Bringing it all together with Jane's Fighters - Anthology
- alexfrancis70
- Apr 6
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 18
A guide to running Jane's Fighters Anthology in Windows 10 with DirectX wrappers and PCem emulation.
To give it, it's full title, Jane's Combat Simulations: Fighters Anthology is the complete compilation, 1997 release of the products in the Jane's Fighters series of sims.
It comprises of US Navy Fighters '97 (1996), the native Windows remake of US Navy Fighters Gold, the 1995 DOS compilation release of the DOS sims, US Navy Fighters (1994) and the expansion Marine Fighters (1995).
It also includes Jane's Combat Simulations ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighters Gold (1997), the native Windows remakes of the DOS sims ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighters (1996) and the expansion, NATO Fighters (1996).
Jane's Fighters Anthology (JFA) has remained popular for years and there are a huge variety of mods, tools and additional campaigns/missions, however this guide will concentrate on running a vanilla version of the game under Windows 10.
DirectX wrappers
This section will describe configuration and installation suitable for DirectX wrappers, followed by installation and configuration of the wrappers themselves. The following wrappers will be covered:
DxWrapper, which has a number of advantages over the previous method.
dgVoodoo2, which has been the tried and trusted method in the past.
Only one wrapper should be chosen.
HOTAS configuration
Despite being a Windows native game, JFA does seem to benefit from a virtual controller, if there is more than one physical device. JFA comes from an era when HOTAS controllers were usually a seen by Windows as a single device.
The following shows the virtual controller mappings from physical to DX axes. The HOTAS config is valid for either wrapper.
Physical axis | DX axis |
Joystick x-axis | DX_X_AXIS |
Joystick y-axis | DX_Y_AXIS |
Throttle | DX_Z_AXIS |
Rudder pedals | DX_ZROT_AXIS |
Installation
As usual the cd's have been ripped to cd images to save wear and tear on disks and drive. The cd's can be ripped to a data only iso format as there is no cd audio on the disks. The setup.exe installer can be run from the first disk and should complete without issue.
During the installation you'll be asked to choose between a full install with digital music or a smaller install with midi music. This choice is left to personal preference, although there are additional patches required for midi music. During the installation process DirectX should NOT be installed.
Latest official patch
The next step is to install the latest official patch (fae102.exe) bringing the game version to 1.02F. This patch has kindly been hosted by Damsonn on a Google Drive.
The patch can be installed normally and should complete without issue.
Unofficial midi music patches
Both patches have been kindly supplied by Damsonn on a Google Drive.
FA_MIDI_patch
If the smaller install and midi music was selected during the installation, there is an unofficial midi fix required. This patch uses a Compatibility Administrator (32-bit) database to apply the CorrectSoundDeviceId compatibility fix. Running the PatchInstall.bat file will install the patch. The patch can be uninstalled by running the PatchUninstall.bat file.
USNF music for FA
The is also a USNF music fix for JFA, which replaces some ATF midi music with USNF midi music. This requires the FA_MIDI_patch to have been installed first. This is an additional file patch requiring the USNF_MUS.LIB library file to be copied into your JFA installation folder. This patch is not mandatory and use of this patch is a personal preference.
DxWrapper patching
FA Dir - Patch+NoCD
Some additional patches can be installed when running JFA with DxWrapper. The first is a no-cd patch which also integrates the official v1.02F patch (FA Dir - Patch+NoCD.zip) allowing play without the use of physical cd's or cd images.
The patch is a file replacement patch and can be found on a Google Drive kindly hosted by Centurian. Simply extract the files to the JFA installation folder to install.
This patch will add library (.lib) files which are empty. In order to have access to the Jane's reference material and intro movies, files will need to be replaced with the original library files from the cd or cd image.
From JFA cd 1 (blue):
FA_4C.LIB
FA_7.LIBFrom JFA cd 2 (red):
FA_3.LIB
FA_10.LIB
FA_10B.LIB
FA_11.LIB
FA_11B.LIBDxWrapper installation
The latest version of DxWrapper is used, at time of writing v1.2.7500.25. This can be found on the GitHub DxWrapper project releases page. The following files should be extracted from the dxwrapper.zip archive and added to the JFA installation folder:
ddraw.dll
dinput8.dll
dxwrapper.dllOnce again thanks go to Elisha for the work on DxWrapper.
DxWrapper setup
The following config file (dxwrapper.ini) is used when running JFA with DxWrapper, it should be copied to the JFA installation folder:
DxWrapper issues
Using DxWrapper allows the Jane's reference material to be accessed without crashing to the desktop, using a DxWrapper configuration that handles exceptions. However switching to/from the Janes's reference material and missions will slowly begin to introduce graphical artifacts into the game. Once any artifacts appear simply quit and restart the game.
dgVoodoo2 patching
The no CD patch is recommended when using dgVoodoo2, however the libraries should not be replaced from those on the CD's. The files in the zip archive just need to be copied to the JFA installation folder.
dgVoodoo2 installation
dgVoodoo2 has been a tried and trusted wrapper for use with JFA. Although there are additional issues, they do not affect the gameplay, and may be useful if DxWrapper does not work with a particular setup.
