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?

You won't harm your system by using most of the memory techniques listed (well except if you mess up the boot.ini file). You're only adjusting software here.

MSConfig should be used as a TEST to see if you need to go to Boot.ini, if you suspect you have a RAM issue.

Now the WAC method (aka MSCompatability automated) is the best bet, but not for everyone.
It doesn't limit your system RAM globally, just for this one game, which is perfect.

I use the MS Compat ToolKit with the LB2 library that +G made long ago.

Works great on all my WinXP systems. The idea is that when the LB2 application is used, it limits the RAM to 366MB for just the time the game is running. So its an application sensitive RAM switching mechanism. Doesnt affect any other game or application.

Well ,, I'm in the process of installing, I have completed the "Basic Installation" section, and I'm on the next page "Ram". The 1st sentence says
"Almost everyone needs to adjust their PCs RAM settings, to some degree. If you're one of the lucky ones, congratulations!"

Now am I to assume by this that I should be able to open up the game at this point? Because I cant ! I get that Windows error message, do I want to send or not?

Fakum, I haven't actually done it yet, but if I understand Speicht's instructions correctly, this is where you need to try one of the memory limiting methods. If you mean "do I want to send or not" a notice to Microsoft about the error message, I would say there is no reason to notify MS. The memory error is experienced by a majority of people, hence the various workarounds. While you don't say if you're running XP, I presume you likely are and, like AV8R said, would benefit from following PositiveG's instructions listed under the heading "Windows Application Compatibility (WAC) Toolkit 3.0 Method". We're very fortunate to have such knowledgeable assistance from these guys. I hope I roundup LB2 soon and give it a whirl myself.

Thanks 4 the response,,,I wound up experimenting a bit, and I'm up and running so far. I wasnt meaning that i didnt know whether or not to send the error to MS, I realize now how one would have interpreted it as that,,hahaha ,, sorry. Anyway, I am successful so far, and the only ram settings I have done is through msconfig. I read about the wac procedure, but was confused about the section that said "Done, move on" was sure if it was a requirement after you instal wac, or just an option. As far as the graphic settings go, and yes, im running XP, I have an ATI All in Wonder 9700 pro 128 mb. the only setting that works well is the Direct 3D set @ Dont Know. Wish me luck , I'm going back in and tinker,,

the game wont run on WinXP until:
(their are exceptions, but in general)

1. LB2 Software installed with patches
2. RAM limiting (game can only address 366mb)
3. Windows Compatibility, use one of the methods. I use the Toolkit
3. If using Glide, use the dgVoodoo glide wrapper and settings as shown in this forum, no extra switches.
4. Make appropriate d3d.cfg edits if using D3D and not Glide
5. Make appropriate CA.INI file edits for HEAP variable.

Give it a "whirl" for the whirly burd.

Thanks AV8R, So far, the graphics look decent, the only way i hav compared so far is going into quick mission and pulling back on the stick to view the clouds, if there blocky,, no good, smooth , ok! So far I found a D3D setting that shows the clouds pretty smooth on the edges. I dont know if I shound continue to mess with anything else as far as glide d3d cfgs or not ???

I prefer GLIDE not only for the graphics, but also because the dgVoodoo utility controls the game speed so that for fast systems the game runs correctly. If you run D3D, youre gunna have to use one of the throttling methods to slow down the game.

Post your picture in game if you want a qualitative opinion.

Glad it works for ya

Thats using the "dgVoodoo utility controls", I found it to be a bit sharper, but when I pull the stik back to look at the clouds,, they look good, but bounce,, I think its worth it though,,, thx ,, still gonna tweakit a bit,, I have the resolution maxed out now.

They bounce for everyone I think using dgVoodoo

small price to pay IMHO

yeah it is ,,,a small price to pay ,,, I'm still kickin around graphics tweeking etc ,, found the higher resolutions causes all the text in the cockpit to be kinda sloppy,, still workin on it,,, the joystick has not been so cooperative either! But while i'm here ,, I'll ask a question ,,, I still have an old PC that ran this game, I dont even use it anymore, Its an AsusP5A mobo w/162 meg of ram / AMD K6-2500 CPU/ 3DFX VooDoo Banshee 16 meg. It currently has WinXP installed but I do have old operating system software (I think?) Would I just be better setting LB2 up on there instead of going thru all this ? And if so , should I leave XP on there or goto another OS? I'm not even done here on this attempt,, still have to fix joystick, load CPU software to slow down,,,,,etc

Well that is what I did. My old machine has that same motherboard, a K6-2 300 MHz CPU, a Voodoo 3, a Soundblaster 16 and 128 mb RAM. LB2 looked around, recognised the place and installed like a dream. Of course, I have to settle for the original screen res.

It is my old games museum. I recently installed another game of similar vintage on it, Gangsters: Organised Crime. It, too, installed smoothly and runs fine.

This box is still Win98. I wouldn't know what to advise on dumping XP.

I'm still trying to run the damn sim!
I must be doing something wrong. :
Next try....

How about posting your system details and info around what's not working?

I went here http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2/index.html
and followed the instructions under fine tuning to install Tracker IR. I downloaded the file and extracted it to a folder of its own(it doesnt say it has to be extracted and executed in the Longbow directory), after I executed it, I got an error about some DLL file ? and I clicked ok, then the tracker interface appeared, and no where do I see anything that resemblems any settings as mentioned in the instructions like

""I tested a TrackIR flow I put together and it works reasonably well:
1. D/L the TrackMapper
http://kaf.tri6.net/trackmapper/files/trackmapper11a.zip
2. Set up ALL of the UP/DN/LF/RT sectors with the TILT and SLEW commands:
UP = NUMPAD8
DN = NUMPAD2
LF = NUMPAD4
RT = NUMPAD6
(LB2 does not have diagonal slew commands)
3. Set both check marks for the keytype produced in TrackMapper"

Any suggestions ?? thx

If youre getting DLL errors, then either you have
something conflicting with the TrackMapper utily
or you didnt have TIR fired up before firing up
TrackMapper, which might explain the DLL error
as it has nothing to communicate with?

I dont have the time to go into details of how
the TrackMapper works in conjuction with the game.

But suffice to say that if you experiment with
the TrackMapper interface by putting in the
appropriate view commands, you will figure it out.

Like I said before, it works OK, not perfectly
smooth and fast as with games that have native
TIR support. Its imperfect and dependant upon
how well you work with the Mapper utility.

I' appreciate the feedback, however im confused. I followed the instructions as they are written, but there a bit obscure for the novice,, I downloaded the file, unzipped it, ran the executable and the rest is written above.

"or you didnt have TIR fired up before firing up
TrackMapper, which might explain the DLL error
as it has nothing to communicate with?"

I didnt hav TIR fired up ? What is TIR? isnt that the utility that is brought up when I clicked on the executable file I extracted from the zip file ?

TIR is short hand for TrackIR

You have to have a TrackIR (TIR) device and its software/drivers for the trackmapper to work.

Well ,,, thanks ,,, I thought it was all part of the setup to get this thing to work,, have no idea then what a Trak IR device is then,,, I thought it had something to do with the slewing of the camera via the hat switch,,,Thanks anyway.

AV8R.

I'll add a link to the TrackIR web site and a disclaimer that you need it installed for the instuctions on that page to be effective!

Hi! I moved this one from the Weekend MP thread, page 2. I think it's better placed here.

I own an AMD Athlon64 3200+ CPU. This seems to make the installation procedure much easier. I don't need to manipulate the Boot.ini or any other files, except the heap percent addition in the CA.ini file.

Here's my post (slightly edited):
-----------------------------


A big thank you to you guys for your help!

Some comments on your tips:

-You can't use the glide wrapper unless you install the lb2_ddu.exe
This file generates the lb2cfg.exe you need to set the glide mode. At least if you use the German installation.
-You can't use the english patch on the German version. You get an error message that the patch isn't compatible.
I tried all your tips and the last one is the one and only one that helps.
I simply made a link on the desktop and activated the win95 compatibility mode.
After that I deactivated all other "tricks" step by step to find out the minimum manipulation I need to run the game properly.

I don't need to change the pagefile size at all. I'm one of the lucky guys who can use the allocator.exe to set the 366MB RAM use on the fly.

What I did to get the German Longbow2 version running:

First of all you should get the following progs from Speichert.com:

Allocator.exe
lb2209i.exe
lb2_ddu.exe
dgVoodoo Glide wrapper


1. Install the game on the default location c:\Janes\Longbow. Any other location would work with my method.

2. Install the patch lb2209i.exe. It's the international version you need, the english version doesn't work with the German game version.

3. Install the ddu patch (lb2_ddu.exe). You need it for the renderer settings.

4. Open the CA.ini file in the Longbow2 directory and append the following two lines to it:

[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

5. Install the dg Voodoo Glide wrapper. Simply copy the following three files into your Longbow2 folder:

GLIDE2X.DLL, GLIDE.DLL, DGVOODOOSETUP.EXE

6. Run lb2cfg.exe in the Longbow2 directory. Set the renderer to 3Dfx.

7. Copy the memory allocator (Allocator.exe) to the Longbow2 folder.

8. Make shortcuts on your desktop for LB2.exe, DGVoodoosetup.exe nad Allocator.exe.

9. Change the properties of the LB2.exe shortcut. Right-click -> Properties. Click the "Compatibility" tab. Activate the Compatibility mode checkbox (how's it called in English?) and choose Windows 95 in the drop-down menu. Click OK.

10. Congratulations. You're done. and you finished the game you can close the allocator.exe.

al'be:do

What OS are you using, WinXP SP2?
Didnt see it in your specs or instructions.

Im not so sure you need the DDU patch if you
intend to use 3DFX and glide wrapper because
the default render mode is 3DFX out of the box.
The DDU patch was to give the display engine a
DirectDraw upgrade instead of 3DFX for the non
3DFX video cards like the old TnTs. If you use
the DDU mode, one has to make sure to add the proper
lb2cfg lines are added per the procedure outlined.
Plus selecting DirectDraw and the video card too.

Also note that Win Compatibility toolkit does two thingS:
Memory lie (limits to 336mb) and sets the windows95 compatibility mode.
So if you dont use this ToolKit, it can be replaced by the other "tricks" that do the same thing, such as:
Win95 mode set with the desktop icon, allocator or boot.ini for memory limiting.

Different hardware and OS configurations seem to
respond well to different combinations of the
tricks or workarounds we have documented.

Glad you found one that works for you.
And thanks for spending the time to report what combo worked for your rig.
Everyone that is successful can help others by doing the same.
Yours might be the first documented international patched 2209i LB2 rig.

minus the politics of course j/k

Yeah, you're right. But I find the link with the Win95 compatibility setting is the easiest way. And the allocator.exe is a really cool tool to set the memory size on the fly. No reboots needed

So I still can say "Lucky me!"

I'll update my Signature. I simply forgot to add my OS.

By the way, d3d doesn't work with my rig.

I forgot that Americans are similar to the French concerning patriotism. That won't ever happen again, I promise. j/k

Concerning multiple controllers:

If you're one of the lucky customers of CH Products you can use for example the Fighterstick USB, Throttle Pro and Pedals at the same time with any old game.
With the CH Control manager you can combine all controllers into one virtual controller.

I'm looking forward to using this great feature.

I'd like to use my widescreen capabilities with this great game. Is there any way to use the full widescreen resolution without any ugly image stretching?
I also bought Super EF2000 (the second great game everyone should have) and it doesn't stretch the image to fit. Everything on WS is still in shape and circles look like circles, not like pumpkins.

"I forgot that Americans are similar to the French concerning patriotism.
That won't ever happen again, I promise. j/k"

To qoute Ronald Reagan...
"there you go again"...
Ya, I think the Francais and the Americans
stopped being politically alligned when
Laffyette helped Washington back in 1775.

Actually, I wasnt too put off by your politics
in light of what Hitler did to the world and Germany itself.
One greedy evil maniac killed over 50 million.
http://www.hitler.org/ww2-deaths.html
If that was in the US history, I might feel the same as with what you shared, but...

Its just a good idea to not share such thoughts
with strangers especially on holidays and when
there is a cultural divide in humor, politics and
historical perspective.

Glad to see youre flying now

Thanks, mate.

Could you take a second look at my post, I've edited it at the end. I'd like to know if widescreen resolutions are possible without squashed images.

P.S.: I never played LB2 before but I loved the older LB1, especially the flight instructor's German voice. He sounded like Kermit the frog meets Bootcamp. Now imagine this combination with a dark toned voice.

The new voice is not half as funny but the game rocks nonetheless.
Now I'm going to do some flight lessons

I have LB2 on my 17inch widescreen laptop,
if my memory serves me... it does just squish
it some, but not that bad at 1440xWhatever.

In the sticky post on this forum, a guy named
H4RM talks about this very topic. Go look.

Im just guessing here, but its possible your
system is running too fast, hence the kermit
voiced audio. Try slowing down the game either
with the dgVoodoo glide wrapper with the monitor
synch checked,
or with one of the throttle utilities.

