that can travel on the Mobo by consolidating it. Which is why the K6-2 300mhz at 1024x768 in Quake 2 is faster than a PII-400....and lets see...one costs 161.00 and the other costs....769.00 hey thats a hard choice...Im gonna buy the Intel chip..at 769.00 I dont need my money....lets give it to Intel.