Jane's Longbow 2/Anthology: Rocketing into PCem
- DarkenedRoom
- Jun 8
- 13 min read
Updated: Jun 15
A guide to running Jane's Longbow 2 and Jane's Longbow Anthology under PCem emulation. Longbow 2/Anthology will be run on an emulated Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE) virtual machine. This guide will cover:
The hardware settings to use in PCem emulation.
The preferred Win98SE drivers to use.
Software installation.
Longbow 2/Anthology configuration.
Optional HOTAS setup.
Optional TrackIR setup.
Testing.
Last update: 15 June 2025.
Strategy
This emulation strategy is based on a known issue which has plagued Longbow 2 and Anthology since shortly after release, the rocket attacks which always seem to fall short of the target.
This was identified as being due to the speed or the hardware the sim was being run on, at the time a situation which has only worsened as hardware became more powerful. For this reason and in conjunction with testing the recommended hardware to emulate has been specified to be lower than may be expected.
At present it is believed the issue is affected by both the host machine running the emulator and the virtual machine being emulated. For reference my host machine specs (at time of writing) are::
Processor: Intel i7-7700K @ 4.2GHz
Mainboard: Asus Prime Z270-P
Memory: 64GB DDR4 (4 x 16GB) @ 3.2Ghz, XMP enabled
Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3060
The precise spec to use will depend on the host machine and the results of testing. It is recommended to use a CPU in the range, Pentium 150 - 200Mhz, Pentium MMX 150-233Mhz or Mobile Pentium MMX 150-300Mhz. The FIC VA-503+ allows for this large range of processor speeds.
PCem emulator & virtual machine
This guide assumes the latest version of the PCem emulator v17 will be used. It is available from the PCem website. Where a particular setting is missing, the default setting is assumed to be used. The recommended virtual machine specs are as follows:
Machine
Machine: [Super 7] FIC VA-503+
CPU: Intel Pentium MMX 166
Memory: 256MB
Synchronise time to host clock: enabled
Update: There has been some promising testing with rocket effectiveness, using the following CPU settings:
CPU: IDT WinChip 200
Display
Device: S3 ViRGE/DX
Memory size: 4MB
Bilinear filtering: enabled
Dithering: enabled
Speed: Fast VLB/PCI
Voodoo Graphics: enabled
Voodoo type: Voodoo Graphics
Framebuffer memory size: 4MB
Texture memory size: 4MB
Bilinear filtering: enabled
Screen filter: disabled
Render threads: 4
SLI: disabled
Recompiler: enabled
Sound
Device: Sound Blaster 16
OPL emulator: NukedOPL
All other settings remain default
Disks & drives
HDD: [IDE] Standard IDE
FDD1: 3.5" 1.44M
CD Model: PCemCD
CD Speed: 32X
Select a new hard disk
Image Format: Dynamic-size VHD (.vhd)
New File: choose a suitable file name
Size (MB): 4000
Cylinders, Heads and Sectors will be configured once Size is chosen
Block size: Large blocks (2 MB)
Mouse
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse (PS/2)
Joystick
Discussed later, see HOTAS config.
Creating the virtual machine
The virtual machine will be using Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE). Before creating the virtual machine it may be useful to take a look at the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup. Even though it covers an alternative PCem virtual machine the steps for configuring the bios and installing Win98SE will be identical.
The virtual machine bios should be configured to boot from the CD-ROM first and then the C drive.
As usual all credit for the excellent YouTube tutorial and PhilsComputerLab website should go to Phil.
Windows 98 Second Edition
You will need to obtain the OEM full edition which allows the PC to be booted from the CD-ROM.
By following the advice provided by PhilsComputerLab and the YouTube video, PCem Windows 98 Setup you should end up with a clean Win98SE installation.
Device drivers
Now it's time to optimise the hardware using appropriate hardware device drivers, installed in the order below, for the following devices:
VIA chipset
Sound Blaster 16
3Dfx Voodoo Accelerator
DirectX7
AmnHLT software
It's worth remembering Win98SE does not include support for opening zip files. So it is recommended to do this with Win10/11 by following the steps:
Download copies of the device drivers.
Extract each zip file on your Win10/11 machine, into a separate folder.
Shutdown the virtual machine if it is running.
Mount the virtual hard disk in Win10/11 by opening the vhd hard disk file (created earlier when configuring the virtual machine in 86Box Manager).
Copy the folders containing the device driver and any downloaded executable (.exe) files containing device drivers, onto the mounted virtual hard disk. I would recommend copying into the 'My Documents' folder on the virtual hard disk.
Eject the virtual hard disk, unmounting it from Win10/11, otherwise you won't be able to start Win98SE on the virtual machine.
Start up the virtual machine and once Win98SE has started, begin installing the device drivers.
