Lemmings 2 drove me absolutely crazy for years, because it just wouldn’t run properly on any of my retro systems. It would either crash immediately on startup, freeze the PC, or run with only Adlib sound effects or only music.
I’ve finally found a setup that allows Lemmings 2 to run flawlessly on all my machines.
In this example, we’re configuring a 486 PC with MS-DOS 6.22, but it should also work with other DOS-based operating systems.
1. In your CONFIG.SYS, make sure to set or modify the EMM386 line as follows:
„DEVICE C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM“
2. Restart the PC.
3. Download LEMM2FIX.ZIP and extract it into the game directory.
4. Navigate to the game folder and run INSTALL.EXE.
5. Configure the game according to your hardware. For example: Sound Blaster > 220 > 7 > 1 > MOUSE > COLOUR > ON > ON
6. Start the game using L2-FIX.COM and press the spacebar. Now you’re good to go. 🙂
Explanation:
Lemmings 2: The Tribes is one of the few games that absolutely requires EMS (Expanded Memory). We provide that using the EMM386 RAM command. The patched L2.EXE resolves issues caused by the PKLITE-compressed executable, which can crash on certain systems. The L2-FIX.COM file is a loader created by HORiZON that unlocks the full game.