A guide to running the F/A-18 Hornet sim, BLACK KNIGHT: Marine Strike Fighter in DOSBox Staging. The sim was developed in 1995 by SE Software and published by FormGen Inc.
Versions
There are primarily two editions you may encounter when trying to obtain the sim. There is a widely distributed shareware edition. This was normally released on magazine cover disks around late 1995 and 1996.
It is usually named 'BLACK KNIGHT: Marine Strike Fighter SE', it's not clear whether this is a reference to the developer, SE Software or a reference to it being a Shareware Edition.
These are normally distributed with an order.doc and vendor.doc text files. When compressed the sim fits on 2 x 3.5" HD floppy disks which probably helped in sharing and distribution. Some shareware editions were pre-patched to the latest v1.33 version.
The CD-ROM edition was released in October 1995 and is the complete game. Differences from the shareware edition (taken from the order.doc file) include:
60 combat missions
8 training missions
unlimited free flight
sight range to 20 and 25 miles
create your own mission scenarios
more deadly AIM-7 radar-guided air-air missiles
MK-82, MK-83, MK-84 bombs and bombsight avionics
on-board flight instructor for in-flight training
VCR-like flight recorder with advanced camera control and playback
television-guided Maverick air-ground missiles with in-cockpit imaging
80 page illustrated manual includes weapons systems and combat tactics
The shareware and CD-ROM version may not be obvious as the version number was not reported until the later v1.33 version, but are probably v1.x. A number of CD-ROM editions cames in a jewel case without the 80 page manual although there is a retail box edition with the manual.
Patches
There is a single official patch which upgrades any v1.x version to the latest v1.33 version. The patch (taken from the patch readme) includes:
Fixed analog joystick, throttle and rudder pedal problems.
Fixed waypoint error in mission 38.
Changed command line switches "-1", "-2", etc., to skip intro movie as well as pilot selection screen.
Improved MIDI interface for broader compatibility.
Improved accuracy of roll and pitch rate/momentum to match performance data.
Added INSANE! graphic detail level.
Added the mission overview message on mission start.
Added transonic physical effects.
Added Black Knight OS initialization messages.
Added debug capabilities.
Added limited Surround Sound.
Added support for CH Products Flightstick Pro, CH Products F-16 Combatstick and CH Products Virtual Pilot Pro.
The retail box edition had this included on a single 3.5" HD floppy disk.
The patch bkupd133.zip is available on The Patches Scrolls website, and from the VOGONS post 'Black Knight - Marine Strike Fighter'. However recent Windows 10 updates may incorrectly flag this as virus infected. This may have to be downloaded and extracted on another platform before being copied onto a Windows 10 machine. Scanning the extracted files and even compressing them back into a zip file with 7zip reported no issues.
DOSBOX Staging settings
This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging which at time of writing is v0.82. This is particularly important as with this version, persistent screen flickering has been introduced which can be avoided by using high frame rate settings, as described in this article by Omnicydle.
The settings that differ from the defaults will be covered and any settings of particular interest.
[sdl]
host_rate = vrr
vsync = off
presentation_mode = vfrThe host rate is set to variable refresh rate which is optimum for my display, for non vrr displays this can be left as the default, auto. Vsync is disabled and a variable frame rate is used as the presentation mode for high frame rates.
[dosbox]
dos_rate = 1000The DOS rate is set to 1000hz for high frame rates.
[cpu]
cycleup = 1000
cycledown = 1000The default cpu settings are suitable although changing the cycles up/down setting to discrete increments makes it easier to tweak, although a smaller increment may be required depending on your setup.
[mouse]
dos_mouse_immediate = trueThis is useful for high frame rates.
[mixer]
reverb = large
chorus = normalMixer default settings are suitable although these reverb and chorus settings are a personal preference.
[midi]
mididevice = fluidsynth
# mididevice = mt32The game supports both MT32/LAPC1 or general midi so there is a choice of either fluidsynth or mt32.
The method I use to organise soundfonts and MT32/CM32L roms is described in the earlier DOSBox midi article.
[fluidsynth]
# soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\FluidR3_GM_GS.sf2"
soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\Shan SGM-X48 v1.0.sf2"These are a couple of fluidsynth soundfonts that seem to work well with the game, you may wish to try others.
[mt32]
romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned"This specifies the location of MT32/CM32L roms.
[autoexec]
mount a "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\fdd"
# imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\fdd\patch.img" -t floppy
imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\cd\blackknight.iso" -t iso
# use '-freesize 512' at the end of this line if the installer fails
mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\hdd"
c:
cd bk
bk
exit # close DOSBox when you quit the gameThe folders are organised using my DOSBox game management strategy.
The a: drive mounts files from the update disk, extracted to the fdd folder. This is needed to use the patch installer or patching after a cd install. If you have the patch disk as a disk image the 'imgmount a' line shows an example of mounting a floppy image.
The d: drive mounts the cd-rom as an cd image file, to save wear and tear on physical devices and media.
The c: drive may require the freesize option as the Black Knight installer may read the huge disk size incorrectly and fail to install. The freesize option limits the reported free space to a smaller value the installer can cope with. If you use the later patch installer the issue is fixed and the freesize option is not required.
The default folder the game installs to is c:\bk.
Controller settings
This will cover the physical and virtual controller setup in Windows, followed by DOSBox Staging settings, controller calibration is described later.
TARGET settings
Like many other DOS sims, Black Knight requires a HOTAS setup limited to 4 axes. For those with 4 axes or less this won't apply. For those with a HOTAS with more than 4 axes, HOTAS profiling software will need to be used to limit axes.
