USNRaptor Playset v4.1 ====================== What is the USNRaptor Playset? It is the collection of all the files I currently use while playing Fighters Anthology. When you install these files into a virgin Fighters Anthology, you are playing the same game as USNRaptor. That means all the single missions, campaigns, music, sound files, and modifications to aircraft, weapons, & equipment. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: How to install the playset using .LIB files? {Highly recommended for vintage computers. (i.e. Pentium III with Win Me)} FIRST, do a Fresh Install of Fighters Anthology following the below steps: 1. Uninstall current Fighters Anthology. {1} (see below for options to this) 2. Change your computer clock to the year 1998 {2}. 3. Install Fighters Anthology. 4. Install the Fighters Anthology Patch. 5. Change your computer clock back to the current year. NEXT, Open the .zip file and extract FA_5.LIB, FA_6A.LIB, and FA_6B.LIB files into your virgin Fighters Anthology folder. THEN, install any extra optional files (i.e. music files). FINALLY, install the single missions and campaign mission of your choice. Keep in mind Fighters Anthology has a total file limit. Therefore, I recommend players add only one campaign at a time plus all favored single missions. When done playing the campaign, just delete those specific files and upload another campaign. IF the game won't start when adding a campaign, move the single mission files to a different folder for temporary storage until you finish playing the campaign. **IMPORTANT UPDATE: users of computers newer than my Pentium 3 Windows ME system have reported error messages using the new FA_5.LIB, FA_6A.LIB, and FA_6B.LIB files. If your game is crashing to desktop at a significant increase compared to the old system, then, until the problem is fixed, I highly recommend deleting FA_5.LIB, FA_6A.LIB, and FA_6B.LIB , and installing the individual files found inside the new playset zip. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: How to install the playset using Individual files? {Highly recommended for modern systems} FIRST, do a Fresh Install of Fighters Anthology following the below steps: 1. Uninstall current Fighters Anthology. {1} (see below for options to this) 2. Change your computer clock to the year 1998 {2}. 3. Install Fighters Anthology. 4. Install the Fighters Anthology Patch. 5. Change your computer clock back to the current year. NEXT, Open 'usnraptor playset v4_1.ZIP' and extract all files inside 'Individual Files v4_1.ZIP' into your virgin Fighters Anthology folder. THEN, install any extra optional files (i.e. music files). FINALLY, install the single missions and campaign mission of your choice. Keep in mind Fighters Anthology has a total file limit. Therefore, I recommend players add only one campaign at a time plus all favored single missions. When done playing the campaign, just delete those specific files and upload another campaign. IF the game won't start when adding a campaign, move the single mission files to a different folder for temporary storage until you finish playing the campaign. ---------------------------------------------------------- === FAQ === Q: {1} I enjoy playing others' sets. How do I solve this dilema? Easy, just install multiples of Fighters Anthology. I currently run three on my computer. I have one named Fighters Anthology, one named FA_TSN (my son's initials), and one named FA_Test (which is default FA that I use to test various projects). ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: {2} Why are some of the default items appearing instead of the playset items? This is likely a "Time Stamp" issue. Fighters Anthology will give preference to the most recent file. The best way to fix this is to install the playset following the instructions above. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: Will this workset conflict with other sets? Yes, there will likely be conflict. That is why it is best to use this set with no other sets. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: How does one play Fighters Anthology without the disk? There are two options: 1. (Highly Recommended) Mount the Fighters Anthology .ISO (Blue Disk). Links to the .ISOs for Fighters Anthology can be found on the USNRaptor FA install website. 2. There is an add-on program called FA_No_Cd.zip which can be found at the Fighters Anthology Resource Center in the Other Files section. I do not use this set-up, but others do. If you use this option with the Playset and have frequent crashes, then try Option 1. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: Where are the usnraptor campaigns and missions? These are available in a file called 'Campaigns v4_1.ZIP' which is inside 'usnraptor playset v4_1.ZIP'. Keep in mind Fighters Anthology has a total file limit. Therefore, I recommend players add only one campaign at a time. When done playing those campaigns, just delete those specific files and upload other campaigns. The campaign missions and mission briefings all begin with a tilda ( ~ ). Example: ~B01.M ~B01.MT ~B02.M ~B02.MT etc... Delete those files specific to the campaign when done playing that campaign. If adding a campaign causes the game to crash on start, then remove the single missions (not campaign missions) and try again. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: I wish to hear Firefly music during the Janes Logo. How do I do that? Easy, in the playset choose the file JANELOGO.11K and install it into your Fighters Anthology folder (same location and the .LIB files). ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: I wish to hear Sega Afterburner music. How do I do that? Easy, in the playset is Afterburner.zip. Unzip all the files into your Fighters Anthology folder (same location and the .LIB files). ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: What is in the Flt_Demo.zip? This is the Flight Demonstration Teams add-on. Named Flt_Demo.zip, these files are not needed for normal Playset function. It includes aircraft from the USN Blue Angels and USAF Thunderbirds (both past and present), as well as the RAF Red Arrows. There is a smokepod (though it is "buggy" and causes CTD) and an airshow mission. I did not create the original shapes or textures (most were created by P'Mok), but did add the damage textures. The .zip file includes both the FA_7.LIB and the Individual Files. Follow the same instructions as with the regular Playset; either install the .lib OR the individual files, but not both. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: MER, TER, 3-Pack, 6-Pack? Sometimes, no mention of packs at all. What is all of this? What is the difference? If it is labeled with 'Pack', it will deploy all the ordnance at once, all together. If it is labeled as anything other than 'Pack', it will deploy one item of ordnance at a time. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: Wow, you have a lot of material. Did you do all of this yourself? No. This set is a combination of material I created and material created by many of the contributors to Fighters Anthology over more than 20 years of service. Some of the contributors include: CAG Hotshot, Centurian, Diabolico, eBurger, Fetch, Hawke, Kaptor, P'Mok, Vark111, Zephyr, and others. Lastly, a very special THANK YOU to David C. Maschino of DuoSoft, the creator of the Fighters Anthology Toolkit. Without you, this blessing of a game would have been relegated to the dust collector bin. ---------------------------------------------------------- =================== Troubleshooting FAQ =================== Q: I was being lazy and installed the Playset without reading and following the directions carefully. Does this mean the Playset is built poorly? This is a military pilot simulation game. One of the highly valued traits of a military pilot is the person's ability to Pay Attention to Detail and Follow Directions. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: My game sometimes crashes when I select Single Mission. When I restart the game, it crashes again. How can I fix this? Restart the computer and try again. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: My game sometimes crashes when I select Quick Mission. How can I fix this? When this happens, try these steps: 1. Restart the game and try again. 2. Restart the computer and try again. 3. If steps 1 and 2 didn't work, then go into your Fighters Anthology folder and delete the file: Quick.M. Restart your computer and try again. Because of changes to some maps, some Quick Missions will crash the game or just play improperly. Another cause has to do with the size of the Playset and the distribution of computer memory. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: My game crashes when I select a certain mission, saying that a certain item is missing. How can I fix this? 1. Restart the game and try again. 2. Restart the computer and try again. 3. If steps 1 and 2 didn't work, then send me a polite e-mail describing which mission and what item is missing. This offer only applies if you are using the Playset and the mission is either a Playset mission (single and/or campaign) OR a default Fighters Anthology mission (does not apply to Quick Missions). ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: My game sometimes crashes when I'm in the middle of flying a mission. What is going on and how can I fix this? Sometimes the game just crashes during a mission. Yes, it can be frustrating. Restart the game and try again. If it crashes again, then Restart the computer and try again. Sometimes it is a memory issue somewhere inside the Tron world of the computer. IF it is a particular mission doing it constantly, let me know which mission. Sometimes the fix for a particular mission is to remove or relocate some of the items within the mission. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: When playing single or quick missions, fuel tanks and jammers are missing from the weapon selection. Why are these not available? Fighters Anthology has a limit on the number of weapons which appear in the weapon selection menu. Since the number of weapons available in the Playset has surpassed this limit, certain items begin to disappear from selection. The first items to go are jammers and fuel tanks. Fortunately, most single missions do not require fuel tanks and jammers. However, fuel tanks and jammers are available in the campaigns (when applicable). Option: for those who use the Individual File System (as opposed to .Libs), you can go into your Fighters Anthology folder and move various weapons, files that use .JT, to a separate folder to store temporarily. When enough weapons have been removed, the fuel tanks and jammers should reappear. Example: if you plan to only play pre-1999 missions, you can select all the JDAM weapons and move them to the temporary folder. ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: You mentioned moving .JT weapon files. How do I know which file applies to which weapon? You can use Notepad (or similar text reading program) to read inside the file. Scroll to the bottom of the text and you'll find the weapon identification. This also applies to .ECM , .GAS , .NT (Vehicles), .OT (Scenery), and .PT (Aircraft). Others files able to be opened by Notepad include .M (Missions), .MT (Mission Briefings), .MM (Maps), .PTS (Aircraft/Icon Assignment), and .SEE (Seeker/Sensor). ---------------------------------------------------------- Q: Sometimes when playing a campaign, a mission will not allow me to select an aircraft. What's going on? There are two answers to this. 1. Some missions do not allow the player to select a plane on purpose. This is especially the case for the first 39 missions of Rolling Thunder. 2. During campaigns which allow players to select aircraft, sometimes the computer 'forgets' (for lack of a better term) to allow selection. This usually happens when after the player plays one mission which purposely denied selection of a plane for a mission, and now the player is on a new mission which is supposed to allow selection. IF you suspect the game is 'forgetting', then exit Fighters Anthology, re-enter and resume the campaign. You can always open the .M file (i.e. ~E01.M) (using a text program such as Notepad) of the mission and look at the 4th line for the phrase "selectplane". If that phrase is there, then the game is supposed to allow the player to select a plane. ---------------------------------------------------------- For questions, comments, or to report defects, feel free to contact me at ocsdor@yahoo.com or usnraptor at the Fighters Anthology Discord, the Fighters Anthology Resource Center Forum, and/or the VNFA Wing Forum.