Wing Loader (KS/WCDX) Loader & Voice Over Mod

@Destro - I cannot praise you enough for your dedication and achievement! I always wanted to play Wing Commander I and II, and now I have the opportunity without much fiddling around.

What I would like to do is to change the cycles to slow the game a bit (like it is seen here at 03:26 minutes). Usually I would to that in the file dosboxWC.conf, but seemingly Wing Loader does not recognize the file. Any idea how I can change the cycles?
 
SanLah Zynikus said:
@Destro - I cannot praise you enough for your dedication and achievement! I always wanted to play Wing Commander I and II, and now I have the opportunity without much fiddling around.

What I would like to do is to change the cycles to slow the game a bit (like it is seen here at 03:26 minutes). Usually I would to that in the file dosboxWC.conf, but seemingly Wing Loader does not recognize the file. Any idea how I can change the cycles?
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Thanks @SanLah Zynikus! I'm glad you are enjoying Wing Loader. dosboxWC.conf will work if you are playing the game in DosBox Mode (Press M, and uncheck "Wing Commander Enhanced", Press M again to close the menu) This will then run the DosBox version of the game but without Voice Overs. When using the Enhanced version (WCDX) it doesn't need cycles as it is already playing at the optimal speed and also doesn't use DosBox. I hope one day I can attach to the DosBox version but no luck so far.
 
Destro said:
Thanks @SanLah Zynikus! I'm glad you are enjoying Wing Loader. dosboxWC.conf will work if you are playing the game in DosBox Mode (Press M, and uncheck "Wing Commander Enhanced", Press M again to close the menu) This will then run the DosBox version of the game but without Voice Overs. When using the Enhanced version (WCDX) it doesn't need cycles as it is already playing at the optimal speed and also doesn't use DosBox. I hope one day I can attach to the DosBox version but no luck so far.
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Thank you so much for your reply and the explanation!

I was afraid you would say that ... To me it seems that the enemy fighters are really fast, but I admit that I possibly am a bit rusty, so that is why I wanted to slow it down via cycles.

As it is currently an either/or decision, I will use Wing Loader as I really like it (and during a battle I don´t have time to read 😀 )

Thanks again and keep it up! :)
 
SanLah Zynikus said:
Thank you so much for your reply and the explanation!

I was afraid you would say that ... To me it seems that the enemy fighters are really fast, but I admit that I possibly am a bit rusty, so that is why I wanted to slow it down via cycles.

As it is currently an either/or decision, I will use Wing Loader as I really like it (and during a battle I don´t have time to read 😀 )

Thanks again and keep it up! :)
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Yeah, some of the later missions are almost unbeatable due to it actually running at the proper speed. lol :P I do wish to make Wing Loader work with DosBox versions. The issue is that the memory addresses are not consistent when running inside DOSBox and I'm not really sure how it get a consistent value. But If I can get one memory address nailed down, I plan to add it. Have Fun!
 
Destro said:
Yeah, some of the later missions are almost unbeatable due to it actually running at the proper speed. lol :P I do wish to make Wing Loader work with DosBox versions. The issue is that the memory addresses are not consistent when running inside DOSBox and I'm not really sure how it get a consistent value. But If I can get one memory address nailed down, I plan to add it. Have Fun!
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Would it be helpful to contact GoG.com? They use the DOSBox version, so maybe they could be of help. Or did you already contact them?
 
SanLah Zynikus said:
Would it be helpful to contact GoG.com? They use the DOSBox version, so maybe they could be of help. Or did you already contact them?
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I don't think GOG has any control over this particular issue. They don't make DosBox, they just package the software together, similar to how I get users to download WCDX, they just provide the users with an already setup game. It's more the nature of how a program like Dosbox itself works.

In order for me to peek and poke at an address I need a few things.

In a nutshell:
1) I need the games starting address of the game to offset the memory address. ex: 0x000064
2) The memory address of the object I want to read from, relative to the games. ex: 0x0C00201
Add them together to get the real position of the data. ex: 0x0000064 + 0x0C00201 = 0xC000265

In Dosbox's case, I need at least 3 address, as Dosbox is the starting process and Wing Commander starts a process inside its process.

1) Dosbox Starting address. ex: 0x000064
2) Wing Commanders Starting Address. ex: Unknown
3) Objects memory address. ex: 0x0C00201

These addresses change each time the program loads so also a way to get a consistent value. I'm sure there must be a way and I suppose that DosBox devs might be able to help shed some light on how they assign processes, but it is kind of low priority right now. I'm working on getting the Kilrathi Saga version of WC2 working correctly and adding Xbox controller support while also enhancing my engine and adding features like LUA support and also (Spoiler alert) adding the Super Wing Commander Voice lines to Wing Loader.

I'll keep looking but not sure when or if it will be possible.
 
Destro said:
I don't think GOG has any control over this particular issue. They don't make DosBox, they just package the software together, similar to how I get users to download WCDX, they just provide the users with an already setup game. It's more the nature of how a program like Dosbox itself works.

In order for me to peek and poke at an address I need a few things.

