Wing Commander IV DVD Question

[RyanFialcowitz]

Did the DVD version come with a manual? If so was it a real manual of a pdf on the disk?

-Ryan P. Fialcowitz

 

[AD]

No manual... I think there is a PDF on the disk but I Would have to check for sure.

 

[Deadman_ny]

I didn't get a manual with my copy of WC4DVD but I figred that was cus it came from Ebay. There is a pdf on the first DVD though and not surprisingly it's almost identicle to the CD version. It's under WC4_PG.pdf
There is a marked inprovement in the movies. What still bugs me is that I have to crank the volume to watch the movies...but during gameplay if I don't remember to turn down the volume..well it's deffining. Going from DVD quility movies to 16bit graphics blows too. It's lke driving down the freeway in a Lotus, stopping off the get gas, a bite to eat and take a leak and finding a Pinto where the Lotus was. :s

 

[AD]

I didn't get a manual with my copy of WC4DVD but I figred that was cus it came from Ebay. There is a pdf on the first DVD though and not surprisingly it's almost identicle to the CD version. It's under WC4_PG.pdf.

You mean on the first side? If the game came on more than one DVD you bought a pirated copy.

There is a marked inprovement in the movies. What still bugs me is that I have to crank the volume to watch the movies...but during gameplay if I don't remember to turn down the volume..well it's deffining.

It's part of how the five channel sound works. You might be able to adjust it on some fancy soundcard hardware in windows but otherwise the only real solution is to turn the sound volume in the game. Go to the terminal on your carrier and click on "control parameters". YOu should be able to turn the sound volume down. If you turn it down to something like 10 to 20 you should be able to turn up the sound for movies without it blasting you in space... the music might still seem comparatively loud but at least the gun fire and comms won't pierce your ears.

Going from DVD quility movies to 16bit graphics blows too. It's lke driving down the freeway in a Lotus, stopping off the get gas, a bite to eat and take a leak and finding a Pinto where the Lotus was. :s

The graphics aren't terrible for a game that's over ten years old. And it's possible we might be able to improve that in the future so it seems like an odd complaint. And your analogy doesn't really work. No one tricked you into thinking the space-flight graphics were any different than the CD version before you took it for a spin.

 

[Deadman_ny]

CD1, side 1, my bad. I've been playing with on and off so much with mounted ISO that it's how it came out. It's legal to make copies of games you own right? I asked a whileago and guys said it was cool. Easier to mount an ISO when your ready to play then go through all the CD's looking for game. That and it cuts down on handling. I got a double sided DVD from the dude on Ebay with a nifty case. Thats about it. Hey, as long as it plays tough. Not bad for $60. Just sucks that I don't have the box, manuals; all the cool crap you want when collecting. But I got extra WC4 boxes and such to give WC4 DVD a warm home.
Yeah that analogy doesn't really track with the cars... But the video improvments compared to the CD version are noticable. Would have been nice to see the same marked improments in the game...on par with the movie. I wasn't bashing WC4, it's a sweet game, and after playing it for years one doesn't all of a sudden expect it to go from 16 bit to Open GL...I didn't. But there is a dream.
The sound thing is something you can live with...have lived with. Hell, been playing WC4 on and off since I got it and have lived with it. Just a matter of remembering to turn the volume down.

 

[t.c.cgi]

IIRC all you got with the double-sided version was the disc. It was a promotional freebie for buying a MPEG decoder card. So, don't worry about collecting, because what you have is all there is to it.

 

[ChrisReid]

IIRC all you got with the double-sided version was the disc. It was a promotional freebie for buying a MPEG decoder card.

It was part of the Creative Labs Encore 2x/3x packages with the dxr2 decoder card.

(The image is of the 12x dxr3)

 

[Bandit LOAF]

IIRC all you got with the double-sided version was the disc. It was a promotional freebie for buying a MPEG decoder card. So, don't worry about collecting, because what you have is all there is to it.

It did come in a cardboard Wing Commander IV envelope -- that's really all collectors should need.

(I've heard that there were other versions of the DVD included as OEM pack-ins for various brands of computers -- Dells and Gateways and such. I've never seen one.)

 

[t.c.cgi]

It did come in a cardboard Wing Commander IV envelope -- that's really all collectors should need.

Yup! Have that. Of course I jammed the actual disc into a DVD case. Cardboard seems a bit flimsy for storage.

 

[Edfilho]

The 2-sided DVD comes with the fairly disappointing WCIV manual as a PDF in side 1.

Fortunately I also own the regular 6 CD's version (wow, 6 freaking discs), and the red-and-black box is huge and gorgeous. Pitty that the contents (manual, posters etc) is the weakest one in all the series. All the other games (except academy, porbably) had cooler manuals and stuff.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

All the other games (except academy, porbably) had cooler manuals and stuff.

Are you kidding? The Academy manual is great -- full specifications and little histories for all of the ships, pilot bios, the letter introducing a "story" to the game from Colonel Lombard. That was a great manual!

Wing Commander IV has the worst manual, bar none.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

And let me just add, the Wing Commander IV manual wasn't just disappointing, it was a *mess*! The 'basic' ship specifications managed to be wrong even though they were toned down to avoid coming into conflict with last minute game balancing... I guarantee you that there was no point in time when the Banshee was supposed to be the game's heavy fighter!

That said, the novel excerpt is interesting for us for comparative purposes. Take a look at it next to the finished book (which was significantly delayed for editing). You'll find all sorts of odd changes, like the switch from Hellcats to Arrows in the first chapter.

(The single-sided DVD includes the more detailed shipstats.txt file which was accidentally left off the CD version - so it has some slight advantage in manuals. In theory, this is a good idea, allowing the developers to include the most updated versions of the ship specs rather than ones from a month earlier when the manuals went to press... in practice it doesn't work if you forget to include the file.)

 

[Edfilho]

Are you kidding? The Academy manual is great -- full specifications and little histories for all of the ships, pilot bios, the letter introducing a "story" to the game from Colonel Lombard. That was a great manual!

Wing Commander IV has the worst manual, bar none.

Oh, I have the EA2 bundled cd version of Academy, I don't have a hardcopy of the manual, that's why i didn't know if Academy had good documentation.

I do remember reading it once, though, now that you mention it. I thought that Lombard was supposed to be Blair, like the Armada captain and Lafong and Armstrong.

Maybe it was a good thing that Origin "stabilized" Blair's persona in WC3.

PS: The weirdest thing is that Armada is the only DOS WC that isn't working in DOSBox for me. Go figure.

 

[ChrisReid]

I do remember reading it once, though, now that you mention it. I thought that Lombard was supposed to be Blair, like the Armada captain and Lafong and Armstrong.

I'm not sure the Armada captain was ever supposed to be Blair implied. Armada came out just a few months prior to WC3 and included an advertisement for it. They knew who Blair was by that point.

The weirdest thing is that Armada is the only DOS WC that isn't working in DOSBox for me. Go figure.

Well, hurry and get it going. I need more people to beat online.