Glide Graphics Glory

F-22 Air Dominance Fighter currently supports the ATI Rage Pro AGP card, cards using the 3Dfx Voodoo chipset (Diamond Monster, Orchid Righteous, Maxi Gamer, Realvision Flash, Micro Hiscore, Canopus Pure 3D, Skywell magic 3D etc), and video cards using the 3Dfx Voodoo Rush chipset (Hercules Stingray 128/3D, Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo, Deltron Flash AT3D, Jazz Adrenalin Rush etc).

ADF also supports the Nvidia Riva 128 chipset AGP cards eg. Diamond Viper330 and STB Total 3d AGP, and any 4Mb PCI cards with 8-bit palettised textures. The supported cards must have at least - vertex fogging, 16-bit screen mode, 4000000 bytes of video memory, perspective correct texture support and alpha texture support. Some notorious cards state 4Mb on their packaging though they have 3.5Mb of video memory.

Glide is the proprietary API used by 3dfx for their Voodoo chipset, so you need a 3dfx based board to make use of it. ADF supports a number of resolutions under Glide, but most of us will be running at 800x600.

This mode is simply astonishing in its beauty. Objects and terrain, virtual cockpit and MFDs are all rendered at this resolution. Many objects in ADF are somewhat basic in appearance, like ground vehicles, but all have their own unique sound file and special effects, like the dust following these vehicles and armor as they scooted along the road near the battle zone....Click any image for a larger cut shot...

Clouds in ADF come in many forms, far removed from the unending cloud bank of EF2000. Clouds come in multiple layers, and fog and haze and smoke effects are varied. Smoke comes in two varieties, but you'll see mostly black when you score a hit or take one yourself. Looking at clouds from underneath is much different than looking at them from above, and while I can't be absolutely certain of this, I am fairly sure that your IR resolution decreases under cloudly conditions as it should.

Another significant area of graphics improvement over EF2000 is in damage modelling. Multiple explosions will rock your aircraft if you take the wrong kind of hit, and these can be ongoing for a couple of minutes before you get a final warning and your aircraft explodes. In the same way you can watch bandits suffer the same fate. The explosions you see will sometimes result in pieces flying off the airframe. This means that if you are too close on the tail of your victim you can take collateral damage yourself. If you are using guns and your opponent explodes, pull hard left or right to avoid the consequences!

Terrain varies widely, even in the desert. The greatest variation is between the Saudi landscape and the greener parts of Eritrea, however. Coastlines can be quite beautiful, and so can skies. ADF doesn't quite compare in the beauty of its dawn and dusk settings to FA18 Korea, but the sky is at least as nice as EF2000 and possibly a bit prettier. Here is a shot from the Eritrea Tour:

Attention to detail shows up in graphics engines quite quickly, and you won't be disappointed by ADF in this regard. Its possible to land without gear in ADF, and the sparks, noise and smoke generated by such a landing will give you reason to consider using the silk method the next time! In the same way, the parachute looks great, and you can even steer it using your joystick. But unlike EF2000, the man in the gear (you!) is modelling in 3d this time around. For a chute shot go to F22 Screens Page 2.

All thats left to say regarding graphics is that the lighting is not up to Longbow 2 standards, but is great nevertheless. Get hit by a missile at dusk or at night and you will be blinded by the flash (see "Being There" below for screens). Launch at night or watch an explosion and the flash is brilliant. When all is said and done, more gets said than done, but DiD has done it right in the graphics department and I rate graphics in ADF as 95%.

Quick Combat

F22: ADF is one of the most sophisticated simulations ever released for the PC. However, there are times when you just want to dive in and engage some enemies, and for that reason ADF includes a Quick Combat interface.

Quick Combat is an intense and lengthy mission lasting five hours. You must follow the waypoint route destroying targets as you find them, and then renewing your weapons. At each waypoint you will find a target on the ground which must be destroyed, while ever more dangerous waves of enemy aircraft and SAM's will rise to attack you along the route.

At each waypoint, you will find a ground target that carries a high points score for destruction. Points are awarded by a points multiplier system; i.e. the more points you earn the more the points multiply. However, should you hit your own side there will be a corresponding loss of points.

In general, higher points will be given for higher score targets; e.g. a tank is worth more than a truck, but a greater score will be given for a specified ground target within the mission. The highest scores will be displayed in the Quick Combat Hi Score table. Fuel will be limited to what you can carry externally, and a refueler will stand-by before the last waypoint - just in case. One weapon of each type carried will be automatically replaced every thirty seconds.

