3D acceleration working! (FIX)

[teleguy]

Image comparison:

3D accelerated with AA
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=481890575
software
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=481890620

Solution 1: XWA Wrapper

The ddraw wrapper created for X-Wing Alliance now also supports the other games in the series (thanks to Reimar Döffinger).

Usage:

Grab the xwing_ddraw zip file from here
https://github.com/rdoeffinger/xwa_ddraw_d3d11/releases/latest
and extract ddraw.dll and ddraw.cfg to the game directory
......\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Tie Fighter\remastered

EDIT: As of v1.4.5 the next step should no longer be needed.

Then righight-click on the game under the Library in the Steam client and select Properties.
Under the General tab click the "Set launch options..." button.
Enter
-softwarecursor
and click on OK. 

Solution 2: Aqrit ddraw

This solution doesn't cause color corruption like the old (WineD3D) one.

Usage:

Download http://workupload.com/file/fXsasZps (This is a modification of Aqrit's ddwrapper.)
mirror: www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=18485
mirror: https://www.dropbox.com/s/58w5f5dzjt79cbn/aqrit%20ddraw%28ModifiedByTeleguy%29.zip?dl=0


Extract aqrit.cfg and the modded ddraw.dll to the game directory.
......\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Tie Fighter\remastered

Windows 7 is the last OS that can do 3D acceleration natively.

AMD users might have to downgrade their drivers to Catalyst 13.1 or put one of these atiumdag.dll files into the game folder. 

http://workupload.com/file/TSpxA5Tz
mirror: http://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=18776

Some Nvidia drivers can cause graphical glitches so you might want to try different versions.

If you aren't satisfied with it this way or if you're on a later operating system use dgVoodoo in addition to aqrit ddraw:

Download it here
http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/
and extract dgVoodooSetup.exe / dgVoodooCpl.exe and D3DImm.dll to the game directory.

(If you use dgVoodooSetup.exe / dgVoodooCpl.exe to change settings  (like enabling AA and removing the watermark) make sure the conf file it creates is also placed in the game directory by clicking on the ".\" button. See dgVoodoo Readme.)

Before you put dgvoodoo's DDraw.dll into the game folder rename it to voodraw.dll

Then open aqrit.cfg and replace
RealDDrawPath =AUTO
with
RealDDrawPath = voodraw.dll

All files in one download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/szc0unpec7yp6dq/Steam%20X-Wing%20Tie%20Fighter%20Hardware%20Fix%201.rar?dl=0 (Password: HardwareFix)
mirror: http://workupload.com/file/9KpxrKp (Password: HardwareFix)






Windows 7 color issues

(This issue is not present when using dgVoodoo.)

There's a bug in Windows 7 that affects a lot of old DirectDraw games resulting in distorted colors.
If that happens enable "ColorFix" in aqrit.cfg by replacing the 0 with 1.

Another way to fix it is using this tool:
http://www.bitpatch.com/downloads/ddraw_color_fixer.zip
You can also do this manually:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/927140-win7-fixing-old-256-color-games-with-distorted-palettes/?do=findComment&comment=593322376


Windows 10 issue/invisible ships

On Windows 10 the game sometimes doesn't take advantage of dgVoodoo. This is immediately noticeable by the dgVoodoo watermark missing from the screen (that is unless you disabled it) and results in 3D acceleration not working on AMD and invisible ships with acceleration enabled on Nvidia.
The cause is as of yet unknown.
This only happened to me a couple of times when freshly applying the fix to BoP. Since I couldn't find any error in the configuration on my part I copied all the aqrit/dgVoodoo dll and config files from the BoP to the XvT folder unchanged. Surprisingly they worked like they should there. Then I moved the files back to the BoP directory and BoP was miraculously fixed as well. All in all quite puzzling.
Edit: Added Solution 5 to address this.

Solution 3: WineD3D

I finally found a way to make 3D acceleration work in the Steam version.

1. Go the the Tie 95 directory.
......\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Tie Fighter\remastered
2. Make a backup of ddraw.dll.
3. Download https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydo8hg1yei7kd27/Wine%20for%20Star%20Wars%20games.zip?dl=0 and extract the files to the game directory.
4. Run wined3dcfg.cpl and select "backbuffer" as Offscreen Rendering Mode.
This way the old workarounds are no longer required and I was able to force AA from the driver controlpanel which didn't work before.

Edit: If your desktop color depth is lower than 32 bit or the game fails to launch you still need these workarounds:
4. a) Rightclick on Tie95.exe and set compatibility mode to 256 colors and Windows XP.
or
b) Download https://www.dropbox.com/s/4cp63htqn5eyeon/opengl32.zip?dl=0 and extract the file to the game directory.

