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Microsoft® Combat Flight Simulator 2 Readme
September 2000
© Copyright 1998-2000 Microsoft Corporation.
This document contains important information specific to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2.
Notice regarding Multiplayer
Multiplayer is technology that enables components of Combat Flight Simulator 2 and other Microsoft
applications to be shared between two or more computers; each computer user must have the Microsoft
application installed on his or her computer.
For non-Microsoft applications designed to supplement Combat Flight Simulator 2 (e.g. add-on packs),
you should consult the accompanying license agreement or contact the licensor to determine whether
component sharing is permitted by the licensor.
Other sources of information about Combat Flight Simulator 2
•
•
Note: Important article: “Advanced Image Quality/Performance Settings for Combat Flight
Simulator 2: Pacific Theater Edition,” located in the root directory on Disk 1.
Find more information about Combat Flight Simulator 2 in the printed Pilot's Manual and
the online multimedia help system for Combat Flight Simulator 2.
•
For online technical support, see
<http://support.microsoft.com/support/games/fsim/faq/combat/2/default.asp>
•
And don't forget to visit the Combat Flight Simulator Web site to get the latest information
and great articles that enhance your combat flying experience. The Web site includes a
product support page with up-to-date tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and
articles. Click the Combat Flight Simulator Web Site command on the Help menu or use
the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs/
CONTENTS
Information about video displays and video drivers
Information about Joysticks and Game Controllers
System Performance
Aircraft
Hardware
Multiplayer
Importing Aircraft
Missions
Training Missions
Mission Builder
Sound Issues
Miscellaneous
Ordnance
Non-English Language Versions
Frequently Asked Questions
Troubleshooting
General Joystick Performance
General Video Performance
Issues with Specific Video Cards
INFORMATION ABOUT VIDEO DISPLAYS AND VIDEO DRIVERS
In many cases you'll get better video performance if you install the latest drivers from your video card
manufacturer. A list of these sites is available at:
<http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs/drivers.htm>
For best performance, use the high color (16-bit) setting for your video resolution. Displaying more colors
affects performance.
It is recommended that you set your system’s display settings to Small Fonts to maximize viewable
space in Combat Flight Simulator 2 dialogs. Also, users of the Windows® 95 Plus! Pack or Windows® 98
who have selected Smooth edges of screen fonts in their Windows® Display settings will display
smoothed fonts. If you don't have the Plus! Pack, you can download the font smoother from:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/grayscal/smoother.htm
You can find more information about video cards and video drivers, including installation instructions, in
the Troubleshooting guide in your Combat Flight Simulator 2 program group or in the Troubleshooting
section at the end of this document.
Video Issues with Windows 2000
The Windows® 2000 default drivers for some video cards do not support hardware acceleration. Contact
the manufacture of you video card for current Windows 2000 drivers.
-Screen "dithering" turns off when switching between 32-bit Desktop resolution and the CFS2 application. Make sure
your resolution is set to 32-bit color in CFS2.
INFORMATION ABOUT JOYSTICKS AND GAME CONTROLLERS
To debug a joystick issue, first reset its default mappings:
1.
On the Main screen, click Settings.
2.
Click Customize Controls.
3.
Click Assignments.
4.
Click any entry in the Device column.
5.
Click Reset Defaults.
You can find more information about joysticks and game controllers in the Troubleshooting topic in online
Help.
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
System performance can be improved through the reduction of the number of processes being run. You
can examine this through the task manager. If background processes exist you can terminate them,
resulting in a potentially significant gain in frame rate, (10-20 %). Do this with great caution and at your
own risk.
AIRCRAFT
Starting the Engine
There are two ways to start your aircraft’s engine in Combat Flight Simulator 2:
1. Pressing the E key automatically starts the engine by moving the prop and mixture
controls, and magneto and starter switches to their proper positions. The starter
switch then moves to the OFF position.
2. Use the mouse to switch the magnetos from OFF to BOTH, then the auto-start
sequence begins (as above).
HARDWARE
-AMD processor: If you have this processor, you will need to get the AMD patch. Go to
<http://www.amd.com/support/software.html> for more information.
MULTIPLAYER
Potential cheat
Note: Keyboard commands are listed with combat commands first, Flight Simulator/CFS version 1
commands second.
