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Elite Plus retail box This will be the first in a couple of articles covering the classic granddaddy space sim of them all, Elite. In this first article we'll be taking a look at the last version released for the PC, 'Elite Plus', in all of it's 256 colour, VGA glory, and a modern take on the original classic, 'Elite: The New Kind'. This article won't be covering the Frontier or Frontier: First Encounters games. One for a future article! Elite Plus Elite Plus title screen Elite Plus is a re-implemented version of the classic Elite on the PC with graphics improved from CGA to EGA, VGA or MCGA (256 colour VGA). Sound has also been enhanced with the original PC Speaker supplemented with Adlib (Soundblaster compatible) or Roland music. The PC version of Elite was created by Ian Bell and David Braben and published in 1984, while Elite Plus was published in 1991. The retail release was distributed on 2 x 5.25" Double Density (DD) 360k floppy disks, or a single 3.5" 720k DD floppy disk. If you wish to use your existing floppy disks I would recommend converting them to floppy disk images to save wear and tear on the media, they are over 30 years old now! Where to get it Docking at a Coriolis station The easiest place to pick up Elite Plus is digitally through a free download on Ian Bell's PC Elite page . This version also has the added advantage of disabled copy protection. This digital version is distributed as a zip archive. Controller support Elite Plus supports keyboard, mouse or joystick control. It does not support a throttle or rudder pedals. However, since I have a joystick, throttle and rudder pedals, I configured them as part of the virtual controller, even if they won't be used. This will make it easier for DOSBox to assign the correct virtual controller axes to the DOSBox joystick device axes. Configuring axes may not be required if your setup has 4 axes or less. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_XROT_AXIS DOSBox Staging config This config assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging, at time of writing v0.82.0. Changes from the default values are described below: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] core = simple cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = medium chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [sblaster] sbtype = sbpro1 [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = false deadzone = 0 [autoexec] imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\fdd\*.img" -t floppy -ro mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\hdd" loadfix c: cd elite elite The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article  by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. The simple core is used to increase compatibility with earlier DOS games. The default 3000 cycles count seems fine and doesn't need to be adjusted. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings are a personal preference to enhance sound and music. The [midi] and [mt32] settings are based on info from the VOGONS wiki article ' List of MT-32-compatible computer games '. The rom folder needs to be specified, as described in DOSBox midi . As the CM32L device is supported the mt32 model can be left as default. In the [sblaster] section, the sbtype is changed to a Soundblaster Pro, this is to take advantage of stereo audio provided by (emulated) dual OPL chips. I'm not sure if this makes a difference but the VOGONS wiki article has a note about Adlib OPL2, so setting the type to sbpro1 may provide an enhancement? The [joystick] settings use a 4axis joystick type, as I'm using a 4 axes virtual controller, and this will help DOSBox assign axes correctly. If you only have a 2 axes controller or your device(s) allows unused axes to be disabled, then this could be changed to a 2axis joystick type. The timed settings seemed to be required by my HOTAS setup and as the throttle and rudder pedals aren't used the swap34 setting can be left as default. The deadzone is a personal preference. The [autoexec] has example imgmount commands for a floppy disk image, if you wish to use your retail release. The imgmount and mount commands make use of a folder structure described in my DOSBox game management  article. The loadfix  command is required to limit the amount of conventional memory. This is often needed by early DOS games or increases compatibility. The rest of the autoexec commands go to the DOSBox folder where Elite was installed and runs the game. Installation There is no installer utility with Elite Plus so installation is just a manual file copy. To install the digital release, simply create a folder under the DOSBox hard disk folder and extract the archive into this folder. This can all be done in Windows. In my case I created an ELITE folder, so I had to extract the archive into D:\Games\Dos\Elite Plus\hdd\ELITE. This folder becomes C:\ELITE in DOSBox. To install a retail release with floppy disk images, from within DOSBox, create an installation folder on the C: drive and copy the contents of any disk(s) into this folder, e.g. c: # Go to the c: drive md elite # Create an elite folder a: # Go to the floppy disk copy *.* c:\elite # Copy the contents into the elite folder Running Each time Elite Plus is run, the sound/music and graphics options are chosen. The sound/music options are: PC speaker Adlib compatible (Soundblaster) Roland LAPC1 (recommended) The DOSBox config settings allow Adlib/Soundblaster or Roland to be chosen. The graphics option can then be chosen: EGA 16 colours VGA 16 colours MCGA 256 colours (recommended) Cobra MkIII, feels like home! MCGA is fully compatible with VGA, so the MCGA option is effectively VGA with 256 colours. Once in game you will need to select your controller option, either keyboard (default), mouse or joystick. Saved games have the file extension .cdr for Commander. Background and documentation When it comes to background information Ian Bell's Elite Home Page is second to none, well worth a read if you want to dig into the history and the various versions of Elite. Of particular note are: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual The novella included with retail releases, ' The Dark Wheel '. Written by Rob Holdstock it provides background to the galaxies you'll be flying, fighting and trading within and a pretty good Elite story as well! If you are using a joystick I would also recommend trying to find a pdf version of the PC retail manual as the joystick control options are covered. Elite: The New Kind I'd recognize a Cobra MkIII anywhere! Elite: The New Kind (also known as Elite: TNK or E:TNK) is the work of Christian Pinder. The original 8-bit BBC Model B version was reversed engineered and redeveloped into a Windows version. What is remarkable is that the 'feel' of the original has been preserved in E:TNK coupled with graphics that are reminiscent of the Acorn Archimedes version (often considered the best version of Elite) has resulted in a modern day equivalent that plays like the classic Elite of previous years. Definitely one for the purist Elite connoisseur! Not without its issues, it was unavailable when Christian was asked to remove the download for legal reasons, but following the 30th anniversary of Elite, E:TNK was granted a reprieve and has been available to download ever since! Where to get it The latest version is v1.2 available digitally as zip archive from the download section of ' The New Kind ' website. Installation and running A clean and harmless Commander DarkenedRoom! As a zip archive, installation only requires extracting the archive into a folder, that's it. There are installation and running instructions on the download page of the website. There is no joystick or mouse option, it being a port of the original BBC Model B version, so it's old school keyboard flying in this version! Even if you've never played the earlier 8- or 16-bit versions of Elite, I'd recommend E:TNK if only to get a taste of what the original was like. Finally... We've taken a brief look at Elite for the PC as it was then, with the PC port and a modern PC interpretation of the 8-bit classic Elite. In the next article we'll take a look at a 21st century Elite and why I think it's as revolutionary today, as the original was 40 years ago.

A discussion on optimising the Jane's Longbow 2/Anthology setup to maximise rocket effectiveness.and suggestions for effective use in-game. The issue When engaging targets with the FFAR rockets, they will often seem to fall hundreds of metres short of the actual vehicle being engaged, despite there being a solid valid lock with the I-beam reticle on the HUD. This has been an on-going issue which seems to have begun around the release of v2.09 patch and/or the use of cpu's exceeding the recommended specs of the game. Subjective opinion seems to lean towards, higher spec cpu's, or the v2.09 patch or a combination of both creating the issue or increasing ithe impact to the point it affects gameplay. The issue isn't due to emulation as the issue was present with higher spec legacy cpu's as indicated by Flyboy's FAQ (see: Why do the rockets fall short of the targets, even though I have a valid lock?). Increasing effectiveness These following suggestions cover changing the PCem virtual machine used to play Longbow 2, to try and reduce the impact of the issue. AmnHLT driver Use of the AmnHLT driver was discussed in the Longbow 2//Anthology setup guide, Jane's Longbow 2/Anthology: Rocketing into PCem , and is repeated below: 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. Limiting Voodoo Graphics frame rates The Voodoo Graphics emulated in the PCem Win98SE virtual machine can be frame rate limited to 30fps. This seems to help as high frame rates may also contribute to the issue, as discussed in the SimHQ forums post, Rocket pod problems . These steps should be carried out within the Win98SE virtual machine: Add the following to end of autoexec.bat in the PCem VM: call c:\windows\glideenv.bat Create the file c:\windows\glideenv.bat . Add the following Voodoo environment variables to the file: SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=30 SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0 Choosing a CPU The virtual machine motherboard ([Super 7] FIC VA-503+) was chosen as it supports a wide range of cpu's and cpu speeds. Given that the issues also seems to be somewhat dependant on the host machine, this allows for testing multiple cpu speeds and selecting the 'subjectively' best one for your machine. The CPU can be changed within the PCem virtual machine config, without having to make any other changes, making it convenient to change and test. Recommendations are for an emulated cpu speed between 166-233MHz . In addition it may be worth testing alternatives to Intel CPU types, such as the IDT WinChip 200 . Game considerations Targeting & engaging When engaging a target the targeting mode should be set to TADS with the laser designating the target. In the casual flight mode the laser is used automatically but should be manually enabled for realistic flight mode. There can be a huge 200m discrepancy between the range reported by the PCR mode and the TADS range. Rockets are more accurate using TADS targeting with the laser. Speed & altitude The following SimHQ thread, LB2 Rocket Issues discusses speed and altitude issues when employing rockets. From my own testing I've found rockets work best at: Very low speed, 15-20kts or less and it's usually better to hold position and hover. An altitude of 100ft+ works subjectively best although there are alternatives discussed in the SimHQ post including the position of the flight path marker in relation to the I-beam reticle. Final word Unfortunately there isn't a 'one size fits all' solution but hopefully the advice presented here will make rockets more effective in your Longbow 2 missions. Credit and thanks go to Floydii (Discord) for finding SimHQ posts and additional testing and to SimHQ for hosting these older discussions. Good hunting!

