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Tuesday, November 30, 1999

New @ COMBATSIM.COM Training: F4 Missile Evasion "Kosmo, bandits, 2-ship, bullseye 086, 22 miles.....engaged defensive!" The cockpit fills with an orchestra of light and sound. The RWR emits a launch tone, you look and see the red missile launch indicator is illuminated, confirming a radar missile inbound. The RWR indicates it's from the North, 11 o'clock. Decision time! Review: USAF Strategy Guide Prima Publishing builds strategy guides for a host of games. We walk you through their latest release and let you see for yourself the kind of help offered by Prima for USAF fans. Mods from Rogue Spear Database KOREA DMZ v1.02 Patch - Korea DMZ: Operation Deep Knife, to version 1.02. The patch includes numerous fixes and tweaks including better base guards, deadlier snipers, shock troopers and more. Download the patch here. M-62 v2.5 - An update to the M62 mod which fixes various things. Yukks Map Pack - A revised version of Yukks Map Pack which includes one new map. PSG-2s - A PSG-1 with a sound surpessor. Includes a totally new sound file. Blade Zero v1.2 - Adds 15 new weapons and modifies 4 weapons. Almost all weapons includes accessories such as a grenade launcher, sound surpressor, etc. Hostyle Map Pack 2 - A server-side map mod with 5 maps. Battle of Britian Demo Updated The creators of SimGuild's Flying Circus has released a updated demo of the Battle of Britain and is now available for open download. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com

Monday, November 29, 1999

Rogue Spear Mods The Rogue Spear Database has posted several new mods for Rogue Spear: Frisk's Mod 2.0, a weapon mod which consists of 11 weapons: Beretta AR 70/90, Vektor CR-21, Knight SR-25 Widow Maker, HK G3, CAR-15 Modified, SLR-95, Knight SR-25, Knight SR-25 Silenced, Pancor Jackhammer Automatic Shotgun, Olin CAWS Automatic Shotgun, Desert Eagle Scoped, and a M203 Grenade Launcher. Download Frisk's Mod 2.0 here. JCTC has created four character mods based on characters from movies. All character mods include new textures and don't overwrite anything that will effect your default settings (RM01 will be overwritten, but only to add the new characters): - Jack Traven (SPEED) - David Mills (SE7EN) - Fox "Spooky" Mulder (X-FILES) - Leon (LEON) Rosco Mod v1.3 is mod that adds new weapons, new skins, new menus, new ammo and more. This mod uses the mods folder, therefore won't overwrite anything. Download Rosco Mod v1.3 here. New @ 3DFiles.com In Delta Force 2, as in the original, you're a member of the U.S. military's elite anti-terrorist detachment, Delta Force. It's a first-person action game, but it's based on reality; you use real-world weapons and tactics in real-world hotspots, capturing terrorist bases, rescuing hostages, destroying enemy structures and weapons. Click here to download. Panzer Elite 1.07 Patch - patch 107 resolves many issues found such as: crashes in game and updated 3D control center to give the user more configuration abilities for their soundcards. Click here to download. Warzone 2100 1.10 Patch - Includes all the fixes from previous patches as well as new improvements and fixes. Click here to download.

Weekend of November 27-28, 1999

Air Warrior3 Add-on For all you RR pilots, a AW3 fan has posted the new Medium ETO terrain up in the Special Events Arena on their web site. Extract the files to their /support folder to install. DI's Super Hornet Released in the UK Digital Integration and Titus Software have announced the release of F/A-18E Super Hornet in the UK and Europe. The game will hit the shops on Friday 3rd December in the UK and in mainlandEurope on the 10th. F/A-18E Super Hornet will also be followed in the new year by a mission packand F/A-18E Super Hornet GOLD featuring a real time, dynamic campaign.

