The Flanker 2.51 patch requires the Flanker V2.5 Upgrade that is available as a free download from www.flanker2.com.  YOU MUST INSTALL THE V2.5 UPGRADE ACCORDING TO THE INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED WITH THE V2.5 DOWNLOAD.  Failure to properly install V2.5 will cause problems running the program.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS 

Unpack the archive to the Flanker 2.0 directory using the directory structure contained in the ZIP file. It is important that you use the proper directory structure or the program will not function.  

DIRECTX 8 IS REQUIRED

IMPORTANT:   DirectX 8 is also required for V2.51.

Flanker 2.51 accesses joystick data via DirectX 8. Joy2Key configuration works with "slider-oriented" throttles.  Z-axis means Slider 0 in Joy2Key dialogs which means that the throttle is Slider 0 now. Joy2Key features are updated.  Do not remove old joy2key.ini with buttons mapping and your other custom data! Joystick failure diagnostics in the Error.log is now expanded. New joystick drivers have been upgraded.  Reinstallation and reconfiguration after Windows or DirectX upgrade are highly recommended. Separate Microsoft DirectX 8 Joystick.exe utility has been included with this patch.  This program helps to test joystick functionality with DirectX 8 without having to run Flanker.  

V2.51 FIXES & CHANGES:


* Gun pipper and funnel are now at V2.03a standards.

* Mini-HUD displays target data now.

* Speed, altitude and bank data are displayed in SETKA mode. (Key command "8")

* Multiplayer track recording is now fixed.

* Multiplayer games are more stable.

* Graphics problems with the Kuznetzov aircraft carrier textures have been fixed.

* MiG-29K ailerons now exhibit correct motion when viewed externally.

* Mig-29K is more stable.

* Some of the Mig-29 level of detail (LOD) problems have been corrected.

* MiG-29 External fuel tanks consume fuel first and fuel indicator does not show any main fuel consumption until the external tanks are empty.

* Landing touch down sound has been restored.

* Movement after belly landings is now restricted. 

* Murena to Neustrashimy graphics problem has been fixed.

* "Press 'S' to Start" message is now properly formatted in English.

* Old tracks may be incompatible with new objects behavior.  

* Different game controllers supported via DirectX 8 (joysticks, wheels, throttles, game pads, pedals etc.).

* DirectX 8 installation is incumbent now.   You MUST use DirectX 8.

* F-15 drop tanks are now oriented properly.

* The air objects padlock in the NAV mode. 

* Ground explosion bug while recording a track file is fixed. 

* Plane cannon will now fire up to 25 shells for each button pressing. When button is released the shell counter is reset.

* MER dropping bombs transformation is fixed.

* AI planes will no longer launch A2A missile at enemy contacts that are in the rear quadrants.

* Static mission objects are now visible on the MFD to correspond to settings in the Mission Editor as functional objects.

* Ship direct visibility bug is fixed.

* Kh-25MP and Kh-25ML missiles behavior has been fixed.

* With Standard Windows Interface option:

	* Wingmen command selection with a mouse is corrected.

	* Keyboard wingmen commands selection keys (A, B, C...) no longer transmit to the flyable aircraft.

	* Wingmen replies are displayed in message boxes.

* Su-33 vs. AI Su-33 and MiG-29K vs. AI MiG-29K destruction crashes have been fixed.

* The incorrect Su-25 front wheel motion has been corrected.

* Kh-25** missiles launched from flyable aircraft has been corrected.

* Contrail appearance altitude interval is now set to 8-12 km.

* Missiles with active radar check "friend/enemy" when changing targets.

* DirectShow player replaces the obsolete Bink intro player. New Intro.avi and Flanker.avi files will be available in several weeks from the SSI FTP site.  These AVI files will replace the Intro.bik and Flanker.bik files in the Intro subfolder.    In the meantime, no intro videos will appear when using V2.51.  We apologize, but we felt that this was not something worth holding up the release of the V2.51 patch.


At present, the Training Missions do not work properly with V2.51.  If you need to run the Training Missions, please do so with V2.5.   Our apologies but reformatting the training missions for V2.51 is going to take longer and we did not want to hold up the release of V2.51 because of the training missions.  

SPECIAL THANKS

Thanks to all the Flanker pilots at www.flanker2.com who helped us test the V2.51 Patch Betas these past few months.  We appreciate your time and efforts.  