All files in one download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yfw2xooee3c7mvb/X%2CTie%20Fix%20Complete.zip?dl=0
http://workupload.com/file/8fhqXje

More up to date versions of these files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6a23eoghu5qpiga/Wine3Dfix_Tie_X-Wing.zip?dl=0
mirror: https://workupload.com/file/cgXnZdr
The most notable improvement for me was increased performance on Win XP.

3D acceleration should work now however there is the downside that the colors in the concourse and menus are severely messed up but it's manageable to find the right buttons.
Judging from some reports it's possible only Windows 7/Vista/XP are affected but not Windows 8/10.

The Steam Overlay can cause poor performance. See the relevant section in Solution 4 for ways to launch the game without overlay.


Edit: Sometimes the keyboard fails to initialize for some reason. If that happens usually the game seems to hang at the start because it's displaying an error message in the background. In that case close Tie Fighter with Alt+F4 and try again. (You can skip this message with Esc or Enter but the Keyboard will not be available in flightmode so it's pointless.)

Edit2: I managed to fix the "Dinput Keyboard aquired failed message". Instead of setting 256 color mode download .. , extract the files somewhere and run install.bat with adming rights.

Uninstallation:

Delete ddraw.dll, wined3dcfg.cpl, libwine.dll Opengl32.dll and wined3d.dll from the game folder.

Restore original ddraw.dll from the backup you've made or use "Verify Integrity of Game Cache".

Solution 4: DDrawCompat

This is for everyone who can't get other the other solutions to work properly.


Usage:

Download ddraw.zip
https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases
and extract ddraw.dll to the game folder.
......\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Tie Fighter\remastered

AMD users might have to downgrade their drivers to Catalyst 13.1 or put one of these atiumdag.dll files into the game folder. (The atiumdag.dll will probably not work on Windows 8 and above.)

http://workupload.com/file/TSpxA5Tz
mirror: http://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=18776


EDIT: The experimental/test release contains a fix for the driver issue so this workaround should no longer be needed.

If enabling AA from the driver controlpanel doesn't work use MLAA or FXAA.

Switching from flightmode to menus, map, damage report etc. may take it bit longer than usual. If you still only see a black screen after waiting a while, pressing the left/right arrow key on the keyboard should help.

Currently there seems to be a conflict between the Steam overlay and DDrawCompat which causes the game to crash at launch (DDrawCompat used to work fine a few months ago). This can be fixed by

a) launching Tie95.exe directly from the Windows Explorer
or
b) rightclicking on Tie95.exe and enabling Windows XP compatibility or admin mode
or
c) deleting GameOverlayRenderer.dll from the Steam directory (Steam will restore that file every time you launch the Steam client though)

Simply disabling the overlay in Steam options is not enough!


Some of the graphics might be missing in flightmode. Using Win XP compatibility mode usually fixes this.

Solution 5: DxWnd

This is basically Solution 2 done in a slightly different way.

Download Dxwnd v2_04_23 (direct link https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/files/Latest%20build/v2_04_23_build.rar/download ) and extract it to an empty folder.

Download https://www.dropbox.com/s/2aboewobay7av84/Dxwnd3Dfix.zip?dl=0 and extract it to the same folder, overwriting dxwnd.dll.
mirror: https://workupload.com/file/bXmKfd2

Launch dxwnd.exe, click on File and import the Tie Fighter dxw file included with the Dxwnd3Dfix.

Rightclick the new entry ->Modify, change the filepath so that it points to the location where the game is installed on your PC and click on OK. The icon in front of the Tie Fighter entry should now have turned green.

Download dgVoodoo http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/
and copy DDraw.dll, D3DImm.dll and dgVoodooCpl.exe to the game directory
......\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Tie Fighter\remastered

Either launch the game directly from Dxwnd or have Dxwnd running in the background when launching from Steam.


On Windows 7 and prior, 3d acceleration might work without dgVoodoo (in this case make sure to delete the ddraw.dll that Steam includes with the game!) however the same limitations apply as with aqrit ddraw, see Solution 2.
Distorted colors on Windows 7 can be fixed by enabling "Win7 color fix" on the Compat tab in Dxwnd.

Alternative Method

http://steamcommunity.com/app/355250/discussions/0/618463738393252329/

[andersonm]

Antivirus might block .bat files unfortunately

[Calvin809]

Автор сообщения: teleguy

Автор сообщения: cslegna

do not apply this tip....

cant restore files..

my game is broken, and can`t reinstall game

Delete ddraw.dll, dxgi.dll, libwine.dll, (opengl32.dll) and wined3d.dll from the game folder.

