Aces of the Pacific Enhanced — SDL3

An enhanced native port of Dynamix's Aces of the Pacific (1992), built on the faithful SDL3 port. Not an emulator. The original game files are not included.

Requires the CD-ROM version 1.2 of Aces of the Pacific (it includes WWII: 1946). The floppy releases (1.0, 1.01, 1.2 / Patch B and the 1946 expansion disk) don't run: they are separate builds of the game. The launcher and the game say which version a folder holds. A copy is at the Internet Archive: download AcesotP.zip and use the files of its AcesotP\DYNAMIX\AOTP folder.

Features

• Smooth 3D view at your display's refresh rate.
• High resolution (up to 2560 × 1600) with anti-aliasing; optional 16:9 widescreen.
• Three times the view distance, the finest aircraft and ship models at every distance.
• Distance haze, a smooth sky and a soft horizon.
• Held direction keys combine (Left + Down pulls through a turn).
• Separate flaps down and flaps up keys.
• A launcher with key bindings.

How to play (Windows)

1. Download acesofthepacific-enhanced-…-win64.zip from the releases and unzip it into a folder of its own, for example C:\Games\Aces of the Pacific Enhanced. Not under Program Files: the game saves its pilot roster, preferences and films there.

2. Get the game's files. If you have the CD, install the game from it: it installs to C:\DYNAMIX\AOTP, and that folder holds the files. Otherwise, from the Internet Archive:

   1. Download AcesotP.zip (35 MB) from the Internet Archive's page (under DOWNLOAD OPTIONS), or directly.
   2. Open AcesotP.zip and go into the folder AcesotP\DYNAMIX\AOTP. It holds INTRO.EXE, PS.EXE, AP.EXE, the .DYN files and the folders TAPES, mt32 and sb16. The zip's other folders (CD, with the disc image, and SIERRA) are not needed.

3. In the folder from step 1, make a folder named Game and copy everything that is inside AOTP into it: all its files and folders, not the AOTP folder itself. It should look like this:

   Aces of the Pacific Enhanced\
   ├── Game\                               <- the files from AOTP (INTRO.EXE, PS.EXE, AP.EXE, *.DYN, ...)
   ├── Aces of the Pacific Enhanced.exe    <- the launcher
   ├── aotp-enhanced.exe                   <- the game
   └── SDL3.dll and the other DLLs
   

4. Run Aces of the Pacific Enhanced.exe, choose your options and press Play (aotp-enhanced.exe also starts on its own with the defaults). If the launcher shows a warning, it says what is wrong with the Game folder; clicking the warning sign opens the Internet Archive's page.

• The folder must be writable (roster, preferences and films are saved in Game); not under Program Files.
• Alt+Enter: full screen.
• If Windows says "Windows protected your PC": More info, then Run anyway.
• Launcher settings: %APPDATA%\Aces of the Pacific Enhanced\settings.ini.

Requirements

• Game files: the installed DOS game (INTRO.EXE, PS.EXE, AP.EXE, COMMON1.DYN, SHELL1.DYN, SIM1.DYN, SIM2.DYN and the rest of the folder) of the CD-ROM version 1.2 (it includes WWII: 1946; the CD installs to C:\DYNAMIX\AOTP). The floppy releases (1.0, 1.01, 1.2 / Patch B, the 1946 expansion disk) are separate builds of the game and don't run; the launcher and the game say which one a folder holds.
• A multi-core CPU for the default picture; lower --res-scale or --aa on slow machines.
• To build: CMake 3.24+, C11, SDL 3; the launcher needs C++17 and wxWidgets 3.2.

Build

In Git Bash or an MSYS2 MinGW64 shell:

export PATH="/c/msys64/mingw64/bin:$PATH"
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++ -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

• -DAOTP_LAUNCHER=OFF builds the game only.
• The MSYS2 SDL3.dll also needs libiconv-2.dll from C:\msys64\mingw64\bin.

Run

./build/aotp-enhanced.exe --game-dir Game

Option	Meaning
--game-dir DIR	Game files folder (default Game)
--scale N	Window size, × 320×240 (default 3)
--aspect 4:3|1:1	4:3 as on a VGA monitor (default) or square pixels
--fullscreen	Start in full screen
--frame-ticks N	Game speed, timer ticks per simulator frame (default 16 = real time; 8 = the original on a fast PC)
--res-scale N	Resolution, × 320×200 (default 4, 1–8)
--aa N	Anti-aliasing, N×N samples (default 2, 1 = off)
--widescreen	16:9 picture
--view-dist N	View distance, × the original's (default 3, 1–8)
--no-lod-enh	Keep the original's model detail by distance
--no-haze-enh	No haze; banded sky and hard horizon as the original
--dots-range N	Ground dots out to N cells of 1024 units (default 12, 1–64; the original about 4)
--dots-alt N	Ground dots up to this altitude (default 8000, 0–30000; the original 4000)
--dots-size N	Ground dot size, % of an original pixel (default 100, 10–400)
--dots-full N	Ground dots have their full size from N units away, nearer ones are smaller (default 4096)
--dots-near N	The nearest ground dots' size, % of the full size (default 25)
--dots-scatter N	Ground dots moved off the grid by up to N % of half a cell (default 40, 0 = straight rows)
--dots-far N	Ground dots denser with the distance: spacing halved N times at the range's edge (default 2, 0–3)
--dots-fade N	Ground dots fade out from N % of the range to its edge (default 60, 100 = no fade)
--dots-speckle N	Beyond the range, out to the horizon, a faint speckle over N % of the ground (default 3, 0–40)
--dots-far-bright N	Far speckle and wave crests: N % of the dots' colour over the sea (default 60)
--dots-edge N	Beyond the full-size distance, ground dots shrink to N % of their size at the range's edge (default 35)
--dots-cover N	Crowded ground dots are skipped to cover at most N % of the ground (default 8, 1–50)
--dots-debug	Start with the terrain wireframes on: the ground dots' grid, range rings and horizon (Ctrl+Alt+G cycles off / hit boxes / terrain)
--no-dots-enh	Ground dots as the original's pixels, at the simulator's frame rate
--keys NAME=CODE,...	Changed keys (written by the launcher's Key bindings)
--classic	The original picture and behaviour
--check	Check that the three programs load, then exit

To run without sound set SDL_AUDIO_DRIVER=dummy (the launcher's Sound box does this).

Controls

As in the original (see its manual), except:

• F lowers the flaps a step, Shift+F raises them.
• Held direction keys combine.
• Game settings > Key bindings in the launcher changes the keys.
• A gamepad acts as the joystick. Alt+Enter: full screen.

Known limitations

• Explosions, smoke, clouds, the sun, moon and stars are the original's pixels, scaled.
• The INTRO and the shell's aircraft viewer are scaled, not re-rendered.
• The launcher has no controls for the picture options other than the ground dots yet (use the command line).
• MT-32, Tandy, PS/1 and PC speaker sound play as AdLib.

Layout

• src/ — the game (ENGINE.md; changes marked ENH:).
• src/enhanced/ — the enhanced view and the key bindings (ENHANCED.md).
• launcher/ — the launcher (launcher/README.md).
• third_party/nuked-opl3/ — the OPL emulator.

License

MIT (LICENSE). Nuked-OPL3 is LGPL 2.1+. The release's DLLs and their licences: licenses/THIRD-PARTY.txt in the zip. Aces of the Pacific is © Dynamix / Sierra On-Line; its files are not included.

Support

https://buymeacoffee.com/krzysztofkania