Falcon 3.0

Falcon 3.0

Developers
	Sphere, Inc.
Publishers
Retail (North America)	Spectrum HoloByte
Retail (Europe), digital (2023-present)	MicroProse
Digital (2015-2023)	Retroism
Release dates
DOS	1991
Windows (DOSBox)	October 23, 2015
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox)	October 23, 2015
Linux (DOSBox)	October 23, 2015
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Simulation, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Flight
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Falcon

Falcon
Falcon	1987
Falcon A.T.	1988
Falcon 3.0	1991
Falcon 4.0	1998
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force	2005

Falcon 3.0 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person simulation and vehicle combat game in the Falcon series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Original release is floppy only, Gold Edition is a CD-ROM release bundled with other games in the series and AOTK
GOG.com		Gold Edition. Also available in Falcon Collection bundled with other games in the series. Pre-packaged with DOSBox. Includes Falcon 4.0.
Steam		Gold Edition
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)		Gold Edition

Version differences

The Gold version includes all the addons and is fully updated (except for unofficials). Also includes special Art of the Kill training videos.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Operation: Fighting Tiger
MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0	Playable as a standalone addon, though works best when integrated into Falcon 3.0
Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter	Playable as a standalone addon, though works best when integrated into Falcon 3.0
Strategic Falcon	Unofficial commercial expansion for Falcon 3.0 that adds a greater degree of customization and planning to the game. Even capable of importing custom planes made with Falcon Test Pilot model editor. Formerly available here, not available digitally.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 3.05 for the base game and Operation: Fighting Tiger, updating it to be on par with the Gold version, is available here. Separate versions for MiG-29 (1.04) and Hornet (1.02) are available here and here respectably. An unofficial one for networking issues of version 3.05 some user experience is available here (might be irrelevant to DOSBox users). All Gold versions (including digital) are fully updated except for the unofficial patch.

Addon Launcher

Falcon 3.0 has MiG-29 and Hornet as their own executables, making it annoying to configure if you have the retail version. Luckily you can save the following as a .bat file and run it in DOSBox to get around this annoyance.

If used with Gold, you may have to replace the falcon3 command in the script with falconcd.

Addon Launcher

@echo off
:start
@echo off
CLS
echo                            ══════════
echo                            Falcon 3.0
echo                            ══════════
echo.
echo      ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
echo      │ [1] Falcon + Operation: Fighting Tiger                        │
echo      │ [2] MIG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon                        │
echo      │ [3] Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter                              │
echo.     ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
echo      │ [4] Reset Falcon Squadrons                                    │
echo      │ [5] Reset MIG-29 Squadrons                                    │
echo      │ [6] Reset Hornet Squadrons                                    │
echo      │ [7] Reset Falcon High Scores                                  │
echo      │ [8] Reset MIG-29 High Scores                                  │
echo      │ [9] Reset Hornet High Scores                                  │
echo.     ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
echo      │ [S] Reset Settings                                            │
echo      │ [D] Load Stick Driver                                         │
echo      │ [C] Save Allied Campaign                                      │
echo      │ [V] Version Info                                              │
echo      │ [Q] Quit!                                                     │
echo      ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
echo.
:choice
choice/c:123456789sdcvq/n Choose Number:
if errorlevel 14 goto exit
if errorlevel 13 goto version
if errorlevel 12 goto save
if errorlevel 11 goto drive
if errorlevel 10 goto set
if errorlevel 9 goto rehighh
if errorlevel 8 goto rehighm
if errorlevel 7 goto rehighf
if errorlevel 6 goto rehor
if errorlevel 5 goto remig
if errorlevel 4 goto refal
if errorlevel 3 goto hor
if errorlevel 2 goto mig
if errorlevel 1 goto fal
if errorlevel 0 goto exit

:fal
CLS
falcon3
goto start
:mig 
CLS
mig29
goto start
:hor
CLS
hornet
goto start
:refal
CLS
f30reset
pause
goto start
:remig
CLS
migreset
pause
goto start
:rehor
CLS
f18reset
pause
goto start
:rehighf
CLS
echo Resetting Falcon and Fighting Tiger High Scores...
del topten
pause
goto start
:rehighm
CLS
echo Resetting MiG-29 High Scores...
del topmig
pause
goto start
:rehighh
CLS
echo Resetting Hornet High Scores...
del topten.dan
pause
goto start
:save
CLS
call savecamp
pause
goto start
:set
CLS
echo Resetting Settings...
del falcon3.def
del mig29.def
del hornet.def
pause
goto start
:drive
CLS
TM-STICK
pause
goto start
:version
CLS
CHECKVER
pause
goto start
:exit
CLS

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\falcon3.def <path-to-game>\mig29.def <path-to-game>\hornet.def
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
Linux	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/429520/pfx/

falcon3.def is for the base game and Fighting Tiger expansion, mig29.def is for the MIG-29 expansion and hornet.def is for the Hornet expansion.

