Wing Loader (KS/WCDX) Loader & Voice Over Mod

wcnut said:
Thanks! Well that got the excutables to load, but I don't get the CD voices anymore with that version. Everything is in the correct place still. So not sure whats up. Also another thing. when I open up in the wine console, this message keeps flooding the screen. Not sure what it means. Happened in the .90 as well. Not sure about before.
Click to expand...
I'm glad it's running on the new version... But damn on the error. It's weird because that means that the engine didn't attach correctly to the game and nothing no data has been moved into the string. This was an issue before I release v.90. Perhaps I missed something.

I'm going to do some tests today to see if I can figure this out. Sorry for all the issues, hopefully I'll get to the bottom of this for you.
 
wcnut said:
Thanks! Well that got the excutables to load, but I don't get the CD voices anymore with that version. Everything is in the correct place still. So not sure whats up. Also another thing. when I open up in the wine console, this message keeps flooding the screen. Not sure what it means. Happened in the .90 as well. Not sure about before.
Click to expand...
Well, I figured it out.

Turns out when I originally uploaded the file I had made a mistake and didn't upload the correct scripts, instead uploading some debug ones. I realized it quite quickly, deleted and re-uploaded the file but I guess it was downloaded and posted here first.


That version is broken sadly, There is a delay to attach to the game when it runs but it was too short. It tries to attach to the game before it starts, causing the string to never get any data from the buffer. SE_Error: SE_String ID Does Not Exist or is Empty | SE_String_Is(1) I also patched in some Dummy data to the string so it wouldn't spam the console with that NULL error. The version on my Post works fine.

Wing Loader (KS/WCDX) Loader & Voice Over Mod

Life Priorities in order: 1) Yourself 2) Your family 3) WCNEWS Community ;) Joking aside, I will patiently wait to play WC with voiceovers and am happy to hear that your business is keeping you busy in a good way.
www.wcnews.com

I've attached the scripts files from that version here that should fix you up and keep you with the updated exe. Just extract the Data folder inside your WingLoader folder and overwrite.

https://mega.nz/file/MTZCnCLT#P9MbEEo8ne7ssKr4qXkbRKjBc06tiq0DyX-cBszOyAM

Sorry for the mix up. :S This should get you back in the cockpit!!!!
 
Thank you sir! That did it! No worries, I'm always expecting some sort of weirdness. Comes with the territory of running things on things that they originally weren't meant to. :)

Right now I can confirm it does indeed work in wine! Though I do remember needing Windows to patch the KS executable with wcdx. Those scripts do get a little weird under wine. It's not really surprising, nor is anything you can do about that.
 
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wcnut said:
Thank you sir! That did it! No worries, I'm always expecting some sort of weirdness. Comes with the territory of running things on things that they originally weren't meant to. :)

Right now I can confirm it does indeed work in wine! Though I do remember needing Windows to patch the KS executable with wcdx. Those scripts do get a little weird under wine. It's not really surprising, nor is anything you can do about that.
Click to expand...
I'm glad to hear that it works now. I'll be more careful going forward to make sure everything works before I upload to avoid issues like that. Yeah I usually set everything up and run the batch scripts on windows before moving over to Linux. But I can run batch files fine inside Wing Loader. In fact that's how with WC1. 5 mod works as it needs to replace the install. Dat file. Maybe I'll include an option to patch in the Loader some day. 😁
 
Destro said:
You're welcome and thank you!

I have messed around a bit with dgVoodoo2 and WC3, I has some issues with window focus that my WC3 HD Videos mod needs to work correctly. I'm still playing with settings hoping to be able to use it as an option. I also did find that DDraw is in active development and the latest version 6.0 works great with WC3. It even has a GUI to change the settings.
https://github.com/FunkyFr3sh/cnc-ddraw/releases
Click to expand...
you can speak with DEGE at vogons about this, he is always active.

dgVodooo 2.8.x and related WIP versions - Page 4 \ VOGONS

www.vogons.org www.vogons.org
 
Hey everyone.

