Wings Over Europe

May or may not run on your modern computer. In my case it crashes every time I try to enter flight. Bring the new ones here Third wire. What gives?

The game is so old that it doesn't run on my computer.

It pains me to say this, but this version in unplayable.

That's not to say that the game is bad - I used to play this on Windows XP with a Hotas and TrackIR, and it was magic. It was a great flight sim - not too hard, and very fun. Third Wire Productions made a whole series of these Wings Over titles. My favorite was Wings over Vietnam.

This version... it doesn't really run smoothly on a modern machine - even at very modest graphics settings the view is choppy, and the the game crashes when you try to exit a flight. Despite the fact that I'm using an RTX 3070, which is light years ahead of what this title ran natively on.

A real shame because the game itself was pretty great when it came out 18 years ago.

author wrote:

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The Steam version has a lot of bugs, it nearly doesn't work on Windows 10 system. I don't know if this is a non-official one or not. So I have purchased the latest official versions of WOE, WOV and WOI from their Third Wire web site. They are running perfectly on my computer!

Pros:
+You can select many planes and weapons.

+You can shoot down two or three bandits at once if they are too close to each other.

+Random campaign missions. The length of campaign is depending on tank numbers of both sides.

+Very real aircraft cockpit instruments. However, the manual only gives examples of three aircraft cockpits.

+Recon mission can be finished immediately if you switch to No.6 waypoint.

+The design of unit AI is very flexible. Sometimes, a B-57 or IL-28 light bomber will chase an enemy fighter before or after it finished the bombing mission.

Cons:
-The button of engine fire suppression system is just a decoration.
-The wheels of Hawker Hunter's landing gear is locked in the easy mode.
-Enemy airbase Erfurt is completely invincible. It means every mission about this airbase will be failed.

Tips:
1. If you shoot down the leader of a squadron before he can give attack order to wingman, then his wingman will not attack any enemy. For a large squadron (e.g. eight bandits), odd number bandits are leaders.

2. In the easy mode, AIM-7 can be used to lock and attack ground targets except buildings, AGM-65 can be used to shoot down bandits from behind as a long-range and powerful AIM-9B.

3. Throw a chaff can break enemy SAM radar's lock.

Needs the 2008 patch and a file called "patch_tesskyrim_antifreeze_v0096" from the ENB site to work on win10
Haven't played much, but it plays basically like another game of the series that I played long ago, so I can say that it's very fun and rather easy to get into. Perfectly playable on keyboard on default difficulty. Fun sim-lite experience. For 9zł on sale, there is no reason for me to give it a bad review.

Old game but still great to play. Actually a fairly decent combat sim (despite being intended as a 'Lite' sim). Perfect for machines that can't run the likes of DCS World. Lots of aircraft and weapon add-ons available. Like any sim, takes time to master.

This game is almost like playing wings over Viet Nam, everything is easy to set your stick up

As far as I know, you're better off buying this directly from the developer than from Steam. But if you do get it here, on a sale or something, you'll get a great game, just in the right spot between arcade and flight simulator. The game runs Ok in Linux via Proton.

Do get the latest patch from the developer, for some reason the patch is not on Steam. Also try some of the mods, maps, planes and addons from combatace or similar websites, there's tons of planes compatible with WoE, from WWII to modern planes.

A flight combat simulator that posits conditions if the Cold War had gone hot. I.e. World War III. If wanting a quick flight, you can set up (depending on chosen aircraft) a scenario anywhere from 1956 to 1985. Does not have every combat platform (notably naval units are not there, nor the F-16). There are also three campaigns that take place in 1962, 1969, and 1979.

Controls take getting used to. Graphics are also dated. Still fun enough to try.

Unsupported abandonware. This shouldn't be sold on Steam.
It crashes on modern computers and people claim the latest patch will help (why isn't the latest version on Steam?).
But the link on the developers site is dead at the time of this review:
http://download.thirdwire.net/files/dl/WOE_Update_Oct2008b.exe

With some sort of deja vu from a well known series of flight combat simulators games, the first experience with this game was bad, with low frame rates and crashes in Win10/64bit .
A patch solved the situation and the game becomes playable. You can get it at the developer's web site.
I enjoy it now. so sad the developer do not sell more games in steam.
Remember to install the patch or you will be dissapointed.

Game is hardly playable barely achieving 5fps. Tried installing all those available patches and tricks with no success. You're better off buying Strike Fighters 2 from Thirdwire's offical site:

https://store.thirdwire.com/store_p1.htm

Same game but optimise for PCs running Windows 7 and newer.

It's a great game but i wouldnt recommend you to buy this ON STEAM. You have to patch it, start it from the original .exe file, its all trouble, and Steam is shipping the broken version for 9,99. Such a fraud.

WOULD BUY AGAIN! AND APARRENTLY I DID...So I had bought this expansion long ago and did not realize it. Saw it on Steam thought it was something new from thirdwire, hit add to cart. Not gonna ask for a refund. Why you may ask...

