TIE Fighter running on Windows 7

Since I can't seem to get the bloody search option to work, I'll just post a new topic...so there.

So I own the TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM that says it's compatible with Windows 95/98, etc., and at one point I was able to install it and play it on Windows XP without the use of the DOSBOX. I seem to remember installing a patch, possibly an official LucasArts patch, but I don't remember the details at this very moment. Now I have a new, faster, better machine, but alas it runs Windows 7 and for the life of me I can't figure out how to coax the damned thing to run the game. I figure, if XP can run it, shouldn't 7 be able to as well? There's that whole compatibility mode and whatnot, yeah?

So, can anyone help me out installing and running this wonderful game on a machine with Windows 7? Or at least point me in the right direction. Google searches have been all but fruitless and have led me to some strange things, so any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

 

Windows stopped supporting DOS applications with Win2K and/or XP, so the only way you're going to get TIECD to run on Windows 7 is through emulation (which is really what DOSBox is, and Win95 and 98 didn't need DOS emulation). Along with DOSBox, look into VDMSound, which may perform better than DOSBox with these games (maybe VDMSound was the "patch" you say was able to get TIECD to run in WinXP w/o emulation).

 

Thanks for the quick reply to my question!

I found the patch, actually, was called "X-Wing & TIE Fighter 95 Compatibility Fix" created by "Cwagle the Jedi", according to the readme file. I know it works with my old XP machine.

With regard to the DOSBox, does this preserve the improved graphics of the 95/98 collector's edition? I thought I'd read somewhere that it reduces the graphics to the older edition of TIE Fighter, while the 95/98 collector's edition improves them along the lines of X-Wing Alliance (or something like that...). Is this true, or just a bunch of flub and/or something incorrectly remembered/read?

 

I thought the 95/98 Collector's edition were Windows 95 games, based on the X-Wing vs TIE Fighter engine, and not DOS?

 

That's my point exactly. The issue is that Windows 7 does not seem to recognize 95/98 games. Perhaps the question I should be asking is whether anybody knows how to get a 95/98 game to run on Windows 7?

 

Tried running it in compatibility mode? I don't know if that'll work though, but it's worth a try.

 

I wanted to try that, but I think there might be an issue with installation. When I click on the "Install TIE Fighter" button, a window pops up that says: "The TIE Fighter setup program was unable to launch. Please make sure the TIE Fighter CD is in the CD-ROM drive or try running SETUP.EXE directly from the Install folder on the TIE Fighter CD-ROM." After clicking the Okay button at the bottom of that window, it disappears - and that's it.

Okay, so I went into the CD and found the INSTALL folder with the SETUP.EXE file in it, but when I try to run it I get another message, this one saying: "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of this program, and then contact the software publisher." That sort of confused me since, if I understand correctly, my version of Windows 7 (Home Premium) supports both 32 and 64-bit applications/programs, whatnot, so...? Then again, I'll be the first to admit I have no real idea what any of that tech jargon means.

Well, then I tried compatibility mode by going into properties for the SETUP.EXE file and telling it to run in compatibility mode. I tried it form Windows 95, Windows 98/Me, and Windows XP Service Pack 2 and 3, but to no avail - I keep getting the same bloody message: "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows..."

Alright, so I don't really get it. I tried the compatibility mode bit for the SETUP.EXE and the TIESTART.EXE (the one that brings me to the option to install when you first run the CD), but I keep getting the same messages, respectively. So what's the kriffing problem? I have to say, Windows 7 has been the single most annoying and confusing operating-system I have ever used or owned and has honestly made me wish I had bought a Mac instead, but that's besides the point...

 

OK, now that we know that we're dealing with the Windows version (which is commonly abbreviated TIE95), are you running the 64-bit version of Windows 7? If you are, you'll probably need the MSI installer package put together by Markus Egger. Find the new installer here.

The confusion stems from the fact that LucasArts called the DOS CDs (X-Wing had this problem, too) the Collector's CD-ROM, while X-Wing and TIE Fighter were later bundled together (with X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Flight School) as Windows versions (using the XvT graphics engine) and were called the X-Wing Collectors Series.

 

Wildstar dude, you are the man! This is exactly what I was looking for! Sorry about giving too little information earlier. Since I'm not very tech savvy and rarely know what's happening with the tech when something goes haywire, I often give too little information not knowing what information to give.

Thanks tons!

 

A quick question since we're on the topic of TIE Fighter and such (sorry about the double-post), but what is the difference between the Collector's CD-ROM version, the Collector's Series version, and the X-Wing Trilogy version? I know that the Colllector's Series and the Trilogy versions come with more games, namely X-Wing, but are the graphics improved? That is to say, if I were to want to buy the most up-to-date version of these games, which should I buy? The Wikipedia page on this was interesting, but actually managed to confuse me some since I can't figure out if the Trilogy version comes with full versions of all the games (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance) or if they're cut-down versions... Now that I know these games can be run on Windows 7, I think I may decide to buy them if they are worth it.

 

Unfortunately Microsoft came up with the 'Windows XP Mode' with the corporate world in mind, as I know of few businesses who adopted Vista unless it was out of need.

This means that the Windows XP Mode is only available with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate.

The necessary items for XP Mode can be downloaded from here on the Microsoft Website.

