Wing Commander: Covert Missions (was: SM 1.5 (Working Title))

wcnut said:
Hey guys, sorry it took me a while to respond. To be honest I don't rightly remember. It would take a lot of game play to get to that point. In SWC you don't get to choose the campaign, it's really a single very long campaign.
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I have several saves on my 3DO during that campaign still active as well as a working unit. Had it setup for a walkthrough I was making but the laptop that hosted it suffered a HDD crash and I just didn't have the heart to resume it.

That said, I can load up any mission you might need to investigate... if needed.
 
Whistler said:
That said, I can load up any mission you might need to investigate... if needed.
Click to expand...
Yes, please.
The data files of the first mission and S2M3 (third mission of second series) mention some entity with ID 51, which is unknown.
Below, I have listed all entities that appear on the map of those two missions (eg Tigersclaw is 8, but I have listed it here as Tigers Claw).
Could you please check those two missions for each entity that appears?
If you encounter something that's not part of this list, it should be 51

I'd love to know what ID 51 could be (Asteroids would be 22, btw. The full list of known values can be found here https://github.com/delMar43/wcworks.../java/wcworkshop/core/data/Wc1ModuleShip.java if anyone's interested).

S1M1
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
JALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
FRALTHI
MINES
51?

S2M3
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
SALTHI
SALTHI
SALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
FRALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
MINES
51?
 
delMar said:
Yes, please.
The data files of the first mission and S2M3 (third mission of second series) mention some entity with ID 51, which is unknown.
Below, I have listed all entities that appear on the map of those two missions (eg Tigersclaw is 8, but I have listed it here as Tigers Claw).
Could you please check those two missions for each entity that appears?
If you encounter something that's not part of this list, it should be 51

I'd love to know what ID 51 could be (Asteroids would be 22, btw. The full list of known values can be found here https://github.com/delMar43/wcworks.../java/wcworkshop/core/data/Wc1ModuleShip.java if anyone's interested).

S1M1
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
JALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
FRALTHI
MINES
51?

S2M3
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
SALTHI
SALTHI
SALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
FRALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
MINES
51?
Click to expand...
I haven't pulled all the images from the objects file. Is there a image difference between the Proximity Mine the Porcupine Mine?
 
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delMar said:
Yes, please.
The data files of the first mission and S2M3 (third mission of second series) mention some entity with ID 51, which is unknown.
Below, I have listed all entities that appear on the map of those two missions (eg Tigersclaw is 8, but I have listed it here as Tigers Claw).
Could you please check those two missions for each entity that appears?
If you encounter something that's not part of this list, it should be 51

I'd love to know what ID 51 could be (Asteroids would be 22, btw. The full list of known values can be found here https://github.com/delMar43/wcworks.../java/wcworkshop/core/data/Wc1ModuleShip.java if anyone's interested).

S1M1
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
JALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
FRALTHI
MINES
51?

S2M3
----
TIGERSCLAW
RAPIER
RAPIER
SALTHI
SALTHI
SALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
DRALTHI
FRALTHI
JALTHI
JALTHI
KRANT
KRANT
KRANT
GRATHA
GRATHA
GRATHA
MINES
51?
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I'll take a spin through both and document seen objects. I assume that last one labelled reads as System 2 Mission 3 and the first mission?

I'm on it now.

EDIT:
First mission report: Gratha, Jalthi, the TC, Hunter, a Fralthi, and two recurring planet images I wasn't sure if you want counted. Nothing else unusual. Interesting note: Mission 2 has a friendly Dralthi.

Second Mission, Cairo system.
All 4 Kilrathi Fighters, the TC, Maniac, and a Fralthi. Bossman bites it in the script during debriefing. Not seeing anything unusual.

That's all I have to report.

Are you sure the numbering is right? The 2nd mission in Cairo features a defecting Kilrathi ;) flying a Dralthi. 3rd mission was typical fights.
 
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Ok, so after my first full playthrough, here are all the bugs I can remember.

...but first of all, great work just getting this working in the first place! A great addition for any Wingnut's collection.

Some of these you already know about:

!!!! *SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED BEFORE* !!!!!

