Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops Model Update Pack

Adm_maverick said:
Following mission launch I did notice a Blitch with the Panthers VDU display there is a line along the right side of the image. The Star field look freaking amazing though! Where there any modifications made to the chain ion firing effect? The pulses seem to be brighter than I remember them being in the original secret ops.
chain-ion%20shot_zpsdbv9dyvu.png
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All the things you described here (starfield and texture aligmenet bugs) were already present in the OpenGL package, nothing new here :p

The texture alignment problem that you can see left of the Panther and bottom of the Moray VDU images is a problem of the original game that is also present in DirectX mode. I fixed a bunch of those by having a 2D artist (Thanks @Filler !) remake most of the cockpit resource images in higher-resolution. I am trying to get a bunch of other images redone for a future release (ie. guns amd missiles images).

I also added a few lighting effects to some of the original materials (explosions, laser bolts, etc) so they emit light or add up. You can disable this by unticking the "Enhanced lighting" OpenGL option.

Adm_maverick said:
I don't know if this has anything to do with the hi DEF upgrade pack or not but during the first Playthru of the first mission of secret ops maestro ran directly into an asteroid.
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I don't think this has anything to do with the high-res models; AI are just... dumb sometimes :)

For the high-res models package I think what should be on the lookout for is:
  • Are the model proportions faithful ?
  • Is the scale of the model correct ?
  • Is the collision sphere (shields / bounce) the same as the original ?
  • Do we get a crash when some specific ship is shown in the game ?
  • Is the lighting correct on the model ? (Sun reflection, parts that should always be lit, etc)
  • Are the moving parts moving as expected ?
  • Are the engine flames at the right coordinates (and correctly show afterburners) ?
  • Do we see seems (cracks) in the models ?
  • Etc.
 
PopsiclePete said:
I don't think this has anything to do with the high-res models; AI are just... dumb sometimes :)
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Ditto - in my case it's usually Stiletto who rams the space rock, but one of them almost inevitably does, but they were doing that before I upgraded the models. Also if you pay close attention, the AI will usually ram a bug or two into it as well. Not sure why the AI's collision detection is so bad around asteroids, but it is. Could be because the asteroids have a collision sphere instead of a collision tree, even the large ones, but you'll notice the AI will also whack into the Cerberus from time to time.

Speaking of - those rocks are ugly, I just added "new asteroid meshes" to my list of to-do's

****
Edit
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Fortunately Asteroid creation is literally one of the easiest things you can do in Blender. It takes 5 minutes to make a quality rock like this one. It's a cube with a subsurface and displacement modifier slapped on it, apply a seamless rock texture and voila', Instant asteroid!

AsteroidG1_Sample.jpg AsteroidG1_Sample2.jpg
 
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PopsiclePete said:
All the things you described here (starfield and texture aligmenet bugs) were already present in the OpenGL package, nothing new here :p

The texture alignment problem that you can see left of the Panther and bottom of the Moray VDU images is a problem of the original game that is also present in DirectX mode. I fixed a bunch of those by having a 2D artist (Thanks @Filler !) remake most of the cockpit resource images in higher-resolution. I am trying to get a bunch of other images redone for a future release (ie. guns amd missiles images).

I also added a few lighting effects to some of the original materials (explosions, laser bolts, etc) so they emit light or add up. You can disable this by unticking the "Enhanced lighting" OpenGL option.

I don't think this has anything to do with the high-res models; AI are just... dumb sometimes :)

For the high-res models package I think what should be on the lookout for is:
  • Are the model proportions faithful ?
  • Is the scale of the model correct ?
  • Is the collision sphere (shields / bounce) the same as the original ?
  • Do we get a crash when some specific ship is shown in the game ?
  • Is the lighting correct on the model ? (Sun reflection, parts that should always be lit, etc)
  • Are the moving parts moving as expected ?
  • Are the engine flames at the right coordinates (and correctly show afterburners) ?
  • Do we see seems (cracks) in the models ?
  • Etc.
Click to expand...

