New Standoff Patch Updates Game to 1.28

Here is a list of issues which should be fixed:
- More ATI cards users should now be able to use the new Enhanced Lighting effect (unfortunately it might not help getting HDR to work for more people yet; tis is still under work)
- Added an alternate Enhanced Lighting routine option in the "Troubleshooting" section of the launcher options
- Fixed the number of Crossbows that are available at the start of Episode 5 winning path
- Fixed the crash that occurs when you try to click "Talk to group" after winning the final Episode 5 mission
- Fixed a crash that occurs in the Episode 5 losing path flying the Arrow
- Fixed a crash that occurs in the Episode 5 losing path chasing capship missiles
- Prevents an original bug from WCP where skipping your death/ejection scene would lead to a crash, by disallowing the skipping of the scene
- Spoons status now correctly reported in Episode 5
- Slight visual/audio fixes in earlier episodes
- Fixed some spelling mistakes in subtitles
- Other minor fixes
- Fixed a small error in the OpenGL renderer prevented the new 1.27 Enhanced Lighting fix for ATI cards from working properly

Making the Game: Mission System

This flowchart shows how the "Master Control Program" works... and that's about all I can say. It seems to be some sort of non-linear mission tree system, something which didn't make it into the finished game.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

Mission System Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Enhanced Secret Ops Installer Available

• Fix: Free disk space now correctly reported.
• Fix: Shortcuts created in correct location.
• Improvement: Windows 95 compatibility mode automatically set.
• Improvement (optional): Skip registration procedure.
• Improvement (optional): Install and enable OpenGL renderer.
• Improvement (optional): Pre-install Episodes 2 through 7.

Download Pete's installer here (105 MB). You can leave feedback on the Forums.

Installing episodes 2 through 7 immediately comes at a cost -- you miss out on the splash screens between episodes. Secret Ops requires a registration key from the (now defunct) official website. A key generator is available from HCl's website, but you now have the option of skipping this step. The OpenGL renderer lets you play in higher resolutions, replaces the original starfields with fancier ones and adds graphical effects that are normally available only on 3Dfx hardware. Players would also do well to check out Shades' extensive Secret Ops Guide. It includes detailed mission walkthroughs, complete stats, game history and more!

Making the Game: Main Menu

They can't all be exciting fighter cockpits; this "main menu" is actually, I believe, the ICIS menu -- the mission information screens were originally going to be a little bit more interactive than they were in the finished game.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

Main Menu Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Win Outlander on Blu-Ray

Hey folks! We're happy to let you know that we've teamed up with the folks at Momentum Pictures to give away a couple of Outlander Blu-Rays to someone living in the UK.

Outlander comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray August 31st. Apart from the film, the UK edition also includes the same audio commentary and picture galleries, deleted scenes, and animatics of the US release. But apart from that, the UK edition also includes a nifty making-of featurette as well as cool lenticular 3-D packaging. You can preview that effect below.

So where were we?... Oh right! We're giving away two Blu-rays. Basic contest rules are as follows: One entry per person, you must live in the UK, you cannot be in jail, and there will be no alternate prizes offered. To enter, simply email us at outlander@solsector.net with the subject line 'I want to win an Outlander Blu-ray' (minus the quotation marks). All submissions must be received by midnight Friday, September 4th. The advantage is yours though because I'm in Canada and the cut-off will be midnight my time giving you a couple of extra hours. At that point, all names will go in a large hat and two entrants will be randomly selected to receive the disks.

Making the Game: HUD Wasp

The final HUD of this series is the speedy Wasp interceptor. This has me thinking -- what, exactly, is the point of the timer in Wing Commander Prophecy, anyway?

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Wasp Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Space Sim First Look: Evochron Legends

• New contract options including passenger transport, capital ship escort, military war zone missions, multiple waypoint patrols, and planet atmosphere combat.
• All planetary cities can now be docked with.
• Optional military role with new missions and dedicated ranking system.
• New objective based beacon quest following the path of Michael Gerret in his search for answers to what happened to his brother and the mystery of the Vonari device from Arvoch Conflict.
• Shipyard template system that lets you save your ship designs for rebuilding later.
• Hangars you can rent to store ships and valuable cargo.
• Dockable Alliance military carriers.
• Multiplayer capacity increased (for both human players and AI controlled ships).
• New energy pod generators and receivers which can be used to set up 'capture the flag' scenarios in multiplayer and can be used to acquire free fuel.
• 'War Zones' where large military battles take place and the player can join in a war against the Vonari.

Making the Game: HUD Vampire 2

... and here's the updated Vampire HUD, with the addition of the Thunderbolt backdrop and some changes to the instrument layout.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Vampire 2 Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Major Modder Makes Multiple Moons

Before I get to the eye candy at the bottom, who knows what the Galactic Conquest mode of play is? It's the mode of the game that allows you to try to take over the galaxy. It is played as a three tier level of play:

Tier one: This is the main galactic map overview. In the stock game it shows a certain amount of planets and each planet represents a star system. The player must attempt to capture/conquer all the planets that they are presented with.

Tier two: If an enemy fleet is already in control of a particular planet you first need to mount an assault in tactical space combat.

Tier three: In the stock game enemy units will almost certainly have control of the planet surface, so this is where the ground tactical combat comes into play.

My mod has removed ground combat completely, so I'm having to rely on space based combat as my "talking" point. For this reason I'm being as creative as possible with the GC portion of the game. From my past updates people will know that I'm in the process of putting together a custom GC based around our own solar system (it's sort of a "what if....." scenario). Currently the contents is as follows:

1 sun
8 planets
13 moons (for 6 of the 8 planets)

Now I realise that Jupiter and Saturn have a substantial amount of moons, but due to limited space I really needed to pick only the better known ones. Jupiter has the most with 4 for this GC. However, it's not finished. I'm also including at least 12 locations to represent the inner asteroid belt, four sections of the Kuiper Belt, several of the dwarf planets (such as Pluto) and a couple of other areas. Now I understand that there will be a few who won't like the scale of this but this is an unfortunate problem with the game engine itself. However, it looks pretty good so far and functions well. Anyway, that's it for the time being.

Making the Game: HUD Vampire

Here's the first version of the Vampire HUD; again, a Goran-reminiscent straight design that isn't at all indicative of the fact that this is the game's "reward fighter".

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Vampire Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Outlander Fan Art Hopes to Inspire More

A great big thanks to our own AD for letting me contribute.

I also have something else special in the works so check back here often.

This thread isn't just about me though, I would absolutely love to see some other works up on the site. Outlander really is too good of a movie to be forgotten. So I would love to see everyone's contributions. Don't worry about it if you can't host the image or something, let one of us know and we'll get it some form of hosting worked out.

Making the Game: HUD Tigershark 2

Here's an updated version of the Tigershark HUD, which adds a frame (the Arrow, again) and fiddles with the AUTOPILOT indicator.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Tigershark 2 Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

CSiS Goes Online

• Our website is finally live, you can reach it at http://www.csis-game.net for more info on the game and some screenshots.
• as you might have already guessed by yet, the game's name is now CSiS as in Combat Simulation System. So no more "Havoc's game" or "Unnamed Space Game"
• broozar did an awesome on finishing the station model. But judge for yourself:

Making the Game: HUD Tigershark

The Tigershark is a bit of an odd man out in Wing Commander Prophecy; it looks like some kind of Vietnam-era attack plane, but it maneuvers like a light fighter.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Tigershark Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

See Standoff In Motion

• Various Craft, Simulator 10 (High Def)
• Hornet, Simulator 1
• Rapier II, Simulator 1
• Epee, Simulator 1.

Making the Game: HUD Shrike

Today's HUD is the Shrike. Check out the awesome bomber-specific instruments that didn't make it through to the final game -- that turret status indicator would have been a great way to convince the player he was flying a massive bomber instead of a fighter-window.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Shrike Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Together Again for the First Time

Often, we get people on here who mention they've spotted some of their favorite Wing Commander stars on TV shows, movies and commercials. But how often can we say that we've seen two of them share the same scene outside of our favorite gaming series?

Some of us older folks might remember the late-80s fantasy series Beauty And The Beast starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Season One featured an episode where a deaf/mute girl witnessed some dirty cops killing one of their own. Two of these cops? None other than Jason Bernard (Eisen) and Chris Mulkey (Hawk)!

Making the Game: HUD Piranha 2

Today we have an updated variant of the Piranha HUD -- they've added the original Arrow struts and moved the eject button.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Piranha 2 Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Front Lines Fan Author Returns to Duty

Hello, it's me again.

I can't help but feel a bit of a swine for posting this, considering the number of projects i've started and stopped abrupty once inspiration fizzled, including Front Lines itself.

Having played the exceptional Standoff episode 5 however, I find myself in a Wing Commander mood, and this part of the original intended Front Lines series was always something which was rattling around in the back of my head, so I decided to write it up at long last.

I've basically jumped right to the end, just as Lancelot Flight is making its run on Kilrah. I'm going to pick up the story there and run with it to the end in what will probably be about 3 to 6 chapters.

