F-19 Stealth Fighter • Microprose 1988 (Roland Sound Driver Retrofit)
F-19 Stealth Fighter - the game was usually played with the PC Speaker sound, in subsequent updates Adlib driver was added - this version is pretty common nowadays since it's the version you can get on Steam. But did you know there was also a Roland version? I wasn't aware of it until recently, after I dug through some of old patches from Microprose ftp no longer in existance. In fact that version is so rare that I didn't found any recording of it anywhere. This might be first video on youtube showing gameplay from F-19 Stealth Fighter running with Roland sound.
On January 1st 1991 Jim McConkey (Senior Sound Engineer at Microprose) released a pack containing Roland driver retrofits for several Microprose games: F19, F15II, Red Storm Rising, M1 Tank Platoon, Knights of the Sky and Lightspeed. The file for F19 is dated from 21st November 1990, so it came out 2 years after the game release. Interestingly the Roland patch predates the Adlib patch which was released in 1991.
Edit: The ASOUND.EXE (AdLib driver) that comes with 435.04 version is dated from May 12th 1989.
So Roland came later after all.
I you wish to try this patch yourself I will be hosting this pack here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AH74...
Follow the instructions in the readme file.
If you want to know how to run DOSBox with Roland emulation, check out this great tutorial by @philscomputerlab
• MUNT MT-32 Emulator Guide Tutorial DOSBox
Stealth Fighter Series:
• Stealth Fighter Series
0:00 Graphics setup and joystick calibration
0:12 Intro theme music
2:11 Credits and adverts
2:23 Duty roster and mission assignment
2:44 Intelligence Briefing
4:24 Arming
5:00 Mission start
5:55 Adjusting waypoints (beaming SA-12 at Pechenga)
7:08 SA-12 gets first return from us (still no track), dropping altitude
7:13 SA-12 gets a track, fires missile
8:05 Beaming the missile - it looses track, no ECM or chaffs needed
8:20 Interceptors coming to investigate last sighting spot
12:35 Another detection by SA-12 at Kildenstroy, missile in the air
13:22 This missile defeated by jamming and chaff
14:05 More SAMs on the way, getting to hot, going for secondary target
15:02 Secondary target in sight
15:50 Say cheese Ivan!
16:05 Sub pens of Severomorsk and Mainstay stalking behind it
16:40 Taking him head-on, Splash 1
16:59 Forger in sight, Fox 2
17:10 Sidewinder misses, re-engaging with gun, Splash 2
17:50 Buzzing a Typhon class sub
18:00 Another sight atraction of this region - LPAR at Olengorsk*
18:30 Going for that S-300 at Kildenstroy while dodging SAMs
19:05 Three interceptors coming my way, popping up for Maverick shot
19:35 With Maverick in the air, firing AIM-9 at Yak-38
19:45 It misses. Guns! Guns! Guns! Splash 3
20:15 Going for SAM at Murmansk, Rifle! Have to correct with M61
21:10 Engaging Flanker and Foxhound - Splash 4 and 5
22:37 Going for the primary target
23:30 Both Rockeyes miss, getting harassed by more bandits
24:03 Strafing run on the primary objective
25:40 Egreessing, checking fuel and systems, dumping decoy
27:35 S-300 at Pechenga empties its stock on me
30:22 Tailed by MIG-31 and Su-27
31:30 Hit by SA-12! Now I'm pissed, engaging pursuers
33:10 Bugging out
33:45 Engine and avionics damage
34:30 Forger turns tail, running on fumes...
36:45 Finals, gear down
36:50 In the groove, engine dies... hitting the silk
37:12 Debriefing
38:18 Decorations and drinks in the club
*Some cool trivia:
That LPAR (Large Phased-Array Radar) - is a real thing - Olenegorsk Radar Station:
http://wikimapia.org/725733/Olenegors...
Top view:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/68%...
Other classic flight sims from Microprose:
• Microprose Golden Era
Games featuring Roland sound:
• ♪ Roland Goodness ♫
Classic simulations running on DOSBox:
• Classic simulations on DOSBox
#RetroFlightSims