I played this game many times in the past on CD ROM and now I'm playing the GOG version. I remember the "Protect Smuggler Retreat" mission was one of the easier ones; I'd shoot down the TIEs and the strike cruiser and then the civilians eventually hyper out. With the GOG version, after i destroy all of the TIEs the star destroyer always manages to destroy Dunari's ship, so I can't pass the mission. It always happens right before the Raw Deal is about to hyper, it suddenly takes several hits. It doesn't get hit before this even though it's constantly flying through the ISD's turbolasers. Anyone else have this problem, or have any suggestions? I really don't want to skip if I don't have to.

I've got the same problem. Anyone know what's up?

Sounds annoying I'm going to go and check the mission brb

Okay just used the fongfong thing to get all missions unlocked. Went into the sim selected the mission and set it to easy and turned invulnerable on to see what happens. It looks like Denari's ship does get too close to the star destroyer and get hit, however in my playthrough he did not die. He did get fairly messed up though. Maybe you need to lower the difficulty, or make sure nothing touches him besides the star destroyer. Heck maybe attacking the star destroyer to distract it may work, or maybe getting between the ships might help

Recently finished GoG's XWA and didn't have this problem.

Can't remember which craft you have for this, but I'd suggest engaging with the Star Destroyer and hoping for the best.

Do you have any of the Craft packs (XWAUP or Darksaber's Ultimate Craft Pack) installed? They could change the balance a bit.

I beat the mission on a vanilla install.

OK, I got past it. I'm using the vanilla install, btw.

This run had two differences, not sure which did the trick. First thing was as soon as the Raw Deal launched, I ordered my wingmen to attack the ISD. They lasted about 15 seconds, so I stopped killing TIEs and did the same. That left plenty of TIEs to destroy the casino. Previously I had always gone for the bombers first, so they never had time to destroy the place.

Anyway, whether because I was distracting the ISD or because letting the casino get vaped changed the ISD's behavior, this run worked.

Same problem here. Dunari's ship always get blasted by the ISD II just before jumping into hyperspace. I've tried attacking the imperial destroyer to distract it but it makes no difference.

Just to add my 2 cents to this mission, because I experienced a similary behaviour. I am using the XWA Craft Pack V1.3 and the Super Backdrop mod as well.

I had 2 first runs in which Dunari escaped easily without doing someting particular from me. Was destroyed while trying to hunt this ISD down due to the very tough Tie Advanced waves that later arrive with the modified Nebulon frigate. So I gave up on hunting the ISD on the next run, because I watched the ISD preparing for hyperspace later on. Not enough time and quite tough thing to get him down. So no sense doing it.

But the point I am telling this, my next 4-6 runs ended up Dunari being wasted by either the ISD or some Ties I could not reach in time to prevent it anymore as I recognized them.
Gave me some time of thinking what I was doing differently this time compared to my first 2 runs.

I came up with this that worked for me very well afterwards:
* Any attempt to get near the Casino to get to a good approach vector to the assault gunboats (to kill a lot of their torps easily while directly engaging and killing 3-4 of them quickly) and engaging the imperial Battle Cruiser afterwards with my torps (to get on the kill as assist) ended up in Dunari getting killed.
* As well as directly engaging the imperial Battle Cruiser first (quick approach at the spot before he arrives), ignoring the gunboats at the very beginning ended with Dunari getting killed before I could do anything to prevent it
* But engaging the gunboats DIRECTLY from the beginning (closest route) letting the B-Wings kill the Battle Cruiser on their own and then hunting the Ties (I was not engaging the ISD at all, but it opened fire on me apart from that) ended up with Dunari escaping with just a view shield hits from some Ties.

On my first runs I just did what my instinct was saying, not watching after a perfect score (I usually try that - I killed over 20 SD and the SSZ 3 times in total in this game on one walkthrough, and without cheating to be said) or use any "premonition" or experience from the former runs to quick engage the Battle Cruiser to get its kill. And this was working.
I don't know why, I just assume that this way the behaviour of enemies (especially the ISD), your vectors and distances between the "hotspots" of this mission are optimal to reach the goal with Dunari.

Hope this helps anyone.