***** Didn't I show this in the video by using the mapper? It's not ideal though, as the game doesn't have dedicated roll buttons. It uses a button and moving your stick. Wing Commander has dedicated buttons, so that's easy to map.
I am using the steam version. I can get DosBox to load the "install" screen but when I click "set up sound card" it just flickers once then goes back to the main install screen. Any solutions?
So, not exactly related, but I'm playing the 98 version and after getting it to stop being laggy due to a file, the game now has my cursor as invisible. I've read somewhere to go into "Advanced Options" and simply switch Software cursor on, but I can't find it anywhere. Any ideas?
ok. resolved. the settings for the voice is "digital sound" and i dont know why it was changed. i put it back to sound blaster 16 and got the voice back. great! now i am struggling with the joystick simulator.... it moves with the controller but only a couple of keys seem to work, no control of the speed...
I prefer to set: fullresolution=0x0 (desktop native) output=overlay And for sound I increase the block size to around 2000. I've always found this gives better performance in fullscreen and will stop any weird sound skips and pauses with nice crisp pixels.
This [game] takes me back to when I was married back in the 1990's! I used to play this all he time! Am getting ready to build a PC with the *AMD A4 4000* APU. I plan on getting TIE Fighter so I can relive my happy memories!!! :O) Just subscribed! Kindest regards from England.
I'm getting a lot of micro drift, I get a tiny bit in x wing but in tie fighter it is really noticeable and irritating, something I can do about that? btw did you get a chance to test the turret thing? Interested to see what you get :).
Tycoon Hmm that's odd. DOSBox is usually very precise when it comes to Joysticks. I'm sorry about not doing anything with this game, been working hard on some other projects. So much to do, so little time :(
Tycoon What stick do you use? I have two. A cheaper Logitech, it works great, but I then also go the Thrustmaster T.16000M. I prefer this stick. The stick is easier to move, travels a bit further.
philscomputerlab I use a CH fighterstick, and I also like it because it's easy to move, and that's important in games like tie fighter because you are constantly going full deflection :).
I do prefer the suggested soundfont over the default midi, but I'm getting hanging/sticking notes - a constant drone that won't go away until the game is restarted. Any ideas if it's fixable? Thanks.
+PhilsComputerLab Hi, I believe it could be an issue with General Midi in TIE Fighter - there are reports going back to when the game was originally out that people experienced hanging notes when using it (although it was apparently patched). I'm on the latest version of VirtualMIDISynth. Just thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone had any ideas for config changes that might help. Thanks.
These videos are pure gold! I've learned a lot and have enhanced my retro gaming experience. keep it up! Quick question. What's the best midi font for orchestrated music? PS: I liked it better when you referred to the retro gaming PCs as time machines ;)
Jose Luis Rojas Thanks for the comment :) Oh dear, choosing the "best soundfont" is difficult. I cna only recommend trying out a few and deciding for yourself. They all sound uniquely cool :)
Jose Luis Rojas I'd like to second everything that Jose said; these videos are absolutely *invaluable* to me. To Jose's question, after messing around with soundfonts after Phils' Privateer video, I feel that for "authentic" orchestration samples, the ChromiumRevA soundfont is the best for my ears; I've been using it (along with BassMIDI) with LOOM, and the orchestration sounds amazing. Having said that, for Wing Commander Privateer, I preferred the Weeds soundfont that Phil suggested in the tweak video. Hope that helps, but be sure to try a bunch of them to see what you prefer with this game. *EDIT* I forgot to mention Phil, that after trying VirtualMIDIsynth with WC Privateer as per your tweak video, I experienced General MIDI playback problems where certain notes when played in-game would not receive the "off note" message at the correct time, which would cause parts of the music to drone on and hang indefinitely. After contacting the creator of VirtualMIDISynth directly on his support forum, he acknowledged that this is something he has encountered from other user reports, and that he is not sure at the moment how to rectify it, but that a new build is in testing now. After going back to BassMIDI, I had no such problems with WC Privateer; I thought I'd mention that to you as a consideration when recommending which GM Soundfont program to recommend in you videos.
3aleksandar3 Interesting regarding that hanging note. I think that issue is actually shown in the video, towards the end just before quitting the game. I thought it was because I was mucking around with the mapper. Thanks for this, I'll might switch back to BassMIDI then and mention this in my next video.