There is a “suspended state” in which your aircraft is suspended in midair, but other players see it
continuing on its last known path. Your aircraft also doesn't accrue damage until the key command event
is undone. For example, hitting the CTRL+D/D key displays the scoreboard; hitting CTRL+D/D again
dismisses the scoreboard and resumes your game. In this state, your plane also can fly through terrain
where others can't follow.
The following can be used to put you in a suspended state in Multiplayer. During flight, all players:
ALT key (Pulls down menus)
CTRL+D/D key (Pulls up scoreboard)
ESC key (Pulls up "Are you sure you want to exit this Multiplayer session?" message)
ALT+F4 (Pulls up "Are you sure you want to exit Microsoft ® Combat Flight Simulator?" message)
Resizing or moving the application window
Right-clicking the mouse
During flight, Host only (in addition to keys above):
When a player joins, the host will see a dialog that puts him in the suspended state.
To see when other players have entered this suspended state and to catch potential cheaters,
edit the COMBATFS.CFG file so that:
SP_DISPLAY_CHEAT_WARNINGS= 1
in the [MULTIPLAYER] section. After doing so, you will see the message "<Player Name>
has entered a suspended state" whenever someone does so. If a player enters a suspended
state more than twice in a game, his score will have an asterisk (*) after it. This information is
broadcast regardless of whether players have changed their COMBATFS>CFG file. Doing so
simply allows you to see when other players may have cheated.
While flying in a Multiplayer session, it is possible for players to have different levels of dynamic scenery,
scenery complexity, or different scenery altogether installed. This will result in planes that appear to fly
through objects, buildings, or under the ground.
You may encounter problems if you attempt to start an Internet Multiplayer session if you have not started
your dial-up Internet connection prior to starting Combat Flight Simulator 2, and you are running Combat
Flight Simulator in full-screen mode. In this situation, Combat Flight Simulator 2 may stop functioning.
This situation can be avoided by either starting your Internet connection prior to starting Combat Flight
Simulator 2 or by switching back to windowed mode first by pressing ALT+ENTER.
When playing a Squadron game, the score displayed at the bottom of the HUD is your team’s score. You
can see your individual score by pressing CTRL+D.
The Sopwith Camel is an imported Microsoft® Flight Simulator 98 aircraft and therefore cannot be flown
in Multiplayer games where the host has chosen the Restrict Aircraft option.
-If a crash is experienced in TERRAIN.DLL and attempts to restart the simulator fails, you must reboot
your computer.
Tactical Display
The tactical display defaults to showing aircraft only. There may be hidden goals at some waypoints that
include enemy ships and ground objects. If you find that you are failing mission goals, and you shot up
everything you saw, you might want to change the tactical display to show all objects, not just aircraft.
Fuel usage
There are some fuel-critical missions that you will fail if you fly real-time (not using warp) at full throttle. If
you choose to fly in real time, you will need to know the aircraft you're flying and fly the longer distances
at best cruise speed (found in the manual and online help). Note: If you're warping, the game will handle
this for you, and there's nothing to worry about.
IMPORTING AIRCRAFT
To properly import an aircraft, you will need all of its components: the aircraft container, the necessary
gauges, as well as any referenced or aliased files. All components need to be present for the aircraft to
work.
Some aircraft that have been converted for use in Combat Flight Simulator 1, and Flight Simulator 2000
may require files (gauges panel bitmaps, and sounds) that are not present in Combat Flight Simulator 2.
In addition, these imported aircraft could reference files from other aircraft that may not be present.
Imported aircraft that reference those elements in aircraft not included will require the importing of the
referenced aircraft. A download is available from the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator web site
<http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs>, to address this issue.
Combat Flight Simulator 2 is not compatible with some Flight Simulator 98 aircraft flap sounds. If you use
a sound.cfg that has the three flaps sections, they will not work in Combat Flight Simulator 2. Instead, you
will hear the Messerschmitt Bf 109E default flap sounds.
Backward-compatible objects
Backward-compatible gauges and core sounds are available only in the Typical and Complete install
options of Setup.
MISSIONS
-There is no Technical Support for importing missions from Combat Flight Simulator 1.
-If you have completed 100% of your goals but have been captured, you will still fail the mission.
