Star Wars: X-Wing

Star Wars: X-Wing, originally a DOS-game, was later ported to windows. Users may run int-cceleration mode to work on modern computers. The game is the predecessor to Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1993).

Version Differences

Playing the DOS version is probably the easiest and most straightforward way to experience the game.

Collectors Edition

The original release came on five floppies and ran at 320x200 resolution while the collectors CD-ROM came on a single CD and featured a an upgraded game engine based on TIE Fighter with support for gouraud-shading. This version also includes voice-overs for several characters in the game. Both versions run great in DOSBox without major issues and don't require a joystick to play.

Collector Series Edition

In 1998 a bundle of X-Wing and TIE Fighter ported to Windows 95/98 was released. This version features further enhanced graphics due to an upgrade to the X-Wing vs TIE Fighter engine. The game now included 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 and cannot be played with the mouse unless a joystick-emulation program such as JoyToKey or PPJoy is used. The problems and fixes in this article mostly relate to this version of the game.

Patches

Windows XP compatibility-fix

• XWTIE95.zip (Collector Series only)

Issues and Fixes

Game installer won't run under 64 bit 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 in windows XP/Vista/7:

Apply the Windows XP compatibility-fix above.

When trying to run the game you get a popup to install DirectX:

Run the game directly from XWING95.EXE instead of the menu.

Sound is crackling/distorted/weird in Vista/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 X-Wing folder and run xwing95fixedclear.bat. This should fix the graphical corruption.

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 .
XWING95.EXE
cd %windir%
start explorer.exe
exit

Then rename the file and give it a .bat file-ending. Run the bat.

Graphical Tweaks

Higher resolutions

While digging through a cracked version of the TIE Fighter .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.

Antialiasing

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

See above. Forcing it should work.

V-sync

The game is capped at 30 fps. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove this cap.

Run Without CD?

The Collector Series Edition requires the CD to be in the drive when launching.

Save Game Data

Game progress is saved in a .PLT-file named after your character located in the game folder.

Controller Support

The game supports gamepads out of the box, although it seems to recognize the right stick as a throttle. Buttons can be assigned from the in-game options menu (press ESC when not flying).

Useful Links

• Lucasarts Downloads Still host patches and fixes for their older games.
• Official forums.

See Also

• Star Wars: TIE Fighter
• Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance