This release of the Silicon Graphics Flight Simulator is unsupported. We are giving it away because its fun, and it demonstrates the potential for OpenGL-based games on the Windows platforms.
Flight requires Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. Earlier versions of Windows are not supported.
Flight uses the beta release of Cosmo OpenGL, which is included with this distribution. If you run flight on Windows NT or on a machine which supports hardware acceleration of OpenGL, the Microsoft version of OpenGL is used instead.
By default, flight temporarily changes the screen resolution to 640x480. If you wish to run in the default resolution of your display, specify the '-f' option and flight will not resize your display.
If your display is running in 256 color mode, flight automatically runs in color-index mode. The color-index version of flight differs from the RGB version in several ways:
For best results on machines without hardware acceleration, change your display settings to 256 color mode. Flight will run at higher color depths but the framerate will be reduced.
This version of flight is compatible with the version shipped with Silicon Graphics workstations, and network play between the two machine types is supported. However, the SGI version uses UDP multicast network packets by default, while the Windows version uses UDP broadcast packets because the current version of Winsock does not support multicast. As a result, the PC's will not recognize the SGI machines, but the SGI machines will see the PC's. To work around this, you must enable UDP broadcast on the SGI machines by running dog with the '-b' option.
UDP broadcasts have been known to cause problems for some older machines; in particular, DEC VAXen grind to a halt when large numbers of UDP broadcast packets cross its network interface.
Changes since 1.0:
Problem: | Flight runs slowly in 24-bit under Windows 95. |
Solution: | Cosmo OpenGL has not yet been optimized for 24-bit displays. Change your screen depth to 8, 16, or 32. |
Problem: | When running under Windows NT on a Matrox Millenium, the lines in the horizon and radar meters are jagged. |
Solution: | This is fixed in the latest driver. Download from: http://www.matrox.com/mgaweb/ftp_mill.htm |
Problem: | When running under Windows 95 on a 3Dlabs Permedia, the entire scene is distorted. |
Solution: | Modify your Flight shortcut and add the '-f' option. |
Problem: | When running under Windows NT on a 3Dlabs Permedia, the control panel flashes. |
Solution: | Run in "heads-up display" mode by adding the '-h' option, or type the 'H' key after selecting a plane. |
As this is unsupported software, I cannot promise a response. However, you may send comments and bug reports to:
Michael I Gold <gold@sgi.com>
Last update: April 4, 1997