BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander Speed Fix Released

The cat is out of the bag… the WCAT, that is! AllTinker has released the first public beta of his monumental Wing Commander AllTinker overhaul mod! This is a patch for the original DOS version of Wing Commander that adds the speed limiter it has been missing all these years. This is a big, big deal. The patch works on both actual hardware and in DOSBox which means that anyone, anywhere can finally play the original Wing Commander the way it was meant to be played. The project also adds a host of bug and even content fixes (no more Dart and Joker!) and adds support for 4-axis, 4-button joysticks... which means Wing Commander should play great with a controller! AllTinker writes:

The most critical thing it does is introduce game-wide sync-to-blank-based speed limiting. To do this properly required a huge number of code changes as many "scenes" in the game are coded slightly differently, requiring different approaches - and the effects of running on a fast machine varied widely. For instance, I've had to correct several hardcoded cutscenes, since their timing was obviously set up without ever having seen them running at full speed.

Here's a playthrough of the first mission, using a 360 controller in 4-axis/4-button mode, on the rough equivalent of a Pentium 90:

And there's more! Here are the features and fixes from the release notes:

BUG FIXES​

Known code bugs have been fixed:

The 5-sortie ribbon, which was awarded after the first sortie.

The half-defeated copy protection in SM2 (e.g. GOG/EA release).

Losing a wingman should now be unnecessary for a perfect medal sweep.

The Adlib hanging-note bug (hopefully reduced, if not eliminated).

The series overflow bug caused by the original transfer programs.

I've also completely rewritten the joystick routines, which were only set up for proper operation on a mid-tier 386. This also means that the game now supports up to 4-axis, 4-button joystick setups.

CONTENT FIXES​

Several art & other asset issues have been fixed:

Missing pips on Halcyon's shoulders during award ceremony.

Incorrect helmet names for Hunter ("Dart") and Maniac ("Joker").

Rogue pixels in Iceman and Angel's portraits.

Visual error in barracks bucket splash animation.

Fixed broken Rostov loss cutscene (broken in v3.5).

Fixed broken loss cutscene for SM1 (no longer pans off screen).

Corrected some script typos and mistakes.

Completely redone lipsync; corrects Vega script, adds it to SM1/2.

NEW LAUNCHER​

The new DOS-based launcher handles the following:

Calibration for the new joystick routines.

Adjusting settings for the game; including new and old features.

Save game management beyond the game's 8 slots (beds).

Simple save game editing & creation.

Transferring between Vega, SM1 and SM2 campaigns.

Free of series overflow bug, and even sets proper starting dates!

NEW GAME OPTIONS​

New game options include:

Reduced asteroid field difficulty.

The original logic for asteroid fields was deliberately malicious, based on your speed. The new fields are still dangerous, but much more fair.

Keyboard "smooth auto-centre" mode. Wing Commander simulates a virtual joystick via the arrow keys/numpad; this includes not recentring while firing your weapons, and an instant stop when keys are released. This new mode instead smoothly re-centres when no directional keys are pressed, regardless if fire is held or not.

Configuring joysticks, up to 4-axes & 4-buttons. There are several modes which hopefully cover any kind of (analogue gameport) setup you might want to throw at it.

In theory, joysticks should only need to be calibrated once, or at least only every so often - they previously needed to be calibrated every game boot.

FUTURE PLANS​

The current release is a "beta" / "in development" primarily because I can't test it thoroughly enough to call it a completed release.

Besides further polishing the existing features, I have plans & ideas for some future additions to this overhaul mod; primarily new gameplay & difficulty options.

I also have plans to perform a similar overhaul on Wing Commander II; it has very half-baked speed limiting, and it would be nice to bring as many of these new features across as possible.

Here's hoping that Wing Commander II version works out... that one desperately needs its cutscenes corrected! You can read the complete release post here.

You can download the project from itch.io. You can also use the site to tip AllTinker; if you have the means, we strongly encourage that… this is a LOT of work that's going to make things better for all of us!