I have the XWing Collectors edition CD, and yes, dat be da MIDI stuff 😀

If these games have Windows executables: crappy static prerecorded music
If these games have Dos executables: the funkiest dynamic midi tunes!

Look here for info on the series:
Czech X-Wing Series Site

Yeah, the Windows versions were really disappointing. Their graphics were much better (especially X-Wing), but they used crappy CD audio tracks for the music! One of the things that really made the DOS X-Wing games stand out was that they used the iMUSE dynamic MIDI music system from the SCUMM engine.

Was X-Wing made primarily for the MT-32 family, or for Sound Canvas / General MIDI? I know it supports both, but that usually means that one sounds a lot better than the other. I know I've tested with both my MT-32 and SC-88 at one point and it was decent on both, but I don't remember which was better.

Edit: Wikipedia seems to imply that the original floppy version of X-Wing favored the MT-32, while the CD-ROM X-Wing games favored General MIDI?

What HunterZ said. The Win95 versions have much better graphics but they are soulless without the interactive MIDI music.

The differences between the DOS floppy and DOS CD versions of X-Wing that I've noticed are 1) Gouraud shading 2) voice work 3) more sound option choices/flexibility [choose music and digital audio separately] 4) all of the addon packs included with the CD version 5) it has some optional simpler versions of a few missions.

I bought like every release of these games because I was crazy about them back then. They really work well on teenagers. But I never really played the Win95 versions because the loss of MIDI just ruined it and frankly I was getting little burned out on the games by the end of the '90s. The music never gets old though.

One thing that isn't talked about enough is how much easier TIE Fighter is than X-Wing. X-Wing has some really difficult missions....

Thanks very much for everyone's comments. I'm hoping the games will arrive within the next 2 days. I'm also hoping that the DOS executables are present alongside their updated counterparts on both games' CDs.

The DOS Collector's CD version is the best TIE Fighter experience. For me the most important thing about the this version is 640x480 resolution. I got a little spoiled to really appreciate 3D games in 320x200, it is like unsufficiently sharp. Gouraud shading was already present in the TIE Fighter floppy version.

I was also crazy about TIE Fighter (floppy) back then. Maybe even more so then about System Shock/Dune2/Doom... Strangely I never really played X-Wing. I did play the later X-Wing Alliance: A very decent game IMHO.

I bought The X-Wing/TIE Fighter for Windows CD too, totally unaware that some moron had been assigned to port this game to windows 🙁 .... The new menu screens are out of style, and I agree: the lack of dynamic midi music is a fatal flaw. Sometimes the windows game just won't run for some mysterious reason.

Either way, the DOS collector's version is there, and it does the job fine. There was never a no-CD patch for it so I hacked out the CD check myself once. Not that I can really hack, but somehow I obviously succeeded. 😉 PM me if you care for it.

Attached the legendary TIE Fighter music, I made this recording once with DosBox. 😀
Also let me share this great TIE Fighter tribute mp3, All credits to the unknown author: tie_fighter_-_sample.mp3

gerwin wrote:

Either way, the DOS collector's version is there, and it does the job fine. There was never a no-CD patch for it so I hacked out the CD check myself once. Not that I can really hack, but somehow I obviously succeeded. 😉 PM me if you care for it.

That reminds me that the floppy version of X-Wing is the only game I've ever cracked myself:

The floppy version used a doc check (made you look up random words from the printed manual). I had been using a crack to play due to not having the manual, but eventually bought and installed the expansions only to find that they reinstalled the doc check. Out of desperation I poked around the game's executable file with Norton Utilities (back when it was mostly just a hex editor), and in there I found a bunch of random Star Wars planet names that I surmised were the passwords. I replaced them all with X's, and the ran the game and typed in a bunch of X's and was able to bypass the protection 😜

I also used hex editors to teach myself about save file hacking and eventually made a simple save editor in Turbo BASIC for Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge that let me restore my party's health & mana and give myself extra gold among other things 😀

HunterZ wrote:

Was X-Wing made primarily for the MT-32 family, or for Sound Canvas / General MIDI? I know it supports both, but that usually means that one sounds a lot better than the other. I know I've tested with both my MT-32 and SC-88 at one point and it was decent on both, but I don't remember which was better.

Edit: Wikipedia seems to imply that the original floppy version of X-Wing favored the MT-32, while the CD-ROM X-Wing games favored General MIDI?

I have both the floppy and the CD (X-Wing Gold) versions. IIRC the MIDI music was exactly the same, at least for my platform, GM. And, sounded nothing but short of amazing on my old Wave Blaster (1), and even better now on my SBLive 😀

Guess that means it was composed for GM from the start then, which is interesting since most of their SCUMM games were composed primarily for for MT-32.

My Star Wars budget game pack has arrived. Inside, there are 2 CDs. The first CD has this printed on its surface: TIE fighter collector's CD-ROM, the complete TIE fighter collection. I ran install.exe inside DOSBox to test it. After the files installation was complete, the sound card set up ran. It looks just like a typical DOS sound card set up procedure. I chose General Midi (330) and SB16.

When I ran the game, I noticed the game's resolution was set to 640 (a choice also existed for 320). I ran the game and heard in-game MIDI music. To be absolutely certain it was MIDI music, and not music from the CD-ROM, I adjusted my Windows XP sound card's MIDI sound volume slider, and that affected the music volume. So, I have a good version of TIE Fighter to play. I'll test the other CD soon, which is: X-Wing collector's CD-ROM.

Thanks a lot for the info, people.

Edit: In terms of successful MIDI music, the X-Wing CD works just like the TIE Fighter CD. I get to hear funky in-game MIDI music OK. I notice that the cut scenes look awesome. These games ooze quality.

I managed to complete battle 1: the aftermath of Hoth. At first, I found mission 5 difficult, because I couldn't catch the A-wings. But then I remembered I was carrying missiles, and just needed to lock on to the current target. I'm still using a mouse with this game, so I'll make an effort to find a suitable joystick on ebay..

I remember my cousin trying to play Tie Fighter with a mouse back when it was new. It was ridiculous seeing him try to do loops by repeatedly and rapidly swiping his mouse downward across his mousepad!

I got the CD version of X-Wing working last night under DOSBox 0.74 on Win7 x64 with my Roland SC-88 (non-Pro) via an E-mu Xmidi 1x1 Tab USB-MIDI interface. I'm planning to hook up a Logitech USB gamepad that looks just like a PS2 controller and use the analog stick(s) to play, as I do not have a USB flightstick.

I noticed that the music in X-Wing sounds noticeably better when the SC-88 is in SC-55MkII mode than in SC-88 mode. Some of the horned instruments (which sound the most different between SC-55MkII and SC-88) in the game's soundtrack do weird things in SC-88 mode that end up sounding silly.

Hey, I am about to buy the Star Wars next season games Battlefront 2nd, in this manner I want to know how to test its rating for the market rate because I don’t want it disappoint me when I play this in my pc my X wing is working under good but slight changes in the music and I knew now that why there is so much difference between music and movement. Sometimes star war games screen doesn’t fit in mine screen, what I should do to overcome this.

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