Thanks again to all who read Front Lines back in the day, I hope you enjoy this one.

Making the Game: HUD Piranha

Today's HUD is the nimble Piranha. For some reason, likely the square placement of the VDUs at the bottom, these all remind me of the Goran cockpit from Wing Commander Armada.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Piranha Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Ultima Online Expansion #8 Coming Soon

Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss revolves around the introduction of the playable Gargoyle race. Players will also find expansive new areas to explore, including Ter Mur, the Gargoyle homeland, and the Stygian Abyss – the largest dungeon area ever introduced to Ultima Online. This sprawling dungeon will contain new boss monsters of unparalleled difficulty, including the Medusa, Primeval Lich and the Stygian Dragon, as well as Player vs. Player zones where adventurers will be turned against one another.

“As the 12th anniversary of the storied Ultima Online franchise approaches this fall, we could not be more excited to launch UO’s 8th expansion, Stygian Abyss,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer for Mythic Entertainment. “On September 8th UO players past and present will be able to experience all new content, including the new Gargoyle race and one of the largest dungeons in UO history.”

Making the Game: HUD Panther

Today's HUD is the Panther. It's interesting that so much thought went into these different layouts; ultimately, they all function very similarly.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Panther Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Angel Recounts Bossman Story

Making the Game: HUD Devastator

Today's Visio skeleton HUD is the mighty Devastator. I wonder if they did files like these for the original 'heavy bitmap' cockpits in the early 1990s...

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Devastator Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

More to Come in Next Invasion Release

Be advised this is a heavy WIP and far from finished. Currently the 8 major planets are in as well as the sun. Planned for this is the inner asteroid belt (consisting of about 12 asteroid locations), outer asteroid belt (aprox 24 locations), around 10 moons plus a couple of other locations. I think I added the total to approximately 59 locations. Trade routes will be different in the final version and I would also like to take a moment to personally thank Lord_x for sorting out the sun model.

Making the Game: HUD

For our next series of Visio files/images, we'll be looking at the initial design work for Wing Commander Prophecy's HUDs -- Head's Up Displays, or cockpits (mockpits?). Today we have a 'general' version.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

HUD Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Banshee Pilot Gets Nice Interior

Making the Game: Flow

Is there anyone who doesn't love a good flow chart? This one is the designer's plan for exactly how Wing Commander Prophecy's main menu works -- and where it will lead. Too bad one of those options ended up on the cutting room floor...

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

Flow Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

GameSpot Looking For Greatest Hero

As the hero of the Wing Commander series, Christopher "Maverick" Blair has devastating space pilot skills and, more importantly, the voice of handsome actor Mark Hamill.

Featured Games

• Wing Commander (PC) 1990
• Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (PC) 1991
• Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (PC) 1994
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (PC) 1995
• Wing Commander: Prophecy (PC) 1997

Making the Game: Debrief

Today we're moving on from Excel files to sexy images -- or, former Visio documents, anyway. This file is a mockup of the 'mission statistics' screen from Wing Commander Prophecy. It may be hard to believe, but the idea of giving a "score" in a Wing Commander game was actually somewhat controversial at the time (please, pay no attention to the 'callsign', either...).

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Please note that the "Download" link points to an older-style Visio file; these do not open in Microsoft's current Visio viewer. We have converted the VSD into a graphic which can be viewed by clicking on the document thumbnail.

Debrief Download (29 kb) Date: July 23, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

First Standoff Patch Available

A patch is now available via the launcher's auto-update system. If you have it enabled, just start your Standoff launcher while connected to the internet and follow the directions to install the patch. The file is only available via the auto-update system right now.

Here is a list of issues which should be fixed:

• ATI cards should now be able to use the new shaders effects (Enhanced Lighting and HDR)
• Fixed one cause for crashes that could appear in several different occasions throughout the game
• Fixed a specific problem that caused the Crossbow rescue mission in Episode 5 to crash
• Existing score-enabled Simulator missions are once again score-enabled
• Fixed an issue with the Lionheart's hangar room in widescreen mode
• Fixed some spelling mistakes in subtitles
• Other minor fixes

We ask everyone to please update their games, and to keep reporting any issues (including any problems you may have with the things which we believe we have fixed). Please make sure you are using the latest drivers for your video card.

Making the Game: Wingman Graph

The last Excel chart of the series is an updated version of the 'Who's Flying What?' chart for Wing Commander Prophecy. Need to know when Zero stops being a Diamondback? Now you're covered.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Wingman Graph Download (20 kb) Date: March 25, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

New WC Invasion Beta Released

Wing Commander Invasion (v1.5 Beta)

*** NOTE: Please refer to v1.0 beta readme for original changes and information ***

(v1.5 Changelog 06/08/09. This is an interim public release as the planned custom Galactic Conquest will take far longer than anticipated)

All fighters have been changed to single usage. What this means is that fighters do not come in squadrons of a particular amount. They are purchased or launched singly. With the amount of icons that were on screen during large scale battles the screen can get overly cluttered. Therefore, this was the best course of action and it seems to work far better. Fighters are also far cheaper than before (which makes sense with the usage of a single fighter), although the only exception is the hero squadrons.

All weapons have been changed which includes weapon sounds. Missile and torpedo weapons have also been added so the asthetical looks of these is far better. Be warned that fighter laser style weapons have little effect on capital ship shielding, unless there is a very large group.

First rebalance has taken place and I’ve noticed that once you have your primary defenses in place the AI will have a reasonably hard time getting through them.

Making the Game: Wing Commander Script Second Unit (2)

Today's Excel file is a more compact version of yesterday's Second Unit list; this one seems to have been pared down to a point where it's roughly equivalent with the finished product.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Wing Commander Script Second Unit (2) Download (408 kb) Date: August 19, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

EA Shows Off Fun GI Joe Promotion

Making the Game: Wing Commander Script Second Unit (1)

The 'Second Unit' of a film production is the team that does the less glamorous film work -- anything that isn't deemed important enough to merit the director. That means things like establishing and effects shots on a major motion picture; for Wing Commander Prophecy it seems to mean all the comm messages and the 'postage stamp' in-flight videos.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Wing Commander Script Second Unit (1) Download (304 kb) Date: August 7, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Claim Party Prizes

• CIC Polo Shirt - Jason Ryock, Jetlag
• CIC Glass - CFF, Jetlag, Music Guru
• CIC Playing Cards - SerXan
• Eisen T-Shirt - PopsiclePete, Iceheart
• Eisen Hat - Coolhand, PopsiclePete
• Confed Replica Patch - Wedge, Madman Legion, Imperator
• WC2 Game - stone484201
• WC4 DVD - Ed Filho, Powell99, MusicGuru
• WC CCG Starter Deck Box - Madman Legion, HammerHead, Powell99
• WC Novel - Wedge
• WC Movie DVD - Branches
• WC Movie Action Figures - Powell, TheFraix
• WC Movie Poster - Powell99
• Autographed WC Movie Soundtrack CD from LeHah - Wedge, Iceheart
• Star*Soldier - Quarto
• EddieB Nasa Stickers - Powell99

Making the Game: Universe Map Data

This one is a beauty: Captain Johnny's original notes for the Wing Commander Universe map. Check out the end where he started coming up with a list of known bases!

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Universe Map Data Download (57 kb) Date: March 25, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

GameFAQs Polls New Trademarked Series

Making the Game: Pilot Chart

Here's a cool chart: it shows which redshirts are in which squadron at each point in the game; apparently there are minute changes as time passes (and now you can be sure Maniac and Spyder become Wolfpack pilots with Casey and friends)!

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Pilot Chart Download (20 kb) Date: July 9, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

BREAKING NEWS: EA Files for New Wing Commander Trademark

BluesNews is reporting that Electronic Arts has filed a new trademark registration for Wing Commander (as well as Populous, Theme Park and Road Rash). You can find the filing status/information here.

EA already holds the copyright to the Wing Commander IP, which gives the company long-term ownership of the series as a whole. Unlike copyrights, trademarks specifically guarantee the right to sell a product under a particular name. Trademarks must be reregistered regularly alongside proof that they are in active use.

The "Wing Commander" trademark was first registered by Electronic Arts in 1992, following their acquisition of Origin Systems. They renewed the trademark as required in 2002 -- which would ordinarily maintain it through 2012, indicating that today's application is of an irregular nature. In short, it's not proof that a Wing Commander relaunch is in the works... but it is a very positive sign.

Jetlag has put together a fascinating collection of scans of the original trademark filing and updates, which is available here (5 MB). (This does not include the new request.)

Happy 11th Birthday, CIC!

Tonight we celebrate the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's eleventh birthday, which means thanking all of you for allowing us eleven years of hosting the best community on the internet. I'm going to keep my usual introduction brief--see the last post for some thoughts on the future of our endeavor--because we have introductions from a pair of special guests who set the mood so much better than I ever could.

