Of course - not to mention the wonders of QEMM, the Quarterdeck Extended Memory Module, needed to load elements of DOS into high memory to free up more RAM for the program.  Fun times!

 

 

Oh my! You opened up a hidden compartment in my menory LOL!!! QEMM! Totally forgot about that one! Those were the days!!! The things you had to do to get your software working... It was kind of fun fooling around to get things working and very satisfying if you could get things done, but again, at my current age it's a nice thing I can spend my time doing what I actually want to do instead of only trying to get things done. (Yes, I also stopped tweaking my sim!  :wink: )

All this talking made me download DOSBOX and fire up Flight Assignment A.T.P.  and Tracon.

 

I had great fun with autoexecs. I liked the way you could make the DOS prompt look like a flag or have it display date and time and different characters. I used red, green, and blue to make it look 3D.

 

When I got my first computer (a 286 SX), it had a SoundBlaster card that came with a utility called SBTalker and I used my brothers C compiler to write a program that would query the BIOS for the date and time and then it would write a text file based on that and I had a batch file that would run my program and then hand the text file to SBTalker so it would say "Good morning, Dave. It is Friday, October the 21st". I sometimes wish I'd continued with programming like my brother did (they were pushing it at the college I went to) but C++'s operator overloading and container classes and object oriented programming...its all just over my head.

 

and on topic of the thread: I enjoyed Falcon a lot but I was always getting shot down so I tended towards driving and non military flight sims.

When I got my first computer (a 286 SX), it had a SoundBlaster card that came with a utility called SBTalker and I used my brothers C compiler to write a program that would query the BIOS for the date and time and then it would write a text file based on that and I had a batch file that would run my program and then hand the text file to SBTalker so it would say "Good morning, Dave. It is Friday, October the 21st".

 

Given your name, did you also include," I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

After trying Flight Simulator on the PCJr, it was SubLogic's Flight Assignment:ATP that really got me hooked, complete with navigation charts and a nifty 3d cockpit upgrade option. 

 

I still have the manual  :smile:

 

After that, Propilot and Fly! and then FS98/2000/2004/FSX..

 

Bert? Do you still have the QRH?

Remind me: Which QRH?

Wow I never knew there were so many!  I was late to the game compared to most of the posts on here.  I cut my teeth on CFS2.  It was my first game on my first computer. 

I did not own a PC when I first got into flight simulation. My ROTC Detachment had a very early flight simulator that was black/green and basic. I had a friend in 1994 give me an old 386 PC because he had bought a new computer and it was going to be too hard to sell the old one. I later discovered Harrier Assault on a 486 PC that my roommate had in 1995. I later bought Fleet Defender and flew by arrow keys. This was followed by A320 Airbus which had an auto-ILS function. Oh, I flew everything by arrow keys on the keyboard for about 3 years until about 1997. 

 

Very few flight sims were available for Mac in the early to mid 90s, but I went with a Mac for a few years. I created a small collage of my longtime most influential flight sims.

 

So the one that got me hooked was Harrier Assault. The missions were addicting because you had to fly CAS for Marines on ground then land back on the LHA.

Fleet Defender was next because it was carrier based and you earned promotions and medals.

Falcon MC on Mac was a strong 3rd place for me. It too had promotions and medals and fanfare music every time you one a campaign.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0add1mzxb357pl3/Top%206%20OldFavs.jpg?dl=0

 

 

I had great fun with autoexecs.

 

Same here, though not nearly at your level of creativity.  But I don't have a programming background, so I was proud of even being able to do very basic stuff.  The kids these days with their tweaks - I mean, they never had it rough, they all grew up around cars that had hand cranks, never had to push one downhill to get it to start... 

 

Back on topic - F-19 Stealth Fighter and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat were both on my shelf.  And a little later, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.  Any other SWOTL vets out there?

SWOTL? That is still the best Dynamic campaign I can think of. Nothing like the Thrill of descending on a huge formation of bitmapped B17's in your ME262 either and hear those 30mm cannon thump away...

Remind me: Which QRH?

Bert,

The thin white FA:ATP guide that had the aircraft-specific performance settings, etc. Providing that information about flight configurations for each stage of flight had not previously been provided with a flight sim, and is that type of info is still lacking with many add-on aircraft models released today.  

Bert,

The thin white FA:ATP guide that had the aircraft-specific performance settings, etc. Providing that information about flight configurations for each stage of flight had not previously been provided with a flight sim, and is that type of info is still lacking with many add-on aircraft models released today.  

 

It is all in a cardboard box in my basement... my guess is that I have it all.  :wink: