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Guide: Play X-Wing Series Games on Windows 7 (with an Xbox 360 Controller)

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Great thread! Inspired me to dig out my XvT/BoP discs again. I have Alliance too, but never played more than a few missions in. Time to change that.
 

Sentenza

Member
Whats so atrocious?
What made X-Wing so special is exactly how it controls with a flightstick, and you're advocating for streamlined controls, Kb&M only (?), multiplatform development, context sensitive automation, no turbo boost, etc.

It doesn't even sounds like X-Wing. With these traits it could be one of those watered down "flight simulators" for console, like Ace Combat or Tom Clancy's HawkX.
 
What made X-Wing so special is exactly how it controls with a flightstick, and you're advocating for streamlined controls, Kb&M only (?), multiplatform development, context sensitive automation, no turbo boost, etc.

It doesn't even sounds like X-Wing. With these traits it could be one of those watered down "flight simulators" for console, like Ace Combat or Tom Clancy's HawkX.

You totally got me wrong.

Steamlined Controls: If you've got a flight stick and keyboard, it would work exactly like the games always do. If you only have a Keyboard and Mouse, then it plays like Tie Fighter where you can steer with the Mouse, Hold Right click to roll, Left Click to Fire. If you want to play with a dual analog controller, thats where you can get context sensitive buttons and smart menus to let you quickly cycle through all of the options you would have on a keyboard.

No Turbo Boost: Games like Rogue Squadron and Star Fighter didn't have a proper throttle control from what I remember, they only had normal flying speed and the turbo flying speed. What I mean to say is it should have the full throttle system like the old games
 

epmode

Member
You know what I loved? Having to shunt all shield and laser power to the engines to intercept those asshole bombers before they got in range of your convoy. Do you risk powering up your shields at the last second to buy a little more time shooting them down? Or do you bring up your defenses earlier so that you have a better chance at surviving their interceptor escorts?

GOD I WANT TO PLAY THIS AGAIN
 
I just found a place which is selling this stick for $15 btw so I'm thinking about getting it. I've had flight sticks in the past and never ever used them, but with having these games set up and upcoming mech games like MechWarrior Online and Hawken plus a bunch of other space sims I have not even checked out yet I think its more than worth it.

17356.png
 

Christine

Member
A) restore the original music where its been completely changed from the DOS versions. This is especially egregious in Tie Fighter where they completely replaced the original soundtrack with John William's music
B) Have the non-Redbook audio music be much higher quality. LucasArts just recorded super low bitrate/mono WAVs of the DOS version's music of these games using what sounds like a crappy Adlib card. Theres a fellow by the name of Daniel Bennett who has been working on resynthesizing the music using some modern tools to make it sound like something you'd hear in a modern game and also be at a much higher KHz and in Stereo.

HOLY SHIT
 

androvsky

Member
What made X-Wing so special is exactly how it controls with a flightstick, and you're advocating for streamlined controls, Kb&M only (?), multiplatform development, context sensitive automation, no turbo boost, etc.

It doesn't even sounds like X-Wing. With these traits it could be one of those watered down "flight simulators" for console, like Ace Combat or Tom Clancy's HawkX.

Funny thing is I beat X-Wing with a keyboard and mouse back when it came out, don't remember why. Probably couldn't afford a decent stick at the time. Bought a Thrustmaster for Tie Fighter though. :)

And yes, a mouse and keyboard was not a good way to play X-Wing, but I'm reasonably sure it was special for reasons other than how it controlled with a flightstick.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
So, I just used this guide to install Tie Fighter off the CD marked "Star Wars: Tie Fighter Collector's CD-Rom" (not Disc 2 of the X-Wing Collector Series, just the stand-alone Tie Fighter CD-Rom) and the patched install is seriously screwed up. I copied the entire CD to a local drive as asked, but the Setup is looking for hundreds of files that don't exist. The first is \TIECD\BATTLECD.LST. I'm guessing this install format only works on the exact files from the X-Wing Collector Series CD, rather than the Tie Fighter CD.

Ideally there'd be some kind of solution that works for me, but if not, please update your guide to reflect this.
 

Koren

Member
I'm not sure but I think that was the guide I found last time I tried to install upgrades on my PC (which can be tricky). Be it or not, thanks for the step-by-step...

You totally got me wrong.

Steamlined Controls: If you've got a flight stick and keyboard, it would work exactly like the games always do. If you only have a Keyboard and Mouse, then it plays like Tie Fighter where you can steer with the Mouse, Hold Right click to roll, Left Click to Fire. If you want to play with a dual analog controller, thats where you can get context sensitive buttons and smart menus to let you quickly cycle through all of the options you would have on a keyboard.
I think that'll help make the game mainstream, but I aslo have a problem with this. I truly love playing XWing Alliance because of the "micromanagement" of some aspects of the flight. I would like to have more of them, in fact.


I don't see how you could adjust the shield/thrust/laser balance, link laser/ions, manage rear/forward shields, interact with the targeting system (I mean, something like "lock on the ship targeting the closest missile following me", which is a 2-stroke buttons on XWA) with the limited number of buttons on a pad. Even with "context sensitive" buttons.

