Posted December 07, 2014
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!!!IMPORTANT!!!!
This is ONLY for the DOS version of the game, NOT the Windows based remake from 1998!
--------------------------
There's a lot of good info in this forum spread out across a bunch of different threads, thought it might be valuable to condense much of it down to a single point of reference. There's also a few good guides out on the web that are more detailed and readable. Since people will sometimes gravitate here for help, thought this might be a good place to put this down as an alternative/backup.
Feedback from other joystick brand owners and different experiences and help points are needed if there's any gaps, so please PM me or reply in the thread and I'll pick it up as I see it.
--------------------------
Q. What type of joystick works best with the game??
A. Whatever joystick you prefer! Some people are old school and prefer analog gamepads, like my old Gravis GamePad. Others loveses their prrrrrrecious HOTAS joysticks. Some prefer PlayStation of Xbox gamepads. Experiment to see what works best for you.
--------------------------
The DOS version of TIE Fighter has some advantages and drawbacks as compared to other games in the Star Wars flight series, and other flight/space sims in general. Most notable:
1. It natively only supports up to 4 buttons without some additional "help". There are a few good ways around this.
2. It doesn't natively support a throttle, there's a semi-workable workaround for this.
3. You won't be able to use a separate "roll" function as a joystick axis or key combination. Really obnoxious.
4. You can use the mouse to fly/aim! (!!!!!)
The good news is that it appears to be possible to get almost any joystick to work with the game with some tweaking. The bad news is it can take a LOT of tweaking to do, for those who aren't technically inclined.
--------------------------
Some common, very helpful programs:
--------------------------
1. JoyToKey - Shareware/nagware, wonderful program, I bought this because I've used it for dozens of other games, including IL2. It works great with multiple input means for those who have HOTAS solutions, rudder pedals, etc, just too bad we can't use those multiple inputs with this game. This is how you will get around the 4 button limitation. Just be sure that you do NOT try to map buttons 1-4 of your joystick because it WILL conflict with the in-game default mappings. I have a single instance of JoyToKey for my Dosbox installation (I use D-Fend Reloaded portable), and multiple profiles based on which game I'm playing and what joystick I'm using. It's fairly user friendly so you can experiment with this to determine what you prefer.
2. Joy.com. An ancient TSR that enables a rudimentary throttle function if your joystick has one. Copy it into your /TIE folder where the TIE.EXE (or TIECD.EXE, for those of us running the collector's ed.). Edit the Dosbox .conf file for your TIE Fighter installation and change the entry for "swap34=false" to "swap34=true". Add a line above your "tie.exe" with "joy.com". You'll know this works if the game asks you to "set throttle to min and push a button" then "set throttle to max and push a button" before the game loading screen. This will ONLY allow you to set throttle to 0, 1/3, 2/3, and full, but it's far better than nothing.
--------------------------
Confirmed working joysticks
--------------------------
1. Ancient Gravis Gamepad plugged into a cheapo-USB adapter. Won't recognize buttons 3 and 4, so had to use JoyToKey.
2. Ancient MS Sidewinder Precision Pro. Works like a charm, throttle works with joy.com. I mapped the hat and other buttons to views and functions, works like a champ.
3. Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS. I love my HOTAS, but it's karking overkill for this game. If you REALLY want to use a HOTAS solution, then by all means. I did not use Foxy at all, only JoyToKey to configure the extra buttons to test.
4. Saitek X-52. Other appear to have had success getting this to work.
5. Playstation 3/4 Joypad - Others appear to get this working. I haven't tried mine but imagine it would work. Driver installation is beyond the scope of this thread but Google has some good guides.
6. Xbox controller - I gather this works. Don't have one so no experience, others can chime in if there are special instructions.
--------------------------
Common problems/questions
--------------------------
Q. My joystick keeps drifting.
A. This could be one of a few problems. 1, the joystick might be incorrectly calibrated, if so press ALT-C in flight to recalibrate. 2, the joystick might have a very small dead zone, this would entail using some joystick manufacturer specific software to increase the dead zone. 3, you can try editing the dosbox .conf file and setting timed=false under the Joystick section. 4, this could be the infernal joystick "push" that happens at extreme z angles, which I've never found a way around and believe it's a function of the game's ancient programming and modern, far faster machines.
Q. Game doesn't recognize my joystick.
A. Check to see if you have multiple joysticks plugged in, such as a set of rudder pedals, another attached joypad, etc. The game will latch onto the first joystick plugged in from a Windows standpoint, if memory serves.
Q. My axis seems to stick or (x) button seems to be sticking.
A. For the axis issue, check the above two questions, it may be a conflict, calibration, dead zone issue, etc. For the button, check to see if your joystick is bad, the button may be sticking if it's a digital controller, etc. Quite often from other posts it appears to be a conflict with another controller.
Q. Screw the damn joystick, I want to fly with the mouse!
A. Well fine dammit! Look in the .conf file for a "sensitivity=xxx" entry, change this as you will. Pvt_Bloody suggested a value of 600 to start experimenting with. Don't get me wrong, I love using the mouse for fine aiming, but don't know how you nerfherders fly with that and no joystick.... Sheesh.
Credits - Pvt_Bloody, Tarvis,
Tried to reference what I've seen others have done where possible, if I missed you my fault, send me a PM and I'll update.
