What speed should Wing Commander 1 *really* run at?

S

Sweetz

Ensign
Hi everyone,

So I recently bought the full Wing Commander series from GoG. I'm starting at Wing Commander 1 and unfortunately finding that it has game crippling slowdown problems when running through DosBox. From what I read, while the game did suffer some slow down on actual period hardware, it was not to the extremes experienced with DosBox and the issue is specific to the emulation in that case.

I've searched plenty of threads and it seems the only proven "solution" is to manually adjust the emulated clock speed while playing the game with shortcut keys as needed. That's obviously not ideal and I rarely find that I can settle on a consistently good speed; either the game is too fast or too slow.

I read that the Kilrathi Saga version has a more modern timing mechanism so it runs at a consistent speed. To that end, I downloaded the PC Gamer Kilarthi Saga version of WC1 from this site to try out. While it does run at a consistent speed, I feel that speed is a little too fast. It's certainly noticeably faster than the DOS version running at the suggested 4000 cycles in DosBox - even with only 1 ship on screen.

Can anyone who has played the game on a real, period appropriate DOS machine comment on how the KS version speed compares? Is there really no "ideal" way to experience WC1 anymore (short of going to the extreme of using real DOS and old hardware)?
 
Especially for WC1 this is hard to answer, because the game ran faster on faster hardware.
I remember that on my 486 DX2-66 it ran way too fast. Not just a little bit, but unplayable.

I had to boot with the Turbo button disabled (yes, there was a Turbo-Hardware-Button, it sat right next to the Power and Reset buttons) to be able to play WC1 accordingly.

In my opinion, you'd have to find a real high-end DOS machine from the days the game was released. That's probably what resembles the optimum.
I'm not sure, but I think it might be a 386 DX 33? With 4MB RAM and EMS enabled, btw.
 
Try playing Secret Missions 2. That game DOES have a speed limiter so you get to know what the optimal speed is and adjust dosbox in a way to play basic WC at the same speed.
 
Sweetz said:
Can anyone who has played the game on a real, period appropriate DOS machine comment on how the KS version speed compares? Is there really no "ideal" way to experience WC1 anymore (short of going to the extreme of using real DOS and old hardware)?
Click to expand...

Just to echo what @delMar said, the original ran differently on different systems back in the day. For me, the perfect frame rate was on my 386-SX (I think 16mhz with himem enabled) and far too fast on my 486 (even with ye olde Turbo button disabled) I remember a program called MoSlo getting quite popular in the late 90s as Pentiums took over and the game ran far too fast.

In answer to your question, Kilrathi Saga Wing Commander played very similarly to my Amiga version, and to WC1 on the 386.

...and there in lies the problem, when you configure DOSbox you have to try and tweak it to emulate the kind of the conditions you'd be playing under back in the day. GOG settings are too choppy for me.
 
cff said:
Try playing Secret Missions 2. That game DOES have a speed limiter so you get to know what the optimal speed is and adjust dosbox in a way to play basic WC at the same speed.
Click to expand...
Ah, did not know that, I will give it a shot. I'd like to compare that to the Kilrathi Saga speed.

How do other people feel about the KS version speed? Too fast/just right?
 
You may also trick the SM2.exe into being a WC.exe, so you can play the original campaign with speed limiter enabled.
There are sideeffects, however. I think Paladin was replaced by another pilot. And also, the Dralthi looks different and has different weapons IIRC.

You'll definitely find out here on the forums how that is done.
 
delMar said:
You may also trick the SM2.exe into being a WC.exe, so you can play the original campaign with speed limiter enabled.
There are sideeffects, however. I think Paladin was replaced by another pilot. And also, the Dralthi looks different and has different weapons IIRC.

You'll definitely find out here on the forums how that is done.
Click to expand...
Yeah I saw something like that over in the GOG forums back when I first looking for solutions, but the list of caveats seemed big enough that I wrote it off it at the time.

But...I was less than half-way through the game at that point and the slowdown was more manageable because the encounter numbers were still small. Past the half-way point it gets a lot worse due to the number of enemies increasing, so maybe that's worth checking out too.
 
Ahh the issues with the SM2 switching method aren't too bad, all that happens is that Paladin's name gets replaced on the killboard to say '2nd Lt Montclair' and Bossman gets changed to '2nd Lt. Colson' - both of whom you meet in SM2.

Other than that, when you fly with Paladin, his face in the VDU changes to look like Doomsday, and the Dralthi get Mass Driver Cannons and better shields.
 
I had a chance to try the Secret Missions 2 method and not only does the game speed feel "right" there (in terms of feeling smooth but not so fast that it requires insane reflexes), but the Kilrathi Saga version is indeed noticeably faster than it. It's not twice as fast or anything, but I'd say it's somewhere around 25-50% faster.

I guess using SM2 is therefore the best, or shall we say least bad, of the solutions. The name changes aren't a big deal; Dralthi being harder gives me some pause, but then again I'm sure the added difficulty as a result of that is still probably less than the added difficulty of having to play the game at a faster speed with the KS version.
 
It's probably possible to change sm2.exe to be a 100% viable replacement of wc.exe.

Changing the names of the pilots in the exe should be quite easy...
Finding the right spot for "downgradin" the Dralthi is a little bit more difficult...
I guess I should browse through the archives. I think HCl gathered some information on that...
 
Also the Kilrathi aces will no longer show up by their unique names, they'll just come up on the targetting computer as 'Drakhai' - they'll use generic insults too, which is a pity.

You'll still be praised aboard your carrier if you shoot them down though.
 
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