On my Pentium 160, I probably spent more hours on this simulation (1 and 2) than any pilot on a real chopper... Thanks for sharing! "No more strikes sir!"
Don't hold your breath. For one the licensing might be a problem, and getting it to run is real PITA. I doubt GOG will release this game packaged with virtual machine/emulator. It's an early Windows game, those are most troublesome to run usually because they still use some weird hacks. Direct X was still in its infancy, and graphics APIs still weren't standardized.
@@enriqued.683 You still need to edit ca.ini, and you will still experience issues caused by too high CPU speeds, and end mission crashes. So it's not ideal.
i had the second one i forgot the name, but by then it was already very old, the game used sprites for smoke,gun flashes, the trees were sprites. it was already very old,we never got a full 3d tank sim. @@CR055FIRE
@@CR055FIRE No, it was because EA just up and declared that simulation style games were not what people wanted, and they were actually in full production of Jane's A-10(that I was eagerly waiting for at the time), and the just canx it, and the Jane's M1A1 games they were working on and went full in on Madden, MLB, and NCAA. That was the beginning of the end for EA being a worthwhile gaming company.
It's wild to sit here in 2023 after the azerbaijani win in nagorno and see that this conflict has been an issue for so long 90s computer games were set in it.
This game looks enticing, it's just rather unfortunate of it's compatibility issues. Really frustrating my PC isn't powerful enough for PCem or 86box Pentium emulation to run this game, but oh well. If I can say one thing about this game, I love the song used in the credits.
Before pcEM I remember there was a fansite owned by someone who held a bunch of Info for the LB2 plus fan patches for it to run in dgvoodoo/software mode but they passed away and the site soon went down due to it not being paid to be hosted. Dunno if the backups survived though.
It was PositiveG IIRC, I think Flyboy saved some of it on his site. I tried those fixes over the years but there was always some issue like rudder working really slow or game crashing and I never had patience for all of this.
@@damsonn With pcEM were you able to get HOTAS/Rudders working or did you fly those with a keyboard? I bought a copy of this a few weeks back and though it was too hard to get running. Might have to try pcEM. This was my favorite game when it came out!
@@happyloaf I couldn't find a way to enable rudder pedals in PCem - since the most axis I could bind to my real joystick were only 3 (with CH Flighstick Pro joystick emulated in PCem), so you can use pitch, roll and throttle. I use only 2 axis in game anyway as I keep my left hand on the keyboard for all the key commands aside for frequent use +/- for collective and [/] for tail rotor.
@@damsonn That's how I played it back in the day. Literally a CH Flightstick Pro and keyboard. But I'm so used to pedals. But I loved the game and might have to go through the hassle to set it up. I even bough a big box copy to have the box and manual a few weeks back.
@@damsonn yeah I can agree with that. The first Longbow from 96 featured software renderer and it also looked better, similar to software based Quake vs. GLQuake. I just dislike early GPU's technology.
@@spearPYN I meant the software rendered textures in first Jane's Longbow. The filtered textures smeared all those pixels away making altitude judgement a lot harder. Apache and HInd from DI had a facelift in 1998 with the engine used from F-16 Fighting Falcon, which had textured land and sky and in software mode made low flying much easier. I also prefer software rendered grahics in those older games (including Quake).
I have a Windows XP gaming PC. I'm trying to get this running from my real disks. Do I have to use PCem or maybe all I need extra is the 2.09 patch and dgvoodo2?
All I can say I had issues trying to run it on Windows XP in the past. Only now with the help of PCem (with Win98) I was able to play it without issues.
The tricky part is seting up PCem - when you set up your virtual PC (choose components) it's basically the same as with actual retro PC - you need to use a bootdisk (or bootable CD) make a disk partition (fdisk) format it (format c:) and install Windows and all the drivers for your virtual hardware - if you use most common ones Windows 98 should cover that as it comes with drivers for most common hardware (sound, graphics cards etc.). After all that you just need to install Longbow 2 the same way you installed games from CDs not long ago. There are plenty of tutorials how to setup Windows on PCem, just search for "pcem guide" on youtube.
@@damsonn I have been trying to setup the PCEM today and have it 90% configured with longbow 2 loading into missions. However, I cannot get the game to recognize my joystick. I was able to pass my CH Fighterstick Pro into PCEM and can see it inside my PCEM "machine" but it is not passed to the game. Any advice?
@@happyloaf The way I have it configured: 1. In PCem configuration set the joystick to Thrustmaster Flight Control System, press on "Joystick 1" button below and select your desired control and map the axis and buttons, 2. In emulated Windows setup your joystick as Thrustmaster Flight Control System, test it and make sure it works (in control panel -> gaming devices) 3. In game menu press ALT-O which will open options screen, make sure FLIGHT CONTROL TYPE is set to WINDOWS JOYSTICK Few notes - I'm running the game patched with 2.09 patch, IIRC there was a problem with joystick in unpatched version, and even in the patched one if I setup my stick as CH Flightstick Pro in PCem (it has 3 axis instead of FCS's 2) the buttons would not work, that's why I switched to FCS.
How can it be run on Pcem v17 with 3Dfx enabled? Just installed the sim, DirectX 7a, 3dfx glide driver (and an uptaded version) pathced LB2.exe to 2.09e, installed de LB2 Display Driver Update selecting 3dfx as renderer, checked ca.ini file containts value: 3dfx=1 But ingame is runing the default render software engine. Any ideas?
I didn't installed Display Driver Update only the 2.09e one, also IIRC I used voodoo2 driver. If you installed DDU you should also have separate program to select software/3dfx/direct3d renderer in your game's Start Menu shortcuts. Maybe check there?
@@damsonn Yes, I have that tool set to 3Dfx also. But I don't know how to check if it's really enabled ingame. Nice vids mate, and good memories too. Waiting for DCS AH-64D module. mean while.
@@damsonn I have "Terrain Filtering" enabled under graphics options. But as far I can see, it's enabled even with the "software" renderer. This "software" rendering system is visually worse than the 3dfx one, so maybe I'm 3dfx enabled at all.
These are lockers of the devs which the player can clear and takeover for themselves. It was a tradition from previous Microprose games - most devs from Origin Skunkworks worked for MPS.
If you're running it on modern OS (with fast CPU) then this is known issue. If you're running it on period specific PC or PCem then it's not. I'm using keyboard controls for tail rotor on PCem and it works fine. Mind though that the tail rotor will loose its effectiveness the faster you fly.
@@damsonn i actually run it on pentium 3 so im not sure why i have such problems... I reinstall it without the latest patch and the game quit after the intro. Also F22 TAW and ADF have issues when i run them...its frustrating
Thank you so much for uploading this. Played the hell out of this back in the day.
Glad you enjoyed it. There are more videos from Longbow and Longbow 2 on my channel if you're interested. Go check them out :)
I played this a lot as Kid in the early 2000s....What a stunning game lol
On my Pentium 160, I probably spent more hours on this simulation (1 and 2) than any pilot on a real chopper... Thanks for sharing!
"No more strikes sir!"
Still remember seeing the cinematic and telling my friend, just think one day graphics will look this good on the actual game, lol.
"Foxtrot 51, this is Archer Lead, I've got a lock on bogeys, maintain your current heading."
"Roger!" (proceeds to turn 180°)
Still waiting for GOG / Steam to get this out if they even realize what they’re missing out on.
Don't hold your breath. For one the licensing might be a problem, and getting it to run is real PITA. I doubt GOG will release this game packaged with virtual machine/emulator. It's an early Windows game, those are most troublesome to run usually because they still use some weird hacks. Direct X was still in its infancy, and graphics APIs still weren't standardized.
damsonn *Damn*
Easy to run the English version with its last patch and nGlider in windows 10, exe file set up for running as w95. Old-games.com offers it.
@@enriqued.683 You still need to edit ca.ini, and you will still experience issues caused by too high CPU speeds, and end mission crashes. So it's not ideal.
@@damsonn you are right, I found end mision crashes in crecendo, do you have any workaround? I found a second patch for 3dfx compatibility.
One of my all time favorite games
OMG the memories!
as a teen i was sad we never got a tank simulator from them.
Oh yeah, that would be interesting.
@@damsonn i believe there was actually one in development. would had completed the series shown in the intro.
because MicroProse was already making a bunch of them
i had the second one i forgot the name, but by then it was already very old, the game used sprites for smoke,gun flashes, the trees were sprites.
it was already very old,we never got a full 3d tank sim. @@CR055FIRE
@@CR055FIRE No, it was because EA just up and declared that simulation style games were not what people wanted, and they were actually in full production of Jane's A-10(that I was eagerly waiting for at the time), and the just canx it, and the Jane's M1A1 games they were working on and went full in on Madden, MLB, and NCAA. That was the beginning of the end for EA being a worthwhile gaming company.
These games got me into flight simming as a hobby.
It's wild to sit here in 2023 after the azerbaijani win in nagorno and see that this conflict has been an issue for so long 90s computer games were set in it.
Back in 1997, the topdown attack was a thing!
This game looks enticing, it's just rather unfortunate of it's compatibility issues. Really frustrating my PC isn't powerful enough for PCem or 86box Pentium emulation to run this game, but oh well. If I can say one thing about this game, I love the song used in the credits.
Nice to see some footage of Longbow 2! Do you suppose the Iranians sent helos to try and suppress the FARPs after the Recon birds did their job?
Who knows, I wouldn't want to angry any Apaches if I were in their boots. ;)
I cant believe that you got this working with pcem, I will try to do the same as soon as I get home.
Make sure it's v17. With the earlier versions I couldn't get it to work.
@@damsonn Thanks, I'm looking forward to play this jewel on my Linux mint 19.3.
I remember I couldn’t even get my helicopter up in the air
Brilliant game. great on my 24mb voodoo2 sli pc
omg!!!! brought back so many memories!!! what a laugh
Love Longbow 2
Before pcEM I remember there was a fansite owned by someone who held a bunch of Info for the LB2 plus fan patches for it to run in dgvoodoo/software mode but they passed away and the site soon went down due to it not being paid to be hosted. Dunno if the backups survived though.
It was PositiveG IIRC, I think Flyboy saved some of it on his site. I tried those fixes over the years but there was always some issue like rudder working really slow or game crashing and I never had patience for all of this.
@@damsonn With pcEM were you able to get HOTAS/Rudders working or did you fly those with a keyboard? I bought a copy of this a few weeks back and though it was too hard to get running. Might have to try pcEM. This was my favorite game when it came out!
@@happyloaf I couldn't find a way to enable rudder pedals in PCem - since the most axis I could bind to my real joystick were only 3 (with CH Flighstick Pro joystick emulated in PCem), so you can use pitch, roll and throttle. I use only 2 axis in game anyway as I keep my left hand on the keyboard for all the key commands aside for frequent use +/- for collective and [/] for tail rotor.
@@damsonn That's how I played it back in the day. Literally a CH Flightstick Pro and keyboard. But I'm so used to pedals. But I loved the game and might have to go through the hassle to set it up. I even bough a big box copy to have the box and manual a few weeks back.
could google the site and check if it's cached on google
I like how the news program is called BS News
How did you do ? You made It work with Windows 98 First and then you installed longbow ? Is 3dfx emulation working ?
Yes - Windows 98, Voodoo 2 drivers and Longbow 2.
I put my PCem config into the video description.
my very 1st game
me too)
I think I prefer simple polygon based graphics of Apache (1995) and Hind (1996) than low resolution textures of Jane's Longbow.
It definitely has its charm, but with textured terrain you can judge your altitude better.
@@damsonn yeah I can agree with that. The first Longbow from 96 featured software renderer and it also looked better, similar to software based Quake vs. GLQuake. I just dislike early GPU's technology.
@@spearPYN I meant the software rendered textures in first Jane's Longbow. The filtered textures smeared all those pixels away making altitude judgement a lot harder. Apache and HInd from DI had a facelift in 1998 with the engine used from F-16 Fighting Falcon, which had textured land and sky and in software mode made low flying much easier. I also prefer software rendered grahics in those older games (including Quake).
I have a Windows XP gaming PC. I'm trying to get this running from my real disks. Do I have to use PCem or maybe all I need extra is the 2.09 patch and dgvoodo2?
All I can say I had issues trying to run it on Windows XP in the past. Only now with the help of PCem (with Win98) I was able to play it without issues.
Could you please do a video on how you got this game to run with PCem?
The tricky part is seting up PCem - when you set up your virtual PC (choose components) it's basically the same as with actual retro PC - you need to use a bootdisk (or bootable CD) make a disk partition (fdisk) format it (format c:) and install Windows and all the drivers for your virtual hardware - if you use most common ones Windows 98 should cover that as it comes with drivers for most common hardware (sound, graphics cards etc.). After all that you just need to install Longbow 2 the same way you installed games from CDs not long ago. There are plenty of tutorials how to setup Windows on PCem, just search for "pcem guide" on youtube.
@@damsonn It is still to early to be sure, but using PCem seems to work get in getting LB2 to work. See my comments in the Simhq forum. Thanks.
Is this DCS? I didn't know the apache was allready out wtf?
Um, no. This is Jane's Longbow 2 from 1997!
Are you using the original CD's or ISO's and if so on what patch?
I've made ISOs from my retail release for ease of use and patched it with 2.09 patch.
@@damsonn Then I'm ripping my discs at some point!
@@damsonn I have been trying to setup the PCEM today and have it 90% configured with longbow 2 loading into missions. However, I cannot get the game to recognize my joystick. I was able to pass my CH Fighterstick Pro into PCEM and can see it inside my PCEM "machine" but it is not passed to the game. Any advice?
@@happyloaf The way I have it configured:
1. In PCem configuration set the joystick to Thrustmaster Flight Control System, press on "Joystick 1" button below and select your desired control and map the axis and buttons,
2. In emulated Windows setup your joystick as Thrustmaster Flight Control System, test it and make sure it works (in control panel -> gaming devices)
3. In game menu press ALT-O which will open options screen, make sure FLIGHT CONTROL TYPE is set to WINDOWS JOYSTICK
Few notes - I'm running the game patched with 2.09 patch, IIRC there was a problem with joystick in unpatched version, and even in the patched one if I setup my stick as CH Flightstick Pro in PCem (it has 3 axis instead of FCS's 2) the buttons would not work, that's why I switched to FCS.
How can it be run on Pcem v17 with 3Dfx enabled?
Just installed the sim, DirectX 7a, 3dfx glide driver (and an uptaded version) pathced LB2.exe to 2.09e, installed de LB2 Display Driver Update selecting 3dfx as renderer, checked ca.ini file containts value: 3dfx=1
But ingame is runing the default render software engine. Any ideas?
I didn't installed Display Driver Update only the 2.09e one, also IIRC I used voodoo2 driver. If you installed DDU you should also have separate program to select software/3dfx/direct3d renderer in your game's Start Menu shortcuts. Maybe check there?
@@damsonn Yes, I have that tool set to 3Dfx also. But I don't know how to check if it's really enabled ingame.
Nice vids mate, and good memories too. Waiting for DCS AH-64D module. mean while.
@@zaloxzalox You can also get into options while in game - ALT-O and check there if you have texture filtering set to on.
@@damsonn I have "Terrain Filtering" enabled under graphics options. But as far I can see, it's enabled even with the "software" renderer.
This "software" rendering system is visually worse than the 3dfx one, so maybe I'm 3dfx enabled at all.
Back then I don' really understand what KIA really means, anybody know what's with the KIA pilots in the locker room?
These are lockers of the devs which the player can clear and takeover for themselves. It was a tradition from previous Microprose games - most devs from Origin Skunkworks worked for MPS.
KIA means Killed In Action.
lapka za medale :)
Wiedziałem, że to docenisz ;)
@@damsonn :)
how to turn on subtitle during tutorial?
pls help me
IIRC you can enter option screen by pressing ALT-O (the letter "o" not number "zero") during gameplay, there you should find this setting.
is this glide version?
Yes. More info in video description.
I have a weird issue with the rudders ...they react very slowly with keyboard ...is it a known issue ?
If you're running it on modern OS (with fast CPU) then this is known issue. If you're running it on period specific PC or PCem then it's not. I'm using keyboard controls for tail rotor on PCem and it works fine. Mind though that the tail rotor will loose its effectiveness the faster you fly.
@@damsonn i actually run it on pentium 3 so im not sure why i have such problems...
I reinstall it without the latest patch and the game quit after the intro.
Also F22 TAW and ADF have issues when i run them...its frustrating
how did you made it run ?
Check the video description ;)