!!!IMPORTANT!!!!
This is ONLY for the DOS version of the game, NOT the Windows based remake from 1998!
--------------------------
There's a lot of good info in this forum spread out across a bunch of different threads, thought it might be valuable to condense much of it down to a single point of reference. There's also a few good guides out on the web that are more detailed and readable. Since people will sometimes gravitate here for help, thought this might be a good place to put this down as an alternative/backup.
Feedback from other joystick brand owners and different experiences and help points are needed if there's any gaps, so please PM me or reply in the thread and I'll pick it up as I see it.
--------------------------
Q. What type of joystick works best with the game??
A. Whatever joystick you prefer! Some people are old school and prefer analog gamepads, like my old Gravis GamePad. Others loveses their prrrrrrecious HOTAS joysticks. Some prefer PlayStation of Xbox gamepads. Experiment to see what works best for you.
--------------------------
The DOS version of TIE Fighter has some advantages and drawbacks as compared to other games in the Star Wars flight series, and other flight/space sims in general. Most notable:
1. It natively only supports up to 4 buttons without some additional "help". There are a few good ways around this.
2. It doesn't natively support a throttle, there's a semi-workable workaround for this.
3. You won't be able to use a separate "roll" function as a joystick axis or key combination. Really obnoxious.
4. You can use the mouse to fly/aim! (!!!!!)
The good news is that it appears to be possible to get almost any joystick to work with the game with some tweaking. The bad news is it can take a LOT of tweaking to do, for those who aren't technically inclined.
--------------------------
Some common, very helpful programs:
--------------------------
1. JoyToKey - Shareware/nagware, wonderful program, I bought this because I've used it for dozens of other games, including IL2. It works great with multiple input means for those who have HOTAS solutions, rudder pedals, etc, just too bad we can't use those multiple inputs with this game. This is how you will get around the 4 button limitation. Just be sure that you do NOT try to map buttons 1-4 of your joystick because it WILL conflict with the in-game default mappings. I have a single instance of JoyToKey for my Dosbox installation (I use D-Fend Reloaded portable), and multiple profiles based on which game I'm playing and what joystick I'm using. It's fairly user friendly so you can experiment with this to determine what you prefer.
2. Joy.com. An ancient TSR that enables a rudimentary throttle function if your joystick has one. Copy it into your /TIE folder where the TIE.EXE (or TIECD.EXE, for those of us running the collector's ed.). Edit the Dosbox .conf file for your TIE Fighter installation and change the entry for "swap34=false" to "swap34=true". Add a line above your "tie.exe" with "joy.com". You'll know this works if the game asks you to "set throttle to min and push a button" then "set throttle to max and push a button" before the game loading screen. This will ONLY allow you to set throttle to 0, 1/3, 2/3, and full, but it's far better than nothing.
--------------------------
Confirmed working joysticks
--------------------------
1. Ancient Gravis Gamepad plugged into a cheapo-USB adapter. Won't recognize buttons 3 and 4, so had to use JoyToKey.
2. Ancient MS Sidewinder Precision Pro. Works like a charm, throttle works with joy.com. I mapped the hat and other buttons to views and functions, works like a champ.
3. Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS. I love my HOTAS, but it's karking overkill for this game. If you REALLY want to use a HOTAS solution, then by all means. I did not use Foxy at all, only JoyToKey to configure the extra buttons to test.
4. Saitek X-52. Other appear to have had success getting this to work.
5. Playstation 3/4 Joypad - Others appear to get this working. I haven't tried mine but imagine it would work. Driver installation is beyond the scope of this thread but Google has some good guides.
6. Xbox controller - I gather this works. Don't have one so no experience, others can chime in if there are special instructions.
--------------------------
Common problems/questions
--------------------------
Q. My joystick keeps drifting.
A. This could be one of a few problems. 1, the joystick might be incorrectly calibrated, if so press ALT-C in flight to recalibrate. 2, the joystick might have a very small dead zone, this would entail using some joystick manufacturer specific software to increase the dead zone. 3, you can try editing the dosbox .conf file and setting timed=false under the Joystick section. 4, this could be the infernal joystick "push" that happens at extreme z angles, which I've never found a way around and believe it's a function of the game's ancient programming and modern, far faster machines.
Q. Game doesn't recognize my joystick.
A. Check to see if you have multiple joysticks plugged in, such as a set of rudder pedals, another attached joypad, etc. The game will latch onto the first joystick plugged in from a Windows standpoint, if memory serves.
Q. My axis seems to stick or (x) button seems to be sticking.
A. For the axis issue, check the above two questions, it may be a conflict, calibration, dead zone issue, etc. For the button, check to see if your joystick is bad, the button may be sticking if it's a digital controller, etc. Quite often from other posts it appears to be a conflict with another controller.
Q. Screw the damn joystick, I want to fly with the mouse!
A. Well fine dammit! Look in the .conf file for a "sensitivity=xxx" entry, change this as you will. Pvt_Bloody suggested a value of 600 to start experimenting with. Don't get me wrong, I love using the mouse for fine aiming, but don't know how you nerfherders fly with that and no joystick.... Sheesh.
Credits - Pvt_Bloody, Tarvis,
Tried to reference what I've seen others have done where possible, if I missed you my fault, send me a PM and I'll update.
Post edited December 07, 2014 by Whacker007