First things first, Thanks for your good vids. But in my case, DOSBox mapper is not works properly for me. After I press [ctrl + F1], game was closed automatically. Do you have any idea fix this issue ? I changed my OS win.10 from win.7 recently.
Thanks for this guide, I haven't tried sound fonts yet ( I just use plain midi ) but I might try some after using this guide. One question though about the cores, does setting it to 50000 fix all the turret problems? or is there improvement going even lower then that?
Tycoon I admit that I wasn't able to replicate this issue. I'm not familiar enough with this game and was unable to find this issue. But from I read online in various forums, it seems that an even lower cycle rate might improve things.
When the game came out I believe most would have had a 486, maybe a DX2, I believe the Pentium was out, but 50000 cycles is more on the level of a Pentium 133 or something like that.
philscomputerlab Ah I see, the 133 came out in 95 I think so people weren't going much faster than 50000 right? So running in dosbox isn't any different than running on original hardware?
That's correct. The cycle settings have similar effects on games just like real hardware. For example many games can't initialise the audio on a fast processor. While I do have old computers that I could test this on, nobody had documented this issue in a video. The written explanations didn't help me, I simply couldn't get to the part of the game that showed the issue, I'm a real noob at this particular game :)
@@philscomputerlab I assuming that you are saying about comfort of usage not actual performance in game? I don't have any at the moment. I saw the detailed comparison between these two and Thrustmaster is more precise, but does it make any difference in game from 1995 though? Pricewise is ok, but I wonder should I pay extra if performance is on the same level. I am not a flight-sim guy, but I am a fan of SW and DOS games and this game looks so appealing to me.
@@philscomputerlabToday I have completed TIE Fighter using Thrustmaster. Loved every minute of it. I was even able to make throttle working by using XWJOY. I needed to set joystick type to fcs, timed emulation, swap axes 3&4 AND then map axis 3 Y as X in dosbox key mapper. Thanks again for all the help.
sockmess It should work the same, but I don't a 360 controller, so not 100% sure. Well when we grew up with game, we all played with a joystick. So it makes sense to play it that way.
Someone wrote a guide, you can use Joy2Key to configure a 360 controller. I did this while I was waiting for my joystick to arrive. It works but only barely. There's no dead zone for the stick so it is very twitchy and you'll find it very difficult to aim. I'd recommend just buying the stick if you haven't already.
philscomputerlab I can't agree more. I'm working out of a 4'x8' room myself, we have a tiny house. I hope to post some videos of my lab soon. Also, I really appreciate your videos regarding how you get your captures from the old machines.
This guide works with Steam version as well. I am especially grateful for the joystick throttle setup. I use Hotas X and it seems to work. Thanks.
How do I get to this thru Steam?
You got a playlist for your game tweaks videos?
I'm wondering how many of those you did and they are very handy.
Just bought TIE Fighter on GOG. Your video was a great help! Thanks much!
+Christian Tao Great to hear :D
+PhilsComputerLab I was wondering if you figured out how to map rolling left and right to the joystick? I have the Thrustmaster T16000M.
***** Didn't I show this in the video by using the mapper? It's not ideal though, as the game doesn't have dedicated roll buttons. It uses a button and moving your stick.
Wing Commander has dedicated buttons, so that's easy to map.
You can use the xwing throttle TSR on tie fighter too, this will map the analogue throttle to the 1/3, 2/3 & full speed keys.
I am using the steam version. I can get DosBox to load the "install" screen but when I click "set up sound card" it just flickers once then goes back to the main install screen. Any solutions?
So, not exactly related, but I'm playing the 98 version and after getting it to stop being laggy due to a file, the game now has my cursor as invisible. I've read somewhere to go into "Advanced Options" and simply switch Software cursor on, but I can't find it anywhere. Any ideas?
hi, do you think most of these fixes will work with the 1994 collector CD X-WING as well?
thanks for the guide. i have done everything like you said, but now the voices are gone...i can hear only the music. any idea why?
ok. resolved. the settings for the voice is "digital sound" and i dont know why it was changed. i put it back to sound blaster 16 and got the voice back. great!
now i am struggling with the joystick simulator.... it moves with the controller but only a couple of keys seem to work, no control of the speed...
I prefer to set:
fullresolution=0x0 (desktop native)
output=overlay
And for sound I increase the block size to around 2000.
I've always found this gives better performance in fullscreen and will stop any weird sound skips and pauses with nice crisp pixels.
Great! Thanks...