- Watch the fuel level in missions flown manually. Many people fly their planes with their throttle maxed
out at 100% If you do this you will run out of fuel. Practice fuel management by flying at a throttle setting
that ensures you enough fuel for the specific airplane you're using.
-Look for mission goals to be outlined on the Goals tab of the Advanced Info screen.
-Campaign nodes that display an image file do so at the briefing screen. Unlike the Outcome or Recon
Photo windows, where an image is shown inside a window with a Close button, this image is shown
without any visual indication of how to rid it. You must press ESC to get rid of the image.
-Your reception of either the Purple Heart (USN), or Special Conduct Badge (IJN) is never announced
though it will be present / viewable in the Pilot Details window.
TRAINING MISSIONS
-Follow the instructor carefully-some maneuvers take longer than expected.
-Use the default aircraft to perform training missions, as aircraft characteristics vary. Japanese default
plane: The Zero. U.S. default plane: The Corsair.
- Japanese Training Mission 05, the Split-S-There is no text explaining that you must invert for the
maneuver; this text appears after you pull through.
-Japanese Training Mission 06. There is a conflict on the sound bites. A report of bandits in your sector
and the instructor's voice sound off at the same time. The bandit report may not be audible.
-Training Mission 10, American and Japanese. "Show maneuver" depicts the aircraft making an approach
that does reflect what the training mission describes . The training mission is a straight-in approach, not a
traffic pattern approach.
MISSION BUILDER
-Technical support is not available for the Mission Builder; there is an extensive Help system within the
tool, however.
-Checking a waypoint as "Warp to" does not enable warp. You must create an event to enable warping;
checking "Warp to" just selects that waypoint as the point to which to warp, but does not make the warp
happen.
-The "attack" waypoints do not follow moving targets similar to their "land at base" counterpart. This
should be noted when designing missions that use this type of waypoint as a warp-to waypoint.
-You cannot mass-edit objects in the mission builder.
-If you are making a waypoint path, you should always have at least one waypoint between the last
"warpable" waypoint and the waypoint that has the "land" order. This will ensure that the mission ends
correctly.
-When you create a mission in which you and your wingmen begin in mountainous terrain, wingmen
aircraft will frequently explode upon mission initialization due to contact with the ground. The player
aircraft does not seem to be affected by this problem. Solution: Start the wingmen at a higher altitude
when in mountainous terrain.
-If you are on a mission requiring you to bomb ground objects and your Tactical Display is set to Aircraft,
you will not see the ground targets. Cycle through the Tactical Display (T key in combat mapping, F9 in
FS mapping) until you reach the Ground Objects setting.
SOUND ISSUES
-The Compact Install option at Setup uses lower-quality sounds to save space. To get better sound, you
can either reinstall using the larger install option, or copy the files in the Sound directory on Disk 2 over
the files currently in your CFS2 Sound directory.
-Alternating stereo and mono sound may occur with certain sound cards. You may hear mono sound until
you temporarily leave a session and then return. This is a known issue with Sound Blaster 16 and Crystal
Audio sound cards. These two options may remedy the problem:
•
Go to the Settings screen and then return to the game.
•
Cancel out of the session using the ESC key during a mission
- or -
SCENERY
----------------------------The Global Scenery Layer
----------------------------The Global Scenery Layer (GSL) is designed so that the same objects don’t need to be recreated for
every mission like in Combat Flight Simulator 1. When creating a mission you can set which Global
Scenery Layer (seen as .gsl files - the default is cfs2.gsl) you use for the desired mission. The objects
used in a GSL are Mission Objects (they have a damage profile associated with them so they can be
damaged and/or destroyed), which differentiates them from normal, or regular scenery objects such as
the default CFS2 runways or any object found in Flight Simulator 2000. Because of this the Mission
Objects don’t reside in a normal scenery file (*.bgl) and aren’t treated the same as normal and or regular
Flight Simulator scenery. All the default objects seen when flying in CFS2 are a result of the CFS2.gsl
and cannot be turned off using the Exclude switch discussed below or with Exclusion switch coding
available in some scenery files.