While working on the next update (which will support the GOG versions of the games) I created 2 more Upgrade patches at will update the DOS versions of Wing Commander I & II to their KS counterparts. This patch should also maintain the original DOS versions so you can run it with dosbox or the KS version, all in one place. This will be the "official" install method for Wing Loader moving forward starting with (v0.91) as not many people have access to the Kilrathi Saga and I'd like to support the game as much as possible. I haven't tested on the EA Play Version.... I don't have EA Play.

* I've done some file renaming to maintain the DOS versions so these patches might not work properly with Wing Loader v0.90.

Wing Commander
1) Install "Wing Commander" via GOG / GOG Galaxy
2) Extract the contents of Wing Commander GOG Upgrade KS.zip into the Wing Commander install folder and overwrite.
3) Grab the latest version of WCDX and copy the files into the Wing Commander install folder.
4) Run WCDX.bat to patch the code and create the new executables.
WC_wcdx.exe SM1_wcdx.exe SM2_wcdx.exe

Wing Commander II
1) Install "Wing Commander II" via GOG / GOG Galaxy
2) Extract the Contents of Wing Commander II GOG Upgrade KS.zip into the Wing Commander install folder and overwrite.
3) Grab the latest version of WCDX and copy the files into the Wing Commander II install folder.
4) Run WC2DX.bat to patch the code and create the new executables.
WC2_wcdx.exe SO1_wcdx.exe SO2_wcdx.exe

Wing Commander III
1) Install "Wing Commander III" via GOG / GOG Galaxy
2) Right Click DATA.DAT inside Wing Commander III and use something like 7zip to extract the contents to into the Wing Commander III folder. https://www.7-zip.org (Keep this file if you want to continue using the DOS version. Otherwise you can delete DATA.DAT)
3) Extract the Contents of Wing Commander III GOG Upgrade KS.zip into the Wing Commander install folder and overwrite.
4) Grab the latest version of DDRAW and copy the files into the Wing Commander III install folder.
5) Run cnc-ddraw config.exe
- Under "Display Settings" Set "Presentation" to Borderless
- Under "Compatibility Settings" Set "Fix bad Performance and sound issues" on.
- All other settings are at your discretion.
WC3W.EXE
 
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The WCIII link goes to the WCII file. A shame I was so looking forward to trying this tonight. It would be so nice not to need the cds for WCIII KS. There was never a good patch for that in the past.

[EDIT]
Oh I missed the patch from earlier! Interesting! It's running in as KS, but applying that patch to it makes it use the DOS assets instead of the KS ones (Space is blue instead of black for instance and there is no roll on the joystick).
 
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wcnut said:
The WCIII link goes to the WCII file. A shame I was so looking forward to trying this tonight. It would be so nice not to need the cds for WCIII KS. There was never a good patch for that in the past.

[EDIT]
Oh I missed the patch from earlier! Interesting! It's running in as KS, but applying that patch to it makes it use the DOS assets instead of the KS ones (Space is blue instead of black for instance).
Click to expand...
Sorry about that. Link should be fixed. WC3 is the same as before just renamed. Enjoy!
 
Thank you!

Question though, why is space blue and the joystick not have roll? I just tried your patch against the actual WCIII KS assets and had the same thing

[EDIT] Oh Z axis is now throttle instead of roll, interesting
 
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No problem. I think with the KS version they changed space to have more of a blue color to match WC 1 & 2 better. I'm not entirely sure but every memory I have on WC3 has blue space in it. As for the joystick, on mine twisting the joystick controls the z axis I believe, but I also have on where there is a slider that controls z. I do some test's with joysticks next and see what can be done.
 
