I've had good luck cobbling together a nice Jane's Longbow 2 experience on Windows 10 and thought I would share how I got there.

Longbow 2
Getting Longbow 2 Installed
To be thorough I'll include some steps you may not have to or want to take. The reason for these steps is that the installer does not work on anything past Windows XP as far as I know.
The software required to do this is: Windows XP, Jane's Longbow 2, the 2.09e patch, and the display driver update patch. EA's ftp server is no longer available, but fortunately there are archives like this one where you can obtain the software, ftp.ea.com archive.

• Installed a Windows XP VM.
• Installed Jane's Longbow 2.
• Installed the 2.09e patch.
• Install the Display Driver Update Patch.
• Copied the fresh install off to my Windows 10 Computer.

Getting Longbow 2 Installed the easy way
Assuming you don't want to do all of that you can start with Flyboy's V3 Longbow 2 Fix Flyboy's v3 Longbow 2 Fix

I placed the install in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2". If you put it somewhere different you'll want to adjust accordingly.

Running without inserting CD's
The next basic issue I had is that I don't even have a CD-ROM drive in my desktop anymore. The three times a year I need one I drag my laptop out to use it, so inserting a CD to play would be tough. Fortunately there's an easy way around this.

Copy the CD's/ISO's to two subfolders, Disk1 and Disk2, or something similar.

Create the file CDEmu.ini in with the contents:


Configuring Graphics
Edit CA.ini and in the Init section ensure these are set:


Install nGlide. It's the only glide wrapper I've found that both runs the game successfully and allows for successfully exiting missions back to the menus.

Compatibility Fixes
There seems to be lots of misleading information about what to do for compatibility. Some people suggest right clicking on the executable and settings a compatibility mode, usually Windows XP SP2 or SP3, while others suggest installing a compatibility fix created with ACT.

From my experience I can say that you absolutely should NOT set a compatibility mode on the executable. The only thing that should be need to get the game to run stable is GlobalMemoryStatusLie. Setting a Windows XP mode will also enable GlobalMemoryStatus2GB, which from my experience appears to override GlobalMemoryStatusLie and leave you in no better shape than without it.

Furthermore the sdb file in Flyboy's v3 Fix doesn't allow the game to launch in Windows 10 for me. I eventually narrowed it down to the 'CorrectCreateSurface' fix. However, even after removing that I found that his collection of compatibility fixes were preventing successful exiting of missions. But not all is was bad here. Once I got running with his sdb file I noticed substantially better graphics than I had without it. Eventually I narrowed that down to the AdditiveRunAsHighest fix.

I created an sdbsdb with just the GlobalMemoryStatusLie and AdditiveRunAsHighest fixes. Change the extension from pdf to sdb and then install this with the ACT Toolkit or sdbinst.exe in Flyboy's v3 fix zip, by running .

Adding this to CA.ini will fix the "Read Janes" crashes and allow the Kiowa training mission to start. I cannot get the instructor to accept my popup for the MMS, but the mission otherwise works. (Edit: I think you just need to use the = key rather than Shift+= to pop up. I was trying to be to gentle for the mission trigger.)


Controls
In the age of HOTAS setups flying with just a stick is a real drag. Fortunately I found JoyToKey which lets me program my sticks so that when it's running axes and buttons can input keypresses. Once you unzip the application and place it where you want it you'll need to set the Compatibility mode to Windows XP and ensure it runs as administrator for it to work properly.

The configuration has a small learning curve, but it allows you to do some interesting things. For instance my peddles are configured such that greater or less than 0 (center) inputs the bracket keys at about 8 presses a second. This gives me rudder pedals working in the game seamlessly. I wasn't able to do anything magical to get the throttle axis to work, but the mic switch serves as a handy throttle control, pushing forward and back to increase and decrease. Here I went with 4 keypresses a second and a 300ms delay so I can have finer control with quick presses. The coolie switch left and right cycles my MFD's, China hat zooms my TADS, etc. Hat switches change views and slew my view in 3d mode.

Track IR Trackmapper looks interesting and I may give it a try to see if I can get it working, but I haven't gotten there yet.

At this point I'm excited to start completely some more training missions and remembering how to fly the Longbow.

Azer 2000 Campaign
You can extract azer2000.exe to 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2' if you wish to play the tougher version of the campaign. The file can be obtained from the same link as the patches in the above instructions.