Friday, November 26, 1999

New @ COMBATSIM.COM Download: F4 Broken Spearhead The North Koreans have finished the development of a new medium range ballistic missile called Taepo Dong II (TD 2). Because the USA has great interest in a stabilized East Asia, it cannot allow North Korea to deploy the missiles. The President has given orders to stike North Korean facilities involved in producing components for the missiles. Simulation Survey II What would you like to see? We received a great deal of mail following our last survey, so we have revised the questions for a second survey. Review: Panzer General 3d SSI, the creators of the ‘General’ series of games first brought to fame by "Panzer General" and then their last release "People’s General" has taken a new tack with their famous series. Panzer General is back, but this time in bold 3D, bringing an all new look and feel to this familiar and highly popular series. Review: Logitech Wingman Extreme So you aren't ready for a separate stick and throttle? Your wife thinks you should spend that extra money on HER instead?? What's a guy gonna do? Rogue Spear Mods The Rogue Spear Database has posted several new mods: KOREA DMZ: Operation Deep Knife is Rodion's latest mod. This is a re-textured bunkers map with new re-textured terrorists. This is a single player mod which does not overwrite any files that will affect your default missions. Here's the introduction to the mission: Several UN Diplomats have been abducted by North Korean Border Guards when they accidentally crossed over into the North Korean side of the Korean DMZ near Zhuon Rhee. They are being held in a border camp just opposite a similar border camp controlled by U.S. Forces. Click here to download. Gallaleo's Rogue Spear Stats Version 2.5 is now available: RS-Stats now has the option to record Cooperative and Adversarial games. Each Game Type will now have there own stats. So if you decide to play some co-op games the program will ONLY save those stats to your co-op stats file. Then if you switch to Adversarial games it will ONLY save those stats to your adver. stats file. And you have the option to create .html files for both Adver. and Co-Op games. Along with player editing for both Game Types. Click here to download. Sniper Mod v1.2 - A weapon mod that adds 12 new weapons and 6 new ammo types. SIXPAG Map Pack - A german map pack that has 10 modded multiplayer maps. Desert Bunkers, Night Time Bunkers - Two, in a series of eight, re-textured bunker maps in a series called "Digital Bunkers". Boeing Press Release Boeing has released information on the new Super Hornert: The nation's first Super Hornet squadron - VFA-122 - received seven aircraft during an arrival ceremony on November 18, 1999. The squadron will receive more than 34 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets during the next two years. The aircraftferried from Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake, Calif., where the U.S. Navy recently completed the flying portion of the Super Hornet's operational evaluation. VFA-122 is a fleet readiness squadron responsible for Super Hornet aircrew and maintenance training. The squadron, established on Jan. 15, currently is composed of about 165 personnel but is expected to grow to more than 500 over the next several years as Super Hornets and their crews populate the fleet. Jane's Defence Weekly for 24 November 1999 Revision to CFE Treaty reduces Euro arsenal Leaders from 30 nations signed the revised Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty last week, further reducing the number of combat aircraft, main battle tanks, artillery and other conventional weapon systems permitted in Europe. A400M could push ahead with orders for just 200 The Airbus Military Company (AMC) could be prepared to launch the manufacturing phase of its A400M transport aircraft programme with thereceipt of a production order for just 200 units. Pegasus SAM to be deployed soon The Republic of Korea Army will start to deploy its first Pegasus (Chun Ma) self-propelled surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems next month, according to reports from Seoul. Chile likely to decide on used Mirages or F-16s Chile is expected to procure a limited number of used, refurbished fighter aircraft and could choose between the US Lockheed Martin F-16 and French Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000 early next year, according to Chilean defence officials. USN explores options to boost SSN numbers The US Navy is considering three options to keep the strength of its nuclear attack submarine (SSN) force at about 50, but navy leaders believe that this figure, which has cut the force by one third, is too low. BAMSE survives Swedish cuts Swedish Supreme Commander Gen Owe Wiktorin has recommended limitedprocurement of the Bofors Missiles RBS 23 BAMSE surface-to-air missile system despite substantial cuts to the defence budget. French will buy CAESAR artillery French Defence Minister Alain Richard has said the army will order five to 10 CAESAR (CAMion Equipé d'un Système d'Artillerie) 155mm/52-calibre 6 x 6 self-propelled artillery systems from Giat Industries. RAN takes closer look at US Kidd-class DDGs The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has confirmed that it is investigating the feasibility of acquiring four recently paid off US Navy Kidd-classguided missile destroyers(DDGs). Australian Navy LPAs hit by further delays The entry into service of the Royal Australian Navy's two amphibious transport (LPA) ships has been further delayed by about three months due to difficulties in returning to work the main and auxiliary machinery systems which have been idle for almost four years. Israel urging China to buy more AEW systems In a bid to increase defence ties with China, Israel is encouraging Beijing to exercise its option to buy another three airborne early-warning (AEW) systems in a deal that could reach $1 billion. Thomson to take fight to new BAe Thomson-CSF will consolidate its individual UK holdings into one company from year-end to take on the planned larger British Aerospace(BAe). Jane's Defence Upgrades for 1-15 December 1999 More upgrades for Pakistani Type 59 MBTs Outside China, Pakistan is the largest user of the China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) Type Main Battle Tank (MBT), with an estimated 1,200 vehicles in service. Even with the more modern NORINCO Type 69-II and Type 85 MBTs in service, a significant part of Pakistan's Type 59 MBT fleet is being upgraded in three phases by the Heavy Industries Taxila facility, the first phase having been started back in 1993. Phase III vehicle prototypes are now complete to which standard an undisclosed number of Type 59 MBTs will now be converted. AIP retrofit for two Swedish submarines Two Royal Swedish Navy Västergötland-class (Type A17) submarines - the Södermanland and the Östergötland - are to receive the latest Stirling air independent propulsion (AIP) system as part of a modernisation programme to be undertaken by Kockums. The order, worth SKr 600 million (US$73m) will enable the submarines to remain submerged for much longer periods than previously. Czech BVP-1 mod.99 The Czech Republic's defence marketing organisation, Caliber Prague, is offering to upgrade the many BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles in Czech service. The upgraded vehicle prototype, BVP-1 mod.99, is based on the upgrade of the BMP-1 (Pbv-501) for the Swedish army being undertaken by VOP-026 Sternberk. The upgrade was shown in public earlier this year and introduces passive night vision devices. Upgrade for Canada's Griffon's Canada's air force plans to upgrade its CH-146 Griffon (Bell Canada 412EP) helicopters with a new surveillance system, electronic warfare equipment, night vision goggles and an infrared suppression system. Already trials have been conducted, indicating which types of equipment in the four categories will be selected. BACKGROUND BRIEF: Re-engining for A-10A? The US Air Force (USAF) is studying the re-engining of its fleet of Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft as part of a series of upgrades intended to keep the aircraft in service until 2028. Known as the 'Warthog', the A-10A will eventually be replaced by the Joint Strike Fighter. As it will remain in service after the USAF F-16 and US Marine Corps AV-8B fleets have been replaced, it is likely to be the most long-lived of current ground-attack aircraft. TECHNOLOGY INSERTION: More flex for Danish mine countermeasures The Royal Danish Navy is further developing the containerised mine-countermeasures capability of its Flyvefisken-class Standard Flex 300 (SF 300) multi-role surface auxiliary vessels by introducing new larger surface auxiliary trials of a remote minesweeping capability. The MCM concept developed for the SF 300 programme provides for route survey and remote minehunting operations.