If you have add-on scenery that resides in the same location as the CFS2 theatre of operations and you
would like to turn off the default objects to view your add-on scenery properly the CFS2 team has created
a switch in the CFS2.cfg file that allows you to do so. You will just need to open the CFS2.cfg file
(located in the Combat Flight Simulator 2 installation directory) with Notepad and add the following line
under the [PREFS] section:
UseGSL=empty.gsl
When you restart CFS2 you will not see the default objects (you will still see the default runways) in Free
Flight, Quick Combat, or Multiplayer, but if the Global Scenery Layer is still called for in a Mission the
objects will still show up along with the add-on scenery.
----------------------------Backward Compatible Scenery
----------------------------Scenery designed for use in Flight Simulator versions prior to FS2000 (CFS1, FS98, etc.) were designed
to be resting on a perfectly flat 2-dimensional "seed" system. These sceneries will not render as they did
in these previous versions of Flight Simulator due to the new 3-dimensional digital elevation mesh terrain
system used in Combat Flight Simulator 2 (CFS2) and FS2000.
CFS2 has two "switches"-Flatten and Exclude-that can be used in the Scenery.cfg file (located in the
main CFS2 directory) to fix most of the visual problems with backward-compatible/add-on scenery. The
Flatten switch flattens a given four-sided area to a single specified elevation. The Exclude switch
excludes certain scenery (objects and/or navigational aids) in a given four-sided area from being
displayed (or transmitted in the case of radio navigational aids).
NOTE: The Exclude switch can only turn off the default runways in CFS2. All the default buildings and
other objects included in CFS2 can only be turned off using the Global Scenery Layer switch (see above).
Both switches affect only scenery areas with a lower layer number than the scenery area they are added
in. For example, if the switch is placed in layer 70, then only layers 69 and below will be affected.
Switches are added to the end of a scenery area entry in the Scenery.cfg file using a text editor. Exclude
and Flatten switches can both be added to the same Scenery area.
----------------------------How to Use the Flatten Switch
----------------------------The Flatten switch syntax is as follows:
Flatten.X=Elevation,Latitude1,Longitude1,Latitude2,Longitude2,Latitude3,Longitude3,Latitude4,L
ongitude4
X is equal to a number between 0 and 9, but you must start with Flatten.0, then Flatten.1, and so on, up
to Flatten.9. You are allowed a maximum of 10 Flatten switches per Scenery Area (thus the numbers
0-9).
The Elevation is in feet above or below mean sea level (msl) and can be any number between -2000 and
99999.
The Latitude and Longitude of points 1, 2, 3, and 4 must be entered in a clockwise or counter clockwise
fashion about the four sided area such as:
1 +-------------+ 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 +-------------+ 3
-Or1 +-------------+ 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 +-------------+ 3
and must be in the form of degrees and minutes. You do not need to add the * or ' symbols to indicate
degrees and minutes, and the shape does not have to be a rectangle. Any four-sided shape will work.
The maximum size of a flattened area is 90 degrees of longitude and 45 degrees of latitude.
EXAMPLE: This example flattens two separate but adjacent regions inside the scenery area to an
elevation of 1000' MSL.
[Area.100]
Group=Your Area
ID=Your Area
Title=Your Area
Active=TRUE
Layer=100
Local=C:\Your Area
Flatten.0=1000,N45 30,W120,N45 30,W119 30,N45,W119 30,N45,W120
Flatten.1=1000,N45,W120,N45,W119 30, N44 30,W119 30,N44 30,W120
----------------------------How to Use the Exclude switch
----------------------------The Exclude switch syntax is as follows:
Exclude=North Latitude,West Longitude,South Latitude,East Longitude,category
Exclusion happens only in a rectangular area such as:
North Latitude
+-------------+
|
|
West Longitude |
|East Longitude
|
|
+-------------+
South Latitude
and must follow the form North Latitude, West Longitude, South Latitude, East Longitude. The Latitude
and Longitude entries must be in the form of degrees and minutes. You do not need to add the * or '
symbols to indicate degrees and minutes.
The category determines which default scenery type you choose to exclude in the defined area. There
are four categories:
•
•
•
•
objects-Excludes all default 3-dimensional buildings and objects as well as airports.
vors-Excludes all default VOR and ILS navigational aids.
ndbs-Excludes all default NDB navigational aids.
all-Excludes all default objects and navigational aids.