I'm just making the notes about what I see. Keep in mind I'm looking at this from the perspective of using this for my WCP-video project. So I'm looking at it from a pure visual stand point. "Can I get the game to do what I want it to do when I want it to do it?" is pretty much the root of my view. So while I understand that turning off the lighting effects is a viable game-play option, I am mentioning because I'm hopeful that "turn them off" will be replaced with "Hey got this working properly!" because it adds additional visual flair (I did mention I'm looking at this from the perspective of a video producer right?). So far I have not noticed any issues with any of the ideas and concepts you mentioned. If I notice of that nature, I'll be sure to note them. I mentioned Maestro crashing into the asteroid cause I had never seen it happen in that mission before.

As far as the in-game graphics, I have some graphic design skills and would be happy to volunteer to make new graphics for the patch. I just need to know the technicals of the needed end file (size, format, color limits, ect).
 
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I did one other glitch, this time with the Panther model (interestingly I didn't notice this glitch with the opening cinematic). The engine plums for the panther are off-set from where they need to be so that they are coming off the top of the engine vent as opposed to the engine vent itself.

panther-01_zpstxk8xqc1.jpg

panther-02_zpsaj3qilna.png
 
Adm_maverick said:
I'm just making the notes about what I see. Keep in mind I'm looking at this from the perspective of using this for my WCP-video project. So I'm looking at it from a pure visual stand point. "Can I get the game to do what I want it to do when I want it to do it?" is pretty much the root of my view. So while I understand that turning off the lighting effects is a viable game-play option, I am mentioning because I'm hopeful that "turn them off" will be replaced with "Hey got this working properly!" because it adds additional visual flair (I did mention I'm looking at this from the perspective of a video producer right?)
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Maybe I did not understand exactly what you mean then. Do you think it doesn't look as it should and requires a fix ? In what way ? What would you suggest ?

Adm_maverick said:
I did one other glitch, this time with the Panther model (interestingly I didn't notice this glitch with the opening cinematic). The engine plums for the panther are off-set from where they need to be so that they are coming off the top of the engine vent as opposed to the engine vent itself.
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That's good beta testing ! Thanks :)
 
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This is fantastic stuff! If anyone else manages to get any cool side-by-side comparison shots of the original and MUP, that would be very helpful for when we post this in the news in a day or two.

(Just saw Maverick's video, which is perfect)
 
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PopsiclePete said:
Maybe I did not understand exactly what you mean then. Do you think it doesn't look as it should and requires a fix ? In what way ? What would you suggest ?

That's good beta testing ! Thanks :)
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Like I said I'm looking at things from the perspective of a video production. I haven't had the chance to really tweak around settings and such. I'm starting a new job in 2 days so my priorities are that. The main thing I was concerned about was the Chain ion fire effect, which as I noted seemed to be much brighter in this upgrade then in the standard game. If it's a setting or effect change made in this patch is there a ready means of adjusting it? remaking the effect with duller colors perhaps? Changing the light intensity if it does actually emit light? If it's a comparative thing, like it appears brighter because the newer textures use more blue and grey in their color then the previous textures, then forget it. It is an incredibly minor issue that if I get to a point where I'm using in-game footage from Secret Ops I will deal with it there.

DefianceIndustries said:
interesting, what resolution are you running it on? I need to try to recreate it. I don't see it on my version abs I'm running it on 1920x1080
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1440x900 res over here.
 
ChrisReid said:
This is fantastic stuff! If anyone else manages to get any cool side-by-side comparison shots of the original and MUP, that would be very helpful for when we post this in the news in a day or two.

(Just saw Maverick's video, which is perfect)
Click to expand...

I can make more comparative videos if we need 'em.
 
