Hard Light Productions Forums

Hosted Projects - Standalone => Wing Commander Saga => Topic started by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 01:28:40 pm

Title: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 01:28:40 pm
At long last, the day has finally arrived! It has been ten years to the day that the Wing Commander Saga project was officially founded. Through this time, Saga has evolved through a host of iterations, with sometimes frustrating twists and turns and several brick walls. However, we believe that Wing Commander Saga would not be what it is today without the lessons we have learned from each one of those experiences, and we are very excited to finally share the results with you.

On many occasions, we have referred to Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn as a labor of love. That is truly what it has been for us. Many years ago, Chris Roberts and his team at Origin ignited our imaginations with their innovative, blockbuster Wing Commander series. Our hope has always been that with Wing Commander Saga, we could recapture that excitement and magic to some degree and share it with all of you. Our ten year development process has certainly taught us even more respect for just how innovative and brilliant Chris Roberts and his team are. Our development of Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn is meant as an homage to them and what they achieved, and we would like to thank them and EA, who holds the intellectual property for Wing Commander. We would also like to thank all the sites who have generously offered to provide mirrors for Saga.

If Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn is your introduction to the Wing Commander universe, you owe it to yourself to try the source material that inspired us. Several of the original Wing Commander games are available at gog.com, so make sure to show your support for the actual creators of Wing Commander by going and purchasing some copies! You won't regret it. Especially make sure to pick up a copy of Wing Commander III, since the story of Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn was written to coincide with the events of that game.

Today we are only launching the PC vesion. The Linux and Mac versions will be available soon. We just need to port the launcher to OSX and Linux and run some tests.

For help troubleshooting known issues click here (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/) to visit our forums. We'd also love to here your thoughts about the game, so feel free to join us there!

So, without further ado, we are pleased to present you with Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn. It's humanity's most desperate hour, a desperate struggle for survival against impossible odds, and you've got a front row seat.

Update:

This full release of Wing Commander Saga contains two campaigns. The first is an upgraded version of the original “Prologue” campaign. It has been upgraded with an expanded story, more characters in-game, Wing Commander style autopilot sequences (rather than the long, time accelerated autopilot sequences used in the original prologue) and updated graphics and game play. This five mission campaign set aboard the TCS Wellington teaches the player how to play Wing Commander Saga and sets the stage for the main campaign. You can select the prologue by going to the campaign room and highlighting the “Prologue” campaign. Even if you played the original prologue, we highly recommend you play the updated prologue to bring you up to speed with all the changes that have happened since the original release.

From there, you can go to the campaign room and select “The Darkest Dawn” campaign. This campaign will assume that you have learned everything that the “Prologue” campaign is designed to introduce you to. This is the all new, 50 mission campaign based on the TCS Hermes.


Download

demonews.de (http://www.demonews.de/Spiele/Wing-Commander-Saga/Demos/Wing-Commander-Saga-2469/)
gamershell.com (http://www.gamershell.com/download_87172.shtml)
atomicgamer.com (http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/96457/wing-commander-saga-the-darkest-dawn-free-game)
shacknews.com (http://www.shacknews.com/file/30917/wing-commander-saga-the-darkest-dawn-10-free-game)
wcnews.com (http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/11562)
mindcrushers.de (http://mirrors.mindcrushers.de/darkest_dawn/)
emumovies.com (http://emumovies.com/wcsaga/)
rapidshare (1.5GB links) (http://linksave.in/16450227844f6b3c66a4657)
rapidshare (400MB links) (http://linksave.in/1492828304f6b3cf0d50dd)

Launch Trailer

Watch on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wirU-kqdezU)

DVD Cover

Download (http://www.wcsaga.com/WCS_DVD_Cover.png)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 22, 2012, 01:36:47 pm
Awesome, downloading now.  :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: wuu on March 22, 2012, 01:45:53 pm
Congratulations, WC team!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 22, 2012, 01:46:48 pm
I would say more, but I don't know what. There are no words to describe how I feel. 10 years of waiting. And it's only a few hours away, being downloaded right now.
Is it really real?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Renegade on March 22, 2012, 01:49:53 pm
Jess Dragon i feel the same..
i have now to wait until DL is finished (approx. 4h)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 22, 2012, 01:56:39 pm
3.3 gig from gamershell.com :wtf: I though BP weighed in heavy lol
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Zombimode on March 22, 2012, 01:59:06 pm
Just a quick question: some time ago there was talk about a german version of WCS. Was this prospect realized? If yes is the german version included in this download, or will it be released at a later date?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Angelus on March 22, 2012, 02:00:46 pm
Just came home and saw this thread...the anticipation...while waiting for the game to be downloaded from gamershell with 3.1MB/s...still 17 min to go...and the grimdark realisation that i wont be able to play it today...at least it will be waiting on my HD...tomorrow evening.

Thank you guys for the game, for all those years of dedicated work! Kudos to you.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Lukeskywalkie on March 22, 2012, 02:11:48 pm
ack! CRC on my first dl attempt.  good thing the install is broken into manageable bits.  DL'ing again! (and napping)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 02:17:03 pm
ack! CRC on my first dl attempt.  good thing the install is broken into manageable bits.  DL'ing again! (and napping)

I did not have the time to test rapidshare download links, so if those are broken, please lemme now.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Lukeskywalkie on March 22, 2012, 02:32:18 pm
Oh, no, I meant the .tiz files within the zip. only one was corrupt (it happens, after all I WAS downloading at 3 MB/S with a manager).  that was from spacesimcentral. downloading from Gamershell using a single connect now. 
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: FekLeyrTarg on March 22, 2012, 02:33:00 pm
Wo-Ho! It's time to celebrate the release! :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 02:45:12 pm
List of mirrors updated.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Angelus on March 22, 2012, 03:08:14 pm
Someone should add an anouncement to the frontpage.  :nod:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mikes on March 22, 2012, 03:12:43 pm
34 minutes... 33 minutes... lip quiver ... 32 minutes...

::: tries to make download move faster by staring at it intensely :::

:)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Jake2447 on March 22, 2012, 03:14:44 pm
Rapidshare Links (400 MB) worked for me.  Congratulations on the release!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 22, 2012, 03:31:44 pm
Does the Wing commander saga build support recent shader like contrast and saturation ? I want to test the new visual with my current shader settings I used in several FSO mods.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 22, 2012, 03:33:10 pm
Does the Wing commander saga build support recent shader like contrast and saturation ? I want to test the new visual with my current shader settings I used in several FSO mods.

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80307.0;topicseen

Saga is capable of utilising Shader 3

edit
fixed spelling
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 22, 2012, 03:36:53 pm
I'm not talking about pixel shader, but the post_processing.tbl that contains at least those lines:
Code: [Select]
#Effects

$Name: distort noise
$Uniform: noise_amount
$Define: FLAG_DISTORT_NOISE
$AlwaysOn: false
$Default: 0.0
$Div: 20000
$Add: 0

$Name: saturation
$Uniform: saturation
$Define: FLAG_SATURATION
$AlwaysOn: true
$Default: 0.40 ;; 0.30
$Div: 5000
$Add: 50

$Name: contrast
$Uniform: contrast
$Define: FLAG_CONTRAST
$AlwaysOn: true
$Default: 1.1 ;; 1.1
$Div: 5000 ;; 50
$Add: 0

$Name: film grain
$Uniform: film_grain
$Define: FLAG_GRAIN
$AlwaysOn: true
$Default: 0.15 ;; 045, 0.15
$Div: 50
$Add: 0

$Name: stripes
$Uniform: tv_stripes
$Define: FLAG_STRIPES
$AlwaysOn: false ;; false
$Default: 0.10 ;; 0.15
$Div: 50
$Add: 0

$Name: cutoff
$Uniform: cutoff
$Define: FLAG_CUTOFF
$AlwaysOn: true
$Default: 1.5
$Div: 50
$Add: 0.0

$Name: dithering
$Uniform: dither
$Define: FLAG_DITH
$AlwaysOn: false
$Default: 0.0
$Div: 50
$Add: 0
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: The_Force on March 22, 2012, 03:46:46 pm
Congratulations! can't wait to play. Only another 6 hours of download to go :(. thanks again for all the work you've put into this :yes:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: yuezhi on March 22, 2012, 03:53:00 pm
Someone should add an anouncement to the frontpage.  :nod:
and the wiki ;)

(http://h2g2.com/oldblobs/white/1078997.gif)(http://h2g2.com/oldblobs/white/1078997.gif)(http://h2g2.com/oldblobs/white/1078997.gif)
here's to ten years!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: niffiwan on March 22, 2012, 04:27:38 pm
Quote
Today we are only launching the PC vesion. The Linux and Mac versions will be available soon. We just need to port the launcher to OSX and Linux and run some tests.

noooooooooo.....  :( :( :(

Is there any help you need with getting Linux version ready?? (don't have a Mac so I can't help there)

Anyway, personal disappointment aside, many kudos for sticking with it and releasing the game after 10 years hard work :yes:

(and what the hell, may as well download the PC version and see if wine will give me any joy)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 22, 2012, 04:30:31 pm
BTW, when are you going to release the source code? There were some big changes to FSO in your version and maybe some of them (hopefully all) could be ported to main builds.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 04:38:40 pm
Soon.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 22, 2012, 05:29:02 pm
Another thing, does WC Saga support Track IR head tracking device ?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 05:33:02 pm
Another thing, does WC Saga support Track IR head tracking device ?