So you would have several possibilities:
- tune done the difficulty so that those complex actions are useless, which would be bad
- make the game nearly unplayable with the pad
- change the missions between both inputs methods

I don't think there's a good solution. It's definitively a PC-centric game, non designed for pad, to me. That's like trying to put a combat flight sim on a pad. The game made me buy a HOTAS, which improved a lot the enjoyment I got from it (far better than a flight stick+keyboard or even a flight stick+saitek dash, which was an improvement over keyboard)


I think you have to choose... leaning towards arcade controls with pad, or sticking to keyboard or HOTAS. But you can't make a game that successfully fits both.
 

Dead Man

Member
How did I not see this thread? I need to dig my discs out, see what is still salvageable.

I'm not sure but I think that was the guide I found last time I tried to install upgrades on my PC (which can be tricky). Be it or not, thanks for the step-by-step...


I think that'll help make the game mainstream, but I aslo have a problem with this. I truly love playing XWing Alliance because of the "micromanagement" of some aspects of the flight. I would like to have more of them, in fact.


I don't see how you could adjust the shield/thrust/laser balance, link laser/ions, manage rear/forward shields, interact with the targeting system (I mean, something like "lock on the ship targeting the closest missile following me", which is a 2-stroke buttons on XWA) with the limited number of buttons on a pad. Even with "context sensitive" buttons.

So you would have several possibilities:
- tune done the difficulty so that those complex actions are useless, which would be bad
- make the game nearly unplayable with the pad
- change the missions between both inputs methods

I don't think there's a good solution. It's definitively a PC-centric game, non designed for pad, to me. That's like trying to put a combat flight sim on a pad. The game made me buy a HOTAS, which improved a lot the enjoyment I got from it (far better than a flight stick+keyboard or even a flight stick+saitek dash, which was an improvement over keyboard)


I think you have to choose... leaning towards arcade controls with pad, or sticking to keyboard or HOTAS. But you can't make a game that successfully fits both.
Yeah, I'm not seeing how you can have the same level of control without mandating a keyboard and flight stick. They made two different game styles, X Wing main series and Rogue Squadron series, for a reason.
 
So, I just used this guide to install Tie Fighter off the CD marked "Star Wars: Tie Fighter Collector's CD-Rom" (not Disc 2 of the X-Wing Collector Series, just the stand-alone Tie Fighter CD-Rom) and the patched install is seriously screwed up. I copied the entire CD to a local drive as asked, but the Setup is looking for hundreds of files that don't exist. The first is \TIECD\BATTLECD.LST. I'm guessing this install format only works on the exact files from the X-Wing Collector Series CD, rather than the Tie Fighter CD.

Ideally there'd be some kind of solution that works for me, but if not, please update your guide to reflect this.

Hmm... is Tie Fighter CD the DOS version? In that case you should be looking at the DOS Guide.

Sorry I was late in my response... I was busy getting married :)
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Looks like the XWA guide for graphical updates needs to be updated, as Ultimate Craft Pack hit 2.0 and includes all the missing ships that were listed for the older 1.1 version.
 
Looks like the XWA guide for graphical updates needs to be updated, as Ultimate Craft Pack hit 2.0 and includes all the missing ships that were listed for the older 1.1 version.

Dang. I emailed Darksabre to see if he was planning on releasing a new pack, but he never got back to me. It might be a while till I get to updating those links (if ever).

Anyway, the Tie Fighter Music mod is finally out: http://www.savingcontent.com/2012/0...ed-mod-restoring-original-dos-music-released/

Heres the bullet points of what it does:
- restores original DOS score with much better quality than before (except for the intro-- unfortunately its locked to 11khz mono, but we improved it as much as we could)
- restores better quality Voice from DOS CD-Rom version
 

rhn94

Banned
Hey guys. sorry for reviving a dead thread but is there anyway to make Secret Weapons of Normandy work with an Xbox 360 controller ? I loved the game as a kid on my PS2 and now that i've found it on the PC, i'd love to play it again! Is this possible, or do i have to buy a joystick? In the options menu it has options for a Joystick or a Gamepad but neither work for the controller. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
 
man I loved these games.

X-Wing, the B-Wing expansion and Tie Fighter are among my most favorite games, all-time. Thanks, Infinity!

Wish they would re-release these with updated graphics.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Hey guys. sorry for reviving a dead thread but is there anyway to make Secret Weapons of Normandy work with an Xbox 360 controller ? I loved the game as a kid on my PS2 and now that i've found it on the PC, i'd love to play it again! Is this possible, or do i have to buy a joystick? In the options menu it has options for a Joystick or a Gamepad but neither work for the controller. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Maybe try x360ce?
 

saxman717

Banned
Thanks for the great instructions. Followed them closely and everything works fine up until I start a mission. The mission loads, but i get no sound when the mission begins. Could really use some help!
 

saxman717

Banned
Just bumping this to see if anyone eelse has had this problem and/or knows how to resolve it --- I'm trying to get XWA working on Win7 x64, and have got everything working except for a major sound issue. I get sound for the startup, for all the menus and briefings, but then once I start a mission, there is no sound once I am in the hanger and after launch.

I have Win7 x 64, B-Enspirer sound card, nVidia 460 graphics card etc. Channels is set to 32, I've tried 3D sound both on and off, and have all sound choices as active and set to maximum.

I've tried two different methods of installing the game and have also copied the "wave" folder directory from the DVD to my Xwing Alliance directory. Also have tried running with single core affinity . None of these approaches have worked! Any help with this will be greatly appreciated. I can't play the game until this is solved b/c no sound in-mission is a show-stopper!
 
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