Thursday, November 25, 1999

New @ COMBATSIM.COM Training: F4 Tricks of the Trade This series of articles is discussing three things: 1) Building missions the right way the first time (first article and this article). 2) Fixing busted missions (next article). 3) Mission building tricks to add excitement and uniqueness to your missions. Military History: A Hard Flight Home The instant antiaircraft shrapnel ripped into the engine, he knew he was in trouble. Serious trouble. Clouds of coolant steam hissing through jagged holes in the cowling told Carr he was about to ride the silk elevator down to a long walk back to his squadron. A very long walk. This had not been part of the mission plan. NEWS: 3dfx Update A press conference with the new President and CEO of 3dfx results in reflections on the next generation of hardware acceleration. Will Voodoo Napalm be the hardware for you? GameSpy 2.18 GameSpy server browser is up to version 2.18 for registered users. This version adds support for Rogue Spear, and beta support for BattleZone II. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com Thunderbirds Featured in Jane's USAF Enhancement JANE'S is launching a enhancement for Jane's USAF. Downloading the free enhancement enables Jane's USAF players to fly an F-16C painted just like the red, white and blue Thunderbirds jets. The enhancement allows players to play Jane's USAF as the real Thunderbird pilots with accurate name and rank. Detailed pilot tracking lets players climb the pyramid, earning new ranks and medals as they go. The game keeps detailed statistics on performance, flight hours, missions accomplished and training completed.

