XWAU: 20 years of memories

[Ace Antilles]

The X-Wing Alliance Upgrade has been around for over 20 years now.
Yet here we are still making new fighters, stations, effects and more for a game that should be a forgotten part of the past!
We've come a long way. I think in many ways the XWAU is the only reason that XWA still sells well on Steam etc.
Some of you guys have been here non stop since the start. Some members come and go, some lurk still and we have lots of new members joining us lately.

I want to say a big thank you to Forceflow for continuing to host this website for all this time. Most XWA fan sites have long gone so for him to personally invest in keeping it alive for such a long time is appreciated by us all.

I thought it would be great time to hear from all you guys.
How did you discover the XWAU? What is it that keeps you coming back to this vintage slice of gaming? Tell us some of your favourite memories and experiences of the XWAUP. What has been your favourite release so far and what do you wish to see released in the future?

20 years gone but we are getting there. Squadrons maybe coming but it can't beat a great story campaign and wide choice of ships.
Thank you to everyone for your constant support of this project and we hope we can continue bringing you more cool stuff to play with.

[ual002]

I liked the sandbox that Darksaber's pack allowed me to play in, in conjunction with allied. I remember the days a kid trying to convince my dad to pay the 10 or so bucks for the full Allied License. MAN... I wish Troy D was still around working on that editor.

But I think over the years I slowly learned Allied tricks, thinking all the Opt stuff you guys did was magic. And now I'm apart of it. Learning the tools, learning the quirks.

Its the best damn star wars game I think. Period. You can almost do anything with the editors.

[blue_max]

XWA was probably the first or second game I bought with my own money, back in '99, but I didn't discover XWA until 2009. I wanted to play it on a big TV and just remember what it felt like to play this game. If I remember correctly, I think I even donated to DS's site back then.

Back in 2009 I also wanted to see how hard it would be to dogfight at near-supersonic speeds, so I used MXvTED to modify the speed of some fighters, etc. This happened because of a comment I heard in one of the History Channel's dogfight episodes... Anyway, bottom line: it's pretty hard to dogfight at supersonic speeds.

Then in 2019 I saw that this site was still around because I really wanted to play in VR.

I wonder where we'll be in another 10, or 20 years

[Ace Antilles]

Probably still waiting for more Platforms to be finished lol

[Vince T]

Remaking the VSD for the fifth time and still not getting on with the platforms

[Spyder]

I found this site back in 2002, I was 15 years old. Now my eldest son plays XWA and wants me to teach him modeling... This has the potential of becoming a generational project

...what do you wish to see released in the future?

Something I always wanted was an expansion pack, XW, TF and XvT all had expansions but not XWA witch always bothered me since the story is somewhat unresolved. Maby we can get some talented voiceactors and animators onboard and make a high quality "XWAU expansion pack" you know... after we'r done with the platforms...

[WildstarBlue9]

I took on the PR role outside the XWAU community around 2005 and continued until around the time bowling became a bigger part of my life again. This site, of course, was included in my mod database on TFN, which, while it's out of date, can still be found, and I consider that my greatest contribution to the Star Wars community at large. You guys pretty much promote yourselves now, just with the quality of content you turn out, and I still make my original group aware of developments here. With SWS approaching, it'll be interesting to see if interest in the older games increases with a new generation.

One request: If anyone is playing XWA with madadh7267, let him know I'm still waiting for him to follow up on my reply.

[ual002]

Probably still waiting for more Platforms to be finished lol

HAHAHA

[KCDodger]

You asked what we wished to see finished in the future... Frankly?

I want a good genuine Moldy Crow experience. I know that sounds ultra particular, but homegirl's been wanting to fly that thing for over twenty years. That's the dream, quite frankly.

[Ace Antilles]

You asked what we wished to see finished in the future... Frankly?

I want a good genuine Moldy Crow experience. I know that sounds ultra particular, but homegirl's been wanting to fly that thing for over twenty years. That's the dream, quite frankly.

Yeah I know you want an ultimate Crow release.
It's not an XWAU thing but who knows. You have very high standards to live up to with that though lol

[Ace Antilles]

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For all you youngsters out there, I found a picture of the XWAU page 20 years ago.

