Jane's USAF

Jane's USAF

Developers
	Pixel Multimedia
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	October 19, 1999
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control, Voice control
Genres	Action, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Flight
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Europe, Middle East, Cold War, Contemporary, Historical
Series	Jane's Combat Simulations

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Comes on two CD-ROMs. Disk 1 is required for playing without Tackleberry's Patch due to SafeDisc DRM.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

A free demo version is available from GameFront.

Essential improvements

Official patch

The version 1.02 patch provides graphical optimizations, improvements and fixes to gameplay. It can be found Bob's Your Uncle or GameFront.

Tackleberry's patch

Latest version (which includes the WineD3D renderer, see below) can be found here.

A common 2015 version can be found here for troubleshooting purposes.

Tackleberry's patch removes the disc check, fixes all images including bitmaps (.BMPs), ranks, and scroll menus, and fixes support for Windows Vista and newer.

Multiplayer does not work.

Even with this patch applied, USAF.exe will remain with compatibility settings on. All of them except "Run as administrator" need to be deactivated to ensure stable gameplay.

WineD3D renderer

Download link

Reliable graphics renderer which supports widescreen resolutions

It has to be selected in the USAFConfig.exe application.

Requires a registry entry in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\AppDefaults\USAF.exe\Direct3D (handled by running wine.reg in latest Tackleberry patch):

"VideoMemorySize"="64"
"OffscreenRenderingMode"="backbuffer"

Thunderbirds Missions

Thunderbirds Missions is a free official add-on which adds three new missions and a special F-16C model.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Pilots\*.ini <path-to-game>\Pilots\Master\Player.ini

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Pilots

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Menus are 800x600, but the simulation is widescreen. Supports all resolutions listed in Windows. Cockpit is stretched.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		FOV increases with resolution. No custom FOV.
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Supports bilinear and trilinear filtering.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

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  Graphics settings (1/4)

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  Graphics settings (2/4)

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  Graphics settings (3/4)

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  Graphics settings (4/4)

Input

Joystick calibration application (JoystickSetting.exe)

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		No acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Mouse works in menus and is used to toggle cockpit buttons in simulation. No turning with mouse.
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Mouse does not control any looking in game.
Controller
Controller support		Joysticks are supported. Unknown if gamepads are.
Full controller support		Menus require the mouse.
Controller remapping		Joystick is fully remappable.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

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

Audio

Sound settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Speech, engine, background, and effects volume can be toggled separately. A master controller is also available. Volume changes do not occur in real time; changes have to be accepted to be applied.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Hebrew
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		16
Online play		8	JanesCombatNet servers have been shut down.

Issues unresolved

Multiplayer menu crashes the game

With Tackleberry's patch, clicking on the multiplayer menu will crash the game to desktop.

Issues resolved

Flickering in gameplay, black screen in menus

Disable compatibility settings
Right-click on USAF.exe, and choose Properties. In the Compatibility tab, uncheck all options except "Run as administrator" Click on Apply, then OK.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 266 MHz	Intel Pentium II 350 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	600 MB	1.2 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 6.1 compatible