No, you misunderstood me.
I talked about the old LB1 version. The instructor's voice (German) was really funny, but as I told like Kermit with a dark voice.
And this was using my PIII 500Mhz several years ago. Many Game magazins made Jokes about this voice.
I'll try to extract some sound examples

The LB2 runs fine and at the right speed, as it is told earlier that the Glide wrapper takes care of the correct game speed.

I'm very picky about image distortions and they are not negligible if you stretch a 4:3 image to 16:10 proportions.

As I said, strangely Super EF2000 does scale the image without distortions although widescreen TFT's were future music at that time

I'll take a look into the Widescreengaming Forum. They have useful tips for many older games, too. I'll tell you if I found something.

I'm guessing you are talking about the 2d-cockpit in LB2. 2d images will stretch, EF2000 has a 3d-cockpit.

Well, yes.

But even 3d imagery could stretch. This is not necessarily guaranteeing a view without aspect errors. But in the case of EF2000 it's right.

If you squish your eyeball with one hand
and fly with the other, you can get the
widescreen's distortion to look unsquished again.

Takes lots of skills to fly that way though.

And your eyes might not be compatible with wide-screen anymore

okay guys, im using xp sp2 , 1 gb ram, athlon 1,3ghz, GF 2 mx 400 and vodoo 3300 (disable via control panel), i did the ram thing, installed the patch, tryed to instal the video patch but it didnt allow me, i set everything as it is on the site, but the game just go blank after i click on the icon and CTD, i´m using the GF, i tryed with the vodoo only, and same problem...any thoughs?
i instaled it on my 98SE, same pc, but the game installs and run okay until i click to start a mission, campaing, free flight whatever, then the game simply gives me a errow windows, and close

RJ,

You need to organize your thoughts and words so
that we can help you.

Too much information and not in a clear format.
You need to stick to one system, state exactly
what you did, and not jump around to different systems and OS.

Else its just too hard to try to help you.

The GFMX400s were about the worst card they ever made, so you might stay away from that card for starters. Im not familiar with what a video patch is. What is the ram thing (which methotd) you used? What did you do for compatibility? What graphics mode (glide or D3D)? What edits did you make to any of the config files? What version of the game and patches did you use?

Yeah, try it maybe in a listing of the thing you tried to get the game running.

like

1. RAM manipulation with
-allocator.exe
-boot.ini
- ...

Maybe you tried to install the wrong patch. Do you have the american or European version of the game?

okay..... my system
windows xp sp2
athlon 1,3 ghz , 1gb ram
GF 2 400 mx, and vodoo 3 3300 (on pci slot disabled via control panel to avoid conflict)

i instaled the patch, tryed to install the video patch, but the video patch didnt work only the original patch.

i did the "memory thing" ( the no swap file method)

tryed to run the game, no go!
i disable the gf2, and enabled the vodoo,
tryed to load the game agains, no go just a black screen and ctd.
i tryed the demo and got a black screen and ctd

then i tryed win 98 partition ,still using the vodoo, instaled the game and the orignal patch,again the video patch didnt work, the game opened, showed the intro, menus etc. then i load a mission , it loads but when it will start,it give me an error

"LB2 causou uma falha de página inválida no
módulo (caused a invalid page fail in module) KERNEL32.DLL em 019f:bff7a125.
Registros:
EAX=20030f6c CS=019f EIP=bff7a125 EFLGS=00010212
EBX=2317f004 SS=01a7 ESP=0071ea28 EBP=0071ea68
ECX=2003000c DS=01a7 ESI=20030f6c FS=4087
EDX=00100000 ES=01a7 EDI=0314e098 GS=0000
Bytes em CS:EIP:
8b 03 a8 01 74 25 25 fc ff ff 0f 8b 53 08 03 f8
Esvaziamento da pilha:(battery leak?)
0071ea68 0314e098 20030074 00000ef8 bff7a3a0 20030000 20030f6c 0314e098 00000000 2003000c 20030000 20030074 00000000 00000000 0002317f 00020031

odd thing is the demo runs fine.

also is there a no cd patch or sth? cos i could sweat my cdrom drive would take off as he struggled to load the cenario and textures.
ps: why does it have 2 cds? my second is useless it wasnt even requested on install.

Did you try limiting your RAM to 366 in addition to the no swap file?

The second CD contains the Azerbaijan map and campaign.

yep, i limited the ram and my windows refused to start, norton bi****about not enough ram, and my system was halt

In this case, I'd suggest you disable Norton when you reset your memory.

I recommend sticking to the WinXP SP2 OS and formated disks. (stay away from Win98 for now as
we dont have much to offer in helps on that OS).
Below are the steps I recommend you try explicitly (start from scratch):

1. Install LB2 and install the english or international patch (I recommend the e-patch for starters as its the most tested)

2. Install LB2 DDU patch, even if you intend to
use 3DFX and not D3D graphics engine. The out-of-the-box install uses the 3DFX graphics engine, so its "optional" to install this DDU patch if you intend to stick to 3DFX.
However, if you plan on running D3D its required.
Again, I recommend installing it anyways, as Ive had success running 3DFX on 3 systems doing this and I dont know how many others Ive helped getting LB2 going on various rigs.

3. Run the new utility deposited by the DDU patch called "lb2cfg.exe", and select 3DFX.

4. Edit your CA.INI file and put this at the top:
[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

5. Use the "System Configuration Utility Method" which edits your BOOT.INI file and limits your RAM to 366mb. The reason I recommend this is that it doesnt install anything and is pretty easy to get right. Remember to reboot after making the changes, and to unset it after your done using it.

6. Use a GLIDE wrapper.
The older video cards you have might not need a glide wrapper, but its probably essential to have the correct 3DFX drivers that were used back then. Heres one place you might try to get 3DFX wrappers for the older cards:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=572

Below is feedback from a guy that ran a V5 with WinXP, which is closer to what youre doing:
----------
So, problem solved on XP PRO with Voodoo 5 card:

1) Don't install glide2.dll and glide3.dll.
2) Do not put them into the windows\system32 directory!
3) Do not REPLACE your current glide2.dll or glide3.dll!

Simply extract them to the main LB2 directory!
It seems that you MUST HAVE THESE glide2.dll AND glide3.dll FILES IN THE LONGBOW DIRECTORY
--------

So you might try without the dgVoodoo glide wrapper first. If that doesnt work, then try the wrapper.

