This game was originally for WIN95 and/or DOS.

It did not work on win98se, much to my dissapointment, but, thanks to DOSBoxv0.63 I get to play this again on win XP pro, and more stable then on my old win95 machine.

Installing - win XP 's compatibility mode was over rated, though the game installed it would not run, regardless of what I did to it. Maybe it would work if I did some arcane boot to DOS, which would be neat because XP has pseudo DOS as far as I know. Besides, there are some extra benefits to DOSBox.

How I got it to work
get to win XP's command prompt, then install the game, by getting to the cdrom and typing install [install.exe , NOT setup]

start up DOSBox and run it with the LB.exe [not the win*.exe's], after doing the proper drive mounting and keyboard thumpin. Yay, it worked!

How I got it to annoy me less
Swappin CD's happens when you choose different campaigns. I copied the files on the CDs to some appropriate folders, /janes/disc*

My desktop shortcut:
C:\DOSBox\DOSBox-0.63\dosbox.exe c:\Janes\LBgold\LB.exe -conf Longbowtest.conf

My Longbowtest.conf. starting at line 174:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount d c:\janes\disc1 -t cdrom
mount e c:\janes\disc2 -t cdrom
mount f c:\janes\disc3 -t cdrom

Now the swapping nonsense is gone.
All that is left is to tweak it.

Currently, my .conf has these notable values, subject to change when I find better ones, and more ways to tweak DOSBox. In fact, I am going to play with more settings as soon as I get done here.

conf
fullfixed=true
fullresolution=1024x768
output=ddraw
hwscale=1.50

frameskip=1
aspect=false
scaler=none

core=normal [all others skippy]
cycles=26000

If anybody has any tips, I am listening.

Also, I've used DXDIAG to lock my refresh rate at 85.

Since I had no clue where else to post it , it is here. Maybe it would be good for some other Longbow player new to DOSBox.

Note, it is better to change graphics in game, custom level, keep dither and shadow, and turn the rest in that panel off [such as sky texture, which is not really special]. This had a more immediate effect then DOSBox cpu cycles or frame skipping. Of course, everything else as high as you can get away with.

System specs:
P4 3G prescott intel desktop board
512 ram
onboard graphics and sound.
19" samsung CRT