VOGONS


First post, by gerwin

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.
X-Wing + TIE Fighter for Windows 95 "Special Editions"

The GoG editions of these games have modified executables:

1- CD-ROM to local disk modification. (Very nice job there)

2- Fixedclear Fix from XWA-hacker, for Radeon video Cards.

3- They will ignore the Hardware 3D option, and always render in software mode.
Probably because they found it to cause trouble on the average modern PC system.

Apply the patches below to toggle the limitation described in point 3.

Use at your own risk. Do not bother GoG Technical Support with any problems the games may have after patching!

---------------------------------------------------

X-Wing versus TIE Fighter for Windows 95

The GoG edition of this game has modified executables:

1- CD-ROM to local disk modification.

2- Renames Winmm.dll reference to Win32.dll (for .OGG CD audio emulation)

3- It will ignore the Hardware 3D option, and always render in software mode.
Probably because they found it to cause trouble on the average modern PC system.

Apply the patch below to toggle the limitation described in point 3.
And also to enable the Fixedclear Fix from XWA-hacker, for Radeon video Cards.
NOTE: Currently only "The Balance of Power" executable is supported by this patch.

Use at your own risk. Do not bother GoG Technical Support with any problems the games may have after patching!

DOWNLOAD:

Filename
XW+TIE+XvT_HW3D.zip
File size
12.1 KiB
Downloads
3347 downloads
File comment
X-Wing + TIE Fighter + XvT-BoP for Win 95, GoG edition Hardware 3D toggle
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

(old download counter was 444)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the original manual in native PDF format. It is found on the Collector Series CD, but is currently missing in the GoG release. It covers the 1998 Windows 95 releases of both X-Wing and TIE Fighter, as well as a limited version of X-Wing vs TIE Figher, called Flight School. Flight School allows only the training missions to be played.

X-Wing Collector Series Manual (Cropped) (PDF 3MB)

And while I am at it:
X-Wing Alliance Manual (Cropped) (PDF 3MB)

X-Wing_Collector_Series_Manual_Cropped-s.png
Filename
X-Wing_Collector_Series_Manual_Cropped-s.png
File size
41.67 KiB
Views
19732 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by gerwin on 2015-02-07, 19:28. Edited 10 times in total.

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Reply 1 of 53, by gerwin

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Made matching comparison images of the rendering modes in TIE Fighter for Windows 95:

TIE95_Software-3D.png
Filename
TIE95_Software-3D.png
File size
156.17 KiB
Views
19761 views
File comment
TIE95 SoftWare 3D (16-bit)
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
TIE95_Hardware-3D.png
Filename
TIE95_Hardware-3D.png
File size
142.38 KiB
Views
19761 views
File comment
TIE95 HardWare 3D (2x FSAA)
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
TIE95_Hardware-3D_Brightness-Zero.png
Filename
TIE95_Hardware-3D_Brightness-Zero.png
File size
145.81 KiB
Views
19727 views
File comment
TIE95 HardWare 3D (2x FSAA) Brightness Zero in the game options
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

My thanks to Tarvis for the tip about the brightness setting, as written below.

Last edited by gerwin on 2014-11-10, 02:25. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 2 of 53, by Tarvis

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Don't forget to set the brightness all the way down in the options, that's what makes the textures look so washed out in the 3D accelerated mode! It does brightness by making the textures brighter, which looks terrible, instead of making the lighting brighter.

Reply 4 of 53, by gerwin

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Thanks Tarvis. I added another screenshot to illustrate your point.
It is only recently that I play this TIE95 1998 next to TIE CD 1995, So I am just figuring out these things now.

Yesterday I had another look at TIE95.exe
First the disabling of Hardware 3D, traced to this section of code:

Location 49AACA:
push 0 ; pUnkOuter
push offset lpDD ; lplpDD
push 0 ; lpGUID - This is set to 2 in the GoG edition.
call DirectDrawCreate

So GoG sets lpGUID to 2, which stands for:

CREATE_EMULATIONONLY:
The DirectDraw object uses emulation for all features; it does not take advantage of any hardware-supported features.

