Proto:F-15 Strike Eagle III

This page details one or more prototype versions of F-15 Strike Eagle III.

F-15 Strike Eagle III is a detailed combat flight simulator for DOS. This page covers the playable demo as opposed to the non-playable (slideshow) demo and the final versions of the game.

Aircraft models not appearing in the final version

It is not known if these models are used in this demo version, but as noted in F-15 Strike Eagle III#Unused AI aircraft, the helicopter models are not actually present in the final versions, although there are still unused references to helicopters.

The file US.3DX contains friendly (US) aircraft models, plus weapons, and a single helicopter model (model index 17):

The file THEM.3DX contains enemy aircraft models, other models, and two helicopters (model indexes 8 and 9):

The table in unused AI aircraft taken from the final release shows six different helicopters, so it is not immediately obvious which of these models is meant to correspond to which helicopter. Further investigation of the game files may reveal where the corresponding table data is stored in the playable demo.

Although the .3DX file format supports parts of the model rotating (at least in the final version of the game), the rotor blades shown in these images do not rotate. Instead, the rotor blades shown in each image are tagged to be conditionally rendered when condition number 18 is false, and there are corresponding polygons between the blades shown in the images which are tagged to be rendered when that condition is true, so that by toggling the condition frequently, there is some appearance of movement. An equivalent scheme is used for the rotation of propeller blades (on aircraft that have them) in models that appear in both this demo and the final version of the game.