Totally new to this series, except I played tie fighter as a kid back in the day, not sure which version but it was on cd.

Anyway, I think I have opted for the 1998 version as the graphics look ALOT better then the other two versions, 93, and 94.

However does anyone know how to enable the 3D hardware accelerator?

This question is actually contentious. Many fans prefer the 94 version as it retains the iMuse adaptive music system which brings a lot of flavor to the game. The graphics are indeed improved in the 98 version, but it no longer has adaptive music and all the music is different than the music that came with the original game. Also, I've heard there are some issues with the new engine messing up the timings in some missions.

Having said that, the 94 version suffers from some timing issues when running on modern processors through DOSBox that can be hard to fix. There are a bunch of other threads about that around here, it involves messing with the cycles settings in DOSBox, and I'm not sure there's been a consensus on the best settings yet. But people are still working on it.

The case of TIE Fighter is even trickier because the Collector's CD from 1995 allowed for 640x480 graphics (instead of the 320x200 you get with the early versions of X-Wing) so the graphical improvements in the 98 version aren't as pronounced. And the 98 version has the same music problems plus a bunch of other little details. That's why I and many others perfer the 1995 verison for TIE Fighter, although again there are timing issues when running it today that can be annoying to deal with. Some people in these forums are actively trying to find the best workarounds though.

I'm of the opinion that 320x200 is the best way to play these games, regardless of which version you have. I hate the discrepancy between the pixelated hanger/hub graphics and the 640x480 combat graphics in the CD version of Tie Fighter. In my opinion, the shading on the 3D ships just frankly looks better in lower resolution. I suppose I'm something of a low res purist though, so your mileage may vary. The adaptive iMuse music provides very important audio cues during the missions that you learn to listen for--it really changes the way the game plays not to have it.

Nah, the Mac version is the best. Basically it's X-Wing in the TIE Fighter Collector's CD engine. Problem is that's for Mac Classic OS. :( Also, some people didn't like the concourse in the Mac version.

thanks for your input guys. I just can't get around the pixelated graphics in the older versions. Seeing something that somewhat resembles what the xwing actually looks like brings a smile to my face in the 98 version. The joystick controls feel better too. Also, I'm used to playing games to my own music, so listening to the old soundtrack won't matter much to me. 98 version it is for me :).

Although, with tie fighter I will probably go with the 95 version as there seems to be too many differences between it and the 98 one.