May the 4th be with you!
X-Wing Alliance Upgrade 2024 - Coming Soon!
Many of you were hoping for a May the 4th release we are just not quite there yet. There's been an unfortunate bug that came up with VR in combination with the HD concourse which meant we had to do some more bug smashing. This has been over 2 years in the making and we don't want to give you a broken game.
Most of the things are in place, we just need to apply some final testing polish as we are getting really close to a release.
Even now there is something new being added everyday. Here is a short list of the highlights that will be included in the next release:
New UI Features:
XWA Upgrade goes HD! We now have the ability to use far bigger format sizes to improve the games look in many areas.
Totally new Widescreen images and videos have been created to try and maximise the screen space used.
MechDonald has created a new Concourse, with ship animations in the window which change per mission too. All rooms have gotten a makeover complete with loading videos and especially the new Crew Quarters is a marvel to enjoy.
The new Concourse also comes with new interface, HD icons, battle images, menu screens and Skirmish pictures.
In the missions there will be new HD planet backdrops from Forceflow and the cutscene videos have been upscaled thanks to Marcop000, m0rgg and Ace Antilles.
Flightmodels
Nearly every craft has been checked over and tweaked! There are a ton of models that are completely new and many improved:
The all new version of the Imperial Star Destroyer II, Factory and Container Hanger from Vince T. Master Qui-Gon, Prime and Ace Antilles have improved the YT1300 Corellian Transport, Millennium Falcon and Slave I. DTM has created a new T-wing and Z-95 Headhunter. All this and more updated craft to come, too, along with tons of new Skins and Profiles that also have found their way into the campaign missions for extra variety.
Extra Craft
For the first time ever we have added some great new ships, which were not part of the vanilla game to complement existing missions:
The Imperial Nebulon B Frigate, Gozanti Cruiser, U-Wing and VCX-100 Light Transport (Ghost) from DTM and Quasar Fire-class Carrier from Driftwood. These will be playable in Skirmish mode with some making an appearance in the campaign.
Sounds overhaul
Ace Antilles has given the game a massive upgrade in the audio department! We can now add custom sounds for almost any area of the game.
For example Fighters will get unique sounds from each other, such as individual laser blasts and flybys. This includes sounds for canopy, Engines, Flyby, Hangars, Hyperspace, S-Foils, Shuttles, Weapons and more!
System Updates
If that wasn't enough there's a mass of other improvements and fixes to the game itself. The latest improvements from Blue Max for VR. Including viewable hands and Active Cockpit. A new Configurator to manage ship profile changes for fun in the Campaign and Skirmish from Ace Antilles. More options in Babu Frik's Configurator. Faster loading time improvements and useful editing tools from JeremyaFr. Multiple mission fixes, tweaks or improvements to practically every mission thanks to LPhoenix and Ace Antilles. And so, so many Bug Fixes... Like really, so many! (Big shout out again to JeremyaFr and Ace Antilles for fixing and finding those)
XWA Manager
Beside the XWA Upgrade Patch JeremyaFr has created and released an amazing tool that allows you to manage several XWA Installations,inspect versions, check for updates and much more. It comes in both a light and dark theme for better accessibility.
You can download it here: X-Wing Alliance Manager
Revenge of the 5th
Now that you know what to expect in the near future, let's look ahead at things to come later this year.
That's all, now get out there and have fun!
- Vince