Next, the rather poor brightness adjustment. The actual adjustment of each individual color is done here:

Location 478E98:          ; In case "dword_4F3C68"==100h=="config value zero bars" this section is skipped.
mov eax, esi ; color of pixel or palette entry
and eax, 0FFh ; make sure register content is 255 or less
imul eax, dword_4F3C68 ; Multiply color with brightness value, which ranges 100h to something...
shr eax, 8 ; reduce resulting color value by shifting right
cmp al, 3Fh
mov byte ptr [ebp+var_8], al
jbe short loc_478EB7

This seems to be all that the brightness setting does. Black space+stars remain unaffected. At the default setting (=brightness config value of 2 bars) all textures are postprocessed like this. Generally objects appear darker in Hardware 3D mode, making it harder to identify distant craft. The screenshots above show a much darker container transport in Hardware 3D compared to Software. In other missions the difference is less extreme. Either way, it is rather crappy IMO.
The game X-Wing vs TIE fighter from 1997 does the same thing.

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Reply 6 of 53, by gerwin

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For some request in the GoG forum, I just uploaded this package:
Tie95_MUSIC.rar (52 MB) password=TIE95

Edit: The Music did not always loop, fixed where possible.

Addon for TIE Fighter for Windows 95
For the GoG version, includes the following:
- The XWA Hacker Fixedclear patching was messed up, this was manually restored.
- Modifications by Pete Jatz which fixes some issues with the music in the game
and restores some spots where music was not playing in the Windows version.
(obtained from here http://www.savingcontent.com/xwing/)
- Hardware 3D enable not applied. Use the patch at vogons.org if you need it.

Music folder:
- Does not contain a copy of the ogg-vorbis ingame music tracks.
- All wav files Re-Recorded from midi files. Using Timidity++ and a sligthly
modified Voice Crystal 4MB Commercial SoundFont named "VCGS4MV4.sf2".
This SoundFont was used with several Sound Cards in the 90's,
It is not too far off from the classic Roland Sound Canvas.
- Most are 16-bit 22KHz Mono. A compromise between Size and Quality.
The intro has to remain 8-bit 11KHz, or it won't work properly.
- Apart from the intro the other cutscene tracks do not yet have lowered volume
sections, whenever character speech is played.
- Specific for Pete Jatz modification: BRIEFMAP1.wav; FIGHTMAP.wav; REGISTER.wav

Why am I putting time in this game anyways, did I not decide for preferring the 1995 edition... 🤣
Nah, just happy that the entire series gets some renewed attention.

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Reply 7 of 53, by gerwin

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To quote Tarvis from the other topic about this game.

Tarvis wrote:

I've often wondered if it was possible to make an X-Wing TC for TIE Fighter DOS CD version so it could have the benefits of SVGA and "Match Speed" command and such.

I am used to TIE fighter from the start, and may never come to terms with the missing features to play the Rebel sided DOS games. Past days I slowly assembled this little mod too see if I could combine the best of both worlds, at least for one mission:

Filename
TIE-MOD.zip
File size
439.96 KiB
Downloads
212 downloads
File comment
Rebel X-Wing mod for TIE Fighter CD/95
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
This is a demonstration mod to investigate if TIE Fighter can be converted from Imperial 
to a Rebel-sided simulation. The earlier X-Wing and X-Wing CD games are rather limited
for people used to TIE CD (See **). Fortunately it seems the game switches sides without
problems, for as far as one can mod the game's resources.

For now this is Battle One Mission 1, converted to the Rebel side for TIE CD or TIE 95.
X-Wing cockpit included, as well as a less crappy model of the TIE 95 Shuttle (from XWA).