I will note, however, that we are also celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Wing Commander movie. I would be lying if I claimed that everyone loved the movie... but I would also be lying if I said I didn't. I think it's a wholly unique film, the only time in history when the creator of a game has had any say in the Hollywood adaptation. If it isn't perfect, it's still beautiful--please join us in half an hour for a group viewing and commentary. Ten years. Can you believe we were ever this young?

Birthday Greetings from Chris Roberts

Wow! It’s been 11 years since WC news started up. Time flies! It’s all the more amazing since there hasn’t been a “real” Wing Commander since Prophecy in 1997, which is a testimony to the appeal of the universe and characters of Wing Commander and the dedication of all the fans. I never would have guessed back in late 1988 when I first started tinkering with something I was calling “Squadron” that it would turn into something so enduring. I have the many talented people that worked with me in creating the first four Wing Commanders and their various mission packs and spin offs to thank for helping to create something that has captured so many imaginations. But most of all I want to thank everyone that upgraded or bought a new PC, a sound card, a CD drive or any of the other things that Wing Commander needed to play properly. I want to thank everyone that spent hours playing through the games and now still keep the world alive with home grown games, mods to skinable games, cool paper models, user created fiction and movie projects. But most of all I want to thank WC News for keeping the torch alive in the Wing Commander Universe. So thanks to Ben and the rest of the WC NEWS staff for spending a so much of their spare time keeping everyone, including me, connected to the Wing Commander universe.

It’s been a while since I’ve actively participated in the universe but I still check out WC News to see what everyone is doing. Wing Commander is very dear to my heart. And it is something that I feel l haven’t finished with yet. So watch this space!

And happy anniversary WCNEWS!

- Chris Roberts

Birthday Greetings from Peter Telep

When I was first hired to adapt the Wing Commander screenplay into a novel, I was thrilled and frightened out of my mind. I knew there was a huge fan base, and I knew that some well-respected novels had already been written and published. I also realized after reading the screenplay that Chris Roberts was making changes to his own universe, and I was wary of how fans might react to those... so what did I do? I went straight to those same fans and asked for help. The guys at WCNews and others provided me lots of great research, insight, and suggestions for what I could do with the book, and between them, the screenplay, and my own imagination, I think we created something that bridged the gap between the film universe and the known and beloved WC universe of the games and previous novels. It was no easy task, trust me. Despite the film's reception, I was quite proud of how the books were received and am still getting fan mail to this day asking for that unpublished final novel, Pilgrim Truth. That it's been ten years and fans are still hungry for more WC is a testament to the quality of the work that's been produced over the years, and I can only tip my hat to every other artisan who came before me and helped pave the way. I'm very proud to be associated with Wing Commander and truly loved the experience! Happy Anniversary!

-Peter Telep (August, 2009)

Wing Commander Standoff: Episode Five Released

Here's the news you're all here to read: Episode Five of the Wing Commander Standoff fan mod is now available for download. I don't think I'm overstating this: Standoff is, perhaps, the single grandest achievement of the Wing Commander community -- a more than fitting tribute from a team of more than talented people. Here's the official word and download links:

Start by downloading Standoff Prologue + Episodes 2, 3 and 4 Bundled (270 MB). Then download the Episode 5 upgrade (173 MB)! The combined Episode 1-5 package will be released later this week, but it will be the same as the separate 1-4 & 5 packages that are available tonight.

August 10th, 2009 - Standoff Episode 5 released!

Well... it's been a long, long time coming, hasn't it? And just like Episode 4, this is another one that only barely made the release date. We'll be honest - we really, really wanted to make this release date, because it's the Wing Commander CIC's birthday. Had the release date been set to any other day, however... we would have chosen to delay this episode for another day.

We'll start with the bad, to get it out of the way: the game crashes. Big time. There's a major memory issue in there that we've been going crazy trying to fix... and failed. For now. But in the meantime - basically, if you play two or three missions in a row (especially the kind of huge missions you have in Episode 5), the game will most likely crash in the middle of a mission. You can avoid these crashes simply by quitting after every mission. It's not fun, but it seems to work. And we are working on it...

Two other small bits of bad news - first up, with all the new features in the game, we did not have time to finish testing the simulator missions. Rather than releasing something half-done, we've decided to hold off on releasing any new sim missions at all in this package. In about a week or two, we'll hopefully have them all polished and ready to go. As it is, the sim missions are unchanged from Episode 4 - all of them are functional, but only some are enabled for the scoreboard. And the other thing is - we didn't get a full Episodes 1-5 package done for tonight, only Episode 5. However, all the additional content for previous episodes is present in this package. If you have missed out entirely on the previous episodes, we suggest you wait until the big package is available - but if you absolutely must play Standoff tonight, simply download the Episodes 1-4 package, install it, and then install Episode 5 on top of that.

