Wing Commander 1: Legacy without the guesswork

A guide to running DOS retail, DOS digital and Windows versions of Wing Commander 1 in DOSBox Staging and native Windows 10.

A classic of the space sim genre Wing Commander has always been problematic to run on modern hardware due to the speed sensitive nature of the game. A situation vastly improved but not resolved with DOSBox or the Windows version which formed part of the Kilrathi Saga compilation.

This guide will cover recent developments made in running the DOS version which has finally produced an ideal solution. In addition it will cover methods for running the Windows version natively in Win10, both of which produce seamless, speed correct gameplay.

This guide is organised a little differently due to the multiple versions being covered.

Strategy

The strategy for installing the DOS version makes use of the Wing Commander AllTinker overhaul mod (or W.C.A.T. overhaul mod), while the Windows (Kilrathi Saga) version will use the WCDX patch for native Win10.

Wing Commander AllTinker overhaul mod (W.C.A.T.)

W.C.A.T. launcher

The W.C.A.T. overhaul mod is the creation of AllTinker, a very talented modder. It combines speed limiting, bug fixes, content fixes and additional options all bundled with a launcher that matches the look and feel of Wing Commander!

The W.C.A.T. overhaul mod comes in three options:

• A Windows installer package with DOSBox Staging bundled.

• A zip archive with DOSBox Staging bundled.

• A custom option (for existing DOSBox Staging installations).

In the words of AllTinker:

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

You can read more about it at Wing Commander AllTinker overhaul mod. All credit and a huge amount of thanks to AllTinker, which doesn't seem sufficient given the hard work involved. The download is free, but you can donate to AllTInker to help him continue his work and I was pleased to be able to donate!

WCDX - Kilrathi Saga for modern Windows

The WCDX patch is a comprehensive patch for Wing Commander (Kilrathi Saga) that updates DirectX calls, removes privileged instructions allowing it work seamlessly in Win10 and a variety of bug fixes. In Stingers own words:

A long, long time ago, I started working on a patch for the Kilrathi Saga version of Wing Commander 1. Slightly less than a long, long time ago, I got sidetracked. (Narrator: It would not be the last time.) A couple of weeks ago I decided to pick the project back up, and now it's ready for an introduction. Thanks to all your support and suggestions over the years, this is all quite playable now!

Created by Stinger, you can read more about it in the WCDX post on the Wing Commander CIC forum. This patch is also compatible with the Kilrathi Saga Secret Missions 1 & 2 addons.

Another huge amount of credit and thanks to Stinger on creating the patch!

Media

Due to the age of the media and the drives required to use them, this guide, like others, assumes physical media will be ripped to images to preserve the game. Floppy disk based media should be ripped to an .ima or .img image format. CDs can be ripped to a data only .iso image format.

Game management

The game management strategy described in the previous article 'DOSBox game management' will continue to be used where appropriate. Throughout the article examples will be provided.

HOTAS config

The HOTAS config differs depending on the version being used. Due to the joystick handling code being rewritten for the W.C.A.T. overhaul mod, it can support a 4 axes, 4 button HOTAS, so joystick, throttle and rudder pedals are supported. The Windows versions can only support a 2 axes stick.

Configuring axes may not be required if your HOTAS has 4 axes or less. When using a combination of devices totaling more than 4 axes, a virtual controller can be configured (with vendor software or Joystick Gremlin), limited to 4 axes. The physical axes to Windows axes were configured as follows:

Physical axis	Windows axis (DOSBox + W.C.A.T)	Windows axis (Native + WCDX)
Joystick x-axis	DX_X_AXIS	DX_X_AXIS
Joystick y-axis	DX_Y_AXIS	DX_Y_AXIS
Throttle	DX_Z_AXIS	None
Rudder	DX_ZROT_AXIS	None

It is useful to configure the virtual controller with all physical devices even if they aren't used as this prevents Windows from auto assigning axes from the wrong device.

DOS version

DOS version

With the release of W.C.A.T. the DOS version has become the optimum version to use, once patched The DOS digital releases of Wing Commander are available through gog.com, or the EA Store.

There are options to install a disk or cd (image) retail version and then patch it with W.C.A.T. or install a digital release and then patch with W.C.A.T. or install one of the W.C.A.T. download options which includes a preconfigured DOSBox Staging.

This last option may be preferable if you haven't installed DOSBox Staging already. Patching uses the W.C.A.T. custom DOSBox Staging download option.