So something I just ran across. I can not conceive of how this is in anyway shape or form related to the MUP but the MUP version is the only one I'm having this problem with. When I copy save game data to it, it just imports the pilots name, no flight data. Here is the full situation:

I have 3 installations of Secret OPs.
1- The standard right off GOG version. No changes or mods.
2- A second installation that I use for toying around with mods and changes. Like the Flight Sim mod for instance.
3- the MUP.

I has a save file where I've completed the game so I can jump into a given mission as needed for if I want to test something or see how a swapped model looks or whatever. I've been able to copy the save data between 1 and 2 no problem. I even uninstalled them and reinstalled them just to make sure. Still copies and loads no problem. But with the MUP when I copy the data, all I get is the pilots name with no data.

Any thoughts?
 
Adm_maverick said:
So something I just ran across. I can not conceive of how this is in anyway shape or form related to the MUP but the MUP version is the only one I'm having this problem with. When I copy save game data to it, it just imports the pilots name, no flight data. Here is the full situation:

I have 3 installations of Secret OPs.
1- The standard right off GOG version. No changes or mods.
2- A second installation that I use for toying around with mods and changes. Like the Flight Sim mod for instance.
3- the MUP.

I has a save file where I've completed the game so I can jump into a given mission as needed for if I want to test something or see how a swapped model looks or whatever. I've been able to copy the save data between 1 and 2 no problem. I even uninstalled them and reinstalled them just to make sure. Still copies and loads no problem. But with the MUP when I copy the data, all I get is the pilots name with no data.

Any thoughts?
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Maybe I can help you a bit with this.

First, there can be only one SO install referenced in the registry (or maybe two, see explanation below), so having multiple copies might give unexpected results.

Second, depending on the path you choose to install the game to, your admin rights and compatibility settings, Windows might try to sandbox the game into a virtual folder and virtual registry. That is most likely what happened to your GoG install (examples below for 64bits Windows):
Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Origin Systems\Wing Commander Secret Ops
Files: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\[some path, ie. Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Wing Commander Prophecy Gold]

BTW, I have made the "OpenGL-only" installer @DefianceIndustries posted earlier take the GoG install into account, so the OpenGL and MUP models would install straight into GoG's folder if that's the game referenced into the registry.
 
Hard-crash to Desktop with no error message in Mission 1, after hitting the first nav point. Using 1920x1080, Win7. Any way to get a crashlog?

EDIT: Never mind, was not reproducable...
 
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Adm_maverick said:
1440x900 res over here.
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So I tried to replicate your issue using my MUP alpha install (not my dev copy) and was unable to do so at various resolutions including 1440x900. The engine cones are attached to the model and are separate meshes, so the only thing that might cause that is a botched install or a rendering issue. not sure I'll do some more digging.

shot0000.jpg
shot0001.jpg
shot0002.jpg
 
Vidmaster said:
Hard-crash to Desktop with no error message in Mission 1, after hitting the first nav point. Using 1920x1080, Win7. Any way to get a crashlog?

EDIT: Never mind, was not reproducable...
Click to expand...

yeah sometimes there is an error pre-caching resources in unlimited that will cause a hard crash like that. If you see this repeatedly or the same mission or waypoint causes a crash, let us know so we can research. Stability of the unlimited patch is much improved but can still crash from time to time.
 
PopsiclePete said:
Maybe I can help you a bit with this.

First, there can be only one SO install referenced in the registry (or maybe two, see explanation below), so having multiple copies might give unexpected results.

Second, depending on the path you choose to install the game to, your admin rights and compatibility settings, Windows might try to sandbox the game into a virtual folder and virtual registry. That is most likely what happened to your GoG install (examples below for 64bits Windows):
Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Origin Systems\Wing Commander Secret Ops
Files: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\[some path, ie. Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Wing Commander Prophecy Gold]

BTW, I have made the "OpenGL-only" installer @DefianceIndustries posted earlier take the GoG install into account, so the OpenGL and MUP models would install straight into GoG's folder if that's the game referenced into the registry.
Click to expand...

So why am I able to copy the data back and forth between the GOG install and the modded install but not the MUP install?
 
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