VIA chipset drivers
The VIA chipset drivers for the FIC VA-503+ motherboard can be found on The Retro Web website. The VIA 4in1 Chipset Driver v4.43V supports Windows 2000/9x/NT4/XP (via-4in1-443v.zip).
As the drivers are distributed as a zip file, it should be extracted in Win10/11 first before being copied to the virtual hard disk. The executable file (4in1443v.exe) should be run to install the drivers.
Sound Blaster 16 drivers
The Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 Driver Update for Win98 can be found on the VOGONS Vintage Driver Library.
As the drivers are distributed as a zip file, it should be extracted in Win10/11 first before being copied to the virtual hard disk. This distribution includes an installer app (upddrv95.exe) which will install the drivers.
3Dfx Voodoo Accelerator drivers
The Voodoo Accelerator drivers can be found on the PhilsComputerLab website. The specific drivers are the May 1999 - Latest Reference drivers (voodoo_graphics_driver_kit_version_3.01.00.zip)
As the drivers are distributed as a zip file, it should be extracted in Win10/11 first before being copied to the virtual hard disk. Win98SE may have already installed 3Dfx Voodoo drivers, but they should be replaced by this version. You will have to open the Voodoo device in Device Manager and upgrade the drivers.
DirectX7
The DirectX7 drivers can be found on the PhilsComputerLab website (directx7.zip).
As the drivers are distributed as a zip file, it should be extracted in Win10/11 first before being copied to the virtual hard disk. This distribution includes an installer app (7.0_directx7.exe) which will install the drivers.
AmnHLT driver
There is an additional virtual device driver that can be installed to increase the performance of the 86Box emulator. Quoting the VOGONS post by Jo22:
AmnHLT is a third-party VxD that issues a HLT (halt) instruction to the CPU whenever Windows 9x is idle. It's meant to avoid a 100% processor usage in VMs - and emulators. HLT is supported by late 486 processors and higher.
It can be obtained from the VOGONS post by SA1988. AmnHLT.7z is a 7zip archive. Only the amnrefr.vxd file is required from the archive.
The following installation instructions were provided in a VOGONS post by 0x6A7232:
In Win98SE, open regedit.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD.
Create a key named AmnHLT.
Create a binary value named Start with a value of 00 inside the AmnHLT key.
Create a string value named StaticVxD with a string of AMNREFR.VXD inside the AmnHLT key.
Shutdown the operating system and close the emulator.
Copy amnrefr.vxd driver into the C:\Windows\System folder of the virtual hard disk.
Start the Win98SE virtual machine.
Credit and thanks go to VOGONS members Jo22, SA1988 and 0x6A7232.
Preserving the virtual machine
At this point we have a clean Win98SE virtual machine (VM) using optimised device drivers. It is recommended to take a copy of the PCem VM configuration and the virtual hard disk (vhd) file.
This provides a clean VM you can use to try out with other 3Dfx/Glide games that struggle to run natively in Win10 with Glide/DX wrappers, without having to repeat the above to create the VM.
Longbow 2/Anthology media
This guide assumes that physical cds will be ripped to cd images to save wear and tear on discs and drives.
Longbow 2 uses 2 cds, while Anthology uses 4 cds, cds 1 & 2 being Longbow Gold while cds 3 & 4 are Longbow 2. Neither version uses cd audio so all discs can be ripped to a data only iso format.
Longbow 2/Anthology installation
Longbow 2
A Longbow 2 installation should be a straightforward process. The first cd image should be mounted in PCem. If the cd does not autorun then the installer app (setup.exe) should be run.
During the installation the default installation folder should be used (C:\Janes\Longbow2).
Either casual or expert play can be chosen as this option can be changed in-game.
When asked about graphics, high details graphics and textures should be chosen.
When asked about DirectX installation, this should be skipped as a later version of DirectX has already been installed.
Longbow Anthology
A Longbow Anthology installation should be a straightforward process. The first cd image should be mounted in Pcem as it contains the installer app for both Longbow Gold and Longbow 2 (setup.exe). If the cd does not autorun the installer app can be started manually.
During the installation the default installation folder should be used (C:\JANES\LBA\Longbow2).
A custom install should be chosen to install Longbow 2 only. In addition to Longbow 2 the Longbow help files can also be chosen if you wish to have access to digital pdf copies of the manuals.
Either casual or expert play can be chosen as this option can be changed in-game.
When asked about graphics, high details graphics and textures should be chosen.
When asked about DirectX installation, this should be skipped as a later version of DirectX has already been installed.
Longbow 2 patches
Only Longbow 2 requires patching as Anthology already has the two recommended patches applied.