Its actually the other way around. In the DOS and Mac versions of WC3, space is blue. KS made it black. I'm not sure what could have changed to make it blue with your patch. Unless I'm totally crazy? Maybe I'm conflating WCIV it has been a long time since I have played that version.
 
wcnut said:
Its actually the other way around. In the DOS and Mac versions of WC3, space is blue. KS made it black. I'm not sure what could have changed to make it blue with your patch. Unless I'm totally crazy? Maybe I'm conflating WCIV it has been a long time since I have played that version.
Click to expand...
That is possible. My patch just adds the missing files to get the game to run. I did check the GOG version today and it is indeed Blue as well. It's possible because I'm using the GOG files the file that has the texture value hasn't been modified. I'll have to find and dust off my old KS copies to see if it was darker.
 
I finally got my copy to work again (boy was it a pain!) I don't know what I was thinking, space is blue in KS as well. As with that same joystick issue. I suspect it must be a wine thing because I do remember twist working with roll.

[EDIT]
Oh while looking for any clues in the files and manual regarding the joystick I did rediscover how to turn off the interlace videos with -no_interlace. Just plopped that into the WC3W.exe launch command in Main.SE and that works :)
 
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wcnut said:
I finally got my copy to work again (boy was it a pain!) I don't know what I was thinking, space is blue in KS as well. As with that same joystick issue. I suspect it must be a wine thing because I do remember twist working with roll.

[EDIT]
Oh while looking for any clues in the files and manual regarding the joystick I did rediscover how to turn off the interlace videos with -no_interlace. Just plopped that into the WC3W.exe launch command in Main.SE and that works :)
Click to expand...
I was messing with the joystick and it turns out that the z-axis does control the throttle. On windows my Saitek Cyborg Evo has 4 axis. X, Y, Z & Zrot. Zrot controlling the rotation and Z controlling the throttle paddle. Perhaps the DOS version only supported 3 axis, as I know when the KS version came out, one of the new features was support for new joysticks, maybe with 4-axis.
 
Destro said:
While working on the next update (which will support the GOG versions of the games) I created 2 more Upgrade patches at will update the DOS versions of Wing Commander I & II to their KS counterparts. This patch should also maintain the original DOS versions so you can run it with dosbox or the KS version, all in one place. This will be the "official" install method for Wing Loader moving forward starting with (v0.91) as not many people have access to the Kilrathi Saga and I'd like to support the game as much as possible. I haven't tested on the EA Play Version.... I don't have EA Play.
Click to expand...

Minor clarification: it doesn't look like Wing Commander is currently on the EA Play service. But you can buy the games outright from the Origin Store/EA App:
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ II – PC – EA

You’re out on patrol when your Strike Carrier, the TCS Tiger’s Claw, is destroyed in a sudden attack. You know a Kilrathi stealth fighter is responsible, but without evidence the blame falls on you. It’s going to take skill, courage, and determination to clear your name and stop the devastating...
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ III: Heart of the Tiger - Electronic Arts

Become immersed in a futuristic adventure that combines Hollywood's movie-making expertise with the adrenaline-pumping gameplay of a space combat simulation. You are the star. Your actions will determine the eventual fate of the Terran Confederation.
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ IV: The Price of Freedom - Electronic Arts

The year is 2673, four years after the Treaty of Torgo and the end of the Kilrathi War. As hostilities died out, rebuilding what was lost or dealing with space piracy became the Terran Confederation’s biggest concerns. The peace is a fragile one, and
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™: Privateer – PC – EA

2669, Gemini Sector, Troy System — the Terran frontier between the Kilrathi Empire and the unknown. Here, in the far reaches of space, people live by their own rules. The fringes are populated by a volatile mix of pirates, miners, mercs, cutthroats, and Kilrathi, all struggling to make a life...
www.ea.com www.ea.com

Its actually the other way around. In the DOS and Mac versions of WC3, space is blue. KS made it black. I'm not sure what could have changed to make it blue with your patch. Unless I'm totally crazy? Maybe I'm conflating WCIV it has been a long time since I have played that version.
Click to expand...

The original DOS Wing Commander 3 installer had a selection option that let you choose the color tone of space. Kilrathi Saga, GOG, etc must be just skipping by that and assuming one particular option. It's probably not a big deal to change a character in an ini file or something to adjust the color.
 
ChrisReid said:
Minor clarification: it doesn't look like Wing Commander is currently on the EA Play service. But you can buy the games outright from the Origin Store/EA App:
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ II – PC – EA

You’re out on patrol when your Strike Carrier, the TCS Tiger’s Claw, is destroyed in a sudden attack. You know a Kilrathi stealth fighter is responsible, but without evidence the blame falls on you. It’s going to take skill, courage, and determination to clear your name and stop the devastating...
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ III: Heart of the Tiger - Electronic Arts

Become immersed in a futuristic adventure that combines Hollywood's movie-making expertise with the adrenaline-pumping gameplay of a space combat simulation. You are the star. Your actions will determine the eventual fate of the Terran Confederation.
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™ IV: The Price of Freedom - Electronic Arts

The year is 2673, four years after the Treaty of Torgo and the end of the Kilrathi War. As hostilities died out, rebuilding what was lost or dealing with space piracy became the Terran Confederation’s biggest concerns. The peace is a fragile one, and
www.ea.com www.ea.com
www.ea.com

Buy Wing Commander™: Privateer – PC – EA

2669, Gemini Sector, Troy System — the Terran frontier between the Kilrathi Empire and the unknown. Here, in the far reaches of space, people live by their own rules. The fringes are populated by a volatile mix of pirates, miners, mercs, cutthroats, and Kilrathi, all struggling to make a life...
www.ea.com www.ea.com



The original DOS Wing Commander 3 installer had a selection option that let you choose the color tone of space. Kilrathi Saga, GOG, etc must be just skipping by that and assuming one particular option. It's probably not a big deal to change a character in an ini file or something to adjust the color.
Click to expand...
Nice. I knew about these versions but I assumed it was for ea play. My bad. I'll pick them up some time and mess around with them.

Also. That explains the two different colors in our memory's :P

Thanks.
 
Destro said:
Nice. I knew about these versions but I assumed it was for ea play. My bad. I'll pick them up some time and mess around with them.
Click to expand...
It's not nearly as common as with GOG sales, but once in a while EA will do a big discount on their WC games. May or may not be worth it to you to wait and see. I've only seen this one sale in the past year, but if we notice another, it'll be in the news: https://www.wcnews.com/news/2023/05/20/massive-90-ea-sale-discounts-wc-to-0-49 And for full disclosure, it's only a very very slight repackaging of the GOG version.
 
ChrisReid said:
The original DOS Wing Commander 3 installer had a selection option that let you choose the color tone of space. Kilrathi Saga, GOG, etc must be just skipping by that and assuming one particular option. It's probably not a big deal to change a character in an ini file or something to adjust the color.
Click to expand...
IIRC it was just a gamma adjustment. Basically you could make the Blue space a darker blue but not actually black.
 

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Got a ton of fixes, upgrades and new features to share. Most notably, a fix for error 267 that causes folders to be invalid, full GOG support for all titles, an in-engine upgrade and patching system to upgrade Wing Commander I, II & III to their Kilrathi Saga versions while retaining the original, automatic patching for WCDX without the need to run a .bat file, added Wing Commander IV, Prophecy and Secret Ops as selectable titles and general bug fixes.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I look forward to 2024 and beyond! Cheers!

Version 0.91
- Wing Commander IV, Prophecy & Secret Ops are now available options inside Wing Loader!
- Support for all Wing Commander (main series) titles via GOG installs. (It should, in theory, work with EA App but it hasn't been tested.)
- In-game patching of GOG_To_KS and WCDX. No more Batch files. (WCDX, WC1.5 & DDraw not included)
- Click the Gear icon at the lower right and select which game you want to patch.
- Error 267 fix when running titles from Wing Loader!!!!!
- Game install folders renamed from WC1 to Wing Commander... Another folder rename!? Now that 267 is fixed I can use the actual game folder names. Last time I change this, I swear.
- Engine fixes and optimization's introduced with v0.90's engine re-write.
- Fullscreen toggle fixed
- Games will now run while in Fullscreen.
- Fixed SE_Pref.ini not saving on exit.
- Some spelling errors corrected.... but defiantly not all.
- Camera aspect ratio's fixed.
- Wing Loader Icon now appears when running the app. resource.rc still a work in progress.
- Pressing 'esc' now brings up a confirmation before closing.
- Many more minor fixes.

