2021 Recovered Wing Commander Development Files

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On January 17, 2021 a set of three hard drives belonging to an unidentified Origin Systems employee was recovered by Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum and Dan Chisarick. The contents included installations of Wing Commander I and II and a copy of DeluxePaint with several Wing Commander II-related animation files saved.

While the images were originally stored as ANM animation files they are actually collections of static images, likely grouped together as animations for ease of organization and/or presentation. Inividual unique frames have been saved as PCX files and exported as PNGs for the galleries seen below.

The copy of Wing Commander II appears to be a stock install of the original diskette release.

DeluxePaint Files

File Name Size Date File
SABRE.ANM 131,497 bytes ‎2-27-91 4:45:14 https://download.wcnews.com/files/documents/2021datarecovery/SABRE.ANM
SABRE2.ANM 183,320 bytes ‎2-27-91 11:56:30
TURRETS.ANM 198,358 bytes ‎2-27-91 4:46:30
WCII.LBM 3,894 bytes ‎12-10-90 10:50:54

SABRE.ANM

SABRE.ANM includes concept images for all of Wing Commander II's player ships with the exception of the Rapier (which was already designed for Wing Commander I). These concept images use UI elements from Wing Commander I to show how they will function. A previously unknown cut ship named the Mongoose is included as the final design.

  • The Ferret features two VDUs instead of the final single unit.
  • The set includes a side view for the Broadsword with the note that it would not be needed for the final game.
  • Sabre1-Frame1.png
  • Sabre1-Frame2.png
  • Sabre1-Frame3.png
  • Sabre1-Frame4.png
  • Sabre1-Frame5.png
  • Sabre1-Frame6.png
  • Sabre1-Frame7.png
  • Sabre1-Frame8.png
  • Sabre1-Frame9.png
  • Sabre1-Frame10.png
  • Sabre1-Frame11.png
  • Sabre1-Frame12.png
  • Sabre1-Frame13.png

SABRE2.ANM

SABRE2.ANM is a variant of SABRE.ANM with an alternate initial frame.

  • Sabre1-Frame1-Alternate.png

TURRETS.ANM

TURRETS.ANM includes layouts for Wing Commander II's three turrets and some of their UI. The color scheme used on the turrets is significantly different from the finished game.

  • Turret-Frame1.png
  • Turret-Frame2.png
  • Turret-Frame3.png
  • Turret-Frame4.png
  • Turret-Frame5.png
  • Turret-Frame6.png
  • Turret-Frame7.png
  • Turret-Frame8.png
  • Turret-Frame9.png
  • Turret-Frame10.png
  • Turret-Frame11.png
  • Turret-Frame12.png
  • Turret-Frame13.png

WCII.LBM

WCII.LBM is a single DeluxePaint image which seems to be an imcomplete title treatment for Wing Commander II.

  • WC2 Logo.png

WING COMMANDER

The installed version of Wing Commander seems to have several small differences from the commonly released versions. The main executable and a renamed older version (WC_OLD.EXE) feature version numbers not commmonly available. MIDGAME.V05 (the The Secret Missions winning endgame) is also a different, larger file. The significant change seems to be that the release version is better compressed (the version found here repeats the same graphic of the Emperor and his guards for several frames while the commonly available version does not). There also seem to be differences in INSTALL.EXE and TRANSFER.EXE. The copy of The Secret Missions 2: Crusade installed seems to be identical to the retail release.

File Name Size Date Version
WC.EXE 304,224 bytes ‎11-28-90 13:52:00 B3.0
WC_OLD.EXE 302,528 bytes 10-4-90 1:01:10 B2.6
MIDGAME.V05 239,200 bytes 11-19-90 21:57:32 n/a
INSTALL.EXE 51,230 bytes 10-4-90 1:07:12 n/a
TRANSFER.EXE 71,072 bytes 11-19-90 21:55:48 n/a

WING COMMANDER II

The copy of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi installed seems to be identical to the retail release.

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