I have no idea, since we do not have the necessary hardware to test it.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 22, 2012, 06:01:53 pm
It should, if they didn't mess with that code.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 22, 2012, 06:05:30 pm
Just tested, Track IR is supported, just need to grab the scptrackir.dll available with the recent Media VP/3.6.14 RC builds . And place it as usual in the root folder of the game.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 06:14:05 pm
Just tested, Track IR is supported, just need to grab the scptrackir.dll available with the recent Media VP/3.6.14 RC builds . And place it as usual in the root folder of the game.

Good to know. Thanks.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Sushi on March 22, 2012, 06:26:23 pm
Congrats on the launch, I look forward to playing.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aurora Paradox on March 22, 2012, 06:50:27 pm
First off, congratulations on finishing such an ambitious project.  Although I had never even heard of Wing Commander before joining HLP you certainly have my attention.  The recent trailers could have easily been done by a professional studio.

I do have one question though.  Was the campaign done in both English and German?  The reason I ask is that the fastest mirror I found happened to be a German site ironically.  If I'm downloading a version with only German voice acting I'd rather stop it sooner rather than later.

Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 06:53:47 pm
Don't worry, the game is English-only... for now.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 22, 2012, 06:59:25 pm
gamers hell is reporting 5,842 downloads so far
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aurora Paradox on March 22, 2012, 07:17:20 pm
Don't worry, the game is English-only... for now.

Glad to hear it.  Once again congratulations.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Commander Zane on March 22, 2012, 07:41:43 pm
I've been having a blast so far. :D
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 22, 2012, 07:45:13 pm
I've been having a blast so far. :D

Glad to hear it! Thank for reporting back. We need love. ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: CKid on March 22, 2012, 08:03:53 pm
Is there anyway to change the mouse controls so that it behaves more like standard FS2, cause I can barely hit the corvette in the first mission. I wouldn't stand a chance against the fighters.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on March 22, 2012, 08:05:46 pm
@OP: gameupdates.org (http://gameupdates.org) (server-seeded torrents, you get ridiculous download speeds from them) would give you a good, reliable, fast way to spread this.  Not sure how you stand on the IP of WCS though... as long as there are no C&Ds and it's all fan-made content, I think you'd be golden.

EDIT: @CKid:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/22/back-in-the-cockpit-wing-commander-saga/  :

Quote
Update: Comment-Hero Dominic White points out that you can adjust the deadzone problem from the joystick controls. I hadn’t really looked over there since I wasn’t using one, but a quick tweak there indeed completely fixes that control and makes the mouse floaty and lovely.


Sticky that?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: CKid on March 22, 2012, 08:37:43 pm
EDIT: @CKid:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/22/back-in-the-cockpit-wing-commander-saga/  :

Quote
Update: Comment-Hero Dominic White points out that you can adjust the deadzone problem from the joystick controls. I hadn’t really looked over there since I wasn’t using one, but a quick tweak there indeed completely fixes that control and makes the mouse floaty and lovely.


Sticky that?

Thanks, that helped a bit. Still not true FS controls but at least I have a chance to hit something now.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Antares on March 22, 2012, 08:45:00 pm
Heard about the release on another board; looks like the gaming media is starting to pick it up.

Congratulations, guys. :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Icewater on March 22, 2012, 09:38:19 pm
I hadn't been following this but it seems awesome. Congrats on the release!

Also, is there going to be a torrent?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mongoose on March 22, 2012, 09:42:16 pm
Huge congrats, guys. :D It's really awesome to see this sort of perseverance and hard work pay off in the end.  I don't know when I'll have the chance to download it, but I'm definitely going to make time for it at some point. :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: supernova on March 22, 2012, 11:46:49 pm
Thank you so much for all your hard work on this project. I must say I'm blown away. I've been "away" from Hard-Light for ages it seems like, but oh does it feel good to come back...
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Sushi on March 23, 2012, 01:15:23 am
Played the first few missions. Takes me back... you definitely got the Wing Commander feel exactly right. Looking forward to the rest!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on March 23, 2012, 03:11:02 am
oh, curse my studies and my substandard PC! I guess I'll have to wait longer still!

Great job saga team! you'll no doubt be remembered for this!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Inglonias on March 23, 2012, 06:23:41 am
I'm waiting for the dust to settle before jumping in, and in the meantime, am enjoying playing thru WC1. Am planning to play thru WC2 and 3 before going to this at last.

Congratulations. After 10 years, you guys are finally done. Give yourselves another round of applause if your hands still work.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mr CharlieCharlie on March 23, 2012, 06:40:24 am
Fantastic effort folks!  Much respect and congratulations due....WELL DONE!!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Quanto on March 23, 2012, 07:57:19 am
DOWNLOADAN LIKE THE FIST OF THE NORTH STAR!!!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Veers on March 23, 2012, 08:18:05 am
Congradulations on the release. Many congratulations

Noticed you also appeared on The Escapist (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116473-Wing-Commander-Saga-The-Darkest-Dawn-Launches)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Rodo on March 23, 2012, 10:16:42 am
I've never played any of the original series since my curiosity wasn't really piqued by them, now after seeing the last to trailers things have changed.
So I'll be downloading this sometime in the future, most certainly.

Anyways, Kudos for the hard work :yes:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MatthTheGeek on March 23, 2012, 10:52:54 am
Two questions : why doesn't your launcher have a feature tab and an entry for command line flags, and why doesn't your exe work with the standard launcher.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mr_Blastman on March 23, 2012, 11:30:29 am
I know back when the prologue was first released a few years back there were some commandline options that came recommended.  This time around, are there any that I ought to put into the file cmdline_fso file or are the default settings par for the course graphically speaking?  I think it looks awesome as it is, btw.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 12:04:05 pm
I know back when the prologue was first released a few years back there were some commandline options that came recommended.  This time around, are there any that I ought to put into the file cmdline_fso file or are the default settings par for the course graphically speaking?  I think it looks awesome as it is, btw.

No need for any additional command line options. You only need what the launcher sets. (Also you shouldn't even try using standard FSO command line options. Most will no even work anymore.)

Two questions : why doesn't your launcher have a feature tab and an entry for command line flags, and why doesn't your exe work with the standard launcher.

Because you don't need either.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: ni1s on March 23, 2012, 12:20:02 pm
I understand the Linux and Mac versions are in the works, but is there any ETA on these?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MatthTheGeek on March 23, 2012, 12:28:03 pm
Two questions : why doesn't your launcher have a feature tab and an entry for command line flags, and why doesn't your exe work with the standard launcher.

Because you don't need either.
I don't see how it's you to decide. I want to play that game in fullscreen windowed. Not only I can't add the flag manually in the launcher, but even when adding it in the command line file (which happened to be located into my Library folder), it doesn't seem to work. Did you actually spend CODER TIME removing USEFUL FEATURES ?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 12:28:54 pm
I've been playing a bit of this. It's definitely a more polished and mature product than Prologue, and great fun (I hope I get a transfer to the Arrow though--I greatly dislike the Hellcat in all of its incarnations across the WC series). Some observations I made:

* The voice acting is extremely good by mod standards and better than I've seen in a lot of commercial games, but I miss Major Baws' old voice. The new actor is OK but he doesn't have the personality and humor the previous guy brought to the role. Also, something about his accent sounds off, like he's a German putting on an American accent or something. Greywolf is the standout character so far--everything out of his mouth is hilarious, and in a good way.
*
Spoiler:
I like how you shrunk the Hvar'kann from 20km to a more reasonable 2.2km. It's still terrifying but not completely out of proportion to everything else in the WC universe.
* How does the pilot see out of a Sorthak?
* Most of the models look really good, but some of the Kilrathi ships have a bit too much grunge on them IMO.
* The sheer quantity of cutscene footage is quite an achievement. An individual cutscene for every single briefing? How long did it take you to animate and render that?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 12:44:58 pm
* The sheer quantity of cutscene footage is quite an achievement. An individual cutscene for every single briefing? How long did it take you to animate and render that?

Approx. two months. And it really shows. If I had more time on my hands, briefing cutscenes would look much much better.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: SF-Junky on March 23, 2012, 01:01:35 pm
Cool. Downloading now and congratulations to the team. I've never player Wing Commander except WC V: Prophecy which was... well, I've seen better games.

But wow, ten years of work and you had the breath to get it finished. I think there can be no better proof of the effort and heart's blood you put into this. Amazing. If there are people that can be called fans, you are. :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 23, 2012, 02:11:35 pm
I know back when the prologue was first released a few years back there were some commandline options that came recommended.  This time around, are there any that I ought to put into the file cmdline_fso file or are the default settings par for the course graphically speaking?  I think it looks awesome as it is, btw.

No need for any additional command line options. You only need what the launcher sets. (Also you shouldn't even try using standard FSO command line options. Most will no even work anymore.)

Two questions : why doesn't your launcher have a feature tab and an entry for command line flags, and why doesn't your exe work with the standard launcher.

Because you don't need either.

It's very sad we can't use commandline. There are some command I'd like to use (fov, post process, bloom, etc....) if supported by the build. Or just add news features in the launcher so we can do fine tuning all video option related.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 02:13:47 pm
You can still try, I am not sure which will work though. You could probably place your cmdline.cfg in the data folder. That should overwrite the one in My Documents/Volition.

It comes down to this: if the functionality is still there, command line will have the desired effect.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Deadly in a Shadow on March 23, 2012, 03:10:07 pm
Looks like there's only an sse2.exe.

