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An eBay find: a copy of Wing Commander III that belonged to Microsoft’s QA folks! I’ll send it back if they promise to get it running in Windows 11.
Microsoft would have used copies like this to playtest compatibility for Windows 95 (and adjust Control+C behavior)!
“Didn’t you already have this one?!” - Sully
May
We're now just a bit more than three days away from the conclusion of George Oldziey's campaign to create a new Wing Commander album with a live orchestra. Just since this past weekend, the project has added another $1,000 to approach $19,500. With only a few more days left to go, is $22,000 possible? The project has already crossed the minimum $16K threshold, but we'd love to see it hit the $22K stretch target to add a live choir as well. Wing Commander fans have shown up in force many times before, so it's certainly possible!
Here's some samples of George's wonderful 2019 jazz album full of Wing Commandar bar music. A handful of reprinted copies are up for grabs as part of the new album campaign:
May
…A suite of new Supercruise Overcharge Frame Shift Drives entered the market earlier this week alongside several other upgrades to the new modules.
To celebrate the company's recent success, Dr. Namin Tirel, Achilles Aerospace's Head of Research and Development, offered a rare interview to Vox Galactica:
"It boggles the mind, truly. We were working in secret on what would eventually become our Supercruise Overcharge technology for over a year now. We had mountains of data and plenty of theories still to test, but we were struggling to make headway on anything that had real practical application. When we got hold of some of the actual parts of the Thargoids' drive-like technology, all that time, energy, and financial investment finally paid off. We were able to make huge strides in a short time frame, as you're now seeing."
"We purposefully made these drives difficult to modify as they're still
May
Remember the specific point in 1995 where game installers all got hot? Crazy how you go from that to that in a year.
I'm updating all my GOG .conf files to add a bunch of handy options.
I gave the first games a command line option with a debug mode cheat sheet. Easy way to quickly load the EGA version or with a different sound card.
Currently trying to add back Privateer 2's beautiful installer (with lore screen!) to the GOG package in a way that doesn't break everything else.
May
…
We're entering the last day of the Wing Commander album campaign. After yesterday's surge in contributions, the project is currently sitting at more than $22,500 in donations to make a new record of classic WC3-Prophecy music with both a live orchestra and choir. Thanks to all of the very generous fans, the stretch goal has already been met and all aspects of the project should be able to be accomplished. With any remaining proceeds from a last minute bump, Origin composer George Oldziey will attempt to squeeze out a bit more music to fill out the album even further. If you'd like to spend the final hours with fellow fans, Kevin Caccamo will be hosting a Prophecy-themed livestream from noon to 2pm Eastern US time. Then you can also join us in Discord #Wingnut as the minutes tick down to the campaign's conclusion at 5 pm Eastern US time. I'm very excited to see where things end up. Check back
May
…
Wingnuts rejoice! Over two hundred dedicated fans have come together to push the Wing Commander album campaign over its $22,000 stretch goal. This means both a live orchestra and live choir will be part of the set of reorchestrated WC music. You all are amazing! If you haven't yet added your contribution to secure a copy for yourself, there's less than 48 hours to do so. The campaign ends Saturday afternoon. Composer George Oldziey also added this sweet addition to thank everyone who participates:
Greetings all! I had an inquiry as to why there is no digital download of the Wing Commander bar music in the reward tiers. It's basically because it slipped my mind! I'm going to add a digital download of the bar music to every reward tier from the $65 level and up! I can't change the text of the reward descriptions after pledges have been offered, but you can count on that becoming available when
May
…Great job, everyone! Once again, hundreds of Wingnuts have come together to pull off a successful crowdfunding campaign! The finally tally was $24,300, which is more than 50% over the $16,000 target. This means that a live orchestra will be able to record the entire Wing Commander album in Budapest and it will be supplemented by a live choir in Salt Lake City. The entire project will come to more than $40,000 when combined with a separate mega donation from Matt Hiltner, so Wingnuts will truly be in for a treat. When all is said and done, the effort will include reprintings of the prior albums on CD as well as vinyl editions of both orchestra pieces. This will be a collectible set for the ages! Even if you're only interested in hearing the final product digitally, it will surely be a treat. Composer George Oldziey has already started placing deposits to secure time with the musicians later
May
…
We are truly brokenhearted to announce that Adam "Klavs" Burch, a true giant of the Wing Commander community, has passed away unexpectedly. He was a dear friend to many and always a positive voice, a kind person always eager to help. His creative work was unbelievable. The artwork he created and the people he inspired and supported over the years will carry his legacy forever, cold comfort though that may be. He was a great person gone far, far too soon; we are so much poorer for having lost him.
