I'm now aware of how a dedicated cadre of Longbow enthusiasts has managed to breathe new life into a masterful sim long thought to be obsolete. I marvel at the workarounds and wrappers that allow it to run under OSs and on hardware still on the drawing board when Janes/EA published LB.

I know the information is contained in numerous threads and a myriad of posts going back a couple of years.

It could be a big help if there was a sticky thread with a compilation of "how to's" someone interested could go to rather than having to mine it out of the archives. Is it do-able?

Uh thats alot of info... you wanna do it? :p
Most of it if not everything of info you need is located here .

Thanks, Shadow, you just did it for me That's the kind of one-stop source I was talking about. It would be helpful if that link was posted in a sticky thread so newcomers could find it quickly. It can seem rather daunting for those of us who haven't been with this forum awhile to witness the evolution of information. Thanks again for the link.

Good luck,,, I was all pumped up when out of the blue the other day I decided to do a search and found some life got pumped back into this. After reading though some threads etc, im a bit hesitant. I dont wanna go through alot of PC changes just to accomodate the occassional LB2 flight. I actually still have my old PC that ran LB2, i can still use that if it becomes a prob on my newer Pc's. I did a ghost backup the other day, just incase I really hose up my new pc, but I think I will try and go through setting this up,, hope it works out. LB2 BEST DAMNED COMBAT FLIGHT SIM I ever played !!!!

I have a question right off the bat. After reviewing the initial install instructions

"Disable and remove any and all auxiliary JOYSTICKS, Pedals, Wheels that you may have installed on your PC!

Learn from my mistake. I just wasted hours today troubleshooting my setup and forgot this most basic thing to do! LB2 on XP likes one and only one joystick."

I currently have NO joysticks or pedals attached to my PC. Should I leave it that way and install the joystic and pedals AFTER I install the game, or install them B4. What I am confused about is the Auxillary comment,,,thx

I dont think it matters what you have hooked up to your PC as you install LB2. What matters is when you fire up LB2 and its drivers go look on your OS to see what is on the default controller.
Thats when you want just one device hooked up so that LB2 isnt confused.


Back in 1997-1998 when LB2 was new, people really didnt have multiple USB controllers and gaming keyboards and flight controllers that were as complex as we have today.

A single USB or Gameport controller is all that LB2 recognizes, AFAIK.

I can use any ONE of the following on the PC that has LB2 on it:
1. TM Cougar throttle and stick that uses 1 USB port. I use CH Products Pedal-Pro (gameport) that plug into the TM Cougars, hence still only one USB port is being looked at by LB2.

2. MS Sidewinder ForceFeedBack Pro2 USB. This is an all in one controller that has stick, throttle, rudder (twist), and buttons in one device. Great for travel and laptops.

Now can you have multiple keyboard and gaming board devices along with the single flight controller? Yes.

I use a QUICKSHOT MasterPilot game controller that connects to the keyboard connector and in parallel with the keyboard can give pre programmed game functions mapped to keyboard commands.

On another computer I use a LogiTech G15 which is a keyboard with programmable game funcition mapping also.

Oh boy,,,, I have a Saitek Cyborg 3d gold USB joystick, and my CH pedal is a serial connect ,,, that is no longer gonna work ? Its what I had b4 ?

USB and a Serial port.
Now that is uncharted path for me.
Try it, maybe that was acceptable back then.

I know what you mean. Reading Speicht's MSConfig instructions on RAM, the part about limiting to 366MB being "a semi-permanent change that'll affect your entire system..." gave me pause as well. I don't have 1GB, so the No Swap File option won't work. The WAC method sounded okay if you can do without flying the Kiowa or using the in-game map (no Kiowa, maybe...figure I might need the map). The Memory Allocation Tool method sounds like the best of all, but is still in the testing stage. The Boot.ini sounds intimidating to a point-and-click guy like myself. I've got LB1, LB Gold and need to get hold of LB2 before I embark on this adventure, anyway, but I'm doing my homework by reading this wonderful stuff in preparation.

I bought my CH Products gameport Combat Stick, Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals expressly to fly LB(1) when it first came out. It connects via my soundcard's midi (game) port and has a passthrough connector that fits between my keyboard's PS2 connector and my mobo's receptacle. The EPROM in the throttle has to be programmed in a pure DOS environment, so I kept Win98 on my C: drive and run XP Pro on my D: drive. This HOTAS rig has been one of the best, most enduring investments I've made toward computer gaming. I'm looking forward to putting it to use again soon in the AH-64.

So,,,, assuming I can use the USB joystick and the serial pedals ,, should I install them b4 or after I install LB2?