- 'TALK TO JAZZ' shows Bossman's figure sitting in the bar. His talking face is fine though.
- 'TALK TO JAZZ' sometimes causes a random crash
- 'TALK TO KNIGHT' shows Paladin's figure sitting in the bar. Dialogue face is fine.
- On the final Dralthi covert mission, you fly through the asteroids to intercept transmissions from the Fralthi. Due the way Wing Commander 1's engine is set up, the Fralthi will almost always self destruct when you fly away, since it's still within your combat range when you run into the asteroid field on your way back to the Tiger's Claw. This loses the mission. The remedy for this is to have the Fralthi NAV point much further away from the Asteroids, so you've already gone out of range by the time you hit the asteroid belt.
- The SM2 classic: Jazz's VDU shows Bossman's image.
- After the final mission, during the debriefing, your character reports the enemy starbase has been destroyed, but then Shotglass appears right there on the hangar deck, and says "You'd better get to the briefing room immediately!" The cutscene then ends without hearing from Halcyon.
- The end sequence is from the losing path of WC1. Although, this actually fits quite nicely. (Intentional)
- Sometimes the back of your wingman's head in the debriefing scenes is replaced with the front of Halcyon's head.

I'm running the game with Kilrathi Saga SM2. Errors occur both with and without WCDX.
 
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-danr- said:
Ok, so after my first full playthrough, here are all the bugs I can remember.

...but first of all, great work just getting this working in the first place! A great addition for any Wingnut's collection.

Some of these you already know about:

!!!! *SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED BEFORE* !!!!!

- 'TALK TO JAZZ' shows Bossman's figure sitting in the bar. His talking face is fine though.
- 'TALK TO JAZZ' sometimes causes a random crash
- 'TALK TO KNIGHT' shows Paladin's figure sitting in the bar. Dialogue face is fine.
- On the final Dralthi covert mission, you fly through the asteroids to intercept transmissions from the Fralthi. Due the way Wing Commander 1's engine is set up, the Fralthi will almost always self destruct when you fly away, since it's still within your combat range when you run into the asteroid field on your way back to the Tiger's Claw. This loses the mission. The remedy for this is to have the Fralthi NAV point much further away from the Asteroids, so you've already gone out of range by the time you hit the asteroid belt.
- The SM2 classic: Jazz's VDU shows Bossman's image.
- After the final mission, during the debriefing, your character reports the enemy starbase has been destroyed, but then Shotglass appears right there on the hangar deck, and says "You'd better get to the briefing room immediately!" The cutscene then ends without hearing from Halcyon.
- The end sequence is from the losing path of WC1. Although, this actually fits quite nicely. (Intentional)
- Sometimes the back of your wingman's head in the debriefing scenes is replaced with the front of Halcyon's head.

I'm running the game with Kilrathi Saga SM2. Errors occur both with and without WCDX.
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The initial thought was that in SM2 Bossman and Paladin was replace with Jazz and Doomsday. It turns out that was not the case. SM2 has additional files for the two pilots. Talking1.vga shows the facial animations for Jazz and Doomsday and the recroom animations. Wingmen1.vga shows the VDU images. I'm sure delMar will have that fixed when he figures out the pointer for it.
As to the final mission what you see is what was ripped from the files but based on our WCWiki I believe there is supposed to be a mid game video. I would love to see what it looks like to see if it can be recreated.
 
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Whistler said:
I have several saves on my 3DO during that campaign still active as well as a working unit. Had it setup for a walkthrough I was making but the laptop that hosted it suffered a HDD crash and I just didn't have the heart to resume it.

That said, I can load up any mission you might need to investigate... if needed.
Click to expand...
Is there a way you could record the missions and post them? That would be very helpful to reference. I think there is supposed to be a midgame sequence at the end of the final mission that we don't have that I would love to see. :D
 
Shades2585 said:
Is there a way you could record the missions and post them? That would be very helpful to reference. I think there is supposed to be a midgame sequence at the end of the final mission that we don't have that I would love to see. :D
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Unfortunatly, I lack a means to directly record off the TV. I can take pictures and record dialogue, but the best I can do is directly record with my phone camera. When I WAS making my walkthrough I was sticking to transcripts and after-action reports, not unlike the Farlander Papers or Steele Chronicles. The lens shoots up to 16M pixels so detail is good, but I'd still be shooting an SDTV.