I recommend the dgVoodoo 1.40+ version (there is newer, but little testing has been done with the 1.50). Get the dgVoodoo wrapper here:
http://www.freeweb.hu/dege/dgVoodoo1.40plus.zip
Set it up like shown below (Glide tab settings):



Then kiss the monitor and give it a go...

thanks so much for you attention and help, i´ll try it tonight when i get home.

thank you all for your help, attention and caring, but i give up!
couldnt make this game run neither on xp or 98se....with exception of JF-18 all my old games runs fine in xp without me having to tweak anything, but this longbow just dont wanna give me his grace. maybe with my luck i got a corrupted cd, although its weird the problem only shows up when im about to start a mission, damn teaser beech.
is there a way to config the game externaly of the main game system? like il2,fb? cos even in game there is no such option, that would be my last ,if any, hope.
i should had no problem at all since the demo runs smooth here. both xp and 98.

(sighs) i definetely aint buying another copy...

well, if thats it, thanks again for all your caring, see you in other sims though.

You didnt get your CD from that MOMIME guy on Ebay did you?

Stay away from him like the plague.

So what did you do following my explicit directions,
and what didnt work.

You have to be our eyes.

i did every single thing you told me to do in the previous post with the exception of the instalation of LB2 DDU patch ,since it refused to isntall, but i doubt it would make any diference anyway. i even kissed the monitor but then he gave me a grin smile.....it was scary

Funnily enough, I'm having exactly the same problem trying to get LB2 running on my XP system.
I installed the program and it worked for one flight!!
Now when I start a mission is flashes the LONGBOW 2 screen up momentarily and then says that it has to close down and returns me to desktop!
How frustrating is this?!!!!
Arrrrrggh!!

at least yours worked once, thats a sign it may work again, mine stop in the very moment the game will start after loading all the crap from the mission.....

BLADERJ,
"No tongues" when kissing the monitor...
(from Young Frankenstien)

Seriously,
- what video card did you use?
- what video drivers and glide wrapper?
- what version of LB2 (English) and patch?
- and insights as to why DDU didnt install?
- did you try software mode?


DJF,
Running once is such a Brit thing. (joking)
Seriousy, tell us more about your system and
what you did when you follow the instructions above.


Success is usually a couple of steps beyond giving up.

lol, oh the American wit!! That's why we love you guys so much here in the UK! Ha ha.

I'll get back to you on what I'm running, it's a new system so I've not actually looked properly yet but I've done pretty much everything suggested here. Stand by, I'll be back with my setup.

Dan.

OK, firstly, you'll have to bear with me, I'm not very good with computers so the jargon tends to baffle me!!
I'm running XP on a system with a Celeron 2.6 GHz processor with 192Mb RAM.

Can't find out what graphics card I have but I have a feeling that it is an integrated one.

Gone through those instructions again and I'm trying to find out how I can do step 5 (the system configuration utility method)? I don't have a clue!!

Please can somebody give me any clues??!!

Dan.

!!! you only have 192mb ram? or you set it like this?

to find your card, go to , start >control panel>system> hardware sth (sorry mine is portuguese and this is how far i can translate without seeing the eng version of xp) , there will be a tab with you hardware, clicl the root for you graphic card

Perhaps I haven't got 192MB of RAM, I did think that sounded strange, I'll look again!

Ok, I'll give that a go, thanks!

Hi Fellow Pilots,

I want to Express my thankfulness for giving us again this great title Longbow 2,

I've installed it as it appears in the speichts guide and it came to life, but a problem has developed with it,

My hardware is not a gaming rig but it can handle Longbow 2 easily, my video board is A nVidia FX 5700LE (latest drivers installed) and the problem I have is that when you switch to an external view, The "transparency" of the crew's glass windshield panels has gone out, instead It looks like a mirror, "reflecting" everything outside the helicopter, but the most annoying is that both, the main Rotor and the tail rotor appear like opaque black disks, the fuzzy rotational illusion is not Shown anymore.

I've set all the features of the video card almost to the ground (no anti aliasing, no mipmapping, No everything, nothing at all) and the problem persists.

I've downloaded and executed the useful Glide Wrapper, but making every sort of changes Did not resolved anything.

Please, let me know if you have a solution for this near apparently unresolvable error.

sagu...what glide wrapper are you using? did you try all of the options enabled at first? (like anti-aliasing, mipmapping, etc.)
me thinks that maybe by disabling all those options would make the game look a lot worse. instead of transparentcy, it would reflect. instead of a smoothed out rotor, it would be solid, etc.
if you haven't already, try setting all your glide wrapper settings to AV8R's settings (in the post with the DGVoodoo pic...about 12 above) and see what that does

Thank You, ' No user for a name' I've downloaded and installed the Zeckensack Glide Wrapper from http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2 and set it as explained with all of the features to the maximum performance. The problem is that before updating my video card drivers it worked fine, but when I install the up-to-date drivers all things went messed up and the black rotors/mirror like windscreens appeared. I don't think that a new driver get things wrong or worse than before but better and more efficient... but in this specific case I'm screwed up with this... If you think on something about I don't let me know please, I've expended a lot of time fixing all of the video settings from both the wrapper and the video card, one by one, mixing them in a very huge variety of forms and combinations and the result was the same (I'm getting more crazy than before)... I'm about to turn back on my older video driver (I don't want to do that but I'm burned out)... Thank you again for your help. Hoping for hear from you soon.

By the way, 'No User for a Name', I'll try the voodoo wrapper you told me before to make a change on my procedures and look for new things to happen, maybe there is the solution, but if you find something I'm doing wrong on what I explained to you, don't hesitate and let me know. Thanks.

SAGU,

I believe D3D can give you the mirrored windshields or windows on the cockpit.

Make sure youre running 3DFX and not D3D mode
if you ran the D3Dupdate patch.

Thanks a lot, ´No User For A Name´ and AV8R, I´ve solved my problem using the very useful dgvoodoo wrapper you posted in this forum. It´s remarkable that with any adjustments on the settings of my video card, and even working with all possible tweaking "on", the dgvoodoo wrapper handled the emulation with no problems at all. The images are now very nice and at their best. Thank you a lot for bringing back this title again to life, and for giving the support needed for simmers all over this watery and dusty sphere.

Our pleasure.

Now get your self tactical for online play.

I can't believe my good stroke of luck! I was looking through a box of old software I'd packed away several moves ago and was astonished to see Janes Longbow2 in it's pristine box (retail price tag $19.99). I had run across my original Longbow (retail price tag $59.99) in another box awhile back, but decided it wasn't much use without multplay capability and, besides, all the good tech assistance for its resurrection is here for LB2. I will review the procedures (already running the Glide Wrapper for F-22 ADF) and see if I can get it to work. Then begin reacquainting myself with this rediscovered treasure.