You can use one or more categories in an Exclude switch.
The maximum size of an Exclude area is 90 degrees of longitude and 45 degrees of latitude.
EXAMPLE: This example excludes all scenery types EXCEPT NDB navigational aids from a rectangular
area.
[Area.100]
Group=Your Area
ID=Your Area
Title=Your Area
Active=TRUE
Layer=100
Local=C:\Your Area
Exclude=N45 30,W120,N45,W119 30,objects,vors
MISCELLANEOUS
-Top Down view is always North oriented.
-Time compression/Simulation rate
You can adjust the simulation rate in the following ways:
1. Press ALT+O, then ALT+M.
-Using the keyboard to navigate the user interface
Placing focus on a button and pressing ENTER may not invoke that button's command, but pressing the
spacebar will.
-Wind
Winds are always from the north. The are constant so there is no aircraft buffet. The settings are mapped
as follows:
None: 0 knots
Light winds: 8 knots
Moderate winds: 18 knots
Heavy winds: 32 knots.
-Windows 2000 software incompatibility
The monitoring programs for some motherboards can cause instability problems with Combat Flight
Simulator 2. Make sure no such programs are running when launching CFS2.
-Direct X (DXT1) texture compression
CFS2 uses a Direct X (DXT1) texture compression format for all aircraft and object texture files. Additional
information regarding these formats will be addressed in a future SDK release.
-AMD and Via motherboards
You must have the latest bios updates from your manufacturer.
-On first use of Combat Flight Simulator 2 after install using Microsoft® Windows2000, the application
sometimes "hangs" at the opening screen. You must end the task by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL and
reboot the machine. CFS2 will then run normally. This does not appear to be configuration-specific.
-If using Windows 95 OSR2 and Gold, an IPF (Internal Protection Fault) in DXmedia will occur. Upgrading
to Windows 98 or WinMe is strongly recommended.
-You cannot demote a section leader beyond the number two spot. From the Squadron screen, you can
rearrange the placement of your wingmen in the two available sections as you please; however, the
section leader is an exception.
-The section leader cannot be "demoted" beyond the number two spot of either section. A workaround is
to promote the current member of the section spot you wish to swap to the section leader.
-If you are unable to play the opening movie, this may have to do with the WinDVD media player. Install
another player or skip the opening movie.
-If you're using the combat or Flight Simulator key commands and you wish to assign the number 1, 2 or
SPACEBAR to a different function, you must use the “Delete key assignment” function first.
-3-D acceleration does not work when NetMeeting is running. Close down NetMeeting to remedy this.
-When your performance values are set low and you turn on cockpit lighting, you may see a strobe-like
effect. Turning down the special effects makes it worse. Recommend either leaving cockpit lighting off, or
turning up the special effects.
ORDNANCE
-In order to drop bombs or fire ordnance (such as rockets) in Combat Flight Simulator 2, the ordnance
must first be armed. You arm the ordnance by pressing the Cycle Ordnance key (Backspace in the
Combat key layout, SHIFT+3 in the Flight Simulator key layout) and then you drop or fire it.
Important: If you merely press the key to drop or fire the ordnance alone, nothing will happen. You must
first press the Cycle Ordnance Type button first, even if you only have one kind of ordnance in your
plane’s loadout.
Action
Combat command
Flight Simulator command
Cycle/Arm Ordnance
BACKSPACE key
SHIFT+3
Drop/Fire Ordnance
ENTER key
3
-Unlike regular bombers, torpedo bombers do not notify you when they start or finish their attack, but you
will be able to see the damage done.
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSIONS
Nordic users can also find translated versions of the Combat Flight Simulator 2 manual in the \Nordic
folder (on Disk 1).
A version of Acrobat Reader can also be found in the \Extras folder on Disk 1. You will need Acrobat
Reader to open the manual .pdf files. The .pdf files are named as follows:
Swedish - Svensk.pdf
Norwegian - Norsk.pdf
Finnish - Suomi.pdf
Danish - Dansk.pdf
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How can I disable the opening movie?
Make the following change to your COMBATFS.CFG file: In the [MAIN] section, add a line which reads
"ShowLogo=0" (without the quote marks).
