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Star Wars: TIE Fighter

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Star Wars: TIE Fighter
Star Wars: TIE Fighter cover
Developers
Totally Games
Publishers
LucasArts
Disney Interactive Studios
Release dates
DOS July 17, 1994
Mac OS (Classic) October 31, 1995
Windows May 31, 1998
Windows (DOSBox) April 28, 2015[1]
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox) April 28, 2015[1]
Linux (DOSBox) April 28, 2015[1]
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Vehicle combat
Vehicles Space flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Sci-fi, Space
Series Star Wars: X-Wing
Star Wars: TIE Fighter on HowLongToBeat
Star Wars: TIE Fighter on IGDB
Star Wars: TIE Fighter guide on StrategyWiki
Star Wars: TIE Fighter on MobyGames
Star Wars: TIE Fighter on Wikipedia
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

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
Steam Community Discussions
Official Forums (Defunct)

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Prompts for answers from manual, code wheel, etc.
Released on 5 floppies.
DOS
Retail
Prompts for answers from manual, code wheel, etc.
TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM
DOS
Mac OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
DOS
Windows
Mac OS
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Special Edition
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GOG.com
DRM-free
Special Edition
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Special Edition
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Special Edition
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Origin
Origin
Special Edition. Included with EA Play Pro. Currently only visible in the EA App's Browse menu.
Windows

Version differences

The original 1994 comes on 5 floppies and runs at 320x200 resolution This is also the only release for which the expansions are available separately.
The 1995 Collectors CD-ROM release came on a single CD and featured an upgraded game engine with a 640x480 resolution, with support for gouraud-shading. This version also includes improved cutscenes voiceovers for throughout missions and briefings.
The 1998 version from the Collector Series release (bundle of X-Wing and TIE Fighter) is an official port to the Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter engine and is therefore Windows-native. The game now includes 3D acceleration support (Direct3D), the use of proper textures instead of primitive gouraud-shading and completely redone concourse graphics. The iMUSE dynamic music system was removed in favor of conventional Redbook CD audio tracks. Furthermore, this version requires a joystick/gamepad and cannot be played with the mouse unless a joystick emulation program such as vJoy is used. The problems and fixes in this article mostly relate to this version of the game.
The digital releases of the game include all three aforementioned versions.
The digital version has hardware mode disabled.[2]

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Defender of the Empire Also included with the 1995 and 1998 CD versions.
DOS
Windows
Enemies of the Empire Only released as part of the 1995 and 1998 CD versions.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

  • Sound fix for 1994 version - resolves hanging notes when using GMIDI and Roland music, adds Ensoniq Soundscape sound card support, adds 16-bit DMA setting support for Pro Audio Spectrum cards

Unofficial patches

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Linux <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/355250/pfx/[Note 2]
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\<user-id>.tfr[Note 3]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Linux <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/355250/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Resolution in TIE Fighter Special Edition is limited to 800x600. Rdoeffingers custom XWA ddraw renders the game at desktop resolution and enables anisotropic filtering, optional anti-aliasing etc.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Use 3D-accelerated mode and force in the graphics card control panel (Windows only).
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Use 3D-accelerated mode and force in the graphics card control panel (Windows only).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS
Frame rate is capped at 35 FPS. Justagais 60 FPS injector unlocks the framerate for all X-Wing and TIE Fighter games. XWAHacker (command-line version only) can also increase the framerate limit.
120+ FPS

Input

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Only exception is robotic "Good work alpha 1", which is really a reaction to text that appears at the bottom.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Menus only; in-flight prevents Alt+Tab .
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
Collector's Series (Windows version) only.
General MIDI audio
Floppy and DOS CD versions only
This game supports the MT-32 and General MIDI for music (Floppy and DOS CD versions only).

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
German
French
texts only in French retail version (collector cd rom and floppy) cinematic voices were dubbed only on the floppy version (extensions were never dubbed in french).

Issues fixed

Game installer won't run under 64-bit versions of Windows

The installer is 16-bit and does not work by default on 64-bit systems.

Use Markus Egger's installer as per his instructions.
Run the installer through WineVDM

Game doesn't run on modern versions of Windows

Apply the Windows XP compatibility fix
The digital release is updated to work on Windows XP and later.

Game does not detect DirectX

Run the game directly from TIE95.exe instead of from the menu[citation needed]

TIE Fighter (1998) digital version: Black screen when using 3D Hardware mode

Install the xwa_ddraw_d3d11 fork by rdoeffinger
  1. Download xwa_ddraw_d3d11 and extract it to <path-to-game>
  2. Open ddraw.cfg.
  3. Note that the JoystickEmul setting overrides the game's default joystick/gamepad behaviour. Set it to 0 to switch to the game's default settings.
By default, the right trigger works in increments to increase/decrease the throttle. With JoystickEmul set to -1 or 1, the throttle is 100% by default. If holding down (and keeping it held) the right trigger it will go down to 0%. Release it and it goes back up to 100%.

Game crashes in battle 6 mission 3

Apply the appropriate fix
Battle 6 mission 3 fix.

Sound is crackling or distorted in Windows Vista, 7

Configure ALchemy[citation needed]
If running a Creative sound card and 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[citation needed]

Objects/textures disappear when moving the ship around in hardware accelerated mode

Use XWAHacker
  1. Download Reimars XWAHacker and extract it to <path-to-game>.
  2. Run tie95fixedclear.bat as administrator.

Notes

If all the ships/stations are invisible and the above fix doesn't work, and in case an ATI card is being used, the old DLL files (atiumd64.dll and atiumdag.dll) may fix the problem. It has been reported to work on Windows 8 64-bit with a 5870 video card.[citation needed]

Colors are wrong

See DirectDraw troubleshooting for solutions.

Capital ships and turrets rarely fire their lasers (Collector's CD-ROM Edition)

This happens if running the 1995 DOS version in DOSBox. The firing rate seems to work opposite to the game speed (more cycles means less laser fire).
Change DOSBox cycles to approx. 30000[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DOS video modes MCGA, VGA, SVGA (VESA)
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
1998 Windows-native version only.
macOS (OS X)
[3]
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio iMuse (DOS), WinMM (Win9x) For music only. GOG.com version uses an OGG wrapper for WinMM.

System requirements

DOS
Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU) 33 MHz
System memory (RAM) 2 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 15 MB
Video card (GPU) VGA
Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 100 MB
Video card (GPU) PCI graphics card
DirectX 5.2 compatible
Sound (audio device) 16-bit sound card
Controller Joystick and mouse required.
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 7.5
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 601
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data.
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/355250/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (355250) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
  3. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References