Apache Longbow: the supplied releases

The collection contains eight CD images with seven distinct filesystem contents, four patches, and one playable demo package. There are thirteen different Apache executable files across them. One CD is a duplicate rebuild; two other CDs share the same game but carry different extras.

All supplied discs are data-only. There are no audio tracks to retain or rip to FLAC. The extracted files are the retained media; the verified source containers have been deleted. Six distinct disc layouts remain after consolidating the Sold Out game files with the selected reference and keeping its manual separately.

Discs

Dates in the build column are embedded compiler date strings, not inferred from filenames. The directory names also distinguish disc mastering dates and modern rebuilds. A disc pressed in 2000 can contain an executable built in 1998.

Retained directory under `extracted/`	Source	Game build	What distinguishes it
`cd_1995_de_1997_disc/files`	`APACHE.ISO`	DOS, 11 August 1995	German campaign text; early game layout and assets. Disc mastered 29 September 1997, with substantial additional software.
`cd_1996_09_eu_v2/files`	`Apache Longbow V2.0 (Digital Integration)(1996).BIN`	Windows, 5 September 1996; DOS, 6 September 1996	European V2 distribution. Original raw dump; English campaign text.
`cd_1996_09_us_2019_repack/files`	`APACHE_95_(Interactive_Magic_1996).iso`	DOS and Windows, 18 September 1996	US release with different executables, a few changed game files, and bundled demos. Image rebuilt on 14 May 2019.
`cd_1996_10_jp/files`	`CD_DIC.rar`, member `APACHE_JAP.bin`	Windows, 2 October 1996	Japanese edition, mastered 9 October 1996. Adds 352 briefing bitmaps; no DOS executable or installer in this distribution.
Sold Out, consolidated	`ApacheLongbow-MSDOS-Win95.iso`	DOS, 12 January 1998; Windows software and 3dfx, 14 January 1998	Sold Out edition, mastered 4 September 1998. Game files retained through other editions; the manual is at the workspace root. Generic extras discarded.
`cd_2000_10_eu/files`	`Apache Longbow (Europe) (Rerelease) (20001017).bin`	Same three January 1998 executables	European rerelease, mastered 17 October 2000. Same game data as Sold Out; different disc extras and restored controller profiles.
`cd_2000_11_vd2/files`	`APACHE_VD2_.bin`	Same DOS and Windows software builds; 3dfx build of 13 June 1998	French Pointsoft edition, mastered 10 November 2000. Voodoo2 update, French campaign text and different speech resources, manuals and promotional material.

Apache Longbow v2.ISO is a 29 December 2024 rebuild of the September 1996 European V2 disc. All 1,772 game/distribution files match the original dump byte for byte, including their paths. Its manifest points to the retained original edition instead of keeping a second tree.

That rebuild is awkward for DOS: the game lives in a UDF 1.50 filesystem, while the ISO9660 filesystem contains only a notice asking for UDF support. The notice is retained as provenance. The US 2019 rebuild has both ISO9660 and UDF views; its complete file extraction was checked independently.

What changes between the releases?

European and US September 1996 editions

They share 1,763 files at matching paths. Eight files differ:

Both game executables.
3DDATA/3DOBJS.BIN.
MENUSCRN/TITLE.LBM.
MISSDATA/147.DTA, CAPTURE.DTA, and MISSIONS.BLK.
AUTORUN.INF.

The US disc also changes the autorun launcher and adds 541 paths, largely bundled demos: HINDDEMO, CAPDEMO, M1A2TANK and COMING. These are preserved as disc contents, without analysing or installing them.

Japanese October 1996 edition

The raw dump identifies the Japanese release, serial WIC-5354, with mastering code WIC-5413 OP6Y2A. Its documentation describes Japanese mission briefings with an English interface. There are 352 .LBM files in MISSPICS, absent from the European and US discs.

It shares 1,249 files with European V2, changes 36 matching paths, omits 487 paths and adds those 352 briefing images. The omissions include the DOS executable and installer, DOS sound drivers, the European manual and many mission-text files. Some remaining campaign text is Italian: for example, MISSDATA/C10.TXT. Those text files alone do not describe the language of the displayed briefings.

The dump metadata and integrity report preserve the original identifiers and checksums.

January 1998 game revision

Compared with European V2, the Sold Out disc shares 1,599 matching files, changes 163, removes 10 paths and adds 165. Most changed game assets are in 3DDATA and the four terrain directories. Separate Windows software and 3dfx executables appear, alongside an updated DOS executable.

The Sold Out and October 2000 discs have 1,881 files in common and no changed bytes at any shared path. Sold Out adds 46 paths, mainly PDF manuals, Acrobat and Windows setup utilities. The October disc instead has nine paths absent from Sold Out: autorun files and seven Gravis/Thrustmaster controller profiles. These are two disc packages of the same game revision. The Sold Out directory has since been removed. Its 87-page manual is retained as Apache Longbow - Manual.pdf at the workspace root. The catalogue, Sold Out installer, Acrobat installers, mouse drivers and generic Windows/DOS setup utilities were discarded. Every remaining shared file has a verified retained-location entry in the original manifest. See the consolidation record.

