Wcdx - Kilrathi Saga for modern Windows

[Skanks]

Random question - is Goliath still working on the Sprite Upgrade project?

I don’t think he has been around in ages now. Has anyone heard from him?

 

[Bitterman]

Well, as mentioned, the main issue here is that the scene data was changed for KS. I haven't spent any time digging into the data, though I know that some of the formats involved have already been deciphered and documented by other people. Still, researching the data and finding a good approach to correcting the issue looks like a major project from my perspective, and I'd likely get more mileage out of going after some lower-hanging fruit first (such as cockpit damage animations -- my old nemesis...).

you will fix it!

all because we have faith on it and WC1 WCDX is good!

 

[Salk]

Hello, Stinger!

It's been quite some time since I made my last visit here and I am very glad to see WCDX is still going strong and that a new version was released only recently. That really is fantastic!

I know for a fact how time is the real and only limiting factors for project like yours. And I suspect that even if WCDX is open source, we are probably talking of a one-man-army project here.

If you have a moment, would you care to tell us what WCDX's highest priorities are? What is the most urgent accomplishment you'll be pursuing? Personally I'd love to see the cockpit damage correctly restored. At the same time, even if there is some sort of affection for the "old pixels" look of the original game, it'd be nice to have a proper coat of paint to it. Of course, it should be as low-key as possible and I know that it may just as well be a fool's errand.

Best regards and thanks again for all your work and dedication!

 

[Stinger]

Well, there are a few options here:

• I really would like to get cockpit damage fixed, as that's really the final missing feature for WC1.
• I also need to go back through this thread looking for any reported unaddressed bugs (I really should be tracking this in GitHub).
• WC2 has some input issues (clicking during cutscenes sometimes counts as two clicks, for instance), and also appears to stall whenever entering autopilot. It also doesn't play well with non-QWERTY keyboard layouts (I use Dvorak).

Those I think are the most immediate issues to deal with. Looking farther ahead to larger projects:

• I would like to spend some time investigating cutscene timing in WC2.
• People have asked for graphics filters such as pixel smoothing, and I agree that would be a neat feature. This is something simple that others could reasonably handle if they were inclined to contribute to the project.
• Throttle support in WC1 and WC2 would be awesome.
• I could start work on WC3, with the specific goal of supporting @ODVS's work on enhanced cutscenes.

There's certainly plenty of work here to stay busy, but time is certainly at a premium and I can't promise that any of these things will happen soon. If there's anyone out there who would like to collaborate, please let me know!

 

[Shades2585]

Thanks for all your hard work @Stinger Do you think there is any way to fix the pilot import bug that kills Spirit in WC2?
Keep up the great work!
Shades

 

[FekLeyrTarg]

• People have asked for graphics filters such as pixel smoothing, and I agree that would be a neat feature. This is something simple that others could reasonably handle if they were inclined to contribute to the project.

sol_hsa did something like that 10 years ago. It may be worth looking into:

solhsa.com - code

Kilrathi saga owners: beta testers needed

Howdy. I came upon the possession of the kilrathi saga recently, and I *hate* what I have to do to get it to play in win7. So I started writing this directdraw hack. http://iki.fi/sol/zip/ddhack01.zip The zip contains a ddraw.dll and a readme file. Usage: Copy to the application...

www.wcnews.com

ddhack final - wc1-3ks, wc4cd support

Okiedokie. http://iki.fi/sol/ddhack/ I've released ddhack 1.0, most likely the final version ever, unless something weird happens. I did a quick cleanup of the source code, and released it as well, as promised, so if someone wants to take it for a spin, I won't mind. The page also...

www.wcnews.com

 

[Bitterman]

Well, there are a few options here:

• I really would like to get cockpit damage fixed, as that's really the final missing feature for WC1.
• I also need to go back through this thread looking for any reported unaddressed bugs (I really should be tracking this in GitHub).
• WC2 has some input issues (clicking during cutscenes sometimes counts as two clicks, for instance), and also appears to stall whenever entering autopilot. It also doesn't play well with non-QWERTY keyboard layouts (I use Dvorak).

Those I think are the most immediate issues to deal with. Looking farther ahead to larger projects:

• I would like to spend some time investigating cutscene timing in WC2.
• People have asked for graphics filters such as pixel smoothing, and I agree that would be a neat feature. This is something simple that others could reasonably handle if they were inclined to contribute to the project.
• Throttle support in WC1 and WC2 would be awesome.
• I could start work on WC3, with the specific goal of supporting @ODVS's work on enhanced cutscenes.