This is a 16-bit self-extracting zip so on Windows 10 you can just rename it to azer2000.zip to open it.

There are two .bat files you can run to enable and revert the tougher campaign. Instazer.bat and Remazer.bat.

Unfortunately Instazer.bat includes running a 16-bit Patch.exe executable that will not run on Windows 10 natively. You can however download and install DOSBox to get it working. Once installed run it, type



You can also create a DOSBox.conf with an autexec section that contains at least the first line, if not all the steps to reduce the typing.


4k Longbow 2
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven

Longbow 1
Longbow 1 can be run with 3DFX if you use the Anthology version and the tactics to do so are similar.

If you have the Longbow Gold 3 disk set it appears that it is somehow slightly different and the only way to get it to work is via DOSBox. It works well, with the only downside being the sky and ground textures being noticeably worse.

Getting Longbow Installed

• Install Longbow from the Jane's anthology disk. Click no when prompted to install goldfxa.
• Set Windows 98 compatibility mode on the goldfxa.exe patch on the first disk, run it, and install the patch.
• You can optionally copy off the install and uninstall the game it if you want to place it somewhere else or onto another computer.

I placed the install in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 1". If you put it somewhere different you'll want to adjust accordingly.

Running without inserting CD's
Longbow 1 is on the first two of the Anthology disks so copy the contents to sub directories Disk1 and Disk2 and create the file CDEmu.ini in with the contents.


Configuring Graphics
Install nGlide.

Compatibility Fixes
The fixes for Longbow 1 are the same as Longbow 2, except with the addition of IgnoreException. The fixes are included in the sdb above. Change the extension from pdf to sdb and then install this with the ACT Toolkit or sdbinst.exe in Flyboy's v3 fix zip, by running provided above in the Longbow 2 instructions.

Adding this to the Ca.ini will help with some issues:


Input Problems
Input is way too fast if the fps is allowed to run too high. This is especially evident on the menu screens when clicking with the mouse. In order to fix this I used nvidia profile inspector to limit the game to 30 fps.
To do this:

• Download the latest version from the releases link of the nvidia profile inspector page.
• Unzip and run the Application
• Click the yellow star icon to create a new Profile and give it a name like 'Jane's Longbow 1'
• Click 2 icons to the right of that to add an Application to the profile and find the lbwin.exe in your install directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 1 if you followed along with my example).
• Under section "2 - Sync and Refresh" change the Frame Rate Limiter value to 30 fps
• Click Apply Changes in the upper right hand corner.

That's all it takes, you can close and if you like delete the nvidia profile inspector software. If you open the nvidia control panel you can see the profile created by going to Manage 3D Settings in the left menu and looking under Program Settings. You'll note the profile is there though the fps settings is inaccessible. This is why we used nvidia profile inspector to do the work.

My understanding is ATI exposes the fps limiter settings, so you should be able to do so without a 3rd party app, though I don't know anything beyond that.

Controls
JoyToKey works well with Longbow 1 as well and I'd suggest this approach if you can't get your controllers to work either as they are or with your profiling software.

Also, as of about Monday the Antivirus in Windows 10 no longer detects the lb2_ddu.exe patch file or the ddu patched lb2.exe as a virus. I submitted a sample to Microsoft via their website Sunday and by late Monday they had fixed the detection, so it should no longer be necessary to have to add these as exceptions.

Great tutorial,thank you.

xaoslaad,

Thanks to your instructions and sdb files, I now have both Longbow 2 and Longbow Gold running in windows 10 64 bit with nglide 1.05.

I was able to copy a 3DFX installation of Longbow Gold from my old XP machine, apply your compatibility fixes, set LBwin.exe to Windows 95 compatibility, set frame rate to 30 via ATI Radeon software, and presto. Not experiencing any real issues yet, in-game movies work fine, rockets seem to be ok. Intro video is corrupted, but everything else seems fine. No issues with my CH Flightstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Peedals being recognized in mapped mode. The graphics are dated, but much better than DOSBox. Unfortunately, 3DFX version of Longbow Gold disables the Apache 64A.

I'll report back after I've tested it some more.

Thanks for the instructions, I did everything according to it and I'm running Longbow 2 first time since 2008. I had problems getting the rudder working properly with Thrustmaster Warthog, but now I got everything working.

Unfortunately the game freezes at least in instant action after few minutes. This has happened twice already. Tomorrow I'm going to try out playing the campaign.

Good news. I tried running Longbow 2 from the command line with just one core:

cmd /C start /affinity 1 lb2.exe

I launched instant action and put the craft to hover. It was still running ½ hour later. I completed the first Azerbaijan campaign mission and then had four attempts on the second one. Three of them ended me crashing my chopper. The flight model is more demanding than Longbow Gold, which I've been playing and mastering well for the past three months.

Well I completed the main campaign. I had like 4 crashes during it. This game is still amazing!

Great Instructions. I don't remember what happened to my Longbow box and disk so I ordered it off of Amazon complete with the box, disk, manuals and keyboard cards! I got it installed and it loads. However, when I go to the training the game speed is going very fast and there is no audio. I can see the radar moving quickly across the top of the hud and the fuel gauge is dropping rapidly.

I fixed the speed issue with vertical sync.

However, I was still experiencing sound looping crashes. I wasn't able to get the compatibility fixes to launch the game without selecting WinXP SP2 or 3 in the executable properties.

After some research, I downloaded the Windows Application Compatibility Tool via the Windows ADK installation and I created my own database fix by selecting AdditiveRunAsHighest and GlobalMemoryStatusLie.
Suddenly I was able to launch the game without selecting compatibility mode in the properties of the .exe.

After some further testing with my new database and the sdbinst.exe files included in the Flyboy's Fix I determined that my issue was the version of the sbdinst.exe file in Flyboys' Fix.
I used the version that was in my Windows\System32 folder and it worked flawlessly. I'm now playing Longbow 2 without crashes and a little better graphics!

Everybody who have crashes on Windows 10, I find a solution, use this wrapper called GLIDE-Wrapper, it seems much more stable than DgVoodoo and nGlide.

http://www.svenswrapper.de/english/downloads.html

On my pc I can finally run Longbow 2 without crashes, and i dont even need to set any compatibility mode to LB2.exe.

Now the only very last issue I have is that the helicopter turns extremely slow, but I am afraid this is not fixable since control response is related to CPU speed/cycles, so the slower the CPU the faster response is. I guess only on Pentium 2/3 this game can run as it should.

Hi Skynet,

Thanks for telling us about that other Glide wrapper that you found, I don't think I've heard of that one before. I may give it a try as I still get crashes on Windows 7, nevermind Windows 10!

Yeah the yaw is a problem and a side-effect of more modern computers. It is extremely annoying that it reacts very slow but luckily there's not too many times you really need to use it in LB2.

Thanks a lot for this fix. I played Longbow 1 and 2 through the random crashes over the years and this has helped a lot. Longbow Gold is pretty much stable now but I still get some crashes in Longbow 2 after ending a mission although it is much better. I was getting sound loop crashes before and those have resolved. Maybe I'll try a few of the other settings and see if I can get Longbow 2 more stable.

xaoslaad


When you wrote "Create the file CDEmu.ini in with the contents:" what did you mean as to where it should go?
Code

[CDEmulate]
CD001=C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2\Disk1
CD002=C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2\Disk2

In the main C:\Janes\Longbow 2 folder

Swagger200
I put it in the main directory, but the game still keeps asking for disk i and disk 2. I have to folders labeled disk1 and disk 2 and each one has the ISO of the disk. Do I have to somehow unpack the disks?

Also, I am confused on this sentence: From my experience I can say that you absolutely should NOT set a compatibility mode on the executable. The only thing that should be need to get the game to run stable is GlobalMemoryStatusLie. Setting a Windows XP mode will also enable GlobalMemoryStatus2GB, which from my experience appears to override GlobalMemoryStatusLie and leave you in no better shape than without it.

Where do you get GlobalMemoryStatusLie. and how do you apply it and where?

Had long ago given up on Longbow 2 but decided to have another try on my Win10 64 bit machine using the exact methodology (including Flyboy V3 install) described by you and using Nglide wrapper. Absolutely perfect result and have been running for 3 weeks now without any crashes and Nglide set to 1600x900. Cannot thank you (and Flyboy) enough for all your efforts which have saved this game for the Win 10 users.