Klavs was a true inspiration; he was someone who honed his incredible talents for artwork and aerospace in the fandom and went on to turn them into an astounding career doing the sorts of things most would only dream of. And despite the fact that he went on to design real airplanes and spaceships and imagine better tomorrows for everyone he stayed dedicated to the Wing Commander community, always giving
May
…All of us at the CIC are in shock at the news of Klavs' passing. We all get caught up in the frenzy of our hectic lives, but moments like this really make you realize you don't know how lucky you are to have everyone in your life until it's too late. I had the honor of meeting Adam Burch in person once about ten years ago. He flew into town on behalf of the kit-built aircraft manufacturer that he worked for at the time. I couldn't believe how knowledgeable he was about all aspects of the plane, plus the marketing and business sides, and then he could even fly it! I work in aerospace myself, so I know how complicated this all was, and his expertise was astounding. He was also exceedingly generous and kept mentioning how he'd like to return some day so he could take me up on a flight. If you didn't know, he didn't just design Wing Commander ships - he was also a spacecraft artist/designer at
May
…Master O dropped in to share that a new version of DOSBox Staging has been released. We've previously reported that while development of the original DOSBox largely stalled out years ago, fans are still in need of a high quality emulation environment to play classic games. As modern computers continue to advance, there are many improvements and quality-of-life tweaks that can make the retro emulation experience much better. This includes support for modern video and sound setups, better controller and joystick integration, plus compatibility with the features of modern operating systems. And with all that, versions 0.81.1 has a specific fix incorporated to properly display the video from Wing Commander 3! You can try it out for yourself here.
Summary:The main focus of this maintenance release is to fix a couple of regressions introduced in 0.81.0, most of them related to game compatibility, and
May
…After any dismal event, it's hard to shake off, pick yourself up again and continue. It doesn't feel right to just go on about your lives. The silver lining has been that it's nice to hear your thoughts about Klavs though, so please keep that coming. We're also always on Discord for anyone that would like to talk. Without trying to lean too hard into an obvious cliche, I also know that you all would want us to continue reporting Wing Commander news even if you weren't here to read it, so that's what we'll do.
I thought a simple and engaging news post today would be this terrific graphic that LOAF recently extracted. It's the targeting VDU images for Wing Commander. But there's a few mixed in that you may not have seen before!
The Wing Commander III target images! Do you know which three don't appear in the final game?
If you think you know which three don't appear in-game, hit the Comments link to
May
…Today we have an exciting release by Mash. He has managed to upgrade the Kilrathi Saga edition of Wing Commander 3 to accommodate modern high resolution displays as well as incorporate ODVS' enhanced video files. This has long been high on the list of fan requests, so it's pretty incredible to finally see. It's not just something he's working on - there's a playable release ready for you right now! Give it a try and let him know what you think!
Hi, I've been working on a patch for the Windows version of WC3 which came in the Kilrathi Saga compilation. It's finally reached a point where it seems playable so I thought it might be a good time to share it here.My initial goal was to increase the resolution of the game so as to see more detail in space scenes. This has turned out quite well I think, with a few minor issues to work out.I then turned attention to adding support for the HD movies created
May
…Yesterday we reported on Mash's spectacular patch to increase Wing Commander 3's resolution and integrate enhanced videos. As we also mentioned, this was something that Destro was working to incorporate into Wing Loader. With the success of Mash's program, Destro has officially stopped trying to integrate that into his mod. He's instead released a new version of Wing Loader that seamlessly supports both apps side-by-side. It's also packed with fixes and improvements for Wing Commanders 1&2! Grab version 0.92 here!