[rogue518]

When I first played Xwing Vs TIE Fighter... I loved it. Then when Xwing Alliance came out, I was hooked... then, one magical day in July of 2000 came.. I accidently came upon this awesome website.... and proud to say I never left.

Sincerely, Rogue518

[Rookie_One1]

Remaking the VSD for the fifth time and still not getting on with the platforms

let's hope that this time it will be it!

[Vince T]

You never know what possibilities the future holds
But yeah, probably won't redo the VSDs for another 15 years. Got half a dozen other Star Destroyers to remake

[ual002]

Got half a dozen other Star Destroyers to remake

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[axeil55]

I only recently joined the board but I've been lurking here for years. I wanted to thank everyone for all the hard work that's gone into both keeping these games functional on newer systems and all the amazing graphical updates we've gotten over the years. It's stunning to look at XWA at release versus what we have now. Here's to another 20 years!

I can't wait for the day we get the ports of TIE Fighter, X-Wing and XvT into XWA so we can play all the classic X-Wing series games with all these neat bells and whistles

As for my favorite memory, there's been so many. I originally discovered this place back in the early 00s and didn't think too much of it what with all the other X-Wing series fan sites out there. Of course all those other sites have gone the way of the dodo, so I now really appreciate finding this place when I did. I doubt I'd still be playing XWA without this site.

But by far my favorite thing is how out of the blue one day we got a working D3d renderer after years of the entire X-Wing series having effectively no 3D support on modern OSes. That was just absolutely stunning.

Recently, I've fallen in love with the dynamic cockpit mod. I still don't have a VR setup yet but the dynamic cockpit alone makes me feel like I'm really in an X-Wing.

[Ace Antilles]

There's some great videos here that show some of the improvements over the years.

X-Wing Alliance: 1999 vs 2020 - XWAUP from DTM
https://youtu.be/9BBFVMD-PrU

X-Wing Alliance Upgrade - over 20 years in the making. From SWArtisticTeam.
https://youtu.be/glwr6J9zoJg

[haui]

wow 20 years that's a long time, and i'm happy that you guys have the patience and keep this project alive all the long time.
Thnak you

[FellSkyhawk]

Wow, 20 years. Personally I got the game years after it came out because I didn't have a computer when it did. I love starfighter games and even without the efforts of XWA Upgrade it is the best SW starfighter game ever to come out. Nothing compares to the number of ships and story. You guys revamping it make it like a new game every time I go to play. I also love with what you guys have done getting options to customize ships, with fringe, without fringe, etc. I love customization. Sadly, even though they are finally making a new starfighter game, it doesn't look like they are going to have nearly the same number of different ship types. So I'll probably still be coming back to X-Wing Alliance until they get their act together and actually make an improved starfighter game.

[Michal]

A lot of memories...

I was X-Wing and TIE Fighter games fan for a long time. I played DOS X-Wing, TIE Fighter, later X-Wing vs TIE Fighter (don't like it too much) and then X-Wing Alliance - I loved it. X-Wing games informations and add-ons were one of the first things I was looking on the internet when when I got on the internet.

I found XWA Upgrade site before release of the Rebel Fighter patch. I didn't have internet connection at home and the patch was released during summer holiday so I had to download it at my mom's office and transport it to my home computer on several floppy disks... The upgraded crafts were amazing... I still have the patch.

In 2002 I finally registered on the forum and started my own site about X-Wing games (where I was promoting XWA Upgrade project a lot)
In 2004 I made Imperial Concourse patch (it is part of the UCP now) later joined by Darksaber and General Trageton, great days...
Later I stopped updating my X-Wing page and rather became a collector of X-Wing games related items

I still visit this place very often even though I don't have a computer that could run the XWA with current upgrades (I hope it will change soon).

Thank you XWA Upgrade project, it was great 20 years!

[WildstarBlue9]

A lot of memories...

I was X-Wing and TIE Fighter games fan for a long time. I played DOS X-Wing, TIE Fighter, later X-Wing vs TIE Fighter (don't like it too much) and then X-Wing Alliance - I loved it. X-Wing games informations and add-ons were one of the first things I was looking on the internet when when I got on the internet.