Install Instructions:

Wing Loader
1) Extract the contents of WingLoaderv0.91.zip somewhere on your computer. ex: C:\Games

Wing Commander I
1) Install "Wing Commander" via GOG / GOG Galaxy into the Root WingLoader folder. ex: C:\Games\WingLoader
2) Download Wing Commander 1.5 https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Secret_Missions_1.5_(Kilrathi_Saga) and extract the contents of sm15_kilrathisaga.zip into the "gamedat" folder.
*Skip the overwrite. It will not cause you issues if you do, Wing Loader Manages the Install.dat file for you.
3) Grab the latest version of WCDX https://github.com/Bekenn/wcdx/releases and extract the files into the Wing Commander install folder.
4) Run Wing Loader and click the Gear icon at the lower right and select "Patch Wing Commander I".
WC_wcdx.exe SM1_wcdx.exe SM2_wcdx.exe

Wing Commander II
1) Install "Wing Commander II" via GOG / GOG Galaxy into the Root WingLoader folder. ex: C:\Games\WingLoader
2) Grab the latest version of WCDX https://github.com/Bekenn/wcdx/releases and extract the files into the Wing Commander II install folder.
3) Run Wing Loader and click the Gear icon at the lower right and select "Patch Wing Commander II".
WC2_wcdx.exe SO1_wcdx.exe SO2_wcdx.exe

Wing Commander III
1) Install "Wing Commander III" via GOG / GOG Galaxy into the Root WingLoader folder. ex: C:\Games\WingLoader
2) Grab the latest version of DDRAW from https://github.com/FunkyFr3sh/cnc-ddraw/releases (v6.0) and copy the files into the Wing Commander III install folder.
3) Run cnc-ddraw config.exe
- Under "Display Settings" Set "Presentation" to Borderless
- Under "Compatibility Settings" Set "Fix bad Performance and sound issues" on.
- All other settings are at your discretion.
4) Run Wing Loader and click the Gear icon at the lower right and select "Patch Wing Commander III".
WC3W.EXE

Wing Commander IV
1) Install "Wing Commander IV" via GOG / GOG Galaxy into the Root WingLoader folder. ex: C:\Games\WingLoader
* Install any additional mods or patches but it should work out of the box.
wc4dvd.exe

* I have yet to get the HD Videos working properly with these games yet but if you want them you can install them.

Wing Commander Prophecy / Secret Ops
1) Install "Wing Commander Prophecy" and/or "Wing Commander Secret Ops" via GOG / GOG Galaxy into the Root WingLoader folder. ex: C:\Games\WingLoader
2) Download and install the Model Upgrade Pack https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Model_Upgrade_Pack and set up the display settings to your liking.
3) Go into your install directory and right click the Prophecy.exe and go to the compatibility tab.
- Click "Change settings for all users" and de-select "Run in Compatibility Mode"
- Click "Apply" if the option is still checked for Compatibility Mode de-select and click Apply.
* If Compatibility Mode is not enabled. Enable it, Apply and then repeat the steps.
- Do the same process with SecretOps.exe in the Wing Commander Secret Ops folder.
prophecy.exe secretops.exe

* I have yet to get the DVD or the HD Videos working properly with these games yet but if you want them you can install them.
 
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Destro said:
Nice. I knew about these versions but I assumed it was for ea play. My bad. I'll pick them up some time and mess around with them.

Also. That explains the two different colors in our memory's :p

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding! @Destro I've been watching more closely since my last post and happened to catch another sale! 99 cents each for the five games that EA.com hosts. That's better than the sale price when GOG discounts, and they're not even discounting these games right now. Links at https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/wing-loader-ks-wcdx-loader-voice-over-mod.30387/post-416550
 
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