F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0

F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0

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F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0 • Secret Airstrip mission fix for Libya and North Cape
By damson
Ever wondered why the Secret Airstrip missions were only available in Persian Gulf scenario even though they were mentioned in F-19 manual for Libya and North Cape as well? Seems they were cut for unknown reasons, this guide will help you bring them back in F-117!
   
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Background
This issue was investigated by debugcom, who documented his findings here:

debugcom's github repo - Hacking F117A[github.com]
The Fix
For your convenience I have implemented debugcom's findings and hexedited both scenario files and decompressed the START.EXE and hexedited it as well (note that the offsets for START.EXE were different for me compared with debugcom's).

You can download the zip containing the fixed files here:

download fix[drive.google.com]

Unzip the files and place the:

LB.WLD
NC.WLD
START.EXE

in the game folder, usually:

\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter\F-117A\

replacing existing files (you can backup the original files, or use Steam repair function to bring the original ones back in case of any problems).

When this is done, you can run the game as usuall. Since the missions are randomly generated you may not get them right away. Consult the debugcom's repo for more information - i.e to get these missions you need at least Regular Opponents.
Airstrip Locations
Secret Airstrip locations in Libya

ONC VC43




ONC TC93



Secret Airstrip locations in North Cape

ONC XX20



ONC XW57




Here's an example mission from Libya:


direct link in case video embedding doesn't work:
https://youtu.be/uOzAzl-heSQ
Known Issues
There is one problem not related to this fix though, it's present in unaltered game as well - the supply drop mission type is bugged in F-117.

I tried several DOSBox cycles settings as well as different core and cpu types to no avail, the cargo is not behaving like it did in F-19 where it fell basically vertically to the ground after drop. Here it will either be suspended mid air and eventually disappear (with higher cycles like 10000) or it will glide for several miles before impacting the ground (with lower cycles like 4000). Even tried different DOSBox builds like ECE and different game versions - same deal. Seems like this feature is broken in F-117.

So when you get this type of mission (the ones where you need to land on the airstrip work fine), you might want to decline it.
2 Comments
damson  [author] Feb 9 @ 11:56am 
IIRC I tried the 04 version (replacement exe from the microprose ftp) - it didn't fixed the issue, but I'm not sure if the vgame.exe from that ftp is actually the 04 because the game still shows 03 version during startup.

I also tried landing-and-dropping as you described at the airstrip instead of dropping the cargo - still didn't worked. Those missions seem to be broken in F-117, in F-19 they work fine though.
DarkenedRoom Feb 7 @ 3:53pm 
The patch notes for v473.04 in the Microprose FTP archive say the following: This version corrects the stealth mountains, no-credit for cargo drops , and all other reported problems. So it might be worth trying with the replacement vgame.exe file.

I also once accidentally treated an F-19 Stealth Fighter cargo drop mission as a cargo delivery mission and landed on the airstrip before 'dropping' the cargo. It was successful, so this might be an alternative to an F-117 'cargo drop', treat it like a cargo delivery. It definitely won't glide far being dropped 4 feet out the bottom of the weapons bay! :steamfacepalm: