homepage Forums Read Only Forums Read Only Forums Jane's Longbow Series (Read Only) Native LB1 + FPK with 3DFX?

Hi, i bought three weeks LB1 & FPK and play it with dosbox portable fully from a 4GB USB - works great - thanks to Flyboy for the great instructions on his site :-)
But i think it would be nice if i can play with Glide - is it possible to convert LB1 .. with files from LBG?
Has anybody tried to do this?

Thanks.

warthog77

I don't believe it is possible. LBG and the GLIDE implementation were only for the Windows executables and were not back-compatible with the DOS versions.

Ok, i thought something like that, but i wanted to get 100% - thanks for your reply Recluse :-)

Believe me... as a proud owner of DOS AH-64 Longbow and Flashpoint:Korea, I have pondered this question many times. I wondered if it was worth looking for a cheap copy of LB:Gold or LB Anthology, but the amount of time I spend playing it (since the latest DOSBOX works so well) is too small to matter. I can always get my 3dFX Longbow fix with Longbow 2.

I'll never forget the first time I saw a 3dfX Hellfire missile trail or salvo of FFAR's... Good times! Good times!!

.. :-( there was a cheap LG Gold Version on amazon but i bought FPK before in very good conditions :-) and then i bought LB1 on ebay for 1 € ! great deal - and it was in best condition!it is the german version - it is ok i am a german but i am accustomed to play games in english (the ooold great Sierra Adventures were all in english :-D )
Yes, the god old times.. nightfilling flying with F-15 III - and YES this experinece with LB2 in 3DFX was great and have i too -
i remember my first contact with 3DFX it was Quake2 i upgraded my computer with a 4MB Voodoo 1 to play this game :-)what lightning effects!

..sorry i am talking to much and it has nothing to do with the original post..

as you said, i play LB1 on dosbox, too and it works - on this weekend i try to play LB2 with XP.
The instructions are printed out :-)

Hope it will work otherwise i have to fulfill my project to built an extra Win98 PIII game-machine with voodoo3 ;-)

BTW i am very proud to have the LB series and my beloved 688i - unfortunalety as a jewelcase version without printed manual, great box and so on :-(
i am looking for the other Jane's CombatSims for collecting and playing - i love to read this great manuals - for years i bought some games only for owning the manuals..i am so crazy for SIM-manuals

I know what you mean Warthog. Few years back I bought Jane's Longbow (I didn't got it when it first came out, my PC was to weak) played it like crazy (had the time back then, not now anymore - 2 year old son and another baby on the way - priorities have changed). Then I bought Flashpoint Korea CD (without any manual, but what the hell I was able to play in the CP/G seat and in the new theatre). I recently found complete FPK with manual and box so bought it to, and a while after that I came upon compilation of USNF97/Flight Unlimited II(although without the second CD)/Jane's Longbow GOLD complete with binder manual so I couldn't pass this one up.

warthog77 - If you ever want any PDF versions of game manuals, try this website... www.replacementdocs.com

damson - Congratulations on your new baby on the way!

Thanks flyboy, one month to go (more or less...), I figure back to dipers for me but can't complain - after all, own kids are fun (well most of the time, when they are not life incarnation af the devil itself). I still hope I will find some time for little simming though.

As far as I can tell, Longbow Gold does not support 3Dfx/Glide. There is no mention of it on the box art nor in any of the files.

as well from me the very best for you and your family

Thanks Warthog!

When it came out, it didn't, as such - but I'm thinking there were probably SOME files in the initial installation that would be used later by Glide. Patched to v1.04 and with the GoldFX patch applied, the Windows EXE version of LBGold is indeed 3DFX/Glide compatible - although none of us who have tried it in recent times have had any success with it. And on modern PCs the Windows EXE version of the game is very unstable and with no fixes available.

I can't imagine it provides any improvements, in particular, the graphics as the patch is so small. It is much less hassle to install Longbow Gold on Windows 7 and run through DOSBox. At least then, it is bug free.

Currently running LongBox gold Fx ( that is the patched version that uses 3dFx graphics). System used is a Win 98se with a Voodoo 5500 graphics card. Looks nice ( but not as nice as Longbow 2)
From the Fx patch readme notes:
Longbow GoldFX Patch Text File

Jane's Combat Simulations: Longbow GoldFX v1.09F
------------------------------------------------

(C) 1998, Origin Systems, Inc. This document may not, in whole or part,
be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any
electronic medium or machine readable form without prior consent, in
writing, from Origin Systems, Inc.

Origin Systems, Inc. believes the information contained in this
document is accurate and reliable. Origin Systems, Inc. reserves the
right to update this manual at any time and without notice.

To find out the latest information about Longbow, check out our
Internet Web site http://www.janes.ea.com.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

To print a hardcopy of this file, click on File and select Print
from the Notepad menu above.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Important Notes
II. Customer Service/Tech Support

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I. IMPORTANT NOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Installation is irreversable. If there are problems with GoldFX,
or you would like to return to original Longbow Gold, you must
uninstall and reinstall Longbow Gold from the original CDs.

2. The A-model Apache is not available in Longbow GoldFX. All missions
are flown with the AH-64D Longbow.

3. Longbow Gold FX is designed to run in 640x480 resolution on the 3Dfx
card. The 320x240 option is no longer available.

4. Longbow Gold FX patches the Windows 95 version of Longbow Gold. The
DOS version will no longer work due to the graphics changes needed
for the 3Dfx version to run correctly.

5. Due to the capability of the 3Dfx hardware, some graphics options,
such as Sky Texture, Perspective Correction, and Dithering will
always default to ON, and cannot be changed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Customer Service/Tech Support
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any trouble or questions please feel free to contact us
in any of the following ways:

ORIGIN Phone Tech Support: 650-425-1650
8:30am-11:45am and 1PM to 4:30pm Pacific Time
Hours subject to change.
ORIGIN FAX Tech Support: 650-286-5080
Fax's will be responded to by fax - please include a fax
number.
ORIGIN Internet Tech Support: support@origin.ea.com
ORIGIN Internet FTP Site: origin.ea.com
ORIGIN Tech Support Mailing Address:
Origin Systems
Tech Support
P.O. Box 7578
San Mateo, CA 94403-7578

* Longbow GoldFX Web Site:

To find out the latest information about Longbow GoldFX, please check
out our Internet Web site:
http://WWW.janes.ea.com

* Janes Combat Simulations:
http://WWW.janes.ea.com

I sure miss the skunk works!
I can just imagine what they could come out with now.

I had thought about copying a portion of the LBG GoldFX patch readme, but couldn't be tail rotored!

It does seem like the GoldFX patch was kind of rushed and is rather a bit of a hack. Irreversible installation, disabled helicopters, some options on all the time, etc.

If you can manage to take any screenshots, I'm sure I speak for all here when I say we'd be glad to see them!

I know what you mean. Too bad, I would have liked to have the option of playing the Apache A historical missions. I still have my copies of LB1 and FPK but unfortunately I got rid of my pentium 1 166mHx system (overclocked to 200mHz!!!! Wow! 200mHz!) with a 1st gen Voodooo 3dFx add on card that I had set up for DOS gaming ( wish I had kept it, I thought I could play ef2000 on this dell computer but it turns out ef2000 doesn't like a my Voodoo 5 5500 video card). As it is, I'm using this antique 11 year old Dell Pentium 3 1Ghx system to play these 13-14 year old LB2 and LBGoldFx. When I get the time, I may try to get them running on this computer as well (if I can remember all of the tricks I needed to get the original sim's running on a brand new ( in 1996 ) Win 95 Micron computer that I decide to buy just to play Jane's ATF. Wow, what a job that was. I was on a first name basis with the tech's at origin helping me set up the DOS commands and drivers to run them from a boot disk.
I'll be happy to post some screen shots if I can figure out how. Print screen doesn't work and I don't have FRAPS or any of the other programs mentioned in the thread on obtaining screen shots.
May be I'll forced to use a digital camera shot of the monitor!

Check your private messages (PMs) - flashing envelope icon at top of screen next to 'My Stuff' menu item.

Here is a post with some photos of the screen running LongBow GoldFx with 3dFx enhancement. Those with the jaggies have 3dFx toggled off (odd number ending jpg's, even ending numbers have 3dFx enabled). Sorry for the poor quality. I will try to submit some real screen shots soon.

Thanks for taking and uploading those pics. Notice how the non-3DFX terrain feels richer, in both color and detail.