Wednesday, November 24, 1999

New @ COMBATSIM.COM Feature: Flight Training Your breathing is difficult and heaving, your sight is greying and tunnelling...9,000ft and still falling - time to recover. You roll hard back to your left while continuing to pull hard on the stick. BANG! Happy lawn darting because you've just lost your right wing! Interview: Su39 Su39 is a stand alone simulation that will connect to Flanker 2.0. In the process of building Su39, the Flanker 2 world will itself be expanded, increasing gameplay as well as the fun factor. Half Life: Opposing Force Patch Fixes the ability to run games over multiple subnets, animation fixed for using alt-fire with the pipe wrench in multiplayer, animation fixed for holding the Displacer in multiplayer, and AutoUpdate support added for Opposing Force to Sierra Utilities. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com Shadow Company 1.3 Patch Fixes "First person mouse control mode" which changes the view manipulation when you hold down the right mouse button. If Intellimouse is enabled, you can use the mouse to raise and lower the view. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com Delta Force 2 Patch Delta Force 2 patch, version 1.03.01 has been released. Use the ingame updater to download and update to the new version. US Military News -Pilot ejects from A-10 SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- An A-10 pilot safely ejected Nov. 22 before his Thunderbolt II rolled off the runway and came to a stop on the base golf course at about 3:45 p.m. Central European Time. First Lt. Nathan Connell, of Spangdahlem's 81st Fighter Squadron, was transported to nearby Bitburg Air Base Hospital, where he was treated for minor abrasions and released. The aircraft's nose gear collapsed during the accident. The cost of the damage to the aircraft is not known at this time. Air Force officials are currently investigating the cause of the accident. (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service)

Tuesday, November 23, 1999

New Flanker2 Improvements There are a couple of new graphical improvements available for Flanker 2.0 drivers: New Water Textures from Mother Superior and 3dfx Texture Fix For Flanker 2 by PapaDoc AOL and Electronic Arts Team Up EA and America Online today announced a five-year strategic relationship to create and deliver online games and content for AOL. Under the terms of the agreement, EA will become responsible for content on AOL's Games Channel and for all game content on America Online brands AOL.COM, CompuServe, Netcenter and ICQ. EA will guarantee AOL $81 million over the term of the agreement. The new gaming site is expected to launch in summer 2000. In related news, EA today announced the acquisition of Kesmai Corporation. The Charlottesville, Virginia-based Kesmai, which provides games to the AOL Games Channel, is a unit of News Corporation. Kesmai specializes in the design and development of multiplayer games delivered to consumers over the Internet and is a provider of content to the Games Channel on America Online. Kesmai Studios popular titles Aliens Online, Starship Troopers and BattleTech. New @ COMBATSIM.COM Review: MiG Alley Finally we have a complete review of MiG Alley. This review is based on the 1.1 patch, which will be released in the US as version 1.1 on December 15th. MiG is another winner from Rowan and Empire! Preview: Close Combat 4 The Close Combat series from Atomic Games has remained popular with strategy gamers. The first three releases were published by Microsoft, but this coming release will be published by SSI and return to that incredible contest of wills known as the Battle of the Bulge. Rogue Spear 2.05 Patch Released Red Storm entertainment has released the latest Rogue Spear patch for all version (US, UK, Germany, etc). This patch adds Gamespy support plus various other fixes. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com muliple server locations. New B-17II Screenshots Bombs-Away.Net has posted several new screenshots from B-17II. They include the P-38 and the Bf-109. Click here to view. WWII Online Web Site Glubco has posted a website dedicated to World War II Online, coming sometime next year from Cornered Rat. The site has the unofficial FAQ (quite long), previews, screenshots, daily news, squad listings, etc. Click here to view the site. Free Fighter AceII Microsoft today announced yesterday that gamers can now sign up to participate in a free, public beta of Fighter Ace II. In its final beta phase, the Fighter Ace team is aggressively recruiting battle-worn, air combat gamers to test the game before its public release in mid-December. Harpoon 4 News RTIME, Inc. and Mindscape announced today that Harpoon4™ will offer interactive, multi-player support and real-time Internet voice chat via the RTIME Interactive Networking Engine. Scheduled for a Fall 2000 release, Harpoon4 will ship under the SSI brand. Harpoon4 will provide online support for up to 8 players, with over 10 multi-player scenarios. The 3D graphic display allows players to see the action up close as it is happens, along with realistic communications, sensor and weapon system modeling, and a multi-level tactical display for air operations and strike planning. Harpoon4 will also include a powerful scenario editor with a database containing thousands of aircraft, ships and other units. Warship Fleed Command Database 4.3 Version 4.3 of the WDP is available for download at COMBATSIM.COM. Version 4.3 update summary: Several new weapons: AGM-130A SAGM (Surface Attack Guided Munition) AGM-123A Skipper 2 (Rocket Propelled Laser Guided Bomb) AGM-62A Walleye 2 (EO guided bomb.. very powerful) AGM-84H SLAM-ER (Stand-Off Land Attack Missile, Extended Range) Corrected the engagement problems with the self guided missiles. Made some more improvements to the anti-air defenses Large or armored aircraft are now a little harder to kill for lightweight AAMs or SAMs and heavy machine guns. Subs should no longer attack neutral ships. Endless running torpedoes and missiles should now be fixed. AAM engagement routines updated. AGM's with Lock-On-Before-Launch abilities now stay on target. (The original FC files would cause self-homing AGM's to engage closer targets while in flight instead of the original target.) F-14A US version has now been added and the Iranian F-14A is now listed as the F-14A Tomcat (Iran) in the database. Two classes of carriers now have the F-14A as part of their airwing. F-14D now carries laser guided bombs in Strike and ASUW loadouts. Plus many other fixes and improvements.

