Thanks to the guides at http://digitality.comyr.com/flyboy/lb2/install.html I've got Janes Longbow Gold installed under DOSBox.

TL;DR

I can calibrate a joystick but I can't then use it in the game. I've tried the DOSBox auto joystick setting (fcs and ch) and in side LB I've tried all those dosbox settings with 2 button, the 2 chs and2 fcs options. They all calabrate fine, I can see the joystick axis move around for cyclic but in game the stick doesn't respond.

The cursor keys control cyclic but not the stick!

Any tips? I've never played LB before. I've not read the entire manual yet but I have skimmed it and the appendix appears to be the only place that talks about joysticks.


I followed the idea in http://digitality.comyr.com/flyboy/lb2/inst_gold.html and created (3) ISOs (I used ImgBurn from http://www.imgburn.com/ ) disks 2 and 3 copied fine. Disk 1 was going great until 99% through it started to get read errors, I ended up continuing through (I'm not sure if this is relevant but didn't want to omit this detail, is there copy protection on the disk or is my disk bad?). I've tried copying disk 1 a couple of times now.

I ended up using a custom config in the front end D-Fend Reloaded http://sourceforge.net/projects/dfendreloaded/ - which includes DOSBox 0.74, this surprised me as I'd already installed Dosbox :-)

Install went fine, game starts fine (movie plays great, appears to play better in full screen mode).

I created a new pilot and jumped straight to free flight as I wanted to see how it was working.

I'm under the impression getting this running under recent Windows on a recent desktop is a real pain and that DOSBox is the best way to go. If there is better way I'd interested in reading about it :-) I've toying with the idea of trying VirtualBox (I saw http://digitality.comyr.com/flyboy/lb2/lbg-vpc.html )

Try SWAP34=TRUE in the DOSBOX config. Usually this fixes Throttle/Rudder problems, but give it a try.

I had a similar problem the last time I attempted to play Longbow Gold. After a lot of trial and error this was the solution I came up with:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3108682/LBGold_win_xp_and_DosBox#Post3108682

Fourth post down.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies!

Turns out my problem was that I needed "timed intervalls[sic] for axis" to be OFF (false).

The swap 3rd/4th axis allows throttle and ruder pedals to be swapped. What is wierd is that (Alt-O joystick) calibration works fine with "timed=true" but not in game. As soon as "timed=false" ("timed=0") then in game the stick suddenly worked :-)

I've not yet implemented advanced button mapping, and I still have most of the manual to read :-)


For anyone else extract from my ini/config file:

Glad you got it sorted out!! Lots of fun ahead....

X2, Have fun!