Hi and thanks for everyone putting the work into getting this awesome sim working on the latest computers. It appears, however, that the link for the Win7/Vista fix is broken, or more accurately leads to a file not found. This is strange as there appears to have been several downloads of it in the past week. Anyone have any ideas?

I also have a question about what actually needs to be installed to get it to run(theoretically) on a 64bit Vista or 7 machine? I've seen various threads listing things that should be done but I haven't seen anything specifically related to the newer OS's. Assuming the fix is available do I still need to apply the official Janes patch, any of the d3d fixes (I assume not as has been previously mentioned they don't work on 64 bit machines)

Thanks in advance for any help

Hi Lorien, welcome to the forums!

The Windows Vista/7 Fix was created by me, and thanks for notifiying me of the broken download link. FileFront recently changed their name to GameFront, and all previous download links linking to a filefront.com address have now, it seems ALL been broken. When I was first made aware of this, it appeared that SOME file links remained intact. I may perhaps have been wrong or this has since been broken. The reason that it appears downloads have been had this week is because the site clocks up the number of 'Download' button presses - which as you know now leads to a non-existent page.

I'll re-upload the file at earliest convenience and when I do so, I'll amend the link at the start of this topic and may send you a PM here so you know.

And to answer the second part of your query, that is indeed what my fix is for - so you don't have to install everything individually or need to know what you need to run the game. Although, it should be noted that SOME users now need a separate Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit fix, and you do need a glide wrapper of choice for the pre-set 3DFX display mode - most use dgVoodoo v1.50Beta. All of that can be dealt with in good time though.

Thanks for the quick reply and additional info

Lorien - please see the RED text in the first entry on the first page of this topic. I have re-uploaded the file but am still having problems.

Unfortunately it still a "File not found"

EDIT
I've managed to get LB2 working, at least as far as I can see, and am now trying to fix some graphical glitches. *Reading through pages of posts trying to find the ones that relate to my problems*

Lorien - congrats! If you need any help PM me here. Just for your info, I have now also uploaded my fix file to RapidShare (find link on page 1).

Yes I downloaded it and it worked great (the version I had working didn't have the lb2cfg file so I would have to go into the files and change it manually). It seems I am facing the same choice others have had, either play in software mode, or play with a corrupted cockpit display.

Thanks again for your extended patience breathing life into this aging dinosaur of a sim.

Thanks for testing the download and my fix package. That lb2cfg.exe program is from the LB2 Display Driver Update (DDU) patch which allows you to choose between Software, Direct3D and 3DFX display modes. This was even in the pre-release demo so it's weird it never made it into the full game until a patch was released!

Are you using Windows 7? You running in 3DFX mode with dgVoodoo glide wrapper? To fix the cockpit, you can change the Renderer API setting in the dgVoodoo settings file to Direct3D9 - BUT, you will get a crash after each and every mission and won't be able to progress through a campaign or earn rank, etc. I guess that setting is currently on Direct3D7? If so, this is when you get that broken 2D cockpit view. You could always try Direct3D mode. It's not as nice-looking as emulated Glide but it would at least offer hardware-accelerated graphics. Select the 'Not sure' option in the lb2cfg.exe for which graphics card you have, under D3D. The only option after that is, yeah, Software mode.

I had been using Version 1.5 of DGVoodoo but discovered that I had downloaded a previous version awhile ago(1.4) so I tried that and, after some twiddling with the settings to stop CTDs on launch, the broken cockpit has been repaired. Aside from some lines appearing where the panels are stitched together it looks pretty good. It does appear though that I can't change the resolution. No matter what I set it to on the DGvoodoo setup it appears to remain at 640x480 both in the base and in flight. But hell it's an old game I can't expect miracles

Hi folks. First of all thank you all for your hard work on this. Its good to have hope of playin my favorite flight sim again. However i still have not been able to get my copy to work and i have about a million questions. Forgive me if this is a stupid question but i am pretty much clueless on how any of this stuff actually works. I have the longbow gold edition, which i discovered after countless hours of tinkering with different things, is pre-longbow 2. So will any of this advice work for me?

Thanks in advance for any help.
-Mike

Hi sythe1987, the fix that this particular forum topic is for is Longbow 2. Longbow Gold hasn't really been 'tried and tested' as much as LB2, on modern systems, but depending on your issues, there may be a simple solution. Please see your other topic in the forums for my answer to your query.

When I was installing the fix, Windows Defender detected a trojan:



I was hoping this fix would enable to run Longbow 2 without freezing.

On another note, Longbow Gold, and the other Jane's games based in DOS environments all work with DOSbox on both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7.

It's a common detection problem that happens in a number of AV programs. But no, it isn't a trojan. Does Defender give you the option to ignore rather than quarantine or delete? That's the thing to do, or disable while you install and when you run it.

What is it and what does it do?

Hi gaskin, as you may be aware this is my fix package for LB2 on Windows Vista and 7. Many anti-virus programs say that the LB2.EXE (the file needed to run the game) has some sort of Trojan virus or similar. It DOES NOT. It is what's known as a false-positive - a file that's said to be infected but really is not. There's just something in the LB2.EXE that triggers many AV programs.

The LB2.EXE is present in this fix package because it is needed to successfully install the game on systems that need this fix in the first place. If you have the option, choose to ignore this alert when it comes up as I can assure you it is SAFE.

This is a great fix - and it works so easy, flying Longbow 2 for the first time in 7 years.
Win 7, 64 bit, lots of RAM - no problem.

Thanks a lot!

Concerning virus varning - in AVG there is a simple utility where you manage exceptions, the easiest way is to install, when you get a warning about virus ignore the threat, manage an exception, and everything works, at least for me.

Hi Mats, great to hear that my fix worked for you and you are flying again! And yes, you are absolutely correct about how to handle exceptions in AV software.

got my copy of LB2 yesterday from ebay SEALED. need help with this fix. do i install it inside my installation folder of longbow 2?

ALSO THERE IS A MAJOR PROBLEM

whenever i try to run the LB2.exe(wether is installed in or out the installation folder of LB2) i get the "windows cannot access the specified device, path or file you may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item" error. i tried getting ownership of the .exe and folder, but to no avail. MS makes bunny cry

Hi FlightJunkie, welcome to the forums!

Congrats on getting a sealed copy of LB2! I hope you are not bankrupt now because of it, or got a thick ear off the missus!

OK, first things first.

I'm betting you get that 'Windows cannot access...' message because your anti-virus program has quarantined your LB2.EXE file. It is a commonly-known problem that many AV software programs detect a false-positive worm or something or other in the LB2.EXE. A false-positive is a positive detection of a false virus. Basically, your AV program is finding something that isn't there. To fix this, go into your AV program settings and exclude the LB2 folder from being scanned - in real-time and for manual scans, if possible.

Then, if you can restore the quarantined EXE to its original location, great! If not, re-install LB2 to the same location as it already is. Hopefully your LB2.EXE file should then remain untouched.

Yes, install the fix package to your LB2 folder and overwrite any files it asks you to. The fix includes the game, patch, and graphical driver patches in an 'installed' state. So it will basically install the game over the top of your installation. The reason you need to install the game at all, is so that theoretically every user has to have a copy of LB2 (a very basic anti-piracy measure) and so that the additional content that the game requires can be accessed from the game CDs or disc images.

Please don't hesitate to post back if you still have problems or any other queries at all.