GlobalStatusMemoryLue is using the Compatibility Kit. You don't need to go through that process if you download and use the linked. Jane's Longbow 1 and 2 Compatibility Fix.sdb

In the main installation directory. You need the CD contents at the two paths specified, otherwise it will not work.

Hi Everyone,

First thanks for these detailed instructions for LB2 and Windows 10. I followed them and they worked great. Now I can fly LB2, not too much strangeness, crashes, just good helo fun. Now rockets seem to have a mind of their own even launching up from their tubes at about a 45 degree angle, so this is a little strange not to mention impossible with the hardware. I'll live with it. Interestingly, the strange interface colors which appear in Windows 7 are all fixed in this Windows 10 install.

Now a question: Can I apply the ACT file to a Windows 7 install?? or is it ONLY good for Windows 10?? I want to know if I can fix the interface colors without using the explorer stop/start fix.

Hi diesel, that is strange about the rockets! I knew they were dodgy on modern hardware but not like that!

Which ACT file are you talking about? There's a few floating around for LB2. You should be able to install any on Windows 7, I mean if it works that's great and if it doesn't then just remove it. You can only have one installed at a time though. However, these fixes are really about stability, not fixing janky colors.

Thanks Flyboy, I will have to try it and see.
I have a installed program on the list called "Longbow 2 Fix" . Is there a way to identify which fix this is??, it seems unrelated to the .sdb filename in your V3 fixes-Extra.
Best Regards, Thomas Plummer

I don't remember how the fixes are named with regards to how they show up in the Add/Remove Programs list, but there's basically no way to tell. You just have to uninstall it and install the one you know you want to use in order to be sure.

I didn't realize it was you!

The attached file needs to be renamed from Jane's Longbow 1 and 2 Compatibility Fix.pdf to Jane's Longbow 1 and 2 Compatibility Fix.sdb. Just moving it off of a file sharing service I don't intend to use anymore and have no place else to put it. Unfortuntely SimHQ does not let me upload it with the correct name.

xaoslaad - I hope you don't mind but I've added your compatibility fix to a ZIP file and have made a complete package with the accompanying 'sdbinst.exe' and batch files for installing/uninstalling, along with instructions.

This will save users having to manually rename files and then cobble together their own fix that installs correctly.

I used Phoenix's previous compatibility packages as a template, tested the installation and uninstallation procedure successfully in a virtual machine, and have it hosted at my Dropbox.

Jane's Longbow 1 and 2 Compatibility Fix

Someone please prove that the rockets have ever aimed correctly from the Apache in LB2 on any system. Video or it didn't happen. Seen too many people claim they're fine and then I look at their vids and they're doing something goofy.

Like the overall sim speed, rotor RPM unfortunately appears to be somehow tied to FPS and V-sync, which seems to mean autorotation and either VRS and/or overpitching (not sure if either or both were modeled) doesn't quite work right even if you lock the FPS to 60 or 30 FPS.

And regarding this thread:

https://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads....ro-pedals-in-win-98se-for-lbgold-and-lb2

Auto turn coordination (that old shift+D toggle) is already always on in LB2 and can't be disabled like it could in LB1. It also seems to me that originally they modeled a cyclic that required the stick to always be deflected and a force trim command, but amazingly moved it to an auto or dynamic trim update law, (though not quite a true rate command / attitude hold) for joysticks with the legacy force trim (shift+C) still there. This change away from a traditional cyclic is probably the smartest design choice ever made in a flight sim, but if you use the remaining force trim command now, you'll trim the joystick to apply a constant rotational moment. So don't use the force trim ever in LB2, as it's completely unnecessary and, again, seems leftover from a prior control implementation they thankfully dropped. Pole cyclic users with a mechanical trimmer are out of luck, though, while spring joystick and pressure stick users rejoice. As for the turn coordination mode, just be thankful it's modeled so well in LB2 with none much below 60kts and a very smooth transition, at that. There was never a reason to turn it off in LB1.

I am still trying to add my pedals to Longbow after all these years. Also a shame about the lack of zoom out (FOV options) in the 3D pit and the FLIR page not working in the 3D pit in Glide, either.

Edit: WhiteKnight can be used to block controllers from being seen and whitelisting a single application (GlovePIE in this case), but unfortunately requires you to make sure your joystick button profile is now in the combiner utility, which I now have to manually program into the script.

Hi guys.

Found this thread and I think I've followed the instructions. But I can get LB2 working.

First things first, I'm basing this of off the 2LB2 2021 Windows 10" download. And as I'm typing this, I'm not using the "Compatibility Modes"

1/ I am past the point of the exe asking for the CD, so that's all good, editing CDEmu.ini. Yes the paths given are correct and the disks are copied locally.

2/ And I have nGlide 2.10 installed - all 7 settings set to "Default"

3/ I have modified CA.ini with
a. HEAP_PERCENT=0 in its own section
b. D3D=0 and 3DFX=1

3) I also only have "fixes" from the "Jane's-Longbow-1-and-2-Compatibility-Fix.sbd" file installed. I think... At least that's the only one I see if I look in the control panel under Uninstall/Change Programs

What I see is the game tries to launch, but I only get a black screen for a few seconds, which then dies. If I leave CA.ini open in Notepad++ I can see the file is being touched too (no it's not locked) and during this time, the system rearranges the windows a bit. So *something* is happening...
I think it's something I do, because I also tried on my son's PC with the exact same result.

Anyone's a clue as to where to start looking?

Hi Quip, I can't say I've ever heard of that particular issue before. Sounds like it may be to do with the graphics. Try to narrow the issue down by first trying the other display modes... Software, Direct3D, then Glide. To do this, select the different display options by opening the 'lb2cfg.exe' in the LB2 folder. If all goes well up until to switch back to Glide, and therefore narrow the issue down to the Glide mode, you may want to try out another Glide wrapper.

dgVoodoo
dgVoodoo2
Glide3-to-OpenGL-Wrapper
zeckensack's Glide wrapper

I'm afraid my experience with LB2 on Windows 10 is pretty much non-existent, and the plethora of variations in compatibility fixes and display options available for the game makes it hard to diagnose problems nowadays. That, and I've forgotten a lot of stuff.

It's stupid that this game is not available on gog.com

UnderTheRadar - I'm guessing it's most likely to do with the fact that there's no one definitive fix that will allow it to run on multiple configurations of modern systems. You can't really sell something that only works for some users.

Flyboy, I seem to be having the same problem as Sobe where the game is asking for the CDs. I created the subfolders as directed and created the CDEmu.imi with the following...

[CDEmulate]
CD001=C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2\Disk1
CD002=C:\Program Files (x86)\Jane's Longbow 2\Disk2


Each of those directories has an ISO in them named...

Longbow 2 (1997)(Electronic Arts)(Disc 1 of 2).iso
and
Longbow 2 (1997)(Electronic Arts)(Disc 2 of 2).iso

respectively.

Does something need to be done to the ISOs?

Thanks!

UnderTheRadar - I briefly tried that method when it was first posted by the founder of the workaround. However, I couldn't get it to work and never looked more into it. So I personally do not endorse that method. If I was to hazard a guess I'd say maybe your filenames are too long or shouldn't have any spaces? I'm not sure of the limitations of that particular method.

The way we used to do it was use Daemon Tools and mount the ISO files as virtual CDs, but that program went all bloated and horrible in recent years. Nowadays I use WinCDEmu, which is a nice lightweight virtual disc mounter that's simple to use and with no bloat. As someone who often uses ISO files, installing a specific program is no bother for me, but if you only use them for LB2 then I'd understand if you weren't keen on using a separate program.

Okay, in that case I will dig my old CDs out of the garage and copy the files to flash drive and get them on my optical disk free gaming PC that way.

Thank you

I required Win98/ME compatibility mode but, here we are...

Thanks man

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rVGMW8A2SG3zk7uQ7

Why did you need to dig out your old CDs if you already had them ripped to ISO files?

And what method did you use to install the game and get it running? What OS are you using?

I'm glad you got the game running, the hard part is keeping it from crashing.

After years of trying to get this game running on modern systems (without any quarter given - all had to work), I finally managed that without any ini tweaks or compatibility fixes, just out of the box install - by using PCem v17 (PC emulator) with Windows 98 installed. Basically the closest thing you can get next to running it on actual vintage hardware.

https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/

PCem config I used:
Machine: [Socket 7] Shuttle HOT-557
CPU: Intel Pentium MMX 200 MHz
128 MB RAM
GPU: S3 Virge + Voodoo 2 graphics
Sound Blaster AWE32
HDD: your preference, I used 2GB (Sectors: 63, Heads: 16, Cylinder: 4096, Size: 2014MB)

I put two vids on my YT channel of this version running, didn't had a single crash (played 20+ campaign missions).