Are there any plans on an SSE1 version?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on March 23, 2012, 03:17:04 pm
:wtf: What processor do you have?  Athlon XP or something?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Deadly in a Shadow on March 23, 2012, 03:51:19 pm
:wtf: What processor do you have?  Athlon XP or something?
It's an old AMD Athlon XP 2400+ :P
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mongoose on March 23, 2012, 03:56:59 pm
Even my ancient Pentium 4 supports SSE2.  Maybe it's time for some newer hardware. :p
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:12:44 pm
If your CPU doesn't support SSE2 it is too old to run this game anyway.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on March 23, 2012, 05:49:30 pm
while a wingnut myself, please do forgive me if I do consider your fan work to be far superior to wc arena (which happens to be an official wc project, so it seems)...

this is the way wing commanders should go and remain!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Commander Zane on March 23, 2012, 05:55:10 pm
while a wingnut myself, please do forgive me if I do consider your fan work to be far superior to wc arena (which happens to be an official wc project, so it seems)...
Why would Arena be superior over any Wing Commander title?
Except *maybe the movie. :P
*No it's certainly a definite.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:58:35 pm
while a wingnut myself, please do forgive me if I do consider your fan work to be far superior to wc arena (which happens to be an official wc project, so it seems)...
Why would Arena be superior over any Wing Commander title?
Except *maybe the movie. :P
*No it's certainly a definite.

If you count in the Arena manual then it WAS better than the movie ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 06:10:34 pm
What Wing Commander movie? I don't remember a Wing Commander movie! I can't hear you! La la la la!

(thanks a lot for making me remember that stupid, stupid movie)

And WCS is definitely better than Arena. And Prophecy.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 23, 2012, 06:32:28 pm
:wtf: What processor do you have?  Athlon XP or something?
It's an old AMD Athlon XP 2400+ :P

Athlon XP 2400+ = 2000 MHz   

ouchI think those boards maxed out at 1 or 2 gig memory as well, I strongly suggest not running the game until you upgrade.  se http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80333.0;topicseen and my run through and my system is significantly more powerful than yours probably is
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 23, 2012, 08:41:27 pm
Even my ancient Pentium 4 supports SSE2.  Maybe it's time for some newer hardware. :p
Pentium 4 also happens to be the first processor with SSE2. I've had a perfectly capable CPU which didn't had SSE2 for a long time. It ran FS2 on maxed-out settings quite well, for the most of the time. Since CPU speed isn't the main limiting factor in most games, it's a secondary concern when upgrading a computer. Also, upgrading from an old CPU usualy includes changing the entire motherboard, since the older ones use a different socket that can't fit any of the SSE2 CPUs. The socket in question was phased out just before Pentium 4.
Unforunately, most people who don't know how to optimize an old computer don't know that and automatically assume that no SSE2=ancient, slow piece of junk. It's not the case, if you have good graphics card, and take your time to tweak the settings, you can run most things on such computer. I've actually played throught ArmA II on this old computer.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on March 23, 2012, 08:45:37 pm
I've got an old Athlon XP 3200+, it's held its own, but it is now showing its age.. i think it's the lack of multi-threading that's doing it in.  Even non multi-threading programs still benefit when one process can't squeeze the life out of the processor cycles.  (So CPU usage spikes don't cause stuttering as often if at all.)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Scooby_Doo on March 23, 2012, 10:04:28 pm
* How does the pilot see out of a Sorthak?
The cockpit is on the very port wing.  Kinda dumb but that appears where they originally placed it in WC3.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 10:12:14 pm
I always thought that was for a turret gunner for some reason.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on March 23, 2012, 10:25:45 pm
Okay, finally got to play this and I must admit I'm having fun so far. I never played Wing Commander 3 but it feels a lot like the Wing Commander games I did play. Kudos to the team on that.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: blackhole on March 23, 2012, 10:48:03 pm
I must know what song is playing in that trailer!

EDIT: HAHA I found it
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 10:56:33 pm
I didn't realize there was a different version of the HUD circle for every fighter until I looked at some screenshots on a site that had an interview with Tolwyn. That's really cool.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: General Battuta on March 23, 2012, 11:28:11 pm
You guys have done fantastic work. I do think some of the missions could do with checkpoints, but hey, can't have everything.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on March 24, 2012, 04:40:55 am
at least the movie had interesting ships designs! I think the ships are the only redeeming features of the movie and arena (even though those designs were... peculiar...)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 24, 2012, 04:53:31 am
I've got it to run, and so far, it lives up to the hype.
The only thing it's missing are cockpit models. I though Scooby would make them for Saga, but he didn't.
Ship-specific HUD elements are a nice touch though.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Deathsnake on March 24, 2012, 05:40:55 am
Jo the Cockpits are more in the WC4 Style. I already done a "Facelift" ^^ on one of the models:

WC Saga Version of the Yorktown. For me its more a Concordia Class (to much Bays)
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1271/yorkql.jpg)

to this:

(http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4364/myyork.jpg)
The ladder is missing but more to the Yorktown in WC3 ;)

Now I need only the Gettysburg....
By the way - when do you release the FRED for Darkest Dawn???
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Macfie on March 24, 2012, 07:08:48 am
Will the campaigns for the prologue release work with the new release?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Flipside on March 24, 2012, 07:11:22 am
As an amusing aside, I first read the title of this thread without my glasses on and thought it said:

"The Darkest Dawn is Closed for Lunch"... :nervous:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Deathsnake on March 24, 2012, 07:19:28 am
Will the campaigns for the prologue release work with the new release?
The Prologue is already release with the Darkest Dawn. Go to the Campaign Manager in the Game and select the Prologue ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Jeff Vader on March 24, 2012, 07:37:14 am
Will the campaigns for the prologue release work with the new release?
The Prologue is already release with the Darkest Dawn. Go to the Campaign Manager in the Game and select the Prologue ;)
I think he refers to user-made third-party campaigns that were released before. Back when there was only WCS Prologue. Will those campaigns work now, with this release?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: SF-Junky on March 24, 2012, 10:28:58 am
Is it, by the way, allowed to use your stuff for other mods like, uh, StormFront?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 24, 2012, 02:11:28 pm
Man, this campaign is so long. Only at mission 15 so far. All these 15-20 minute missions.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Venicius on March 24, 2012, 02:30:14 pm
I hate to ask, but can someone put up a download for the "Disk0005.tiz" file?  I've downloaded the game twice and both times had a corrupted tiz file.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 24, 2012, 03:43:59 pm
I hate to ask, but can someone put up a download for the "Disk0005.tiz" file?  I've downloaded the game twice and both times had a corrupted tiz file.

Drop me a PM and I will send you PAR2 files.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 24, 2012, 04:27:04 pm
Do you have any tips
Spoiler:
on how to neutralize those skipper in the mission where you have to protect the Battleaxe ? Just after the autopilot sequence, I burn my After burner and use the glide mode so I can reach those Corvet. Sadly, when you got the signal of those skipper, they are too far from the corvet and I don't have enought time to intercept them before they cloak. I thought playing  in very easy will help, but no way.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 24, 2012, 04:53:49 pm
This has been discussed to great length here (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/index.php?f=2&t=508&rb_v=viewtopic).

@all: please keep this topic clean from any modding related questions/comments.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Rodo on March 24, 2012, 05:55:45 pm
I just finished playing the prologue and I had a blast, the voice acting and the dialogue/story where the most impressive I've seen for a while now :yes:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 24, 2012, 06:04:20 pm
This has been discussed to great length here (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/index.php?f=2&t=508&rb_v=viewtopic).

@all: please keep this topic clean from any modding related questions/comments.

Thanks, it helps me a lot.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 24, 2012, 06:16:35 pm
This has been discussed to great length here (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/index.php?f=2&t=508&rb_v=viewtopic).

@all: please keep this topic clean from any modding related questions/comments.

Thanks, it helps me a lot.

You never posted whenever or not your post processing shaders work in Saga. I am not sure if we ever disabled post processing in the first place - it was giving us some trouble though...
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MetalDestroyer on March 24, 2012, 06:42:11 pm
This has been discussed to great length here (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/index.php?f=2&t=508&rb_v=viewtopic).

@all: please keep this topic clean from any modding related questions/comments.

Thanks, it helps me a lot.

You never posted whenever or not your post processing shaders work in Saga. I am not sure if we ever disabled post processing in the first place - it was giving us some trouble though...

Well, I put my settings.ini in the root of SAGA but none of the commandline work or I couldn't really check.
The post_process flag with all the .sdr files related and the post processing.tbl don't work (blur-f.sdr, brightpass-f, fxaa-f, etc...). The game still running with no error thought.

Do you plan in futur days/months to update the build so you can support those visual features since they already exist in current FSO Builds ?
And what about cockpit view ? :) Do you plan to released cockpit so we can have much enjoyment ? Because playing SAGA with a Track IR but with no cockpit, I lose some feedback on where I'm looking at.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 24, 2012, 07:02:15 pm
Cockpits would be a great addition, every Wing Commander except WC4 had them.
As for build updates, once the source code is released, Saga features might end up incorporated into the trunk, so you'll be able to simply play with a normal build.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: achtung on March 24, 2012, 07:07:06 pm
You seem to have plenty of mirrors available, but here:

http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?view.835

I even embedded the trailer in the description. :p
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 24, 2012, 07:08:26 pm
Cockpits would be a great addition, every Wing Commander except WC4 had them.
As for build updates, once the source code is released, Saga features might end up incorporated into the trunk, so you'll be able to simply play with a normal build.