Woohoo! I should buy a Lotto ticket, this has really been my lucky day. The LB2 installation went well, better than I expected, and I followed Speicht's guide with the patching and went the DG Voodoo wrapper route. Everything works, no memory manipulations or timing issues. The only thing I couldn't get to work was the No-CD utility, but I haven't given up on that, either. It was like Christmas morning, watching the intro movies...I had to stop-drill my cheeks to keep 'em from cracking, I was smiling so much. I still have to setup my HOTAS for LB2, then invest the time to become proficient. Then maybe I'll see if I can tag along on one of the online nights.

An alternative to a no-cd is to make cd-images of the discs and mount them with a tool such as daemon or alcohol 120%.
And congrats on your discovery

My disk copy program will make ISO images and I downloaded Daemon Tools, but I'm stuck on how to go from there. The problem is that the files from Disk 1 were save as ISO Track1 and Disk 2 files were saved as ISO Track2. My daughter has used Daemon Tools and she explained that it creates a virtual drive, but she hasn't had any experience with programs requiring more than one disk, so when I tried to mount them (first Track1, then Track2), on startup it kept asking me to insert Disk 2 in the drive.

Another question: I installed, patched and did the Glide Wrapper thing hoping the No-CD utility would work (which it has not). Would I need to mount the ISO images and then run Setup, patches and so forth? I appreciate you guys helping me get this far.

Right-click Daemon, select "virtual cd/dvd-rom" then "set number of devices" and the amount.
I've never used the no-cd exe.

I go the ISO route too. We should probably spruce up the guide to include details on that. Daemon tools is great.

I hate to be obtuse, but is Shadow=ASP= saying I should set the number of devices as 2 (one for Disk1/ISO Track1, the other for Disk2/ISO Track2)?

Back to my other question, do I then have to run the setup from within these mounted files?

Sorry for continuing to ask, but I just want to have a clear understanding of the steps. It's no problem to do another installation, patch sequence, and Glide Wrapper thingy in this way if it will set me up so I can run without having to use my precious CD. Thanks in advance yet again.

Yes, set number of devices to 2 or more. Now you'll see you have 2 more cd-rom devices listed.
It doesnt matter if you install the game via one of the fake drives with a disc-image or not. LB2 can see the cd/image in any real or fake cd-drive.
When you start the game just make sure both images are mounted in two separate fake cd-drives. That way you'll never be asked to change discs mid-game. Also, LB2 doesnt have any copy-protection so no need for the original discs anymore when you mount images in daemon.

Thanks for all the help, Shadow, I'm now in business! I already had installed the game on my D: drive with all the patches and Glide Wrapper. I wasn't familiar with whether I needed to run the install from the ISO Track1 virtual drive for it to work (and delete what I'd already installed). My daughter explained, as you did, that LB2 would find the virtual drives and run what was needed. This is fantastic, being able to safeguard the hard to find original disks and still play the game, only a bit speedier owing to the HDDs. Now come the hours of trying to gain combat proficiency. I appreciate your help. Thanks also to PositiveG for the Guide.

Don't forget the option is there to install from one drive, unload mid-installation process to load the second cd.

You do not have to have 2 virtual drives.

I have win xp and can get the game running w/ no tweaking. I have 512 mb ram.

When I try to fly the kiowa the game crashes.

I have tried "2muchmen" with no luck, as well as running win 95 compatability.

I looked at ?spiegals? site but no help there, any ideas? thanks

Hmmm...likewise, I was able to run LB2 under XP Pro without selecting compatibility mode or other tweaks (except for the DGVoodoo wrapper for graphics and Turbo.exe to slow the CPU). I am able to fly the Kiowa without any hitches, so I'm not sure what's going on with the game crashes you're experiencing. I didn't have to run 2muchmem, but I did elect to do the Daemon Tools option so I could mount my two disks as virtual drives and put them away for safekeeping.

UPDATE


I can get the kiowa to work using boot ini and setting maxmem to 366, but after a few miniuts the game freezes

any suggestins?

Tried the heap setting in CA.ini?

HI.
I am computer stupid and i cannot get longbow gold to run on ep and i need detailed step by step instruction. and if there are patches links to where i can find them

hope to play again soon

Wow, I am just now switching to LB2 from EECH. I have the anthology on its way to me. After reading this entire thread this install should be fun. Im coming over to LB2 cause EECH has moved away from the apache and I want to fly actual choppers that are in service. So hello everyone, you will here from me again!(probably in this thread once install starts)

I B Spectre,

After reading your post, I tried reinstalling my LB2, patched, then ddu, then dgvoodoo but no joy. I get an error of AppName: lb2.exe AppVer: 2.0.9.0 ModName: wrapdll.dle
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 000c896c

Can you please post EXACTLY the steps you did to get yours to work? including what you select when you ran ddu patch as well. I have PNY 6800GT for video. I don't know what settings to set for anything. Please write as you would for a dummy. I haven't gotten LB2 to work since Win98 so I gave up for awhile.

Please do the needful.

Thanks,
Gunny

nvm, I got it working. Now just the rudder is not responding. Thanks to all that posted their ideas.

What does the heap do and why is it needed? I'm using dgVoodoo and WAC only.

Reticuli.

Mario provided this tip to this forum. I documented it here;
http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2/basic_install.html



"Once done, browse your install folder and adjust your CA.INI file to include this gem!
[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

Simply cut and paste or type this text to the top or bottom of the file.

This eliminates the need for the EmulateHeap compatibility fix (explained in the RAM section later)."




http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2/ram.html
EmulateHeap
No longer needed, it's been REMOVED! Thanks to the [Backdoor] CA.INI fix above!

This older compatibility fix emulates the functionality of the Windows 9x heap manager. It is a full implementation of the Windows 9x heap manager ported to Windows XP. Applies to: Windows 95, Windows 98



What's a Heap Manager?
http://www.jps.at/dev/kurs/3-23.html

If you're using the WAC, though, doesn't that include both automatic Win 95 compatibility and the Global Memory Lie? So if you're using the WAC you shouldn't need the Heap thing, right?

The WAC method (at least with my new .db file) ONLY has the Global Memory Status lie (it's not really Win 95 compat mode either). If you're using my New WAC .db then you need to insure you add the Heap variable to ca.ini.

My new .db has the Emulate Heap WAC settings removed. It's not needed as The Heap variable in ca.ini adjusts the game behaviour directly. My thoughts were if you can adjust game behaviour directly, it's usually better then trying to run compatibility settings.

