Falcon 4.0 System Requirements

1998

My first test rig for Falcon 4.0 was Pentium 233MMX.

Using the settings on page 16-10 of the manual gave a very smooth performance. I decreased the Terrain detail a couple of notches to eliminate a very slight stuttering. Most of the screenshots in this article were taken at these settings.

From accounts in the Newsgroups a Pentium 200 is probably the minimum spec you will need to enjoy good frame rates and the manual refers to a Pentium 166, but with all the graphics set at minimum.

2001

In the 3 years since Falcon 4.0 was released CPU's have sped up about 4 times - nearing the 2 giga-Herz mark now and graphics technology has seen the demise of 3DFX Voodoo, which was the hot gear in 1998. I ran Falcon 4.0on my Celeron-466with a Hercules GeForce 2 MX and was now able to max the graphics almost right out!

However the silky smooth ride didn't extend into the campaign where the burden of running the sim obviously shifts onto the CPU as it calculates the progress of the real time campaign while you fly about.