Wing Commander Standoff: Episode Five Released (August 11, 2009)

For starters the characters themselves make it non-canon. Maverick, Angel and Maniac...at the very least Maverick and Maniac aren't supposed to be there. Then you have fighter types that aren't put into service for a long time, and all that "spacecraft falling down from the hangar deck into space" crapola....

Better just forget about it :)


At first I didn't liked the movie myself, because it had so many things changed (desing, backstory for blair, and so on), but after reading StarSoldier manual, and reading a lot of posts done in the general forums about the movie, I started looking at the movie in a different way. It still has some innacuracies that are not explained very well (bossman for instance), but the fans of Wing Commander really try making it canon.

That's something I really like about the Wing Commander fans over the Ultima fans (I'm more of an Ultima fan myself). Instead of saying how bad something is, most of them try to explain things and make it canon, and StarSoldir even made it official. So personally, Standoff did a great thing with Episode 5 intro.
 
For starters the characters themselves make it non-canon. Maverick, Angel and Maniac...at the very least Maverick and Maniac aren't supposed to be there. Then you have fighter types that aren't put into service for a long time, and all that "spacecraft falling down from the hangar deck into space" crapola....
Ok, let me put it this way. Whenever a new WC product comes out, we can rip it to shreds, analysing everything that puts it in conflict with existing products. It's dead easy, even WC2 is not fully consistent with WC1.

Or we can accept the fact that each of these products is made by a different group of people, emphasises different things, uses a different style, and - since they all represent a fictional universe - has no obligation to be completely accurate.

You can decide which of these options looks more fun to you. Definitely no doubt in my mind. In the same way that I'm always willing to watch a Robin Hood movie or read a Robin Hood book, and I'm willing to enjoy each for what it is instead of criticising it for not rehashing the previous version, so I'm willing to enjoy a WC product without complaining about things not always matching.

Heck, we lose so much by rejecting any one product... you might not like the story of the Movie, but what about the Errant-class, that you saw in the Episode 2 intro? You should have hated that as well, but you only complain now that we directly acknowledged the Movie's story in Episode 5. And notice why you complain - you don't complain because the Movie doesn't fit with the rest of the universe, but precisely because we showed how it does fit. Fleet Action never mentioned the story of the WC Movie (gee, I wonder why ;) ), and neither did the original game. And here we are, providing a clear, rational link between the three. Instead of rejecting the WC Movie, we've made use of it to explain why, in WC1, it was possible to conquer the entire Vega Sector in a few months, when every WC game afterwards saw the Confederation having trouble even holding on to existing territory. Instead of rejecting the WC Movie, we've made use of it for fantastic narrative effect, to create the best-written cutscene in the entire game.

...And what - you want us to give up all that, just because WC1 has one line of text that implies Blair doesn't yet know Maniac? Because they fly Rapiers and Broadswords, when the former can be explained as a different type of fighter, and the latter was already seen on the Tiger's Claw in the Academy cartoon? ...And because they broke "realism" by having artificial gravity on a spacecraft, in a series that has always had sound in vacuum?

Lighten up, man - we're never going to be fully consistent, but we're not here for that (or, if you are... boy, are you in the wrong place!). We're here to have fun :).

(also - if a future WC game were to actually adapt Fleet Action, completely obliterating Standoff... would you declare that we should forget Standoff ever existed? :) )
 
Lighten up, man - we're never going to be fully consistent, but we're not here for that (or, if you are... boy, are you in the wrong place!). We're here to have fun :).

If you thought I was serious about it, you're wrong. I mean, come on, the spacecraft falling down in space is not really a canon plot concern, is it?

Mostly it's just because the movie is crap, in my mind, rather than any plot inaccuracies.
 
Add my voice to the echo of many sentiments - this release is simply epic. I love the enhanced shaders! Haven't tried the episode 5 missions yet - replaying the entire game basking in the glory of the new graphics and finding those additional FMV cutscenes.

