homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Air Combat - General Modern Era Mig Alley

Mig Alley

Found my CD for Mig Alley, installed ok, updated to the latest patch Mig Alley 123 patch. Started the game, everything looks normal but when I hit the FLY button it hangs on the last screen, the flight does not start. Also installed the BDG patch 85F, no joy. I am running Windows 10. I really liked playing Mig Alley on my older PC’s, it was immersive and very detailed with a lot of content. Would love to get it working again. Will continue to troubleshoot but any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

I loved Mig Alley!
The graphics were always a step behind, but the game play was awesome.

Please keep this thread open.

Thanks your response Tarnsman, cool you remember it. Mig Alley is a legacy sim but when I was able to play it on older PC’s I had a lot of fun with it, it’s a deeper sim than most people would think, that’s is for people who still play it. I will continue my effort to get it going on my rig.

MA is a real Gem. I particularly liked the SO campaign and still have it running on a Win 7/ 64 bit build. There are older threads on this board regarding MA and Win 10. Below is another useful link. .I hope your successful, let us know how you make out.

https://www.tales-from-darkenedroom.com/post/mig-alley-running-in-windows-10

Thanks for the link Vox, already had that link but haven’t tried it yet. The program installed w/o issue, just gets hung up on the last screen after hitting the Fly button, thinking it has a graphic issue.

I too still have MiG Alley installed on an old Win 7 system. Runs beautifully. Luv it.
Only jet sim I have, all the others are prop.

Very cool Boom, Mig Alley is a gem, a deep legacy sim. The 2 sims I can’t get working on my Windows 10 box are Mig Alley and Janes F-18 and it bugs me, will continue to try.

I was a big Mig Alley fan too. Matter of fact my MiG Alley posts and articles led to being added to the staff at Frugal's World, which only old people will remember. After seeing this thread I googled it to see if maybe some archive still held these posts and threads, but not so, evidently. But AI remembers me haha. I searched for my long-running thread there, which was called DBond's SO tip of the day, where I added a new bit of advice for the Spring Offensive campaign every day, and this is what AI said on my search

""dbond" (or dbond1) was a prominent community member and staff writer on the classic PC flight simulation and racing website Frugal's World (popularly known for Falcon 4.0 and Grand Prix Legends).
The phrase "dbond's SO Tip of the Day" refers to a long-running, beloved community routine on the forums where he shared tactical tips, strategic advice, or software configuration tweaks—particularly for titles like Falcon 4.0: Allied Force (AF) and later Way of the Hunter or various racing sims. The "SO" typically stood for "Strike Operations" or "Significant Other" / "Strategic Overview" depending on the context of the running joke or thread category within the Frugal's World military simulation forums.
Because Frugal's World closed its doors years ago, much of that original archived forum data is gone, though legacy simmers still frequently swap stories about his detailed guides"

So that's not entirely accurate as SO was Spring Offensive, and it was "beloved" after all. but it's better than nothing

Actually, it may exist....

So years ago I made a thread here at SImHQ, in remembrance of Frug's.

Frugal's World A Moment in Time


I had posted some link s to an archive and just pasted one in and look what I found!

Falcon 4 campagn tips

Holy sh!t does that take me back. Not sure how many around here today were part of Frug's, but those were the days.

I remember Frugals World, it was a long time ago ( 2012 I think ). They mainly supported F-4 and later on DCS.

Yes, Frug's was best known for Falcon, and in my biased view was the go-to spot on the net in those days, but we did all sorts of sims. I wrote reviews for things like Steel Beasts and EAW. I ran a Grand Prix Legends league there for a number of years, which is still my favorite thing in all these years of simming.

DCS was just coming out as Frug's went dead.

Mark actually started Frugal's World as a X-Com site, but by the time I joined it was sim-centered.

MiG Alley's Spring Offensive campaign is probably still my second-favorite flight sim campaign ever. The blend of tactical and operational control along with a great seat of the pants flight sim was a superb mix.

DB your resume is impressive with your time with Frugals World. It was the go to place for Falcon 4. I too am a big fan of Mig Alley, won’t give up on trying to get it playing on my Windows 10 box. I am pretty close to get it working but no cigar yet.

I have good memories of Frugals forum, and DB’s SO play through.

Fyi: KC23's published a excellent MA Spring Offensive Strategy Guide on simhq. This comprehensive guide should be on Wayback machine. Rowan Software ( the true developers) produced some memorable sims with my favorite campaigns : Flying Corps (1997), Mig Alley(1997), Battle of Britain( 2000). What may not be remembered is that Rowan worked on the original Versions of Falcon ( 1987-89). You can see the pattern of gameplay development emerging in these games.

Yes, that is right, KC23 (Ken Cook) did a fine guide. He and I collaborated on a few things during our time together, though he left not long after to go to another sim site, but I don't recall which. We had both come from Combatsim before joining the staff at Frug's.

This was all a long time ago, but I enjoyed it.

So I said the SO is my second favorite flight sim campaign, and it should not require mentioning that Falcon is top spot. But what about the rest of the list? Which sims had the best campaigns?

I don't have much experience with recent flight sims, as I race more than fly these days.

But two I would think would be up there are

Battle of Britain
EF2000

Not sure what I'd think of it now, but another that I really liked was the add-on for Jane's ATF was it? It was the harrier and flying around the Kuril islands. Man that was long ago, maybe I've got it wrong. But something about that campaign sticks with me all these years later. Marine Fighters, I think it was called.

Edit: Yep, Marine Fighters, I checked, but it was an add on for US Navy Fighters, not ATF, and this was 1995! Holy smokes

Longbow/2 at the time I thought was amazing. A dynamic campaign! But replaying it years later I was suddenly struck by how not dynamic it really is, and I don't hold it in as high regard. The rep is better than the reality. EECH was a better campaign experience I think.

My first ever flight sim was DI's Apache and I remember thinking that was amazing.

EF2000 (Eurofighter Typhoon) also great sim notas well known. It balances technical simulation and great dynamic gameplay/campaign. Dev by Digital Image Design, that was founded by 2 developers that left Rowan Software.

I have EF2000 on a CD Vox but can’t get that going on my Windows 10 box, it played OK on older Windows 7 PC’s. I do have F-22 Air Dominance Fighter from Steam now and from what I can remember it is similar to EF2000.

What's the best 'modern' flight sim campaign?

It all turned for me with IL-2, which was at the time a fantastic flight sim, but had a rotten campaign. Wings over Flanders Fields seems like it might, but maybe that is more of a great pilot experience, not necessarily a great campaign system, but I have no idea, just the bits I pick up here and there.

MiG Alley was better for me than BoB for a number of reasons, though both were good. The way MiG Alley linked campaign progress to your actual tactical and operational successes was top notch and made the player felt like he could really make a difference. A dynamic front line was a big part of it.

Falcon 4 BMS has a great dynamic campaign one thing DSC is lacking.

Although I’ve actually only completed a fraction of dynamic campaigns out there--Falcon gets my vote. Falcon campaigns have the advantages of a fictional design, using hypothetical what-if conflicts and then effectively sets the simulation in a real-world with plausible events. Campaign design is from the ground up i.e. campaign designed around the simulation. Contrast that with MA and BoB that follow historic phases, although nothing is pre-scripted in their campaigns, they are directed along a historic line i.e. simulation is designed around historic events. Even though Falcon is a favorite I have put more time into MA and BoB because I enjoy the history.