Recently I attempted to play this old gem on my current PC running Windows XP with SP2 installed. Even as old as this sim was, it worked fine under Windows 3.x (with Win32s and Wing32 installed), as well as under Windows 95-98SE... but it was a no-go under Windows XP with SP2.

The game requires Wing32 installed, and I found the following on the Internet:

Get the Wing32.dll file. This may come from a friend or you may download it free from the internet at http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?wing32 . In actual fact this file should be installed immediately in the XP's C:/Windows/System32 when using Tower's SETUP.EXE If however, for some reason this file is found only in your root directory then you have to move it to the C:/Windows/System32, that is delete it from the root directory and put in C:/Windows/System32. Upon starting the program will check that the Wing32.dll is not in the root directory but in C:/Windows/System32.

OK, I already had Wing32 installed in the "C:\Windows\System32" directory on my hard drive (as well as the "C:\Windows\System" directory), and there were no Wing32 files that were installed in the game's main installation directory after installing the game.

I then tried to run the game, and the first error message that I saw said something about that the version of MSVCRT20.DLL that I had (the one the game shipped with) wasn't compatable with Wing32. After Googling for a bit, I found the following information:

BAO uses an older version of this file found in it's root folder. But, XP users already have the updated file in their XP system! Replace this file with the equivalent one (same name but different size) found in WinXP at C:/Windows/System32 directory. That is simply copy the C:/Windows/System32/Msvcrt20.dll file into the root BAO Tower Simulator directory, usually something like C:\Tower. Say, yes, to the prompt to replace it. And that is all.

OK, so's I did that, but then ran into another error message... "Error reading airport information", resulting in a program crash, and the usual "Do you want to send an error report to Mickey$oft?" <aarrggh>! I tried all of Windows XP's "compatibility mode" settings to no avail. Googling resulted in several people refering to this error message, with no real solution or answer to the problem.

One guy said that he installed it on a secondary FAT drive and the game work. I then installed the game on my flash drive (a FAT32 partition), still the same problem... "Error reading airport information" <double_aarrgghh>!

I was about ready to can the whole project when I figured, hmmm... wonder if I try another version of MSVCRT20.DLL? Searching my old PC hard drive backups and file archives I found the version that shipped with Windows 98SE (file version 2.11.0.0 - 04/23/1999 10:22pm).

Copied that sucker over into the game's main installation directory, and I was finally controlling aircraft again 😀

Anyhow, attached are ZIPs containing Wing32, as well as the above mentioned version of MSVCRT20.DLL. I figured I post this info and files here to prevent anyone else from pulling their hair out, and cussing Micro$oft... 'course, they (MS) prolly deserve the cussin' out nonetheless <G>! 😀