general questions
Our goal is to redo most of the original opts from Lucas Arts' X-Wing Alliance. We find that many of
those opts are done in an inadequate way. A lot of the possibilities like illuminated textures, transparent faces are not used in the
extent possible. When the XWA Upgrade project is done, the game will have some of the best 3D-Models seen in games so far.
We want to upgrade X-Wing Alliance, so please understand that this will lead to higher minimum requirements than the original
XWA had. This is also only a graphical update. Statistics of ships will be mostly left alone. Only few changes will be made,
but those will be tested in game to see whether or not they change the game balance too much.
For now we don't have an exact date when the final project will be released. We will also give no more release dates out. We did do this for the RFP but ran into huge problems. Due to the reaction from most of your visitors we decided to refrain from making anymore release dates, sorry.
When it's done. Progress reports will be posted by the team at the discretion of the individual(s) working on a particular model. There is no need to ask for progress reports on the forum.
No, while we do add two models that are not featured in the original game will we not add any other models. However, if you do want to use this model to proof your skill as a modeler go right ahead, we'll be more than pleased to welcome new talented people into out team!
This is also an issue since we try to stay compatible with custom made missions from fans! While we know that the bigger version of the SSD will make problems we think that this is an easy to solve matter. But besides that we really try to keep the gaming balance as it is!
The only new craft to be added are ones which enhance the atmosphere of the campaign, and therefore exist during the XWA timeframe: Namely, the Battle of Endor. While the exact ships to be added aren't wholly decided, those in strongest contention are the Rebellion's medical-variant Nebulon-B Frigate, Home One, (which has the strongest support of addition) Vader's TIE Advanced x1 and the StarViper (which was listed in Totally Game's FAQ).
If you don't like it, make it yourself
| RFP | Rebel Fighter Patch | |
| RCP | Rebel Capital Ship Patch | (May also be RSP, so Rebel Ship Patch) |
| IFP | Imperial Fighter Patch | |
| ICP | Imperial Capital Ship Patch | (May also be ISP, so Imperial Ship Patch) |
| GFP | General Fighter Patch | |
| GCP | General Capital Ship Patch | (May also be GSP, General Ship Patch) |
| CFP | Corellian Freighter Patch | |
| SFP | Station and Facilities Patch |
team questions
Everybody can join the team, but you need to be able to contribute in the following fields:
Modeling in the dxf format
Creating Textures
Opting
In case you want to join the team simply post on the forum. Before you will be accepted to the team you will have to show some of your
work though. The team will then make a vote whether or not to make you an official team member.
Please check the Rules section for more info!
As it is now we have enough testers, and we don't want to spread the models too much for now. Most modelers test their stuff on their own or use their own people, so we really don't need anybody right now!
performance and compatibility questions
Do not expect to run the complete XWAU on a slow system, it will not work! A high end computer with lots of RAM will most likely be needed. As for now we cannot make any estimates since the biggest ships are yet to come, although we are pleased with the rather good performance the RFP has so far delivered on most systems!
No. In Internet and LAN games, only data on the position of objects and the like are sent over the
cable, not the actual graphics themselves.
However, make sure everybody you're playing with has the patch installed. (Read next question for more info on that!)
almost to the point of making the game unplayable. Of course, you can always do us a favor by promoting the XWAU for on-line, so that more XWA players will know
about the upgrade.
But, once we will actually add crafts the patches might not be compatible any longer. Problems with that will be discussed on the board an in a readme file that will come with the patches that could cause problems! For now the Tie Ex1 (Vaders Tie) is installed in the booster pack slot, which might interfere with other patches.
Go to the XWA options screen, then Graphics Options, and make sure rendering is set to Hardware
This may happens to some foreign language versions of XWA. Find your XWA executable file (XWA.EXE), right click it, and look at the version. If it's 2.02, you'll need to go into the registry editor (Start > Run > Regedit). Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC\X-Wing Alliance\v1.0\. Find the String Value called Version and change it to 2.0 by double clicking it. You will still get shown that the XWA EXE has 1.0.0.1, but you'll now be able to install the ships in the .EXE files.