Restore original ddraw.dll from the backup you've made or use "Verify Integrity of Game Cache".

Go to controlpanel->Programs and Features and uninstall Tie95WineFix or run
sdbinst.exe -n "Tie95WineFix"
from a command prompt with admin rights
(if installed).

A regular uninstall does not work for the Tie95WineFix. It keeps appearing in my program list after a restart and it messes with my reinstall.

edit: Used Iobit uninstaller and cleaned my computer. Seems to have fixed it.

[teleguy]

Автор сообщения: Calvin809

Автор сообщения: teleguy

Delete ddraw.dll, dxgi.dll, libwine.dll, (opengl32.dll) and wined3d.dll from the game folder.

Restore original ddraw.dll from the backup you've made or use "Verify Integrity of Game Cache".

Go to controlpanel->Programs and Features and uninstall Tie95WineFix or run
sdbinst.exe -n "Tie95WineFix"
from a command prompt with admin rights
(if installed).

A regular uninstall does not work for the Tie95WineFix. It keeps appearing in my program list after a restart and it messes with my reinstall.

edit: Used Iobit uninstaller and cleaned my computer. Seems to have fixed it.

What OS are you on? Did you also try sdbinst.exe -n "Tie95WineFix"?

[Calvin809]

Windows 7 64 bit. I didn't try the sdbinst.exe command but was going to if nothing else worked.

[teleguy]

It looks like the Steam version (like GOG) sets lpguid to 2 which means DirectDraw EmulationOnly. Unfortunately it's not possible patch it because Steam or Disney in their infinite wisdom decided to encrypt the exe.

So I looked at aqrit's directdraw wrapper:
http://bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html

The source code is freely available and with a few minor modifications I was able to overwrite lpguid and enable 3D acceleration.

Edit: Updated OP

[Chris Solomon]

i couldn't get the game to work using the instructions used for xvt, but... i did find that creating the dgvoodoo directory and using your modified ddraw.dll along with the redirection in the aqrit.cfg to c:\dgvoodoo did allow the game to work.

DO NOT PUT D3DIM.dll in the tiefighter remastered directory! it will cause the game to not work! same goes for the dgvoodoosetup.exe file!

[teleguy]

Автор сообщения: Chris Solomon

i couldn't get the game to work using the instructions used for xvt, but... i did find that creating the dgvoodoo directory and using your modified ddraw.dll along with the redirection in the aqrit.cfg to c:\dgvoodoo did allow the game to work.

DO NOT PUT D3DIM.dll in the tiefighter remastered directory! it will cause the game to not work! same goes for the dgvoodoosetup.exe file!

Weird, I had tried what you suggested at first with d3dim.dll in the dgvoodoo folder (it seemed more logical that way) but it didn't work at all for me until I more or less by accident launched one of the games with d3dimm.dll in the game directory instead.

Anyway I'll add your instructions to the OP.

[teleguy]

I got an idea. What if we rename dgvoodoos' DDRAW.dll to voodraw.dll, use just
RealDDrawPath = voodraw.dll
in the cfg and simply put all the files in the game directory?

I'm currently not on my PC so I can't test it.

[teleguy]

BTW better not use the atiumdag.dll and dgVoodoo at the same time.

[hÆLëØS]

Cannot see any ships in game while using this fix. Only nav buoys are visible. Using latest geforce drivers with nVidia 660 and Windows 10.

[teleguy]

Автор сообщения: hæleos

Cannot see any ships in game while using this fix. Only nav buoys are visible. Using latest geforce drivers with nVidia 660 and Windows 10.

Are you also using dgVoodoo or just aqrit ddraw?

[hÆLëØS]

I have tried both the aqrit ddraw by itself and the dgVoodoo/voodraw.dll methods explained in the OP and in both instances, all ships and objects disappear. dgVoodoo by itself seems to work but there doesn't seem to be a discernable difference between it and using software mode, so I'm sceptical if it's actually doing anything. I realize it isn't supposed to be a monumental change, but I can see the difference in the screenshots you posted.

[teleguy]

I compiled that ddraw.dll with Visual Studio so you might need this:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=48145
or this:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=40784

Also try different drivers and make sure AA is disabled. Another thing you can try is the "Old Method" in the OP.

[teleguy]

So any success?

[teleguy]

This might also help:

Автор сообщения: Greyshadow

3. Reduced colour mode (8bit 256) was essential, otherwise 3D objects were sometimes not displaying.