Re: Jane's WW2 Fighters

[joestevens]

OK, since my last posting, I went out and picked up another 32M SDRAM and the
CL Banshee card (2D/3D, 3Dfx support, with 16M on the card).

Next step - download all 55M of Jane's WW2 Fighters demo. Now I'm happy. Runs
great, looks MUCH better than the Microsoft fighters, but obviously the
download options are going to be severely limited compared to what's out there
for the MS FS engine. The scenario is limited to Ardennes 1944, but hey, that's


fine with me. (I LIKE the look of fire in the snow....) Give it a try: you get
alternating 6-minute missions, one in a fully-loaded Jug, the other in a 190A.




So - for what it's worth, I will probably be opting for the Jane's. All those
wanting the ability to import a 747 or Pitcairn Mailwing, the cockpit graphics
of a PZL-P11 or a Westland Wyvern, or scenery from Bora Bora or downtown
Detroit can be satisfied with the CFS. The two *sort of* complement each other.



But CFS has nothing on the Jane's for exterior graphics, and as far as the
aircraft models - NO comparison. When you see your windscreen craze from the
last pass from your opponent, and blood on the canopy, you'll see what I mean.





I also tried the MicroProse European Air War sim - hasn't worked yet.

Can you tell me what kind of a system you need to run Jane's smoothly?

Joe

[channard]

But CFS has nothing on the Jane's for exterior graphics, and as far as the
aircraft models - NO comparison. When you see your windscreen craze from the
last pass from your opponent, and blood on the canopy, you'll see what I mean.




Can you tell me what kind of a system you need to run Jane's smoothly?

Some history is in order, I suppose. My system WAS 200MMX, Millenium and
Matrox M3D w/4M RAM, 32M SDRAM. I tried CFS first (since the box says min
reqts were 133MHz, no 3D, no MMX, and <32M RAM, $%*#ing liars.....). It ran
like a Victorian steam engine (with EVERYthing set to MIN. (But at least it installed - look how many people here haven't gotten THAT far.) I returned the
game. (Good thing, too, since a week later, I saw it for $20 LESS at the
local Fry's.)

But I know I was underpowered. I picked up the CL Banshee card with 16M RAM
on it (PCI bus) and another 32M SDRAM (a total investment of $175, but I
have a $30 rebate coming to me). That's what I am running the Jane's demo on, and it works very well with just about everything on HIGH. If it holds true that demos are somewhat under-optimized for performance, I am sure that will be enough. (Actually, I am very satisfied with it - absolutely smooth, no hangs, ratcheting, or bizarro-land (black squares around things, for example) behavior, which is more than I can say for the beta-retail Microsoft approach to things....) PLUS: the Jane's requirements say a 200MHz processor is MIN. I think that is truth in advertising, but you may be able to get by with less IF you have a whoop-ass graphics card that supports 3Dfx graphics.

Oh, I finally got European Air War's demo to run. Forget about it - it looks like an upgraded SWOTL. Not in the same league.

SO - the Jane's demo is free (except for the 55M download time). What have you got to lose? Give it a try - I'd be interested in hearing other reactions or comparisons between the two.

Channard

[channard]

But CFS has nothing on the Jane's for exterior graphics, and as far as the
aircraft models - NO comparison. When you see your windscreen craze from the
last pass from your opponent, and blood on the canopy, you'll see what I mean.





Can you tell me what kind of a system you need to run Jane's smoothly?

Some history is in order, I suppose. My system WAS 200MMX, Millenium and
Matrox M3D w/4M RAM, 32M SDRAM. I tried CFS first (since the box says min
reqts were 133MHz, no 3D, no MMX, and <32M RAM, $%*#ing liars.....). It ran
like a Victorian steam engine (with EVERYthing set to MIN. (But at least it
installed - look how many people here haven't gotten THAT far.) I returned
the game. (Good thing, too, since a week later, I saw it for $20 LESS at
the local Fry's.)

But I know I was underpowered. I picked up the CL Banshee card with 16M RAM
on it (PCI bus) and another 32M SDRAM (a total investment of $175, but I
have a $30 rebate coming to me). That's what I am running the Jane's demo on,
and it works very well with just about everything on HIGH. If it holds true that demos are somewhat under-optimized for performance, I am sure that will
be enough. (Actually, I am very satisfied with it - absolutely smooth, no
hangs, ratcheting, or bizarro-land (black squares around things, for example)
behavior, which is more than I can say for the beta-retail Microsoft approach
to things....) PLUS: the Jane's requirements say a 200MHz processor is MIN. I
think that is truth in advertising, but you may be able to get by with less IF
you have a whoop-ass graphics card that supports 3Dfx graphics.

Oh, I finally got European Air War's demo to run. Forget about it - it looks
like an upgraded SWOTL. Not in the same league.

SO - the Jane's demo is free (except for the 55M download time). What have you
got to lose? Give it a try - I'd be interested in hearing other reactions or
comparisons between the two.

Channard