I am considering converting more Imperial missions, but there are some small issues:
- The Empire cannot throw all its small craft through hyperspace for an attack.
In that regard the TIE Bomber is no Y-Wing replacement.
- The X-Wing has a horrible laser configuration, by having them mounted on the wingtips.
The TIE Fighter engine does not really 'zero' these lasers to current target range.

Notes on Cockpit data
- Format differs between X-wing and TIE Fighter and 'X-Wing vs TIE Fighter'
- Source for hi-res cockpit: tie-Fly_Rebel_Fighters.EHF
Credits: SCO-TCT-TCS-PROF/FA Ender mBind/CS-10/SS
This patch comes with executable patching, but I don't see why that is required, except
for when the matching cockpits aren't installed, as it allows falling back to TIE cockpits.
The X-Wing cockpit is obviously based on the Gunboat cockpit.
- Source for low-res cockpit: X-Wing CD image and the editor TIEED128.
Mostly just a quick hack of the Gunboat cockpit, by me. Just the front view.
Fortunately TIEED128 can read and export some cockpit data, but that is about it.
- Regarding both cockpits when used in TIECD: I fixed artifacts in the target view window
by hex-editing Xwing.int (offsets 3FC,3FE,400,401 = X,Y,W,H).

Notes on Mission data
- Format differs between X-wing and TIE Fighter and 'X-Wing vs TIE Fighter'
- Editors used: first TIEED128, but later TIED11.
- Some metadata of battle 1 mission 1 does not transfer over when using the above editors.
This results in malfunctioning AI or loss of Audio messages.
Hex-editing was required to restore AI functionality.
- In mission file, offset from the first letter of the craft name:
advance 56 bytes: side (0=rebel, 1=imperial)
advance 118 bytes: target schip (0=X-wing, 4=TIE fighter) (not set for every craft)
advance 136 bytes: sec targets side (0=rebel, 1=imperial) (not set for every craft)

** Missing in X-wing and X-wing CD for DOS, compared to TIE Fighter CD:
- Target box around distant targets
- Match speed with target
- Time acceleration
- 3D target view in HUD
- Hi-res 640x480 game graphics mode
- Pilot Auto Restore.
Screenshot_TIECD_Xwing.png
Filename
Screenshot_TIECD_Xwing.png
File size
28.77 KiB
Views
19266 views
File comment
Screenshot TIE Fighter CD showing X-Wing Cockpit 640x480
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Screenshot_TIECD_Xwing_320.png
Filename
Screenshot_TIECD_Xwing_320.png
File size
15.16 KiB
Views
19176 views
File comment
Screenshot TIE Fighter CD showing X-Wing Cockpit 320x200
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

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Reply 10 of 53, by Tarvis

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dr.zeissler wrote:

I hate those GOG Games, because they will not run on the Original Hardware.

Well, sorry to say, but that is not their intended purpose. It's specifically to run on modern systems.

That being said, I see no reason why the X-Wing releases shouldn't run on original hardware, especially with the 3D toggle re-enabled.

Any game that uses DOSBOX should also be runnable on real DOS as well.

Reply 11 of 53, by teleguy

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I managed to enable 3D acceleration in X-Wing vs Tie Fighter (GoG).

The intro video of the main game will freeze so you have to hit the Esc key immediately.

Software
file.php?mode=view&id=16907&sid=00dd6c8a31d6080c604336a2f72f7971

Hardware
file.php?mode=view&id=16908&sid=00dd6c8a31d6080c604336a2f72f7971

Attachments

  • xt3daa.jpg
    Filename
    xt3daa.jpg
    File size
    153.46 KiB
    Views
    17714 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • xtsoftbig.jpg
    Filename
    xtsoftbig.jpg
    File size
    260.43 KiB
    Views
    17714 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by teleguy on 2015-02-03, 13:16. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 53, by teleguy

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Created a patcher.

Please let me know if it works.

Edit: 32 bit version is broken.

