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

wcnut said:
Fantastic Job! So much looking forward to to giving this a try!
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Thank you! Doing my first playthrough of the game since I started making Wing Loader in 2020. I have to say, I'm impressed myself of how well it works! lol :P I hope you enjoy it!
 
Im playing it again myself, quickly advanced to level nine a few days ago, remember it well since my last playthrough roughly 3 years ago, yesterday I reached level 17 I think (Venice) I got good at Wing Commander, especially 1 and 2. Running very smooth.😊
 
Panther1.0 said:
Im playing it again myself, quickly advanced to level nine a few days ago, remember it well since my last playthrough roughly 3 years ago, yesterday I reached level 17 I think (Venice) I got good at Wing Commander, especially 1 and 2. Running very smooth.😊
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Im in Rostov right now. Couldn't save the captured Kilrathi ship in Kurasawa 2, found some issues along the way. I have fixed them and will update this weekend or early next week. I have a confession... I've never played Wing Commander 2. :S I never had it growing up. I'm looking forward to playing that when I'm done of 1 and all of it's add ons. :D
 
Interesting I could not save that ship either but I still advanced to Venice, it seemed there's no way to save it, they just attack to fast.

Oh wow, you going to enjoy yourself playing WC2, that's amazing.
 
I've got a problem: When I start "WingLoader.exe" the intro video starts and the music starts, but after a second or two, the video freezes. Nothing else happens. When I press "Enter", nothing happens. When I press "Esc", the program exits. If I did nothing, the music plays until it is over. After that nothing else happens. The video is still frozen.
 
did you apply the WCDX patch ? I had this problem when I ran the patch from Windows, then I tried from Dos Command Prompt and it worked, make sure on the steps and that the files are in the correct folders.
 
wiese.hano said:
I've got a problem: When I start "WingLoader.exe" the intro video starts and the music starts, but after a second or two, the video freezes. Nothing else happens. When I press "Enter", nothing happens. When I press "Esc", the program exits. If I did nothing, the music plays until it is over. After that nothing else happens. The video is still frozen.
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When the logo backs away from the camera and stops moving you can move left and right with the arrow keys on your keyboard. Space bar starts the game you're selected on and Escape shuts the program down.

Sometimes, WC1 won't run unless you start one of the secret missions first. It's an odd glitch but otherwise should work fine.

Hope that helps and Let me know if you're still having issues.
 
Happy Easter Everyone.

I've just completed a run of Wing Commander using Wing Loader and fixed any issues I encountered. I also added a little bit of a present in the form of including the Pilot Transfer program, Wing Commander 3 (Kilrathi Saga) support and in-flight coms in all the Secret Missions! That last on is very early testing phase.

Check out the new update in the post below and Happy Easter Wing Nuts!

https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/thr...-wcdx-loader-voice-over-mod.30387/post-415220
 
Destro said:
hey!

Yes I've been doing great, thanks. It has been some time now and long over due for an update.

Life:
As I mentioned before I have started my own business and I have been extremely busy doing that. So busy in-fact that I am hiring an employee and they start tomorrow! Woo! This is exciting as I'm hoping that my 16-18 hour days will be a bit more manageable, leaving me with some more free time to work on this and finish my first Elden Ring play-through. lol

Tech stuff:
- Memory overloading issues resolved. - With so much scripting (currently over15,000 lines) My program couldn't handle it and memory started leaking, causing instability and errors. I have since resolved this but there is still a little leak somewhere but only appears if you continuously run the game through the app without closing it. Ram usage just keeps going up but only a few MB at a time so it's really a non issue right now. I do have a solution for better memory management, but will take a while to implement and I will tackle that later.
- Created a Custom Language in Notepad++ - Now I can more easily see what the heck I am doing with so much scripting the ability to fold lines makes it much easier to scroll through and find what I'm looking for.
- Debugging Fixed - I was having so many debugging issues making it hard to track down the memory leaks I mentioned above. I ended up switching IDE's and from using cmake to build SDL, ASSIMP, etc... manually to using msys2 to install like I would on Linux. This introduced it's own set of issues as my old IDE and compiler just let me make mistakes and run the program but the new way was more strict, so I had to re-write a lot of the code. But, that has all been done and now I can build properly again!
- Fonts are Broken? - After the above change, SDL_TTF now outputs garbage, not sure what the problem is here but is not a huge issue as I don't really need fonts for this app to work.