Awesome, damson! I've messed with PCem only briefly but should test it further some day.

damson
where are your youtube videos? I could not find them.

Where did you get the ROM set?

sobe - I found this link in the description of a YouTube PCem tutorial.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tFAvigJJLqJPcpaqBV_Zr-FWpqlz6NPL/view?usp=sharing

I DL'd the ISOs and when I tried to unpack them using 7zip it bombed out.

I followed the instructions from the original post. I am on Win10.

I went though quite a long training mission yesterday and had 0 problems.

I have since moved on to EF2000 reloaded and am currently struggling with JF18

Flyboy

I am trying to use PCem and found the roms so loading win98se now and will see how it goes.

UnderTheRadar - So am I right in thinking that you had to extract the contents of the CDs/ISOs to get that NoCD method with the INI file working?

sobe - OK good luck!

Damson and Flyboy

I actually got the game to run in win98se and using PCem. However, I cannot get the updates (lb2209e.exe and lb2d3d.exe) into the game folder that is now a virtual game folder. How do I do that?

I don't have much experience with PCem, as I normally use full virtual machines rather than emulators. Is there no drag-and-drop or shared folder functionality between your PC and the emulated one? In these situations where you can't easily move files between real and virtual computers, I put the files that I want to move into a folder, create an ISO image of the folder, then mount that ISO inside the emulated/virtualized machine as a virtual optical disc. You then go into 'My Computer', open the 'CD' drive, and run the programs from there.

It is still a little early to be sure, but Damson should be elected "Retro gamer of the Year" for suggesting PCem. It works fine with no Bullsh_t compatibility stuff. Just use what Damson suggested above.

However, you will also need the following:

An ISO version of the two LB2 disks.
An ISO version of Win98SE,
A license key for Win98SE,
PCem version 17 and watching several YT videos on how the program works.
A ROM set of various older computers. One of the YT videos shows you where to get them and how to load them in PCem.
WinISO to mount ISO files.
Google is your friend.

The only issue I am experiencing is with 3FDX and for now I have skipped this problem.

Yeah those are all things that should be familiar to anyone who's messed with any kind of emulated or virtualized systems before. It's worth pointing out that you also need a computer powerful enough to run this stuff, as with all emulation and virtualization there is some level of overhead. You are after all running a game, inside an operating system, inside an operating system.

What are your specs, sobe?

Nothing is easy. My version of LB2 has patch notes for patch 2.09F. However, when I go to the options menu in the game, it says 2.07F. Was there a 2.07F patch or is this just a mistake?

Wasn't 2.07F the version of the unpatched retail game? It's been so long, I forget. I've just checked and a properly patched version of the game should be presenting itself as 2.09F.

When I apply the 2.09 patch, the game will not work. I am also running into issues on the graphics, 3FDX, TrackIR and my joystick. So it is not so easy to get the game to work in a reasonably enjoyable state. My version looks nothing like Damson's YT.

I think what I need is a completed YT tutorial on getting it to work like Damson has done. I would be glad to work with someone to do the video as at this point, I may be giving up.

Can't you just consult with damson for a step-by-step guide? I'd be very surprised if you got something like TrackIR working, I mean you are trying to emulate a Windows 98 install on a Pentium 200 MHz (or thereabouts) after all. Was TrackIR even a thing in those days? Has damson got TrackIR, and working?

There are few version of 2.09 patch AFAIK, are you sure you're applying the correct one? The one named lb2209e is for english version and lb2209i for international release. There were also some other patches like lb2d3d and lb2_ddu (display driver update). I installed 2.07 version and updated it with 2.09 patch, nothing more. After that when you press ALT-V to check the version in the game's menu (the base screen) it should display your version correctly. I attached the screenshot from my install.

Regarding putting external files to PCem I'm using AnyToISO Portable to transfer files into ISO and mount that inside PCem.