I doubt that. Saga adds tons of features/tweaks (for instance upgrades to the way cutscenes are handled, which is essential for the campaign to work). Unless the SCP team can be really bothered, I do not see it happening any time soon.

@Swantz: appreciated. Hit me really hard if I forget to update the release post tomorrow.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 24, 2012, 07:30:20 pm
If they're indeed improvements, I'm sure they'll find their way into SCP somehow. Even if they break compatibility, there's always an option to include your SEXPs as either variants or behavior variations controlled by an additional parameter. SEXPs are the least difficult part of the code to edit. Of course, this would most likely require a patch for the campaign, but even if you won't make it, somebody will. Playing WCS with shadows and lightshafts (among other things) is just too good of a perspective.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on March 24, 2012, 08:41:57 pm
I doubt that. Saga adds tons of features/tweaks (for instance upgrades to the way cutscenes are handled, which is essential for the campaign to work). Unless the SCP team can be really bothered, I do not see it happening any time soon.

Well given that the cutscene code was my work, I for one, would be interested in seeing what improvements you made to it.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 24, 2012, 09:52:13 pm
Valathil recently upgraded the cutscenes code too
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on March 24, 2012, 10:17:49 pm
He updated the actual code for playing cutscenes. I don't think that's what Tolwyn was on about. I suspect he's on about the code that allows you to choose a cutscene to play. I'm intrigued as to what would actually need to be updated there.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 24, 2012, 11:21:26 pm
One thing that's apparent is the use of cutscenes for mission briefings. Some missions have a typical intermission cutscene before the mission like in a regular FS2 campaign, immediately followed by a second cutscene that serves as the briefing.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on March 25, 2012, 12:09:37 am
Yeah, that's what I coded. That's why I'm wondering what they changed.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Genoism on March 25, 2012, 04:22:17 am
how in gods name are u supposed to play this with a mouse? Its impossible to target anything since the movement only responds to the mouse if the mouse reticule is outside the large circle in the middle. Should have left the control scheme just like it is in freespace....trying to shoot a ship down like this is trying to shoot fish in a barrel with a slingshot.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: niffiwan on March 25, 2012, 04:37:39 am
Have you tried adjusting the joystick deadzone?  I think the mouse/joystick deadzones are linked somehow.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 25, 2012, 06:45:46 am
I'm occasionally experiencing bad cases of getting INSTANT GIBBED.
First time was when I was gliding and came past an asteroid ship. Which chewed me up veeery rapidly. I figured that was just the heavy weapons on that thing and the light shielding and armor on the Arrow. But then just now I got pretty much instantly destroyed on a jousting run with a Darket! In a thunderbolt! What the heck?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 25, 2012, 06:53:29 am
It might have punted you with a dumbfire, or an IR you didn't hear coming. Happened to me in WC3 too, jousting runs are a risky idea, because the enemy can and will try to shove a missile up your intakes.
And yes, the K'ha'haf is a though beast, not to mention really well armed. Those things have four reaper guns. In WC3, you faced them either in a Thnderbolt or an Excalibur (I don't really remember which one), and even then, they weren't easy pickings.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 25, 2012, 06:55:23 am
head to head when first closing in has rarely been a good idea in WC of any flavour, as approach fly out at an angle and about half way there charge at them, because you are at an angle to their flight path several things happen

1. they are not pointing at you so their guns arn't
2. they cant get a missile lock on you because you are out of the view cone
3. they seem to prefer to target your wingmen in that situation
4. it puts you in a good position to get up their tail pipes
edit
5. it gives you a better view of how the kat force is distributed
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 25, 2012, 07:39:35 am
That is all solid advice and all that, but I'm no rookie when it comes to WC&FS.
First off all, the Darket doesn't come with dumbfire missiles, only 'Stalker' heatseekers. There wasn't a missile explosion to begin with anyway.
Second, I went from full shields and hull to dead after like a mere 5-7 meson cannon shots. To score a kill on a thunderbolt in that fashion would require every shot to pass through the shields directly onto the hull. (14x35 damage = 490.  A thunderbolt has 440 armor) I'm going to assume its something along those lines that happened. Or something in any case, it happens so fast it doesn't give much time to respond.
What mostly pisses me off about this is that it happened right after a section that has you twiddling your thumbs while you listen to people talking for a full couple of minutes. With time compression disabled and no build in way to skip these sections if you already been through them once. (This certainly isnt the only mission that is quilty of this. Checkpoints would have been... nice to have) Ah well, guess I'll just edit the mission manually to reenable time compression so I can skip past it... Yeah, there done. ezey 'nuff

Also, you guys are *wrong*! head to head with a Thunderbolt against a Darket is the best way to score an easy kill. Its only a bad idea if you are the one flying the Darket  :p
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 25, 2012, 08:08:57 am
Also, you guys are *wrong*! head to head with a Thunderbolt against a Darket is the best way to score an easy kill. Its only a bad idea if you are the one flying the Darket  :p

A head on attack, even in a Thunderbolt, will get you killed faster than you can spell "Mama".
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 25, 2012, 08:10:07 am
Yeah, that's what I coded. That's why I'm wondering what they changed.

Aside from theora player optimization (a lot of them), we added special cutscene flags so that movies play only in campaign mode.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on March 25, 2012, 08:13:24 am
Ahhh. That would explain it. I was quite happy with them playing in the techroom since they're basically supposed to replace briefings and debriefings but if you'd rather skip them that makes sense.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 25, 2012, 08:28:35 am
Okay yeah, I'm pretty much convinced shots still pass through shields now. I frequently take damage with shields still up. (Especially frustrating when its that last 4% hull thats keeping you alive at the very end of a mission.
This is why I adviced you guys to use surface shield flags back in the day after prologue got released.

A head on attack, even in a Thunderbolt, will get you killed faster than you can spell "Mama".
Horse****. I took on two vaktoth's head on and killed them both while only taking minor hull damage. The thunderbolt has way too much firepower to not come out ahead in head to head situations.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 25, 2012, 08:49:16 am
Ahhh. That would explain it. I was quite happy with them playing in the techroom since they're basically supposed to replace briefings and debriefings but if you'd rather skip them that makes sense.

We use it only for story cutscenes, since some are emedded as debriefing cutscenes (the events shown in the cutscene take place prior to the actual DB).

@Spoon: you might want to check your facts, Jack. And your choice of words. ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 25, 2012, 08:59:09 am
Check what facts exactly? I know for a fact that I have shots going through my shield. And I know for a fact that you people are wrong about jousting being a bad idea in a thunderbolt.
Choice of words? How's saying something is horse**** any worse than calling us ****birds?  ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 25, 2012, 11:03:33 am
OK, I let one Paktahn through because I was too slow in one escort mission and it went after a transport and in seconds took it from 100 hull integrity to 1...with its GUNS. :shaking:

I hope none of the Paktahn pilots get the idea of dogfighting me instead of continuing straight on their torpedo runs... :nervous:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 25, 2012, 11:29:01 am
It was probably a shuttle.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Commander Zane on March 25, 2012, 11:29:30 am
OK, I let one Paktahn through because I was too slow in one escort mission and it went after a transport and in seconds took it from 100 hull integrity to 1...with its GUNS. :shaking:

I hope none of the Paktahn pilots get the idea of dogfighting me instead of continuing straight on their torpedo runs... :nervous:
I wouldn't worry, Paktahns are more of a threat from the aft against a fighter than they are from the fore.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mancubus on March 25, 2012, 01:27:10 pm
Eat a full salvo of four plasmas and teo ions and will talk about it
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Sushi on March 25, 2012, 03:43:30 pm
Head-on jousting has always been problematic in a WC game, unfortunately we don't have much of a choice. In older WC games, you could use afterburner at an oblique angle, and rely on at least a second or two of drift to keep carrying you at an angle while you turned to shoot at the target. WCS, thanks to Freespace physics, doesn't really allow that move (there's no real drift when turning during/after afterburner), at least in the ships I've flown so far.

Given that, your only option is to decide whether you feel luckier than the AI pilot (who is always going to just barrel straight at you guns blazing).

EDIT: I also point out that occasional shield-ignoring seems to happen plenty often in Freespace as well, especially during high-speed head-on attacks.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Genoism on March 25, 2012, 04:45:25 pm
Have you tried adjusting the joystick deadzone?  I think the mouse/joystick deadzones are linked somehow.
unfortunately i don't have a joystick so it wont let me calibrate anything.
Well i was able to lower the deadzone in-game but it helped only a little. Honestly, its completely unplayable with the mouse. It took me 5 minutes to take out a single pirate....But I play the regular freespace on hardmode no problem.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 25, 2012, 07:11:13 pm
More observations:

* While the mission design is overall good, the missions are long and some seem to go on forever. Some 6-7 minute missions interspersed with the 15-minute marathons would have been nice.
* I know it's not your fault that the Ion Gun sucks, since it sucked in WC3 too and you had to stay true to the original game, but I still hate it. If only Origin had given the Arrow a second pair of lasers instead of the ions...
*
Spoiler:
The mission with the Valkyries was pure awesome from start to finish. Wagner Commander! YES!
* The Paktahn, Vaktoth, and Sorthak certainly totally outclass the Grikath and Jalkehi from WC2. I'd like to fly the Vaktoth sometime.
* IMO the engine wash on the Kamrani is really, really excessive, it makes it hard to take out its engines quickly.
* Why didn't Confed upgrade some of the WC2-era fighters like the Sabre and Rapier, which are in terms of agility, speed, and armament equal or even better than the WC3 equivalents (compare the Hellcat to the Rapier--the Rapier is faster, more agile, smaller in target profile, and has a much better gun loadout), and the Arrow is supposedly an extremely old design itself? It made sense for the Victory to have a very limited selection of fighters since it was an old, small, junky carrier that got hastily shoved back to the front, but a modern strike carrier? I would have loved to fly a fully WC3-spec'd Rapier and I think some of the expanded universe/novel stuff supports this.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mr_Blastman on March 25, 2012, 09:24:50 pm
More observations:

* While the mission design is overall good, the missions are long and some seem to go on forever. Some 6-7 minute missions interspersed with the 15-minute marathons would have been nice.


