Check Out the Other Wing Commander Collectible Cards Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

New this month on the Wingkipedia: high res scans of the 1999 X-Toys Wing Commander trading cards! Fans who kept their cards in the packaging could be missing out on some awesome reverse-side lore!
A different trading card was included with each of X-Toys' eight Wing Commander action figures in 1999. The rear card text is largely adapted from the Wing Commander Confederation Handbook.
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CIC

Learn About Remastering CGI Cutscenes Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The WC4 Fan Remake will be using ODVS' fantastic video for most cutscenes, but there are a handful of CGI sequences that would be better served with complete graphical overhauls similar to the playable parts of the game. The team has to be careful to match the visual fidelity of anything new that they create so that it doesn't feel out of step with everything else. As such, DefianceIndustries, ODVS and Pedro have published a new article titled 'Recreating Worlds' to detail this process. It's a nice thorough overview and shows that they're making great use of the new project website. There's also a quick video example as well as some screenshots behind the development curtain. Check out all the details here.
Defiance Industries is going to create some new CGI sequences for Wing Commander IV Remastered that match the originals as closely as possible in aesthetic and quality.

Defiance is, of course, capable of creating footage with far greater detail and visual fidelity than was possible on an SGI rig in the mid '90s; but if he does, it will somewhat throw shade over the original game's CGI sequences. So Defiance is putting a lot of work into creating sequences that match the aesthetic of a mid-'90s SGI render. I'll then be running them through my AI video remastering process so they don't stick out like a sore thumb in comparison to the original scenes.

This tech demo serves as a comparison for a very quick render against an original shot of the TCS Lexington.

A Portent of Things to Come Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Did you know that Wing Commander’s future history includes a two-century pandemic that forces Earth to quarantine from the rest of the solar system?

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LOAF

George Oldziey Streaming Live Friday Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The Los Angeles College of Music will be hosting a live stream with Wing Commander composer George Oldziey on July 31. The event will be at 4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern via the LACM Facebook page. George is part of the school's faculty teaching the next generation of artists. This sounds like it'll be a fantastic discussion, so we're eager to see how it goes!
FRIDAY - we will be going live with Composing For Visual Media Faculty GEORGE OLDZIEY, who will be giving you a behind-the-scenes look into his creative process for film scoring and orchestration! George is an award-winning composer and orchestrator who has worked on films such as 'Sin City' and 'Kill Bill Vol. 2,' and he has also scored video games such as 'Wing Commander' and 'Ultima Ascension.' This is your chance to learn all about composing and orchestrating from an industry professional!
An award winning composer, George joined the ranks of Electronic Arts in 1994 as an in house composer. While at EA he composed the scores for some of the most iconic video game titles in the industry; Wing Commander3, Wing Commander 4, Wing Commander; Prophecy and Ultima Ascension. His other video game music credits include Spongebob Squarepants for Playstation 2, a full orchestral score for the online game Shaiya (Sha-EE-yah), as well as scores for THQ’s Red Faction; Guerilla and Certain Affinity’s Crimson Alliance.

George has worked with film director Robert Rodriguez since 2002 for whom his music department and composer credits include Spy Kids 2, Spy Kids 3D, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Kill Bill Vol.2, Sin City, Grindhouse – Planet Terror, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Shorts, Sin City/ A Dame to Kill For, and the Dusk til Dawn TV series. He has also scored many award winning documentaries, some of which have appeared on the History and Discovery channels.

George holds a Bachelors Degree in Trumpet Performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Masters Degree in Composition from Texas State University.

Make a Model Morningstar Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

LYP Studios has put together a pretty neat Morningstar fighter for the Thingiverse 3D printing website. At nearly 15 inches long, it's a monster in the model fighter world and the large size allows for increased detail on the spaceframe. There's also plenty of ordnance it seems. Klavs was actually the person who spotted this and his art coincidentally served as the inspiration for this new iteration. It's been carefully designed so that the fuselage and fins can be independently printed and attached. You can download the files here. If you build one, be sure to send us pics!
F-95 Morningstar Heavy Fighter Variant (Wing Commander II)

This is my rendition of the heavy fighter, at 37cm long (about 1/72 scale) It was modeled similar to Adam Burch's (Klavs81) original version, but with some of my own customization.