The latest version of dgVoodoo2 is used, at time of writing v2.86. This can be found on the GitHub dgVoodoo2 project releases page. The following files should be extracted from the dgVoodoo2_86.zip archive and added to the JFA installation folder:
MS\x86\D3D8.dll
MS\x86\D3D9.dll
MS\x86\D3DImm.dll
MS\x86\DDraw.dll
dgVoodoo.conf
dgVoodooCpl.exeThe folders/sub folders indicate where the file resides in the zip archive. The folders/sub folders do not need to be copied into the JFA installation folder, just the files themselves.
Once again thanks to Dege for his continued work on dgVoodoo2.
dgVoodoo2 setup
The following screenshots show the required dgVoodoo2 configuration:
dgVoodoo2 issues
Attempts to access the photos and videos of the Jane's reference material will not work due to the empty library files. Using library files from the CD's will cause a crash to desktop.
PCem emulation
Despite JFA being able to run natively in Windows 10, using the PCem emulator may be preferable if:
Your modern multi-axes/multi-button HOTAS controller is incompatible, resulting in a crash to desktop when you try to use it.
Your particular Windows 10 setup has issues with the DirectX wrappers used to run JFA.
PCem can help by:
Supporting 2 joysticks (4 axes), which allows us to specify the 4 axes of any physical hardware in a consistent way such that Windows 98 / JFA only deals with the PCem virtual joysticks rather than a myriad of physical devices.
Emulates hardware at a lower level providing emulated period correct hardware closer to the physical hardware the game originally worked with.
PCem setup
If you're completely new to setting up PCem or need a refresher, I highly recommend the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup.
Once you have a basic, clean Windows 98 virtual machine and hard disk image, I recommend:
Taking a copy of the basic virtual machine to create a game specific virtual machine.
Taking a copy of the basic hard disk image to create a game specific image.
Use PCem and reconfigure the game specific virtual machine to use the game specific hard disk image.
If things go badly wrong, you'll always have the basic image to try again with and it'll save a lot of time and effort if you ever want to try a different game.
Installation
Once the emulated machine is running, change the cd device settings in PCem, to use either your physical drive (if you have a physical cd), or a cd image.
Then it's just a case of running the setup.exe installer. Installation should complete without any issues. Again you can select a full (digital music) or smaller (midi music) install. DirectX should already be installed, so DirectX installation can be skipped.
Patching
If you've followed Phils tutorial video, you know how easy it is to mount the PCem hard disk image (.vhd) file in modern Windows, and copy any games patches into it. Windows 98 doesn't have built in zip file support, so extract files from any zip archives in modern Windows before copying into the mounted hard disk image.
The following patches are recommended for PCem emulation:
The following patches can be installed as a personal preference:
The USNF music for FA patch (if midi music was selected for the install). Note: the FA_MIDI_patch is not required due to the more period correct Windows 98.
The no CD patch is not recommended for PCem, as PCem is a fallback solution (so using fewer unofficial patches is preferable, to make the install as compatible as possible) and CD's or CD images can be mounted, changed or swapped through PCem.
HOTAS setup
Take a look at my Controllers and retro sims part 5: PCem guide for installing HOTAS controllers in PCem, rather than the HOTAS config discussed earlier.
Once you have a custom calibrated Windows 98 controller the hard work is done.
Control options are limited to keyboard, mouse or joystick. Devices/axes can be configured through game options as shown in the screen shot.
Additional patches and fixes
In addition to the patches mentioned above there is a Shapefix patch.
Shapefix patch
This patch uses aircraft models imported from some of earlier games comprising the anthology to improve aircraft models in JFA. The patch is an additional file patch, to install the patch, the SHAPEFIX.LIB library is copied into the JFA installation folder. This patch has kindly been hosted by Damsonn on a Google Drive.
It is not recommended until the Ukraine campaign is complete, as it can cause crashes in particular missions (e.g. mission 8) of the Ukraine campaign. It may affect other missions as well.
Documentation
Much of the documentation can be found in electronic form. The minimum documentation to obtain would be:
The manual.
The keyboard reference.
Which can both be found on a Google Drive hosted by Centurian. The strategy guide, maps and other docs can also be found there, so a big thank you to Centurian for hosting these docs.
Additional information
This guide has primarily been about providing advice to get the vanilla version of JFA running on a modern Windows 10 platform. JFA has been very popular for a very long time and there are a huge number of mods available.
Some of the best resources (not already mentioned) are listed below:
The Combat Flight Sim Tavern discord. The pinned messages in the fighters-anthology and fa-information channels provide additional resources including...
The Fighters Anthology Resource Center and forums by John K. "Zephyr" Peterson.
USNRaptor's Jane's Fighters Anthology website and Google Drive by USNRaptor.
As usual, a big thank you to those hosting these resources!
If there are any mistakes or omissions, in this guide, please get in touch and let me know.
Good hunting!