00:00Hello, and welcome to this July 2026 update for XWVM.
00:08For those that are new to XWVM, welcome.
00:12To those who have been following the project already, welcome back.
00:16We're excited to share what's new.
00:19But first, what is XWVM?
00:24XWVM is an independent, community-built engine replacement for classic space sim games published by LucasArts in the 90s.
00:33Between 1993 and 1999, LucasArts published four major games that changed the space sim's genre forever.
00:42X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance.
00:51XWVM was written from the ground up to support X-Wing, the first game in the series.
00:56The work is still ongoing to add support for TIE Fighter, but more on that later.
01:02Using XWVM, players can load in their existing X-Wing installations to play.
01:07The experience available will vary depending on which game version is selected,
01:12as XWVM uses the original game assets such as models, sounds, and missions.
01:20Since the original release of XWVM in May 2025, the team has added new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
01:29The full list is lengthy, but some highlights include new MC-80A Cruiser model,
01:36MIDI output on Windows,
01:38performance improvements such as pre-cached explosions,
01:43quality enhancements like improved MFD functionality, VR controls, and a master volume slider,
01:50and of course, mini bug fixes.
01:53Our last public release was in November 2025, but the team has continued to work steadily behind the scenes.
02:00We're delighted to share a look at some of the progress that has been made since then.
02:06Let's start with art and 3D assets.
02:10The major ship model outstanding, as used in X-Wing, is the Nebulon-B Frigate.
02:17XWVM currently falls back to using either the DOS or Windows model, depending on user settings.
02:24Our lead artist has been making steady progress with the Frigate, which you can see here.
02:31This model has posed a number of challenges to build, but we hope that the care, intention,
02:36and passion required to make this a reality is clear, even at this stage.
02:42Some of the work remaining includes addition of more detail, texturing, and rigging for use in-game.
02:51One feature of the original game that has not yet been represented in 3D
02:55is the pilot uniform and award section. The team has been working on reimagining this
03:01for modern 3D viewing and interaction, and you can see some of this work here.
03:06This features a new uniform, including design cues from A New Hope and real-life military sources.
03:14The uniform is accessed from the pilot bunk, as seen here.
03:21Sometimes, an issue that seems small can require a large fix.
03:26This was the case with XWVM's cutscene support. When tracking down issues with the existing
03:32cutscene player, it became apparent that some cutscenes were using features that were not supported.
03:39Unfortunately, this required a complete rewrite of the cutscene player, but the results speak for
03:44themselves. Fully accurate cutscenes that play smoothly and look great.
03:53One of the goals in building XWVM was to provide a modern, immersive space sim experience for the original games.
04:01One of the ways that we can now do this is with our new support for dedicated simulation hardware
04:06via SimHub or JSON telemetry.
04:11XWVM will have the option of streaming events for simulation hardware to act on, such as pitch, roll,
04:17firing weapons, taking damage, and many more. This feature is called telemetry and uses either SimHub format or JSON format.
04:26Just to be clear, that's a feature to enable your hardware to get data from XWVM. We don't collect your
04:33data. It's not that kind of telemetry.
04:38While X-Wing has a reputation as a difficult game, for those that are familiar with the series,
04:43gameplay, and mission structures, it is often less challenging than its successors.
04:48To that end, XWVM allows for some optional changes to increase the difficulty of the game,
04:54and allow a greater challenge for veterans. Since the last release, the team has tweaked these options
05:00and behavior further. For example, gunboats no longer turn into transports or get more ships.
05:08Instead, they get faster speed, acceleration, and the same maneuverability as the missile boat.
05:15They will also swerve earlier off their run when under fire.
05:22The Star Destroyer is promoted to receive internal shield generators.
05:26Destroying the external shield generators, as in normal gameplay, only drops the shields by a small amount.
05:36There have also been a raft of quality of life improvements made throughout the game.
05:40Too many to list today, but to name a few.
05:44While flying ships that have both laser and ion cannons, some players repeatedly use the action
05:49to change their current weapon to increase their firepower, because while the laser cannons are in
05:54cooldown, the ion cannons can fire, and vice versa.
06:01This is not an exploit, but it is inconvenient to do, and a bit silly to look at, so instead,
06:07we have added an option in settings that, if enabled, lets you link your laser and ion cannons to fire
06:13them together.
06:18Ship lights flicker and go out when destroyed.
06:21The mouse cursor no longer appears on hyper in or out.
06:26In VR, hand controls can now be switched off when using the gaze controls.
06:32Increased resolution for the in-flight displays, which makes the map easier to read.
06:38A sound is played when a homing warhead is approaching you.
06:41This can be turned off in the settings.
06:46One of the objectives of XWVM is to increase the reach and accessibility of the original games to a wider
06:53audience.
