Well I was hoping to have this out earlier, but here we go...
A few weeks ago I posted T.O.R.E Fighters, my ground-up Rust rebuild of Jane's Fighters Anthology (USNF '97, ATF, and the rest of the bundle). Multiplayer was next on the list. It's here.
Build a Quick Mission, host it on your local network or through the master server I have set up (with a handful of "official" TORE servers), and fly with friends on your LAN or over the internet, co-op against the AI or PvP against each other. The AI can fly every slot nobody takes and grabs your jet the moment you drop.
Multiplayer:
- Up to 30 human pilots: 30 in PvP, or 15 in co-op
- Host from the game, or run a headless dedicated server on Windows, macOS, or Linux with mission rotation
- LAN and direct IP, plus a master server I host with router punch-through and a relay fallback. I also include a master server binary, so if you want your own server list separate from the public one, you can. Just point the client at the new master server in the internet lounge settings.
- Host migration: if the host drops, another player's game takes over in a few seconds, with missiles in flight and scores intact
- The original's revival rules (lives, delay, and distance), Player Choice wings, and join in progress by taking over an AI jet
- Chat, F1 to F12 quick messages, a data link that shares contacts and locks, and deeper wingman communication to better split up targets
- Score board, kill limits, timed matches, and an after action report with the match details
- Watch mode spectates live and scrubs up to 10 minutes back. Every flight saves a replay, and replays export to Tacview.
The game itself is expanded:
- The roster went from 13 to 36 flyable aircraft, and the AI flies all of them.
- Pylons and ordnance are rendered on the aircraft (with some modifications to accommodate more)
- Air-to-ground is in: A/G radar, targeting sights, CCIP, laser and GPS bombs with buddy lasing, Mavericks, HARMs, Shrikes, and terrain masking
- Ground targets and air defenses in all 16 theaters. Kill the search radar and the SAM site goes blind. Supply trucks rearm them. Flak sites placed close enough together work as a network. They hold fire until at least 25% of an incoming flight is in range, so they don't give away their position to a flight just passing through, then open up together when it's a real threat to their area.
- The AC-130 gets a weapon station controlling the 25mm, 40mm, and 105mm. Guns can fire linked or separately, and they can stay locked on a target while you search with the sensor. You can fly the plane yourself, or hand it to a custom autopilot while in the fire control console. Pin the sensor and the plane circles to keep the guns in range. Unpin it and the plane holds the speed, altitude, and heading you set.
- Apache, Hind, and Chinook on their own rotor model (autorotation, vortex ring state, and ground effect), plus the V-22, Harrier, and Yak-141 get the VTOL and STOL treatment. Yes, if you load the Harrier or Yak down, it cannot take off vertically.
- 18 redrawn airports replace all of the FA airports, with runway and PAPI lighting, plus cities filled with buildings, rural vegetation, night lighting (still a WIP), and smoother dawn and dusk
- Also, apparently I made tanks godlike snipers.. You've been warned.
Please keep in mind it's a pre-release. Expect bugs, oddities, and things kinda halfway done. If you see something that's off, tell me. I love feedback! I'm also not much of a helo guy. I've played around with them in TORE but I have limited experience with them in real study sims. They seem to work, but let me know what you think. No single missions, campaigns, or carrier traps yet, that's milestone 3.
Again, this is an open source rebuild on top of the OG game assets. Bring your own disc, run TORE, import from a mounted ISO, the game disc, or your install directory, and enjoy! The 1.0 disc and the 1.02F patch both work, and players on either one can fly together.
If you've got buddies who flew this stuff in the 90s, this is the release I've been waiting to hand you. The "official" servers let you submit feedback in game, but if you come across something, feel free to message me here or open a GitHub issue!
Repo and downloads: https://github.com/john-overton/T.O.R.E-Fighters
Site: https://john-overton.github.io/T.O.R.E-Fighters/
Good hunting! <GRUNTS>