Strikefighters has always been one of the best "Fun to fly" non arcade, non simulator games ever developed. Sad thing is, none of the rest of the series is available on steam. And I have them all including SF2, and all of it's variants and expansions.

What tops this series over SF2? This entry in the Strikefighters series is from the time when hundreds of mods were available for this game. Yes, hundreds of mods, and if you search thoroughly these mods are still available. From aircraft (some heli's can be found out there), to map packs to, complete missions and campaigns. In comparison to SF2 everything in SF2 is now DLC. Mods also worked online so long as the people you were playing with had the same mods. Much like Torchlight. You can also find the map & weapon editors from Strikefighters Project 1 and it works with all non SF2 variants, E.G.: SF: Project 1, SF: Wings Over Europe, SF: Wings Over Vietnam & SF: Isreal 6 Day War. Each aircraft and vehicle in SF has it's own flight/combat characteristics/weapon loadout limitations. So far I have accumulated 5.64gb's of mods with an average of 4mb per aircraft/vehicle & 20mb per complete campaigns & maps.

As another reviewer had also mentioned, yes sadly you have to get the updates from the developer site. And another reviewer mentioning to run the executable rather than the steamn link. SF was noted to have issues with newer OS's past XP, but with the needed patch it has cleared up seemingly all those issues. But once you get it to run perfectly, you will find yourself wasting plenty of flight hours destroying all you can see. I still hold this game #1 over all the newer flight games that are not complete sims.

Would not buy again...again...since I already have bought it again 10/10

Its beyond broken. Menu bleed, no controls assigned at startup, and when you try, it crashes. Going into game flies for 5 minutes and crashes. esc crashes. back button crashes. changing video settings crashes.

Its just borked.

Steam really needs to increase their quality standards.

PATCH IS ON DEVELOPER WEBSITE!! They do not get any money from this :(

AFTER PATCHIGN START FROM THE EXE NOT WITH THE STEAM CLIENT!!!!! Important or it will crash...

One of the best sims out there. It is not the most accurate in weapon management or flight model, but the gameplay is über. More than that, the game is totally moddable, you can basically play any combat plane of the last 70 years in any mission, especially if you combine the games together. You can fly any kind of mission under any nation, under any scenery. Just use the modpacks that are freely available!!

It is a very good entry to the series, because of the price and the huge number of mods that already available. The second series is the more up-to-date one though, but that is more expensive. That contains some optimizations, new features and better modding capabalities(mostly). But Wings over Europe is a very good start. A good set of basic planes, various missions, and let me repeat myself a tons of mods.

At this moment I can intercept Bears over the Bering Strait with my Canadian Arrow, or bomb the hell out out California with my Su-17, or wipe the floor with Lybia flying in a Panavia Tornado, with this very same game. So get it, and get to the developer website and get the series!!!!

However this version is not the official one, this is an outdated version which is owned by Strategy First. The developer has a series of fighters which can be combined together for maximum fun.

Don't bother with this.

I have Windows 8.1 and have added the 08 patch and it still CTDs when trying to exit a mission. I have been a Thirdwire Sim user since Strike Fighters Project 1 and had WOE working perfectly on Vista. I have alot of work involved installing Mods that also worked perfectly on Vista. I won't buy the new version from the Thirdwire Website because its nothing but a money grab. All the old versions needed was a compatability patch, but instead Thirdwire released versions for newer OS at $30 a piece with very little done to change the old games. A few minor tweaks is the only difference, its still basicly the same game. Also Aircraft that were included in the old versions are now sold seperately, just a way to milk a few more dollars from their fanbase.

Thirdwire also says they make no money from the steam version since Steam purchased it from another rights holder. What they won't tell you is they already got paid when they sold the rights in the first place. I was in the community and i know this game inside and out as far as editing and modding. I had alot of fun with these games in the beginning, but now with the cash grab and the fact that you must buy the new version if you want to use a new OS i am just left disgusted and will not give Thirdwire another dime.

Whos to say they won't pull the same crap again when a new OS comes out? All these games need is a patch to the exe for compatability which only the developer can do, its beyond what modders have done so far, but instead of a patch you have to buy a whole new game and to be honest $30+ the DLCs to bring it back to the original game is overpriced and just not worth it.

EDIT: Ok, I can't claim this will work for everyone, i am not even sure it will continue working for me but i have completed two missions without a CTD by setting the Exe to Windows XP (Service Pack 2) in the compatability tab when you right click on it and select Properties. Like i said, i have alot of work involved in customizing this sim so its hard for me to just give up on it. Hopefully this will help someone, but it would still be better if Thirdwire would just patch it so we don't have to edit the FLIGHTENGINE.INI and mess with compatability modes.

Update: If you do decide to get this after reading this review, you can download a patch that will fix many things in this still great sim. Download it here: https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=http://download.thirdwire.net/files/dl/WOE_Update_Oct2008b.exe

Something more is that there is some pretty awesome third party addon content for this simulation that is faithful to sim itself and the flight eras it offers. Check the great site: http://www.column5.us in the campaign section for a series of four addons that will improve your experience of this great sim.