The fuselage and fin parts should be printable in FDM in current orientation. However I would recommend resin printing for the engine parts & missiles. Assembly instructions are enclosed in the PDF file.

Please note that parts are aligned using pin holes.

Enhanced WC4 Video Adds Even More Detail, Plus Audio & Compression Fixes Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We're excited to kick off a new week with another impressive enhanced Wing Commander 4 video release. Although at some point soon there are likely to be diminishing returns and the pace of new iterations will slow, ODVS has managed to crank out an even better looking package of the game's cutscenes. In this edition there's better character detail, improved CGI and restored audio aboard the Lexington. There's also just generally less compression visible and better handling of lower frame rate sections. All the clips are broken into two packages that are about four gigs each, and German/French versions are online too. If you're running a DVD edition of the game, such as the one available at GOG, all you have to do is unzip these in the VOB movie folder!

Note: Since publication, the downloads have been replaced with version 4.0.1. This repack fixes a number of issues in version 4.0.

Updates to this pack include:
  • New AI model retains/generates finer detail in faces/skin/hair/uniforms etc.
  • Better detail recreation in CGI scenes
  • Audio restored in the Lexington room transition scenes (props to @AD - I got the audio from his Holovids videos)
  • Entirely new AI method to fix low frame-rate sequences (Seether blowing up the Orlando Depot and approaching Blair for the final confrontation)
  • Overall higher quality video compression - I used a far slower process, but it reduced the amount of compression artefacts/image fidelity loss overall
I don't take the time to watch all four hours(!) of the footage back after rendering every version of the pack - so if any Wingnuts out there notice any glitches or oddities in the footage, please let me know and I'll address them and release patches. For example, I know there are a couple of videos that have wonky aspect ratios in the original DVD files (black bars to the left and right, etc.) but I don't know which ones they are without watching through EVERYTHING. If you spot anything like that, just let me know and I'll get it remedied :^)
You can also find WC3 and Prophecy clips in our archive.

William Forstchen Profiled in the WCPedia Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

LOAF has been greatly expanding the WCPedia lately, and one of his newest pages is an exhaustive collection of William Forstchen's work. The author is well known for his six Wing Commander credits, but he's done a lot more than that over more than four decades writing professionally. A particularly cool addition to the archive are numerous scans of his submissions to Boys' Life, the magazine of Boy Scouts of America. Many have a sci-fi bent that will be familiar, even though Mr. Forstchen is more recently better known for his historical and hypothetical war dramas. Learn more and find his Boys' Life stories here!

Top Kids Command Top Dollar Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AD has found another Argentinian magazine that celebrates a classic Wing Commander release. This one is from the Top Kids Club magazine, number 24. The copy seems dominated by Mortal Kombat stuff, but Wing Commander 4 gets a lengthy review as well. It earns a whopping 95% rating, which is great no matter where you're from. Although the spread is well endowed with flashy WC4 pics, there are also some curious WC3 Arrow press images that sneak in too. If you find the review amazing and just have to own a copy, it's for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $250. I'll probably pass, so I wanted to let you know!

WC4 Fan Remake Launches Full-Featured Website Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's not every day that fans open a new Wing Commander website, so we're very excited today to unveil the new site for the fan remake WC4 Remastered! Pedro and DefianceIndustries have been doing the ground work to get the game's engine and core assets together for a while now, and efforts have recently been kicked into higher gear with the addition of ODVS' talents on video enhancement and 2D art. Now everything they've been working on has been collected in one central hub. The site is nicely appointed with subsections for background info, project status, media and more. They also have an elaborate links page, which is a wonderful throwback to old webpage days. Everything even works well on mobile devices. Visit for yourself at WCRespace.com!
I'm proud and excited to release WCRespace.com to the web! This is the official website for the Wing Commander IV Fan Remake project. Pedro, Defiance and I have been working away on this for a few months and it's finally ready for public release. Check it out for more information on the project, lastest news, media previews and screenshots. We're planning to update the news section periodically with updates on the progess of the project and post new videos and media when they're ready.