It took a very long time to build this WAC. I tried every option (then dismissed them) in the WAC toolkit to come up with what we have today. Lots of combinations were tried. You'd apply them, restart game, dismiss one WAC option, repeat. Very time consuming. Vista has even more options.
Luckily it appears that Vistas XP SP2 compat mode, applied directly to the LB2.EXE file, negates the use of any of these major memory tweaks now.

sagu:
I d/l'ed WAC (5.0) and cant fighre out how to limit the RAM. The screen shot in your guide is no longer the same. Please help!

I
Got it going using the wac lb2.zip! no compat or mem limits!!!

Has anyone tried to run LongBow Gold anymore? I cant get it to work with ANY guide on XP

Huh? I use the WAC method and can fly the Kiowa just fine...er..well..I really can't fly it very well, but it is FLYABLE just fine

Nav Map in flight... CHECK!

What's the problem?

Recluse

Hi i am new in the forum , id like longbow 2 very much, but when i make the installation and then play the game, i notice that the apache jst turn very slow, its like i fly a heavy stone. Could you fix that?

My pc is a dual core3.0ghz with 1gb of ram, i use the zeckensack's Glide wrapper and work fine, please help me the game works fine , the problem is thata is very difficult to turn. is to slow like i said before.

Everytime I try to install LB2 I get "Error Copying Files."
?

hi

i just install LB1 on my win98 pc, its run well, but my HOTAS will work right.
it all from CH.
fighterstick UBS
pro throttle UBS
rudder UBS
control manager 4.20

i set it so the game only see 1 device, but in the game the throttle not working.
thanks.

Does anyone else got virus / trojan warnings on all the patches downloaded from speichts ??

Hi skeemo, I remember numerous posts reporting supposed virus/trojan warnings associated with the patches to which you refer. In every case, it was judged to be a false positive reported by the anti-virus. I don't know which AV you're running, but do a search of the Longbow boards and query something like "virus warning" and I think you'll find ample responses to put your mind at ease. Good luck!

Spectre Buddy! Long time no see!! How the heck are you? We've missed you. Any chance you might have some time for various simming ventures this summer?

I've finally gotten this to work on my XP system, but I can't seem to get the ISO disk image to work,
made disk images which mount as H and I drives but Longbow doesn't see these drives and will not access the ISO images.

Just to clarify, the patches (other than the no-CD-exe) are not hosted on my site, but rather include links to the original patches on the EA Games FTP server. Those EA patches are 100% clean. The No-CD-exe gives false virus reports, but now that the ISO method has been proven to work much better, I've decided to no longer promote the No-CD.exe and have removed it's link from my site.

What other drive letters do you have free?

I used F.

I got it to work you guys are geniuses. What a great game! I have EECH fully modded and it has wonderful graphics but no training,this has admittedly intensive training.

http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2/faq.html

I've tried forEVER to get Longbow 2 to work off some downloaded ISO's.

FINALLY.

IT WORKS. No more "ERROR COPYING FILES" bs.

Ohmygod ironic. The ISOs I downloaded were bugged. I guess that's fair play for not looking for them.

End result is that the LB2.exe was infected with something. Can I get a replacement .exe to enjoy this classic? The rest of the install seems to be alright.

Kobura - might be ok. IF you have an av program reporting that the longbow executable is a trojan or something similar...a number of us get that. I use my original disks and the official patches, and have to turn off my AV to run Longbow. Not unusual I understand. But of course you have to be the judge of such things on your machine.

Jane's LB2 still cannot run on Windows 2000 right? no luck for anyone there?

I haven't tried, nor have I ever heard anyone get it to work on Windows 2000.

Some info to share, just in case someone is still having similar problems:

I'm running LB2 on Win7. I was using PriFinity to set LB2 to 1 processor to help slowing it down. However, I still had random CTDs. As per Flyboy's recomendations (and against my will, I hate installing unnecessary windows stuff unless it's application specifics) I installed the Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit and LB2 fix.

After that I couldn't use Prifinity anymore (everytime I launched LB2, I got an explorer.exe crash). I'm using WinLaunchXP to set and launch LB2 using 1 processor and it's running fine now.

This is what I have:
LB2 installed and patched using Flyboy's Win7 fix (on this forum)
CA.ini fix
Application Compatibility Toolkit
WinLaunchXP

everything working great. Thanks a lot to Flyboys for the feedback.

Can you send me that WinLaunchXP program?

By the way, I don't actually think you need to install the Application Compatibility Toolkit, just the file from +G's site. I believe that's how +G told me.

Which ACT file off +G's site did you use?

Hi Flyboy:

Check yur PM....

As for the ACT file, I used the one called PositiveGs-database.zip. I tried using the WAC-LB2.ZIP but the link doesn't seem to be valid any longer (it just took me to a web-site with a black page).

Please let me know....

I have it 39kb, but darn if i can remember how to attach it to a pm.

Punisher - thanks for noticing that that file was missing, I'll fix it ASAP.

jaegermeister - you just have to upload the file somewhere then paste the link in here, you can't actually attach files and send them like with e-mail.

EDIT: Link fixed! The file was already uploaded, but it was a simple case of the file extension being uppercase (.ZIP) and the link looking for lowercase (.zip). Damn case-sensitive servers!

Flyboy, I owe you everything. I had a friend look up Longbow2 on Usenet and get me some isos, then discovered just yesterday your 7/Vista fix.

No CPU timing issues
No CTD/black screen of lockup death

It's amazing! Also I'm running Comodo's firewall and it works fine, seem to remember that being an issue with someone(s).

I regret to say I'm not as skilled at Advanced Avionics and Advanced Flight Controls as I was when I first played this game
about twelve years ago
when I was less than ten

But I'm happily learning. I'd be honored to seed the torrent so others can enjoy this game! And someday I hope to fly with others.

Okay. I have a really odd one on my hands.

When I install the game on my system before rebooting it runs fine! Even in 1080p.

As soon as I restart my computer or shut it down, then I start playing LB2, I get a really odd framerate stutter. The game will run smoothly for 10 seconds or so, then the graphics will skip like a scratched CD. Then resume fine... Then skip again. It's so annoying that it becomes unplayable. It just makes no sense to me. So lately I've been reinstalling the game everytime my computer reboots or shuts down.

I use the voodoo wrapper, modified CA.ini file from Flyboy's awesome website, and the batch file from Speichts for my mem.

Any geniuses out there have any idea? (My processor does hyperthread, but it's not a true dual core. I can set an affinity for the program so it just runs on one thread... I don't think this has anything to do with it though. Why would it run awesome right after install?)