There's certainly plenty of work here to stay busy, but time is certainly at a premium and I can't promise that any of these things will happen soon. If there's anyone out there who would like to collaborate, please let me know!

Graphic filters are non issue, reshade works on that since its d3d9.dll works on it and recently they added a framerate limiter and a better version of the CRT Lottes filter from retroarch

the cutscenes timing and mouth dialogue animations are the main issue, which the limiter doesn't help that much.
it would be nice if you could add to the src so people could play it, a external addon support/folder would be nice too for wc3 along with custom resolutions.

it would be interesting to see WC3 in 1080p or 4k with MSAA and custom model and texture support

 

[Darkmage]

Force Feedback joystick support, even if you can't add it yourself, if you can give us the variable/memory addresses to hook the .exe we can add support ourselves.

 

[Stinger]

Yup, that's another good one!

 

[Bitterman]

i didn't had time to test WC3 with the newest reshade lottes earlier on, but here is some screens

Also a neat suggestion for it, make us chose the space color inbetween Armada console black or svga dos dark blue

 

[Panther1.0]

Great job Stinger ! been playing SM1.5, feels like a whole new expansion pack for Wing Commander 1, the levels seems great without issues, few glitches in the briefings, also noticed both sm1 and 2 working now properly on modern pc, cool planets and the sound too, I always puzzled on the repeating victory sound until I read now it's a bug sorted.

I would also like throttle support, that will be great !

 

[Bitterman]

Also since stinger asked for shaders, i think reshade is a better option, though i had to make it work on WC1 and 2 WCDX by using Dgvoodoo2 D3d9 x86 dll and wrap it with reshade'x dx10 dxgi.dll to make it work
here is the same setup but with a few changes and a before and after

 

[wcnut]

Finally finding my KS cds, and trying this out. Awesome job! Works great in wine, which is something that even the original didn't

 

[Mace]

Great job Stinger ! been playing SM1.5, feels like a whole new expansion pack for Wing Commander 1, the levels seems great without issues, few glitches in the briefings, also noticed both sm1 and 2 working now properly on modern pc, cool planets and the sound too, I always puzzled on the repeating victory sound until I read now it's a bug sorted.

I would also like throttle support, that will be great !

I think the easy way to do that would be for the Z-axis: 0-10%=Full stop, 10-40% is decrease, 40-60%=nothing, 60-75%=increase, 75-95%=max, 95-100%=Afterburner.. Don't think adding an analogue axis would be easy.

 

[Zaljerem]

Just checking in to confirm Windows XP functionality, and to thank Stinger for a great piece of work (and responding so quickly to my report on Github to get it running on older processors). Much appreciated!

 

[Panther1.0]

is it running in XP ? WOW !

 

[Stinger]

Just checking in to confirm Windows XP functionality, and to thank Stinger for a great piece of work (and responding so quickly to my report on Github to get it running on older processors). Much appreciated!

Welcome to the forums!

is it running in XP ? WOW !

Yup; that was always a goal, but I didn't have an appropriate early machine for testing. @Zaljerem was able to confirm that an updated build will work on earlier processors.

 

[Bitterman]

If stinger is interested if he has free time at blizzard

The newest DGVoodoo2 update has a FPS limiter, and it works with WCDX WC2
Locked at 30 fps the into cutscene worked well along with the other non tied voiced stuff

 

[Stinger]

That's an interesting approach, but I'm guessing that it won't fix the timings for the cutscenes. I'd expect to still see ghost cockpits and other similar artifacts.

 

[Stinger]

Wcdx 2.2.1 is now released! Grab it here.

Cockpit damage is finally here! Now you, too, can watch your cockpit come alive as it disintegrates around you! Is WC2 too much of a cakewalk? Try it without your radar!

Of course, cockpit damage would never be complete if it didn't cause your VDUs to go all crazy. VDU static somehow never quite materialized in the Kilrathi Saga, but now it's here! Who doesn't love that brief flicker of static during comms messages?

I believe this completes the missing feature set for WC1. WC2 still needs a lot of work for cut scenes, and I think the input handling could be a lot better. Expect to see more updates in the future, though I make no promises on timing. It only took me... eleven months... since the last release to fix these two small issues. How time flies...