French Voodoo2 edition

The DOS and Windows software executables still match the January 1998 versions exactly. The 3dfx executable matches the separately supplied Voodoo2 patch.

Compared with the October 2000 disc, 439 shared paths differ. Besides the 3dfx executable and setup files, these include 29 campaign-text files, 82 manual files and 324 speech files. It also adds 24 speech paths. The model, cockpit and terrain directories retain the same files. Pointsoft promotional material replaces the DirectX redistributable bundle.

Patches

Directory under `extracted/`	Identification	Relation to the discs
`patch_1995_11_28_v1_2/files`	Version 1.2; executable built 28 November 1995	A distinct DOS executable and updated `110.DTA`. Readme covers joystick polling and throttle controls. Installer script revised 19 December 1995.
`patch_1996_04_25/files`	Bulletin `IMAPACHE002-3`, 25 April 1996	A distinct DOS executable, mission/config changes and modem-play fixes. Installer script revised 1 May 1996.
`patch_1998_03_20_3dfx/files`	3dfx patch release, 20 March 1998	All 34 game payload files match later CDs, including the 14 January executable. Its installer and release notes are additional material.
`patch_1998_06_26_voodoo2/files`	Voodoo2 compatibility update, 26 June 1998	Executable built 13 June; identical to the French November 2000 disc's 3dfx executable. Includes separate release notes.

The name APACHE95.EXE is misleading in the two early patches: both are DOS executables, not Windows PE files. The later Windows binaries have the PE header.

The March 3dfx patch documents dynamic terrain lighting, alpha blending, bilinear filtering and fog, using Glide 2.43. It expects a separate common_files.zip package shared with Hind. That archive was not supplied, so this patch folder by itself is not a complete standalone installer. The later CDs already contain the integrated 3dfx distribution. The June patch is executable-only and requires an existing 3dfx installation; its readme describes compatibility changes rather than additional features.

The supplied APACHE2_ZIP file was an HTML page, not an archive. The actual 480,358-byte Apache 1.2 patch was fetched from the item identified by that page, CRC-checked, extracted and independently verified. The download record preserves its source and hashes.

Demo

demo_1995_07_27/files contains the supplied apchdemo.zip: 229 files, with an executable identifying itself as Apache 95 Demo, built 27 July 1995 at 12:49:27. It predates the earliest full-game executable in this collection. The installation batch file copies the directory tree to C:\APCHDEMO. An equivalent hash-verified copy is now installed, and its original menu and Arcade flight have been checked in DOSBox. Run ./run.sh demo; see the installation guide.

Verification and storage

All four raw dumps have zero sync, sector-address, EDC or ECC failures. The two Mode 2 Form 2 tail sectors in the European V2 and Japanese dumps contain only zero payload bytes.
The Japanese RAR passed a complete archive CRC test. Its extracted BIN matches the dump's recorded size, CRC32, MD5 and SHA-1; SHA-256 was recorded as well.
ISO files were extracted with a separate ISO9660 reader and compared against a complete 7-Zip extraction, checking paths, lengths and SHA-256 hashes. UDF-only files were independently read with libudfread and compared with 7-Zip. ZIP CRCs, Python extraction and independent 7-Zip extraction were checked.
Every retained file was read back and checked. Source hashes were checked again immediately before deletion.
Identical files are read-only hardlinks, so complete disc layouts remain accessible without storing repeated payload bytes. Make copies before modifying files or creating working installations.
The original source names and hashes remain in intake.json and intake-additions.json. CUE text and actual BIN associations are in disc-layouts.json. The V2 CUE originally named APACHE.BIN, while the supplied BIN had a longer filename.
The cleanup record lists deleted containers and their retained replacements. Source images have been deleted, not relocated to a quarantine directory.

The retained collection occupies about 1.21 GB, including the manual, plus small manifests and provenance records. It preserves six disc layouts, all four patch packages and the demo. The Sold Out source manifest preserves its original file list and records the retained locations or intentional disposal of each entry.

Choosing the reference

The October 2000 European disc is the selected reference: English campaign text, the final DOS and Windows software builds found here, and a complete 3dfx distribution. The Voodoo2 executable can be examined separately against its January predecessor. The Sold Out manual has been retained separately; that edition introduces no other game build.

The September 1996 European V2 disc gives us an earlier DOS/Windows baseline, and the August 1995 German build reaches further back into the original DOS release. The demo, 1995 retail and both September 1996 DOS editions now have isolated working installations too. Launch commands and checks. The reference DOS installer has completed an isolated installation under installs/cd_2000_10_eu/drive_c/DI/APACHE. The native reconstruction uses the January 1998 Windows software engine for its reference execution and embedded resources.

Machine-readable detail: per-file comparisons, executable builds, patch matches, collection totals.

The selected disc is also available in Archive.org item redump-id-91728. Its standalone BIN is 375,002,880 bytes; a fresh download matches the intake SHA-256 1a21c143c52c4cbad446ecaf4ebb5429307736b4061f20c3abe13128ee8e374a. The C++ fetch helper uses this source and removes the temporary data-only image after extraction.