FU3 on Windows 10 working (mostly)

[KingLobo 0]

After some uninstall/re-install/patch action I finally got a decent working install on Windows 10 (Pro). The main trick is the DDFIX 1.15.13 Mod.

• PROs
  • I can now task switch and have no screen corruption while flying.
  • everything runs very fast and smooth.
  • I can tune a lot of the visuals with nVidia Control Panel
• CONs
  • Task switching while in menu will result in a black screen, but mousing over will reveal click spots.
  • I cannot get it to run in a higher resolution than 1024x768 (always get a complaint of "ERROR: GetFlyScreenMode:can't find any supported screen mode" when I try to set a higher res in cam.cfg)
  • There can be screen flicker in aircraft panel areas and the mouse will create trails on certain gauges, both clear up with some view switching.

Compatibility Mode doesn't seem to affect anything more than sound; without it the engine and effects seem to cut in and out. But my current setting of Windows XP sp3 seems to resolve all of that.

When I get time I will try the Panel fix I've seen posted elsewhere to see if that clears up the flickering and mouse trails.

I would very much like to be able to use native screen res of 1920x1080, but nothing I have tried has resulted in anything better than black/gray screens (FUMode=1 in ddfix.ini).

Hope someone can help get us the rest of the way there.

-kl

 

 

[Kronovan 14]

Hate to say it, but I had some compatibility issues with running it on Windows XP SP3. It's been a decade since I last had it installed, but IIRC I tried to track down a fix that would let me run it at 720p on my Sony HDTV which had a VGA connector, but I failed. I seem to recall that the 4:3 was hard coded and it wouldn't run at a rez above 1024x768; couldn't even get it to run @ 1280x1024 on my LCD. Other than that, the only thing wrong with it visually was a horizontal line along the dash. I believe there was a fix for that, but not being able to even run it at an optimal resolution on my PC's LCD, I threw in the towel.

Anyhow... I admire your efforts and wish you the best of luck in getting it to run optimally on you gaming rig.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Kronovan

[Dave Morgan 68]

Yep, I recall 1024 × 768 was hard-coded and is the maximum possible.

After running a single-partition XP VM I never got around to completing the job. Two small hurdles to get over -- my FU3 was so heavily modded I want just to dump a backup straight into the VM so will need 2 logical discs in there, and the VM won't access USB ports in the host hardware so I have to set up a host/VM remote desktop. Neither hurdle is difficult; I'm just lacking enthusiasm.

I might just try KingLobo's suggested mod as the easier option...

D

[patrikmore 10]

First of all, I don’t believe this version of DDFIX (1.5.13) is able to work on windows 10 directly, mainly because the output is still DirectX 6. Personally, I didn’t achieve this goal, game didn’t start.

Now you can find on internet the 2 isos of Flight Unlimited 2 and the 3 isos of Flight Unlimited 3 at no cost, as abandonware. In many aspects this game hasn’t been surpassed. Don’t forget the Flight Unlimited III PATCH 2.0.

I remember you here the benefits of DDFIX 1.5.13 for FU3 by Jermi:

· Removes the sky banding and haze/fog blockiness in the sim.

· Gives support for arbitrary resolutions (up to 2048x2048, 1024x768 is the smallest that works).

· Overlay flickering fixed.

· Pointer trailing removed.

· Clean overlay transparency edges.

· New sun texture.

· New lens flare implementation and textures.

· Set reasonable defaults specifically for FU3.

· Fixed stars.

For running ddfix you have to edit Flight3.exe with an HEX editor and replace the first ddraw.dll by ddfix.dll.

For performance and no game freeze edit ddfix.ini and remove Triple buffering replacing ;TripleBuffer=1 by TripleBuffer=0 Do not enable post processing (bloom effect) as it could freeze your game or the game radio.