In my case I'm able to use TM TARGET to create a suitable profile for a virtual controller with only 4 axes. They are specified as follows:
Physical axis | Windows axis |
Joystick x-axis | DX_X_AXIS |
Joystick y-axis | DX_Y_AXIS |
Throttle | DX_Z_AXIS |
Rudder pedals | DX_XROT_AXIS |
If you can't use TM Target or your HOTAS supplier profiling software, then other profiling software, like Joystick Gremlin may provide a suitable alternative.
DOSBox settings
The following changes are made to the joystick section of the DOSBox configuration file:
[joystick]
joysticktype = 4axis
timed = false
swap34 = true
deadzone = 04axis allows the use of throttle and rudder pedals in flight.
Timed false is appropriate for my setup, you may wish to change this if setting to false results in joystick drift.
Again swap34 true was appropriate for my setup, however you may need to test your particular HOTAS to see if this is required.
The deadzone setting is personal preference and works well for my HOTAS.
My config
My config is shown below, you may wish to use it as a basis for your own config or for testing any changes you may wish to try.
[sdl]
host_rate = vrr
vsync = off
presentation_mode = vfr
[dosbox]
dos_rate = 1000
[cpu]
cpu_cycles = 3000
cpu_cycles_protected = 60000
cycleup = 1000
cycledown = 1000
[mouse]
dos_mouse_immediate = true
[mixer]
reverb = large
chorus = normal
[fluidsynth]
# soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\FluidR3_GM_GS.sf2"
soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\Shan SGM-X48 v1.0.sf2"
[mt32]
romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned"
[joystick]
joysticktype = 4axis
timed = false
swap34 = true
deadzone = 0
[autoexec]
mount a "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\fdd"
imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\cd\blackknight.iso" -t iso
# use '-freesize 512' at the end of this line if the installer fails
mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Black Knight\hdd"
c:
cd bk
bk
exit # close DOSBox when you quit the gameInstallation, setup & patching
There are two installation methods, using the patch installer to install and patch in one step, or install from cd and then update using the patch.
Install with patch
Installing with patch runs the installation and patching as a single step. You won't need the freesize option added to the c: mount command as it uses a fixed installer app. To install from patch you will need:
An a: drive with a mounted folder containing the patch files or an a: drive mounting a patch disk floppy image.
A d: drive with the cd mounted as a physical cd drive or a d: drive mounting the cd image.
a:
install # to run the installer
readme # to view the patch readmeOnce the install is complete the sound and music setup will run.
Install with cd-rom (or image) and patch
To install and then patch, mount the cd (or cd image) and go to the DOSBox cd-rom drive and run:
installOnce installation is complete it will run the sound and music setup (see below). Once setup is complete go to the DOSBox drive or folder containing the patch files and run:
updateOnce complete you may wish to run setup again to ensure sound and music settings are correct.
Setup
Setup will automatically run once an installation is complete, it can also be run at anytime by going to the installation folder and running the setup.exe app. There are 3 steps to setup:
Sound setup. Setup should automatically find the Soundblaster settings, then just choose the Soundblaster 16 option, or whichever Soundblaster model has been configured in your DOSBox settings, if you have decided to change it. The selection will be tested and you should hear the example audio.
Music setup. Setup should automatically find the Soundblaster settings again. Then you can choose Soundblaster for music, or MT32/LAPC1 if that is your DOSBox midi device. In my case I was using fluidsynth as the midi device, so I chose the General midi option. You could even try configuring a Gravis Ultra Sound (GUS) in DOSBox settings and giving that a try! The selection will be tested and you should hear the example music.
Driver deletion. Setup will now ask if the unused sound and music drivers should be deleted. This was an option to save disk space, which is unnecessary today. If you keep the unused drivers you can experiment and try different options later on, so answer no.
Setup should now be complete!
Replacing the DOS extender
This is an optional step and you may wish to skip it. Black Knight uses the older DOS/4G v1.97 extender allowing extended memory to be used. There are newer and more modern DOS extenders available. The extender is built into the bk.exe file, but can still be replaced.
The process is described in the DOSBox Wiki article 'TOOLS: DOS32A', under the Internally section.
A modern DOS extender and utilities can be found at the amindlost/dos32a GitHub repository in the binw folder. Download the dos32a.exe dos extender and sb.exe utility and place them in your black knight installation folder.
Make a copy of your existing bk.exe file (e.g. bk.bak)
From within DOSBox, set the dos32a environment variable:
set dos32a=c:\bk\dos32aReplace the extender with:
c:\bk\sb /r bk.exeYou should see the result of the binder utility reporting that the DOS/4G extender was found and then replaced with the DOS32A extender. You may see some warnings once you exit Black Knight but they can be ignored.
If this replacement causes problems then you can always swap back to the original file.
Command line options
There are limited command line options but you can skip the intro movie and pre-select a pilot, as shown below:
-[1-4] # skip intro and select pilot 1-4
e.g.
c:\bk\bk -3 # skip intro and select pilot 3Controller calibration
Controller calibration is performed in-game, the v1.33 patch along with the DOSBox joystick settings described above will allow you to specify a 2/4 button joystick, a throttle and rudder pedals. The calibration process should be straight-forward although depending on your HOTAS setup you may need to tweak some DOSBox settings.
Documentation
The retail box edition came with an 80 page manual which is unavailable these days. However the shareware editions did include a key reference guide, keys.doc and a limited 28 page manual, bkmanual.doc as text files.
Finally...
Black Knight: Marine Strike Fighter was not the most popular or well known sim, but if you've only played one or two F/A-18 Hornet sims and want to try something a little different from the well known classics, it's well worth a try and hopefully this guide will get you up and running well!
Good hunting!
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