Subject: REVIEW: Fighter Duel Professional Flight Recorder
From: [email-masked] (Jeff Hanna)
Date: 8 Apr 1993 02:22:17 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	Fighter Duel Professional Flight Recorder (FDPro-FR)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	A unique World War II flight simulator that records your flight path
(and up to two enemies' flight paths).  You can then convert this data into
a demo, a Lightwave motion file, a Lightwave object, an Imagine staging
file, an Imagine object, a Videoscape 3D object, or a Vista Pro camera file.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Jaeger Software
	Address:	7800 White Cliff Terrace
			Rockville, MD 20855
			USA

	Telephone:	(301) 948-6862

	E-mail:		Jaeger Software has a support category on GEnie.
			Page 555, Category 24.

LIST PRICE

	US $59.95

	I paid US $25.00 to upgrade from Fighter Duel Pro to Fighter Duel
	Pro Flight Recorder

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		No special hardware required.  An analog adapter and analog
		joystick are highly recommended.

		Requires 3 MB of RAM.
	
		FDPro-FR does not require a hard drive.

		FDPro-FR works on all processors available for the Amiga.
		When using a VXL-30/VXL-RAM32, you need to have the 32-bit
		memory mapped to the High memory area.

	SOFTWARE

		FDPro works on all versions of the OS later than 1.3.  To
		run it off of a hard drive on AGA machines you need to turn
		Mode Promotion off and use a Low Resolution pointer.

COPY PROTECTION

	None!

	FDPro-FR installs on a hard drive.  It uses Commodore's Installer
program.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 500, VXL-30/40mHz, VXL-RAM32, DataFlyer IDE w/50MB HD
	1 MB Chip RAM and 2 MB of 32-bit Fast RAM
	Kickstart 2.04 and Workbench 2.1
	Imagine 2.0, DCTV, and Video Toaster/Lightwave
		
REVIEW

	I am an airplane buff, and have tried numerous times
(unsuccessfully) to make an animation of a dogfight.  It is next to
impossible to make a correct flight path for an airplane with today's
rendering/modeling packages. But with FDPro-FR, you just fly the airplane,
and the software takes care of the tedious job of making a flight path for
you!

	Fighter Duel Pro Flight Recorder is an extension of Jaeger
Software's World War II flight simulator, Fighter Duel Pro (FDPro).  FDPro
is the most accurate WWII flight simulator available (for any platform,
IMHO).  It contains 16 fighters, runs at 28 fps on an unaccelerated Amiga,
and contains a highly detailed and accurate flight model.  FDPro lets you
fly against up to two computer controlled enemies.  You can also connect
with another person via modem or null modem link and duel them (this is
where FDPro really shines).  FDPro will run at 28fps on a 1200 bps
connection.  With FDPro you can connect two machines together with a special
parallel adapter and use the second machine as a slave "rear view" machine.
The second Amiga will show you the view out of the back of your airplane.

	FDPro-FR contains all that FDPro does and also lets you record your
flights.  The recording is invisible to the end user.  You just fly FDPro-FR
like you would fly any simulator:  pick a plane, take off, find an enemy, and
engage in a fight.  When you are done, you can convert the flight data into
any of the following formats:

	FDPro-FR Demo (requires FDPro-FR to playback)
	Lightwave Motion Path
	Lightwave Object
	Imagine Staging File
	Imagine Object
	VideoScape 3D Object
	Vista Pro camera file.

	FDPro-FR makes animating logos, spaceships, airplanes, cows, etc.. so
simple that it is fun.  I really cannot give a definitive list of what you
can/cannot use the output from FDPro-FR for, because it is limited only by
your imagination.

DOCUMENTATION

	Printed documentation is included.  This consists of two manuals,
the Fighter Duel Pro documentation and the FDPro-FR supplement.

	The documentation is very detailed.  The FDPro manual covers
everything would need to know to run FDPro-FR.  It also gives detailed
information on the 16 planes included with the package, covering weight,
length, armament, rate of fire, top speed, sustained turn rate, and more.
The FDPro-FR supplement shows you how to convert your data into a usable
format for the supported rendering packages.  Tutorials are given for each
rendering package.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	My only dislike about this program concerns its Imagine output.
FDPro-FR cannot write out a path for Imagine that you can see and edit
within Imagine.  It will create only an entire Staging file for Imagine.
When this is loaded into Imagine, you cannot see nor edit the path.

	According to the author, Jaeger Software did contact Impulse to see
if they could get help in making Imagine paths.  From what I gather, Impulse
was very uncooperative.  Jaeger Software only managed to add Imagine support
by reverse-engineering an Imagine Staging file.  I have been told that due to
the overwhelming acclaim this program is getting in the video journals,
Impulse would now like to help Jaeger Software include Imagine Path support
in a future release.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	There isn't anything else like FDPro-FR for any platform.

BUGS

	There are no known bugs with FDPro-FR.  

	As I stated earlier, If you have a VXL-030 with VXL-RAM32 card, you
must have the 32-bit Fast RAM mapped into the High memory area (accessible
only in 68030 mode).  If you have the memory mapped into the Low memory area
(accessible in 68000 and 68030 mode) the program will crash.  I do not know
what causes this, but I would tend to believe that the VXL-RAM32 card is at
fault.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	Jaeger Software's customer support is excellent, especially when you
consider the size of the company (they are extremely small). I first
contacted them in December 1992, regarding a problem I had with the original
Fighter Duel.  Matt Shaw, one of the programmers, called me back (at his
expense) and helped me out.  He was informative, knowledgeable, and was not
going to give up until my problem was solved.

	Matt was also very helpful in determining that I needed to change
the VXL-RAM32 configuration in order for FDPro/FDPro-FR to work properly.
        
	Jaeger Software has a support category on GEnie, which Matt
moderates.  Whenever there is a question or a problem Matt posts an answer
within 24 hours.

WARRANTY

	90 day warranty on the medium on which the program is recorded.

CONCLUSIONS

	Fighter Duel Pro Flight Recorder is the most innovative 3D rendering
tool I have ever seen.  I would recommend it to anyone who is a hobbyist or
professional 3D animator.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1993 by Jeff Hanna.  All rights reserved.

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