This [game] takes me back to when I was married back in the 1990's! I used to play this all he time! Am getting ready to build a PC with the *AMD A4 4000* APU. I plan on getting TIE Fighter so I can relive my happy memories!!! :O) Just subscribed! Kindest regards from England.
+Desmond Birch Thanks for subscribing :) Great game, but I never got into them, I found them to much like a simulator and a bit too hard :D
philscomputerlab
Alone in the Dark, I found hard! I was always getting killed by the wolf that jumps through the window! :O)
Desmond Birch The controls certainly don't help :D
philscomputerlab
That's true!!! :O)
Have you ever tried GUS emulation for the music? Sounds pretty nice.
Is it safe to say that mapping the keyboard controls to a game controller would work the same on the 1998 Collectors Edition on Steam?
I'm getting a lot of micro drift, I get a tiny bit in x wing but in tie fighter it is really noticeable and irritating, something I can do about that?
btw did you get a chance to test the turret thing? Interested to see what you get :).
Tycoon Hmm that's odd. DOSBox is usually very precise when it comes to Joysticks. I'm sorry about not doing anything with this game, been working hard on some other projects. So much to do, so little time :(
philscomputerlab Ok maybe it's my stick, I'll play around with it, thanks.
Tycoon What stick do you use? I have two. A cheaper Logitech, it works great, but I then also go the Thrustmaster T.16000M. I prefer this stick. The stick is easier to move, travels a bit further.
philscomputerlab I use a CH fighterstick, and I also like it because it's easy to move, and that's important in games like tie fighter because you are constantly going full deflection :).
I do prefer the suggested soundfont over the default midi, but I'm getting hanging/sticking notes - a constant drone that won't go away until the game is restarted. Any ideas if it's fixable? Thanks.
+blueherring2 Hmm, is this with VirtualMIDISynth? Maybe there is a new version out that solves this issue?
+PhilsComputerLab Hi, I believe it could be an issue with General Midi in TIE Fighter - there are reports going back to when the game was originally out that people experienced hanging notes when using it (although it was apparently patched). I'm on the latest version of VirtualMIDISynth. Just thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone had any ideas for config changes that might help. Thanks.
These videos are pure gold! I've learned a lot and have enhanced my retro gaming experience. keep it up! Quick question. What's the best midi font for orchestrated music?
PS: I liked it better when you referred to the retro gaming PCs as time machines ;)
Jose Luis Rojas Thanks for the comment :) Oh dear, choosing the "best soundfont" is difficult. I cna only recommend trying out a few and deciding for yourself. They all sound uniquely cool :)
Jose Luis Rojas I'd like to second everything that Jose said; these videos are absolutely *invaluable* to me. To Jose's question, after messing around with soundfonts after Phils' Privateer video, I feel that for "authentic" orchestration samples, the ChromiumRevA soundfont is the best for my ears; I've been using it (along with BassMIDI) with LOOM, and the orchestration sounds amazing. Having said that, for Wing Commander Privateer, I preferred the Weeds soundfont that Phil suggested in the tweak video. Hope that helps, but be sure to try a bunch of them to see what you prefer with this game.
*EDIT* I forgot to mention Phil, that after trying VirtualMIDIsynth with WC Privateer as per your tweak video, I experienced General MIDI playback problems where certain notes when played in-game would not receive the "off note" message at the correct time, which would cause parts of the music to drone on and hang indefinitely. After contacting the creator of VirtualMIDISynth directly on his support forum, he acknowledged that this is something he has encountered from other user reports, and that he is not sure at the moment how to rectify it, but that a new build is in testing now. After going back to BassMIDI, I had no such problems with WC Privateer; I thought I'd mention that to you as a consideration when recommending which GM Soundfont program to recommend in you videos.
3aleksandar3 Thanks! I´ll give it a try. I´ve spent the whole afternoon trying soundfonts. This can be a very time consuming hobby XD
3aleksandar3 Interesting regarding that hanging note. I think that issue is actually shown in the video, towards the end just before quitting the game. I thought it was because I was mucking around with the mapper. Thanks for this, I'll might switch back to BassMIDI then and mention this in my next video.
Jose Luis Rojas Yes, time just flies when you play around with this :)
First things first, Thanks for your good vids. But in my case, DOSBox mapper is not works properly for me. After I press [ctrl + F1], game was closed automatically. Do you have any idea fix this issue ? I changed my OS win.10 from win.7 recently.
I am having the same issue
Did you end up fixing it?
you have to open the mapper while in windowed mode.