Wing Commander III HD Video playback via Wing Loader has been cancelled. I was planning to release this a couple of weeks from now but I ultimately cancelled the project... Why? Someone did it for me!!! And in my testing, theirs works better. :pMash has created an Enhancement Pack for Wing Commander III that includes adding in the HD Videos and this is what I'm going to recommend using
May
AD spotted a phenomenal pair of art pieces by AEdwardBaker. He's just created a beautiful take on the TCS Victory. This test render is only available in 1080p, but there's already so much great detail in everything down to the laser turrets and weathering on the hull paint. It's really slick! You can give him feedback or check out his many other gorgeous space scenes here.
"She's a fine carrier with a long history of service to the Confederation.""Yes sir. A very long history."
A test render of my model of TCS Victory from Wing Commander III.
Done in Blender
May
Display MoreWe reported earlier this week on the untimely passing of Wing Commander superfan Adam "Klavs" Burch. It can be hard to find the words to appropriately express people's thoughts at a time like this, so some fellow fans have turned to more visual attempts. Both tributes below features Klavs' famous Rapier models in a classic 'missing man formation'.
The first is a beautiful scene by Mac:
In remembrance of Adam "Klavs" Burch.Thank You Adam, for everything.
Kevin Caccamo also featured this honor to Klavs in today's Spacey Saturday stream.
May
…We've got a new poll today, and the topic is the Wing Commander Collectible Trading Card Game. Our specific focus is on the Weapon Systems aspect of the game. Some people might have a black and white interpretation of ship specs based on what they're used to playing, but there's plenty of variability that happens in the universe. This can range from mention of an Epee with a torpedo in WC2, Rachel/Pliers offering to upgrade your loadout or straight arcade-style pickups that appear in several games such as Arena, Armada Proving Grounds and the WC4 demo.
The CCG allows players to enact their version of this by modifying the stats of particular flights with the upgrades below. To limit the poll options, we didn't include Kilrathi variants of most things except for the Skipper. It's functionally the same as the Tachyon Cannon in-game, but since the in-universe device is so different, that's on the list
May
Today we've got the sequel to the Matthew Lillard art recently made by NMA Nekro. They've collaborated with dogseatdogstoo to start with one of the earlier pieces, colorize it and add some atsy WC (Secret Missions 2 to be exact) elements. What do you think? It's wild how many huge Lillard fans are out there!
Guys do you remember the movie Wing Commander 1999? Well @nma_nekro and I sure do.Lovely little art trade I had the privilege of working on
@nma_nekro did the line art, of course, and I scribbled in the rest! Thank you again!
May
Today we've got an unusual stealth GOG deal that slipped in under the radar. Most Wing Commander discounts are tied to a theme or event, such as a "Sci-Fi Sale" or "Spring Sale," but we can't seem to find a corresponding association this time. We also have a much more limited selection of WC games that are included: Wing Commander 1&2, WC3 and Privateer are each marked down 75% to $1.49 for the next week. We'll happily take anything we can get though!
May
Frequent readers of the Tri-System CCN booth news will find about ten stories written about Zakariah_Skintight and his hit band, The Buttock Men. But who is Zak Skintight and why is he featured so prominently? LOAF recently caught up with Privateer 2 developer Paul Hughes and finally got the answer!
I think that was Paul “Stitch” Chapman - the chap that did all the UI and box covers/ manual. He used to play bass in a band in his uni days.Stitch was a brilliant UI designer - he was so shocked at how bad the box art and manual were shaping up, he took it upon himself to do it and knocked it out of the park. He proper pushed us to make a really cool UI (for 1995!).
May
Display More*Pilots' Federation Alert*
Titan Hadad is under siege. This is an urgent call to all independent pilots to aid in the complete defeat of the fourth Titan.
The key modules for the assault continue to be readily available at all Rescue Megaships:
• Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser – To break through the maelstrom defence wave.
• Caustic Sink Launchers – To protect your ship from caustic effects of the maelstrom.
• Guardian Nanite Torpedo Pylon – To hamper the Titan's vents and make it vulnerable to damage.
Rewards have been requisitioned for all Commanders able to participate in ending the Titan threat.
Good luck, Commanders.
