I have successfuly run tie fighter on Win 7 using DOSBOX.
However it sounds like you are running it outside of dosbox.

You need to read the readme, or have a look at this
60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

You may find a front end such as D-Fend easier to use.

I'm not sure what you mean by "outside" dosbox. I started dosbox, did all the mounting of the drives and then get the error.

Another thing that I tried was to go into the install folder and run setup - but I got: "Illegal command: win".

Let me ask you this - did you get Old Tie Fighter to work or the Collector's Edition to work? I'm starting to think my problem is that the collector's edition is supposed to work in a windows environment - not DOS.

One thing I did try, and have moderate success with is installing XP mode. Only problem is that I can't get XP to recognize a joystick. Struggling with that right now.

eppst1 wrote:

I'm starting to think my problem is that the collector's edition is supposed to work in a windows environment - not DOS.

That message would indicate this, but AFAIK this game is pure DOS.

win would start windows 3.1, again that doesn't make a lot of sense...

Is this a copy or an original CD?

Original.

Did you install the game from the CD first?

So you would need to mount a HDD and a CD drive, then run SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE to install it to the HDD...

If you mean through DosBox - yes, that is when the error happens. I can't even get it to install.

I suppose this isn't a dos game that's put on a cd with a windows front end that runs the installation? If so then you just need to find the actual dos install/setup program.

There are two different collector's editions of tie fighter (and x-wing as well), there's the TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM, which is the original DOS version + expansion, and there's also the collector's series, which is a windows remake (using the x-wing vs tie fighter engine and redbook audio instead of the old midi tracks) It sounds like you might have the latter?

There are two different collector's editions of tie fighter (and x-wing as well), there's the TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM, which is the original DOS version + expansion, and there's also the collector's series, which is a windows remake (using the x-wing vs tie fighter engine and redbook audio instead of the old midi tracks) It sounds like you might have the latter?

yes this is correct - there was a version of Tie Fighter that used the 'X-Wing vs Tie Fighter' engine and was windows only. It does sound like the OP has this version.
I'd recommend tracking down the Tie fighter Collector's CD-ROM DOS version, because you get transitional cutscenes and the IMUSE music system, both of which the Windows version lack.

[Thread moved to DOSBox Games/Apps. Section]

I think you guys might be correct. I fired up my old XP machine and it worked fine (well, once I used the patch that I found on Lucas Arts). Ah... the game is still awesome!