by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson

  Another annoyance relates to control configuration. The USAF demo showed us that there was some extreme sensitivity in the joystick routines. The solution is to enter the PREFERENCES Control setup and edit the joystick settings.

This will take care of one issue, but leave you with another. It's still difficult to maintain level flight apart from engaging the Autopilot. The trim settings (PGUP and PGDN) adjust the trim in strokes that are too broad, and don't have the sensitivity needed. Solution? Simply find the course and heading you desire and engage the AP LVL mode. The second press of the "A" key engages the AP NAV mode and you no longer have control of direction or throttle (other than through the waypoint setting).

Built in voice comms is a first for a JANE's sim. I use Game Commander so I haven't tested the voice comms for USAF. If you use Roger Wilco you may have discovered there is a problem, but the fix is simple. Open your \Resounding Folder (usually under Program Files) and add the following line to the games.txt file: "Jane's USAF" "Jane's USAF" 1 3000. Save the changes and you're ready to rock and roll.

Click to continue

As for AI, yes there are a few glitches here too. I've seen friendly aircraft discover that the mountains are too high (G), and I've had wingmen not respond to commands (only once.) But yes, the graphics are far beyond IAF and the screens here should give you a good sampling.

Mission Builder and JANE'S Combat.net

Yesterday marks my first visit to Jane's Combat.net. I flew a head to head mission just to test the connection and was pleased to find it as smooth as silk. From there I attempted to set up a co-op mission, using the historical Desert Storm campaign missions. Unfortunately, two attempts gave me nothing but a black screen. Your mileage may vary, but I expect there are some issues to work out in this area.

Full Screen FLIR mode.

Go to Part IV: UME