As a flight sim hobbyist but not a dedicated, I've had a long history with flight sims such as Chuck Yeager's Flight Trainer and Air Combat Sim, MS Flight Simulator (from the very early days). Aces Over Europe and Red Baron (both Dynamix) and Knights Of The Sky (Microprose) who included greats like Billy Bishop (a Canadian Ace from WWI) and Ike Immelman (a tactical aviation innovator whom has a manoeuvre with his namesake). Spectrum Holobyte's Falcon 3.0 which utilized the new advancement of the FPU unit of the Intel 386 to offer real military quality flight simulation (apparently Spectrum Holobyte adapted their actual military flight simulator technology for use in the game).

One of my favourite flight sims was F117 Stealth Fighter by Microprose on the basis of its customizable mission dynamics and flight strategy with stealth technology, you were guaranteed replayability. Which is what brings me to Wings Over Europe.

Wings Over Europe has all of the elements of the classic flight simulator games offered by Microprose and one of my heroes of Microprose, "Wild" Bill Cody who was like a the Tom Clancy of flight simulation in his day. It has all of these elements without overdoing it and keeping it simple enough for the newcomer to flight simulation to accomplish and advance.

Most of the missions take place during the Cold War, so you won't be flying any stealth fighters such as the YF-22 or F-35. You will however get a fun and unmatched flight experience of the cold war era and a lesson in the advance of jet and missile technology during the era. Missions are tense though sometimes you might not have an encounter during a mission in campaign mode if you are careful enough. This is what brings the realism to it. The enemy AI is great and they communicate, so once you're spotted, that's it. They're firing AAA or SAMs and scrambling their hardware to dispatch you.

I'm running Windows 7 (32-bit) and though I've found that it runs great, it tends to drop out of the game after missions but still retains your progress. I've run the same game on Windows Vista (several years ago) and played it through time and again without problem so I suspect that what I'm experiencing is a UAC problem (maybe running under admin will work).

You don't need a flight stick to fly the flight sim as the keyboard controls are good, but a flight stick would definately be a big advantage.

One of the greatest features is that the entire battlefield feels like it a living and breathing conflict and the enemy and allies are on standby all of the time. There are ground units whose eyes and ears can result in you being spotted resulting in a nearby airfield dispatching its own air CAP to deal with you.

Likewise you might fly missions where you are quickly scrambled while enemy squadrons attack your airfield.

All in all a very enjoyable experience despite the fact that it is an older title. The graphic and gameplay hold up for certain. Just try all of the different camera views and you'll see what I mean...

Highly recommended for any avid flight sim fan especially those of Microprose flight sims, and those who are new to flight simulation who want something that is scalable as they learn more about the controls and aircraft. Don't get me wrong, this has some advanced features like targeting different targeting (supporting A2A, A2G, A2R and Guns) and radar modes and ECM and a Radar Jammer (Electronic Counter Measures) as well.

This is the flight sim for fans of classic sims and those looking to get into sims.

If you want to get pumped about this and games like this, watch the movie The Right Stuff.

Brian Joseph Johns

This flight sim is some of the most fun I have had in a long time. It feels a lot like the old, defunct sims Janes would put out back in the 1990s. Not exactly as hard-core 'study sim' as the more pricey DCS modules (such as A-10C), but also not nearly as arcadey as Ace Combat and HAWX. The mix of aircraft included stock is pretty good, especially if you are a fan of the F-4 Phantom II or the original Harrier designs. But, there is also a HUGE mod scene with all kinds of aircraft you can add into the game, including the A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair, F-14 Tomcat, MORE versions of the F-4, and the A-4.

If it wasn't obvious, this game isn't meant to be 'modern', but based on hypothetical scenarios that could have occured from the 1960s to 1980s between the Soviet Union and NATO. There is a single mission generator based on many mission types, including escort, fighter sweep, recon, strike, close air support, anti-ship, and scramble. Going into the settings menu, you can decide if you will start on the runway for a full-on mission, or about 15 miles from the target for some quick action. My one complaint, is there really isn't a mission builder as to be expected in simulations like this included. It is randomized based on the variables you customize. But, that is easily forgivable. BE SURE that you download the latest patch from Third Wire, as that will drastically improve stability on modern operating systems.

While it features a decent selection of classic jets, fun combat, and easy to pick up sim characteristics, I cannot recommend Wings over Europe for the simple fact that it's a poorly optimized mess and offers nothing over the Strike Fighters 2 series. It's not bad, it's just obselete.

To be clear: Third Wire does not see a penny of the money from this product.

For the asking price during a sale, this is an exellent purchase. The game has dept and an amazing modding community that provides aircraft, campaigns and the like.

However, the sequels is far superior. You can buy them off the Developers website here:
http://www.thirdwire.com/

Flying is pretty fun. It is more arcadish than sim. So if you like planes and just want to mess around you will enjoy this game.

You have to maually patch this game to not have any crashes for windows 7 and probably 8 too.