First off navigate to your STAR WARS X-Wing folder inside your Steam library, you can right click the game in your library, select Properties, LOCAL FILES tab and BROWSE LOCAL FILES...

The folder access path should look something like:
\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS X-Wing

Navigate to classic (X-Wing 1993) or collectors_cd (X-Wing 1994) folders and open dosbox_xwing.conf or dosbox_xwingcd.conf file with notepad.

Search for and modify those entries:

fullresolution= → fullresolution=desktop - this will use your desktop resolution, don't worry the 4:3 aspect will be preserved as long as aspect=true is set (which should be by default)

output=surface → output=overlay - it will use better video output which should make pixels square and not vary in height (at least on Nvidia GPUs) when using upscaled resolutions

cycles=max → cycles=27000 - the default value is max which is very wrong, the game depending on how fast is your CPU will have timing issues breaking some missions, value of 27000 gives that 486 running @66MHz equivalent and should prevent any game breaking bugs

joysticktype=auto → joysticktype=ch - if you have joystick with more than 2 buttons and a HAT switch change this from auto to use the additional controls in game (button 3, 4 and 4-way hat), you may further customize them in DOSBox mapper (CTRL-F1 in game)

After editing save and close the file.

If you own a joystick with a throttle axis and you want to make use of it in the game here's the solution:

Make sure you set your joystick type to ch as stated in previous section.

Download joy TSR utility[en.wikipedia.org] - it's basically a program that runs in the background in DOS environment.

Download link for xwjoy[drive.google.com]

It's zipped in the archive xwjoy.zip. Unpack the file joy . com and place it inside your game folder - for Classic:
\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS X-Wing\classic

and for Collector's CD-ROM:
\Steam\steamapps\common\STAR WARS X-Wing\collectors_cd

Now open dosbox_xwing_single.conf or dosbox_xwingcd_single.conf with notepad and add joy.com line before bwing.exe line so it looks like this:

for Classic:


for Collector's CD:


Save and close the file.

Now when you run the game, you will have to calibrate your throttle axis. Just follow the prompts on the screen. You will have to do it each time you run the game just the same as you have to calibrate your joystck in game after intro cinematic.


Move your throttle all the way down and press joystick button.


Move your throttle all the way forward and press joystick button.

Now the game will run as usuall.

IMPORTANT! - READ THIS!

Depending on your joystick you may find that your throttle doesn't work. Most likely DOSBox uses your rudder axis as a throttle axis. To fix that you will need to modify your dosbox_xwing.conf or dosbox_xwingcd.conf fille - change swap34=false to swap34=true - this will swap your 3rd and 4th axis (throttle and rudder).



Take note that the throttle still works like in 1998 Windows version - it's not 100% linear, it will only switch between 0, 1/3, 2/3 and Full throttle setting. You could see how the TSR program work when you run it in DOS prompt - when you move your throttle the program will spit out characters used in game for thottle settings - [ ] \ and backspace.

Another note - if you have fancy HOTAS setup with a throttle as a separate USB device you will not be able to use it in DOSBox as is. That's because DOSBox can utilize only one USB controller. There are few workarounds available - you could use external software to combine your stick and throttle into single USB device (like ppjoy) or use custom DOSBox build. I will not get into those topics as they go beyond the scope of this guide.

Now we need to get to the setup program of the game.

The easiest way to do it is to follow these simple steps:

1. Inside the game's folder make backup copies of those 2 files:

dosbox_xwing_settings.conf
dosbox_xwing_single.conf

2. Now delete the dosbox_xwing_single.conf and change the name of the dosbox_xwing_settings.conf to dosbox_xwing_single.conf .

This will allow us to enter the setup program instead of running the game through Steam launcher.

3. Run the game from Steam launcher.

The setup program should execute and you will be greated with this:


By default the game probably will be setup with Sound Blaster and General MIDI sound which is more or less fine. You may experiment with different configurations. 1993 version was created with Roland in mind so if you're using MUNT emualator your best choice would be to choose Roland with SoundBlaster. If not you can select SoundBlaster Pro or compatibles for decent sound and FM music or leave it with General MIDI with SoundBlaster which will use SB for voice and GM for music and sound effects which for some may sound a bit off. Your choice.

The big culprit is that the Machine Speed Setting is set to SLOW. Changing this setting to FAST will yield better (more dynamic) cutscenes and probably other enhancements during gameplay. But if you want to see how the game looked at 286 running @12,5MHz back in the day leave it on SLOW and set cycles in dosbox_xwing.conf file at cycles=2750.

Select Set Machine Speed.


Press Y for Yes.


Select FAST. You will be taken back to main menu. Verify your settings.


After making changes Exit the program.

4. Now delete the renamed file dosbox_xwing_single.conf and restore those 2 backed up files from the first step so we can run the game instead of the setup program from the Steam launcher.

5. You're done!

Now we need to get to the setup program of the game.

The easiest way to do it is to follow these simple steps:

1. Inside the game's folder make backup copies of those 2 files:

dosbox_xwingcd_settings.conf
dosbox_xwingcd_single.conf

2. Now delete the dosbox_xwingcd_single.conf and change the name of the dosbox_xwingcd_settings.conf to dosbox_xwingcd_single.conf .

This will allow us to enter the setup program instead of running the game through Steam launcher.

3. Run the game from Steam launcher.

The setup program should execute and you will be greated with this:


Here we can see that the Machine Speed Setting is already set to FAST (if not change it to this setting), let's see how the sound is setup. Select Set Sound Board Configuration.


Press C for Custom.


Looks fine, Sound Blaster 16 is a nice sound card. But what about music? Scroll down to Advanced Menu and press ENTER.


OK, that's not so good, we have Sound Blaster's FM chip for music playback. It doesn't sound too bad (you can check it by selecting Test Music), but we can do better. Move the selection over to Music : 4-OP FM and press ENTER. Select General MIDI.


Now test your music - doesn't it sound better? You can now Quit and Save current options. Exit the setup program.

4. Now delete the renamed file dosbox_xwingcd_single.conf and restore those 2 backed up files from the first step so we can run the game instead of the setup program from the Steam launcher.

5. You're done!