There are two recommended patches for Longbow 2, the v2.09 patch and the Display Driver Update (DDU) patch. Both patches can be found at GameFront. The Display Driver Update Beta patch is not recommended having been updated by the full DDU patch.
v2.09 patch
Released on 5 August 1998, the patch readme states:
This patch fixes (among other things) known bugs such as the autopilot occasionally disengaging, hat issues with some joysticks and includes a filter to remove some harsh language in the game. This patch also includes support to play Longbow 2 on Janes combat.net.
This patch should be extracted and then installed on the Win98SE virtual machine.
Display Driver Update (DDU) patch
The DDU patch introduces support for a number of additional 3d accelerator chipsets. From the readme:
This is a display driver update to allow Longbow 2 to run 3D accelerated on 3D accelerator cards using the following chipsets: Riva 128, Rendition Verite V2100 and V2200, TI/3D Labs, Permedia 2, Intel i740, Matrox G200
This patch should be extracted and then installed on the Win98SE virtual machine. During the installation you will be asked to specify a chipset. After installation the config app (lb2cfg.exe) should be run to reselect the 3Dfx Glide option.
Additional software
If you want to read the digital copies of the manuals from with the PCem emulator, it is recommended to install Foxit Reader 2.3.3309. This version is compatible with Win98SE despite the download page saying otherwise. The installer requires copying onto the Win98SE virtual machine and running, (2.3.3309_FoxitReader23_3309_setup.exe).
Longbow 2/Anthology fixes
The following fixes can be applied to improve the stability and add Quality of Life (QoL) improvements.
These fixes were originally found for the Jane's Longbow and Longbow 2 but are equally applicable to Anthology.
Memory fixes
For machine with large amounts of memory, this can trigger a spurious out of memory errors. To prevent the following lines should be added to the ca.ini config file in the Longbow 2/Anthology installation folder:
[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0If you wish to try the DirectX version of Anthology, this should be changed to:
[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=70CD emulation
The developers of Longbow, left in a functional cd emulation facility. This is a very useful facility as it saves you having to swap physical cd or cd images in PCem. To use it, copy the contents of each cd to a folder on the PCem virtual machine.
Then create a file CDEmu.ini in the Longbow installation folder and within the file, specify the folder used for each cd. An example CDEmu.ini for Longbow 2 may look like this:
[CDEmulate]
CD001=C:\Janes\Lb2cd1
CD002=C:\Janes\Lb2cd2Longbow Anthology only has two Longbow 2 cds, the third and fourth cds are Longbow 2, so the CDEmu.ini file only requires two entries. An example CDEmu.ini may look like:
[CDEmulate]
CD001=C:\Janes\Lbacd3
CD002=C:\Janes\Lbacd4This was originally found by VOGONS member Marty2dos in the post, 'Janes AH-64D Longbow 1 & 2 without CD inc Memory Fix (Windows)'. So many thanks to Marty2dos.
Finishing touches
The following are some optional finishing touches you may wish to try. The graphics card control panels used by Nvidia or AMD cards can be configured on a per application/game basis.
A profile can be created for the PCem app but in order to keep the settings specific to Longbow 2/Anthology, I took a copy of pcem.exe and renamed it to pcem-lb2.exe (or whatever name you prefer).
I was then able to use the Nvidia Control Panel (as I have an Nvidia card) to create a profile for pcem-lb2.exe. Within the profile anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing were enabled.
HOTAS Config
The Controllers and retro sims part 5: PCem guide covers installing HOTAS controllers in PCem. The physical axes were mapped as shown:
Physical axis | Windows axis |
Joystick x-axis | DX_X_AXIS |
Joystick y-axis | DX_Y_AXIS |
Throttle | DX_Z_AXIS |
Rudder | DX_XROT_AXIS |
Once you have a custom calibrated Windows 98 controller the hard work is done. As long as the 3rd axis is the throttle and the 4th axis is the rudder, which can be checked in the Windows 98 control panel in the Game controllers section, then the game will correctly assign the axes.
Just remember to calibrate the custom controller in Windows 98 first and then select Windows joystick in the 'in-flight' options menu (alt-o) in game when in the Apache.
TrackIR Config
Although there is no native TrackIR support in Longbow 2/Anthology, it can be enabled through the use of additional tools. For this section it is assumed the latest version of the TrackIR software is used, v5.5.3.
TrackMapper
In order to enable TrackIR support, TrackMapper needs to be used. It is a Keyboard emulator for TrackIR enhanced mode. TrackIR will send movement to TrackMapper, which will convert it into keyboard commands, used by Longbow 2.
The latest version TrackMapper v1.1a needs to be downloaded, it is a single executable that just needs to be extracted into the Longbow installation folder. There are no registry keys so the executable can be added or deleted from game installation folders as required.