This is a guide to optimising a gog.com or Steam digital release of the classic Falcon 3.0 flight sim collection, Falcon Gold, within DOSBox Staging. The guide will cover using the gog.com digital or Steam digital release and either a client install and/or a fresh install of Falcon Gold for reasons covered in the strategy. It will reference many of the earlier articles for Falcon. Strategy The recommended strategy is to create a fresh install of Falcon Gold using the digital release. There are a number of reasons for doing so: The use of 3rd party utilities and tools can enhance the campaign aspect of Falcon Gold. Using the existing digital release installation may result in an installation folder more difficult to manage or contain utilities that may conflict with each other. Additional 3rd party Red Flag missions may be harder to manage. The verification of a digital release installation folder with the gog.com or Steam client may result in any 3rd party tools or additional 3rd party missions to be removed, or damaged if they have changed existing Falcon Gold files. Additional installations allow tools and configuration changes to be tried without affecting any on-going campaigns. Given the popularity long time fans have had to create and use tools to enhance campaign management, it seems likely those new to the sim would reach a point in using these tools for their own campaigns. Having a fresh installation folder supplemented with additional tools folders becomes easier to manage. It is therefore recommended to create a fresh install unaffected by gog.com/Steam verification for this reason and this is covered in ' Using a fresh installation '. However for those who would just wish to optimise an existing digital installation and jump right in and begin flying, should take a look at ' Using a client installation ', The client installation can be used to begin with before moving onto a fresh Falcon Gold installation. Both methods will require a client installation as the first step. Client installation Either the gog.com Galaxy client, gog.com offline installer or Steam client should be used to install Falcon Gold. It should complete successfully without issue. The installation folder will be dependant on the client installation folder or the chosen gog.com offline installer destination folder. Using a client installation This section uses a gog.com digital release, however the steps should be similar, if not identical, for a Steam digital release. Game Management I recommend using my DOSBox game management  strategy. As the gog.com digital version is used and installed by the gog.com client or offline installer, the following folders are recommended: conf - to store any DOSBox Staging/HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of the recommended patch. DOSBox config changes This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging v0.82.1. This config only details the changes from the configuration found in the previous article, ' Falcon 3.0: Operation DOSBox Staging '. Changes to this configuration are detailed below. [autoexec] mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold" mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold\cloud_saves" -t overlay imgmount d "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Falcon Gold\game.gld" -t iso c: cd falconcd # for Falcon Gold cd-rom install folder darkmenu # my startup menu The [autoexec] section mounts the gog.com installation folder under the Galaxy client  as the c: drive. gog.com releases often provide a facility to save your game in the cloud, it does this by providing an overlay mount in the gog.com DOSBox config. I've recreated this mount in the DOSBox Staging config. I'm not 100% sure if it works correctly (it seems to), so please be aware and don't rely on it! The Falcon Gold cd image is included in the release as game.g ld and is mounted as an emulated cd d: drive. The remaining commands run my Falcon 3.0/Gold darkmenu . Patching TM-STICK A recommended utility is TM-STICK which reduces the joystick deadzone and allows changes to be made to the throttle detent, after which the various stages of afterburner are applied. It's usefulness will be determined by your specific controller setup but it's certainly worth trying out. Note: The Falcon Gold edition has the TM-STICK v1.9 utility included as an extra, but Falcon Gold requires TM-STICK v2.1, available at the   Internet Archive . 3rd party patches This guide assumes a vanilla experience for new players so the only recommended mod is F3 missile which changes the characteristics of the Stinger/SA-7B SAM missiles, making them less overpowered and more realistic.A huge number of utilities with various version have been distributed over the years, an earlier article. 'Falcon 3.0: Unofficial mods & tools', details them and the utilities that remain compatible with the latest versions. This concludes using a client installation. Using a fresh installation Game Management The game management for a fresh install extends the game management shown above for a client install. So we have the existing three folders: conf - to store any DOSBox Staging/HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of the recommended patch. Supplemented with: cd - to store the cd image. hdd - to act as the DOSBox hdd folder. The game management folders will be identical to those used in . Obtaining the CD image A Falcon Gold cd image is included within the client installation, it is the game.gld file. This file is an iso image and can be renamed to game.iso (or falcon3.iso , falconcd.iso , etc.). It can be mounted and opened in Win10/11 as a cd and the contents viewed in File Explorer. Once satisfied the image seems ok, the cd can be ejected. The iso file can be copied into the cd game management folder. DOSBox config The DOSBox Staging config is identical to one used earlier in the article ' Falcon 3.0: Operation DOSBox Staging ', but is listed below for convenience (some settings are omitted as they are now the default in the latest version of DOSBox Staging). A description of the various settings can be found in the DOSBox setup section. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] vmemsize = 8 dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 18000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = medium chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = cm32l romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold\cd\game.iso" -t cdrom c: cd falconcd # for Falcon Gold install folder darkmenu # my startup menu The [autoexec] mount and imgmount commands will depend in which folder the game management folders are stored. In the example above I used: D:\Games\Dos\Falcon Gold Installation and patching Falcon Gold should be installed under DOSBox using the installer app (install.exe) found on the cd image. It should complete without issue. The Art of the Kill should also be installed, if desired. Patching Art of the Kill The gog.com client installation includes the Art of the Kill patch, an updated video player ( newaotk.exe ). This file needs to be copied to the aotk folder in the DOSBox hdd folder. It's not known if the AOTK patch is also included in the Steam digital release. If not the patch should be applied under DOSBox. Patching TM-STICK See Patching TM-STICK above. 3rd party patches See 3rd party patches above. HOTAS config The Controller setup advice is unchanged. Running Falcon Gold The Running Falcon advice is unchanged. Documentation & further Information How to find complete documentation . Background to the falcon collection and official patches and utilities . 3rd party patches and utilities . The earlier setup guide: Falcon 3.0: Operation DOSBox Staging . Running Gold Falcon Utilities in DOSBox Staging . Good hunting!

A guide to running the (maybe not so well known) DOS sim, Heroes of the 357th in DOSBox Staging. Heroes is a WWII sim of the P-51 Mustang based from England with missions taking place over France and Germany. Published by Electronic Arts in 1992 and developed by Midnight Software, Inc. Originally released on both 1 x High Density 1.2MB 5.25" and 2 x Double Density 720KB 3.5" floppy disks, later released would be distributed on a single cd-rom. Not the most known or well loved sim it's generally considered middling but may still be worth a look for nostalgic purposes. The recommended version is the cd-rom release. Media Due to the age or the media and the drives required to read the media, it is recommended to rip both floppy and cd-rom media to image files, to save wear and tear on media and the mechanical drives. Floppy disks can be ripped to an .ima or .img image format. The cd-rom can be ripped to a data only .iso image format. HOTAS config Heroes only supports a joystick, however the below config includes throttle and rudder pedals to prevent the other peripherals from being incorrectly used by DOSBox and to allow keys to be mapped to the throttle. This is only required if the HOTAS has more than 4 axes and should be set through the DOSBox mapper or HOTAS profiling software. The config is shown below: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle NONE Rudder NONE Game management Takeoff cutscene I recommend using my DOSBox game management  strategy. The recommended game management folders are: cd - to store the cd image. conf - to store any DOSBox or HOTAS configuration files. docs - to store any documents. fdd - to store any floppy images. hdd - the folder use as the emulated DOSBox hard disk. DOSBox Config This DOSBox Staging config for Heroes assumes the latest version (at time of writing), v0.82.1 will be used. The changes to the default config are shown below: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] core = simple cpu_cycles = 4000 cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normmal [joystick] joysticktype = 2axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Heroes of the 357th\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Heroes of the 357th\cd\Heroes.iso" -t cdrom imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Heroes of the 357th\fdd\*.img" -t floppy c: # cd p51 # p51 vga j adlib hi music sound # exit The [sdl] and [dosbox] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article  by Omniclyde. The mouse iss left as the game doesn't use the mouse. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, a core of simple is optimised for older real mode games. 4000 cycles is recommended but you may wish to change this, depending on personal preference or host pc. Cycles up/down is set to a suitably small increment. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. Heroes only supports an AdLib (Sound Blaster compatible) device for music and sound, so MIDI options aren't used or needed and the default Sound Blaster settings are appropriate. There are example imgmount and mount commands to add floppy disk or cd images and the emulated hard disk folder. As there may be multiple multiple floppy disk images the * wildcard is used. The disabled commands can be enabled once installation is complete. Installation Installation differs between the cd-rom and floppy versions. CD Image CD-rom installer Installation should be performed from within DOSBox. For the cd-rom version, the installer app ( install.exe ) should be run. The installation steps are: Select an installation drive, the default c: is appropriate. Select an installation directory, the default c:\p51 is appropriate. There are instructions for running the game. A text version of the manual is displayed. Note: there are no graphics or sound/music options to choose. Floppy Image(s) There is no installer for the floppy version of the game. The game may have been ripped to one or two floppy images. To install from a single floppy image: Create an installation folder ( c:\p51 ). Copy p51.bat and heroes.exe from the floppy image into the installation folder. Run heroes.exe to extract the game files. To install from multiple floppy images: Create an installation folder ( c:\p51 ) Copy p51.bat and heroes1.exe from the first floppy image into the installation folder. Copy heroes2.exe from the second floppy image into the installation folder. Run heroes1.exe to extract the game files. Run heroes2.exe to extract the rest of the game files. Note:  there are no graphics or sound/music options to choose. Running & configuration The game is run by calling p51.exe or p51.bat. In the DOSBox Staging config, p51 is called with arguments: p51 vga j adlib hi music sound The supported arguments are listed below: ega Loads game with EGA graphics. vga Loads game with VGA graphics. j Loads game with joystick flight control. k Loads game with keyboard flight control. lo Loads game in low graphics detail mode. med Loads game in medium graphics detail mode. hi Loads game in high graphics detail mode. sound Loads game with sound on. nosound Loads game with music on and sound off. pc Loads game with PC internal speaker sounds. adlib Loads game with AdLib sound card sounds. tandy Loads game with Tandy sound (VGA required) quiet Loads game with neither music nor sound. music Loads game with music on. nomusic Loads game with music turned off. Options menu In-game configuration During a mission, ' o ' will bring up an options menu as shown in the screenshot. Options are left as a personal preference. Documents The cd-rom release has a copy of the manual as a text file ( heros357.txt ). However a digital version of the manual can be found in pdf format and is recommended due to the included screenshots. The reference card can be found on MobyGames . Good hunting!

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. With some Voodoo cards/drivers the texture behind the tower struts won't be visible. 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 No place like home! 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=0 If you wish to try the DirectX version of Anthology, this should be changed to: [Backdoors] HEAP_PERCENT=70 CD 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\Lb2cd2 Longbow 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\Lbacd4 This 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 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 SAM's destroyed with rockets at distance on a Pentium 200 VM 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 First edition manual 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!

A guide to running the 1993, Origin Systems sim, Strike Commander in DOSBox Staging. The original version of Strike Commander was released on 8 x 1.44MB 3.5" High Density (HD) floppy disks. This was followed by the Strike Commander: Speech Pack released on 3 x1.44MB 3.5" HD floppy disks, which added digitized speech to in-flight comms and cinematic sequences. In the same year, 1993 an expansion campaign and general MIDI support was added with Strike Commander: Tactical Operations, distributed on 3 x 1.44MB HD floppy disks. The Strike Commander: CD-ROM edition, distributed on (unsurprisingly) a single CD-ROM combined the original game, speech pack and expansion as well as adding further digitized speech and intro video. Version This guide will be using the digital edition released in 2013 on gog.com , which is comparable to the Strike Commander: CD-ROM edition. The digital edition is currently bundled with vanilla DOSBox and this guide will cover running Strike Commander with DOSBox Staging, providing enhanced features and capabilities. Speed sensitivity A point worth noting is the speed sensitivity present in this digital/CD edition. At higher DOSBox cycles the effectiveness of AAM's and Mavericks can vary along with the AI use of countermeasures. This is discussed at length in the gog.com Strike Commander forum post ' Missile gullibility '. Game management I recommend using my DOSBox game management  strategy. As the gog.com digital version is used and installed by the GoG client or offline installer, only the following folders are recommended: conf - to store any DOSBox Staging/HOTAS profile configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. patch - to store a copy of the recommended patch. Installation The gog.com digital release should be installed using either the Strike Commander offline installer or Galaxy client. Installation should be straight-forward and complete successfully. HOTAS config Joystick and rudder pedals are supported. Configuring axes may not be required if your HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller  can be used, limited to 4 axes. Despite not supporting a throttle it is included in the profile to allow keyboard throttle commands to be mapped to the throttle axis in HOTAS profiling software. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder DX_XROT_AXIS DOSBox Staging config This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging v0.82.1. Changes from the default configuration are detailed below, except MIDI options which are considered later, as both Roland and General MIDI support is available: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] core = normal cpu_cycles_protected = 25000 cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [joystick] joysticktype = ch timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Strike Commander" mount c "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Strike Commander\cloud_saves" -t overlay imgmount d "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Strike Commander\sc.dat" -t iso -fs iso c: sccd.exe pause exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article  by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, the core is set to normal and the cpu_cycles_protected set to 25000 cycles, to try and alleviate the speed sensitivity issues whilst keeping framerates fluid. The cycleup/cycledown settings allow for a suitably small increment/decrement in finding an optimum setting for a particular machine. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings enhance the music and audio. They are a personal preference and can be adjusted as desired. In the [joystick] section, setting the joysticktype to ch allows the use of the hat available on most joysticks. [timed], [swap34] are suitable settings for my HOTAS (TM Warthog), however you may need to adjust these for your own joystick or HOTAS. [deadzone] is a personal preference and should be adjusted as desired. The [autoexec] section mounts the gog.com installation folder under the Galaxy client as the c: drive. gog.com releases often provide a facility to save your game in the cloud, it does this by providing an overlay mount in the gog.com DOSBox config. I've recreated this mount in the DOSBox Staging config. I'm not 100% sure if it works correctly (it seems to), so please be aware and don't rely on it! The Strike Commander cd image is included in the release as sc.dat and is mounted as an emulated cd d: drive. The remaining commands run Strike Commander and after quitting the game will pause allowing the goodbye message to be read before closing the DOSBox Staging app. It is recommended to leave these commented out until configuration is complete. MIDI options As general MIDI support was introduced with the expansion campaign, both Roland and general midi options are supported. Once configured, you may wish to adjust mixer settings to your preference. Taking a look at each in turn: Roland [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = cm32l romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" In [mt32] the model is set to cm32l as the install utility allows the selection of the compatible Roland LAPC-1 sound device. Versioned roms are used, as described in the earlier article ' DOSBox midi '. Fluidsynth [midi] mididevice = fluidsynth [fluidsynth] soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\Shan SGM-X48 v2.0.SF2" The soundfont is an example and an alternative can be used, based on preference. All soundfonts are kept in the same folder, as described in the article ' DOSBox midi '. VirtualMidiSynth [midi] mididevice = win32 midiconfig = 0 Setting the mididevice to win32 allows the VirtualMidiSynth app to be used. The midiconfig setting can be found using the method as described in the article ' DOSBox Staging and VirtualMIDISynth '. Patching There is a single recommended fan made patch to try and alleviate the speed sensitivity issues. A result of the work done by Harr-Nuta and others over on the gog.com forums, so credit and thanks to those individuals. Depending on the DOSBox cycles used, you may find this patch unnecessary. The Strike Commander CD Missile Fix can be found at PCGamingWiki . It is a file replacement patch, replacing the existing strike.exe executable. It is recommended to backup the original file. It is also recommended to keep a copy of the patch in the game management folders, in case the gog.com Galaxy client is ever used to verify the game installation folder, as this may replace the patch executable with the original one. Configuration The Strike Commander installer utility It is recommended to run the installer app ( install.exe ) to set the hardware configuration options at least once and then each time the Sound Blaster or MIDI options are changed in the DOSBox configuration. To set the configuration: Select ' Change the hardware configuration '. Select ' Roland/LAPC-1 ' if you wish to use Roland music, or... Select ' General MIDI ' if you wish to use Fluidsynth or VirtualMidiSynth. Select ' Sound Blaster Pro ' as the sound effects card, this is compatible with the default DOSBox Staging Sound Blaster 16 device. Select the default I/O address ( 220H ) for the Sound Blaster. Select IRQ 7 for the Sound Blaster ( this is different from the suggested default ). Select the default I/O address ( 330H ) for the MIDI device. Select ' Yes ' for a local bus video card. Select ' Yes ' if satisfied with the current configuration, or ' No ' to go back and change options. Once configured commands in the [autoexec] section of the DOSBox Staging configuration can be enabled. Running Strike Commander can now be run by calling the sccd.exe executable. In-game configuration In-game configuration options It is recommended when first starting the game to perform the in-game configuration. Any training mission should be started. Once in-mission open the in-game configuration options (alt-o). Select FLIGHT options. For FLIGHT CONTROL Select FS PRO . Select RUDDER if you wish to use rudder pedals or a separate rudder control. In the centre menu, the following options would affect frame rates on period hardware but can be enabled with DOSBox Staging: SHOW WEAPONS can be enabled. REALISTIC can be enabled For PANNING CONTROL Select FS PRO . Select CALIBRATE JOYSTICK and perform the calibration. Don't forget to SAVE the in-game configuration. Documents It's recommended to grab the full suite of documents (and store them in the docs game management folder), supplied by gog.com, including: The Strike Commander manual The Strike Commander: Tactical Ops manual The reference card The Playtester's Guide The Strategy Guide Good hunting!

A guide to running the 1990 MicroProse pacific submarine sim, Silent Service II in DOSBox Staging as well as a brief look at the history of the sim. Sequel to the classic 1985 sub sim Silent Service, which was released on practically every 8- and 16-bit platform, Silent Service II had a more limited development, appearing on the 'big three' platforms, Amiga, Atari ST and DOS. Versions & patches Like earlier MicroProse sims, Silent Service II (SS2) used a product number, in this case 457, followed by a version number, running from .01 to .03. Initially distributed on disk, later releases would be a later version (often the final version) released on a single cd or floppy disk. Both patches can be found in the MicroProse FTP Archive (ftp.microprose.com) hosted on the Internet Archive. Version 457.01 This was the initial retail release, distributed on DOS with 2 x 3.5" Double Density (DD) 720KB disks. Version 457.02 The first patch ( ssiiv2.zip ) was released in September, 1990. It was a bug fix and enhancement release, with additional keyboard commands to control speed and the periscope. It included notes on historical accuracy and running advice. This patch should be installed under DOSBox. This patch was superseded by the 457.03 patch. Although not required to patch the game, it is still recommended, due to the developer notes that were included with the patch. These notes would not be present in the later .03 patch and are included below: Version 457.03 The second and final patch ( ss2v3.zip ) was released in October 1991. It was a bug fix patch but was distributed as a cumulative patch, including the v457.02 patch. This patch should be installed under DOSBox and is a recommended patch for those with earlier versions. The readme is shown below and the only difference from the .02 readme is the addition of a final warning about saves from earlier versions not working with this version. Media SS2 was distributed on a multiple disks or a single cd, but as usual disk/cd images will be used in preference to physical media, to save wear and tear on discs and drive. Physical cd's should be ripped to the iso data only format, as there are no cd audio tracks are on the disc. Digital releases of Silent Service II are available on GOG and Steam . Game management I recommend using my DOSBox game management  strategy, the recommended game management folders are: conf - to store any DOSBox configuration files. docs - to store any documents, manuals, etc. cd - to store any cd images ripped from a retail cd. fdd - to store and disk images ripped from retail disks. hdd - the DOSBox emulated hard disk folder, to install the game to. Joystick vs keyboard Although supporting a joystick, it provides no additional benefit compared to the keyboard. In the Technical Supplement it states many of the development team preferred keyboard rather than joystick control. Due to this, a joystick is not configured in the below DOSBox config. Note: there is no mouse control in SS2. DOSBox Staging config This guide assumes the latest version of DOSBox Staging, v0.82.1 (at time of writing). [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] core = simple cpu_cycles = 3000 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = none [autoexec] imgmount a "D:\Games\dos\Silent Service II\fdd\*.ima" -t floppy # imgmount d "D:\Games\dos\Silent Service II\fdd\ss2.iso" -t cdromm mount c "D:\Games\dos\Silent Service II\hdd" c: # cd mps # call silent.bat # exit The [sdl], [dosbox] and [mouse] settings are suitable for high frame rate gaming as described in this article  by Omniclyde. These settings aren't strictly required and can be omitted to use the default settings. In [cpu] settings, a core of simple is optimised for older real mode games. 3000 cycles is the default but you may wish to change this to personal preference. The cpu_cycles_protected setting will use the same cycle count as cpu_cycles when set to auto. Cycles up/down is set to a suitably small increment. Voodoo emulation isn't required and can be disabled. The [mixer] settings can be changed to enhance sound and music to personal preference. SS2 supports Roland sound, so the MIDI device is set to mt32. The MIDI device is set to mt32_new as SS2 was built for this model, as listed on the VOGONS wiki article, ' List of MT-32-compatible computer games '. This could be omitted to default to a cm32l model which would also be compatible. The rom folder is described in the earlier ' DOSBox midi ' article. Joystick type is set to none as mentioned earlier in ' Joystick vs keyboard '. There are example imgmount and mount commands to add floppy disk or cd images and the emulated hard disk folder. As there may be multiple multiple floppy disk images the * wildcard is used. The disabled commands can be enabled once installation (and optionally patching) are complete. Installation The installer app ( install.exe ) should be run from the first (or only) floppy disk or cd image, in DOSBox. If a second floppy is requested it should be mounted by swapping disk images (CTRL + F4). Note : the installer version may be a different version than the game. During the installation the following should be selected: Option 5 - Install onto Hard Disk, drive C: Option 1 - MCGA/VGA (256-color) Option 1 - Roland MT-32 sound The installation should complete without issue, the installation folder normally being: c:\mps\ss2 Patching Patching is only required for versions earlier than v457.03. Open the patch zip archive in Win10 and copy the contents to the emulated hard disk folder. Start DOSBox and run the patch installer. The installation should complete without issue. You may also enable the remaining DOSBox config commands in the [autoexec] section. Running Start menu, note the version number To run, go to the c:\mps folder in DOSBox and run silent.bat . The MicroProse start menu.will be shown (see screenshot). This also shows the version number, which is useful to determine if the game needs patching. The following questions will be asked: Do you have a joystick? No . Do you want digitized speech? Yes . Once loading is complete, the copy protection may ask you to identify a ship from the manual. The patch readme files indicate that ALT + F1 can be used to identify the amount of free memory left during a patrol. However you shouldn't use this command: As it will open the DOSBox mapper instead. It isn't needed, as DOSBox will provide more than enough memory required. Documentation The following documents are available in a digital/pdf format: Manual - essential for the copy protection, playing the game and background information. Technical Supplement - essential control summary and some useful bits of info. Map of the patrol area - useful for the location of naval bases and water depth. Good hunting!

A setup guide for adding HOTAS controllers to the PCem emulator. In this guide I'll be showing how a joystick, throttle and rudders pedals were setup for use within PCem and how they were added to Windows 98 running on the emulated machine. PCem setup This guide assumes the latest version of PCem is being used, at time of writing this is v17. If you're completely new to setting up PCem or need a refresher, I highly recommend the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup . Preparation Assuming you have an emulated machine in PCem running a clean install of Windows 98 then before we begin, you may wish to take a copy of your PCem setup. If anything goes badly wrong you'll have your original setup intact. I'd suggest taking a new copy of your virtual hard disk (.vhd) image. Then using PCem to take a new copy of the emulated machine. Then you just need to configure your new machine copy to use the new hard disk image copy. Retro sims The retro sims we want to play in PCem usually used a maximum of 4 axes (or the 4 most important axes were): Joystick x-axis Joystick y-axis Throttle axis (or z-axis) Rudder axis (normally an x-rotation axis) The important part is getting the axes configured in PCem. The buttons assignments aren't as important as we can use profiling software to assign key-presses to controller buttons later. PCem controller support PCem supports a number of different controller configurations. The one we'll want to use is a 2 button 2 axis joystick. PCem allows us to configure 2 of these joystick devices and that will give us the 4 axes that we need. Devices In this example I'll be using 3 different physical devices, a TM Warthog joystick, a TM Warthog throttle and TFRP rudder pedals. So I'll be configuring 4 axes across 3 different devices. Creating a virtual controller If you're not clear on the difference between physical and virtual HOTAS controllers have a look at my earlier guide, Controllers and retro sims part 2: Virtual controllers . There are 4 axes spread across 3 physical devices but PCem only supports 2 devices so we need to combine those 3 devices to create a single virtual device. 4 axes across 3 physical devices As all my devices come from the same vendor, Thrustmaster, I can use the their TARGET profiling software to create a virtual controller profile. If your controllers are from the same vendor, you can use their profiling software to achieve the same result, e.g. Logitech/Saitek SST Profile Editor. If you have devices from different vendors, then JoyStick Gremlin offers the same facility in a vendor independent way. In this TARGET screenshot you can see my 3 physical devices and the 4 axes which will form the virtual controller profile. This is my default TARGET profile for flight sims running under PCem. Once configured you'll need to start the profile to create the virtual controller before continuing to the next step. Adding controllers to PCem Joystick configuration Start the PCem app, select your emulated machine and click the configure button to bring up the config window, click on the joystick button to set joystick options. You want to set 'Joystick' to Standard 2-button joystick(s) which should make the 'Joystick 1...' and 'Joystick 2...' buttons active. Joystick 1 config Click the 'Joystick 1..' button to open the dialog, set the 'Device' to your virtual device (it should be fairly obvious) and set the axes/buttons as shown and click ok. In my case the virtual device was 'Thrustmaster Virtual Game Controller (root)'. Joystick 2 config Click the 'Joystick 2..' button to open the dialog, set the 'Device' to your virtual device (again, it should be fairly obvious). Set Axis 0: to 'Axis 2' in the dropdown menu and Axis 1: to 'Axis 3' in the dropdown menu. Buttons should set as shown in the screenshot. As you can see in the screenshot, I've swapped Axis 2 and 3. In the next step we'll be adding and testing a Windows 98 controller and it's quite common for the 3rd and 4th axis of this controller (throttle & rudder) to require swapping. This was the case in this example and I had to swap the axes of the 2nd Joystick (3rd and 4th axes). Hope that's not too confusing! So too recap: Joystick x-axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 0 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 0 Joystick y-axis  -> Virtual Controller Axis 1 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 1 Throttle axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 2 ->  PCem Joystick 2 Axis 0 Rudder axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 3 -> PCem Joystick 2 Axis 1 And if you need to swap the 3rd & 4th axes: Joystick x-axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 0 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 0 Joystick y-axis  -> Virtual Controller Axis 1 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 1 Throttle axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 3 ->  PCem Joystick 2 Axis 0 Rudder axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 2 -> PCem Joystick 2 Axis 1 Adding a controller to Windows 98 Now it's time to fire up the emulated machine in PCem. Once it's started go to the Control Panel and open Game Controllers. In the Game Controllers window nothing will be listed, so click 'Add'. In the Add Game Controller Window click 'Custom...' Creating the custom game controller In the Custom Game Controller window, make sure Special Characteristics is set to 'Is a Joystick', Axes is 4 and Buttons is 4. Leave the Has a point-of-view control unchecked, give it a name and click OK until you return to the Game Controllers window. You should now see your new custom controller. Testing a custom controller Open the controller and you should see the test window. The joystick axes should work as should the throttle and rudder axes. It should also become apparent if you need to swap the 3rd and 4th axes. All that remains is to calibrate your controller in Windows 98 and you're good to go! So to recap again, we've assigned: Joystick x-axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 0 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 0 -> Windows controller axis 0 Joystick y-axis  -> Virtual Controller Axis 1 -> PCem Joystick 1 Axis 1 -> Windows controller axis 1 Throttle axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 2 ->  PCem Joystick 2 Axis 0 -> Windows controller axis 3 Rudder axis -> Virtual Controller Axis 3 -> PCem Joystick 2 Axis 1 -> Windows controller axis 4 Issues Once you stop your virtual profile, PCem will lose the joystick config. So the next time you run your sim you'll have to reconfigure the 2 joystick devices, fortunately PCem seems to remember the axes/button assignments so you'll just have to specify the virtual controller in the Device setting again. No need to re-configure anything in Windows, the custom controller will still be there. Game specific virtual controller profiles Now you have the axes working, you can take a copy of the default PCem virtual controller profile to create a game specific one and start to assign game keys to controller buttons! Finally This is a quick YouTube video of the NovaLogic sim F-22 Raptor being played through PCem using the joystick, throttle and rudder pedals discussed.

How to run the non-Glide Windows versions of Longbow Gold and Longbow Anthology in Windows 98 using the PCem emulator. As usual I'll be using cd images to save wear and tear on cds and drive. Your Longbow cds can be ripped to data only iso cd images, there is no cd audio on the Longbow cds. Why play the Windows version? The Windows version is 99% equivalent to the DOS version, so why not play the DOS version instead? It's a valid question, the Windows version disables the in-flight recorder, which is a mark against it, but there are a couple of reasons why the Windows version running under PCem may be preferable. There's an addition of a campaign 'cheat' menu allowing any campaign mission to be played as a single mission. If you've completed the campaigns but you want to revisit an old campaign mission, you can. If you're struggling to set up your HOTAS controller under DOSBox, you may find it easier to set it up under PCem. Whether you choose to play WIndows or DOS, you have options and can choose whichever one is best for you! Versions and patches For a list the various releases of Longbow and the recommended patches for each version take a look at the Longbow primer . This guide covers the non-Glide versions of Longbow Gold and Anthology only, there's a separate setup guide for the Glide versions. There's no preferred version with both Longbow Gold and Anthology being equivalent and running equally well. PCem setup If you're completely new to setting up PCem or need a refresher, I highly recommend the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup . Once you have a basic, clean Windows 98 virtual machine and hard disk image, I recommend: Taking a copy of the basic virtual machine to create a game specific virtual machine. Taking a copy of the basic hard disk image to create a game specific image. Use PCem and reconfigure the game specific virtual machine to use the game specific hard disk image. If things go badly wrong, you'll always have the basic image to try again with and it'll save a lot of time and effort if you ever want to try a different game under PCem. Installation Once the emulated machine is running, change the cd device settings in PCem, to use either your physical drive (if you have a physical cd), or a cd image. Installation with both Longbow Gold and Anthology should be straightforward. I didn't encounter any issues. During the Longbow Anthology installation, you should choose a custom install and skip installing the GoldFX(A) Glide patch. CD 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 emulated machine. Then create a file CDEmu.ini  in the Longbow installation folder (in my case C:\Janes\Longbow) and specify the folder for each cd, like so: [CDEmulate] CD001=C:\Janes\Longbow1 CD002=C:\Janes\Longbow2 CD003=C:\Janes\Longbow3 Longbow Anthology only has two Longbow cds, the third and fourth cds are Longbow 2, so the CDEmu.ini file only requires two entries. Patching Now it's time to install any patches, take a look at the Longbow primer . Only Longbow Gold should require patching, Longbow Anthology is already fully patched. Controller setup Take a look at my Controllers and retro sims part 5: PCem  guide for installing HOTAS controllers in PCem. 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. Gameplay options and manuals The earlier guide, Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (DOS) in DOSBox Staging has a brief discussion on gameplay options and manuals. Good hunting!

The Jane's pop-up edition How to run the Windows 3dfx/Glide versions of Longbow Gold and Longbow Anthology natively in Windows 10 using compatibility fixes, Glide and DirectX/Windows wrappers. I'll be using cd images to save wear and tear on cds and drive. Your Longbow cds can be ripped to data only iso cd images, there is no cd audio on the Longbow cds. It will be installed and played natively in Windows 10, in theory PCem should be another solution, however the Glide components of PCem fail when running Longbow Glide versions. Before you begin Running Longbow Gold or Anthology natively in Windows 10 is an involved process and although the results are more stable than ever before, there are still issues and workarounds to be aware of. That's why I'm suggesting you read up on the issues that still remain (below) and take a look at the process in setting up, to make sure you're comfortable with the steps of the process and once the work is done, the issues that remain are ones you can live with while playing. Versions and patches For a list the various releases of Longbow and the recommended patches for each version take a look at the Longbow primer . This guide covers Windows Glide versions of Longbow Gold and Anthology only (there is no DOS Glide version. There's a separate setup guide for the DOS and Windows non-Glide versions. The preferred version is Longbow Anthology as does not suffer from the movie issue (described below) which affects Longbow Gold. Installation Before running the installation, set the compatibility option, 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 95' on the setup.exe properties. Running the installation should be straight-forward. For Anthology, choose a custom install and skip installing the GoldFX(A) patch. This will be done later. If you've installed Longbow previously, you may have followed the PC Gaming Wiki advice and added the HEAP_PERCENT option to the ca.ini config file. This can be found in the Longbow installation folder. You should remove/comment out this line in the file, it won't be needed. CD 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's or cd images. To use it, copy the contents of each cd to a folder on your machine. Then create a file CDEmu.ini  in the Longbow installation folder (in my case C:\Janes\Longbow) and specify the folder for each cd, like so: [CDEmulate] CD001=C:\Janes\Longbow1 CD002=C:\Janes\Longbow2 CD003=C:\Janes\Longbow3 Longbow Anthology only has two Longbow cds, the third and fourth cds are Longbow 2, so the CDEmu.ini file only requires two entries. Patching To patch Longbow Gold you need to run the GoldFX patch only. The GoldFX patch is only compatible with the base Longbow Gold game. To patch Longbow Anthology you need to run the GoldFX(A) patch, the Anthology version of the GoldFX patch. Before running the patch installer, set the compatibility option, 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 98 / Windows ME' and 'Run as Administrator' on the setup.exe properties. Running the installer should now be straight-forward. A quick break We've reached the point where the game is installed and patched. From this point on we'll be using a variety of tools to fix compatibility issues encountered when running on a Windows 10 platform. This starts to get a lot more involved so read ahead, take your time. You may find it tricky when you do this for the first time, I know I did. We'll be setting up three separate components: Windows compatibility fixes. The Windows/DirectX wrapper DxWnd. The Glide wrapper nGlide. Windows compatibility fixes The first step is make sure there are no existing compatibility fixes on the Longbow executable, lbwin.exe . Go to Properties and the Compatibility tab and make sure all the Compatibility fixes are disabled. The Windows compatibility fixes are included in the below zip file. The fixes were created with the Microsoft Compatibility administrator (32 bit) . Follow the link for an overview. There are fixes for Longbow Gold and Longbow Anthology in the application compatibility database file JanesLongbowGlide.sdb . There is a LongbowGlidePatchInstall.bat to install the patch and a LongbowGlidePatchUninstall.bat to uninstall the patch. This is my first application compatibility patch I've produced for others. The fixes should only apply to the Longbow Gold/Anthology Glide versions of lbwin.exe with a particular checksum so 'should' work on any Windows 10 machine. To use the patch, download, extract to a folder and run LongbowGlidePatchInstall.bat . If you wish to uninstall later, run LongbowGlidePatchUninstall.bat. If you prefer to exercise caution when it comes to downloading files from strangers (I can completely understand), then take a look at the   Microsoft Compatibility administrator guide. You should be able to download and install the Assessment and deployment kit, use the Compatibility administrator to produce your own patch and install it. You'll need to use the following fixes/shims: EmulateCreateFileMapping GlobalMemoryStatusLie IgnoreException You can also use the Compatibility administrator to open my JanesLongbowGlide.sdb file and see the same fixes/shims for both Longbow Gold and Anthology. Now the fixes are installed it's time to set up the wrappers. Wrappers DxWnd Windows/DirectX wrapper A lot of the work that was done by the Windows compatibility settings, will instead be done by the Windows/DirectX wrapper DxWnd. To quote the maintainer of DxWnd, Ghotik: Windows hooker - intercepts system calls to make Win32 programs run in a window, to enhance application compatibility, to enhance video modes, to stretch timing and emulate CD disk data and audio tracks. It is typically very useful to run old Windows games. DxWnd has been awarded a well deserved open source excellence badge, the latest version (at time of writing) is v2.06.05.fx1 and can be obtained from the SourceForge DxWnd page. Installation Once downloaded as a rar archive, it just needs to be extracted to a folder on your machine, (I used 7zip). Installation complete! Update : Something I forgot to mention, when you first run DxWnd, it starts in 'standard' mode and you only see some of the configuration tabs, shown in the screenshot below. Go to options and select ' Extended mode ' to see the full list of config tabs when you add a profile. Setup Once you start it up things look a little bit empty. Go to Edit and Add a profile. You'll be presented with a profile dialog containing a huge array of tabs and options. A number of options are set by default, so I'll only cover the additional options you need to set. DxWnd options Main tab: Name: give the profile a name. Path: set it to the lbwin.exe in your installation folder. For Longbow Anthology: Uncheck Run in Window. These don't really change anything just personal preference: Check Hide desktop background. Check Keep aspect ratio. Check Desktop. Mouse tab: Check Position message processing. DirectX tab: Check Vsync ON. Check Wait for Frequency. Libs tab: Check Emulate Win9X heap. Check Hook Glide libs. Once they are set click on ok and you should be returned to the profile window with a new Longbow profile. Go to File and Save to save what is called the task list. This doesn't save anything to file, to save your profile to a file, you need to right click on the profile and Export. You can choose a name and location to save to. Using my profile This is the profile (zipped) I created: If you wish to use it (you may prefer to do the setup yourself), unzip it to a folder, there should be a dxw config file (.dxw). Run DxWnd and go to File and Import, select this file and open it. The imported profile will be disabled, DxWnd does not store the path, as my path to the lbwin.exe file could be completely different to yours. Right click on the profile, go to Modify to open the options dialog and specify the Path in the Main tab. Click on ok and you should have an active DxWnd Longbow profile! Note: If you are using Longbow Anthology, you will need to uncheck the 'Run in Window' option as described above. And finally a huge thank you to Ghotik for all his hard work on the DxWnd wrapper! nGlide Glide wrapper The preferred Glide wrapper is nGlide v2.10. nGlide can be obtained from the nGlide website . If you already have an existing Glide wrapper installed then you may want to take a look at the Glide wrapper guide . It will explain options you have, if you wish to keep your existing nGlide wrapper and wish to install nGlide v2.10 as a local Glide wrapper. Installation should be straight-forward. Once installed, use the nGlide configurator to ensure the: Video backend is set to 'Automatic'. Screen resolution is set to 'By app (Default)' or 'by desktop' (I use by desktop). Aspect ratio is set to 'Aspect correction'. I'd recommend setting the 3Dfx logo splash screen to 'On (Default)', to make sure nGlide is being used, then turn it off later if you want to. In my case I have nGlide v2.10 installed as the system Glide wrapper. Controller setup If you have more than 4 axes with your HOTAS controllers combined (and I do) then you'll have to use your HOTAS profile software to create a virtual controller and limit it to 4 axes (joystick x & y axes, throttle axis and rudder (pedal) axis). For a quick discussion on virtual controller, see my earlier article, Controllers and retro sims part 2: Virtual controllers . The rudder will probably be the z-rotation axis (it was for me) rather than the x-rotation axis. Again with a little testing you should discover which. Issues and workarounds The Longbow setup is quite stable but not perfect. There are still a number of outstanding issues, some of which can cause a repeatable crash to desktop, as described below, with a recommended workaround. It is recommended that automatic saving of progress be turned off. If an issue occurs without a crash to desktop the game may continue and automatically set the mission as a failure. With the auto-save option disabled you will be asked whether progress should be saved. Longbow Anthology Early mission planning crash: Trigger: Start the game, go to historical missions and select a mission. On the mission prep screen select mission planning, after a short delay the game will crash to desktop. Workaround: Select a mission with an already loaded terrain set e,g, free flight. Once in the Apache, quit the mission. The crash should no longer occur.  In order to guarantee a particular terrain set is loaded, before quitting the sim, start the free flight mission, quit the mission, then quit the sim. Early terrain load crash: Trigger: Start the game, go to a mission that requires the terrain to be loaded, e.g. free flight or historical mission. When the last high terrain set is nearly loaded the game will crash to desktop. Workaround: Select a mission with an already loaded terrain set e,g, free flight. Once in the Apache, quit the mission. The crash should no longer occur. In order to guarantee a particular terrain set is loaded, before quitting the sim, start the free flight mission, quit the mission, then quit the sim. Longbow Gold Longbow Gold suffers from the same two repeatable issues as Longbow Anthology. There is one other issue: Corrupt in-game movies: Trigger: Start the game, the intro movie will play for a couple of seconds in a corrupted state before ending early. The game continues to the on-base screen. Other movies throughout the game show similar corruption. Workaround: Disable intro and end credit movies with the on-base options. Leave the game alone at the on-base screen for 60-75 seconds. This seems to fix the issue and other in-game movies should play without issue. Testing If you wish to test with alternative or additional options to see if you can get better results, I'll be adding a guide with scenarios to test, that were particularly crash prone in the past. Running the Longbow Glide version To run the Longbow game we need to invoke the DxWnd profile. This can be done directly in the DxWnd application by clicking on the Longbow profile. Alternatively we can create a shortcut to DxWnd and invoke the Longbow profile with a cmd line option, by editing the Target field of the shortcut, e.g. C:\Dxwnd\dxwnd.exe /R:1 This runs the first profile in the list. From the DxWnd help file: /R:n Automatically starts DxWnd iconized in the system tray, runs the nth program in the configuration file, and exits DxWnd. Game options and manuals The earlier guide, Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (DOS) in DOSBox Staging  has a brief discussion on gameplay options and manuals. Good hunting!

