Confederation

[Vidmaster]

This is obviously very exciting.

While it is an incredible time to be a fan of these old games, I must admit that, at some point, these many improvement projects will probably need some sort of unification 😟. I already dreaded patching up Prophecy a few years back, with OpenGL-Patches, driver fixes, movie fixes and model upgrades that need to be applied in the right order. With WC1, we would have the Kilrathi Saga fixpacks, plus the voiceover mod and then your future patch and I am already seeing another one of these chains.

Me, being a Super Wing Commander-kind-of-guy, still dream of a playable version of that game with a stable frame rate running on some modern device I own. Your impressive work, while currently focused on the original one, remains the best chance of this ever happening.

But fixing the framerate of the classic WC1 will probably make it accessible for a shit-ton of new people. It is *THE* central fix required for this game. If the right channels get wind of it, that fan patch could even make quite a splash in the retro community.
Modern Vintage Gamer just released a video about WC1 a few days ago, that is already north of 100.000 views... ...and mentioned the framerate as a big problem. See what I mean there? This could be a big moment for the community.

 

[AllTinker]

With WC1, we would have the Kilrathi Saga fixpacks, plus the voiceover mod and then your future patch and I am already seeing another one of these chains.

Just to clarify, mine is for DOS, runs on original hardware (or DOSBox), and is - hopefully - a one-and-done sort of affair. It doesn't really have much crossover with Wing Loader and Kilrathi Saga-based mods, and can't (in any practical sense) replicate everything they can do, e.g. for digital audio.

The goal is to have a version of WC1 for DOS (which is my original/preferred version) which is as close to "polished" as possible. This means fixing the lack of speed limiting, fixing known bugs, and adding some quality-of-life features. There may be some minor extra things I'll add after the initial release, but I'm hoping I've covered most of the bases already.

The biggest thing I imagine people will want post-release is the same sort of thing for DOS WC2... And that's definitely a possibility. Not a trivial one, sadly, but a possibility.

I must admit that, at some point, these many improvement projects will probably need some sort of unification 😟. I already dreaded patching up Prophecy a few years back, with OpenGL-Patches, driver fixes, movie fixes and model upgrades that need to be applied in the right order

Yeah, I agree that the patching/upgrade process for a bunch of these games could do with some streamlined methods of installation. I've considered doing that myself, but who knows if-or-when I'll get around to it... Prophecy seems to have the additional challenge of Windows 11 breaking even more older games than were already broken - one of the (admittedly less important) reasons I won't touch Win11.

Me, being a Super Wing Commander-kind-of-guy, still dream of a playable version of that game with a stable frame rate running on some modern device I own.

I've been making some progress on Super Wing Commander via my work on Originator. Wrapping up my work on 3DO SWC/WC3 is something I want to do before getting back to Confederation. I believe the content itself is identical to the Mac version, but the 3DO disc format is a lot easier to work with (I might support HFS discs eventually)... Anyway, supporting SWC in Confederation is something I want to happen; even if it ends up being more or less just a skin over my WC1 re-implementation to begin with.

 

[Vidmaster]

Anyway, supporting SWC in Confederation is something I want to happen; even if it ends up being more or less just a skin over my WC1 re-implementation to begin with.

I know and I will be there, cheering you on 😅

Just to clarify, mine is for DOS, runs on original hardware (or DOSBox), and is - hopefully - a one-and-done sort of affair. It doesn't really have much crossover with Wing Loader and Kilrathi Saga-based mods, and can't (in any practical sense) replicate everything they can do, e.g. for digital audio.

The goal is to have a version of WC1 for DOS (which is my original/preferred version) which is as close to "polished" as possible. This means fixing the lack of speed limiting, fixing known bugs, and adding some quality-of-life features. There may be some minor extra things I'll add after the initial release, but I'm hoping I've covered most of the bases already.

I would have done it the same way, simply because that will directly benefit the most people. If this takes the shape of a PATCHER or INSTALLER, may I recommend focusing on the GoG game structure, as that is probably the most widespread version.

 

[AllTinker]

My current plan is to provide two options; 1) a ZIP file which requires some manual setup, but will work on any platform (including native DOS), and 2) an installer for Windows which I'm hoping will detect GOG or EA Origin copies of WC1 and (by default) bring over the required files automatically if they're present.