AirStrike 3D: Operation W.A.T

Key points

Game requires workarounds to function properly on modern versions of Windows.

Also known as Air Strike 3D and Helicopter Simulator. Later also known as Air Hawk: Operation W.A.T.

AirStrike 3D: Operation W.A.T

Developers
	DivoGames
Release dates
Windows	December 17, 2002
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Genres	Shooter
Vehicles	Helicopter
Art styles	Realistic
Series	AirStrike

AirStrike
AirStrike 3D: Operation W.A.T	2002
AirStrike 2	2004
AirStrike 2: Gulf Thunder	2005

AirStrike 3D: Operation W.A.T is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view shooter game in the AirStrike series.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\config.ini

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows

Essential improvements

Opening video setup tool.
The video setup allows toggling vertical sync, forcing system cursor, texture filtering and showing FPS count. Append -setup to the executable's command line arguments or shortcut's target.

Skip logo/intro.
Open config.ini with text editor. Add ShowLogo=0 in the [System] section. Save the file.

Video

Settings from video setup.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Options for different camera perspective which does not affects the FOV.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Disabled by default. Either enable via external video settings utility, Or in config.ini. Set WaitVSync to 1
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Uncapped as-is. Wrappers may override the frame rate cap.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)

Input

The input settings in the game, controls can be remapped

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Certain functions such can't be remapped in-game. Tutorial still refers to default bindings.
Mouse acceleration		Follows Windows' mouse acceleration settings.
Mouse sensitivity		Options to use mouse for helicopter's movement, follows Windows' mouse sensitivity settings.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Supported via DirectInput.
Full controller support		Cannot pause game with a button on controller. Menu navigation are unresponsive due to left/right behaves erratically, and certain menu still requires a mouse to operate.
Controller remapping		Only joystick's axis can be mapped to movement.
Controller sensitivity		Fixed speed with no acceleration present.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Playable with default configuration.
Xbox button prompts		Game still refers keyboard buttons in information screen and tutorials.
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts		Game still refers keyboard buttons in information screen and tutorials.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and Sound Effects
Surround sound		The game has 3D Sound option in the settings
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Use DSOAL, then enable 3D Sound options in the game.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Co-op Supports a combination of mouse/keyboard and a controller, or two controllers.

Issues fixed

Game refuses to run on modern version of Windows

Some versions of the game may came with two executable files, game.exe and AirStrike3D.exe. For fixes using wrappers and Nvidia Profile Inspector methods to work properly. It is strongly recommended to move or delete the old executable file, and rename game.exe back to AirStrike3D.exe.

There is an unofficial bug fix provided here, which according to the creator, named tame64, fixes a buffer overrun error which would cause the game to crash, it is required to be compiled first with msvc or with mingw before it can be used.

Use QindieGL.
OpenGL 1.1 to DirectX 9 wrapper. Vendor independent which works across modern hardware. Shouldn't cause any missing graphical effects.

Set flags via Nvidia Profile Inspector

For Nvidia graphics only. Add AirStrike3D.exe to Nvidia Control Panel's profile. Open Nvidia Profile Inspector. Select AirStrike3D.exe from User modified profiles menu. Look for code>Extension Limit and set to 0x00004844 Click Apply Changes. Notes. You may optionally set OpenGL - Version Override to OpenGL Version 1.1 if the issues persists. Note that settings Extension Limit flag to Enabled (0x1) will results in muddy terrain textures due to the driver flags disables multitexturing for the game. However, this may only affected to certain version of the game.

(Linux) Set Mesa and/or Nvidia's OpenGL extension limit through environment variables.

For Linux system with game running under Wine. Check your Mesa/GL driver vendor, can be done by running glxinfo and look for OpenGL renderer string For proprietary Nvidia driver, use the environment variables __GL_ExtensionStringVersion=17700 For Mesa-based driver, such as intel, AMDGPU or radeon. Use the environment variables MESA_EXTENSION_MAX_YEAR=2003 The output in desktop entry, shell script files or command line arguments should look similar to this: env MESA_EXTENSION_MAX_YEAR=2003 wine "AirStrike3D.exe"

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	1.1

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	BASS

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP	95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Pentium or Athlon 400 MHz	Pentium or Athlon 600 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	50 MB	50 MB
Video card (GPU)	16 MB TNT2-class or other OpenGL 1.1+ compliant video card	16 MB NVIDIA GeForce / ATI Radeon