I tried to follow install instructions for XP, but every time I try to enter the game I get a CTD with an error of

AppName: lb2.exe AppVer: 2.0.9.0 ModName: wrapdll.dle ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 000c896c

Any idea please?

First off what are your specs and OS, etc?

Can someone else drop-in and help here - I may be offline for a few days to come. Need to get some proper work done!

Have Windows XP Pro 3d service pack on a Dual Core with 3Gb RAM with a Nvidia Gforce 9600. Will really like to get some help as the new Apache sim in development made me hungry of rotor flights.

I've never come across this particular problem before.

First, make sure to have applied the patch and display driver update. Also use my CA.INI fix.

Run in Software mode first (if you are trying to use 3DFX mode and a glide wrapper.

You could also try disabling one core on your processor.

Two things. What is the CA.ini fix and where to get it?
I tried Software mode with no luck, not any of the other modes either. Also have no idea of how to disable one of my cores.

The CA.INI fix. Just replace the file in the game install folder...
http://digitality.emenace.com/flyboy/lb2/setup/xp-fix.zip

Use WinLauncherXP to disable processor cores easily...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/WinLauncherXP_d870.html

Read my article for more... Jane's Longbow 2 and Modern Computers
http://www.simhq.com/_air13/air_437a.html

I too am having the stutter problem 10 seconds into flight in 3dfx mode.I have done everything listed to setup the LB2.I did install it on XP,copy it over to my W7 x64 system patched up and run all the utilities.Im using DGvoodoo.I agree its a sound looping problem or something.How do we fix this because frame rate makes the sim impossible to fly at like 2-4fps.Its running fine in d3d but of course the graphics in d3d suck bad compared to 3dfx.

My system,

AMD 9850 Quad
6GB ram
W 7 x64
Nvidia GTS 250 1GB ram
DVDRW

akwar - your guess is as good as mine nowadays. It's good to hear that it runs OK in D3D though.

akwar - I almost forgot about Phoenix's fixes. Go to down to Phoenix's LB2 Final Solutions towards the bottom of the page linked below. Read the description there and see if you think it would help.

http://digitality.comyr.com/flyboy/lb2/setup/setup.html

I personally haven't got round to testing it myself yet, so can't vouch for it. I'd love to know how you get on if you do use it.

I am happy to report that fix worked perfectly and the sim now runs in 3dfx with only one issue so far.I had one screen freeze on starting a mission.Rebooting sim and flew 2 missions in the campaign with no issues.Ahhh a classic is brought back to life,thanks.

I'm glad it worked for you on first trial, akwar. It would be more interesting to know if it would do, say, 6 or 8 missions in a row though.

Thanks for testing it!

I was able to get through 8 missions without issues.

Congratulations! That's really good to know. Thanks for the further testing.

Glad you got it to work =)

Edit:
A few important things of note that I probably should have included in the readme:

* The fix already contains a line to set processor affinity to a single core. Setting affinity manually via Task manager or another 3rd party utility could cause unexpected behavior

* The fix contains a memory lie just like G+'s old one. There shouldn't be any need to limit memory manually, and I recommend you don't as this has the potential to cause problems.

* VERY IMPORTANT: If I understand what this line in CA.ini does, then I think it's pretty important that you have it:

[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

Do NOT use the EmulateHeap WAC fix unless you know you need it. This was included in G+'s oldest database. Microsoft's impelmentation of this seems to be broken on all 64-bit Windows OS's I've tested it on, causing more problems then it solved.

* Last thing:
I don't want to go through anymore troubleshooting rounds, but if you have any of the following problems then I should be able to fix them with minimal effort as I have a good idea of what my resolve them:
- Sound loops
- Windows Key, Alt-tabbing causes crash
- Database doesn't agree with 32-bit OS's or XP

thank y'all for the tips. I've fixed my problem through your opinions.

especially, thanks to Flyboy & Positiveg

I'm really enjoy my Ah64 flying

**p.s

for those people who got " wrapdll.dle " error, try this :

http://digitality.comyr.com/speichts/lb2/ram.html -> Download this file -> WAC-LB2.ZIP

Hi alphapass - thanks for that 'wrapdll.dle' fix suggestion.

Hi Phoneix:

Thanks for your ACT file. I was using PositiveGs-database file vut switched to yours to give it a try. I have no difference on any of the files, both run great for me.

However, it seems (so far) your dgVoodoo settings are working better for me. In the past LB2 ocasionally stopped responding when exiting the game (no big deal since I already was exiting) but now it hasn't done it yet (I had only tried like 5 or 6 times so far without it happening)....

Hello,

This is the first post I make on this forum, although I have been lurking around here for a few years in search of knowledge and tips & tricks.

I thought I'd share with you my recent experiences with Longbow 2 and how I got it working beautifully and in my opinion better than ever.

Longbow 2 has been with me for almost half my life now (I'm 28). Having played it on and off whenever I have had the chance and my computer setups allowed it.

Earlier this year I bought a new Macbook Pro laptop and on it I installed Windows 7 (64 bit) alongside OS X to be able to run Flight Simulator X and use my 40" LED TV as a display. And be able to sit comfortably in my armchair. :-)
Then I thought of the idea to try this out with Longbow 2.

After some initial struggles with the installation I found the Vista/Windows 7 package here and finally, success. Thanks Flyboy!

For stability I applied the LB2 compatibility database.

I have tried both nGlide 0.96 and dgVoodoo 1.5 extensively and dgVoodoo seems to be the better working of the two. Way better control over results than nGlide.

Having a laptop brings some nice benefits to the table. Windows give you different configurable power saving plans. Among the options are mininum/maximum allowed CPU power. I simply set the values ridiculously low (like 1%/2%) and now LB2 runs absolutely perfectly. The flight model feels like I remembered on my earliest systems. No more sudden blade stalls or things like that. HE rockets are more accurate aswell but not quite perfect. Limiting the CPU also got me rid of the repeating of input glitch that some people are experiencing.

As I mentioned I use my LED TV as a display and i set the resolution and refresh rate in Windows to 1920x1080@24Hz. This in combination with vsync in dgVoodoo also keeps frames down and more like the speeds we were used to back in the day.

All in all this masterpiece now runs smooth as silk on a larger display than I ever had before.
Back in 1997 I had neither of X45 joysticks, 40" TV:s or comfortable armchairs... :-D

I hope Combat Helo will match this! ;-)

Hi phuse!

Wow that's quite a story you wrote there. It's good that you finally decided to join, and I thought it only fitting that I should reply, at least first, as you directly thank me!