Is it challenging? As the above implies, the challenge increases over time. After an hour I was starting to sweat. There will be plenty of challenge here for most pilots and it should be fun getting into the scoring race as we did with EF2000. Doc-Ace Chmura and Papa Doc will be battling for the lead with a hundred other pilots before Christmas if all goes well!

Still, I miss the configurable quick mission structure of EF2000 which really allowed one to develop those one on one or one vs two skills. JSF has been released with a "DOGFIGHT" mission option that is less flexible than that built into the final release of EF2, but at least the component is there. It also would have been great to have an invulnerable setting so that those who want to just blow things up and/or learn the ropes while not having to start over again could do so. In ADF we will have to make do with the training scenarios provided. More on single missions below....

Single/Training Missions: Being There

Being There

Flight feels great, much better than EF2000. A full six DOF is modelled and it certainly shows. Inertia, the effects of thrust and torque, speed bleed on high g turns, gravity and payload are all factored in. With a light load the F22 is a rocket with wings; with a heavy load its quite different. Departure from normal flight on this basically unstable airframe is limited by the flight computer. Take damage to that system and you are really flying a large bomb.

I did some runway tests and this too has improved over EF2000. If you have ever taken off in a small jet you will recognize the sound and the feel. The increasing resistance and bounce of the tires as you approach TO velocity is there. The sense of speed on the runway itself is very good, the textures too have improved over EF2000.

Objects are numerous and far more care has been spent on modelling. The hangars, tower, and aircraft around the base all look great. There also seems to be more air and ground activity. And collision detection is present on the ground, so watching for other traffic and obeying the instructions from the tower has suddenly become more important! This is fitting since interaction with other aircraft and with ATC has moved miles beyond EF2000.

The effects of torque are modelled individually for the engines. I had a calibration glitch in my rudder pedals in the last mission I flew and was taxiing to the runway. I couldn't turn right as rapidly as I needed to so I tried shutting down the right engine. WOW! I found myself turning right on a dime! I was a bit surprised to see this modelled.

Attention to detail has been a hallmark for Digital Image Design since their first TFX simulation some years back. In EF2000 we saw the ante increased considerably, and the terrain had evolved to where we really FELT like we were flying over Norwegian turf...

Attention to detail continues with F22: ADF. You've seen screens revealing contrails and varied damage modelling. We got con trails out the yin-yang! Even your check six view will show vapor flowing off the wing tip, especially on high g turns at high altitude. You can see them on other aircraft as well, and sometimes your first visual indication of a bandit might be a con trail. In many of the single missions you will lack an AWACS link and you'll have to rely on the Mark 1 eyeball as well as your passive sensor systems.

What has shown up more recently is improved lighting effects. Missiles fall freely before igniting, but when they do they have a ringed glow when seen from the rear quarter. These shots have the gamma cranked about 30% for a better view.

In EF2000 night never really seemed dark enough. In F22 you'll find a moonless night is pitch black. On the other hand, this particular night had a moon....By the way, in any of the training missions you can adjust time to fly day, night, dawn or dusk. This ability is a nice touch! If you really love to fly at night, or want to see how the same mission will play at night, its up to you!

As mentioned earlier, attention to detail includes different voices for different wingmen. At times this catches me off guard, on a recent mission I found my wingman wasn't a wingman at all, but a wing woman... (shades of Batman!)

The structure of F22: ADF is such that the Single Missions are set up as training for the Tours of Duty. As a result the training section of the sim has about forty missions in total, allowing you plenty of opportunity to familiarize yourself with the avionics systems, tactics, and comms. Each mission has its own briefing and map and you can also access a picture of the target (similar to EF2000 but more detailed). When you complete the mission you will get a debriefing that will summarize your performance, and you can also access an ongoing personal log which also records any medals you've been awarded and the number of times you have ejected or been killed. For each mission you can also adjust the time of day you are flying.

Unfortunately, while the briefing itself is great, the map is a very weak feature. All it really shows you is your waypoints overlaid on a low res contour graphic. You can zoom in or out but why bother? You can't overlay threats and radar envelopes, you can't do a thing with it. I know that TAW will expand greatly on this component, but for the moment this feature is rather empty, even though on exit the map will show you locations for various in-mission events

In the training missions you can access the missions in any order you choose, but in the Tours you must successfully complete one mission in order to move on to the next. Training is divided into six sections:

• Flight Training
• Weapons Training
• Air to Air Tactics
• Free Flight
• Wingmen Training
• AWACS

In the first section, flight training, there are six missions as follows:

• Take off Practice
• Landing Practice
• Refuelling Practice
• Engine Failure: Emergency Take Off Practice
• Hydraulic Failure: Emergency Landing Practice
• Electrical Failure: Emergency Landing Practice

Go to F22:ADF Review Part III