Enough with the bad, let's talk good news :-). First up - we've got a new website, the old layout was... well, old :-). And the other good news, obviously, is that we've released the final episode of Standoff :-D. It's a big package this time, over 180 MB in size - more than twice what the previous episode had taken. Apart from the big damn finale, this episode also contains a lot of fixes for various issues in previous episodes. And new cutscenes for Episodes 1 and 2. And all those great graphics improvements we mentioned in the last update. In short - it's the best damn Standoff release ever!

Privateer 2... in 3D!

Ships Gets A Polish

We hear you, we hear you -- you're tired of broken links in our ships section. You go to look up the Kilrathi dreadnaught and staring at Blair and Hunter instead. Well, no more! Every ship link now works correctly and in most cases we've added beautiful 'five view' images of each ship to their respective pages (exceptions: Wing Commander Prophecy and some ground-based targets).

What's more, we are now adding 'ship updates' to our daily queue -- we'll be completely outfitting one ship at a time with a full history and correct specifications per update, sprinkled in alongside our regular Making the Game feature updates.

What's more, though, the CIC now has one of these. Draw your own conclusions.

Wing Commander Movie Cut Scene Analysis

Trivia Redux

Q1: What is the mass of Wing Commander III's Kilrathi dreadnaught?

Q2: What unusual symbol has been discovered in a scene cut from the Wing Commander movie?

Q3: Who was the Executive Officer of the Pegasus Naval Base?

Q4: Name the four Wing Commander books written by Peter Telep.

Q5: What novel is Wing Commander: Standoff's storyline derived from?

Poll - Been Here Long?

One of our birthday traditions is finding out exactly when you joined our ranks... because from where I'm sitting it seems like the replacement pilots are just getting younger every day. Have you been around since this was the 'Wing Commander Home Sector', or did you join us for Wing Commander Arena last year? Cast your vote in the poll!

As for the last poll, it seems that a clear majority of players (nearly 50%) preferred the challenging 'lock and hold' torpedo runs pioneered by Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. Never let it be said that Wing Commander fans aren't up for a fight... that doesn't involve even slightly moving.

High Resolution Art Book

Past and Current Fan Projects

Wing Commander Movie Ships

Since we're celebrating ten years of the Wing Commander movie, it only seemed fair to integrate the movie ships into the ships section; after all, one of the community's frequently asked questions is: what's the deal with those movie ships? Now you can know for sure whether the Wing Commander movie Rapier is the same as the one in the game (it isn't) or if the Tiger's Claw is (it is). Note that the Salthi and the Krant don't appear in the actual film--they were cut early in post-production--but their specifications appear in the Confederation Handbook. Check them out:

Terran Confederation
• CF-117 Rapier medium fighter
• CF-131 Broadsword heavy bomber
• Bengal utility carrier
• Concordia supercruiser
• Pegasus naval base

Empire of Kilrah
• KF-227 Salthi light fighter
• KF-402 Krant medium fighter/bomber
• KF-100 Dralthi medium fighter
• Thrakhra concom
• Ralari destroyer
• Fralthi cruiser
• Sivar dreadnaught
• Snakeir superdreadnaught

Civilian
• Errant merchantman

Bossman Comic Relaunched

Starting things off on a high note for this (the 10th anniversary of the Wing Commander movie) I have re-launched the Wing Commander comic with weekly updates. This series deals with a sticky point from the Wing Commander movie, namely why Commander "Bossman" Chen is dead in the movie but alive when the story of Wing Commander 1 takes place. I hope to explain the 'how's and 'why's of his capture and explore some of his trials in captivity.

CIC Mail Bag Returns

Cake!

Thanks, mom!

Last Words: A New Birth of Fandom

I'd like to take a moment in this space to talk about our community.

Let me be perfectly honest: two weeks ago, for the first time in nineteen years of Wing Commander, I had a crisis of faith. Why am I doing this? Do we need the CIC anymore? I write the occasional news update, I post to the Chat Zone, sometimes half heartedly, and that's it. I've seen so many friends go on, never to be heard from again--others seem to be fading away slowly into the damning responsibilities of adulthood. When I am with my friends--friends I met because of this community--I rarely ever talk Wing Commander anymore. And then there's one final classified and bitter truth: I had been consulted by Electronic Arts on no less than five failed attempts to relaunch Wing Commander in the past two years.

