Jane's Combat Simulations: AH-64D FX is a video game in the simulation genre developed by ORIGIN Systems, Inc. and published by Electronic Arts, Inc. originally released in 1997. It is currently playable on Windows.
LongbowFX is a special version of Janes' AH-64D Longbow that was released as bundled software with certain 3DFX video cards. (It was released well before the release of Longbow Gold, and was the first version to feature 3D acceleration.
It is an abridged version of the full game and lacks some of the features of the full game. However, it is also where 3DFX acceleration (later incorporated into Longbow Gold and included by default in Longbow 2) makes its first appearance.
The game is functionally identical to Longbow Gold (full patch), except for a modified splash screen and lack of content (later stages).
Note that AH-64D Longbow is a 2-disc game, Longbow Gold is a 3-disc game, and LongbowFX is a 1-disc game.
The main purpose of the LongbowFX release was to demonstrate that hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, achieved for the first time by 3DFX, were superior to traditional (at the time) raster-rendered graphics. And those who enjoyed it (like me) inevitably ended up buying the full game. Later, EA used the same 3D engine update to create a 3D enhanced version of Longbow Gold. However, the copy protection on this version is not very strict, so some people may run it and not run LBG. Also, if you don't want to play the whole campaign, but just want to fly and shoot stuff, this is just as good as LBG.
These days, there's not much reason for hardcore flight simulators to choose this over the fully upgraded, 3D-accelerated Longbow Gold, but if you like to fly without having to change discs, this is a great option.
The readme file says: 'Longbow FX has been developed and tested specifically for the Intergraph Intense 3D Voodoo video card. Longbow FX may not work with other 3DFX cards'. It is written as.
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