To skip the opening movie, click your mouse anywhere on the screen.
When I start a Training Mission, nothing happens.
If you installed Combat Flight Simulator 2 with the Typical option, or you used Custom Install but did not
choose to copy Training Mission Media to the hard drive, then the sounds are loaded from the Combat
Flight Simulator 2 CD-ROM as needed. They are deleted again when the Training Mission finishes. If you
installed Combat Flight Simulator 2 this way, and you attempt to run a Training Mission without the
Combat Flight Simulator 2 CD in your CD-ROM drive, no error message is generated, but none of the
sounds will play, giving the appearance that nothing is happening. Press CTRL+U to end the Training
Mission, insert the Combat Flight Simulator 2 CD, and then restart the Training Mission.
I can't seem to open any of the dialogs in the application.
Some poorly behaved installers for other applications overwrite system files needed by Flight Simulator
with older versions. If this happens to you, you will need to copy the files MSVCRT.DLL and MFC42.DLL
from your Combat Flight Simulator 2 CD-ROM's root directory to your Windows\System directory
(System32 on Windows 2000.) You may need to close all of your applications or restart your computer in
order to be able to copy these files in some cases.
None of the numeric keypad keys seem to be controlling the aircraft-they are switching the views
instead. Also, the Num Lock key no longer brings up a map view.
In order for the numeric keypad keys to control the aircraft, you should ensure that Num Lock is turned
off.
How can I change the SHIFT+Z coordinate displays back to degrees/minutes/seconds? It currently
displays only minutes and fractional minutes.
Add the following line to your CombatFS.CFG file, in the [MAIN] section:
DISPLAY_FRACTIONAL_MINUTES = 0
This will return to the display format used in prior versions of Microsoft® Flight Simulator.
Why does installing only the game files for Combat Flight Simulator 2 take up more than 200MB
on my disk drive?
How much space Combat Flight Simulator 2 uses on your hard disk depends on the size of clusters on
your disk drive. A cluster is the smallest unit of hard drive space. If your cluster size is 32K, a file that is
really only 5K will still take up 32K of space on your hard drive. If your cluster size is 4K, a file that is 5K
will still take up 8K (two clusters) of space on your hard drive. Combat Flight Simulator 2 has many files
that are less than 10K in size, so on hard drives with large cluster sizes, many files take up more space
than they need to.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Updating video drivers from manufacturers
Contact your video card manufacturer and follow the manufacturer's instructions to get the latest driver.
These drivers are often available on the manufacturer's Web site (a list of these sites is available at:
<http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs/drivers.htm>) or from a bulletin board (BBS). The driver is
usually available as a PKZip (ZIP) file or a self-extracting executable (EXE) file.
If the manufacturer of your video card includes specific instructions for installing the driver, follow them.
Otherwise, unzip the files into a temporary subdirectory on your hard disk drive or onto a floppy disk.
Then follow these instructions:
1.
Open the Display Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the Windows® desktop and then
clicking Properties on the popup menu.
2.
In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.
3.
Click Advanced Display Properties.
4.
Click the Adapter tab.
5.
Click Change.
6.
In the Select Device dialog box, click Have Disk.
7.
If you have the latest video driver from your video card manufacturer on a disk or CD-ROM,
select the appropriate drive and click OK. Otherwise click Browse. Go to the temporary subdirectory you
created for the video card files and Windows should select the appropriate file.
8.
In the Select Device dialog box, choose the driver that matches your video card and then click
OK.
9.
Click OK as many times as necessary to accept the changes.
10.
To restart your computer, click Yes in the System Settings Change dialog box.
Known problems and fixes
Following are some solutions to common problems.
My joystick does not work properly when daisy-chained through my game pad
When you switch from one device to another (usually through a switch on the gamepad), it may appear
that you have lost functionality. The real issue is that the current controller is using the button mappings
from the previous controller. See the Switching controllers causes some loss of functionality section
below for the remedy.
Switching controllers causes some loss of functionality
This is most likely because Combat Flight Simulator 2 is still reading the button assignments for your old
controller. After switching controllers, you must click Reset defaults on the Controller Assignments
screen in Settings. This symptom is more apparent when switching from a game pad to a joystick
because their default mappings are so different.
To debug a joystick issue
1. On the Main screen, click Settings.
2.
Click Controller assignments.
3.
Click the arrow on the Joystick Type drop-down menu. Select the controller you wish to use.
4.
Click Reset defaults.
5.
If the controller you wish to use is not listed, click Cancel to return to the Settings screen. Click
Calibrate Joystick to open the Windows® Game Controllers dialog. Use this dialog to add your
current controller. Now perform steps 2 through 4.
6.
If this does not cure your symptoms, exit and then launch the game, making sure that the controller
you wish to use is active and properly selected through the Windows Game Controllers dialog first.
JOYSTICK PERFORMANCE
• If you unplug your controller while in the simulator, your game may experience loss of
control or control errors. Reconnect the controller and click Reset Defaults or select a
saved control map on the Controller Assignments screen.
•
You cannot use a digital joystick (Sidewinder 3D, Sidewinder 3D pro, Force Feedback
pro, etc) with an 8-bit sound card.
•
Using the MS® Force Feedback joystick and an older sound blaster card (such as Sound
Blaster Pro) can cause your computer to freeze. The Sound Blaster card does not have
the features required to run the Force Feedback joystick.
•
Hooking up the Microsoft® Sidewinder 3D Pro to pedals can cause hardware conflicts
that don't allow you to calibrate correctly. Separate pedals should not be used with this
joystick.
•
You may need to reset the default mappings for the Microsoft Sidewinder USB Game
Pad in order to adjust axis sensitivity.
GENERAL VIDEO PERFORMANCE
•
If your computer crashes at the start of the introductory movie, the opening and transition
movies will no longer play.
•
Combat Flight Simulator 2 requires 4 MB of free video memory to run in hardware
acceleration. At least 8 MB is recommended. Running with Less than 4 MB's memory
causes some texture dropouts.
•
Combat Flight Simulator 2 requires DX7a to run in hardware acceleration. Some video
card drivers are not compatible with DX7a. Contact your video card's manufacturer for
updated drivers.
•
If the color of the maps in the Mission Briefing seems wrong and you are running on the
original Windows® 95 (i.e., no service packs have been installed), your COMCTL32
component could be out of date. Updating to a newer version will fix this. Newer versions
are installed with some applications, including the latest version of Microsoft® Internet
Explorer.
•
The following resolutions are supported by most video cards and are available for
selection (if supported): All resolutions provided by the video card at 640 x 480 and
above are supported, in 16- and 32-bit color depths.
640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024
Resolutions of 640 x 480 and below or color depths other than 16- or 32-bit are not
supported.
ISSUES WITH SPECIFIC VIDEO CARDS
3Dfx (Get technical support and information from http://www.3DFx.com.)
Voodoo and Voodoo II chipsets (Diamond Monster I & II, Canopus Pure 3D I & 2, Creative Labs
Voodoo Blaster, etc)
• Sometimes you cannot select the Voodoo card on your system. Completely rebooting
your computer will fix this error.
•
Combat Flight Simulator 2 may not recognize a Diamond Monster II with its retail drivers.
Upgrading to the latest drivers eliminates the problem.
•
Voodoo I users may see a band of rectangles that briefly appear horizontally across the
screen. This condition occurs when the card is downloading new textures while any audio
is playing. This is a problem with the hardware itself and there is no known fix.
•
Errors can occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card
manufacturer. Errors include a palette distortion and blurry text.
•
Tool tips can cause a 90% drop in frame rate. Recommend replacing video card.
Voodoo5
Rush chipset (Hercules Stingray 128 /3D)
•
Your system may hang when you exit Combat Flight Simulator 2. This is an issue with
the 4.10.1.2059 version of the video driver. Installing the 3Dfx Voodoo Rush Reference
Drivers for Windows 95/98 (Single Board) from the 3Dfx web site will fix this problem.
ATI (Get technical support and information from http://www.atitech.com.)
Geforce DDR card
•
Ground textures and/or plane textures may disappear. Only a black plane is displayed, or
what appear to be black textures on some ground objects. This problem occurs very
randomly.
Update your drivers by going to nVidia's Web site and download the new Detonator 3
drivers. <http://www.nvidia.com/>
RAGE
•
Textures are corrupted or missing. This is a limitation of the video card. Turning off MIP
mapping will alleviate some of these effects.
