TFX (computer game)
Encyclopedia
TFX was one of the precursor combat flight simulator
s that helped to define the standards of modern combat flight simulators, together with Tornado
, F14 Fleet Defender and the Falcon series.
TFX was programmed by the British company Digital Image Design
and published by Ocean Software
in 1993.
At the time, TFX graphics and realism with all options on (most players missed the realism settings in the SETUP menu) were far superior to any other home computer simulator of the time and most made even years ago, so much that it brought the attention of British and Australian military, and eventually DID become involved in military projects such as the TIALD laser designator trainer.
Even though its graphics and realism were acclaimed, the player was alone in most missions, maybe because most of the players had only 386 computers at the time, and having 3 or more planes at full realism/quality being simulated in an 386 or Amiga would make the game run very slow, at around 2 frames per second. For demonstration purposes in ECTS
September 1993, a 486 DX4 100 MHz was used.
Ideally it is desired to run this combat flight simulation on a 80486 based PC @ 66 MHz or higher with an SVGA PCI graphics card to obtain good video graphic frame rates. The simulation runs rather nicely in DOS
mode on an Intel Pentium
microprocessor based PC.
The possible modes of play included an instant-action arcade mode, custom missions or the campaign (Tour of Duty).
The campaign mode sees you taking the role of a pilot flying for the fictional, United Nations
Air Force flying missions in one of five theatres (Colombia, Somalia, Libya, the Balkans and also the South Georgia Islands). The tour of duty was designed to offer a "soap opera" approach, where actions from the players would affect the world and following missions, as well as reaction in the front page of journals according to what the player did. The Eurofighter finally flew for the United Nations
for real in March 2011 as part of the UN no-fly zone enforcement in Libya.
The interactive parts of the game were reduced to still images or omitted altogether for the Amiga version, which although never officially released by Ocean, was later included as a give away game on a CU Amiga Magazine cover disc. There was also an experimental port produced for the PSX shortly after its release. The Soap Opera Engine was manually programmed in TFX, but would be altered to become automated in future games.
Combat flight simulator
Combat flight simulators are video games used to simulate military aircraft and their operations...
s that helped to define the standards of modern combat flight simulators, together with Tornado
Tornado (video game)
Tornado is a combat flight simulator computer game by Digital Integration modeling the Panavia Tornado and released in 1993 for DOS and Amiga....
, F14 Fleet Defender and the Falcon series.
TFX was programmed by the British company Digital Image Design
Digital Image Design
Digital Image Design was a British video game developer founded by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp in 1989 and was originally based in Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The company had employed around eighty developers who specialized in areas of software and simulation...
and published by Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
in 1993.
At the time, TFX graphics and realism with all options on (most players missed the realism settings in the SETUP menu) were far superior to any other home computer simulator of the time and most made even years ago, so much that it brought the attention of British and Australian military, and eventually DID become involved in military projects such as the TIALD laser designator trainer.
Even though its graphics and realism were acclaimed, the player was alone in most missions, maybe because most of the players had only 386 computers at the time, and having 3 or more planes at full realism/quality being simulated in an 386 or Amiga would make the game run very slow, at around 2 frames per second. For demonstration purposes in ECTS
European Computer Trade Show
The European Computer Trade Show, commonly known as ECTS, was an annual trade show for the European computer and video game industry, which first ran in 1988, with the last event occurring in 2004....
September 1993, a 486 DX4 100 MHz was used.
Ideally it is desired to run this combat flight simulation on a 80486 based PC @ 66 MHz or higher with an SVGA PCI graphics card to obtain good video graphic frame rates. The simulation runs rather nicely in DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
mode on an Intel Pentium
Pentium
The original Pentium microprocessor was introduced on March 22, 1993. Its microarchitecture, deemed P5, was Intel's fifth-generation and first superscalar x86 microarchitecture. As a direct extension of the 80486 architecture, it included dual integer pipelines, a faster FPU, wider data bus,...
microprocessor based PC.
Gameplay
The pilot could fly 3 planes: The Eurofighter, the F-22 and the F-117. The payload for each plane could be fine-tuned by the player according to mission type.The possible modes of play included an instant-action arcade mode, custom missions or the campaign (Tour of Duty).
The campaign mode sees you taking the role of a pilot flying for the fictional, United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Air Force flying missions in one of five theatres (Colombia, Somalia, Libya, the Balkans and also the South Georgia Islands). The tour of duty was designed to offer a "soap opera" approach, where actions from the players would affect the world and following missions, as well as reaction in the front page of journals according to what the player did. The Eurofighter finally flew for the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
for real in March 2011 as part of the UN no-fly zone enforcement in Libya.
The interactive parts of the game were reduced to still images or omitted altogether for the Amiga version, which although never officially released by Ocean, was later included as a give away game on a CU Amiga Magazine cover disc. There was also an experimental port produced for the PSX shortly after its release. The Soap Opera Engine was manually programmed in TFX, but would be altered to become automated in future games.