Thanks for this guide, I haven't tried sound fonts yet ( I just use plain midi ) but I might try some after using this guide. One question though about the cores, does setting it to 50000 fix all the turret problems? or is there improvement going even lower then that?
Tycoon I admit that I wasn't able to replicate this issue. I'm not familiar enough with this game and was unable to find this issue. But from I read online in various forums, it seems that an even lower cycle rate might improve things.
philscomputerlab Ok, is this problem present when run on original hardware? Was everyone back then only able to get like 30000 cores?
When the game came out I believe most would have had a 486, maybe a DX2, I believe the Pentium was out, but 50000 cycles is more on the level of a Pentium 133 or something like that.
philscomputerlab Ah I see, the 133 came out in 95 I think so people weren't going much faster than 50000 right? So running in dosbox isn't any different than running on original hardware?
That's correct. The cycle settings have similar effects on games just like real hardware. For example many games can't initialise the audio on a fast processor.
While I do have old computers that I could test this on, nobody had documented this issue in a video. The written explanations didn't help me, I simply couldn't get to the part of the game that showed the issue, I'm a real noob at this particular game :)
i bought the whole series on GoG, but I don't see the 1995 collectors CD version, only 1994 and 1998 (rubbish) version// have they taken this off GOG?
+hayesmaker Just had a look, it still shows all 3 games in my library. Try the refresh library trick. I forgot what the command was :(
It worked! I didn't know you had to manually refresh your own library on GoG.. craaazy stuff. Glad to have it.
Awesome :D
Is it worth to go for Thrustmaster 16000M for this game specifically or Logitech 3D Extreme Pro is enough?
I find the Logitech is very stiff and harder to play whereas the Thrustmaster is smoother. But try it first if you already have the Logitech...
@@philscomputerlab I assuming that you are saying about comfort of usage not actual performance in game? I don't have any at the moment. I saw the detailed comparison between these two and Thrustmaster is more precise, but does it make any difference in game from 1995 though? Pricewise is ok, but I wonder should I pay extra if performance is on the same level. I am not a flight-sim guy, but I am a fan of SW and DOS games and this game looks so appealing to me.
@@pablokks Who plays better with something uncomfortable 😁 Thrustmaster will always get my pick.
@@philscomputerlab Fair enough, Thrustmaster it is. Hopefully mapping throttle will work the same way it did with Logitech.
@@philscomputerlabToday I have completed TIE Fighter using Thrustmaster. Loved every minute of it. I was even able to make throttle working by using XWJOY. I needed to set joystick type to fcs, timed emulation, swap axes 3&4 AND then map axis 3 Y as X in dosbox key mapper. Thanks again for all the help.
I could not do the midi changing/configuring shown in this video, too confusing for me, lol.
How to get the game working with a 360 controller? Or should i just look for a real joystick?
sockmess It should work the same, but I don't a 360 controller, so not 100% sure. Well when we grew up with game, we all played with a joystick. So it makes sense to play it that way.
Someone wrote a guide, you can use Joy2Key to configure a 360 controller. I did this while I was waiting for my joystick to arrive. It works but only barely. There's no dead zone for the stick so it is very twitchy and you'll find it very difficult to aim. I'd recommend just buying the stick if you haven't already.
This is great, I just finished getting full LucasArts Archive collection (the 6 disc packs).
Lucas Crenshaw Nice find! I've got a lack of space in my place, so I prefer digital copies. But nothing beats having the original :)
philscomputerlab I can't agree more. I'm working out of a 4'x8' room myself, we have a tiny house. I hope to post some videos of my lab soon. Also, I really appreciate your videos regarding how you get your captures from the old machines.
That would be nice. Always interested in other people's setups and how they organise things.
Now I know why my game wasn't playing General MIDI! Thanks for the video! I didn't know DOSBox had a built in keyboard mapper either!
Yes DOSBox can be quite complex to configure. It does have a lot of options though...
Can't seem to even get it to work running Win 10, so no tweaking for me :(
Get a refund, I'm sick of GOG releasing broken games :(
God, I wish my joystick worked perfectly with default settings. It took hours to get it to work at all, and it's still super-weird.
So Im on a new mac. Def enough memory, power etc. I downloaded thru Steam. Can I do any of this stuff?
Why don't YOU "oldies" have the cd? Did you throw it OUT?? :-O
^I didn't :-P (15-16yo at 1995)