M1 Tank Platoon II A guide to running the 1998 Microprose M1 Abrams tank sim, M1 Tank Platoon 2. This guide covers installation, patching and the required actions to run with enhanced Glide graphics. M1 Tanks Platoon 2 (M1TP2) is notoriously difficult to run with Glide successfully, without a Crash To Desktop (CTD) occurring at some point. This guide is primarily concerned with configuring, patching and running a vanilla M1TP2, suitable for those new to the game. For additional patches/mods see the ' Documentation & Resources ' section. Methodology There are two methods that can be used, to either: Run M1TP2 natively in Windows 10 (Win10). This method employs Windows and Glide wrappers (DxWnd and nGlide or dgVoodoo2). The core game is stable when running, however this method is not without issues including: The War College app is unable to be used. The default mouse cursor will sit above the in-game mouse cursor. The in-game mouse cursor may disappear after a mission ends/is quit. The in-game intro movies may fail to play properly. Aspect ratio corrections may revert to a native stretched resolution after a mission ends/is quit. At present, tests have been conducted with the latest versions (at time of writing) of the following DirectX/Windows wrappers: DDrawCompat v0.6.0 dgVoodoo2 v2.86 DxWrapper v1.3.7700.25 DxWnd v2.06.09 The following Glide wrappers were tested: dgVoodoo2  v2.86 nGlide v2.10 Alternatively, run M1TP2 in an emulated PCem Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE) machine. This method uses internal PCem Glide components, to provide a suitable environment for M1TP2. This has advantages over native methods including: The War College app works. Only the in-game crosshairs mouse cursor is shown. Intro and transition movies play correctly. Joysticks are supported. At present, the recommended method is to use PCem. Media As usual I recommend converting physical media to images to save wear and tear on disks and drives. The M1TP2 cd can be ripped to an iso, data only cd image, format as there is no cd audio/music tracks on the M1TP2 disc. PCem emulator This guide uses the latest version of PCem v17, available from the PCem website on the 'Downloads' page . Emulated machine approach A drive in the countryside with friends If you've used a PCem guide from this site before, you may already have a PCem emulated machine. This usual machine is not suitable for M1TP2. However, the machine config is very similar and can be altered and replacement devices and device drivers added to create a suitable machine. This is approach I took. Alternatively you can create a fresh machine, using the excellent YouTube tutorial video by PhilsComputerLab, PCem Windows 98 Setup , as a basis, while making the changes detailed below. Emulated machine configuration The major change is to switch from a 3dfx Voodoo 3 graphics card to a different graphics card and 3dfx Voodoo 1 3d accelerator card. Note, the Voodoo 1 is not a fully featured graphics card but a 3d accelerator, requiring an additional standard graphics card in the emulated machine. PCem graphics card options The S3 ViRGE/DX is a suitable graphics card. Speed can be maximised with Fast VLB/PCI and the Voodoo Graphics checkbox should be checked (see screenshot). The Voodoo options can also be maximised with: Framebuffer memory size: 4MB Texture memory size: 4MB Render threads: 4 Installing Windows and drivers If creating a new emulated machine Phil's tutorial can be followed (except for the graphics card) and Win98SE installed. Win98SE will provide default drivers for the S3 graphics card. Depending on the Win98SE installation cd/cd image, it may also provide default drivers for the Voodoo 1 card. However these are not suitable for M1TP2. Suitable Voodoo drivers can be found on the PhilsComputerLab website, on the ' Drivers for 3dfx Voodoo ' page. I would recommend the ' May 1999 - Latest Reference driver '. They should be unzipped to a folder in Win10, as Win98 has not built in zip support. The virtual machine should be shut down and the virtual hard disk (.vhd) file opened in Win10. The Voodoo driver folder should be copied onto the Win98SE virtual hard disk. The virtual hard disk should be ejected and the emulated machine started. The 'Add new hardware' wizard of Win98SE can be used to install the Voodoo drivers. Note : During the driver install, there may be a warning, that a particular driver file is older than the one currently in use. It's recommended to install the older file, I did so and M1TP2 runs very well. Future use At this point you should have a well configured emulated machine with a working Voodoo card without any games installed. You may wish to take a copy of both the machine config and virtual hard disk, for any future games you wish to try and to avoid having to build another machine with this spec, from scratch. Installing M1TP2 M1TP2 should be installed within the emulated machine by mounting the cd/cd image in PCem. The cd should auto start the launcher app and the ' Install ' option selected, but if not, run setup.exe from the cd. During the installation, you will be asked if the War College and movie files should be copied to the hard disk. Both can be copied over, so select yes each time. When asked to install DirectX, select no , the emulated machine should already have installed a later and compatible version of DirectX. Once installed you may wish to leave the cd image mounted as it will be required to play the game. QuickTime for Windows At this point it's worth quickly testing the War College app. It can be run from the Win98SE Start menu. Initialization errors may be encountered, however the app still seems to start and run without further issues. The cause is down to a missing 'QuickTime for Windows' app. Fortunately it is present on the M1TP2 cd/cd image. Go to the dsg folder on the cd and run the qt16.exe installer. Once installation is complete, play the intro/demo movie to ensure QuickTime for Windows in installed, configured and working properly. The next time the War College app is run, there should be no errors. Patching All patches, unless otherwise stated, can be found in ' The M1 Tank Platoon II Archive ' (see ' Documentation & Resources ' below) Before patching you may wish to make a copy of the emulated machine and virtual hard disk. A number of M1TP2 veterans consider the v1.1 patch to be the optimum version of the game. Therefore with a copy of the PCem machine, additional copies could be made to patch to v1.1 or v1.2, allowing you to try both. This guide will be patching to the latest official v1.2 patch. Version 1.1 patch The official v1.1 patch was released April, 1998. The patch addresses issues from M1 Tank Platoon II, including fixed bugs, altered controls, and new additions to the game. There were German language and US/International versions of this patch. Some consider the v1.1 patch to be the optimum version of the game. This patch is recommended if you wish to try the v1.1 version of the game, otherwise this patch was superseded by the v1.2 patch. Version 1.2 patch The official v1.2 patch was released May, 1998 and was the last official patch. It is a cumulative patch, including the v1. 1 changes. The v1.2 specific changes include bug fixes and altered controls, but to a lesser extent than the v1.1 patch. However there are more v1.2 specific additions. This is a recommended patch. Readme The following the readme file from the v1.2 patch which gives a breakdown of all v1.1 and v1.2 changes: nGlide patch There is an unofficial nGlide patch available from Zeus software . The patch is available for M1TP2 v1.1 or v1.2. It is a file replacement patch replacing the m1tp2.exe file. It is not known what the patch changes. As nGlide is not used in this guide, this is not a recommended patch. Running Both the game and the War College app can be run from the Win98SE start menu. It is recommended to reduce the emulated screen resolution to 800x600, before running the War College app, as this seems to improve text readability. In-game configuration Configuration options The in-game configuration page should show the version as 'VER 1.2'. Options should be set as shown, with: Detail level: High Render mode: Glide Alpha blending: On The menu bars option controls the animated menu bars. As novel as they are, the corresponding audio and delay tends to get 'old', so feel free to turn these off, however this is left as a personal preference. Issues A minor issues remains, with the animated menu bars. When switched off, the game starts and after the intro movies, the initial menu page will display a blank/black screen. To resolve simply move and click with the mouse and it should be restored momentarily. This issue does not occur if the animated menu bars are left on. Joystick configuration Now we have a working M1TP2 installation we can take a look at joystick support. As M1TP2 only supports a joystick, native controller support can be used instead of a virtual controller. The first step is to configure the joystick in PCem. A ' Standard 4-button joystick ' is selected and the axes and buttons are set as shown in the PCem screenshot. Once configured the virtual machine can be started. Within Win98SE go to the 'Control Panel' and 'Game Controllers' and add a ' 2-axis, 4-button joystick ' as shown in the below Win98SE screenshot. Once added the Status column should show 'OK'. Win98 joystick options PCem joystick options The last step is to calibrate the new joystick in Win98SE. Once calibrated, the joystick setup is complete. When M1TP2 is started the commander and gunner positions can aim and fire using the joystick. Documentation & resources It is highly recommended to obtain a copy of the manual. Digital versions are available in pdf format. The M1 Tank Platoon II Archive The most extensive collection of M1TP2 resources to be found, including: Additional documentation Maps Strategy guides Patches, official and unofficial Mods and modding guides Fan made missions and campaigns Created by PixelWings from various sources and placed on the Internet Archive . A huge resource of 110MB, including items that would probably have been lost to time, if it hadn't been collated. A huge thank you to PixelWings and the contributors, for creating this essential archive for any M1TP2 fan. Time to get ' On the way! '

