Wing Commander III Enhancement Patch
- Thread starter Mash
- Start date
AllTinker
Captain
I just checked it out earlier - awesome work!
And a couple of external shots:
A bit low-effort; that's all my lunch break allowed.
Here's a couple of quick cockpit shots:
And a couple of external shots:
A bit low-effort; that's all my lunch break allowed.
Bitterman
Commodore
So here is something, create a shortcut and put -DEAD_ZONE=1 this is one of KS command lines for windows to set dead zones for joysticks
my t16000m FCS had no issues
Also here is some screenshots since the patch uses reshade dxgi/dx10+ support out of box off a fallout 1 preset i had, and the effects removes the artifacts the videos has, though it is a bit dark due to autohdr config
my t16000m FCS had no issues
Also here is some screenshots since the patch uses reshade dxgi/dx10+ support out of box off a fallout 1 preset i had, and the effects removes the artifacts the videos has, though it is a bit dark due to autohdr config
I agree with you. It's just my process, trying to track stick position down to ship movement and understanding whats happening along the way.
In the mean time, if you want to drop the frame-rate: Open the "wc3w_en.ini" and under "[SPACE]" add the line "SPACE_REFRESH_RATE_HZ=24". Changing "24" to the frame-rate you want to try.
I was using this setting to increase the fps but you could easily go the other way. I actually thought I'd disabled this in code or I would have mentioned it earlier.
Will do.
Thanks Chris, here are a few I put together, the first one is a comparison to show the difference.
Edit: You can probably ignore my shots, other people have done a better job
Attachments
Wondered when someone would notice that. Unlike other HUD elements, the targeting rects and way point markers(white cross) are drawn in relation to the 3d space view. I do intend to fix that at some point, just be a bit of mucking about figuring out there position in relation to the scaled HUD.
That's unexpected... Couple of questions.
Any trouble elsewhere, or is this just happening in flight mode?
Have you installed any other mods or patches?
There is a log file "wc3w_en.log". Open that and look for any "Memory Mismatch" errors at the beginning of the file. If not look for any lines with the word "Failed" in it.
Hi Mash
It only seems to be happening in flight mode, everything else looks absolutely fine. I think the only mod would be WCW95.exe and it's associated files. I tried with a fresh install just to be on the safe side and it's the same.
I took a look at the log and the only fails I got were to do with Movie Branch Paths, no mention of a memory mismatch.
I will say I have an AMD graphics card which has often proven problematic for many a Wing Commander game.
Bitterman
Commodore
making a external loader for mods wouldn't be bad, since movies pretty much works now.
high res reticles that are still on the game's parameters would do nicely if there is a path for it
Updated the patch: wc3w_en_v0.2.0
Added the ability to patch the game by loading separate game data files in place of files located in .tre archives. These should be placed in the "data" folder in your game directory. And have the same folder structure as the paths in "globals.iff".
@The Crank : Let me know if this fixes your minced HUD issue.
Still trying to get to the bottom of the controller movement issues. It's a tough nut to crack.
Added the ability to patch the game by loading separate game data files in place of files located in .tre archives. These should be placed in the "data" folder in your game directory. And have the same folder structure as the paths in "globals.iff".
@The Crank : Let me know if this fixes your minced HUD issue.
Still trying to get to the bottom of the controller movement issues. It's a tough nut to crack.
I can confirm my hamburger of a HUD has reformed into a steak, amazing stuff! Thank you
Dorjé
1st Lieutenant
Hello, thank you for this great work. Just an indication in the installation procedure: I bought the GOG version yesterday and installed the patch + as recommended WC3 DOS to Windows Update Preps for Future Enhancement Pack. However, in the description it says "Optional: Install the DirectDraw Hack for smoother videos https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/DirectDraw_Hack". What I did: So it overwrites the ddraw.dll file from the Wing Commander III Enhancement Patch. It took me a while to figure out why it wasn't working! It would be good to edit the message in this link: https://www.wcnews.com/news/2023/11/14/wc3-dos-to-windows-update-preps-for-future-enhancement-pack
Dorjé
1st Lieutenant
Hello, I have another problem: I have to launch the game from WC3W.exe because it does not work from the launcher, so I do not have access to the options (essentially to adjust the difficulty which is by default far too easy, does anyone know where the file is to edit to tell the game to launch this in veteran mode?).
You can use the "ALT"+"o" key combo when in flight mode to change various settings, including difficulty.
Also I made a note on the patches GitHub page to reduce confusion around DirectDraw_Hack. I have the Kilrathi Saga version and I haven't tested the "GOG"dos to win patch route yet. You should also check out the Wing Loader project, if you haven't already.