As I said you have DirectX 6 output. To convert or wrapper to a more recent DirectX, you have to download dgvoodoo2. You just put D3DImm.dll, ddraw.dll and dgVoodooCpl.exe on the game folder. In my case my config is Scaling mode stretched (because I like widescreen) and in DirectX tab be careful with the following settings or game radio could stop working: Videocard GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, Force anisotropic 8x, NO Disable mipmapping, Antialiasing App driven, NO Bilinear blit stretch, YES Force vSync, YES Apply Phong shading when possible, NO Fast video memory access.

I can assure you the graphic quality is glorious.

Finally, I do not set any compatibility setting to the exe but I run this program as administrator. If your windows 10 installation is clean, intro video works. I replaced the EA_LG.AVI file by the one from Flight Unlimited 2 (more spectacular) keeping the same name.

In this link https://library.avsim.net/index.php?CatID=lgfu3&Sort=Author&ScanMode=1&Page=1 you have Ansgar Avermeyer AI Package, Christopher Low Seattle 2005 and SanFran 2006 upgrades, and a few more planes to install directly.

 

[patrikmore 10]

Flight Unlimited 3 works very well on windows 10 with DDFIX 1.5.13, but needs another wrapper, because the output is still DirectX 6, not compatible with Windows 10.

Manual here: http://alfozavr.wdfiles.com/local--files/fu3-downloads/FU3_Manual.pdf

I remind here the benefits of DDFIX 1.5.13 for FU3 by Jermi:

· Removes the sky banding and haze/fog blockiness.

. Enabled 32-bit in the sim and the graphics are now superb.

· Set reasonable defaults specifically for FU3.

On settings push all sliders to the right. The game works today much better than when it was issued.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by patrikmore

[patrikmore 10]

It is very lonely here. There is just one more thing. On the radio, the rogue and bass voice of one of the “aviators” breaks the radio. Indeed! Just one voice, and it happens after 20, 30 minutes elapsed on the radio. Of course, you can shut off the radio. I found a workaround. On dgvoodoo2 choose GeForce4Ti4800 card and put Texturing filter App driven.

It is true, this game is from the Windows 98 era. Ahead of its time, it brings detailed landscapes and airports, plenty of life with other planes or vehicles on the ground. Changing weather. Night flight. Air Traffic radio Control and voices on the radio are realistic. As I said immersive and unsurpassed. Play it in 1024 x 768 with my settings.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Nice to see you here, Patrik. I used Flight Unlimited 3 (and the Flight Unlimited 2 San Francisco scenery) exclusively for eight years between 2000 and 2008, and I enjoyed every minute of it. A part of me would love to go back and live those days again....

[patrikmore 10]

Thanks for answering Christopher.

I sum up below all that is needed to install and run the game on windows 10, with top max quality. Just to say that Air Traffic Control is very realistic. Unsurpassed?

If you download Flight Unlimited 3 from this link

https://www.old-games.com/ the game will work flawlessly with no bugs on windows 10.

Installation tricks: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Flight_Unlimited_III

Install on windows 10 applying “two layers”:

Install ddfix 1.5.13 https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143020 with the help of HxD Hex Editor, follow instructions. This improves DirectX working.

Install DDrawCompat experimental/test release (just put it on game folder) link: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases This connect DirectX 6 with Windows 10 today DirectX.

In this link https://library.avsim.net/index.php?CatID=lgfu3&Sort=Author&ScanMode=1&Page=1 you have Ansgar Avermeyer AI Package, and a few more planes to install directly, as one Boing 747.

Christopher Low has uploaded Seattle 2006 and SanFran 2006 to my MediaFire account. You can download them using the links below.... Seattle 2006 http://www.mediafire...j59kocbuja241tn SanFran 2006 http://www.mediafire...mdoiqam8o6127y7

Manual is here: http://alfozavr.wdfiles.com/local--files/fu3-downloads/FU3_Manual.pdf

Play it in 1024 x 768, with 3D acceleration driver activated.

