Star Wars: TIE Fighter
| Cover image missing, please upload it | |
| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Totally Games | |
| Publishers | |
| LucasArts | |
| Release dates | |
| DOS | July 17, 1994 |
| Mac OS (Classic) | October 31, 1995 |
| Windows | May 31, 1998 |
 |
|
| Star Wars: X-Wing | |
|---|---|
| Subseries of Star Wars | |
| Star Wars: X-Wing | 1993 |
| Star Wars: TIE Fighter | 1994 |
| Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter | 1997 |
| Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance | 1999 |
Key points
- Windows version may have issues on modern systems.
General information
Availability
Version Differences
Playing the DOS version in DOSBox is the easiest and most straightforward way to experience the game, but the Windows port has some features that might make it worth fiddling with to get running.
Collectors Edition
The original release came on five floppies and ran at 320x200 resolution while the collectors CD-ROM came on a single CD, features a 640x480 mode as well as improved cutscenes and voice-overs. They both run great in DOSBox without major issues and don't require a joystick to play.
Collector Series Edition
In 1998 a bundle of TIE Fighter and X-Wing ported to Windows 95/98 was released. This version features further enhanced graphics, including 3D-acceleration support (Direct3D), the use of proper textures instead of primitive gouraud-shading and completely redone concourse graphics. The iMUSE dynamic music system, however, was removed in favor of conventional CD-audio tracks. Furthermore, this version requires a joystick/gamepad, cannot be played with the mouse unless a joystick-emulation program such as JoyToKey or PPJoy is used, and removes support using the joystick/gamepad to navigate menus.
The problems and fixes in this article mostly relate to this version of the game.
Essential improvements
Patches
Collector series fixes
- XWTIE95.zip (alternate source)
- Battle 6 mission 3 fix: B6M3GW.TIE
Other Patches
- Lucasarts Downloads still host patches and fixes for their older games.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video settings
Anti-aliasing (AA)
The game doesn't have built in anti-aliasing but forcing it through your graphics control panel should work if you run in 3D-accelerated mode.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See above. Forcing it should work.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
The game is capped at 35 fps. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove this cap.
Input settings
Controller support
In the windows version, Buttons can be assigned from the in-game options menu (press ESC when not flying).
Although intended for joysticks, the game supports gamepads out of the box. For dual-stick gamepads, the right-stick is used as throttle (except for Xbox controllers, where it detects LT/RT.)
Only the Dos version permits using the keyboard or controller to navigate menus.
Audio settings
Issues fixed
Game crashes in battle 6 mission 3
Apply the Battle 6 mission 3 fix.
Game installer won't run on 64-bit versions of Windows
Since the X-Wing and TIE Fighter installers are 16-bit programs they won't work in 64-bit operating systems. To remedy this use the appropriate fixed installer found here: [1] to create an updated install disk with which you can install and run the game. Detailed instructions are found here: [2]. The autostart menu seems to be bugged so you might need to run the setup.exe file directly from the disk you created.
Game doesn't run on modern versions of Windows
Apply the Windows XP compatibility-fix.
When trying to run the game you get a popup to install DirectX
Run the game directly from TIE95.exe instead of the menu.
Sound is crackling/distorted/weird in Windows Vista/Windows 7
If you're using a Creative sound card and have the Alchemy software installed try adding the following to it:
**RegPath=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC\TIE95\1.0\Install Path **Buffers=5 **Duration=10
Cockpit flashes rapidly while flying
Disable Crossfire/SLI.
Objects/textures seem to disappear when moving the ship around in hardware accelerated mode
Download Reimars XWAHacker. Extract it into your TIE Fighter folder and run tie95fixedclear.bat. This should fix the graphical corruption.
If all the ships/stations are invisible and the above fix doesn't work, in case an ATI card is being used, the files atiumd64.dll and atiumdag.dll of an old driver may fix the problem. It has been reported to work on windows8 64bits with a 5870 video card (well, I am reporting it, that's the fix I use). It was originally posted at Rage32 board, files can be found here
Colors are messed up
Kill explorer.exe before playing. To make this simple create a text file and paste the following into it:
@echo off TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe" cd . TIE95.exe cd %windir% start explorer.exe exit
Then rename the file and give it a .bat file-ending. Run the bat.
Forcing anti-aliasing messes up graphics
This seems to happen with some combinations of cards and drivers. I don't know of a fix other than to try a different driver.
Run Without CD
The Collector Series Edition requires the CD to be in the drive when launching.
Graphical Tweaks
Higher resolutions
While digging through a cracked version of the .exe in search of entries related to in-game resolution I came across a few numbers that when changed gave interesting results. At one point the game was running at 1920x1200 with the menu as a square up in the corner, but upon entering flight-mode I would always get a crash. It seems playing in higher resolutions might be possible, but someone with a greater knowledge of hex-editing should probably take a look at it.
System requirements
| DOS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | ||
| Operating system (OS) | ||
| Processor (CPU) | 33 MHz | |
| System memory (RAM) | ||
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | 15 MB | |
| Video card (GPU) | VGA | |
| Windows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |
| Operating system (OS) | 95 | |
| Processor (CPU) | Pentium 90 | Pentium 133 |
| System memory (RAM) | ||
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | 100 MB | |
| Video card (GPU) | PCI graphics card DirectX 5.2 compatible | |
| Sound (audio device) | 16-bit sound card | |
| Other | Joystick required. Mouse required. | |