@Mash It is a great time to be a Wing Commander fan thanks to efforts of fans such as yourself @Pedro and many, many others. And of course @Bandit LOAF @ChrisReid @AD and all the others who have kept the community and this site alive through the years!
cd1188
Spaceman
Great work! @Mash
I would add a third option to the cockpit view where there are no black bars on the left and right. this would allow you to add a cockpit-extension overlay with a handmade cockpit design after recording a video or maybe ingame?
I also changed the space framerate, which works fine! e.g. with 30fps 60fps or 120fps ... haven't seen any problems here, which problems do you mean for example?
The only thing that bothers me is the mouse speed, but that doesn't have much effect on the framerate. I tried the windows settings for mouse speed and it helped a bit or the gamepad is also a bit better than the mouse.
I have only installed your patch, or is there another patch that I should add on top for better controles?
Btw, I could made in the future also a videopack like ODVS , but like ODVS I'm also waiting for better AI tools and my time is limited at the moment.
I would add a third option to the cockpit view where there are no black bars on the left and right. this would allow you to add a cockpit-extension overlay with a handmade cockpit design after recording a video or maybe ingame?
I also changed the space framerate, which works fine! e.g. with 30fps 60fps or 120fps ... haven't seen any problems here, which problems do you mean for example?
The only thing that bothers me is the mouse speed, but that doesn't have much effect on the framerate. I tried the windows settings for mouse speed and it helped a bit or the gamepad is also a bit better than the mouse.
I have only installed your patch, or is there another patch that I should add on top for better controles?
Btw, I could made in the future also a videopack like ODVS , but like ODVS I'm also waiting for better AI tools and my time is limited at the moment.
Last edited:
About time for a progress update.
I haven't been moving along with this as quickly as I would have liked. Apart from life in general getting in the way, there have been a few hurdles and setbacks.
I wanted to fix the strange behaviour when making small movements, where the ship would turn in the opposite direction and or get stuck completely. These issues are exacerbated at higher frame rates which is a pity as the game looks much better at a higher frame rate. I spent a fair amount of time finding where controller movement is processed into ship movement. And eventually discovered the function where most of this takes place. Unfortunately I didn't get much further on this. Movement is multiplied by the turn-rate of the ship and then by the time since the last draw, which gets smaller the higher the frame rate. It's then scaled down to some really small values before being manipulated in ways I don't really understand. The end result being that small movements get lost or turned into garbage. Anyway I've left this for now as to get on with other things, but do intend to come back to it at some point.
I'm currently working on overhauling controller/joystick configuration. I have a couple of motives here. First is to make it easy to set up axis and button actions and the second is to set things up to add force feedback support which I hope to add at a later date.
There are several ways to add joystick input, WC3 uses Windows Multimedia input as is. I played about with directinput, rawinput and xinput and had a mixture of all three going at one point which got complicated. I eventually settled on Windows Gaming Input, It was a bit of a pain to get working but once I figured it out things have been progressing.
Here's a pic of the external configure program as it currently is at the moment.
I still have a fair bit of work to do but it's coming along.
I haven't been moving along with this as quickly as I would have liked. Apart from life in general getting in the way, there have been a few hurdles and setbacks.
I wanted to fix the strange behaviour when making small movements, where the ship would turn in the opposite direction and or get stuck completely. These issues are exacerbated at higher frame rates which is a pity as the game looks much better at a higher frame rate. I spent a fair amount of time finding where controller movement is processed into ship movement. And eventually discovered the function where most of this takes place. Unfortunately I didn't get much further on this. Movement is multiplied by the turn-rate of the ship and then by the time since the last draw, which gets smaller the higher the frame rate. It's then scaled down to some really small values before being manipulated in ways I don't really understand. The end result being that small movements get lost or turned into garbage. Anyway I've left this for now as to get on with other things, but do intend to come back to it at some point.
I'm currently working on overhauling controller/joystick configuration. I have a couple of motives here. First is to make it easy to set up axis and button actions and the second is to set things up to add force feedback support which I hope to add at a later date.
There are several ways to add joystick input, WC3 uses Windows Multimedia input as is. I played about with directinput, rawinput and xinput and had a mixture of all three going at one point which got complicated. I eventually settled on Windows Gaming Input, It was a bit of a pain to get working but once I figured it out things have been progressing.
Here's a pic of the external configure program as it currently is at the moment.
I still have a fair bit of work to do but it's coming along.
OK , that should be easy enough to do.
The main problem are the issues with movement I mentioned above. Mouse control in the windows version of wc3 seems a bit wacky, it seem to let you turn faster than you should. Which may be why your not seeing these problems. Other things I've noticed are that the ship explosion/break up animations run to fast. Also AI ships seem to make less erratic movements at a higher frame rate. For example in the first mission, watch Hobs take off at 15fps than exit and do the same thing at 30fps or above and you will see what I mean.