You forget about Wing Commander 3.  Some of the missions right before the Behemoth is destroyed and shortly thereafter are LOOOOONG and really, really HARD (if playing on Crazy or harder--and what man shouldn't?).  I remember a couple where there are 50 kills to be had in them and taking thirty+ minutes a try.  They were intense.  One of them I ended up ejecting on--my only ejection the whole game.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 04:47:10 am
I've just looked throught game files and found shield icons for Saltha, Jalkethi and something called "Cutlass". Why weren't they included?
Also, there's a hint of a dedicated Kilrathi HUD.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Scooby_Doo on March 26, 2012, 05:04:07 am
I've just looked throught game files and found shield icons for Saltha, Jalkethi and something called "Cutlass". Why weren't they included?

Hmmm looks like a left-over from earlier days.  It looks like the Pre-WC1 Cutlass class, but I never worked on it.
Also the Grikath is there, as is some of the Wc4 stuff (probably from the demo a year or so ago)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 06:36:39 am
WC4 stuff might have been a leftover from the demo. WC2-era cat fighters are still unexplained though.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: gevatter Lars on March 26, 2012, 07:19:09 am
WC2 Cats are also leftovers from parts that where cut or that didn't make sense. In the entire development time we have gone through so many stuff I can't remember where what was comming from.
Scooby just re-made an old design I had for a Black Lance carrier. That design was from a time where we thought to go with the WC4 timeline.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 07:33:45 am
So, a Saga-standard Jalkethi or Saltha weren't made? If they were, could you check if you have some of those laying around?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: bigchunk1 on March 26, 2012, 08:19:49 am
Downloaded this and started playing it the other day. The presentation (menus, cutscenes etc.) is VERY well done. The first mission, however, sets you across from a navpoint which is 200,000(?) meters away I believe. Is there something wrong with my game or is it really that far? Am I supposed to spend 5+ minutes straight holding tab down, or am I missing something?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 08:37:29 am
Yes, you're missing something. That you have a WC-style autopilot.  :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 26, 2012, 08:48:35 am
So, a Saga-standard Jalkethi or Saltha weren't made? If they were, could you check if you have some of those laying around?

I sent Deathsnake a model dump which dates back to 2004. It included all these fighters and more.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 26, 2012, 10:06:45 am
Yes, you're missing something. That you have a WC-style autopilot.  :)

wasnt the FSO autopilot code developed for or stolen from WCS?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Tolwyn on March 26, 2012, 10:31:44 am
Yes, you're missing something. That you have a WC-style autopilot.  :)

wasnt the FSO autopilot code developed for or stolen from WCS?

The autopilot in Saga is scripted in FRED-.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 11:00:27 am
wasnt the FSO autopilot code developed for or stolen from WCS?
That's where it comes from, though it's not in the best shape right now. A fully FREDed AP seems like a better choice.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 26, 2012, 11:30:37 am
I've so far seen pilots named scooby-doo, karajorma and goober (who promptly died the moment he appeared)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Deathsnake on March 26, 2012, 11:36:14 am

I sent Deathsnake a model dump which dates back to 2004. It included all these fighters and more.

Yes, a lot of the models I used for Enigma 2666, Last Line of Defence and Operation Serpent. Some others are from the Standoff Team. But I hope now, after I see a lot of things in the Code and other stuff that aren't in the Prologue, I found someone who take over the models into Saga Final. I looked on the Gothri for example and its the same model from the prologue. Scooby just made a new texture for it. We can do the same to the other fighters. Only on the capships and stations we need the new turrets, hangarbays and stuff. A few fighters (Broadsword) needs a complete new model to fit with the Rapier, Ferret and Sabre ;) Epee and Crossbow are already made by Scooby. Just need another gray on the background texture ;)

But perhaps we should discuss this after the Team is Release the Fred Editor ;)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: CKid on March 26, 2012, 12:45:29 pm
I've so far seen pilots named scooby-doo, karajorma and goober (who promptly died the moment he appeared)

Two others that I have seen is IceFire and Vidmaster. IceFire goes down but I don't remember seeing Vid die. (He was in only one mission)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Vash on March 26, 2012, 04:25:59 pm
Heey, i've been lurking around this board since forever, found hardlight production forums thanks to the babylon project years ago and then found this one. Been playing for a few days now and i'm really having fun. i love the story driven way of the game with all the cutscenes and chatter between pilots. Thanks to the team for making something really worth waiting for.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: achtung on March 26, 2012, 04:51:02 pm
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/03/26/2033215/wing-commander-darkest-dawn-fan-made-goodness-reborn

You guys made slashdot. :)

Someone might want to take the opportunity to plug the FS community as a whole.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: LoneFan on March 26, 2012, 05:42:44 pm
congrats, this was a long time coming, and I waited the whole ten years!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 26, 2012, 06:18:31 pm

I sent Deathsnake a model dump which dates back to 2004. It included all these fighters and more.

Yes, a lot of the models I used for Enigma 2666, Last Line of Defence and Operation Serpent. Some others are from the Standoff Team. But I hope now, after I see a lot of things in the Code and other stuff that aren't in the Prologue, I found someone who take over the models into Saga Final. I looked on the Gothri for example and its the same model from the prologue. Scooby just made a new texture for it. We can do the same to the other fighters. Only on the capships and stations we need the new turrets, hangarbays and stuff. A few fighters (Broadsword) needs a complete new model to fit with the Rapier, Ferret and Sabre ;) Epee and Crossbow are already made by Scooby. Just need another gray on the background texture ;)

But perhaps we should discuss this after the Team is Release the Fred Editor ;)
Maybe you could get Scooby to do the Broadsword. I've already suggested it to him some time ago. Personally, I'd love to see it in his style.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 26, 2012, 06:59:04 pm
wasnt the FSO autopilot code developed for or stolen from WCS?
That's where it comes from, though it's not in the best shape right now. A fully FREDed AP seems like a better choice.

Harcoded AP has been fixed for a while now.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on March 27, 2012, 06:11:53 am
Torrent mirror up @ gameupdates.org:

http://gameupdates.org/details.php?id=4980
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Gloriano on March 27, 2012, 07:09:26 am
Seriously awesome job getting this done, really enjoy WCS so far brings memories from when WC1 was released.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Spoon on March 28, 2012, 02:14:12 pm
It always struck me as wierd that the description of the Meson gun:
"The meson blaster is a unique, powerful gun that utilises subatomic particles with a short half-life. These particles, called mesons, are accelerated and flung toward a target. The most damage occurs once the particles decay inside the target - they cause internal explosions and give off radiation. Energised shields can stop these particles, and atmospheric conditions render this gun ineffective." says quite clearly that this gun is not suitable for atmospheric conditions
Yet the only kilrathi fighter that is made specifically for atmospheric conditions (Ekapshi) has Meson guns mounted on it. A silly contradiction, Origin!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 28, 2012, 02:28:09 pm
It always struck me as wierd that the description of the Meson gun:
"The meson blaster is a unique, powerful gun that utilises subatomic particles with a short half-life. These particles, called mesons, are accelerated and flung toward a target. The most damage occurs once the particles decay inside the target - they cause internal explosions and give off radiation. Energised shields can stop these particles, and atmospheric conditions render this gun ineffective." says quite clearly that this gun is not suitable for atmospheric conditions
Yet the only kilrathi fighter that is made specifically for atmospheric conditions (Ekapshi) has Meson guns mounted on it. A silly contradiction, Origin!

Spoon you play freespace, you have no right to complain lol
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Infamus on March 28, 2012, 02:40:24 pm
Hey, is there any way I can switch back to the old Relative style mouse control?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Angelus on March 28, 2012, 02:52:50 pm
Hey, is there any way I can switch back to the old Relative style mouse control?

follow this link:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80313.msg1595554#msg1595554
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: T-Man on March 28, 2012, 04:37:28 pm
Congrats to the WCSaga team; hope you guys feel proud! Moment i have some spare time shall give it a whirl! :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Infamus on March 28, 2012, 07:11:53 pm
Hey, is there any way I can switch back to the old Relative style mouse control?

follow this link:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80313.msg1595554#msg1595554
:D
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Gapie on March 29, 2012, 06:11:44 am
Oh boy, I am having a blast playing, this game is so much fun to play! Kudos for making a mod this good.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: ktistai228 on March 29, 2012, 03:42:21 pm
Congrats guys, it looks damn good. I started a run myself, but got stuck at the second prologue mission. I can't get the nav pilot to sync. Help?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on March 29, 2012, 03:43:26 pm
fly close to the freighter
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on March 29, 2012, 03:52:23 pm
Which means "skim it's surface" close to it, BTW.  :)
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: mralexs on March 30, 2012, 02:52:23 pm
Would it be okay if i port some of the ships over to Garry's Mod?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mad Bomber on April 01, 2012, 03:03:21 am
 :eek2:

It's finally done!

