This page covers installing patches into TIE Fighter and falls apart in 4 main sections:

- Craft Installation Guide
- Graphical Patch Guide
- Useage In Missions Guide
- Important Notes

You'll need WinZIP or PKUnzip to unpack most of the downloads. Most downloads contain .doc or .txt files, often called "readme.txt", read these! They contain valuable information about what you downloaded and how you should install it.

Most of the patches in the archive contain automated install/uninstall scripts, making manual installation unnecessary. Some older patches require manual installation and some people may prefer to install patches manually, so detailed instructions are set out below.
Most manual installations will require TIE patch. It may be obtained from the File Archive. TIE Patch for windows must be used if patching any game other than TIE disk or TIE CD.
Patches Requireing Manual Installation: All Infiltrator Wing Patches, Some TIE Corps XWA Patches, all patches on Windows XP machines.

1. In a patch archive, you will find several files:
   The one with the .OV extension is the TIE Disk with Defender of the Empire one,
   The one with the .ZT extension is the TIE CD one, and
   The one with the .T95 extension is the TIE 95 one.
   Extract the appropriate file into a temporary folder of your choice.
   
   
2. Download TIE Patch for Windows (TPWin) from the EH Science Office. (If patching TIE disk or TIE cd, you may also obtain and use the now-outdated TIE Patch for DOS if you do not have Windows, but that program will not be covered here.)
   
   
3. Extract TIE Patch for Windows into a folder on your hard drive, where it is recommended you leave it installed for future installations. This document will assume C:\TPWin. (Make sure you extract the entire archive, not just the EXE! You'll get errors on execution if some of the files aren't there.)
   
   
4. Go to the TPWin folder, and run TPWin.EXE. (Click CONTINUE in the credits dialog box that pops up.)
   
   
5. You will next be presented with a "Select Patch File" dialog box. First, set the "List files of type:" field to:
   (TIE Disk) "TIE Disk Patches", then go to the folder to which you extracted the patch (.OV) file,
   (TIE CD) "TIE CD Patches", then go to the folder to which you extracted the patch (.ZT), or
   (TIE 95) "All Files (*.*)", then go to the folder to which you extracted the patch (.T95)
   (ALL) select the appropriate file, and click OK.
   
   
6. You will next be presented with a "Help me find FLIGHT.OVL/Z_TIE__.EXE" dialog box.
   (TIE Disk) Go to your TIE folder (on most systems this is C:\TIE\), select FLIGHT.OVL, and click OK.
   (TIE CD) "Help me find FLIGHT.OVL/Z_TIE__.EXE" dialog box. Go to your TIECD folder (on most systems this is C:\TIECD\), select Z_TIE__.EXE, and click OK. Or
   (TIE 95) You won't be using either of those filenames, but it will still work so long as you make sure that you set the "List files of type:" field to "All Files (*.*)", as you did in the previous step. Once you've done that, go to your TIE95 folder (on most systems this is C:\Program Files\LucasArts\TIE95\), select TIE95.EXE, and click OK. (Note that TPWin is a 16-bit program, and does not support long file names. Thus, a folder such as "C:\Program Files" will appear as C:\PROGRA~1, or similar.)
   
   
7. Next, you find yourself at the TPWin main screen, with your source file and destination path both reflected therein. Out of the two options presented to you,
   (TIE Disk & CD) do NOT select "SideWinder Patched" unless you're sure this applies.
   (TIE 95) do NOT select "SideWinder Patched" (this is only for TIE Disk/CD).
   (ALL) DO select "Make Backup". Click the "Patch!" button.
   
   
8. In the resulting "Save Backup as..." dialog box, select a folder and assign a filename to what will be a backup copy of your current game file. Note that you may only use DOS 8.3 format for filenames in this program.
   
   
9. Next, you will get either one or two dialog boxes, the last of which should report a successful patching. Click OK, and exit from TPWin.

*-320.lf File Installation - TIE disk & TIE CD 320x240 res graphic mods.
1. copy the
   (TIE Disk) [TIE Disk Directory]\res\species.lfd to species.orj
   (TIE CD) [TIE CD Directory]\res320\species.lfd to species.orj
2. Start Tie Patch.
3. Shange file type to *.*
4. Select the *-320.lf as the patch file
5. Select
   (TIE Disk) [TIE Disk Directory]\res\species.lfd as the file to be patched.
   (TIE CD) [TIE CD Directory]\res320\species.lfd as the file to be patched.
6. 320 res installation complete

*-640.lf File Installation - TIE CD 640x480 res graphics mods.
1. copy the [TIE CD Directory]\res640\species.lfd to species.orj
2. Start Tie Patch.
3. Shange file type to *.*
4. Select the *-640.lf as the patch file
5. Select [TIE CD Directory]\res640\species.lfd as the file to be patched.
6. 640 res installation complete

*.OPT Installation for TIE 95
1. Take note of the file name of the *.OPT included with the patch. Look in your [TIE 95 directory]\ivfiles directory (on most systems this is C:\Program Files\LucasArts\TIE95\ivfiles\), for a file of the same name. Find it an rename it to *.orj
2. Extract the *.OPT file from the zip to your [TIE 95 directory]\ivfiles directory.
3. OPT installation complete