This is a common problem with all of the older LucasArts games, not just XWA. The installer thinks the autoexec.nt file is missing, but it really isn't, it's just misplaced. The file in question can be found in your Windows\Repair folder. Just copy it to your Windows\system32 folder and try installing again. You should find that it works this time.
It happens with any add-on craft you install, no matter wich one. Darksaber has the solution on his site, tutorials section. (http://www.darksaber.gaylenol.com/, Tutorials, Abolisher's 99 KM solution)
This is a very very common problem as of late. This isn't due to the MODs or anything you've installed. This is a common problem with nVidia cards on high resolutions (1024x768 and above), and some older ATI cards. While we can't guarantee 100% that this will work, it worked for 70% or more guys with the same problem.
Nvidia
cards:
Make sure you've got the latest drivers! In the advanced graphics
configuration control panel, under "Performance
and Quality" dialog, Application Control should be "Off" on all settings. The other settings are as follows: Antialiasing=2x (Or higher if your card is more powerful,
for resolutions above 1280x1024 2x is best for most cards less powerful
than a 5800 Ultra, but if you've got a 5800 Ultra or better, go ahead
and see what you like. For anything 1280x1024 or lower, 2x is best for
slower cards by anything better than a 5600 Ultra should be able to do
4x), Anisotropic=8x. Force mipmaps=Trilinear. Conformant texture clamp=On. Extension limit=Off.
Game resolution should match your Windows desktop resolution in all cases,
and you may set all detail settings to maximum. If this fails, you should
try the "fonts fix". Turn everything back again
to Application Controlled. Go to LucasFiles website (http://www.lucasfiles.com)
and download the nVidia font fixes. Try one at each time
and all resolutions (just copy then over your original font file in /XWINGALLIANCE/RESDATA folder, but BACKUP the original file). If this fails
to completely fix it, try and get it to a readable point and hope a later
update fixes it completely.
ATI
cards:
In the Advanced Options of you driver, uncheck Alternate
Pixel Center.
Probably the best solution to this problem is to download a procedure outlined on this site http://www.markusegger.at/Software/Games.aspx and follow the instructions.
Modeling Questions
A "dxf" is a often used 3d-file format. Before models can be made into opts they have to be modeled in the "dxf" format.
Opt is the actual file format used to store the flight models for XWA in.
craft specific questions
It's based on it's original design in TIE Fighter, not the new design that debuted in XWCS.
We decided that we like this new design better than the old one.
Yes, this problem has been found and will not occur in the patch anymore!
Due to poor research, West End Games was incorrect in its size statement. Film evidence clearly shows out that the SSD is about eleven times the length of the Imperial Star Destroyer, or roughly 17.6 kilometers. This matter is non debatable!
Another thing that was messed up in the game. The MC-80a Calamari Cruiser actually didn't appear until after Endor. The two that appear in the game are actually MC-80s, but various archives dubbed the two different designs seen at Endor Liberty and Reef Home.
Original Lucas Film archives say that it is actually an Imperator-class. Furthermore sources say that the first ISD was named the Imperator, and since in Naval tradition a new class will be called by the name of the first ship with this class it should be Imperator-Class. This matter is non debatable!
The B-Wing had to be re-centered so that the weapons fire correctly from the cockpit view, if you notice the TG version fires it's weapons above it's cockpit, which spoils the effect of flying the B-Wing.
So this is why the B-Wing looks lower than what you would expect it to be, this is not a bug it was intentional.
We cannot make the cockpits like they were in the original X-Wing game (an interactive 2D display) since that would actually require to change the game engine, so I am afraid you'll have to use what you have for now.
If you don't like them, make your own!
Exterior Opt.
No, but it is a simple editing job to make them flyable. Also you can assign the new IFP cockpits to the Experimentals if you want to use them.