DID has a history with head tracking. In 1995, EF2000 supported the VFX1 Headgear[en.wikipedia.org]. Three years later, Total Air War shipped with Union Reality head tracker support. Unfortunately, it supported only two degrees of freedom: Yaw and pitch. You couldn’t roll your head, or at least the game wouldn’t take notice.

F-22: Air Dominance Fighter did not ship with head tracking support at all. But this is about to change!

Our Steam release features head tracking with six degrees of freedom. Not only can you roll your head, you can also move through the cockpit!

F-22: Air Dominance Fighter uses the TrackIR application programming interface (API) to receive data from a head tracker. This does not limit you to TrackIR though – alternatives like OpenTrack allow you to use your webcam or smartphone as head tracker. ADF is agnostic to the software you use, as long as it talks through the TrackIR API.

Use your head tracker’s app to enable or disable head tracking for ADF. If a head tracker is running, ADF will pick it up automatically – no need to tick anything in the options.

While a head tracker is active, ADF will display a little note HT in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This can be helpful in troubleshooting.

There are no current plans to support VR. Virtual reality goes far beyond head tracking: Stereoscopic vision, interactive cockpit, and integrated menus.

Even though the tech in this release is far more modern than in 1997, some peculiarities of ADF’s rendering make stereoscopic rendering hard. In particular, the world is not really three-dimensional – all depth is a clever trick in arranging the polygons, and many things you perceive as being on the terrain are actually below it. And that’s also why EF2000 never had stereoscopic rendering.

Stay tuned for our next installment and be sure to wishlist ADF!

We are often asked: “What exactly has changed?” and “Will ADF support feature XYZ?”

Here we’d like to give you an overview about the current changes with respect to the 1997 release. Hopefully, this can answer some questions.

Please note: This list may or may not change until release!

• added native widescreen HD support with fixes for HUD

  • 3840 x 2160 UltraHD

  • 2560 × 1440 QuadHD

  • 1920 × 1080 FullHD

  • 1280 × 720 HD ready

• native Direct3D 9 graphics; fixed all screen capture problems

• 3× viewing range compared to original

• added support for 60/120 Hz rendering

• added TrueType font support

• added DPI awareness

• fixed Alt+Tab issues

• fixed crash with SmartView

• fixed crash with rendering order

• fixed crashes with HUD text rendering

• fixed screen shaking when on ground during some missions (e.g. “Bill’s Limo”)

• fixed color seams a.k.a. blue borders around cities and airfields with some graphics drivers

• fixed IRST/LANTIRN interfering with lens flare

• fixed demo mode resolution

• removed Software and Glide graphics modes

• added Head Tracking with six degrees of freedom (TrackIR protocol, compatible with e.g. OpenTrack)

• added mouse look

• added Steam achievements

• added Steam Cloud for medals, personal progress, and mission progress

• added left Shift key support when controlling LANTIRN

• added several wingman radio transmissions (“He’s on my six!”, “Locked on target!”, “Good kill!”, “Oh yeah!”, “Chew this!”)

• added “Mayday” radio transmission when allies are critically hit

• moved SmartView to 0 key (making room on F12 for screenshots)

• improved AI BVR missile evasion

• improved roll response with keyboard controls

• improved Esc key to apply to

  • radio menu

  • jettison menu

  • EMCON menu

  • MFD view

  • SmartView

  • mission quit screen

• fixed game speed on modern CPUs

• fixed crash when flying some other planes than F-22

• fixed crash with neutral planes in AWACS mode

• fixed crash when destroying airfield lights

• fixed crash when AWACS was shot down during long radio transmission

• fixed crash with in-game briefings and destroyed ground targets

• fixed crash with LANTIRN and air targets

• fixed crash in in-game briefing during failed missions

• fixed navigation lights at mission start

• fixed warning light on SAM lock

• fixed hang when cycling targets after destroying a plane

• fixed AMRAAM/R-27 ignition delay

• fixed autopilot not releasing wheel brakes

• fixed sluggish ATC in crowded missions (takeoff clearance should come drastically faster)

• fixed random explosions when flying some other planes than F-22

• fixed refuel basket positions on Rafale, Harrier, Mirage

• fixed various typos in call signs, messages, briefings, GUI

• fixed ground target positions for AI flights

• fixed MFD target box colors

• fixed HUD pitch ladder rolling

• fixed HARM IRST lock-on

• fixed wrong fire damage warning

• fixed EMCON 0 under some circumstances

• fixed cluster bomb accuracy in debriefing

• fixed keys 7, 8, 9, 0 opening new radio menus

• removed screen shaking with wheel brakes

• removed unused drone buttons from defense MFD

• GUI is now windowed

• added HD GUI mode (on monitors with at least 1280 vertical pixels)

• added key hints for autopilot, autorecovery, and wide-angle view

• fixed GUI often hanging when starting the game

• fixed camera speed in ACMI and target view

• fixed AWACS mode speed

• fixed mission objectives in briefing

• fixed plane types in in-game briefing

• fixed scroll bars in briefings, debriefings, mission lists, chat, event lists

• fixed MIDI music

• fixed several music-related crashes

• fixed game muting in Windows volume mixer

• fixed music volume slider

• fixed radio chatter without legacy codec

• added Steam Workshop support (one-click mod install)

• improved mod support: Use -mod=$PATH command-line flag to add a mod

• removed modem/serial connection support (DirectPlay over IPv4 still supported)

• removed unused/legacy options

We hope that clears things up a bit! The next devlog will take a closer look at some of the new features.