 

Collectors CD version is TIE Fighter or X-Wing only on CD including their expansions, old graphics (Tiefighter). X-wing had some minor tweaks, as listed on the X-wing wikipedia page.

The other two only came with a demo of X-wing versus Tiefighter I think, but included the original x wing and tiefighter with graphics equivalent to xwing versus tiefighter, Trilogy version included xwing alliance.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-X-Wing-Trilogy-Pc/dp/B000050I88

From what I can tell, being a big fan of the games as they came out, you get:

X-Wing: Can't tell if you get the expansions. I'd say no (but wiki says "bonus missions?")

Tie Fighter: Can't tell if you get the expansions. I'd say no (but wiki says "bonus missions?")

X-Wing: Alliance. Since there were no add-ons or expansions for this game, it must be the full game

X-Wing vs Tie Fighter: Some sort of bastardized "with 14 multi-player" maps version. Since the whole game was mostly multi-player, I have no idea what they are selling. Probably ripped out the "single player campaign" which was just bastardized multi-player maps. Whatever, game sucked and is outdated, you wont be playing it

Collector's CD-ROM is I think the original games, only instead of 24 floppies, its on CD

X-Wing Collector Series: Revamped versions of X-Wing and TIE Fighter retrofitted with the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter engine. That sounds cool

X-Wing Trilogy: Same as X-Wing Collector Series

Definitely go for one of the later two, not only will you have an easier time making it work, it sounds like the graphics and gameplay are updated (might have to get that myself)

And invest in a good joystick if you are going to go through all these

 

Thanks for the info, all! I will definitely be getting the Trilogy version it the very near future, and no worries, mate, I have myself a joystick - it's just a matter of locating it amidst the rubble of boxes in the storage room...

 

Just to correct FlareStorm, the X-Wing Trilogy was XW95 and TIE95 bundled w/ XWA.

 

Well, I found the joystick, hooked it up, and went to play the game - and then the bugs started. First, in the introductory video, I immediately noticed a lot of odd coloration and shading, for instances a whole bunch of green spots and streaks in starfields and all sorts of odd coloration on the Star Destroyers and starfighters. I thought that maybe this is just a video bug - nope. I went in to the game itself and found myself navigating a TIE fighter through dizzying amounts of the same issues with odd colors and such all over. It sort of reminded me of advanced games back in the day that were too advanced for older machines - only backwards. I tried changing the graphics to the 8-bit, the 16-bit, and the 3D, but alas, no change. Now, I know that there are supposed to be some kind of video bug (a 3D bug, maybe?) for newer machines, but I would swear that I was only supposed to download a few different patches for that to be resolved, which I did... Any thoughts or help?

Oh, and another issue, unrelated to the game, is the fact my brand new Dell Studio whatever with Windows 7 tries to keep reading the CD-ROM every 30 seconds or so, which makes the game pause and jump.

 

You need Alcohol 120 http://www.alcohol-soft.com/

With it you can create an image of the disk but store it on your hard drive.

You can then mount the image to a virtual CD drive, the same as having the disk in the drive but much quicker.

You can do this with the free trial version

 

Is this regarding the CD and the game jumping? Because in that regard, the Dell people say I need a new drive, which they're going to replace in the next few weeks or so...

Any ideas why the colors are all wonky for the game on my Windows 7 machine? I just played through a few hours on my old XP machine and the colors and all seem to work just fine...

 

Yep it's for the CD drive issues. This can be useful anyway though to be honest, as your older games get scratched etc, you can store them on your PC and just mount the disk in Alcohol when you want to play it

As for the wonky colours, what graphics card/chipset are you using? you can find out by clicking Start > Type into the search box 'device manager' and look under 'Display Adapters'.

If this is the same brand for your XP machine (in XP, Device Manager can be found by going Start > Control Panel) then it may be that you could roll the drivers back on your current machine to the same version as the drivers on your XP machine and see if that works.

 

The Windows 7 machine has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570. I know my XP machine has an older ATI Mobility Radeon, but I'm not sure exactly which one. Would setting the drivers back affect other games? I mean, maybe it would just be simpler to play this on the older machine, as inconvenient and annoying as that may be...

 

SOCL, your problem is the taskbar in Windows 7. I'm trying to get my mouse working with this game (Dell SXPS 16, very similar to your Studio!) If anyone knows how to make it work, I'd love to know! Using latest PPJoy but..no joy. Sorry for the pun.

What you need to do is start Task Manager and kill explorer.exe. Then go to file->run and type the path of the tie fighter executable. It'll then load fine. Once you quit and want your desktop back, go to file->run and type explorer

 

This is what is causing the wonky colours and graphics in-game, yeah?

 

Yes. Tie Fighter is an old game and doesn't know how to make the new API call to hide the taskbar. So the taskbar is still there, beneath the game. This prevents the game from displaying correctly as it cannot fully control the screen. This same issue happens with other games like Starcraft on Win7.

 

Nice find DeathWalking

How'd you discover the solution?

 

I'd love to claim credit, but I found a "patch" on the web for a different game that basically just modified the exe to do what I've just described. I debugged it, saw what it did, then created a batch file to do the same thing for a bunch of other games.

Now, can anyone help me with PPJoyMouse?