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\squad*.*
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
Linux	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/429520/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		For DOSBox toggle with Alt+↵ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Force high detail friendly and enemy planes

Use LOADHIGH parameter

Copy OBJECTS over SOBJECTS

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		6	Co-op, Versus
Online play		2	Co-op, Versus Modem only. Can be extended to 6 players if using DOSBox tunneling or other forms of IPX tunneling.

Co-op is referred to as Allied and versus is referred to as duel in game.

Issues unresolved

Intro and mission reports play at wrong speed

The game's intro video plays too slowly and the mission texts scroll too quickly when played in DOSBox. The hi-fidelity flight model also may have issues as well as SAMs. Reducing DOSBox's cycles will solve these issues but unfortunately the game will become too choppy to play when on missions. One simple solution is to switch to the "Complex" flight model which allows for correct joystick input. Changing timed=false in DOXBOX will also alleviate joystick calibration issues.

Incompatibility with Windows 9x and 3x

Falcon 3.0 Will not run on Windows 3.1 or 3.0. On Windows 9x systems, it is not recommended to run it within windowed MS-DOS mode but it can be ran through pure dos (Restart in MS-DOS Mode) assuming the user frees enough conventional memory. A Boot Disk was available for download from a Customer Support BBS at one point.

Issues fixed

Insufficient Conventional Memory to Run the Game

Edit your config.sys and autoexec.bat files to ensure you have enough base memory

Falcon 3.0 at the time required a substantially large amount of conventional memory to run (602-604K), making it an extremely demanding game. To alleviate this, a guide is provided within the manual on page 20, Section III. There is additionally another guide within the 'Communications Manual' booklet which explains concisely how to do this. Note: This is a DOS-specific error and does not affect those running the game under Dosbox Within your config.sys files, ensure the following is included within: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 1024 RAM BUFFERS=30,0 FILES=30 DOS=HIGH,UMB STACKS=0,0 Additionally put 'DEVICEHIGH' instead of 'DEVICE=" for any other driver lines, or don't load them at all (This includes sound card or CD-ROM TSRs) If all else fails, utilize a memory manager like QEMM or the built in MS-DOS memory manager known as memmaker, and follow the onscreen instructions.

Creating a Boot Disk

Creating a Boot Disk

The Falcon3 directory additionally contains utilities for creating bootdisks. This is explained within the manual on Page 21 (Section III: Installation and Loading) change to your falcon 3 directory by typing cd falcon3 or cd falconcd (for gold users) type one of the following for your particular configuration and follow the onscreen instructions bootemm - for computers with 1MB of EMS, no mouse drivers bootmice - for 1MB of EMS and a mouse driver bootdspc - for computers running DoubleSpace (not to be confused with DriveSpace) bootnet - for a bootdisk loaded with IPX and NET5 Networking Drivers Falcon Gold also has these utilities under the setup program.

No sound in Art of the Kill (Gold)

edit the AOTK PLAYER.CFG file
Go to <path-to-game>\data\AOTK. Open PLAYER.CFG in a text editor. Make the following changes: AUDTYPE = 2 ;SOUNDBLASTER AUDDMA = 1 ;DMA AUDIRQ = 7 ;IRQ AUDBSIO = 220 ;BASEIO VIDTYPE = 0 ;AUTO DETECT VIDMODE = 110 ;640x480x32K COLORS DBITDEPTH = 15 ;BIT DEPTH CDROMDR = D

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	VGA

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			unknown

Mods

Mods and utilities for Falcon 3.0 can be found here. Warning some files are version specific and/or don't work on the latest version of the game. Additional mods could also be found by digging in cd.textfiles.com though this archive is far less organized.

System requirements

DOS

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	DOS 5.0 or Later	DOS 5.0 or Later
Processor (CPU)	386	33Mhz 486 or better, requires math co-processor for High-Fidelity Model
System memory (RAM)	4MB of memory (602K of conventional memory, 2MB or more of EMS)	6MB of memory (602k conventional, 4MB of EMS)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	11MB of HDD Space	11MB, 2x Variable CD-ROM Drive
Video card (GPU)	VGA Compatible Graphics Card	16-bit VGA Card
Sound (audio device)	PC Speaker, Adlib	SoundBlaster 16 or Roland MT-32