06:56Therefore, we aim to support localization for a range of languages beyond the originally supported English and German.
07:05Recently, the localization support has been massively expanded within XWVM,
07:11to encompass most areas of the interface and allow for translations to be performed dynamically by the community.
07:19Within the game installation, a series of XLIF and CSV files can be used to localize the game and enable
07:27community support for additional languages.
07:31We'll publish a full guide about how to do this in the future.
07:37Another way that XWVM can improve the reach of the original games is by offering the modern gameplay experience on
07:43multiple platforms.
07:46To date, we've supported Windows and Linux.
07:49For our next release, we'll add Mac support to that roster.
07:55XWVM will feature a standard package installer to set up key files for XWVM core,
08:00and a separate package installer will be available for HD assets.
08:05As we don't currently sign our builds with an Apple developer key,
08:09you may need to allow XWVM to run via Gatekeeper when starting it for the first time.
08:18With the project the size and complexity of XWVM,
08:22it's an unfortunate reality that there will be bugs.
08:26Thankfully, the team has made significant progress in testing and resolving issues constantly.
08:32There are far too many bugs to provide an in-depth list, but if you're interested, here's a brief summary.
08:42So, we've talked about the new features and changes we've been working on since the last version of XWVM.
08:50So, you may be asking, when is the next release?
08:54While we don't have an exact date, we're satisfied that the testing is progressing well,
08:59and we hope that a new version will be available for you to play in the near future.
09:04We also have a roadmap that we are continuing to work towards as development continues.
09:10As we mentioned earlier, some HD assets are currently not implemented for X-Wing,
09:16including the Nebula-B frigate, pilot medals, and various concourse rooms that need to be replaced.
09:24Of course, any discussion of future XWVM releases would not be complete without discussing TIE Fighter support.
09:32While XWVM has internally had support for TIE Fighter for some time now,
09:36and we've previously shown gameplay of this in other videos,
09:40we don't currently feel that this is at the level of compatibility and polish that would meet the expectations of
09:46the community.
09:48While all the missions are fundamentally playable, further refinement is needed to complete the experience.
09:54For example, players cannot currently enter the hangar to complete a mission.
10:00Once we are satisfied that TIE Fighter support is up to the expected standard,
10:04you can expect a new release to include this functionality.
10:08In the meantime, TIE Fighter support has been progressing well since the last update.
10:16The rewritten cutscene player, as mentioned earlier, is much more accurate and can now
10:21correctly play back the TIE Fighter cutscenes, some of which previously had a number of issues.
10:30We have also been creating some placeholder 3D concourse rooms for use with the campaign.
10:36The process of creating full detail assets is painstaking and time consuming.
10:42And realistically, it will take a long time to complete these concourse rooms to the bar we've set,
10:46with rooms such as the XWing Registration Room.
10:52These placeholder 3D assets allow us to experiment with blocking,
10:56functionality and visuals in a more rapid way,
10:59while also providing a potential path to an earlier release of TIE Fighter support
11:03without relying on all of the fully detailed assets to be built and completed.
11:11A common question we receive is,
11:13will XWVM support multiplayer?
11:18The answer is that we would love to support multiplayer,
11:20and this is a core component of the third game in the series, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.
11:28To get to the point of implementing this in-game,
11:31a significant amount of work is required to record and serialize in-game events in an efficient way.
11:38This is also a common problem with the film room.
11:42With the original games, the main playback of events was based on saved player inputs.
11:48This was an efficient approach for the time, but was unfortunately unreliable in many cases.
11:53Any inaccuracies would accumulate over time,
11:56and the simulation would desync when compared to what was recorded originally.
12:01This can typically be seen with longer film room recordings in the original game.
12:08We are exploring how best to implement this in a modern and reliable way,
12:12and this is one of the main features outstanding in progressing XWVM from an alpha to beta status.
12:24So, in summary, where does this leave XWVM?
12:29As you can see, the last year has seen a lot of progress across all areas of the project since
12:35the initial public release.
12:38There is still a lot of work to do, and we are in need of artists to help us bring
12:42these classic games into the modern era.
12:46Specifically, we are in need of 3D asset artists, 3D environment artists, and 3D character artists,
12:52to help us build out new ships, cockpits, concourse environments, and characters.
12:59If you or someone you know is interested in applying, please contact us through our Discord.
13:06We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing community for their support through the project's development.
13:15Since release, we've seen a number of community projects such as new missions and campaigns,
13:20an AI-voiced add-on for X-Wing missions based on the text-only dialogue sidecars,
13:26and community-made translations for new languages.
13:31To find out about these initiatives and more, join our community on Discord and follow our page on ModDB.
13:38Thank you for watching, and we hope you will join us as we continue to bring these classic games into
13:44the modern era.
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