RAGE II / II+ chipsets
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from ATI.
Rage Pro (including the Xpert@work and the Xpert@play)
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from ATI.
Cirrus Logic (Get technical support and information from http://www.cirrus.com.)
•
Text is corrupted when using the Cirrus Logic CL-546X chipset (including the Creative
Labs Graphics Blaster 3D).
•
When running the Win98 default drivers (cirruslg.drv ver. 4.10.1637) the texture is
corrupted in all 16 and 32 bit resolutions. When running under the latest Cirrus Logic
drivers (546x.drv ver. 4.10.01.1701) texture corruption occurs only when running in 32 bit
resolutions. Upgrade to the latest driver available for the manufacture of your card.
Dimond Fire GL 1000 Pro
•
When using this card with Windows 2000, CFS2 can lock up. This happens at random as
the application loads and there is no known work around. Recommend replacing video
card.
Matrox (Get technical support and information from http://www.matrox.com.)
G-100 chipsets (productiva G-100)
•
The textures get blurry on the airplane and ground (MIP mapping errors). This is an error
in the drivers for this card. Contact Matrox for a driver update.
•
The propeller, aircraft canopy, and explosions are stippled (checker pattern). This is a
limitation of the card. It does not support the hardware features required.
G-200 chipsets (Millennium & Mystique G-200)
•
Some older drivers may cause the ground textures to become corrupted. This is an error
in the drivers for this card. Contact Matrox for a driver update.
Mystique and Mystique 220.
•
Can’t run in hardware acceleration with these cards.
•
These cards do not support the features required for Combat Flight Simulator 2.
Mpact II 3DVD (STB Nitro DVD) (Get technical support and information from http://www.chromatic.com.)
• At the time of release there were no drivers compatible with Combat Flight Simulator 2 for
this chipset. Please check with your video card vendor for an updated driver. If no new
drivers exist and you are experiencing problems when running in 3-D hardware then
you'll need to run the game in 3-D software mode.
Nvidia (Get technical support and information from http://www.nvidia.com.)
Riva TNT (STB Velocity V4400)
You may see flickering in cockpits. Downloading the latest driver will fix this. Otherwise you can
check the "Wait for VBLANK" option in the Display section of your Windows Control Panel.
Riva 128 (STB Velocity 128, Diamond Viper V330)
• On the Dell OEM version of the STB Velocity 128, you may see white horizontal flashes.
Downloading the latest driver from Dell (http://www.dell.com) will fix this.
• On the Diamond Viper V330, you may get a system hang when you crash your airplane.
Upgrading to the latest drivers from Diamond (http://www.diamondmm.com) eliminates
the problem.
Permedia 2 (AccelSTAR II [found in Gateway E3000, Gateway E5000 etc. computers], View top
AGP Mars-2 & 3D Mars-2, Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme, Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro,
GLoria Synergy) (Get technical support and information from http://www.3Dlabs.com.)
• Errors can occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card
manufacturer. Errors include a green palette distortion, texture dropping, texture
corruption, and blurry text.
•
When Combat Flight Simulator 2 is non-full screen (hardware), if an auxiliary view
window has focus and the W key is pressed, two overlapping view panes appear. There
is no fix for this.
•
Running at 1600 x 1200 resolution produces sliding polygons at bottom of screen.
PowerVR PCX2 (Grafixstar - Apocalypse 5D) (Get technical support and information from
http://www.powervr.com.)
•
Polygons can be seen in the fog. Clearing the Enable Hardware check box in the
Settings dialog will fix this problem.
Rendition (Get technical support and information from <http://www.rendition.com/>.)
V2x00 (Hercules Thriller 3D, Diamond Stealth II S220)
•
Some minor graphic errors occur on this chipset. There is no known workaround.
Updating the drivers to the most current available from the manufacturer may resolve
some issues.
V1000 (Creative Labs 3D Blaster, Canopus Total 3D, Sierra Screaming 3D)
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card
manufacturer.
S3 (Get technical support and information from http://www.s3.com.)
Trident Cyber 9397 (Get technical support and information from http://www.tridentmicro.com.)
•
The gunsight may appear distorted. There is no known fix for this.