Tie Fighter CD

Stephen

Anyone else remember this old DOS game? It was the sh1t in its day, and had me addicted for months. Anyways, I managed to dig up a copy of it, but running it under Windows XP is proving to be something of a challenge (makes sense, given that the game dates from 1994 or so).
I can get it running fine in 320x200 (ugh, mank) using VDMsound to emulate a soundblaster 16, and to convert my USB joystick input to the game port style the game expects. Unfortunately, when I switch the game to 640x480 (which worked quite well on my 486!) the graphics are totally garbled - but the game continues to run, and I can hear sound etc.
If I reconfigure VDMsound to emulate basic VESA functions the game works in 640x480 but the frame rate is absolutely terrible, making it unplayable.

Tried it in DOSbox too (DOS emulator, for those that don't know), again the framerate was terrible.
Anyone got any ideas how to get this working in 640x480 short of installing it on an ancient PC ?

Hardware I'm running it on:
AMD xp2800+
1GB DDR ram
ATI Radeon 9800pro
USB joystick, which works quite well through VDMsound
and Windows XP service pack 2.

Blub2k4

See if you can get your hands on vmware and install dos to it.

jaggeh

you need to disable something in the options, i cant remember what but i had the same problem last year when i played through x-wing and tie-fighter again.

if you do a search on the multitude of x-wing forums you will find the answer, you dont need any special software for it. i ran it in win95 compatability mode as the collectors editions had a windows exe

Retr0gamer

I've been having a lot of trouble getting the build engine games to run in Vesa modes of XP recently. I'd love to hear if you can find a solution.

As for Tie Fighter the gourard shaded graphics maybe terrible now but it is by far the best game in the space flight sim genre. I never did finish the level were you had to protect the emperor in his shuttle. Damn you annoying A-wings!

stevenmu

Easily one of the best games ever, I wouldn't mind playing through it again if I can dig up the CD, let us know if you get it working well.

jaggeh

just incase
a solution

Maximilian

God how I loved that game. Think I still have my x-wing disks gathering dust somewhere...

User45701

this is the grestest star wars game ever with thwe possible exception of kotor1
its thebest space shooter ive played i loved this game so much and i cant gwet it to work on xp i just have to get round to settting up my old pc with win 98 then i can get back to this great game and sooo many others

orangerooster

Loved that game,loved it-played it directly after Freespace 2 and while I think FS2 is the much better game, TIE fighter is one of the contenders for my favourite game of all time!

monument

I remember claims of being able to destroy your mother ship; I didn’t believe them at the time… I guessing there was no truth to it?

Was going to suggest Dos Box, which reminds me my first thoughts of Windows 2000 & XP were ‘will I be able to play my old games?’.

D

I played X-wing Vs Tie Fighter to death aswell as balance of power. I have also played Freespace 2 while FS2 is the better game the atmosphere in XvT was unrivalled.

ceejay

I loved Tie Fighter, especially the way you could get involved with the secret organisation, and have extra objectives in the missions.

Now, if only someone could produce something like that for the XBox...

Ciarán.

Stephen

Gah, still can't get it working in 640x480
It is flawless in 320x200 under vdmsound though, but just looks horrible. I played it first time round in 640x480 on my 486 and it was great.

lordsippa

Actually seriously if someone could post up a step by step guide to getting it working on xp. I've got my old cd hanging around here somewhere and I'd love to play it through again only on hard.

God that was so brilliant though - commanding Vader! God that has to have been one of my favourite games ever!

Praetorian

Super games (Xwing and Tie Fighter). I remember playing them all those years ago on my very expensive 486 dx2 66. I wonder will lucasarts do another space sim in the near future?

Maximilian

Another one, maybe based on the first 3 films is surely planned. They would be insane not do one - look how incredibly successful the last ones were. Having said that, they'll probably just do some spacey console shooter. LA have gone to sh it over the last few years.

jaggeh

FS2 was nowhere near the same quality of game as tie-fighter

tie-fighter is a game i have judged all other space-sims by.

not just because im a starwars fan, its a fking fantastic game, and i played through it just before christmas..........when was the last time i played FS2 maybe 4 years ago.

but seriously, i have yet to play a game that was as good as that. none of the 'totally games' xwing games have been any good, alliance was mediocre at best.

i doubt we will see the like again though, jedi-starfighter and rogue squadron were too successful for LA to go back.

delly

I can barely remember one of the opening scenes when two fighters went accross the screen, one on the left and another on the right. The stero effect was cool.

hamster

I bought the 4-5 HD disk based version for Xmas '94 and completed it over a 3 month period. Loved that game. Matching speed using the return and the joystick for everything else. Last time I used a joystick bar for EF2000. Anyway, yes Tie Fighter was a fantastic game. Still have... I must try it again...

The cd version has a high res option? 640x480? The disk based version is firmly 320x200.

Stephen

Yeah, the CD version has all the expansion packs and the 640x480 mode included. That's well over 100 missions with the expansion packs

But like I said, I can't get it running properly in 640x480 on a modern system. Apparently its something to do with the fact that the game uses VESA bios for the 640x480 graphics, and modern graphics drivers for systems like Windows XP do not support that any more.
Which would explain why the game runs (i can hear sound and see that everything is moving at a good speed) in 640x480 but the actual graphics are completely arseways.