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Welcome to the world of Red Baron 3D (RB3D), the online World War I flight simulation game flown by armchair pilots from around the world!  Fly the skies when men were made of steel and planes were made of wood!  Have your wings pop off if you overstress them; black out if too many G's are pulled; deal with gun jams.  Learn to take advantage of each planes strengths or weaknesses and how to exploit your enemies'. 

Red Baron 3D (RB3D) captures the W.W.I era of aerial combat with missions that accurately reflect the talent and skill needed to be successful as a fighter pilot.

First released in 1992 as Red Baron, then in 1995 as Red Baron II and again in 1998 as Red Baron 3D (RB3D), the game was originally produced by Dynamix/Sierra. Red Baron 3D is no longer published commercially.  A few are still available second hand via internet sales such as Ebay however.  

Despite the fact that the game has not been produced for several years, the enthusiastic online RB3D community of hundreds of players has over the years continually improved the game. Today, Red Baron 3D is better than when originally released and includes a much more exciting attention to historical accuracy, detail and realism. Red Baron 3D is played around the world in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, South America and throughout Europe and beyond.

Red Baron 3D can be played in single player or multiplayer mode, with varying types of play for each. 

Multiplayer play is well supported in Red Baron 3D. Using the game's Massive Multiplayer Arena you can play via modem in the internet or via LAN. Online play is free of charge! FREE, FREE FREE! Once you have started the MMP (Massive Multi Player) arena you will see different servers run by other players. Online play is free of charge. Up to 64 planes can be found in one server, realistically about 30 planes for good server performance. It depends mainly on the bandwidth the server is provided with, while playing via modem or ISDN provides sufficient bandwidth on the player side.

The two main multiplayer game types are 'Team Target' and 'Team Melee'. In 'Team Target' the object is to destroy the other side's ground targets before they destroy yours. 'Team Melee' is a simple dogfight with no ground targets included. You can either have teams or play "every man for himself" in the melee games. Other options in multiplayer include whether you can damage an ally with friendly fire and which players will be on which teams. The planes used in each game depend upon what the server settings are and which team you are on, if you are playing a game with teams. In a melee game, you can choose any plane you wish.

The best thing about Red Baron 3D is its very active game community which still brings amazing patches and enhancements after all these years. There are hundreds of players who play RB3D in over dozens of organized teams called either a Squadron (Allied side) or Jasta (German/Central Powers side) depending on whether they are representing Allied or Central powers. On average you will find players online at any time of the day or night from all nations and backgrounds. 

Getting Started

Red Baron 3D (RB3D) Software

Anyone buying used copies of the game floating around on the web for sale should know the following:  

There are are a few different versions of Red Baron, and that might be part of the explanation as to why copies for sale vary so much in price. Read on to find out which one you want.

RBII was a solo play version of the game.

A few years later, a super patch was released to allow owners of the RBII version to be "upgraded" to the new, Red Baron 3D version.

Separately, around the same time as the super patch being released for all the RBII owners, the Red Baron 3D version published by Sierra was released.  This is definitely the one you want, according to many in the community.

Many RBII copies are promoted and sold as "RB3D".  They are not the same.  You have to super patch it.

Most importantly, make sure that whatever you buy, it was actually published by Sierra/Dynamix.  There was another publisher called "Sold Out Software".  That one is junk.  Whatever you do stay away from it.

Getting Red Baron 3D

Download Red Baron 3D (RB3D) Free!!!!!!

You must also modify the mplayer.ini file located in the RB main folder to see the online game servers. Instructions for doing that are in the Mechanics Shed.

You might want to burn the extracted files to a CD for future use. 

Red Baron Game Manual

There is a RB3D manual as well as some basic tutorials available online on this site in the "Jastaschule" (pilots school).

Essential Patches

Because the original manufacturer no longer hosts servers for RB3D, you will need the "1.0.7.8. Patch" to see current servers online. You will also need the Red Baron First Aid Kit.  It helps resolve installation issues, especially those associated with Windows XP.  Both of these and every other essential patch you will need (along with some selected optional patches) are available on this site in the Mechanics Shed.

Windows XP

RB3D was originally written for Windows 95 and 98.  The community has designed patches which fix known Windows XP conflicts for those with older copies not compatible with Windows XP.  If you are installing on an XP platform, you should first check read the documentation associated with the Red Baron First Aid Kit found on this site in the Mechanics Shed.