Glad I saw the torrent link. Twould help if there were more seeders tho.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Crazy_Ivan80 on April 01, 2012, 02:02:34 pm
A very very good dose of Wing Commander imho.  Enjoying it much.
A bit sad though that branching campaigns wasn't possible, especially since I remember it being something yuo could do in FRED2. unless that capability got lost in all the upgrading to engine since the source code got released.
But anyways: Congrats to everyone. Top notch in my book.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on April 01, 2012, 02:08:28 pm
can't this be circumvented? including regarding losing path missions? I heard shadowolf was working on an open ended campaign...
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: General Battuta on April 01, 2012, 02:18:13 pm
Yes, branching campaigns are certainly possible, but given the herculean effort involved in getting WCS I can't blame them for not having them.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: FSHero on April 01, 2012, 04:40:52 pm
Congratulations and well done to the WC Saga team!

I only joined hard-light approximately 2 years ago, so only found out about WC Saga relatively recently. Therefore it gives me great joy to know I effectively only had to wait two years for this to be completed!!

I cannot play this at the moment as I am studying for final year exams, but I'm looking forward to playing it immediately after!

Thank you for reviving the Wing Commander universe!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 01, 2012, 10:55:29 pm
:eek2:

It's finally done!

Glad I saw the torrent link. Twould help if there were more seeders tho.

Was that the gameupdates torrent?  If so, what was your average speed?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Crazy_Ivan80 on April 02, 2012, 08:18:59 am
Woot, I lived through the war! :)
That last engagement was one thrillfilled ride! Surved with 4% hull resulting in the slowest landing I've ever done :D

Once again: congrats to the WCSaga team.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 02, 2012, 03:18:10 pm
Surved with 4% hull resulting in the slowest landing I've ever done :D

Chicken.  You're supposed to fly in with 'burners blazing, doing victory rolls!  ;7
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: decembered on April 03, 2012, 01:48:19 am
Got me repeatedly the message 'DirectSound could not be initialized', no matter what device is set as default and which one I set in Audio tab (I have built-in Conexant chip in my laptop and the Focusrite USB external box).

Any suggestions how to amend this situation? Thank you.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 03, 2012, 02:11:48 am
Post a debug log whilst you are waiting?  Hmm... looks like WCS doesn't have one... is there one available for download?

Do you have FS2 + SCP?  If so, does that work correctly?

If not, you could try downloading Beyond the Red Line ftp://ftp.4players.de/pub/pc/sonstiges/btrldemoinstaller.exe demo and see if that has a debug version with it.  EDIT: It does have a debug version.  If the problem you are experiencing is common to all FS2 SCP engines, perhaps the log will help.  BtRL is, however, based on a really old version of FS2 Open (3.6.9; current is soon to be 3.6.14).  Not sure if that would help or not, but it's a shot I guess.

Well, hopefully someone from the WCS team already knows the fix for this... if not, whilst they track it down and/or ask you more questions, you could try the steps I posted above to see what you can get.

EDIT: [url=] tags don't support ftp:// links, they add http:// in front, borking the link.  I'll post that in Site Support

Also... you did read these, right?

Quote
Default sound device: Sometimes the sound device might not be detected correctly in the launcher. It should be set to generic sound device by default.

No sound: If voice files appear to be missing while playing the game, check under the "Audio" tab of the launcher to see if you are running a hardware mode for sound. If so, switch to "Generic Software." This should correct the problem.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: decembered on April 03, 2012, 04:23:30 am
Post a debug log whilst you are waiting?  Hmm... looks like WCS doesn't have one... is there one available for download?

Do you have FS2 + SCP?  If so, does that work correctly?

Actually I don't. Should I get one?


Also... you did read these, right?

Quote
Default sound device: Sometimes the sound device might not be detected correctly in the launcher. It should be set to generic sound device by default.

No sound: If voice files appear to be missing while playing the game, check under the "Audio" tab of the launcher to see if you are running a hardware mode for sound. If so, switch to "Generic Software." This should correct the problem.

Read it at the first place. Actually tried many things but to no avail. Will try to get me FS+SCP.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 03, 2012, 04:35:55 am
FS2 + SCP won't fix the issue; however, the debug log may shed some light on it.  FS2 (you can get it from gog.com for 5.99) + SCP is one way to get a debug log, however, there are a few TCs you can get that also can create one.  The Babylon Project is one, however, the download size is somewhat large (750MB for the smallest version).  The BtRL demo is ~300MB.  Problem is, both TBP and BtRL use old builds of FS2, so I'm not sure how that will go.

Actually, you could try just running FS2 Open on WCS's data, but I'm not sure what would result, as WCS made several changes to how FS2 Open normally operates.  It may function well enough to give you a debug log, though.

You could try updating your sound card drivers, just in case that fixes it.  I don't think it will, but if it did it would be silly to download all that stuff... well, at least you'd get more space combat sims to play around with, but you get my point.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: karajorma on April 03, 2012, 08:50:44 am
TBP + Zathras will run on modern SCP builds. Don't even bother trying to run BtRL on one. We never even released the 3.6.10 patch!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Vidmaster on April 03, 2012, 09:12:06 am
TBP + Zathras will run on modern SCP builds.

yeah, that was the intention behind it after all.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on April 03, 2012, 10:15:15 am
I just finished torrenting it but the installer fails :(

Code: [Select]
---------------------------
darkest-dawn-setup.exe - Entry Point Not Found
---------------------------
The procedure entry point RestoreLastError could not be located in the dynamic
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------


---------------------------
TSU Loader
---------------------------
Error 127 while loading TSU.DLL W:\DOCUME~1\Cyker\LOCALS~1\Temp\Tsu-0674.dll

---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

HALP!
(Or can someone post a 7z/.rar of it instead of an installer one...?)

Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mr CharlieCharlie on April 03, 2012, 12:35:57 pm
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition" :lol:

Fantastic voice acting in Darkest Dawn, great stuff...and I'm an actor(trained, although haven't trod the boards for some years)!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 03, 2012, 03:06:23 pm
I just finished torrenting it but the installer fails :(

Where did you torrent from?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on April 03, 2012, 04:53:36 pm
The gametorrents one mentioned on the first page.

It seems to have downloaded okay; CRC checks out with the torrent.

I think it's because I'm using Windows 2000;

Can someone upload an unpacked one...? :D
Or a fixed installer that doesn't have so many unnecessary dependencies...? ;)

I'll, err, carry on playing JAD for now...  :nervous:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aurora Paradox on April 03, 2012, 06:55:43 pm
The gametorrents one mentioned on the first page.

It seems to have downloaded okay; CRC checks out with the torrent.

I think it's because I'm using Windows 2000;


Windows 2000 is most certainly the cause of your problem.  According to the Wing Commander Saga website, the minimum required operating system is Windows XP.

I strongly urge you to upgrade as security updates are no longer provided for Windows 2000.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 03, 2012, 07:01:26 pm
I think it's because I'm using Windows 2000;

:jaw:

I strongly urge you to upgrade as security updates are no longer provided for Windows 2000.

Yeah... Two more years before XP is in the same boat... :nervous:  I wonder how long the holdouts will hold out after MS quits patching XP.  Heh, although, this is probably a pretty good indication (Win 2K still being used).
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mongoose on April 03, 2012, 09:19:14 pm
I'm planning on keeping this machine as XP-only for as long as it's still supported, and I'm sure I'll have it as a secondary OS even after that, just for the stuff that won't run on newer versions.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 03, 2012, 09:32:40 pm
Problem's gonna be driver support.  As soon as XP is not M$-supported, any of the few remaining hardware manufacturers that provide XP drivers will (I'm almost positive) cease doing so.  You could still run it on a VM, I suppose...
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on April 04, 2012, 12:11:45 pm
Well I still have a Windows '98SE install which I use regularly (You can pry MechWarrior 3 away from my cold dead hands!) so the answer really is: As long as the hardware (and drivers) support it! ;)
Drivers will be the biggest problem 'tho - There is no technical reason why Win98SE could not have drivers for SATA, USB3, PCI-E etc., but the reasons it doesn't are mainly economical.

This was one of my hopes for EFI - Platform independent drivers - But I don't think that will ever actually happen because EFI seems to have turned into such a horrible mess :(   (But then again, so is x86 so you never know :lol:)

I'll probably never get XP as I am boycotting anything that needs on-line activation (Yes, still!); Not too bothered about security updates - They've never been worth a damn to me. You can patch an OS up as much as you want to the point of it being frustrating and painful to use *cough*Win7*cough* but at the end of the day, it is us users who are responsible for 99% of malware infections.

But I must admit things like this do annoy the heck out of me - I reckon this system is perfectly capable of playing WCS - It can run FS2 SCP no problem, and the WCS previews worked properly too. What is standing in my way is the setup program depending on an unnecessary utility function which only exists in XP's kernel32.dll!