Loader:
More stable that ever! - With all the changes it now works very well and in my testing has not had any real issues with not linking to WC1 or anything like that.
Progress - I am half way through Venice and only Hell's Kitchen remains!!!!!!!
Com's - For enemy and confed ships they all use the same dialog but have different names. (Franthi, Ranthi, Tigers Claw, Transport etc...) I have tested a way to delete the Names off the com and just read the line itself but have yet to implement it. Plus the com's have a lot of audio editing to do so I'm going to hold off until Phase 2 for those.
Testing - I have stopped testing as much as it is getting hard to try and play the missions to get every line of dialog to test for every contingency, especially now that I'm in the endgame. Plan to just push through and update accordingly as people report issues.

Issues:
- I have been trying to confirm lines the best I can by using WCEdit and the Story Guide, insuring that every line is correct. In some cases however, I have audio where the script does not. The Script only says "We nailed her, sir!" while I also have audio for "I nailed her, sir!" Makes sense to have that line in case your wingman is dead, but it is not only thing. Some times Kilrathi Ace's are referenced in the audio but not the Story Guild or in WCEdit, so I have to guess the games exact grammar (Which can be spotty at best) and hope that they are not out of place on the SegaCD. (Which it has been before and took me a while to find the missing lines) Plan to put them where the SagaCD version has them and if someone comes across the real placements while planing I'll fix it then.

Current Timeline:
- I plan to have the missions done by end of May as I think that is a reasonable time-frame, then figure out how to make a release build. This will not include in-flight com's (Excluding Angel and Paladin as they are already done), but it will be on your systems soon. :D

Release Plan:
(Near Future)
Wing Commander Loader v0.5 - All Sega CD Mission Voice Overs added and SNES intro for SM1. - (In the next month or two!)
Wing Commander Loader v0.6 - All Sega CD In-Flight Com's added. (TBD)

(Far Future Plans) - Currently just a dream and not in the works yet. Will start after the above is completed.
Wing Commander Loader v0.7 - All Super Wing Commander Voice Overs and Com's Added (WC1)
Wing Commander Loader v0.8 - All Super Wing Commander Voice Overs and Com's Added (WC1SM1)
Wing Commander Loader v0.9 - All Super Wing Commander Voice Overs and Com's Added (WC1SM1.5)
Wing Commander Loader v1.0 - All Super Wing Commander Voice Overs and Com's Added (WC1SM2)

While the Super Wing Commander audio is trash, I still want to have the option in all games and now that I know it is possible. :p This is way in the future and I have no idea when I'll even start it but it my goal never the less. I have all the Mac's audio and once the main work is done it should just be a matter of replacing audio pointers, at least for the main game. Fingers crossed.

That's it for now! It's been an exciting ride and I do appreciate all the encouragement and patience from you all!
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Destro said:
WING LOADER v0.82 RELEASE!!!!​

Wing Loader aims to create the most definitive version of Wing Commander possible by support the most advanced versions of the game, mods such as WCDX and adding fully voice acted dialogue previously only seen in the SegaCD version of the game release back in 1994.

New in Version 0.82
- Fix multiple issues with lines not triggering, including the final winning cutscene.
- Added Wing Commander 3 to the list of games.
- Added in-flight coms to all the Secret Missions. (Testing Phase)
- Added Wing Commanders Pilot Transfer Program.