TrackMapper used to be available from the NaturalPoint TrackIR website, where it was called TrackMapper2. As long as your TrackIR software has a profile for TrackMapper2, then TrackMapper v1.1a should also work with the TrackIR software.
Credit and thanks goes to Koji "KAF" Sato for the TrackMapper software.
TrackMapper profile
A Longbow profile for TrackMapper is available from Flyboy's Longbow Site, under the 'Controller/Joystick Profiles' page as a TrackIR support download link. Only the profile, 'Longbow2trackmappe4.ttk' is required.
Configuring
To configure TrackIR, TrackMapper and Longbow 2:
Start the TrackIR software.
Start the TrackMapper software, the TrackIR software should be running in enhanced mode and TrackMapper should be receiving data from TrackIR.
Load the Longbow2trackmappe4.ttk profile.
You may wish to test with various changes. However:
Ensure the DataRate is increased to 60 polls/sec.
Keyboard emulation properties are set to Generate Scancodes.
Save the profile under a different name and set it to AutoLoad.
Minimise the TrackIR software and TrackMapper.
Change the config file, ca.ini, (see below).
Start Longbow 2 and test.
You will probably wish to test the TrackMapper responsiveness, reduce the deadzone and change the ring position to your preference.
Longbow 2 configuration changes
It is recommended to change yaw and pitch settings to make them more suitable for TrackIR. In the ca.ini file the following settings:
[CAMERAS]
...
LinearSpeed=75
AngularSpeed=30
HelmetYawSpeed=60
HelmetPitchSpeed=45
...Should be changed to:
[CAMERAS]
...
LinearSpeed=150
AngularSpeed=60
HelmetYawSpeed=110
HelmetPitchSpeed=110
...Credit and thanks go to Flyboy for the Longbow 2 site and hosting the TrackMapper support files.
Testing
Testing involves making rocket attacks against a variety of targets. The closer to the target you have to get to make a successful rocket attack reveals the severity of the rocket falling short issue. In order to test a free flight should be undertaken at the NTC training location.
This testing is subjective so you may need to repeat a number of times to get a feel for the issue on your particular hardware.
The following sim settings are recommended along with reasons for doing so:
Casual gameplay controls should be enabled. The aim is to test as simply as possible.
Realistic weapon damage should be disabled. The aim is to test the effective distance of a rocket attack.
Invulnerability should be enabled as this is testing not play.
Infinite ammo should be enabled for the same reason.
Once the scenario begins head towards the 2nd waypoint. Shortly a couple of SAM's should appear ahead. Configure for an attack:
Switch to rockets.
Set the salvo size to 8 or more.
Target a SAM.
Continue towards the SAM until within range.
Reduce speed to under 100kts otherwise the rocket pods will not be able to pivot towards the target. The slower the better, maintain a steady altitude.
Centre the I-beam reticle on the targeted SAM and fire away. You may have to pivot the aircraft nose to get a solid I-beam reticle.
If the rockets don't fall short you should be able to obtain a kill from 1800+m with a kill possible from 2000m or further if lucky.
From 1600m - 600m you should be able to see if rockets are falling short or bracketing/hitting the SAM. A kill at this range may indicate an issue, so continue attacking other target starting out from maximum rocket range. You 'should' be able to get vehicle kills at this range if everything is working.
At around 600m or less you may get a kill but it should be obvious if the rockets were falling short.
If you are using a higher spec PCem virtual machine you may have to reduce the specs and try testing again.
Longbow 2 mods
There is a single semi-official optional mod for the Fallen Crescent, Longbow 2 campaign. From the mod readme:
AZER2000 is a replacement campaign for the Fallen Crescent campaign included in Longbow 2. The original campaign has American forces challenging Iranian military forces in the Azerbahjian region of the Middle East. AZER2000 is the same campaign, but with a challenging twist. The authentic Iranian Order of Battle, which was faithfully represented in Longbow 2, has been replaced with front line, modern CIS equipment.
The mod is available from GameFront. Versions of the mod exist for english, french and german languages. It is recommended to complete the vanilla Fallen Crescent campaign before installing this mod.
Documents
A digital versions of the Longbow 2 manual is available when Longbow Anthology is installed with the help files. Other digital version of the Longbow 2 manual are also available.
The keyboard reference is also available in a digital format.
A strategy guide, 'The official guide to Jane's Longbow 2' is also available digitally.
Each of these documents is recommended for getting the most out of Longbow 2.
Other information
Quite an old website but Flyboy's Longbow 2 Site still hosts a huge amount of information on Longbow 1 and 2 that isn't found anywhere else.
The Combat Flight Sim Tavern discord has a number of channels dedicated to the Jane's Combat Simulations.
This concludes the Longbow 2/Anthology setup guide.
Good hunting!
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