W.C.A.T. (Wing Commander AllTinker) Overhaul Mod

W.C.A.T. - The Wing Commander AllTinker Overhaul Mod

This overhaul is something I've wanted to see ever since machines became too fast to correctly play Wing Commander (i.e. the early '90s). Even if you jumped through the hoops to slow your machine down, the busier missions then turned into a complete slideshow! This is the result of about a year's part-time labour, following on from several aborted attempted over the years, and has evolved into quite an extensive overhaul.

SPEED LIMITING

The most critical thing it does is introduce game-wide sync-to-blank-based speed limiting.

To do this properly required a huge number of code changes as many "scenes" in the game are coded slightly differently, requiring different approaches - and the effects of running on a fast machine varied widely. For instance, I've had to correct several hardcoded cutscenes, since their timing was obviously set up without ever having seen them running at full speed...

BUG FIXES

Known code bugs have been fixed:

• The 5-sortie ribbon, which was awarded after the first sortie.
• The half-defeated copy protection in SM2 (e.g. GOG/EA release).
• Losing a wingman should now be unnecessary for a perfect medal sweep.
• The Adlib hanging-note bug (hopefully reduced, if not eliminated).
• The series overflow bug caused by the original transfer programs.

I've also completely rewritten the joystick routines, which were only set up for proper operation on a mid-tier 386. Writing replacement routines also allowed me to support up to 4-axis, 4-button joystick setups (the maximum for a standard analogue gameport).

CONTENT FIXES

Several art & other asset issues have been fixed:

• Missing pips on Halcyon's shoulders during award ceremony.
• Incorrect helmet names for Hunter ("Dart") and Maniac ("Joker").
• Rogue pixels in Iceman and Angel's portraits.
• Visual error in barracks bucket splash animation.
• Fixed broken Rostov loss cutscene (broken in v3.5).
• Fixed broken loss cutscene for SM1 (no longer pans off screen).
• Corrected some script typos and mistakes.
• Completely redone lipsync; corrects Vega script, adds it to SM1/2.
• Hornet canopy during launch is now transparent, in line with the other ships.

NEW LAUNCHER

The new DOS-based launcher handles the following:

• Calibration for the new joystick routines.
• Adjusting settings for the game; including new and old features.
• Save game management beyond the game's 8 slots (beds).
• Simple save game editing & creation.
• Transferring between Vega, SM1 and SM2 campaigns.
  • Free of series overflow bug, and even sets proper starting dates!

NEW GAME OPTIONS

New game options include:

• Reduced asteroid field difficulty. The original logic for asteroid fields was deliberately malicious - fly quickly through them and it will throw high-velocity asteroids at your blindspots. The new fields are still dangerous, but much more fair.
• Keyboard "smooth auto-centre" mode. Wing Commander simulates a virtual joystick via the arrow keys/numpad; this includes not recentring while firing your weapons, and an instant stop when keys are released. This new mode instead smoothly re-centres when no directional keys are pressed, regardless if fire is held or not.
• A "fine" mouse control option with a reduced deadzone; for those who want more sensitive mouse flight control.
• Configuring joysticks, up to 4-axes & 4-buttons. There are several modes which hopefully cover any kind of (analogue gameport) setup you might want to throw at it.
  • In theory, joysticks should only need to be calibrated once, or at least only every so often - they previously needed to be calibrated every game boot.

FUTURE PLANS

The current release is a "beta" / "in development" primarily because I can't test it thoroughly enough to call it a completed release.

Besides further polishing the existing features, I have plans & ideas for some future additions to this overhaul mod; primarily new gameplay & difficulty options.

I also have plans to perform a similar overhaul on Wing Commander II; it has very half-baked speed limiting, and it would be nice to bring as many of these new features across as possible.

DOWNLOADS

I've provided three options for installation:

1. An automated installer for Windows (bundled with DOSBox-Staging) which can locate an existing Wing Commander install (e.g. GOG, EA) and copy over the data files automatically.
2. A zip file version, again bundled with DOSBox-Staging. Once you've copied over GAMEDAT (see below), run Wing Commander.bat.
3. A minimal zip intended for real DOS, or custom DOSBox setups. It includes example DOSBox configs which will be useful to refer to in the latter case.

Whichever way you decide to go, an existing Wing Commander install is required. The installer will attempt to copy the files automatically, but alternately you will need to copy everything in GAMEDAT/ over to W.C.A.T.'s GAMEDAT/ directory (found under files/ for the DOSBox downloads).

Do note that - in terms of real hardware - this overhaul is intended for mid-tier 486 or faster, preferably with VLB or PCI graphics. On slower machines this overhaul may end up running worse than the original, and pre-386 machines aren't supported at all. This overhaul mod is also incompatible with other mods.

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Naturally, this is a free mod, but if you're in a position to drop me a tip/donation, it'd really help me out - not to mention encourage me to continue working on this project and others like it! It also helps itch.io pay for bandwidth!

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