Features:
All Conversations and in-flight coms added to the game!
In-flight coms added to all Secret Missions (Testing Phase)
Allows you to transfer your Pilots between addon's.
SNES intro to Secret Missions 1 added!
Wing Commander 1.5 Mod Compatible!
Support for Wing Commander 2 & Wing Commander 3!

Requirements:
Windows 64bit
Graphics Card with OpenGL 4.5
Wing Commander 1 (Kilrathi Saga) or (PC Gamers Release)
WCDX

Optional:
Wing Commander 1.5 Mod
Wing Commander 2 (Kilrathi Saga)
Wing Commander 3 (Kilrathi Saga)


v0.81 - Day 0 Patch
I discovered an error. My folders had spaces in them and Windows let it run it for a bit, when I went back to triple check after posting it had stopped working and was giving me "Error 267" when opening the game. "The Directory is Invalid" I have updated the link but if you had installed the version with the space in the folder name you will need to re-do it. Sorry about that. (Copying and pasting the Wing1 & Wing2 folders over to the new versions should work.)

v0.82 - First Pass Patch
- Fix multiple issues with lines not triggering, including the final winning cutscene.
- Added Wing Commander 3 to the list of games.
- Added in-flight coms to all the Secret Missions. (Testing Phase)
- Added Wing Commanders Pilot Transfer Program.
- Engine fixes to camera system. (Was performing camera translation math to all cameras even if not in motion. Fixed some battery life issues on Steam Deck)

Installation Instructions:

Updating from v0.81 to v0.82
1) Download and extract "Wing Loader v0.82.zip" and overwrite the contents of the previous "Wing Loader" folder.

Wing Commander 1
1) Download and extract "Wing Loader v0.82.zip" place the "Wing Loader" folder somewhere on your computer. ex: "C:\Games"
2) Download the PC gamers version of Wing Commander 1 https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/2000_PC_Gamer_Coverdisk_Release
3) Open wc_pcgamer.zip and copy the contents of the WC1 folder inside "Wing Loader/Games/Wing1". When asked to overwrite say Skip. <-- Very important.
4) Download the Secret Missions via http://download.wcnews.com/files/ks/wckssm12.zip
5) Open wckssm12.zip and copy all .exe files and put them directly in to "Wing Loader/Games/Wing1" folder. The remaining files go into the "gamedat" folder. You can replace the files this time.
6) Also copy the INSTALL.DAT file to the "Wing Loader/Games/Wing1/SM2Data" folder as well. (This is the SM2 file that is needed to switch between SM2 and SM1.5 on the fly.)
7) Download Wing Commander 1.5 https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Secret_Missions_1.5_(Kilrathi_Saga)
8) Open sm15_kilrathisaga.zip and copy the install.dat file to the SM15Data folder. The rest of the files can go into "gamedat" folder.
9) Now go and get WCDX from https://github.com/Bekenn/wcdx/releases
10) Open wcdk-2.2.1.zip and drop all the files into Wing Loader/Games/Wing1
11) Run the WCDX.bat included in the "Wing1" folder and that should install WCDX for you and create the necessary files.
12) Go to the root "Wing Loader" folder and run WingLoader.exe!

Wing Commander 2
1) If you have a copy of Wing Commander 2 (Kilrathi Saga) installed, simply copy the game files into "Wing Loader/Games/Wing2" (You will have to get the WC2 files from the Kilrathi Saga version as there is no other release versions.)
2) Now go and get WCDX from https://github.com/Bekenn/wcdx/releases
3) Open scdk-2.2.1.zip and drop all the files into Wing Loader/Games/Wing2
4) Run the WC2DX.bat included in the "Wing2" folder and that should install WCDX for you and create the desired files.
5) Go to the root "Wing Loader" folder and run WingLoader.exe!