So it struck me: it is time to fish or cut bait. Either give up Wing Commander and move on to an ordinary life or rededicate myself to the community we have built. Over the course of several days I did a few things. I talked to some of the staff--could we throw ourselves into the job again? Do we want to? It was clear, there, that even when my friends are unable to contribute that they have a deep passion for Wing Commander and for our group. What's more, we are friends in the first place because of Wing Commander. The series is a common bond, the site we have built is a true achievement.

Then I looked at the community. It is, perhaps, common repetition that our fan projects are less active and less impressive than they were five and ten years ago, that the forum conversation is less interesting, that all efforts are subdued in some inexplicable sense. Bullshit! Have you tried Standoff? It's brilliant, it's magnificent. Play it. Show your friends. Show your kids. It should be the most popular game in the world instead of some fan mod; it has more love in it than a dozen Assassin's Creeds and more talent than a dozen Bioshocks. Look at how much dedication goes into everything from paper models to the community replay to the WCPedia.

Finally, I loaded the original Wing Commander. In five minutes it was just as thrilling, just as engrossing and just as much a work of art as it was the first time, so many years ago. Quit the Wing Commander community? I had to be crazy - we're the greatest fans of the greatest game in the world. Think about this: five failed projects in two years? That doesn't mean Wing Commander is necessarily doomed -- it means a lot of people are trying to bring it back, however quietly. Even if it doesn't, even if it takes a hundred years... it's ours. How could I give up on it?

I encourage you all to go through the same process. Take some time to sit back and recognize how great this community is, how important your efforts have been to building it and then how further dedication can only move it to even greater heights. Thank you all for your work - you have mine, zeal renewed, for another... oh, let's say eleven years. I'll see you for the big twelve next August--and tomorrow, in the news.

You are Cordially Invited...

To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's eleventh birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 pm Pacific and 11:00 pm GMT) in #Wingnut!

Featuring...

• New and updated CIC material!
• The world premiere of Wing Commander Standoff: Episode Five!
• Salutations from Wing Commander luminaries!
• Trivia - from 'Arena' to 'Zartoth'!
• Special group viewing of the Wing Commander movie!
• Cake!
• Happy conversation with the whole staff: ace, AD, Chris, Frosty, Hades, Kris and LOAF!

So point your IRC client to irc.wcnews.com, channel #WingNut! If you need help with IRC just check our #Wingnut section, or just use our Java Client.

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Wing Commander movie we will be holding a group viewing of the Wing Commander film. Bring your copy so you can watch and comment along with the rest of the community! The movie will start at 8:30 PM Eastern US (5:30 PM Pacific and 12:30 am GMT); trivia and prizes will continue throughout the movie! Don't have a Wing Commander movie DVD, VCD, DIVX or VHS? You can still rent a copy from Amazon's video-on-demand service!

Journey to the Planets

As we get closer to the release of Wing Commander Saga, we are continuing our policy of releasing new information about our upcoming game every few weeks to continue to keep you up to date on the project's progress. Today we would like to share some new screenshots, that are all enviromental in nature. You will note our visual style for the space background has evolved since the original Prologue release. You'll be seeing more of our new nebulas/planets as we continue pushing out media. These shots are just an appetizer.

Making the Game: Pilot CD Chart

Today we offer yet another chart of which of Wing Commander Prophecy's redshirts appear on which CD -- and again we see the document leaves off CD3 entirely.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Pilot CD Chart Download (20 kb) Date: March 25, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Standoff's Last Crunch Time

All blue on the progress chart

Three days to go. On monday night, it will at last be all over.

The project is indeed coming to an end - everywhere I look, things are getting into position. Yesterday, Michael delivered the absolute last pieces of music for us. Look at the progress chart - we may still have various bugs to fix, but the chart is now all blue. All the non-bug-related tasks are now complete. Incidentally, I never kept track of how much music we have in the game, but Michael informs me that the total count is 223 (bearing in mind that each mission set has multiple pieces, as do most cutscenes). Wow. When and how did that happen?

Today is a big day for another reason, too - at long, long last, we are finally ready to show off some screenshots from how the game looks now. And... well, it's a long way from where we started. These latest changes (all of them functional only in OpenGL) include an enhanced lighting system allowing for specular maps (yes, that's right, specular maps - we've joined the 21st century :-P ), and... HDR. High dynamic range lighting: bloom, bright, shiny explosions, and really, really great looking engine flames. That's not all, there are various other improvements all over the place. Head on over to the screenshots page, see for yourself... and compare these latest four shots with the really old stuff from page 1 :-).

