This is a project I've been kicking around for a few years now. WC1 and 2 are arguably some of the most fun games in the series. There have been who knows how many people wanting to remake WC1/2 in modern flight engines, perhaps somewhat similar to Privateer Gemini Gold. These projects rarely get anywhere, and are frequently looked down upon. The point of WC1/2 is the flight experience, which would be practically impossible to replicate in another engine.
Still, how great would it be if you could play the original games if you wanted, but expand them at will in any direction you wanted? That's what I'm going for. What I want to do is write a new flight engine, a very simple one, from the SDL up, with the express purpose of replicating the WC1 experience precisely. In effect, I want a drop in replacement for wc.exe and wc2.exe, which would by default read the same data files and play the same way. However, it could be easily modified in any way desired. Want better graphics? Drop them in. Want full scale cap ships? Flip a switch. Want to fly in a battle royale between the entire Confed and Kilrathi fleets? Write it up and the engine will support it.
I honestly think that the flight engine is going to be relatively easy. I could be wrong, but for now it doesn't matter. My first priority is mapping the Wing Commander 1 data files. My language of choice is Python. I'm working on a graphics file reader now, which is going quite smoothly thanks to HCl's documentation. Basically what I need to do is locate and decode every piece of data required for the WC1 engine. Graphics, briefings, missions, saved games, all of it. I want complete compatibility. Once everything is identified and the code is in place to decipher it, a configuration file can be created for the engine telling it where to look for any piece it wants. If you wanted to replace one particular graphic, for example, you'd just alter the config file to point to whatever graphic you want.
Things to decode include:
Graphics
Sounds
Cutscenes
Missions
Briefings
Rec room events
Saved games
Ship stats
I believe information for a lot of this is already out there. Ship stats, saved games, missions and graphics I know are documented, or at least editors exist. I have no idea about sounds, cutscenes, briefings, or rec room events, but last I looked (seven or eight years ago), there wasn't anything for most of it.
This isn't an official project right now. It's just me puttering around in Python while I wait for my masters thesis work to synthesize. But I thought it would be of interest to some people here, so I wanted to post it.
Anyone else interested?
Still, how great would it be if you could play the original games if you wanted, but expand them at will in any direction you wanted? That's what I'm going for. What I want to do is write a new flight engine, a very simple one, from the SDL up, with the express purpose of replicating the WC1 experience precisely. In effect, I want a drop in replacement for wc.exe and wc2.exe, which would by default read the same data files and play the same way. However, it could be easily modified in any way desired. Want better graphics? Drop them in. Want full scale cap ships? Flip a switch. Want to fly in a battle royale between the entire Confed and Kilrathi fleets? Write it up and the engine will support it.
I honestly think that the flight engine is going to be relatively easy. I could be wrong, but for now it doesn't matter. My first priority is mapping the Wing Commander 1 data files. My language of choice is Python. I'm working on a graphics file reader now, which is going quite smoothly thanks to HCl's documentation. Basically what I need to do is locate and decode every piece of data required for the WC1 engine. Graphics, briefings, missions, saved games, all of it. I want complete compatibility. Once everything is identified and the code is in place to decipher it, a configuration file can be created for the engine telling it where to look for any piece it wants. If you wanted to replace one particular graphic, for example, you'd just alter the config file to point to whatever graphic you want.
Things to decode include:
Graphics
Sounds
Cutscenes
Missions
Briefings
Rec room events
Saved games
Ship stats
I believe information for a lot of this is already out there. Ship stats, saved games, missions and graphics I know are documented, or at least editors exist. I have no idea about sounds, cutscenes, briefings, or rec room events, but last I looked (seven or eight years ago), there wasn't anything for most of it.
This isn't an official project right now. It's just me puttering around in Python while I wait for my masters thesis work to synthesize. But I thought it would be of interest to some people here, so I wanted to post it.
Anyone else interested?