WC1 Ship Editor

Farbourne

Rear Admiral
Hey folks,

This has come up in passing in other threads I've posted, but at this point I've put real effort in and failed to get results, so I thought I'd start a dedicated thread in hopes someone could help.

I'm trying to somehow access the actual ship stats used in WC1 (the original PC version, not SWC). I'm working on a little fan project, and I wanted to verify that the stats listed as "WC1" that are in the WC Ships database, that I'm putting into my project, do indeed reflect what's in the game (and make sure that, in cases where the ships database does not list stats for WC1 but only from Claw Marks, that the WC1 stats are identical to the Claw Marks values). Since I'm not sure of the pedigree of the Ships database and have already found one error (the number of Darts and Javelins carried by the Scimitar), and since the Ships database disagrees pretty firmly with Claw Marks in places (e.g. the roll rate on the Gratha...), I thought the best thing to do would be to dig into the actual game files.

I would use WCPedia, but I'm not sure of that pedigree, either, and the WCPedia stats seem to sometimes agree with Claw Marks, and sometimes with the Ships database listings for "WC1".

The problem is, the only "Ship Editor" or other fan-developed tool I can find for accessing the in-game stats is the ship editor linked to in the CIC files section: wcview.exe. And it doesn't seem to work.

I tried it on my current system (Windows 7), and it won't even run...it is apparently 16-bit, and Windows 7 supports only 32 and 64 bit applications. I tried running it inside DosBox and it complains that it can't run in a Dos environment, only a Windows environment.

So I dug up a really old laptop that still has WinXP on it, and loaded wcview and WC1 on that. Still no dice. wcview.exe can't seem to find the WC1.exe executable, even when I put them in the same directory (I've tried moving WC1.exe to the viewer's directory, and vice versa, and no dice either way). Before anyone asks, I've also tried with and without the .exe extension.

The WC1 ship viewer, according to its readme, was written back in the early 90's, and the only usable WC1 executable I have is the Kilrathi Saga version...so maybe that's the problem... I have the original version of WC1 on floppy, but I haven't the slightest clue where I'd find a 3.5" floppy drive these days, even if my WC1 disks are still good...

So, I have three questions:
1). Does anyone know of any other fan-developed tools for digging into the WC1 files to extract the actual in-game ship stats? One that runs under Windows 7 and can operate on the Kilrathi Saga version of the game would be ideal...

2). If not, does anyone know how to get the linked wcview.exe editor working on the Kilrathi Saga version of the game? I've looked around for the author and can't seem to find him on Google or linked anywhere.

3). Failing that, I'm not terrible at scripting to interact with binary data... (but hard-core software hacking is beyond me). If someone out there knows where the ship stats are encoded (i.e. how many bytes into what file, and how the data is structured...e.g. int-int-double-double etc.), I can dig it out with my own editor. But I don't know where I would find such data. Has anyone dug into the WC1 files that closely? I figured Mario "HCl" Brito might have, but his website doesn't seem to work anymore...
 
Sorry for replying to my own post, but another option would be...if anyone has already extracted the in-game stats and can either make them available to me, or reliably state that the data in the Ships database is correct, then I would trust them (and credit them in my fan-project)...
 
I might have Marios email address somewhere. I'll dig about for it a bit later.
The one thing I would like to learn about the original WC is where the cutscene info is (probably in the main exe), how it is accessed by the game and how to control it.

I mean if it is in the main exe, there is probably no way to change it, but I would like to know if there is a way to turn it off, so a campaign does not trigger it, because if I ever get my campaign editor off the ground, it will be a little annoying to have random vega campaign cutscenes popping up.
 
as i recall wcview is a little temperamental with these things, basically only some versions of the wc exe work - install sm1 and see if it prefers that!
anyway, it definitely works with copies of sm2.exe - if not then i'll get the info out for you, i definitely have at least one copy of wc.exe that works.
 
Just ran across this thread.

I've been messing around with WC since I was a kid. I used to edit everything I could decipher in WC 1 and WC 2. I even wrote an editor about 15 years ago in basic. If I have time, I may dabble and create one in VB for Windows.

Anyways, the point is I am currently playing the saga again, and will gladly tell you directly what any ship stats are and how to find them in a HEX editor.

It's been years since I've played WC2, going through it now. I remember how many ship bugs they left in it. Mainly weapon positions. Ever notice how many cannons are not centered properly? Too bad I didn't save all my old work.
 
Just ran across this thread.

I've been messing around with WC since I was a kid. I used to edit everything I could decipher in WC 1 and WC 2. I even wrote an editor about 15 years ago in basic. If I have time, I may dabble and create one in VB for Windows.

Anyways, the point is I am currently playing the saga again, and will gladly tell you directly what any ship stats are and how to find them in a HEX editor.

Either way would be awesome. When I was unable to get wcview working with KS, I sort of let the project languish, but if you have the ship stats from the game reliably, I'll pick it back up again...
 
Dude... sorry to jump in after three years... but could someone let me know how to use a hex editor to modify ship data for Wing Commander 1? As most of you have stated here, WC.exe that's commonly available won't work with WCView...

Thanks so much!!!
 
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