Knight26-77
Rear Admiral
Loving this progress, and the idea of drawing in more of the fighter closeups.
Confederation
- Thread starter AllTinker
- Start date
AllTinker
Captain
Just thought I'd drop a quick update - I'm still working on the extended side views for the hangar sequence, but I've at least made a start on all five WC1 ships. The closest to being finished is the Raptor:
Original art for reference:
After pondering my wrap-around cockpits I've decided the best way to properly support ultrawide without the awkward (lack of) perspective is to bite the bullet and go 3D. This will just be another option. The wraparound 2D cockpits don't look so bad at 16:9, but really start to break down quickly beyond that. 3D cockpits also allow things like padlock view (something I've always wanted in a WC game), and perhaps someday VR support.
It's very much work-in-progress (especially everything outside the cockpit), but this is how the Hornet looks so far:
I've had to mutate it a little from the 2D original just to make a little more physical sense, but I've done my best to keep it as faithful as I can though (with my terrible modelling/texturing
). It directly uses as much of the original art as possible.
Here's a still image at higher resolution:
Hopefully later someone who knows what the heck they're doing makes something better.
The 3D cockpits will delay things a bit but I think they'll be worth it. The day job is also pretty busy at the moment, but progress continues.
Original art for reference:
After pondering my wrap-around cockpits I've decided the best way to properly support ultrawide without the awkward (lack of) perspective is to bite the bullet and go 3D. This will just be another option. The wraparound 2D cockpits don't look so bad at 16:9, but really start to break down quickly beyond that. 3D cockpits also allow things like padlock view (something I've always wanted in a WC game), and perhaps someday VR support.
It's very much work-in-progress (especially everything outside the cockpit), but this is how the Hornet looks so far:
I've had to mutate it a little from the 2D original just to make a little more physical sense, but I've done my best to keep it as faithful as I can though (with my terrible modelling/texturing
). It directly uses as much of the original art as possible.Here's a still image at higher resolution:
Hopefully later someone who knows what the heck they're doing makes something better.
The 3D cockpits will delay things a bit but I think they'll be worth it. The day job is also pretty busy at the moment, but progress continues.
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EmuMusicFan
Commodore
Awesome!Just thought I'd drop a quick update - I'm still working on the extended side views for the hangar sequence, but I've at least made a start on all five WC1 ships. The closest to being finished is the Raptor:
View attachment 13741
Original art for reference:
View attachment 13740
After pondering my wrap-around cockpits I've decided the best way to properly support ultrawide without the awkward (lack of) perspective is to bite the bullet and go 3D. This will just be another option. The wraparound 2D cockpits don't look so bad at 16:9, but really start to break down quickly beyond that. 3D cockpits also allow things like padlock view (something I've always wanted in a WC game), and perhaps someday VR support.
It's very much work-in-progress (especially everything outside the cockpit), but this is how the Hornet looks so far:
View attachment 13742
I've had to mutate it a little from the 2D original just to make a little more physical sense, but I've done my best to keep it as faithful as I can though (with my terrible modelling/texturing
Here's a still image at higher resolution:
View attachment 13739
Hopefully later someone who knows what the heck they're doing makes something better.
The 3D cockpits will delay things a bit but I think they'll be worth it. The day job is also pretty busy at the moment, but progress continues.
And... What is a padlock view?
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EmuMusicFan
Commodore
Also, what is your plan on the 3D cockpits? Refine the current one before moving on to the next?
AllTinker
Captain
It's pretty common in combat flight simulators, where your view always faces your currently-locked target. Very useful for dogfighting if you aren't using a head-tracking setup (e.g. TrackIR) or VR!
I'll finish the current exterior texturing for the Hornet (only the minimum visible surfaces are represented in the model), then I'm planning on doing a pass on the other four WC1 ships... By the time I'm finished that, I may be able to improve the earlier ones like the Hornet. I'm hoping some parts can be shared between the cockpits - including the pilot if I do end up having a go at modelling one... They'd just be a headless stand-in with moving arms/legs; matching the original art/style as closely as I can, which is pretty much my aim with everything here.
It's all extremely low-poly; down the track I'd love to see some proper high-detail cockpits (and ships, etc.) done, but this is about all I can manage myself.
I'm not even properly thinking about updated WC2 art yet (let alone Privateer, which I'd also love to support); we'll see what happens... 3D cockpits actually seem like one of the easier things to tackle on that front though, for what it's worth.EmuMusicFan
Commodore
What if the currently-locked target goes under your ship? You see your legs?
I assume pilot model will consume much more polygons, right?
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AllTinker
Captain
Yep, that's how it generally works. Some simulators do limit the possible head positions/angles for padlock, e.g. you don't look directly behind, but over your shoulder, and so on. I'm not sure yet what I'll do there.
In Confederation you can (optionally!) set things up for X axis = Roll, so if a target is below you, you'd roll to get them above and then pull positive G's to converge... Without simulating G-forces (or more specifically redout/blackout) it doesn't mean much, but it's certainly more grounded in reality. The ships and cockpits are clearly designed for it too.