I've attached a new version for all systems.

Attachments

  • Filename
    XvT3Dpatch.zip
    File size
    7.44 KiB
    Downloads
    722 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by teleguy on 2015-02-03, 16:34. Edited 5 times in total.

Reply 13 of 53, by tayyare

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dr.zeissler wrote:

I hate those GOG Games, because they will not run on the Original Hardware.

So you probably should not care about them much. To me, they are god send. I really love playing my favorite old games in my daily computer instead of my more problematic retro rigs. I even own GOG copies of my boxed/original physical media games, just for this purpose.

Don't get me wrong, I love dealing with retro hardware, but I'm quite happy to have the option to use my modern PC for most of my retro gaming requirements. GOG is doing very good in making this option available, DRM-free, and cheap (which is the sole purpose of their existence I guess).

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 14 of 53, by gerwin

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teleguy wrote:

Created a patcher. I've attached a new version for all systems.

Thanks for sharing! (Cannot test it myself as I do not own the GoG version of XvT yet)

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Reply 15 of 53, by DosFreak

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Mabye with the Internet Archive putting those games up it will get GOG to finally offer images of the games. Then you can have the best of both worlds.

Most likely not though. 🙁

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 16 of 53, by teleguy

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Some findings concerning the freezes during videos:

Videos freezing on their own was caused by some other software interfering with the game.

Balance of Power:
Appears to be completely fine.

X-Wing vs Tie Fighter:
If you try to skip in the middle of the movie the game freezes sometimes so if you want to do that do it right at the beginning.
EDIT
Skipping the intro movie only locks the game if you start Z_XVT__.exe directly not when you run the game from the launcher.
Unfortunately forcing AA on the main game makes objects invisible on both the AMD and Nvidia systems I tested with. Currently the only way to have real AA is dgvoodoo but it shows a black screen when using the launcher unless you disable the intro movie.
Really a vexing problem.

Last edited by teleguy on 2015-02-08, 00:50. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 17 of 53, by gerwin

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Earlier I configured my game installation (non-GoG) to run all missions with the Balance of Power executable (v2.00). That proved to be the only executable for XvT which ran properly with Hardware 3D on Windows XP with a Radeon card. The other 5 executables failed to properly enable Hardware 3D and often had other issues.

Z_XVT__.EXE            Size       Date    
v1.00 from CD-ROM 1.369.088, 16-04-97
v1.10 Software patch 1.373.184, 20-05-97
v1.10 Direct3D patch 1.421.824, 3-09-97
v1.10 3DFX/ 1.14 patch 1.422.336, 14-10-97
v2.00 Balance of Power 1.405.952, 26-11-97
Flightschool 1.356.800, 9-02-98

I updated the 1st post with the new XvT-BoP patch, thanks to Teleguy for the necessary info. I did not yet have time to look at the more troublesome normal XvT exe.

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Reply 18 of 53, by Darklord42

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I tried this in conjunction with Dege's dgvoodoo2, on my windows 8.1 system.

dgVoodoo 2 for DirectX 11

GoG's XvT works fine, but for some strange reason BoP will enter into the mission for a second and then CTD when in 3D Hardware mode. The interesting thing is that dgvoodoo2 is reported to work fine with the CD version of BoP. Do you know of any reason this would crash for BoP or at least can verify that 3D Hardware mode will work fine on a system that can support the old directx? I already mentioned it on his thread, but in the off chance that it's the GoG patch (or GoG) at fault, I mention it here too.

Reply 19 of 53, by Darklord42

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I found that the issue was the fixed clear patch crashing with dgvoodoo2

Anyway since OSX wine now supports winmm for joystick, I thought I'd give X-Wing a try. Xwing vs Tie Fighter works perfectly, but X-wing for some reason has no music. You mention that winmm was renamed win32.dll for XvT for OGG playback. What about TF and XW? Have you seen any mechanism that could possibly fail with wine?