I found XWA Upgrade site before release of the Rebel Fighter patch. I didn't have internet connection at home and the patch was released during summer holiday so I had to download it at my mom's office and transport it to my home computer on several floppy disks... The upgraded crafts were amazing... I still have the patch.

In 2002 I finally registered on the forum and started my own site about X-Wing games (where I was promoting XWA Upgrade project a lot)
In 2004 I made Imperial Concourse patch (it is part of the UCP now) later joined by Darksaber and General Trageton, great days...
Later I stopped updating my X-Wing page and rather became a collector of X-Wing games related items

I still visit this place very often even though I don't have a computer that could run the XWA with current upgrades (I hope it will change soon).

Thank you XWA Upgrade project, it was great 20 years!

Michal, you have a good Twitter feed. Wish I was as familiar with Twitter as I am with Facebook, but that's starting to change.

BTW, I finally did locate the old TFN mod databse. Michal, your site is there, and many of the regulars here will recognize theirs. Many others are dead, but might be worth a flyer on the Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org).

[BattleDog]

Gosh, you know, I feel old. I still remember downloading the... RFP?

Rebel Fighter Pack, it took like 10 tries with a downloader, all 15mb of it. I remember emailing Forceflow asking why it wouldn't download and that was how I ended up joining the forum at 15.

[Tony Knightcrawler]

I don't really have any great stories to tell about XWAU... I've got some embarrassing memories of the way I have acted toward people here, but fortunately only a few. Well, I guess I found this place when returning to the XWA community after a year or two of ignoring it. It'd only been 4 or 5 years since the game released, so what XWAU was trying to do seemed crazy to me, especially since my mind was still in the framework of early XvT model limitations: how can you upgrade a craft if you can't add any vertices? LOL I didn't know how much things had changed. But I really took a liking to the community's dedication and standards, and XWAU quickly become the center of the XWA community. With every new release, XWA gets more and more enjoyable. It's a pleasure both to see really focused and accurate models, but it's also a pleasure to see artistic interpretation when it's needed.

As for what I am looking forward to...? Man, anything from JeremyFR/Blue Max/etc.. Every time they come up with something, it's been really earth-shattering. Even if their next bit of code isn't as big as some past ones, I'm sure it'll be awesome. As for models, my honest answer is something that isn't even on the Progress list, but I am sure will be eventually: the Pilot Proving Grounds (except the rings, which are done). That'll be just a massive undertaking, but so much fun to fly. And then... I am sure you guys know about my unrealistic goals of a music reorchestration (that can be used by the entire SW community) and cutscene remakes. The opening cutscene to XWA is pretty good, but a lot of the others are pretty bad. LOL

[DTM]

Maybe someone will not want to believe it, but it's all true ...

It was 1999, the last year of high school. No idea about ​​my future ... many passions, but no real talent ... or at least no declared talent What to do after school? So many possibilities, but no decisions.

Among my passions: Star Wars and flying planes (I am the son of a flight instructor). The combination of the two passions was X-Wing Alliance. But I wanted more! There were already additional spaceships to install: E-Wing, Galactica ... how many beautiful things! I wanted to do them too! But how to do them?

... I wanted to learn how to draw spaceships ...

"What do you want to do after school?" I answer "Learning to draw with the computer" ... "Ok, then you want to study architecture?" ... "Ooook" I answer as Forrest Gump did ... "Yes, but admission to the university of architecture is not easy ... let's try"

Five years of university in architecture and not just to learn how to draw with the computer ... I liked designing volumes, finding original solutions, playing with structures and living spaces ... in short, the talent came out ... and everything is started because I wanted to learn how to draw spaceships ...

At university I met my wife, now we have a son and the work as an architect has already given me a lot of satisfaction ... and it all started because I wanted to learn how to draw spaceships ...

I consider myself a lucky person. I'm not particularly rich, but I'm happy. I built my life well ... and it all started because I wanted to learn how to draw spaceships ...

[Ace Antilles]

I consider myself a lucky person. I'm not particularly rich, but I'm happy. I built my life well ... and it all started because I wanted to learn how to draw spaceships ...

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Learnt more about people I've known for 20 years in just a few days