Wing Commander 3
1) Install Wing Commander 3 Via the Kilrathi Saga CD. Make Sure to perform a full install.
2) Copy the files to "Wing Loader/Games/Wing3"
3) Recommended: Install the Windows 2000 Update (Kilrathi Saga edition) https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Windows_2000_Update_(Kilrathi_Saga_edition)
- Extract the file into your Wing3 Folder and rename the file from WC3Fix.ex_ to WCFix.exe and run it.
4) Optional: Insall the DirectDraw Hack for smoother videos https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/DirectDraw_Hack
5) Go to the root "Wing Loader" folder and run WingLoader.exe!

Known Issues:
- Once entering fullscreen (Alt + Enter) it doesn't seems to let you go back to windowed mode. Editing the pref.ini file will allow you to manually return to windowed mode by setting Fullscreen=0 and setting a desired resolution that’s smaller than your internal resolution.
- Due to the low frame-rate of the game in the bar, if you move and click too fast on a character, the loader wont detect and activate the characters dialogue. (Doesn't happen too often, but sometimes happens.)
- The timings for dialogue in the game are borked. Some scenes, lines only display for a few seconds (or milliseconds) and skip automatically to the next. This is a game issue but have some thoughts for the future.
- Due to the low quality of the in-flight com's, they are rather low in volume. I originally had them peaking which gave it a "walki-talki" sound but didn't like that I was losing sound quality and the crackling was a bit much on some lines.
- The Ending voices are built into the Sega CD's music track and there is no way to separate them from the music. I just left the music in it and it sounded ok, but if you have a good ear you might notice that two music tracks are playing during the ending cut-scene. :p
- So many .dll files...

Hey Everyone!

I know it's been a long time since I've given an update. Life has been busy and I had several big contracts to do and not much free time working 7 days a week 16 hour days. But the wait is finally over! Wing Loader is done and ready for release!!!! Now all the Sega CD audio files are usable in Wing Commander 1 (KS Edition), this includes all the in-flight coms as well! There are some general script tidying to do and testing, as I haven't gone through and just did a whole playthrough yet, so I know that I miss a few things along the way. It is still a Work In Progress or a Beta and I wont consider it complete until it's thoroughly tested, but I think it's stable and complete enough to play and enjoy. Fingers crossed. :p

I have included install instructions and believe they are clear. I've only testing this on my computers and Steam Deck (Added as a non-steam game and it worked perfectly in Proton for me. Your mileage may vary.) I have never released software before so let me know it there are any issues getting up and running and I'll try my best to assist.

Thank you all for being patient and awesome. It really pushed me forward in getting this done! When I first announced this back in 2020 I thought it would take me a month, max! Boy, was I wrong! 3,873 Audio Files & over 22,000 lines of scripting later, it's finally in a place where I can show it off. I hope you all enjoy.

I know that I've probably missed something or made errors, so if a line doesn't play in a scene, a wrong audio file linked to a different line of text or a sequence is not working, feel free to DM me. And I'll fix it for the next update. :D

I hope you enjoy the final product and have many more hours kicking some Kilrathi ass!

**************************************SPECIAL THANKS**************************************

Bekenn's WCDX - Makes the Kilrathi Saga playable on modern PC's and patches numerous bugs!

HCI's Wing Commander Sega CD Speech Extractor - Extracts about 90% of the audio out of the game! Would not be possible without!!!!!!

Flashpoint’s Wing Commander Mission Editor - A mission editor that allow me to quickly make modifications to the script and package it back into the game!

Cheat Engine - Used to Peek and Poke at the memory to find the data needed such as dialogue buffer, callsign, name etc...

Chris Roberts – For making an amazing game.

All the developers - Those who worked on these games and all their ports! Without them and their hard work, I wouldn’t be nerding over a game that came out 30 years ago!

EA – For publishing and keeping Wing Commander accessible all these years later on their platform and on GOG.

WCNews - I've been coming to the website since I was a kid trying to download the Secret Ops add-on's on my dial-up internet connection. I have so many fond memories visiting the site and the fact that it's been maintained all these years and new content is coming out blows my mind. I've spent many countless hours scrolling through Wing Commander news and this is all thanks to you! Thank you to everyone involved for feeding my Wing Commander addiction.

