X-Wing

Star Wars: X-Wing

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The original Star Wars flight simulator, X-Wing took the world by storm in 1993. Starting off as a rookie in the Rebel Alliance, the player soon became an ace pilot, gaining kills and experience by defeating the Empire in numerous battles. Culminating with an attack run on the evil Death Star, X-Wing captured the imagination and hearts of many gamers and remains a classic to this day.

X-Wing was the first LucasArts DOS computer game set in the Star Wars universe, as well as the lead title in the X-Wing combat flight simulator game series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the eponymous X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance as part of a narrative that precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Designed by Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham's Totally Games for LucasArts, X-Wing was one of the first games to use 3D polygon graphics for spaceships and the first non-adventure game to use the iMUSE music system. The game was updated and re-released several times, and was followed by three sequels. X-Wing was a best-seller and received critical acclaim.

As a space flight simulator game, X-Wing puts the player at the controls of various starfighters in space combat against enemy spacecraft. Drawing some influence from Star Raiders (1979), the game is played in first-person from inside the cockpit. The initial game offered pilotable A-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing craft; the B-Wing expansion adds the B-wing as a playable vehicle.

The player earns points for each tour of duty mission by completing objectives and destroying enemy spacecraft. Medals and ranks are awarded for campaign progress; if the player dies in combat, his or her score and awards are lost, but campaign progress is preserved.

Versions

X-Wing had six releases:

• Original, DOS floppies (1993)
• Imperial Pursuit, DOS floppy add-on (1993)
• B-Wing, DOS floppy add-on (1993)
• X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM, DOS (1994)
• X-Wing Collector's, Macintosh (1994)
• X-Wing Trilogy/Collector Series, Windows 95/98 (1999)

Story

The protagonist was Keyan Farlander, at least according to the X-Wing Strategy Guide. See Wookieepedia's article on Keyan Farlander for more information.

Gameplay

X-Wing is a single-player game played from a first-person perspective inside the cockpit of one of the Rebel Alliance's starfighters.

• Flyable ships: X-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing in original version; B-Wing added in B-Wing expansion pack; other ships by using third-party patches.

• Camera views: First-person inside the ship [default], first-person view outside the ship, third-person view outside the ship, first-person warhead view.

• Missions: The original X-Wing came with 56 combat missions and a training area; Imperial Pursuit, B-Wing, and the Collector's Edition added 51 missions to bring the total to 107. Each mission is discussed in detail in Castor's guide. Additionally, hundreds of custom missions have been built by fans.

Installing the game

The game was originally released in 1993 and it's install program worked like a dream for the computers of the day. However modern day PC's based around 64bit architecture present a problem for the original 16bit installation program which simply will refuse to work. Fortunately a workaround has been provided my Markus Egger.

Markus has created custom installer programs for many of the old Lucasarts games, enabling them to be installed on PC's with 64bit CPU's.

Visit his page here to download a custom installer for the 'Star Wars: X-Wing Collector Series' version of X-Wing (under CD1 - X-Wing 95) from the list of those available.

You can also find all the instructions on how to use the installer for the game HERE.

X-Wing and the Rebel Squadrons

We have an active group of pilots that enjoy playing X-Wing. The Patriot Battle Fleet, our X-Wing unit, releases a new custom mission every month as part of a Fleet-wide Tour of Duty, and has been doing so since 1998. There are eight squadrons that compete against each other every month for the best results on the current mission and the honor of Top Squadron. The one pilot who can top everyone else's score is awarded the Medal of Victory. We're believed to be the largest and most active existing group on the Internet for X-Wing, and we still have dozens of folks who still love to get in their flight gear and step into the cockpit.

How to fly custom missions

To fly a custom mission in X-Wing first locate and backup the Missions directory. Rename the custom mission to "DEFECT.XWI" and overwrite the file of the same name in the Missions directory.

On entering the game your custom mission can be flown as the first mission of Tour 1.

Fly the current official mission

From the right menu bar, select the current X-Wing mission listed under Active ITOD's. You will then be directed to the reporting page where you will find the link Download for the latest mission. You will also find Report Score and Report Narrative links here.

Check the due date of the mission on the scoreboard's page. If it is today or later, you may participate in the competition through your squadron. Otherwise, the competition has closed and no more scores will be accepted.

Downolad and unzip the file using the link provided. If necessary rename the new file to "DEFECT.XWI" then follow the instructions above.

Use a new pilot file (often termed a "clean" pilot file) for every run. After you complete the run that you wish to report, use the Report Score link to upload the .plt file from your X-Wing directory along with a screenshot of the missions outcome. Use the Report Narrative link to upload your written account of the mission should you so wish.

On the reporting page you can see others' scores on the mission (if any have reported in yet).

Write for the current official mission

You can submit a narrative to go with your flight, or even if you are unable to fly the current mission. Narratives appear on the scoreboard under the "Extra" column as [narrative]. For examples of a flight narrative, see MGN Damon Lightwind's narrative for RS 2.02X, and BGN Ste T's narrative for the same mission.

Fly a mission from the Mission Database

- From the left menu bar, select: Activities > Mission Database. - In the upper left corner, select X-Wing. - Scroll down to the "Available Tours" heading. Select any tour that seems interesting. - From here, you may download the entire tour, or select individual missions and view their briefings, information, scoreboards, and download them individually.

Further Information

Patriot Battle Fleet has been the backbone of the Rebel Squadrons for nearly a decade. The RS has been at the forefront of mission making and playing for its entire history. Here you can find more information on the modding world of X-Wing, as well as more information on the RS. These links will take you to the RS's X-Wing Knowledge Base.

Pages:

• About X-Wing
• Strategy Guide
• Buying or Downloading X-Wing
• Xwing Keyboard Commands

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• Custom Missions Database
• X-Wing Tools & Editors (Missions, Ships, Pilots)
• Modifications to X-Wing

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• Problems Running X-Wing
• More Links

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• X-Wing in the Rebel Squadrons
• About this website