Q. What is a custom library, or lib file?

A. A custom library is a addon for Fighters Anthology that can modify Fighters Anthology and can add new aircraft, vehicles, other objects, weapons, graphics, missions, etc. to Fighters Anthology. These libraries are made using the Duosoft Toolkit. If you look in your Fighters Anthology directory, you will see that Fighters Anthology has 4 default lib files (FA_1.LIB, FA_2.LIB, FA_4B.LIB, and FA_4D.LIB), from which it gets much data for the game.

To install a custom library, you usually only need to move any files with a .LIB extension into your Fighters Anthology directory (usually Janes/Fighters Anthology. Many libraries have required files other than .LIB files; if the lib has a readme file, that should explain installation procedures.

Q. Fighters Anthology doesn't work after I install a custom lib file. What happened?

A. Many custom libs are not compatable. This is because they have conflicting information: they edit the same stuff in FA. Therefore, they cannot be in the Fighters Anthology directory at the same time. It is also always a good idea to restart your computer after installing a custom lib file, especially after just running Fighters Anthology with a different lib, because the former libs data is still in the system memory buffer. Also, there is an absolute limit on the number of objects that can be in the Fighters Anthology directory. This limit is the total of objects in any lib files in the directory, missions, and mission briefing texts. If you have installed a large library and Fighters Anthology does not work, remove any custom missions you may have from your Fighters Anthology directory.

Q. A custom library doesn't affect Fighters Anthology. What do I do?

A.Fighters Anthology always looks for the newest lib files to use, and if your FA installation (and, therefore, default FA lib files) are newer, a custom lib won't be recognized. To remedy this, download Libstamp from my FA files and utilities page , and use Windows Explorer to check the date of the custom lib's .LIB file(s). Run Libstamp, and set the date of the two default FA libs to be older than the custom lib is. This will work for any custom lib that doesn't "register" with Fighters Anthology.