[patrikmore 10]

Finally, on Windows 10, instead of ddraw.dll from DDRAWCOMPAT, you can use DGVOODOO2. This allows you to use RESHADE to improve dramatically graphic quality. (My settings for RESHADE: prod80_03_FilmicTonemap | Pirate_Bloom | Pirate_Curve | Pirate_Vibrance | Vibrance_fx | LumaSharpen | and FXAA). I still need DDFIX (in my case) because with DGVOODOO2 alone, my joykeys.cfg file doesn't work. keyboard keys and joystick buttons remapped doesn't work. (DDFIX and DGVOODOO2 working together).

I add another tip: The free Flight Unlimited 3 download you find on internet has a serious bug for windows 10. Radio channels get stuck or blocked with an horrible noise on many voices. The solution I found : I downloaded Flight Unlimited 3 from Old-Games.com, apparently a "Sold Out" modified game version. This time the radio worked perfect with rogue or bass voices! I installed the Flight Unlimited 2 San Fran region when installing FU3. The internet download of FU2 in this case doesn't present any issues.

[patrikmore 10]

One more link, search "Looking Glass: Flight Unlimited III"

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=displaysearch

One more tip:

In FU3 there is no AntiAliasing (AA) "out of the box" that helps removing jagged lines. The turnaround is you can apply AA setting in DGVOODOO2. Sadly, this ends up in another issue: a white horizontal line appears in most plane cockpits. You can remove this white line downloading and using CockpitDesigner from the link before. Edit blue rectangle. Increase one pixel the biggest number on the Y axis of the aforementioned rectangle. X axis if the white line is vertical.

Warning to users:

RESHADE V4.8 doesn't work with FU3 om Windows 10. Stay with RESHADE v4.7

Edited October 25, 2020 by patrikmore

[MikeX123 0]

@patrikmore Hi!

I downloaded Flight Unlimited 3 from the site you mentioned (old-games.com), for some reason, the setup.exe just doesn't run at all on Windows 10, I have tried basically everything.

Compatibility Mode

Installing the SecuROM missing software onto Windows 10

Using the -lgntforce check on the .exe itself.

Nothing seems to work, what can I do to install this? 

Edited February 10, 2021 by MikeX123

[patrikmore 10]

11 hours ago, MikeX123 said:

@patrikmore Hi!

I downloaded Flight Unlimited 3 from the site you mentioned (old-games.com), for some reason, the setup.exe just doesn't run at all on Windows 10, I have tried basically everything.

Compatibility Mode

Installing the SecuROM missing software onto Windows 10

Using the -lgntforce check on the .exe itself.

Nothing seems to work, what can I do to install this? 

Mike,

you don't need SecuROM

You downloaded  three CDs ISO files. I guess you use some kind of virtual CDs software. In my case Virtual CloneDrive 5.5.2.0 https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html

You start with this CD: fu3-d1.ISO

Use this command inside the windows run box (Windows key plus X) X:\setup.exe -lgntforce where X is the virtual CD letter assigned by Windows.

II do not remember if compatibility with windows XP sp3 is necessary.

Edited February 10, 2021 by patrikmore

[MikeX123 0]

Thanks for your reply. 

Sadly, I've tried what you mentioned now but it's the same result. 😕

I can see the blue loading wheel show up but then it disappears and nothing happens. 

[patrikmore 10]

Remove compatibility setting.

What loading wheel?

You have to load the first CD. Look at it to verify it's loaded and has contents.

Then type D:\setup.exe -lgntforce (D in my case) inside the run box.

Immediately you have a box saying: [ Do you want to allow this app from an unknown publisher to make changes to your device? ]

It has to work.

[MikeX123 0]

Compatibility setting has now been removed.

The loading wheel near the mouse of Windows, if that makes sense. 

So I now found out some more information, the SETUP.exe is running in the background but nothing ever shows up, it just stays there idle. 

Here are some clips I took to show you what's happening: 

https://i.gyazo.com/0b4d95414fc9302f4bf3b4500fa00c6f.mp4 - Permanent loading wheel that vanishes. 
https://i.gyazo.com/4b2a53deac068493366a170630b836a2.mp4 - The task manager showing the SETUP.exe's running.