By the way, did my random poll have anything to do with the new missile lock tone? If so I feel very honoured...
 
I finished episode 5 last night. I want to give an incredable thank you to all the people who made standoff happen. It's without a doubt one of the best games I've ever played. Thank you for making it.
 
HDR Problems with Nvidia 7600gs

I posted this elsewhere but it needs to be addressed I feel, so everyone can enjoy the greatness of this mod.

People with ATI cards are saying they have no ships/lasers and dodgy looking space when using ATI cards with HDR FX on.

I have an Nividia 7600GS and I get the EXACT same problem, so its not ATI I assure you.

You guys need to know this before making a final release as there is still DEFINATELY a problem with the HDR option in the game.

Damn shame to. The game looks good without them using just AA and AS, but with HDR.....WOW. The vids on Youtube WITH HDR makes this game look like the greatest Space Combat game since Rogue Leader for the Gamecube. VERY nice.

Its sooooooo annoying but I hope it gets resolved.

Thanx again for this excellent game.
 
It's been a long time since I've read stuff on Standoff graphics-related issues, but I strongly suspect that GeForce 7600 GS is simply too old and perhaps does not support the technology Standoff is using. The (currently) low-end Radeon 4650/4670 or the GeForce 9600 are both cheap and only one step behind the current graphics card generation. I understand it may not be in your means to do so, but perhaps an upgrade may be in order?
 
The guys coding it can probably give the best awnser..
But I noticed that switching "back" to direct3D fixed most issues.

Is it an OpenGL related problem?
 
I'm not sure what you mean, but I would say it's a bug, not a feature. The OpenGL rendering options includes a lot more than what's available in the original DirecX option, so I wouldn't be surprised if falling back to the plain old DX mode would help.
 
The guys coding it can probably give the best awnser..
But I noticed that switching "back" to direct3D fixed most issues.

Is it an OpenGL related problem?

I have a 8600GT and originally had a problem when HDR was implemented. It was solved by changing the settings in the NVIDIA Control from Use My Preference-Quality, as it was apparently trying to force settings that the game engine wasnt appreciating. Also, lowering the AA and AS in the Standoff setup may cure some issues. Adjusting the preferences within the NVIDIA Control may or may not solve any one elses problems but I havent seen it mentioned as a solution and worked on my end.
 
GRAPHICS SORTED.

IT WORKS. New latest drivers were crap so I went back to using the old 97 series drivers and hay presto, full hdr/bloom etc.

The 7600GS is still a half decent card so definitely didn't need changing. If I can run COD 4 and UT3 then its decent in my book.

The latest Nvidia drivers were just rubbish, apparently they always are so if anyone else is having probs with nvidia, try using older drivers, NOT newer ones.

Excellent looking game now, really great work and a great bunch of guys here to.

Thanx a lot people and thanx again for this great piece of WC freeware.
 
Wing Commander

Great game!!! Just awesome! Just thought i'd pop in quick and say thanks!

Marius
South Africa
 
will there be the combined release some day? I'd like to burn it on to a DVD and complete my WC collection...

Yes, however right now most of the team is very busy but we will be doing a combined release sometime in the future.
 
That's actually great news to hear that you are still trying to improve the game and clean up as much bugs as you are capable of.

I wish some of the commercial companies would show that much dedication to their products.
 
I wish some of the commercial companies would show that much dedication to their products.
I sure hope we never see any companies stoop to our level!

Here's the score: we released the final episode on August 10th, 2009. Some last-minute problems prevented us from releasing a single, all-five-episodes-in-one package on that day. We then decided to wait with the all-in-one package until we get the last remaining sim missions connected up to the scoreboard, and fix all the issues that people posted about.

It is now October 26th, 2010. There is no sign of the all-in-one package. All things considered, I'm not even sure we'll finish it this year. This is not dedication, folks - it's an embarrassment :).

(of course, there's a thousand reasons to explain this sorry state, but...)
 
Back
Top