Privateer and Addons Unboxed Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Broken Circus has done a fun unboxing video for Privateer on disk, Righteous Fire and the Privateer Speech Pack. These definitely fall into the category of lesser seen packages. Privateer was a really big release on CD, so most players got these addons on disc rather than in standalone boxes. These came by way of Finland with the contents inside in multiple languages. All three are slip cover versions and the actual cardboard box has a neat form factor as well. The included discs are printed rather than labeled, which is nice too. The Priv speech pack might seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but it's an interesting addition to the franchise. Everything was rerecorded by professional voice actors for the CD, so this just includes limited voices for things like spaceflight. The local Texan accent comes through here and there! I like that he also took a peek at the contents of the disks, even if he didn't manage to get the game installed.

Meet the Confed Space Naval Academy's Finest Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

You can't have an arsenal of animated space fighters without an animated pilot, so DefianceIndustries got to work on creating Bob, the animated fighter jock. His most distinguishing feature might be his helmet, but he's ready to fly Hornets, Scimitars, Broadswords, Sabres and more. He's also the star of this new recruiting poster!
This is Bob. Bob is a background pilot. Because of this, Bob will likely get killed by a Dralthi. Don't be a Bob. Bob, however, wants you to join the animated Confed Navy.

First Cut of Enhanced WC3 Clips Released Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Due to popular demand, ODVS has put together and posted a complete set of enhanced Wing Commander 3 videos! There is not yet a method developed to integrate these directly into the game, but it's still an awesome trove of cutscenes to play around with. These are based off the Playstation version, so the source material is slightly higher quality. Then ODVS used his AI/machine learning process to increase the quality substantially. It's certainly not up to modern HD standards, but it's a huge improvement over the original footage. There are a couple of new test videos as well as download links below. It's highly likely that a superior iteration will be released in the months ahead, but this provides a fun collection of clips to play around with now.
Well, thanks to AD and EmuMusicFan's help, here's the first batch of remaster/comparison clips lifted directly from the PSX discs. :) The overall resolution of the source material remains the same (only 160p - so this is still a 600% upscale) - but I think the increased colour depth and edge definition afforded by not using footage that had already been compressed for web deployment has yielded improved results. :)

I will most likely do some cleanup at some point - but that involves a lot of programming, trial-and-error and general tinkering. I usually stumble across or create methods to clean things up - the progression of the WC4 and WCP HD packs are a case in point. I wouldn't hold your breath for anything too stunning for WC3, though. The video files have tiny dimensions to start with - and while turd-polishing is possible, there are always limits. ;)

Here's another look at the type of improvement that's now possible. While not perfect, it's a stunning jump in fidelity given the blurry low res source
Just something I thought you might find interesting here...

Although the remastered WC3 videos admittedly look like arse compared to modern native HD standards, I am often quite astonished by the amount of detail the AI routines manage to recreate. This screenshot from the routine running really encapsulated that for me, so I thought people might like to see it. :)

It's also worth noting that YouTube strips a lot of detail out of the eventual render with its incredibly over-zealous compression methods. This screenshot shows the output before I even do my post-upscale cleanup workflow.

Granted, the right-side still looks pretty bad by modern standards - but just look at the source quality!

Last, but not least, here are the download links!
Well, I know I said I wasn't going to do this since there's currently no way to play the videos in-game, but: Here's WCIII HD Pack V1.0. Since AD and EmuMusicFan helped me get hold of and extract the PSX videos, I figured I might as well process the lot of them and make them available. If anyone feels inspired to mod the Kilrathi Saga EXE to play these back in-game, that would be wonderful. :)

I'm afraid this pack is a whopper - there's around twice as (many FMV clips) in WCIII as in WCIV - and although the quality is lower because of the source material, once it's upscaled it's still a shed-load of 1080p videos - so this lot clocks in at around 14GB!