Monday, November 22, 1999

New @ COMBATSIM.COM Feature: Images A somewhat random collection of images, including some new screen shots from B17 Flying Fortress II. Interview: Gunship and M1TP3 Tim Goodlett was the producer of M1 Tank Platoon II. Inevitably, players offered many suggestions for improvement, and many of those were incorporated into a design spec for a new pair of interconnectable sims: Gunship and M1 Tank Platoon III (Tank). Review: Saitek X36 USB The long wait for a complete USB HOTAS is nearly over. Will this interface make installation and operation trouble free? Let's take a look at Saitek's new offering. Downloads: Falcon 4.0 Art With F4 SkinEd you can create custom art for your Viper. Here are some art packages created by others using SkinEd. COMBATSIM.COM™ Writers Our writers are a diverse crew, including past and present military personnel, and experience ranging from Air Force and Marines to Intelligence and the Navy. This partial listing reflects aviation and military experience. Excellent Rogue Spear Mod Planet Rogue Spear has released the highly anticipated mod for Rogue Spear called The Art of War: Nihon: If you have not heard Nihon is a mod for Rogue Spear that places you as a ninja or a samurai. You fight with swords, throwing stars, bows, and many other ancient weapons. Click here to download. X-Plane 5.12 is Released X-Plane, a civilian flight simulator has been upgraded to version 5.12. X-Plane was the first flight simulator to use 3-D terrain elevation maps of the entire US. It also features air traffic control, dynamic haze-modeling, variable visibility, rain, clouds, wind, wind-shear, visible lightning, fractal-generated thunderstorms with audible thunder, turbulence, snow, thermals, and more. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com Aces High Updated HiTech Creations has updated their online combat WWII flight simulator, Aces High. Click here to download from 3DFiles.com Battle of Britain Simguild have released a public beta version of Battle of Britain. It is however a pay for play like Warbirds or Fighter Ace. Visit their site to download. Thanks to Alex for the tip. New Site for the 124 Gunslingers The SEAL OD 124 Gunslingers has a new web site called Virtual Special Operations - Abandon All Hope! Click here to view their site. It contains excellent information on games, books, and various information on Spec Op forces.