All these enhancements required a huge amount of work for most of us. I reworked just about all of the ship meshes in the game, correcting various smoothing errors and so on, created new specular maps for every single object in the game (not just our ships, but any original WCP mesh still in use in Standoff), new engine flames... and more than a few other things I'm forgetting :-P. Alex and Pierre, of course, put in tons of programming work - Alex on the OpenGL library, while Pierre has been working on various related issues (rescaling the room graphics, etc.). And of course, everyone had to keep on testing new versions of the DLLs.

It was a tough job, because it's one big hack. Normally, to do this kind of thing, you'd edit the original source code and build the improvements directly into the engine. Had that been the case, Alex would have been able to give the engine pretty much all the graphical capabilities seen in modern titles. But... no source code to edit, so all this is really one big, hugely complicated hack :-P.

Anyway the big question - are we now ready for monday? Not yet. We still have... issues. And just to make things more interesting, half the team is unable to work during the weekend for one unavoidable reason or another. It's going to be a really, really interesting monday :-P.

Making the Game: Mission Script

Rekindle your love of comm messages with today's complete mission script -- every single 'mission specific' comm message, in order from Hrekkah to Kilrah.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Mission Script Download (164 kb) Date: August 19, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Game Has Lasers, Still Needs Name

Making the Game: Mission Checklist

This "Mission Checklist" is actually more of a to-do list or a status list. You can see the various problems they had with development from all the strange goals. One stands out, in particular: "ICIS briefings (that need to be) get re-recorded." Given our previous two updates, it sounds like serious work went into redoing the ICIS system late in development.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Mission Checklist Download (19 kb) Date: July 9, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Wicked Banshee Under Construction

Making the Game: ICIS Text 2

It turns out we were burying the lead; this second chart of ICIS text actually compares the current version of the game with the original set of briefings.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

ICIS Text 2 Download (94 kb) Date: August 19, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Legacy Pics Spawn Game Revival

Making the Game: ICIS Text

Today's Excel spreadsheet shows all of Wing Commander Prophecy's ICIS briefing text -- although it seems to be an earlier version than the text/voiceovers that appeared in the finished game.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

ICIS Text Download (44 kb) Date: April 28, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Party Just Days Away!

Making the Game: Generic Attaboys

What's a generic attaboy? I'm not entirely sure -- it seems like this small chart should be showing the rate at which you get 'nice shot' type comm messages... but if it is then I can't figure out how it works.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Generic Attaboys Download (16 kb) Date: July 29, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

This Ship Really Puts the iPhone to Shame

Making the Game: Comms RS

Today may be your lucky day: it's our very last Comms Excel spreadsheet! Last, and if we're being honest usually least, we have the redshirt pilots -- Warlord, T-Bone, Ninja and all the rest who aren't lucky enough to have their own faces or ranks. Would you like to take a spin with Roulette?

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Comms RS Download (87 kb) Date: March 25, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a

Five Minutes to Standoff

Ten days...

Ten days. Really not much time left now. This is the end run now, the part we all hate :-P. Right before every release, there comes that point where we run around in circles yelling "we're not gonna make it!". Then, everything slides into place, and... we make it. But it's always a tense few days right until the release.

The great news (and this is the kind of news I've been wanting to announce for years), is that this week, Tempest has delivered the very last remaining Standoff voiceovers. Quarto threw them into the game right away, and... well, we're done with voiceovers. The final grand total ended up being a little bigger than I mentioned before - we've got 751 lines in Episode 5, and a grand, grand final total of 3,015 lines. It is so damned great to be done with that stuff... and just check out that progress chart.

Meanwhile, music is also progressing - in fact, we should be receiving the last major pieces in a few hours. After that, there will still be a few sequences left, but nothing Michael can't handle. I hope And the rest of us? We've still got a bit left to do as well...

Ultima Online: Behind the Robes

Every single shift, I would find him at least once to perform the following actions :

1. I would open his character's paper-doll, and proceed to dye every piece of his clothing, armor, and even weapons a bright and festive day-glo pink, or the like.

2. If he were riding a horse, I would dye it pink as well, and change the horse's name to "My Little Pony".

3. I would go to his in-game house, and change the inscription on the placard outside to read "Y.M.C.A. -- Public Showers."

One Second After Forstchen.com

Making the Game: Comms Principal

This comms chart collects all the messages recorded by the 'main cast' - the folks you see on the screen. This was an especially important thing to chart out early, as recording a new taunt with Mark Hamill would have been a lot more expensive than one for a generic redshirt.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

Comms Principal Download (36 kb) Date: March 26, 1997 Project: Wing Commander Prophecy Donated By: John Guentzel Pages: n/a