If you'd like to download and have a watch, feel free. It's only V1.0, so I'm sure I'll figure out improvements down the line. Once again, though, it's a low priority until we have a method to play the files in-game.

If you haven't grabbed them yet, both WC4 and Prophecy are available.

WC4 Fan Remake Shows Off Latest Graphical Updates Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Pedro has released a handful of exciting comparison shots for the WC4 Fan Remake. The first pair of images features a scene first without and then with the new Adaptive Screen Space Ambient Occlusion technique. With the effect incorporated, you can see more nuanced shadows and lighting. I've blown up all the thumbnails in this post so you can easily see the differences, but you'll probably want to click into them full the full effect.
All has been quiet on the WCIV remake front. That doesn't mean we haven't been hard at work, just that it hasn't been very visual work.

Still with the CIC birthday coming up again we've taken some time out over the last month or so to correct that. Here's a peak at one of the new features, adaptive screen spaced ambient occlusion. Although a very subtle effect it adds a lot of definition to the models.

As most models are static a lot of this could be baked in to the textures, but animated models like the Dragon or joints between turret and capship mesh will benefit from the real time nature of this effect. You may also notice that we have added some film grain so the in-game scenes match the FMV.

We've also got some striking shots of a Hellcat in front of a depot. The first is obviously from the original game, and then we get to see the quality of the glorious remake engine. There's also a very slick Bearcat passing over a destroyer for good measure. Look at those textures - what a difference 24 years makes!

CIC Birthday Incoming - Date Announced! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Somehow we're already in the second half of the year, and longtime CIC visitors will know that that means the CIC's birthday is approaching fast. It's a little later than we'd usually confirm the date, but this is a very unusual year. Last time much of the staff was able to get together in person and host a super fun live stream. We won't be able to get together in person this year, but we will still have a very exciting party for everyone!

We originally went live on August 10, 1998, but this year also marks the 30th birthday of the Wing Commander series itself. We've decided to combine our celebrations for these two milestones and observe the CIC birthday this year on the series' anniversary of September 26! This works out really well for us, and we hope it does for you too. The festivities will take place in #Wingnut on Discord at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT). Stay tuned for more news as we get closer as it's possible that this could move up a little earlier in the day. Of course, everyone is welcome to stop by the chatroom any time. We're always having a great time there!

Check out our archives to see all the great stuff we posted last year or watch the livestream below if you want to fully relive it!

Wing Commander: An Action Game Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AD recently stumbled upon a vintage review for Wing Commander on the Super Nintendo. The game was reviewed by a ton of magazines in the US, but this one actually comes from Action Games in Argentina. As someone who grew up with mags like this and worked on the high school newspaper, I always love to see what choices they made in the layout and design. They start with a fairly generic Wing Commander title image and then do a walkaround of the bar, killboard and TrainSim. I really like the cockpit overview too. While this might seem simple and obvious to you and me, put yourself in the seat of someone in July 1993 who's never seen anything like this on a home console before. It must have felt like the closest thing to flying ac actual space fighter at the time! Prospective players would have pored over every inch to see which dials and readouts contained useful information. Good stuff!

Dralthi Model Soars to New Heights Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Klavs is back with an absolute feast for the eyes. This gorgeous Dralthi is ready to be the star of your new 4K wallpaper image. If you're a modder or modeler and would like to take the craft even further, it's available on Sketchfab. You can play with and rotate the design there. Klavs is also accepting $10 donations at the site to help with medical issues. I hope someone takes him up on that and builds this beauty into a future fan project!

Re-worked the old Dralthi model, fewer UV islands, nicer geometry, and threw a new coat of paint on her in Substance. The orange on the underside cat heads is actually the exact color from the WC1 box art! Really fun working with her again! Hope you like it!

Also, the model is now on Sketchfab! Check her out in all her 3D rotatable glory!

If you'd like the model for your own use, I'm asking for $10 to help with my family's medical bills of late. If you're a Wingnut and you don't want to contribute, but still want the model, just PM me, I'll be happy to work something out with you! Thanks so much everyone! I'm so grateful for all your love and support over the years!

Academy Online! First Impressions & Super Ship Roundup Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Peacock is live and that means the highly anticipated streaming debut of Wing Commander Academy is here! The good news is that the sound appears to be much better than in other iterations of the show, so it seems like this is probably the definitive edition to watch. On the other hand, the brief segment missing from "On Both Your Houses" is absent on Peacock. For the DVD release, VEI was able to replace the missing ten seconds from that episode with footage from LOAF's archive.

I also neglected to mention yesterday that there is also a fully free tier available to everyone. It's heavily supported by ads (compared with minimal ads on the Peacock "Premium" and zero ads present on "Premium Plus"), but that means anyone and everyone can watch Wing Commander now. Comcast customers' free package is equivalent to Premium. The platform is currently available on Apple devices (iPhone/iPad/Apple TV), Google devices (Android, Android TV & Chromecast), LG & Vizio TVs and Xbox One consoles. It's pretty awesome to be able to call up and stream Academy any time on your phone now!

Last, but not least, LOAF put together this awesome tweetstorm roundup of all the ships in the show to celebrate its release - enjoy!

Let's escape reality with a thread showing off all the series' often-familiar spaceships. Magnum launch, all fighters up...
The series' concept started as basically 'Wing Commander III babies' and artists first adapted the ships from that game. In the end era appropriate ships were mostly used, but WC3 and 4 designs still make a few cameos (especially in the pilot). Here's the Hellcat V:
The speedy Arrow interceptor also makes a brief appearance in the first episode:
The good old CF-105 Scimitar medium fighter from Wing Commander I is the show's hero ship. It appears in every episode! (The accent colors typically indicate which character is flying.)
The Kilrathi get the classic 'pancake' Dralthi design from the first game, too:
Here's the first original ship that appears on the show: this Kilrathi capital ship is used as a blockade runner, transport, destroyer and carrier, scaled appropriately! It's clearly inspired by the large dreadnaught from Wing Commander III (fourth picture).
Episode 2 brings in the famed Bengal-class TCS Tiger's Claw, adapted from the original design with a more nautical bow:
It's also the only appearance of the Kilrathi Dorkir-class transport. The Dorkir was first designed as a tanker for Wing Commander I and then turned into a freighter to save memory (that's another story!):
Here's the Kilrathi Sartha light fighter, first seen in Wing Commander II:
Episode 2 introduces two human ships from Wing Commander II flown by renegades which re-appear later as supporting fighters aboard the Tiger's Claw. First is the... fan favorite... Epee!
And the second is the F/A-57 Sabre heavy attack fighter.
There's also a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo from Wing Commander IV's Avenger as a pirate transport!
The third episode introduces both faction's recurring bombers. If there had been a toy line, these two would have been the more expensive ones! The Kilrathi get the Grikath from Wing Commander II...
And the Confederation gets the venerable A-17 Broadsword!
Episode 4 has the last Wing Commander III cameo: a couple frames where the Longbow bomber is used as a search and rescue ship!
And here's the Kilrathi Jalkehi heavy fighter from Wing Commander II:
Two original designs for Episode 6: a Confederation space ambulance and an armored Kilrathi jump buoy:
Chain of Command shows us an entire Confederation fleet of new ship designs including the Achilles-class destroyer, Byrd-class recon ship and Manassas-class cruiser (only seen in part). The Byrd and Achilles designs are reused later as transports.
... and new shuttles for each side make their first apperances...
We also get a first look at Prince Thrakhath's massive dreadnaught, the Agon Ras Sivar (an original design):
Oh, and a familiar capital ship! The Kilrathi Kamekh corvette from Wing Commander II and Privateer:
Expendable gives us a Fralthi cruiser (called a destroyer in the script) that's straight out of Claw Marks:
The world's most insane crossover episode adds two ships in order to introduce Michael Dorn's Warrior King: a Kilrathi tug and a 25th century human sleeper ship!
Walking Wounded has two new human support ships: the TCS Pleiku, a hospital ship, and the TCS Morgan, a fighter transport (which seems to be an Achilles-class transport attached to a large bay).
Finally, Invisible Enemy introduces us to the Strakha stealth fighter (here a modified Sartha) and what the script calls a Ferret... though it's actually designed to match a prototype created by a toy company for the show (this was the last segment animated):
I think that’s everything! I hope new folks enjoy Academy, it’s a very solid show as far as such things go. And if you ever want to learn more or stream an episode or two, feel free to join the CIC Discord! We’re very friendly.

Academy Launch Imminent, Last Day for Peacock Deal! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The NBC streaming platform Peacock launches tomorrow, July 15, and with it comes Wing Commander Academy streaming for the first time. All thirteen episodes of our favorite television show will be available sandwiched between Will & Grace and World of Dance. It's normally $5 a month, but if you preorder it tonight it comes to just $30 for the first year, which is quite a markdown. An ad-free version is $80 for the year. Additionally, Comcast Xfinity customers get free access to Peacock via Flex or X1, so it's worth getting the right setup. We have no kind of advertising or affiliate sponsorship with anyone - we're just trying to find fellow Wingnuts the cheapest ways to experience Wing Commander! The series is still available on DVD for $8, but I'm excited to rewatch the show in a new way. Just seeing the thumbnail on a modern interface like that is cool! And there are likely to be slight differences in picture quality, sound or subtitles that will be interesting to analyze in the days ahead.

Barry Leitch Interview Covers History of Game Audio Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

70er Jahre Junge has conducted a super fun interview with veteran game developer and musician Barry Leitch. He's well known as a game music composer, but his claim to fame with the Wing Commander series came as the spaceflight dialogue editor for Wing Commander 3. There's some fun anecdotes of his time at Origin where he edited over 11,000 lines of speech for it. He also did music and sound effects for Privateer Righteous Fire and Wings of Glory, among other local contemporaries. Mr. Leitch has a wealth of knowledge about the industry and a good easy-going way of sharing it. You can find his personal site here or check out the conversation below! You can jump to the 30:10 point for the specific discussion on Wing Commander and Origin.
Barry Leitch is an absolute legend among computer game composers. The Scotsman has written the soundtracks of games such as Lotus Turbo Challenge, Gauntlet Legends, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Top Gear or Rush, etc. In this interview he talks about how the industry worked in the past and today, his own role models and why numerous Brazilian guitarists cover the Top Gear soundtrack.

Machine Learning Advances Could Lead to Enhancement Pack 4.0 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We're leaning into a new week with a couple of amazing new test clips from ODVS. He's not intending to reinvent the wheel each month, but there have been even better AI techniques discovered that further improve the quality of his enhanced video. Due to the exciting potential of this upgrade, he's made another WC4 example to gather feedback and see if he should release a new iteration of his footage overhaul.
I wasn't planning on posting anything again so soon - but then I got my hands on a new AI model!

So in the vein of returning to remasters past, here's a new version of the Vagabond comparison video. The new AI model does a far better job of adding detail without creating the nasty over-defined edges (in previous WC4 remasters, I've always toned the detail recovery down a bit because it had a tendency to screw up curves and shapes such as shoulders, uniform elements etc.).

I'll keep experimenting with this, but there may be a WC4 HD Video Pack V4.0 on the horizon if I find it improves other scenes. Enjoy!

He also wanted to share the latest improvements with WC3 reencoding. WC3 is a very different animal since the source material is so much lower resolution/quality/framerate, but the potential is there nonetheless. You can see his initial take on the WC3 intro back in our May archives, and here is the update.
Since I am now using a few new methods, I thought it might be interesting to re-do one one of the sequences I've done before so you can get an idea of the minor improvements that are creeping in. I figured I might as well go big or go home, so here's the entire WC3 intro again. :D

Red is always an issue when dealing with video image compression. Due to various technical reasons to do with the way the colour space is handled, red objects generally get around half the resolution of other colours - which is why the credits and the glyphs on the emperor's throne still look blocky. They're so very pixelated in the original footage that they appear to be geometric shapes and the AI actually tries to maintain it.

I think the improvements on the Kilrathi and Human characters are quite evident, though. As always, YouTube's compression is incredibly aggressive and knocks out a degree of detail from the remastered footage, but whaddayagonnado?

Podcast Covers Wordtris, Chris Roberts and Wing Commander Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

SNEScapades is running through the entire North American Super Nintendo library, and their journey has arrived at Wing Commander. The WC focus gets going about 24 minutes in after some miscellaneous discussion and Wordtris review. There's a history of Chris Roberts before the actual WC SNES portion starts at about the 34:30 mark. They kind of struggled to get into the game due to its controls, but were into the shipboard sequences. With some practice it's really not that hard to fly on the console port, but there is a learning curve to getting the hang of the SNES controller. You can find the landing page for the podcast here or listen on Spotify here.

More Melek for Graphical Novel Project Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's been quite a while since we checked in on EmuMusicFan's efforts to digitize a graphical novel of Action Stations-related material, and he's been steadily growing his stable of characters in that time. We start off with some nice angles on Melek. This is a WC3-centric representation even though most of his stuff is from much earlier in the war. He's also got a stocky guard this time around. I'm anxious to see more Haha Kaliagara in the future. You can see a little teaser of his helmet and tail armor, which is pretty neat!

WC3 Bloopers Appear in Television Feature Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you have “Dick Clark” on your WCNews bingo card, today’s your lucky day! Ripplin spotted this gem in a Classic TV repost of Dick Clark’s The Return of TV Censored Bloopers. These are well known outtakes that show up in various compilations, but it’s pretty awesome to see they were broadcast to a huge audience here. In the mid 1990s, Wing Commander 3 and 4 were rare success stories to cross over to the television circuit like this. Long before tech stations like G4 and modern steaming, this was a rare mainstream glimpse into the digital world. It’s kind of a reverse time capsule: for some of our younger fans, this is what passed for prime Sunday evening TV!
Dick Clark presenting what he says "might be the world's first CD-ROM blooper" featuring Hamill in Wing Commander III.

New WC3 Test Adds New Detail to Cutscene Footage Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

ODVS has another exciting experimental clip to share. Wing Commander 3 hasn't been a huge focus lately as he has primarily worked to refine his enhanced WC4 & Prophecy video. There isn't yet a method to reinsert the WC3 cutscenes into the game, but that hasn't stopped Owen from testing out his latest techniques to drastically improve the quality.

It's funny what decades of nostalgia will do to memories. If someone were to jump to the middle of the clip and happen to start at a sharpened scene, it's easy to think that's just what the game used to look like. Then the much lower fidelity original portion scrolls in and it's a shock how blurry everything was. Modern AI/Machine Learning techniques have finally been able to insert the missing detail our brains accounted for all these years!

I took some of the methods I worked out during the creation of my Wing Commander IV HD Pack and applied them here with significant tweaks and changes. As well as upscaling the footage, I've also increased the frame rate from 15fps to 30fps, making for significantly smoother motion.

It's still not perfect, but it's definitely a step up. The original resolution is only 160p, so this is an upscale of around 600%! The "crazy eyes" phenomenon is far less apparent now and I applied some of the AVIsynth workflow from the WCP remasters to do some sharpness and motion cleanup before running it through the Machine Learning process. It also now picks out more fine detail in hair (and fur) and other such places.

Anyway, still in the experimental phase, but I thought you all might like to see it :^)

Side-by-side Comparison Illustrates Rapier Evolution Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We got a peek at Klavs' new Rapier last week, and it turns out that the ship is part of a triple pack. To the untrained eye Rapiers might just look like Rapiers, but we've actually seen several different variants over the years. The prototype and early production Y/F-44A we see in Wing Commander 1 has a number of unique elements compared to the later F-44G featured in Wing Commander 2. We see it again in Wing Commander Arena, where it most closely resembles a modified version of the fighter as it appears in Super Wing Commander. It'll be interesting to see how these designs continue to shape up!
"Starve before doing business with the damned Navy. They don't know what the hell they want and will drive you up a wall before they break either your heart or a more exposed part of your anatomy." - Kelly Johnson, 20th Century Aerospace Engineer

A Soundtrack for Dropping Temblor Bombs Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We're kicking off the week with glorious Soundcloud track from Chris Kabigting. It's a rousing take on the music that accompanied the opening credits/final mission of Wing Commander 3. It really makes you want to lock and load your Excalibur! You can give it a listen yourself below or find it here.

The Admiral · Wing Commander III - Last Mission (Opening Theme)
I rendered one of the game's music file (was MIDI format) in FLStudio using custom orchestral VST. This music can also be heard on Wing Commander III's opening credits.

Knossos Inclusion Boosts WC Modding Efforts Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Rear Admiral Tarsus reports that he's packaged of Klavs' WC1 ship pack and posted it as a part of Knossos. This will make the designs more readily available for other projects to utilize or build upon. We've long carried a large assortment of Klavs' Terran (676 meg zip) and Kilrathi (353 meg zip) models for people to play around with, and a variety of WC fan projects have put them to good use. You can see a visual gallery of some of the designs here. It sounds like some fans are already working on cool enhancements to pair with these designs!
Basically I packaged CrazyCanuck's copy of Klav's ships so that modders wanting to put Wing Commander 1 ships in Wing Commander Saga have an easier time doing so. I did pretty much zero work compared to the two before me. It is a way for other modders to have an easier time making their mods.

I have been playing with it in FRED and it's truly a rush to take on Sorthaks in a Ferret.

Happy Fourth? Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We usually take a break from Wing Commander updates on the Fourth of July and just wish our visitors from the US a happy and safe Independence Day. For obvious reasons, 2020 is markedly different. Unlike every other year, this time I hope you don't go out and watch a fireworks show. Just stay home with a close circle of family and friends. To Wing Commander fans around the globe, take care and stay safe. If you must go out, be like all the residents of FT957 and be sure to bring your masks.

WC Underdogs Get Lego Treatment Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Wojo dropped off a picture of a couple new Lego Wing Commander creations, and these are pretty sweet. There's a chronically under appreciated Scimitar on the left and a very structurally accurate Drakhri on the right! Everyone loves the Dralthi, but we've seen a million of those, so it's wonderful to see the Drakhri properly represented here. I don't even think everyone will realize its silver and yellow color scheme is totally on point. In fact, they're both pretty color accurate. Not bad at all!
Imma just leave this here then...

The Composer on Coronavirus Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

As promised, Wing Commander composer George Oldziey has extended his weekly series of blogs with a new topic on the effects of the coronavirus. In his new article, he reflects on the impact to the industry and expresses gratitude for being able to work on a variety of projects like his Wing Commander remasters from the safety of his private studio. Check out his new post here.
My original training was as a performer (originally trumpet and now piano), and only much later in my life did I veer towards musical composition. I never abandoned my love of performing, which also gave me inspiration and motivation to compose music that I could perform myself...

Rapier Preps for Duty Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Klavs is back with a little teaser that might look familiar. We always say you can’t have too many Rapiers, and Klavs has taken that advice to heart. He's surely spent more time refining its sleek spaceframe than anyone on the planet, so we'll soon be treated to another F-44 masterpiece. Enjoy the preview below!

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