AllTinker
Captain
The ancient software I'm using is only capable of low-poly modelling anyway, so it should be fine.
Even older Raspberry Pis should have zero issue with these (cockpit+outside should end up around ~250 triangles once I finish optimising it, maybe ~500 or so including the pilot at a rough guess).
Rylex
Rear Admiral
I would improve the above graphic a little. The gray "staircase" on the top left should be removed by placing some darker gray values in between.
I understood, that the graphics are not yet ready... so I'm sure you are already working on it.
The new cockpits however, with the 360 degree view just look awesome! AWESOME!!! ... did I say awesome?
Aeronautico
Rear Admiral
Oh my gosh, that new Raptor launch frame looks beautiful! I can't wait to see what may be next.
AllTinker
Captain
Hi folks, I've been battling against real life a little but work continues on the code & art. I have something slightly different to preview today - another side-project to the side-project; can't help myself - I've mentioned before that I'm interested in having General MIDI versions of the earlier game soundtracks, which would allow rendering with soundfonts or GM modules like the Sound Canvas (ala Privateer, WC3 etc.). In working towards that, rather than going directly from MT-32 to GM, I've been pulling apart the music and reorchestrating it in a more traditional sense first. Here's the first track I feel is ready enough to demonstrate:
I've made a start on most of the WC1 music, and about half of what I've started is close to being "finished" (first full pass anyway). I'll eventually use these as the basis for a General MIDI version, but I'm enjoying working on this "rendered" version in the meantime. The intent is that both this rendered version and the eventual GM version will both be available as mods for Confederation.
I've made a start on most of the WC1 music, and about half of what I've started is close to being "finished" (first full pass anyway). I'll eventually use these as the basis for a General MIDI version, but I'm enjoying working on this "rendered" version in the meantime. The intent is that both this rendered version and the eventual GM version will both be available as mods for Confederation.
Gniwu
Veteran Spaceman
You are turning out to be a veritable Leonardo da Vinci! I keep getting surprised by this thread, despite my steadily climbing expectations.
Your take on the main theme of the first game sounds absolutely lovely! I cannot wait until you get to the soundtrack of Wing Commander 2 especially.
Your take on the main theme of the first game sounds absolutely lovely! I cannot wait until you get to the soundtrack of Wing Commander 2 especially.
Dondragmer
Rear Admiral
Great arrangement, but may I suggest a change of attribution? While George "The Fatman" Sanger did work and musical direction, he has always credited Dave Govett as composer of the Wing Commander I theme. For example, in the description of the Wing Commander I album on Bandcamp:
I'm not sure where I first learnt that. I credited Dave Govett for my 2009 community orchestra arrangement, long before the album I linked above went online. I even exchanged a couple of e-mails with George Sanger about it. But in my oldest e-mails on the subject I was already acknowledging Dave, so he didn't need to correct me on the subject.
AllTinker
Captain
Oh oops, thanks for that! I've put a correction in the video description - it's an unlisted video so I probably won't re-upload it for now, but I'll make sure to go through the others on that Bandcamp page to make sure I get the attributions correct in future...
After a certain demonstration of 1h of Chris Roberts style cinematic space combat gameplay, I really am in the mood for some Chris Roberts style cinematic space combat game like Wing Commander. But I just cannot stand these fluctuating framerates of old anymore, give me consistency!
I remembered this brilliant project and thought --- hey, drop a post and ask how it is going --- so there is that post:
How is your impressive work progressing?
I remembered this brilliant project and thought --- hey, drop a post and ask how it is going --- so there is that post:
How is your impressive work progressing?
AllTinker
Captain
I've been working away on a bunch of cool stuff - I'm close to being finished with my first pass at the 3D cockpits, and some further experimentation with 3D ships (from a voxel workflow, but trying to produce non-blocky models). I'm hoping my next update will show some or all of that in actual gameplay, with the first release not far behind.
I've been working on some non-Confederation (and non-Originator) stuff too... Which brings me to:
It's been a distraction from Confederation, but it hasn't made me any less excited to continue it - there's obviously only so much that can be done with the DOS version (or Kilrathi Saga for that matter), but I'm looking forward to finally having a fix out there that I've wanted for 30-something years.
I've been working on some non-Confederation (and non-Originator) stuff too... Which brings me to:
So for years before Confederation, and in the meantime since, I've made numerous attempts at patching the original DOS Wing Commander - first and foremost to fix the speed limiting. Well, recently I made a huge breakthrough as my understanding of the EXE hit a critical mass. So hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be releasing a pretty huge fan patch which fixes the lack of speed limiting - and a bunch of other things besides.
It's been a distraction from Confederation, but it hasn't made me any less excited to continue it - there's obviously only so much that can be done with the DOS version (or Kilrathi Saga for that matter), but I'm looking forward to finally having a fix out there that I've wanted for 30-something years.