WCNews Community - For being so encouraging, kind and understanding. This alone kept me pushing forward to actually get this released!
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Destro this is awesome! One thing I would add for the WC2 section is the steps for folks to get SO1/SO2 from the CIC webpage - those expansions also didn't come with Kilrathi Saga: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Special_Operations

Steps should be near identical to SM1/SM2 download: put the .exes in the Wing2 folder, everything else goes in gamedat, and then run WC2DX.bat
 
Sylvester said:
Destro this is awesome! One thing I would add for the WC2 section is the steps for folks to get SO1/SO2 from the CIC webpage - those expansions also didn't come with Kilrathi Saga: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Special_Operations

Steps should be near identical to SM1/SM2 download: put the .exes in the Wing2 folder, everything else goes in gamedat, and then run WC2DX.bat
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That's a good idea. I have updated the post to include install instructions for the Special Operations. :)
 
Truley ,Thank you for your part in making the definitive version of WC Kilrathi Saga! It's such a blast of a play through. I was surprised by your inclusion of WC3. Those recommended patches really do help! It's actually playable on Windows 11. So really thanks for that! I can't tell you the last time I was able to play that version of WC3.

A few things I think the definitive version of WC3 would needs to be perfect:
1. Some-sort of no cd patch for the KS version.
2. Implementation of odvs enhanced wc3 videos.
3. Someone to add in the Hobbs final message into the game. (I know this is a point of contention with some people, but for me it could have helped alleviate a bit such a key story problem that always bugged me).

I suspect the KS version is the only version where these things would even be possible....One day!
 
wcnut said:
Truley ,Thank you for your part in making the definitive version of WC Kilrathi Saga! It's such a blast of a play through. I was surprised by your inclusion of WC3. Those recommended patches really do help! It's actually playable on Windows 11. So really thanks for that! I can't tell you the last time I was able to play that version of WC3.

A few things I think the definitive version of WC3 would needs to be perfect:
1. Some-sort of no cd patch for the KS version.
2. Implementation of odvs enhanced wc3 videos.
3. Someone to add in the Hobbs final message into the game. (I know this is a point of contention with some people, but for me it could have helped alleviate a bit such a key story problem that always bugged me).

I suspect the KS version is the only version where these things would even be possible....One day!
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Thanks. They are my favorite games and ive always wanted to have everything in one place. Glad you are enjoying it.

There is a way to get WC3 to not look for the CD. I can't remember exactly how, my cd's are old and don't work grest so I just have the gamed copied on my hard drive and they work without the CD. I'll look into how I did that.

Yes, I'd love to be able to replace the low quality videos with ODVS enhanced. I am planning to mess around with that but I'm not an expert at modifing executables.
 
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Yeah, that would be a monster job, most likely a lot harder than what you did with the audio for wc1 and the sm1 video. (That is a neat trick with the loader program). It would have to play in the foreground in this case. Probably require some DLL injection tricks like they do with Prophecy.
 
I'll be honest. I looked into it yesterday and was able to run a video layer on top of Wing Commander 3 using ODVS videos successfully....... They don't have audio and I'm having trouble sending a signal back to the game to skip cutscenes, otherwise the HD videos play once, then the Originals after.... but it is working. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, last time I did that it took me 3 years to deliver. lol So no front page posts for this one please. :P
 
Yes. It probably won't be as difficult as Adding voices to WC1, I still have to rewrite my code to do video playback with audio correctly and line up each movie with what the game calls for. But now since I got it working, it's on my never ending to do list. 😋
 
My biggest problem with WC3 video overlay is to get audio to play from and MP4 and sync with the video. Right now I have to play audio from seperate .wav files. They desync over time and it's super noticable. Agreed, WC2 on segacd would have been awesome. I'd do that game next if it existed. :)
 
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