Combat Flight Sims

[BingusCrepes]

My dad used to be super into hardcore combat flight simulators such as Falcon 4.0 and other Jane's games. However the new Windows 10 does not support most of these older games and the only one we found on steam was Falcon 4.0. Is there a way to get these disks to download on his computer or is there a newer flight simulator you recommend?

[sibbs]

DCS World, base game is free.

[Skuz]

Hoping to ignite a conversation on decent multiplayer combat flight sims that aren't pay to win.

[Haruspex]

Despite lack of support, chances are Windows 10 will still run those old flight sim games just fine. Just use the same disks and install them like always. I recommend you don't install them in the default "program files" folder as file permissions can be an issue, and pre Windows Vista UAC didn't exist. Something like C:/Games/ should suffice.

Someone already mentioned DCS World. There's the FTP War Thunder as well. Ace Combat 7 is a lot of fun. Comanche 4... Lots of flight sim type games today support VR, like VTOL. Cockpit gameplay is particularly well suited to VR, so you might look into getting him an inexpensive VR headset.

I'm finding more of these games than I knew existed just doing a simple Steam search for "combat flight sim".

[Hesienburger]

Originally posted by Skuz:

Hoping to ignite a conversation on decent multiplayer combat flight sims that aren't pay to win.

Ravenfield is default single player but can modded witn RavenM (not really a flight sim i like battlefield tanks, ,planes etc)

[Skuz]

Hausup3x, appreciate the input. Some comments:
I'm not the original poster just looking to find a game that me and my friends can play.
I've spent hours going through Steam. There is lots of them but very few that are non VR multiplayer.
A lot of the old games don't run on windows 10. Some of them you can jump through a bunch of hoops and try a bunch of different things and maybe just maybe you wont have wasted your time and money and it might work. I've been down that road so many times with games and the success rate is not good.
DCS and War thunder are absolutely pay to win. DCS is the ultimate pay to win. Yeah the base game is free with 2 planes and a couple maps. Basically useless like that. All DLC is over $4000 and most players are spending over $500 to play. Ace combat 7 only has 8 player deathmatch / battle royale. Trying to find a match with non rage quitting, similar skill so you dont die in the first 30 seconds players is near impossible. Not my idea of a good time. VTOL is VR only which is not something we are interested in.
Also not looking for a combat sim where you do ground, vehicle, and air.
Am I being fussy? Perhaps. I didn't think it would be so hard to find a simple multiplayer combat flight sim that actually works on windows 10.
When you really start digging its hard to find.

[Paratech2008]

Originally posted by BingusCrepes:

My dad used to be super into hardcore combat flight simulators such as Falcon 4.0 and other Jane's games. However the new Windows 10 does not support most of these older games and the only one we found on steam was Falcon 4.0. Is there a way to get these disks to download on his computer or is there a newer flight simulator you recommend?

There's a Falcon collection on GOG.

[Skuz]

Paratech2008
Alas Falcon is only single player.

[Haruspex]

Originally posted by Skuz:

Hausup3x, appreciate the input. Some comments:
I'm not the original poster just looking to find a game that me and my friends can play.

And I just realized the original thread is from 2019. I'm making a bad habit of replying to these. It probably would have made a lot more sense to just start a new thread.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

Meanwhile in 2023...

[Skuz]

Originally posted by Harusp3x:

Originally posted by Skuz:

Hausup3x, appreciate the input. Some comments:
I'm not the original poster just looking to find a game that me and my friends can play.

And I just realized the original thread is from 2019. I'm making a bad habit of replying to these. It probably would have made a lot more sense to just start a new thread.

In hindsight you are probably right

[Mar044]

IL-2 and DCS World, most of the older flight sims are on gog F117 so on.

[Skuz]

Mar044 I’ve been through steam and GOG.
There very few that are co-op and not pay to win. This is the 3rd time DCS has been suggested despite the repeated explanation of NOT looking for a pay to win and DCS is possibly the most expensive pay to win PC game ever made.

[Daggoth]

Originally posted by Skuz:

This is the 3rd time DCS has been suggested despite the repeated explanation of NOT looking for a pay to win and DCS is possibly the most expensive pay to win PC game ever made.

DCS isn't pay to win, it's a study sim. Expensive DLCs don't mean pay to win.
You fly the plane you want and master it, at which point you're a winner. The base game has a couple of free modules to learn and the frogfoot is a viable ground attack plane. There's a couple of modded planes as well to expand your roster.
You can try out the paid modules through the client from the DCS site for 2 weeks at a time, and if/when you find a plane you love, you buy it, learn it, master it, wreck stuff. You're not expected to buy everything, and more expensive planes aren't necessarily better than the cheap/free ones.
You can blow up just as much with the free frog foot as with the $15 A10-A or the $80 A10-C II Tank Killer. The difference is how complex the systems are and how much effort needed to master it (A10-C II is generally considered one of the most complex aircraft to run - yet easy to fly - due to it's heavily simulated on board computer systems)
Fly what you want, pay only as much as you want, pick your plane and have fun.

[Skuz]

Daggoth This isn't my first foray into video games and free to play games. I've read about it. Not interested.