Category:Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom

Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
Platform	MS-DOS Windows 95 (DVD) Macintosh Playstation (PSX)
Engine	RealSpace
Release Date	February 1996 DVD: October 14, 1997 (1997.287"1997.287" contains a sequence that could not be interpreted against an available match matrix for date components.) GoG: April 3, 2012 (2012.094"2012.094" contains a sequence that could not be interpreted against an available match matrix for date components.)
Language	English German
Rating	ESRB: M

Description

Believe it - the BEST interactive movie has just gotten BETTER!

The Kilrathi war may be over, but back home nothing is the same. There's trouble in the Border Worlds. Civil War seems imminent. You have to decide how to save the Confederation — or if it should be saved at all!

The latest epic adventure in the Wing Commander saga applies improved cinematic techniques and photo-realistic graphics to a story of intrigue, betrayal and death. Never before has Hollywood been so completely under your control.

• Ensemble cast of favorites, including Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies and Tom Wilson (as Maniac)

• Enhanced movie quality, including panning camera and detailed Hollywood studio sets

• Shot on film!

• Runs under Win 95 with a DOS reboot

• Completely woven story featuring old friends and new comrades

• Photo-realistic textures on all ships

• Enhanced interactivity both in and out of the cockpit — plus greater control of missions and drama

• Digital music throughout the game

• 16-bit movies with Dolby® surround sound

• Better-than-ever gameplay

• Full screen view for enhanced visibility
  
  

System Requirements

Computer.	Wing Commander IV requires at least an IBM 486 DX/2 66+MHz or 100% compatible system, and MS-DOS version 5.0 or higher. Pentium™ machines are recommended for SVGA spaceflight.
Video Card.	VESA-compliant SVGA (640x480). A local bus or PCI video card is required.
Hard Drive.	You must have a minimum of 30 MB free on your hard drive to install and play this game.
CD-ROM Drive.	You must have at least a double-speed CD-ROM drive with a transfer rate of 300,000 bytes/second or higher.
Mouse.	Wing Commander IV requires a Microsoft or 100% compatible mouse using Microsoft software driver version 7.0 or higher or 100% compatible software driver.
Memory.	Wing Commander IV uses 360K (368,640 bytes) of conventional RAM (base memory) and 7000K (7,168,000 bytes) of either extended memory (XMS) or expanded memory (EMS). You must have a minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM installed in your machine. We recommend using an XMS setup for machines with only 8 megs RAM.

Box Contents

MS-DOS

English

• (6) CDs (your game!)
• Wing Commander IV Introduction (40 pp.) with basic installation instructions, Tutorial, Option Screen information, detailed Installation Help, directions for Creating a Boot Disk (p. 11) and Troubleshooting answers to possible problems (p. 32)
• The Price of Freedom (48 pp.) giving you an expanded version of what happened between Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV.
• Playguide (32 pp.) telling you how to play the game and set game options.
• Reference Card (4 pp.) listing all keyboard, mouse and joystick commands in the game.
• Registration Card — we'd love to know who you are!
• Catalogs and other advertising, describing the worlds of gaming opportunities EA provides.

Russian

• Wing Commander IV Manual Russian

Windows

Sony PlayStation

• How To Play The Sony Playstation Game "Wing Commander IV"
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom Battle Book
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom New Officer's Handbook

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Credits

Team

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Advertising

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In 1995, Origin created several beautiful magazine covers to promote Wing Commander IV. Rather than simply capture screens from the game itself, these renderings were unique works of art. Now you can see the original resolution images, as they were created before being sent off to the magazine editors! A fourth image was created for [Electronic Entertainment], although the source file has not been located.

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Versions

DOS / Windows 95 CD

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Windows 95 DVD (single sided)

Same as the PC Windows 95 version, still uses the high compression Xan movie.

Ports

DVD (double sided)

Created for bundling with a Creative Labs Encore DVD kit. Same as the PC (Win95) version, but with high quality video sequences - as clear as a real movie rather than higher compression Xan movie.

Macintosh

Identical to the initial PC release.

Playstation

Cuts out a significant amount of video and missions (no Circe Series, for instance). Ground missions replaced with new space-based missions with similar objectives. Briefing videos altered slightly to represent this.

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Strategy Guides

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Re-Releases

Screenshots

Development

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Patches / Addons

Origin

• 16 bit SVGA Patch (English)
• 16 bit SVGA Patch (German & French)
• Colorado Spectrum Joystick Patch (Wing Commander IV)
• Joystick Patch (Wing Commander IV)
• PC Demo Patch
• Windows 95 Upgrade

Fan Made

• Compatibility Super Patch
• DVD Upgrade Patch
• DirectDraw Hack
• GOG WC4 Video Patch
• GPL MPEG-2 decoder filter
• Hellcat Upgrade
• Play DVD Version Without DxR Board
• Windows 95 Upgrade Windows 2000 Patch
• Wing Commander 4 HD Video Pack
• Wing Commander IV DVD Windows 2000 Patch
• Wing Commander IV DVD Windows 2000 Patch with alternate mpeg2.dll

Editing Tools

• HCl's Movie Viewer
• IFF Extractor
• Mission Editor (Wing Commander IV)
• PSX Video Extraction Tool
• Ship Editor
• WC3, WC4 File Extractor

Miscellaneous Files

• 3D Models in 3D Studio Format
• Black Lance Logo (.MOV)
• Border Worlds Logo (.MOV)
• CD Covers for WC4 Movie CDs
• Collection of Maniac Sounds
• Collection of Pliers Sounds
• Collection of Pliers Sounds for Mac
• Collection of Sounds for the WCIV Mac Demo
• Easter Egg Sound
• PlayStation Sound Effects
• Set of WC4 CD or DVD Cases
• Tank Model for Lightwave
• WC4 Audio Pack
• WC4 DVD Videos Pack 1
• WC4 DVD Videos Pack 2
• WC4 DVD Videos Pack 3
• WC4 DVD Videos Pack 4
• WC4 Gameflow Audio
• Wing Commander IV Script

Music

High quality background music

• Main Title, Space Ambush and Combat by George Oldziey
• The Borderworlds by George Oldziey
• Telamon, The Dead Planet by George Oldziey
• Blair and Tolwyn Prepare for Battle by George Oldziey
• Confronting Tolwyn, War Averted, Tolwyn's Death by George Oldziey
• Engage by George Oldziey
• So, You Think You've Won by George Oldziey
• End Music by George Oldziey

Thanks to Mad Hatter. (Details, more)

Various tracks

• Credits by George Oldziey
• Final Mission by George Oldziey
• Victory by George Oldziey
• End Music by George Oldziey
• End Credits by George Oldziey
• Inflight Music
• More Inflight Music by George Oldziey
• Inflight by George Oldziey
• Inflight 1 by George Oldziey
• Inflight 2 by George Oldziey
• Inflight 3 by George Oldziey
• Inflight 5 by George Oldziey
• Inflight 6 by George Oldziey

Cheats

PC

• In flight, press Alt-O.

  Select invincibility.

• Start the game with "wc4 -chicken" at the command line to enter debug mode. You should see the message "Chicken mode: [ON] Boc Boc!" during game start-up.
• Ctrl-W destroys your target. Ctrl-Alt-W destroys all enemies on the radar. Alt-F displays framerate.
• Start the game with "wc4 -mitchell" at the command line to get the message "Mitchell don't work here no more. He work for Bazooka Joe now." during game start-up.
• Start the game with "wc4 -mitchell2" at the command line to get the message "I told you he don't work here no more! You call Bazooka Joe! during game start-up."
• Start the game with "wc4 -test" at the command line to get the message "Test okay!!!" during game start-up. The game then crashes.

PlayStation

• At the Wing Commander copyright screen, press Up, Down, Down, Up, R2.

  Press R1 or R2 to select a game level.

Manuals and Game Documentation

• How To Play The Sony Playstation Game "Wing Commander IV"
• Wing Commander IV Manual
• Wing Commander IV Manual Russian
• Wing Commander IV Reference Card
• Wing Commander IV Shipstats
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom Battle Book
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom New Officer's Handbook
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom Playguide

Controls

PC & Macintosh

Afterburner				Tab
Toggle Afterburner			`
Fire guns				Space
Fire missile				Enter
Accelerate				+
Decelerate				-
Full speed				~
Full stop				Backspace
Match target speed			Y
Look left				F2
Look right				F3
Look forward				F1
Look behind				F4
Display rear turret in left VDU		Ctrl-F4
Chase view				F5
Battle view				F6
Tactical view				F7
Missile camera				F8
Victim camera				F9
Track camera				F10
Cycle weapons				M
Cycle guns				G
Full guns				F
Drop decoy				E
Syncronize guns				Ctrl-G
Special guns/rear turret tractor beam	H
Select all hardpoints			B
Cycle targets				T
Cycle turrets				R
Jump					J
Cloak					Ctrl-C
Disable Auto-Tracking			Ctrl-A
Disable Smart-Targeting			Ctrl-S
Auto-slide				Caps Lock
Toggle Auto-slide			/
Lock target				L
Damage HUD				D
Shield HUD				S
Weapons HUD				W
Autopilot				A
Comms select				C
Nav Map					N
Power menu				P
Decrease power to selected component	[
Increase power to selected component	]
Lock power to selected component	Ctrl-[
Eject					Ctrl-E
Options Menu				Alt-O

Playstation

Ship Movement		D-Pad
Roll Left/Right		L2 + D-Pad
Afterburner		R1 + R2
Cycle Camera Views	L2 + R1
Fire guns		Square
Fire missile		X
Accelerate		R1
Decelerate		R2
Maximum Speed		L1 + R1
Full Stop		L1 + R2
Cycle weapons		L1 + X
Cycle guns		L1 + Square
Rear Turret		L1 + Select
Cycle targets		Triangle
Smart Targeting		L1 + Triangle
Decoy			Circle
Match Speed		R1 + Triangle
Autopilot		Select
Comms select		Select + Left/Right
Nav Map/Exit Nav Map	Start
Eject			L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start
Cloak			L1 + L2 + R1 + R2
New Game		Hold Select + Start for 2 seconds
Taunt			Select + Square
Break and Attack	Select + Triangle
Cycle Comm Option 	L2
Select Comm Option 	L1 (Quick Select Comm ON)
Viewscreen 		L1 + D-Pad (Quick Select Comm OFF)
Rotate Nav Map		D-Pad
Zoom In Nav Map		R1
Zoom Out Nav Map	R2
Cycle Nav map targets	Triangle
Options Menu 		X (while in nav map)

Cutscenes

Behind The Scenes Of WCIV Carlos Mendonça found something really neat that we don't recall seeing before - seven behind the scenes videos from the set of Wing Commander IV! They were found in the January 1996 copy of Multimedia World Live! and are a mixture of interviews, behind the scenes action, and even a blooper video. Here they are in their original form of 320x240 12 frames/sec Cinepak video and 8 bit sound.

• blair2.avi - Interview with Mark Hamill.
• maniac1.avi - Interview with Tom Wilson 1.
• maniac2.avi - Interview with Tom Wilson 2.
• wing1.avi - Behind the scenes, interviews with Chris Roberts, Mark Hamill, Malcolm Macdowell, Tom Wilson, Jason Bernard.
• wing3.avi - Wing Commander IV trailer.
• wing4.avi - Briefing blooper.
• wing5.avi - Those damn doors again.

Ships

Terran Confederation

• Fighters

F-27 Arrow V	Hellcat V	HF-66 Thunderbolt VII	F/A-76 Longbow	Bearcat	F-103 Excalibur

• Capital Ships

Shuttle	Clarkson	Jammer	Caernaven	Southampton	Tallahassee	Concordia	Vesuvius

• Installations

Jump Buoy	Radar Buoy	Turret Mine	Radar Array	Comm Station	Depot	Dry Dock	Factory

Super Base	Space Lab	Ground Turret	Hover Tank	Missile Tank	Underground Base	Communications Array

Black Lance

Fighter	Capital Ship	Installation
F-107 Lance	Evansville	Axius

Pirate

• Fighters

Razor	F-27 Arrow V	HF-66 Thunderbolt VII

• Capital Ship

Caernaven

Union of Border Worlds

• Fighters

Banshee	Vindicator	Avenger	Manned Insertion Pod

• Capital Ships

Shuttle	Clarkson	Caernaven	Southampton	Tallahassee	Durango

• Installations

Space Lab	Ground Turret	Hover Tank	Underground Base	Communications Array	Ground Complex

Empire of Kilrah

• Fighters

Dralthi IV

• Capital Ships

Shuttle

• Installation

Starbase

Missions

Weapons

Guns

Missiles