Also getting Track IR working with Windows 98 running on PCem is not possible to my knowledge. And even if you somehow make it work, Longbow 2 doesn't support it, you could use mouse emulation but Longbow 2 doesn't use mouse for view panning in virtual cockpit.

Edit: If you're looking for pacthes here's archived EA ftp: https://ia800309.us.archive.org/vie...tp.ea.com_2014.03/2014.03.ftp.ea.com.tar

Thanks for the clarifications, damson. Everything is pretty much as I expected. Yes there were the two versions of the patches that you mention. I'm also glad that you're using the same method to get files into the emulated machine as I suggested, by putting them in an ISO file and then mounting that inside the emulated system.

xaoslaad - Thanks for your excellent research and work on Longbow 2. I have applied your fixes and now Longbow 2 runs for hours on Win7 using only nGlide 2.1 . I tested this on three machine, all Win7 64bit, all for two hours straight, hover mode, and flying. Only hanged very rarely and never crashed on mission exit, like before, and when it did hang the recover was simple and no hard reboot needed. So..... I am pleased to use just ONE glide wrapper for all my stuff now, well maybe. I need it for Longbow 2 and F15 and a few other steam old flight sims.
Do you have any thoughts whether affinity mode is useful for this game??

Again thanks to you and also to Flyboy for getting us so far.

Thomas

Diesel, glad to hear it's working for you and others. Flyboy, thanks for helping folks out in my absence. Hopefully the cumulative knowledge will continue allowing people to play. I'm not very active with sims these days, but happy to see it helping others enjoy them.

Last year I was miraculously able to get USAF and F15 working on a Win10 machine. I thought I'd take a chance with Longbow 2 and, following these instructions, it's working. For the most part.

Because it's been way too long since I played, I started with the training missions. Only once has a training mission not "hung" when the trainer said something (it's always at a different time). Instant action is similar issues. But, I flew two Azerbaijan campaign missions without incident (not true of the third one).

Also, not sure why or what it means, but in everything BUT training, I can not switch between gunner and pilot, I can't change the MFDs, I can't activate the laser or toggle between TADS and FCR ... what would cause that? I've tinkered with game play settings but not seeing a change. Thanks!

Hi voodoo, if you are still interested to play Longbow 2 on Win10 then maybe I can help you since I followed xaoslaad's tutorial and had the same issues as you. I did the following additional thing to fix the problems:

1.) Do everything as xaoslaad said in post #1 (I used nGlide v2.10)
2.) Downloaded dxwrapper from here
3.) Extract dxwrapper and from the subfolder "Stub" copy the files "ddraw.dll" and "dsound.dll" into the base of the Longbow2 installation directory (next to LB2.exe). Also copy the files "dxwrapper.dll" and "dxwrapper.ini" from the main dxwrapper folder into the base Longbow 2 installation directory.
4.) In the file "dxwrapper.ini" change the following lines (all others remain as they are):

5.) Make sure that ALL COMPATIBILITY SETTINGS are DISABLED for LB2.exe (this is an extremely important point. In Windows XP/95/98 compatibility mode the game is unstable!)

After these things the game runs quite stable for me. I can play the complete training missions without crashes (sound-loops) and I have spend already some hours in the instant action missions. Even my HOTAS (Saitek X-45) works out of the box and I don't even have to configure anything (I also don't have to use JoyToKey or anything else). I hope this can help you too!

I am using DGVoodoo 2.45 for LB2, both the ddraw and glide2x dlls. I am also using the compatibility flags as well. For LB Gold I have to use aqrit for the ddraw and nglide for the 3d portion. It doesn't like any of the dgvoodoo versions I have tried.

I have tried to get this to run every way explained. I had it running once a year ago but it would always crash mid mission somewhere. This was on win 10 and 11 and using DXWND as well as other methods. I gave up but if someone has a better method I might be willnig to try again. The one thing that always bugged me about LB2 was the fact you cannot cam out your FOV in the cockpit (EAW has this same problem), your stuck at a fixed fov and for me its too far forward and the cockpit dash hinders some of th view looking out the window becuse you cannot negative zoom back in your seat . I wish it had the ability to cam back in the cockpit like EECH.

Thanks for sharing some guidance! I'll do more tinkering.

I've got it working flawlessly now. Amazing. Thanks for the coaching.

i bought a pentium 3 and unfortunatly the rudders yaw turn rate is slow :\