I just want to get my hands on the unpacked files so I can play it! Oh well, I suppose that's what friends' computers are for...  ;7
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 04, 2012, 11:30:21 pm
Cyker, sent you a PM
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on April 05, 2012, 04:04:07 am
Thanks for the info :)

's good to know that's a possibility but not for me I'm afraid :(

Anyhoo, my attempts to get WCSaga to work in 2k have hit a brick wall (The exe isn't even recognised as a Win32 application! :wtf:  Is that VC2010 I smell?!  :lol:) but apparently someone's gotten WCSaga working with wine so I may give that a go...!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on April 06, 2012, 05:12:24 pm
I suppose you could see if Dependency Walker (http://www.dependencywalker.com/) can find all of the required files that WCSaga would need..  I've used it before, and it's quite impressive.

Quote
Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more.

Dependency Walker is also very useful for troubleshooting system errors related to loading and executing modules. Dependency Walker detects many common application problems such as missing modules, invalid modules, import/export mismatches, circular dependency errors, mismatched machine types of modules, and module initialization failures.

Dependency Walker runs on Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and 7. It can process any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module, including ones designed for Windows CE. It can be run as graphical application or as a console application. Dependency Walker handles all types of module dependencies, including implicit, explicit (dynamic / runtime), forwarded, delay-loaded, and injected. A detailed help is included.

Dependency Walker is completely free to use. However, you may not profit from the distribution of it, nor may you bundle it with another product.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on April 08, 2012, 11:21:24 am
Well the funny thing is I already used OldCigarettes' win2kgaming hacks to take care of the XP dependencies in the exe, so I suspect the problem is it's been compiled by VC2010 with the compile targets set for only newer versions of Windows which requires more effort to bypass; I'm more inclined to wait for the Linux version (Assuming there will be one!) or for native SCP support as it'll probably take me longer to get it working than to complete the campaign :lol:

Also, it's the Revision 2012 demoparty atm so I got no time for games!! :P

But thanks for all your tips so far; Lots of good info to know! ;)

Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Everglide on April 10, 2012, 09:24:26 pm
I had a dream that the Mac Launcher was ready... wiping the sleep from my eyes   :confused:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: decembered on May 04, 2012, 10:06:50 am
Got me repeatedly the message 'DirectSound could not be initialized', no matter what device is set as default and which one I set in Audio tab (I have built-in Conexant chip in my laptop and the Focusrite USB external box).

Any suggestions how to amend this situation? Thank you.


Well, the problem is solved thanks to Elite-Games.ru portal - all it had to be done is to fix a string in Windows Registry.

My problem, I believe, have been that I'm a user of Russian version of Windows 7 (got it with my current laptop). A Russian name is assigned even to my built-in audio device, and these symbols apparently hadn't been recognized by the Launcher: in Registry they turned into a string of abracadabra symbols - 'Generic Software on Äèíàìèêè (Conexant CX20671 SmartAudio HD)'.

Leaving only 'Generic Software' get things working alright as long as you launch the game with wcsaga_sse2.exe. If you use Launcher it will again write bogus symbols into Registry.

I had yet to check out if it will work with my USB sound unit, but anyway, at least I had a chance to check out that brilliant voice acting and fly around a bit.

The registry string in question:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Volition \ WingCommanderSaga \ SoundDeviceOAL

Parameter is to be set to 'Generic Software'


Hopefully this would help to some people with other than English-languaged Windows.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Cyker on May 04, 2012, 01:36:16 pm
Thanks for posting your fix :)

Too many people figure out fixes but never post back to the thread!

:D :yes:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: perihelion on May 30, 2012, 10:28:37 am
Finally finished.  That was awesome!  Very slick and professionally done!  I'm especially impressed with the voice acting.  I was a little disappointed not to see the Behemoth in action, but I can understand why that was done.

I've never played any of the original Wing Commander games.  This was so good it makes me wish I had.  It was a completely different experience than Freespace.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: BengalTiger on June 09, 2012, 01:10:20 pm
Nice job on the tech descriptions.

Illudium PEW...

 :lol:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 09, 2012, 04:37:46 pm
There are surprisingly few people who get that joke in this day and age. :D
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: swamper123 on June 10, 2012, 02:16:45 pm
Does anyone know, where is the saved game or well pilot located?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: FekLeyrTarg on June 10, 2012, 02:23:40 pm
Does anyone know, where is the saved game or well pilot located?
The pilot files are located in the directory "C:\Users\yourname\Documents\Volition\Wing Commander Saga\data\players\single"
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: jr2 on June 10, 2012, 07:42:52 pm
That would translate to "C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\My Documents\Volition\Wing Commander Saga\data\players\single" if you're using XP, right?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on June 17, 2012, 02:37:50 am
I've watched the playthrough! that's hugely impressive. I love the general addition you've made to the kilrathi inventory namely the dubav, fra'lath and zakhari. the frigate class being I think the only ship mounting anti fighter missiles, I think it logical that the kilrathi have an answer to the carneavon.
I know I may be asking to much, but while planetary missions were very well executed, to be they were a huge tempation to see more: I hope that at some point (perhaps with future campaigns) ground missions will be advanced enough to implement kilrathi ground structures and tanks. that would be awesome.

Also, one last question: I nearly chocked when I realised: where are bladekiss and thrakhath and his elite most noble squadron? the bloodfang was the prime ship I wanted to see in saga, and sadly it wasn't here (I even recall the bloodfang model being in there, right)?

Otherwise, great job to all. this is certainly a labor of love.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 17, 2012, 04:10:32 pm
Indeed there aren't any Bloodfangs in the campaign, and the model isn't included in the tables. I don't know why it was dropped but it was quite early IIRC.
The good news is that it is included in the VPs, although it has a strange spec map and lacks a normal map. I corrected the docking points and the engine glow, included a normal map and fixed the spec map. It will be included in my Kilrathi mod both for AI and flyable (I also created a HUD).

What I don't like is that the auto-aim and convergence of the guns doesn't work well. I'm not sure if  another ace squadron flying those in the game would have been so great in the campaign.
Also remember that some story and content was dropped for development time reasons. The Bloodfang may belong in that category.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Scooby_Doo on June 17, 2012, 08:34:57 pm
Don't remember why we dropped it, but I never got a chance to finish it.  In fact I think we were going to completely replace the model.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on June 18, 2012, 05:03:35 am
I certainly hope to see bladekiss and thrakhath again though! perhaps one day in an academy mod  :lol:

question: what was bladekiss supposed to fly? did you have an old custom grikath in a garage somewhere for her?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 19, 2012, 05:11:57 am
I would assume she flies a modern fighter, perhaps a Bloodfang.
Atlhough I think I remember someone suggesting that she might fly a Sorthak.

Fun fact: Flying the Sorthak in my mod is actually quite fun, I would never have guessed that. A Sorthak ace would be truly terrifying.

About an academy mod: Why not, that could be fun. :)

So much ideas and soooo little time. I would do that kind of mod but I simply don't have the time. At the moment I even wonder whether I should drop voice acting in my Kilrathi mod+campaign. If I do that the mod will finished next month I think. If I don't I will take at least another four to six weeks, provided I find voice actors at all.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: starlord on June 19, 2012, 05:20:06 am
bladekiss in a bloodfang? is she worthy?
In a sorthak though... Hmm could be...
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 19, 2012, 06:33:59 am
why shouldn't she?
I'm not trying to sound sexist here, but I think the fact that she is flying a fighter at all is because her brother is the crown prince and tells the other Kilrathi they have to let her fly. If Thrakhath tells a squadron commander to let her fly he will. And if Thrakhath says she is to fly a Bloodfang they will let her fly one.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on June 19, 2012, 07:55:40 am
wouldnt letting her fly a bloodfang mean she has to be on of the body guards, wouldn't that like be painting a big bullseye on the back of his fighter?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 19, 2012, 04:26:30 pm
As I was told now (good that others of the team have a better memory than I do :D) the Bloodfangs were dropped because with the player flying an Excalibur they wouldn't have stood out enough through their fighters alone to make such a great challenge. Without heavy scripting even Bloodfangs would have gone down against the player flying an Excalibur. So I guess it may have become anticlimatic instead of cool.

And Bladekiss was indeed planned to fly a Sorthak, and because she didn't canonically die the player would have killed her.
The fact that she is a priestess would also have served as an interesting hook for her in-flight messages. She could for example have hinted on the Kn'thrak while dying, seeing the truth in the prophecies.


And about the Bullseye-thing: The Kilrathi like that sort of thing. They _want_ people to know who they are. It is part of their culture, which is also the reason why most aces fly custom painted fighters. And dying in a fight against someone who shows the courage and skill to attack and kill them is a good death for a Kilrathi.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on June 19, 2012, 04:53:12 pm
I ment isnt the royal family know for backstabbing each other for position?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 20, 2012, 05:16:47 am
The source that introduces Bladekiss says Thrakhath doesn't fear Bladekiss because females can't be emperor. So she's better off using him (the Sivar cult has some power, even over the ruling clan's leaders) instead of killing him. And she is of more use for him alive than dead, and she knows that.

Funny thing with that: Newer sources tell us that there were females leading the Kilrathi. The grandmother of the Kilrathi Emperor Joor'rad (the old WC3 guy) was Empress Graknala. So either the "Females can't lead" is a new policy or those sources contradict each other.