In a nutshell:
1) I need the games starting address of the game to offset the memory address. ex: 0x000064
2) The memory address of the object I want to read from, relative to the games. ex: 0x0C00201
Add them together to get the real position of the data. ex: 0x0000064 + 0x0C00201 = 0xC000265

In Dosbox's case, I need at least 3 address, as Dosbox is the starting process and Wing Commander starts a process inside its process.

1) Dosbox Starting address. ex: 0x000064
2) Wing Commanders Starting Address. ex: Unknown
3) Objects memory address. ex: 0x0C00201

These addresses change each time the program loads so also a way to get a consistent value. I'm sure there must be a way and I suppose that DosBox devs might be able to help shed some light on how they assign processes, but it is kind of low priority right now. I'm working on getting the Kilrathi Saga version of WC2 working correctly and adding Xbox controller support while also enhancing my engine and adding features like LUA support and also (Spoiler alert) adding the Super Wing Commander Voice lines to Wing Loader.

I'll keep looking but not sure when or if it will be possible.
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Okay, understood. And I absolutely understand that you have other priorities right now. :)

Looking forward to the next version(s)!
 
Karrprince said:
Little Update.

WC1 secret mission 1.5 runs if I skip the mission briefing of the first mission with ESC..

But I can't get WC3 to work.

I've already installed WC3 from GOG and put libvlc min_pack_3.0.20 and wc3w_en_0.2.0 in the WC3 folder.
After patching I also get the WC3W file.

I have reinstalled and patched everything 5 times now.

And I always get the same error message.
The WC3W file cannot be started.

Sorry for my bad English.


View attachment 13997
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I hope you were able to get WC3 working. I've been messing around with getting the games more stable and trying to figure out what is going on but I'm unable to recreate that issue.

On another note. I think I fixed the Wing Commander 1.5's crash in the first briefing "Go to Nav 1". This is a bug in the mod itself.

The following line "Destroy the Fralthi and return to the Tiger's Claw directly," references the "Minefield" Mission Objective but the Objective was set to -1 (Empty). I set that to 4 (Enemy circle) and it seems to run for me now. That was a tricky one. :P

I plan to go through the mod and fix a few things to see if I can make it a bit better, but that's all I fixed so far. :P

Attached that here if you're interested in trying it. Just drop the updated module.015 into the GAMEDAT folder and overwrite.
 

Attachments

Thanks again for all your work!

I was wondering if it would be possible to add the other Wing Commander games? Like Academy/Armada/Privateer/Privateer 2/Prophecy Demo

I know the first three run in DOSBox, but it would be nice to have one launcher to rule them all 😅
 
Quien said:
Thanks again for all your work!

I was wondering if it would be possible to add the other Wing Commander games? Like Academy/Armada/Privateer/Privateer 2/Prophecy Demo

I know the first three run in DOSBox, but it would be nice to have one launcher to rule them all 😅
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Yes it's totally possible. I did mess around with adding Privateer series and even Wing Commander Saga Fan game but decided to keep it the original series for the time being. However I'm totally open to Adding them in for even more Wing Commander fun. 😜 Prophecy Demo I didn't think I would add, is there a difference from the main game or a benefit over the release version?
 
Destro said:
Yes it's totally possible. I did mess around with adding Privateer series and even Wing Commander Saga Fan game but decided to keep it the original series for the time being. However I'm totally open to Adding them in for even more Wing Commander fun. 😜 Prophecy Demo I didn't think I would add, is there a difference from the main game or a benefit over the release version?
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The one I am referring to is the main Prophecy demo (not the 3DFX one) - it had additional story and missions not in the main game. There is an OpenGL version here: http://popsiclepete.solsector.net/files/WCPDemo-Setup.exe

The WC3/WC4/Prophecy 3DFX demos had unique missions, but no story, see LOAF's post here: https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/prophecy-demo.25064/#post-365267
 
Quien said:
The one I am referring to is the main Prophecy demo (not the 3DFX one) - it had additional story and missions not in the main game. There is an OpenGL version here: http://popsiclepete.solsector.net/files/WCPDemo-Setup.exe

The WC3/WC4/Prophecy 3DFX demos had unique missions, but no story, see LOAF's post here: https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/prophecy-demo.25064/#post-365267
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Oh nice, I'll take a look at the demo sometime soon. I'm working on the next version of Wing Loader. There is no real timeline as of yet as there is a lot of changes, such as replacing Script Language with LUA, 3D Animations, Shadow Maps, Node based renderer, in engine asset editor.... While all these features might not necessarily be needed for Wing Loader to operate I need Wing Loader to work with the new systems I'm creating. That said, I should be able to just make a script update to the current version to include the additional games. I'll mess around with them and perhaps push out a little update to add them to the Launcher. These games are all on Gog so it shouldn't be very difficult. :P
 
kingmakeress said:
Very cool! Lua is great for scripting, if I remember correctly it is used in Civilization II to model events.
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Yeah, I used to use Lua a little for coding on the PSP but thought I could make a better scripting language...... That was my first mistake, lol. I'm not that well versed in it, but thankfully LUA is pretty simple to understand and quite widely used. Hopefully it will be a good addition to the backend. :D

I also don't need to maintain LUA like I did my Scripting Language, I just pass through functions to it which match my C++ ones. :P Unified Codebase.
 
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