This post contains hints and bugs I've discovered during my playthrough of F-19 Stealth Fighter. Hopefully it'll make your flights in F-19 a little easier if you're struggling. Setup These hints and bugs were found using the GOG version of F-19 Stealth Fighter, version 435.04. It ran under DOSBox Staging v0.81.1. The game was configured using the settings described in these two earlier posts: F-19 Stealth Fighter: Running in DOSBox F-19 Stealth Fighter: Optimized settings for DOSBox Staging Hints A career without a Purple Heart means you've done things right, you don't need one! If your avionics are hit and your plane is jinking around the sky it is still possible to make a carrier landing. I know I've done it. Cold war, restrictive Rules Of Engagement (ROE) against elite opponents nets the best score. However elite opponents can feel like a huge step up in difficulty compared with veterans. Forgivable mis-steps against veterans will punish you against elites. Low Altitude stable flight can be achieved at an altitude of 225ft and an airspeed of 100 - 120 knots with flaps deployed. Any lower and you'll encounter low altitude choppy air. Above 120 knots you'll encounter more chop. Having flaps deployed throughout the whole mission is ok, the very minor RCS increase is more than compensated by the low speed low altitude RCS decrease. Low altitude stable flight will reduce your Radar Cross Section (RCS) hugely. However if you are close to detection at 120 knots, apply the airbrake briefly to bring the speed closer to 100 knots. It may not reduce the RCS but seems to reduce the radar energy absorbed. The radar energy bar at 120 knots seems to be longer than the radar energy bar at 100 knots. At elite level opponents, when heading to a target with a time limit, low altitude stable flight is usually not an option. Altitude should be reduced below 150ft. The initial ingress can be made at 300 knots to build up some spare time. As you get closer to enemy radar this can be reduced to 250 knots. If detection by enemy fighter or SAM's is coming close, use the airbrake to drop speed to 120 knots before releasing the brake and allowing the speed to build again. This will eat into spare time which is why it's important to build it up at the start of the mission. Low altitude stable flight is not fuel efficient, if your going to run in this configuration for an extended period take extra fuel. If the mission calls for extra fuel take another extra fuel for a total of 2. Once you're far enough away from enemy radar you can increase speed and altitude to establish a more fuel efficient flight, but be very sure of your RCS exposure and radar activity. In a cold war scenario, fighters may hesitate to attack, especially with a low RCS. If you have enemy fighters behind you, running at 200 - 220 knots will often cause an overshoot and/or a veer off, this can be sufficient to break a radar track as the enemy fighter will struggle to obtain another track as you leave the area at 200+ knots. Applying the airbrake to reduce speed to 120 knots will often catch them by surprise as well. Low altitude stable flight and threading the needle becomes very necessary against elite level opponents. Plan to fly towards pulse radar at or near the target during ingress or egress. Doppler radars are more problematic at or near targets. In a cold war, elite opponent mission, if you have space, take Mavericks to attack SAM radars that track you, without breaking the Rules Of Engagement (ROE). Don't deviate too far from the flight path to do so though. This is practical for the Libya and Persian Gulf areas. For North Cape it's probably not worth the hassle it'll generate. Enemy radars seem to deactivate or reduce energy if they are near a target as you approach, reactivating once you are a certain distance away. This is probably the game trying to prevent an impossible situation from developing. In a cold war scenario, this is both a blessing and a curse, as a tracking radar can be engaged without breaking the ROE. However if deactivated they never get the track on the approach, so can't be attacked, only to activate and begin tracking you later as you egress the area. In a cold war, elite opponent situation, you should expect radar and visual id's to happen. It's often better to take the score hit rather than prosecute an attack which can lead to a rapidly deteriorating situation and failure. Low altitude stable flight means traversing areas of enemy activity may not be as problematic. The SA-14's are very ineffective when you're in this flight profile. Most will fall short or go wide. However those approaching from the rear may still need to be distracted with a flare. These areas are best avoided as they can use up flares, you may wish to traverse at a higher speed and lower altitude. SAM's may also be less effective. Often missiles launched will hit the ground and never reach you or go wide. However for the better ones, you may need to put some on your 3/9 o'clock beam to avoid or drop a decoy. Making tight turns at speed may not be ideal but it may be your only choice. Not all missions are created equal. A timed attack on a primary surrounded with lots of long range doppler radars with multiple areas of enemy activity dotted along the flightpath might not be worth it. It's ok to pick another one. Sometimes what seems reasonable can go very badly very quickly if an IL-76 AWACS is over the target area. The low slow approach may be a bit boring but can also give enemy fighters or AWACS time to patrol out of a target area and sometimes land. For cold war, elite opponent missions, Mavericks are the weapon of choice, far more reliable than the other ordnance, they can frequently be deployed below a minimum altitude of 500ft. Launching at 250ft maintains excellent RCS with a high degree of weapon success. Mission hints Don't be afraid of cargo drops or secret airstrip deliveries, they're fun! There's supposed to be a secret airstrip in the North Cape but I've never got it to trigger. For secret airstrip delivery missions, land, kill the engines, apply the brakes and come to a stop. As the airstrips are short, release the brakes, set the engines to the first setting and head to a corner of the airstrip at about 15 knots. Apply brakes if it feels too fast. When you're close to the corner spin the aircraft around so it's facing down the airstrip crank up the engines to max and take off. The northern secret airstrip in the Persian Gulf is close to a small mountain orientated NW to SE. Head to the NW corner when approaching the airstrip then correct for the landing. You can land to complete a cargo drop. Land, come to a stop and then drop the cargo on the 'tarmac?' Check the mission objectives, should say the mission was successful. This can be a useful tactic if the secondary is nearly 180 degrees in the opposite direction. It means you can orientate the aircraft and take off heading very roughly toward the secondary, without having to make tight turns while in the air, increasing the chance of detection. Terrorist training camps are about 500ft at the highest point, so dropping at slicks in level bombing at 3000ft is going to damage your aircraft, go higher! Terrorist training camps must have flexible radio antenna as you can fly through them without crashing. Photo recons targets need a picture within 5 miles at regular or veteran. At elite for need to be much closer, under 2.5 miles. At regular or veteran one picture will do, at elite it's tricky to get the one picture, so keep snapping away. Be aware: you may need to adjust the flightpath to keep the camera pointed at the target box. At elite level your weapon selection is going to be relatively dull. Camera for photo recon, Mavericks for strikes, Sidewinders for enemy aircraft and lots of fuel. If you want to try other weapons I recommend running a few green or regular missions. Using a variety of weapons at elite is just going to get you detected and the situation will deteriorate. Cold war air to air missions may have to be completed with cannon. Missiles may often track and hit the best target they can find, which can be an escort aircraft rather than the primary target you fired at. There's one unique target, the Severomorsk Sub Pens in the North Cape. No career would be complete without this target! You'll need the only weapon that's effective the FAE and it has to be delivered by toss bombing. I wouldn't recommend elite opponents, the toss bombing technique will increase altitude and guaranteed to get you detected and completing the secondary may be impossible, but regular (recommended) or veteran (if you want a challenge) should be quite feasible. Mission breakdown Each primary and secondary mission is numbered from 0 to 55. This is a list of what each mission type is. The location will vary. A number of missions aren't listed as I haven't encountered them yet. If you know about a missing mission type, please let me know. 0 Secret airstrip pickup 1 Secret airstrip delivery 2 Reach beacon drop supplies 4 Photo SAM radar 5 Destroy SAM radar 6 Destroy mobile SAM 7 Photo LPAR radar 8 Destroy LPAR radar 3 'may' be a secret airstrip in North Camp but this looks like it was an unfixed bug or disabled by design (see F-19 Stealth Fighter: North Cape secret airstrip fixed? ) I 'believe' 9/10 would be photo/destroy Severomorsk sub pens but I haven't been able to get this mission yet. 11 Photo refinery 12 Destroy refinery (assumed) 13 Photo tank farm 14 Destroy tank farm 15 Photo airplane 16 Destroy airplane (ground) 17 Photo airplane 18 Destroy airplane (ground) 19 Photo airplane 11-12 Only seen in Libya, 12 is assumed to be the corresponding destroy mission for 11, not actually seen yet. 15-19 seem to be for different aircraft, one is an Russian stealth bomber. 20 Destroy airplane (assumed) 21 Photo camp 22 Destroy camp 25 Photo missile boat 26 Destroy missile boat 27 Destroy missile boat 28 Photo SA missile 29 Destroy SA missile 20 would seem to be the destroy aircraft mission for 19. 25 also includes the Krivak frigate in the North Cape. 26-27 seem to be for different kinds of missile boat. 30 Photo oil rig 31 Destroy oil rig 32 Photo nuclear plant 33 Destroy nuclear plant 36 Photo cargo ship 38 Photo Typhoon sub 39 Destroy Typhoon sub 32-33 rogue nuclear plant in Libya. 38-39 North Cape only 40 Photo supply dump 41 Destroy supply dump 42 Photo HQ 43 Destroy HQ 45 Photo bridge 46 Destroy bridge 47 Intercept and destroy AN-72 48 Intercept and destroy AN-72 49 Intercept and destroy AN-72 40-41 only ever seen in Vietnam scenario 50 Intercept and destroy AN-72 51 Intercept and destroy AN-72 52 Intercept and destroy Tu-95 53 Intercept and destroy Tu-95 54 Intercept and destroy IL-76 55 Intercept and destroy fighter patrol 47-51 are for different personnel/cargo carried by the AN-72. 52-53 one is a cruise missile carrying Tu-95 and the other is a different Tu-95 type. 55 covers all fighter types, so it can be MIG-29, SU-27, F-14, F-4E, etc. Bugs A lot of these bugs got fixed in the sequel, F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0. Weapon delivery can be very very unreliable, laser guided ordnance is always a pass, it just doesn't work properly. Retarded and dumb bombs work some/most of the time but can be very DOSBox cycle dependant. The Harpoon doesn't work. AAM's and Mavericks are pretty solid. The strategic map in the left MFD will replace parts of the map with a solid block of colour. In fact this is probably an environment bug as it'll match the outside environment. Most notable are solid blocks that appear in Libya and Persian Gulf and the northern area around the carrier in North Cape will suddenly become green land (or maybe it's an algae bloom?) This seems to happens during medium/longer mission Enemy aircraft will turn their radars off for a while and may/may not turn them back on again. This mostly happens in longer missions. Enemy aircraft may stray outside of their airspace and on occasion F/A-18's from a carrier have decided to carry out their own missions over enemy territory. I've seen a dogfight over eastern Libya (the F/A-18's kept losing and carrier kept sending more?!?) and incursions into the North Cape so far. On very long missions the aircraft can suddenly flip 180 degrees, so if you are heading 270, the heading strip will suddenly flip to 090 and you'll be heading in the opposite direction! This has only happened once in a mission lasting nearly 2 hours (real time).