Like I said, I have save points strategically scattered around the campaign, and debug mode can make my reports faster. I can playback the cutscenes easily enough, if you don't mind my more direct method of recording. Lastly, I'd need some upload room. Any suggestions other than YouTube or my Flikr?
 
First all - I want to say this is a fantastic thing you guys have done. Second, I have a technical question.

Is this conversion of SM 1.5 simply redoing the missions of that game in SM2's engine or have you developed a way to have the PC WC engine translate the data from the original Mac version of the game? I apologize if I missed the original explanation earlier.
 
Sylvester said:
Is this conversion of SM 1.5 simply redoing the missions of that game in SM2's engine or have you developed a way to have the PC WC engine translate the data from the original Mac version of the game?
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@UnnamedCharacter developed a set of tools that allows for conversion of Wing Commander's binary data files into platform independent XML files (see this thread https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/introducing-wing-commander-games-library.27769/). Those tools work with both the SWC and the PC data files. So he was able to convert the SWC binary data files into XML files which in turn could be converted into PC data files.
Some things still need manual fixing, though, but it is playable to a very large degree.
 
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Shades2585 said:
Is there a image difference between the Proximity Mine the Porcupine Mine?
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There are different types of mines in Wing Commander?

@Whistler, thanks for taking the time... Sorry for the misleading info, but you played the right missions (both with Fralthis in).
I guess we should be save to just remove those unknown IDs, as according to my tests it didn't crash the game.

I'd also love to have information on the cutscenes, as @Shades2585 mentioned.
For example @-danr- mentioned: The end sequence is from the losing path of WC1.
I'd highly appreciate to have some info on what's supposed to be played.

Whistler said:
Like I said, I have save points strategically scattered around the campaign, and debug mode can make my reports faster. I can playback the cutscenes easily enough, if you don't mind my more direct method of recording. Lastly, I'd need some upload room. Any suggestions other than YouTube or my Flikr?
Click to expand...
Both, YouTube and Flickr are fine for me.
 
@delMar This weekend I can try to looking into taking Knight's recroom images flipping and editing them so he sits correctly in the left seat. Someone can put those images into Talking1.vga and you can reference it. If that is something you are interested in?
 
Whistler said:
Unfortunatly, I lack a means to directly record off the TV. I can take pictures and record dialogue, but the best I can do is directly record with my phone camera. When I WAS making my walkthrough I was sticking to transcripts and after-action reports, not unlike the Farlander Papers or Steele Chronicles. The lens shoots up to 16M pixels so detail is good, but I'd still be shooting an SDTV.

Like I said, I have save points strategically scattered around the campaign, and debug mode can make my reports faster. I can playback the cutscenes easily enough, if you don't mind my more direct method of recording. Lastly, I'd need some upload room. Any suggestions other than YouTube or my Flikr?
Click to expand...
However you can record and post it is up to you and will be very welcome. :D

I'm curious, these missions are interspersed in SM2 correct? Do you know where in SM2 these missions reside? Thanks.
 
Shades2585 said:
@delMar This weekend I can try to looking into taking Knight's recroom images flipping and editing them so he sits correctly in the left seat. Someone can put those images into Talking1.vga and you can reference it. If that is something you are interested in?
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware that we have a problem with wrong (mirrored) images here. But if we need that, I'm definitely interested in. Thanks!
 
delMar said:
I'd also love to have information on the cutscenes, as @Shades2585 mentioned.
For example @-danr- mentioned: The end sequence is from the losing path of WC1.
I'd highly appreciate to have some info on what's supposed to be played.
Click to expand...
I believe @-danr- ment that YOUR mission ended with the losing path of WC1. I do like that idea. It seems fitting to have the Tiger's Claw fighting it's way out.
 
delMar said:
I wasn't aware that we have a problem with wrong (mirrored) images here. But if we need that, I'm definitely interested in. Thanks!
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Some of Knights image contains the wall behind the right seat which when moved to the left seat overlaps the bar and looks wrong. I's minor I know, but if it is something that can be fixed I'll try.
 
Shades2585 said:
I believe @-danr- ment that YOUR mission ended with the losing path of WC1
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Right. I'd love to know what the ending sequence of the original SWC is (I'm pretty sure it's not a re-play of the Vega Campaign's ending sequence)

Shades2585 said:
but if it is something that can be fixed I'll try.
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I definitely agree. Thanks for your offer, I'd highly appreciate if you took care of that.
 
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