Enhancement Patches for Wing Commander III and IV

Mash said:
A new version of the wc4 patch is up (v0.6.1).
I couldn't find the cause for the music stopping during space flight, although I suspect it's a thread timing issue in xanlib. In the end I replaced the music playing functions using libvlc as the player, which seems to be working well. Using libvlc also makes it easy to load alternate tunes in place of the originals. You can do this by editing the "wc4w_en_alt_music.ini" and entering the file path for the tune you want to replace. I've been using it to play George Oldziey's Orchestral Recordings. These sound fantastic in game although there are quite a few tracks missing, we'll have to pester him into doing a volume 3 to fill in the gaps.
I'll be adding this feature to wc3 in the coming weeks.
Edit: Be sure to re-download the "libvlc_min_pack_3.0.21" as well, as I've added a few extra plugins for music playback.


added to my list of things to do.
Click to expand...
It's a bit on the ambitious side but would it be possible to have an option to restore the original MIDI music for Wing Commander III? Of course, I could probably get around that by recording the MIDIs on a SoundFont or synthesizer and then using that in place of the Kilrathi Saga music.

Using the original music in WC4 converted into OGG, the tracks seem to cut a little early (noticeable when I score a kill) but otherwise libvlc is working pretty well and seems to resolve the issue with the music stopping during spaceflight.
 
Last edited:
Hi All, just updated the wc3 patch. Links in the first post.

The main update in this version is the ability to adjust the brightness of the space background colour. This can be done in the ini by changing the "SPACE_COLOUR_BRIGHTNESS" setting. A setting of zero will make space black.
I really wanted to update the music in this release as I did with wc4 but I ran into some problems getting libvlc to play the original music(It uses a codec libvlc doesn't support). So I've put that on the back burner for now.

Also I've added a Privateer 2 patch to my repertoire. Still in the bug squashing phase, so is currently lacking the feature list of the other patches. Although HD movie playback is already supported.

Noel Shourai said:
It's a bit on the ambitious side but would it be possible to have an option to restore the original MIDI music for Wing Commander III? Of course, I could probably get around that by recording the MIDIs on a SoundFont or synthesizer and then using that in place of the Kilrathi Saga music.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about that myself recently, I've put it on my list of things to do.

Noel Shourai said:
Using the original music in WC4 converted into OGG, the tracks seem to cut a little early (noticeable when I score a kill) but otherwise libvlc is working pretty well and seems to resolve the issue with the music stopping during spaceflight.
Click to expand...
Let me know if you notice any other differences, I'd like to get it matching the original behaviour as close as possible.

EDIT:
Looks like there were some issues with the space colour brightness mod. I really should have play tested it a bit more. In the end I had to remove it as I couldn't find a workaround. I've replaced it with the option to set a different palette colour for space "SPACE_COLOUR_PALETTE_OFFSET" in the ini. Black is still an option but gradients of blue are out I'm afraid.
 
Last edited:
If you can get cockpit texture replacements working for widescreen cockpits as hatcher did with indycar racing 2 and GP2 as UI scaing since as of now the ui size is quite small, this may be the perfect way to play WC3
 
Just tried this out. Loving those black backgrounds in WC3. Combined with the hi res textures this is a game changer. Great stuff and very much appreciated
 
Apologies if that was a technically inaccurate comment. I was referring to the higher resolution the game now runs at.
Feel free to correct me on any issues because Im very much a casual when it comes to this sort of thing and there will be absolutely no offence taken.

I can now play WC4 gog without having to turn HDR off on the monitor
 
Last edited:
Hi all, new versions of the wc3 and 4 patches are up.
I've added some mouse button options to the controller configuration screen.
And I've added options in the ini for setting the game to play at a lower resolution if desired. See "IS_SPACE_SCALED=1" under "SPACE" in the ini for more details.

Also I've updated my P2 patch to fix some of the sound issues. Midi music in space should now play and the stuttering issues should be greatly reduced with the other sound effects. I think it should be quite playable now although needs a lot more testing to be sure.

Links in the first post.
 
I never thought I'd get to experience WC3 and WC4 in such a near-perfect version... with scalable resolution and HD video sequences... almost perfect... but unfortunately, there are still some minor bugs... in WC3, for example, space doesn't stay black when you get hit by an enemy. That doesn't bother me though... I'm simply amazed by this patch and assume you'll perfect it even further 😊
 
Maze59077 said:
in WC3, for example, space doesn't stay black when you get hit by an enemy
Click to expand...
Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't noticed. I've updated the wc3 patch(v0.10.1) to fix this. Hopefully this time it will work as intended. I've added another option to the ini "ENABLE_SPACE_COLOUR_CHANGE" to enable/disable the colour change, so make sure to set this to 1(enabled) as it's disabled by default.
 
Mash said:
Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't noticed. I've updated the wc3 patch(v0.10.1) to fix this. Hopefully this time it will work as intended. I've added another option to the ini "ENABLE_SPACE_COLOUR_CHANGE" to enable/disable the colour change, so make sure to set this to 1(enabled) as it's disabled by default.
Click to expand...
Thx ..works perfect 👍Now I will enjoy WC3 in a modern version .. with perfect settings
 
Hey again, I was helping out a friend set up Wing Commanders I, III and IV on their PC using AllTinker's W.C.A.T. patch as well as these enhancement patches. They managed to get all three working, except they have an issue in WC3 where no music plays at all. They are using the GOG version of the games. WC1 and 4 seem to be working perfectly for them, music and all.

As a sanity check, I reinstalled my copy of the GOG release of WC3 as well and tried installing the Windows upgrade + enhancement patch on top, and the music was working fine for me, both on the carrier and in-flight.
 
Noel Shourai said:
Hey again, I was helping out a friend set up Wing Commanders I, III and IV on their PC using AllTinker's W.C.A.T. patch as well as these enhancement patches. They managed to get all three working, except they have an issue in WC3 where no music plays at all. They are using the GOG version of the games. WC1 and 4 seem to be working perfectly for them, music and all.

As a sanity check, I reinstalled my copy of the GOG release of WC3 as well and tried installing the Windows upgrade + enhancement patch on top, and the music was working fine for me, both on the carrier and in-flight.
Click to expand...
For the music in WC3, there is an additional file: WC3Music.TRE. This file is not included in the GOG version of WC3, as it is based on the DOS version. It is only included in the Kilrathi Saga Edition of WC3, as this is the only version optimized for Windows.
 
The only thing I can think of there would be to re-download the windows patch, in case the"wc3music.tre" file is corrupted somehow. Or they have accidentally turned music off in the settings. "ALT-M" Turns music on and off.
 
Hey... I tried out your recently uploaded Privateer 2 Enhanced Patch... and it runs really well... The only problem is - I don't understand how to solve the MIDI music problem in general... so I wanted to ask... would it be possible for you to upload suitable config files or DLLs with the appropriate settings?
 
@Maze59077: It should just work, in theory. Just to check a few things...
- Just making sure you have the latest version 0.0.5 although any version after 0.0.3 should work.
-The original "WAIL32.dll" needs to be replaced with the version from the patch along with the "MSS32.dll".
- If you previously had windows compatibility set you should disable it with this patch.
- Make sure space music is enabled in settings.
Beyond that I'm not sure why it wouldn't be working for you.
 
I did everything as instructed... these two files from this patch... but the music is just crackling... but honestly, it's not that important... I simply deactivated it, and that's okay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top