Thanks for typing the results from your observations, there's still something for all of us to learn as we keep progressing with trying to get LB2 to run on more and more modern and awkward systems. I for one never knew you could limit your available CPU power through power-saving options on a laptop, and I have a Windows 7 32-bit laptop.

It sounds great that you have a comfy armchair and a 40" TV, LB2 must look really cool on that!

And all on a Mac!

One question: Which LB2 compatibility database did you use?

Regards,
Flyboy

Flyboy:
I used Phoenix's final solution (LB2_fix.zip) found on your site.

Thanks for letting me know, it might come in useful to know in the future.

phuse - one more thing I meant to ask, what CPU do you have - you know, how many cores and what speed?

Flyboy: It is a Macbook Pro with Intel Core i5 2.54Ghz, 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, GeForce GT 330M.

Thanks for letting me know your specs.

I have tried using the fix from Phoenix's LB2 Final Solutions but Longbow 2 will not start up at all. All I get is LB2.exe has stopped working (even appears without the fix).

I am using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1 on an AMD Athlon X2 64 3800.

Also, if anyone is interested, Longbow Gold works flawlessly on DOSBox, as do all the other Janes games which can run under DOS.

First of all, make sure that you only have ONE USB game controller device plugged in! Note that a joystick with a built-in throttle counts as one, so is fine.

Have you got the CA.INI fix applied?

Are you running in 3DFX mode with a glide wrapper? Switch to Software mode and see if it still crashes.

If it does still crash, try some of the older Phoenix fixes.

You might simply be sh*t outta luck as you have the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

Hi to All,

I try to run it on XP SP3 with a 9600 GT card, and a Saitek X52 incl. throttle. lb2209 patch and dgvoodoo 1.50 installed (ddu patch not, because every time it makes LB2.exe simply disappear from the install directory), everything runs flawlessly at the beginning on 640x480.

Problems: sometimes the key commands sent by the Saitek (all programmed as macros, so no "multiple presses") are executed double-triple times. After a while into the mission, the connection between the game and all input devices (keyboard, joystick buttons) seem to break up, only mouse and joystick 3 axes and throttle remain in control of the game, on the last I lost throttle input too.

Anyone with the same experience?

THX: Razor18

Yes - I have had it a few times over the years, and never have determined what was the cause - or the cure. Restarting returned thngs to normal.

I managed to get Longbow 2 working with no crashes.

I installed the fix first then mounted the Longbow 2 CDs. I set the compatibility mode to WinXPSP2 for the lb2.exe from the fix and the game ran fine.

Sometimes the colours on the base screens get inverted but they go away when you go to another screen.

There seems to be a bug present in the gameplay such as the rotors braking when pressing the hover hold button causing the helicopter to crash. I also found that the helicopters were slow to respond to movement commands even when the settings have been changed to keyboard only.

It was good to get the game finally running. However I was a little disappointed with the game itself. It just does not compare to Longbow Gold. The voice acting is not to my liking, the Blackhawk and Kiowa seem to be half finsihed to the point that game could have done without them and the mission overview screens look messy. I did like the 3D cockpits though and it looks great with the dgVoodoo installed. Overall, I think that Longbow Gold is the better of the two games. It is more polished and complete and despite the dated graphics, it is still a solid game after all these years.

SUCCESS!!

Was going through some old boxes in my basement and found my old LB2 disks and manual. I loved that game, so I tried to install on my Vista PC with no luck. Then, by pure chance, I decided to do a Google search and see if anyone had ever developed a fix and this directed me to the SimHQ forum and, ultimately, to Flyboy's site.

After reading through everything I could find on the two sites, I decided to try the Glide Wrapper Mode from A. Speichts (on Flyboy's site)and IT WORKED!!! I have excellent graphics, no crashes, and everything appears to work just like in the old days.

A very big THANK YOU to all who have developed these wonderful fixes, mods, add-ons, etc. You've made an old LB2 pilot very happy.

Now to re-learn how to fly this baby. I'M IN HEAVEN!!!

Rich

PS: wouldn't it be great if EA were to hire Andy Hollis to revamp LB2 and make LB3? I would pay $100 up front if I knew he was doing it.

RichG - Hello and welcome to the forums! Congrats on finding LB2 and getting it to work again! May I ask, what glide wrapper are you using?

As for the LB3 comment, have you heard of the 'Combat-Helo' sim? It's being developed by an indie dev team and is kind of a spiritual successor to LB2. It's still in development, but hopefully a firing range demo will be released around Christmas.
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/216/1/Combat_Helo.html

Hi Flyboy,

I'm using dgVoodoo Wrapper 1.4. Tried the 1.5 and had a lot of screen flicker, so I went down/backwards and the 1.4 appears to work.

Thanks for the heads up on the new helo sim. Can't wait

Rich

Hello Flyboy,

I have just spent the past hour or so pouring over all the info on the Combat-Helo website as well as some of the videos posted and I am excited to see this one coming. I really like the idea that the game (emphasis on 'game') will be targeted somewhere between LB2 and DCS:BS in complexity. I tried DCS:BS and, while I like the realistic flight model, I had a real hard time with all the buttons to push, especially when I am flying in for a kill. Plus, I think they forgot to make it a game, which to me = FUN. (I know, I know, it is touted as an extremely accurate study simulation, but I still like to have fun killing tanks and earning medals!)

I am looking forward to seeing the progress of this one. Thanks again for cluing me in - and for all of YOUR hard work in getting the LB2 to work on modern machines (my earlier all inclusive 'thank you' was directed 90% to you).

Regards,

Rich

Hi RichG, no problem with dropping you a nod towards Combat-Helo. I've pretty much known of that sim right back to its first development in the early 2000s. It just never took off, pardon the pun, until a couple of years ago when the project was revived.

See my Combat-Helo 'tribute' site, which recreates the official website of the time to do with the earliest versions. Plus there are some exclusive screenshots and stuff there, that weren't on the original site. Note that the screenshots in no way represent the graphical quality of the new version of the sim, but give you a good idea of how far it came before it was scrapped and, since revived, how far it has come!

http://digitality.comyr.com/flyboy/chelo/

Thanks for the appreciation!

Regards, Flyboy

I've tried many advices and fixes to run LB2 on newer OS's, but nothing worked for me.

Finally, I managed to run it without any problems on virtual PC, using Oracle VirtualBox:
https://www.virtualbox.org/

It took me about 2 hours to set up VB (Win98 install, drivers, etc) and almost no time to install and run LB2.

Be sure to read all tutorials in full, they explain everything you need to set up VPC running Win98:
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=89dbe000e7921c3fe43317b6fd5bc795

AV8R joystick is working OK, will try few more if time permits.