Also keep in mind that Kilrathi prefer backstabbing Kilrathi of other clans. In most cases they seem to prefer not to assassinate their own hrai.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on June 20, 2012, 11:44:51 am
Perhaps Graknala was a special case. If she declared herself to be a man (if she was in position to become the Empress, she could also easily do that), she could become an Emperor without violating any rules (Empress might've just been an imperfect Terran translation). This was known to happen in human history too.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 21, 2012, 03:40:39 am
Good idea!
I'm not sure but I think we don't know much about her anyway. She is mentioned in, like, one sentence.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Dragon on June 21, 2012, 07:59:48 am
BTW, where was Bladekiss introduced? I can't find any mention of her at CIC.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 21, 2012, 08:50:53 am
Yeah, that's kinda strange. I also was surprised that there isn't a WCPedia article or something about her.
She is mentioned in the "series bible" of the animated series.
You can download it here:
http://download.wcnews.com/files/academy/series_bible_11-27-95.pdf
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mancubus on June 29, 2012, 03:27:38 pm
Also keep in mind that Kilrathi prefer backstabbing Kilrathi of other clans. In most cases they seem to prefer not to assassinate their own hrai.

Where does this come from? I don't remeber an sources, and Fleet Action says  something completely different - that assasination is a concept completely alien to Kilrathi culture
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 29, 2012, 04:21:21 pm
Yeah, that's a weird thing, because various sources say different things. The Forstchen books are the newer source, and it is possible that Forstchen did not read the series bible (that was written in 1995) or just ignored it.

The series bible (I linked it above) says:
"Prince Thrakhath clawed, connived and murdered his way to the throne." and also that "he lives in constant fear of assassination" and that "he wages a constant war against his enemies."

Also we have an example in the game: Khasra tries to murder Thrakhath at least once. So I also was a bit surprised when I read that the Kilrathi are not supposed to know assassination. But perhaps it was just the way of killing other Kilrathi Forstchen meant: Without personal risk or challenge, stabbing in the back without a fight. That is indeed something uncommon, while struggles between Kilrathi are not at all uncommon, not even in Forstchen's books.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Mancubus on June 29, 2012, 04:28:20 pm
Yeah we could probably assume that Kilrathi need an "honourable challenge", we just really don't know what constitutes honourable in their society really
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on June 30, 2012, 05:39:15 am
Well, at least we know some example what doesn't: Blowing someone's ship up by sabotage, or using poisoned food.
Attacking from behind isn't necessarily dishonorable, since a good sneak attack shows a hunter's skill, but it may be frowned upon if the enemy is a warrior.

So it also depends on who is the enemy. If I recall correctly we hear about it in the Heart of the Tiger novel. Melek is shocked by Thrakhath's plan with the bioweapons because that is not the way a warrior should behave, and Thrakhath explains to him that he doesn't consider it dishonorable because the humans are no warriors but prey animals.

And if you think about it: That's just the way we see it as well: Stabbing or shooting people in the back is not considered to be honorable, but nobody complains about a huntsman shooting a deer or boar from far away and possibly from behind.

So Thrakhath's murdering his way to the throne may for example mean the following: Imagine another Kilrathi that is of imperial blood is born. Thrakhath fears he might be dangerous for him one day, so he waits until the other Kilrathi is just old enough to be challenged, knowing that it is far less likely that a young Kilrathi beats him (who is a veteran already) in a duel.
Then he finds a reason to be offended by him and challenges him to a duel. He kills him and it is honorable because the younger Kilrathi (theoretically) had a chance of winning. Still from our point of view this is just murder.
He may also transfer him to a "very honorable post" (which means near the front line, hoping he is killed). Isn't there even a story in the bible where King David or so kills a hot woman's husband like that? (I'm not a bible expert but I think I remember the story) It is basically the same thing. He didn't murder him in person but letting him fight in the first line of battle is as good as a death sentence, especially if Thrakhath knows that he isn't a particularly good pilot.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: est1895 on July 03, 2012, 10:20:12 pm
Hi there.  I have just one question.  When you extract the files from the WC:DD, do you put them into a folder or is there another way?  In addition, I have saved the game on a DVD disc using the UDF format (bigger than 2gigs).  :shaking:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Aginor on July 04, 2012, 02:39:40 am
Well, normally you should just use the installer. It will put the game into a folder you can specify and will also install OpenAL and create shortcuts and stuff.
Or maybe I just don't understand the question.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MatthTheGeek on July 04, 2012, 03:05:46 am
I think he's trying to set WCS as a FSO mod, so by putting files into its own mod folder.

WCS is standalone, which means it has its own exe and should be installed somewhere else, entirely independant from FSO. WCS can be run on FSO with a few lightweight table edits and some not-so-lightweight mission edits, but you won't find that in what's released anywhere.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: est1895 on July 04, 2012, 04:49:11 pm
Well, normally you should just use the installer. It will put the game into a folder you can specify and will also install OpenAL and create shortcuts and stuff.
Or maybe I just don't understand the question.

Ummmm... where is the installer?  Friends, I have found the installer.  All you have to do is double click on setup.exe.  :lol:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MrTealTwo on July 22, 2012, 02:35:11 pm
I have a little snag, and no time to read through the forums to find out if someone else has had the same issue. Whenever there's voice acting in-game, and the comms animation (head animation) appears, the game slows down significantly and starts stuttering. I have circumvented this by turning the animations off. I would post an error log, but I've apparently forgotten how to make one, and randomly searching the forums and the wiki hasn't yet given results. Can someone reming me where I can find the error log. Shouldn't it be generated in freespace2/data or Wing Commander Saga/data every time you've run the game. Or something. Fs2_open.log?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MatthTheGeek on July 22, 2012, 03:24:52 pm
Fat chance, WCS has not released debug builds. Which means you have to go ask the devs to send you one.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MrTealTwo on July 22, 2012, 03:51:16 pm
I see. Well, it's not that bad, I can switch the anims off. Just thought it worth reporting.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: headdie on July 22, 2012, 05:15:16 pm
As a community we know of issues that were in the build WCS branched from, but to know if this is the problem we need a error log file, these are only created by the debug builds of the engine that MatthTheGeek mentioned.

If you haven't already update your graphics drivers to the latest version. but beyond that there is not a lot we can do.  Out of interest what graphics card and driver combo are you running?
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: SpardaSon21 on July 22, 2012, 05:24:17 pm
Nobody is to blame for the lack of debug builds but the WCS team.  They consider them developer tools rather than something a player would need to generate logs in case of a bug.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on July 23, 2012, 02:02:55 am
Fat chance, WCS has not released debug builds. Which means you have to go ask the devs to send you one.
The original dl link for the debug build is hidden in some thread on the support forum I'm too lazy to dig right now. Meaning it is not available on their main dl page ...

EDIT - attachment removed, see two posts below
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: MatthTheGeek on July 23, 2012, 02:28:59 am
If I were you I'd be careful about distributing non-public WCS assets  :nervous:
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on July 23, 2012, 02:48:05 am
Well, technically, it should still be on their forum, free for anyone to pick. I just don't want to look up their forum to find it.

EDIT - There, I looked it up anyway : topic were Tolwyn gives a debug build (http://www.wcsaga.com/forum/index.php?f=3&t=793&p=7489&hilit=debug%20build&rb_v=viewtopic#p7489) + dl link for the build itself (http://www.wcsaga.com/rc_download/604d30d8a24dd18b2542e95460/wcsaga_d.exe).
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Torchwood on June 16, 2013, 09:21:36 am
Sorry to be late to the party, but I'd like to take a moment to say that I appreciate the work you have done on Saga, and the adamant effort commited throughout the long development cycle. Though Wing Commander and Freespace fans may not always see eye to eye on certain matters, it is great to see a classic franchise ported into this very Fresspace engine, opening a great number of possibilities for many additional content based on the setting that has been a milestone of space sim history.

Tolwyn, KeldorKatarn, gevatter lars, you, as well as the entire Wing Commander Saga development team, have my sincere gratitude for the accomplishments you have made in the creation of Wing Commander Saga. You deserve all the praise you get, and I wish you great prosperity in all of your future endeavours.

Furthermore, please do not take any criticism of your work as hostility. Though I personally may not agree with all the design decisions you have made, a critical view is not intended to belittle your contributions to the communities of both Freespace and Wing Commander. Even the most well-designed of projects can not be made entirely free from quirks, blemishes or glitches, and through confronting these issues, improvements are made. Even if absolute perfection is impossible, a developer can still converge towards it.
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Eye _con on August 12, 2013, 11:01:58 am
Ok so I got this late last week and I can't seem to get away from it. I usually don't do the whole gaming thing. That is I'm a binger, I don't play many games but when I do find a great game and play the heck out of it. Usually when I'm done I'm done. It takes a really really good game for me to go through a second time and I think this is definitely worth a second play through... I can tell already!!!

OMG!!! 50 missions!!! I'm sooo screwed for the next week. I had a 4 day weekend and couldn't wrestle my self away I think I'm probably some where in the area between 35 and 40... but it just keeps going and going WOW!!!

This is an absolutely STELLAR game!!!  The voice acting, the characters, the variety of ships to fly, missions you fly, I keep going out on missions thinking geez you know it would be nice to just have one... like ONE damned mission where NOTHING hahappens like I do a patrol and its all clear but NOOOOOO there's always kitties to pick on! Its great though... The emotion Cheese and Crackers the emotion!!! I can't remember the last time I started throwing stuff vibrating because I was sooo mand about not saving this ship or stupid invisible dudes keep ramming me... Such a great game!!!

Every aspect of this is epic!
Title: Re: The Darkest Dawn is Cleared for Launch
Post by: Lorric on August 12, 2013, 11:20:21 am
Ha ha ha. The last missions are the longest too.  :)