Wing Commander CD32 on an AGA miggy

[JuvUK]

Hi All,
the CD32 version of Wing commander rocks (seriously, try it!) but setting it up can be a pain if you can't read German, so with the help of Laudrup (thanks m8) and Mrs JuvUK here is an easy to follow guide based on the fantastic work of aPEX & Turrican

hope this helps, JuvUK

The Wing Commander CD32 guide

Wing Commander is an ingenious game, especially the cd32 version with 256 colours it has achieved cult status amongst Amiga Fans. Sadly, the game is unplayable on the more powerful Amigas (or, at best, is too fast to play).
The guide explains how to play Wing Commander on fast Amigas

1. Installation

The CD32 CD version has no install-script. But this isn’t a problem – all that is needed is to copy the whole directory from the CD to your Amiga HDD. The fastest way is with the shell-command:

copy CDx: Game:WC32 all

Please make a note of your drive names and directories and change them!

2. The Patch

Have you copied all the files to your HDD?
Next you need the WCpatch. Download it from: http://aminet.net/game/patch/WCPatch.lha


Extract the archive into your existing Wing Commander directory. After extraction you have a file called “WCpatch” which you have to use to start the game.

3. Start the game with the patch

To start the game with the cheat/trainer change to your wc-directory and execute the following command in your shell:

wcpatch exe=wing.german s=65000 SD=3

This is an example how the command could be.

“Wcpatch” starts the game with the patch
“exe=wing.german” start WC in German language (obviously for the UK version you need to replace the word “german” with “english”)
“S=65000” sets the stack size to 65000
“SD=3” slows down the game with factor 3

4. Activate the cheat/trainer

Some missions are really hard. If you need some help, you can activate the cheat with the following shell command:

wcpatch exe=wing.german s=65000 SD=3 I (again substitute “german” for “english”)

The parameter “I” activates the cheat. You`re now invisible and in God mode. You can destroy your targeted enemies with shift+F5.

5. Make a start icon for the game

To make the game start much easier, it’s possible to build an icon.
follow the steps below to create your icon:

1) find your favourite icon
2) open the icon information window
3) change the type to “project”
4) change to “C:iconx” as standard program
5) change stack size to 8192
6) save the changes and close the information window
7) change the icon name to “WingCommanderCD32.info”
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Juv/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]create a text file with the start command of the game and save it to the same name without the ending .info


That’s it. You can now start the game easily with your icon. If you want to make any changes just open the icon with a text editor.

Have fun !

6. Make gamesaves

Cd32 makes the game saves in his own flashrom. The A1200/A4000 has no flashrom so we need a detour.
1. Find the “nonvolatile.library”
2. If this library doesn’t exist on your system, you can find these in NVTools (Aminet)
3. Create a directory on your HDD for the gamesaves, (i.e. DH0:CD32_savegames)
4. Save a textfile with the path (i.e. DH0:CD32_savegames)
5. Change the textfile name to “nv_location”
6. Copy the textfile to DH0[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Juv/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif[/IMG]refs/env_archive/sys


A 2nd and easier method:
1. Create a directory for the savegames (i.e. DH0:CD32_savegames)
2. Write the following command in shell:


echo "DH0:CD32_savegames" >envarc:sys/nv-location

Have Fun !

original version can be found here
http://it.aminet.net/docs/help/wing_...r_cd32_1.2.pdf

Original text written by aPEX & Turrican
Translation by Laudrup [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Juv/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.gif[/IMG]
Helped by JuvUK & Mrs JuvUK

[TCD]

Nice one JuvUK and thanks for sharing this here Can you also provide a link to the original version? You know, for the resident Germs here

[JuvUK]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Nice one JuvUK and thanks for sharing this here Can you also provide a link to the original version? You know, for the resident Germs here

your wish is my command

[TCD]

Thanks again

[NovaCoder]

Shouldn't this just be WHDLOAD'ed for us lazy people?



Anyway, thanks for the guide

[Retroplay]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Shouldn't this just be WHDLOAD'ed for us lazy people?

I second that.

[Retro1234]

I dont think this game needs a WHDload install - The game is patched to use fast ram why waste memory with Preload? and has been uploaded Pre-installed a number of times on EAB and is of the EAB file server.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

why waste memory with Preload?

Zero disk access, that's why! I have 64MB, no waste happening here

[JuvUK]

i don't do WHDload game setups, i just thought a guide in English may be helpful to some people. (I know it's helpful to me)

[Mad-Matt]

As the source is included with wcpatch, can an even newer/faster c2p be implemented ?

and maybe a fix for the flashing pixels that appear in upper left of game screen.

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

As the source is included with wcpatch, can an even newer/faster c2p be implemented ?

and maybe a fix for the flashing pixels that appear in upper left of game screen.

I would say a better effcient one that uses the cache's of the 030/040 and 060 better,

However once you step past 030@50Mhz (about 11mips) the game becomes unplayable - especially on an 060@50 =(

I wanna rewrite with added extras and they shall call it...

Wing Commander Duo - so friends can join in on co-op net play =)

what???.... a guy can dream y'know =)

[Ebster]

i am using classicwb 3.1 advsp with an sfs formatted cf ide drive and the scsi device for large drives provided by bloodwych. aca1230/56 installed. however the game works perfectly from my pcmcia cf card, but not the internal cf ide drive. any idea how that comes? i have tried the exactly identical archive in different locations but it only works via pcmcia cf card. the same files on the ide drive end in a guru before the intro starts....

best regards!


EDIT: solved! nothing to do with the patch....
must have had something to do with
a) sfs settings of the hd (i changed mask and buffers)
and/or b) acatune z2cache/fastz2 settings (i turned them off)

after copying the game again from pcmcia-cf0: to the ide cf harddrive dh1: it worked fine from there!!