DOSBox Config

If the W.C.A.T. install option is used, this custom DOSBox config is not needed.

This custom DOSBox config is based on the suggested config from AllTinker with some changes for versioned MIDI ROM location, additional settings and the removal of default settings.

It uses the latest version of DOSBox Staging which is v0.82.1 (at time of writing). It is recommended to use the default DOSBox Staging config and then apply these settings that differ from the defaults:

[sdl]
fullscreen					= true
vsync						= off

[dosbox]
memsize						= 4
vmemsize						= 1

[cpu]
cputype						= 486
core							= dynamic
cpu_cycles					= 32000
cpu_cycles_protected			= auto
cycleup              			= 100
cycledown            			= 100

[voodoo]
voodoo                    		= false

[mouse]
mouse_capture					= onstart

[mixer]
reverb     					= medium
chorus     					= normal

[midi]
mididevice					= mt32

[mt32]
model						= mt32_old
romdir						= "D:\Midi\Versioned"

[sblaster]
sbtype						= sb2

[joystick]
joysticktype                	= 4axis
timed                       	= true
swap34                      	= true
deadzone                    	= 0

[dos]
ver							= 6.22

Note: Due to the changes made by the W.C.A.T. mod high frame rate settings aren't used as they cause text flickering on some screens.

The settings in normal text are those that are identical to AllTinkers suggested config, whilst those in bold differ from the suggested config for the following reasons:

• vsync is changed from false to off, as this is the setting described in the default config for v0.82.1, however the intent is the same, off/false.

• cyclesup and cyclesdown have been changed with a suitable small increment and decrement.

• The [voodoo] section is changed with voodoo disabled. Voodoo emulation is not required.

• A [mixer] section is changed with reverb and chorus settings set to personal preference.

• The [mt32] section has been changed. The model is mt32_old as this is the most compatible model for Wing Commander according to the VOGON wiki article, 'List of MT-32-compatible computer games'. The romdir settings is using versioned ROMS as described in the earlier article, 'DOSBox midi'.

• The [joystick] section has been changed with settings appropriate for my HOTAS. These settings may need to be adjusted for your own setup. The timed setting must be set to true.

The following are additional settings from AllTinkers suggested config. Those settings in normal text were removed as they were identical to v0.82.1 default settings.

[sdl]
output						= opengl
fullresolution				= desktop
windowresolution				= default
vsync						= false
waitonerror					= true
priority						= auto
mapperfile					= mapper.map

[cpu]
cpu_throttle					= off

[dosbox]
machine						= svga_s3

[render]
aspect						= true
integer_scaling				= off

[capture]
capture_dir					= capture

[mouse]
mouse_sensitivity				= 100

[midi]
mpu401						= intelligent

[mt32]
model						= auto
romdir						= "../ROMs"

[joystick]
joysticktype					= auto
deadzone						= 0

[dos]
ems							= true

[autoexec]
@echo off
MOUNT C "..\files"
C:
CLS
CALL LAUNCHER.BAT
EXIT

Those settings in bold were changed for the reasons below:

• The vsync setting in the default config for v0.82.1, is false rather than off, however the intent is the same.

• The mapper file is probably part of one of the W.C.A.T. download options that includes DOSBox Staging. In the custom config the default mapper file is used.

• The cpu_throttle setting in the default config for v0.82.1 is false (a default setting) rather than off.

• The render options weren't used, as the DOSBox Staging default uses the crt-auto shader to provide 'out of the box' CRT emulation with default render settings optimised for this shader.

• The mt32 model was explicitly specified rather than left as auto (a default setting).

• The romdir setting is used by the W.C.A.T. download options that includes DOSBox Staging. In the custom config versioned ROMS were used instead.

• The joystick settings were changed as appropriate for my HOTAS rather than these defaults.

• [autoexec] settings will be customised for an existing DOSBox Staging installation and game management strategy..

You should feel free to experiment and apply settings to find your own optimum playing experience.

Installing retail releases

This is the method to use to install using disk or cd images with an existing DOSBox Staging installation. Only once Wing Commander is installed is the W.C.A.T. (custom DOSBox download option) patch applied.

Note: I don't have retail disks or cd, so this is an educated best guess at the steps involved.

Game management

My game management strategy is to install all DOS games in the same location with a folder for each game so for Wing Commander I have:

D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander

You should choose an appropriate folder for your setup.

Within this folder the following sub folders are recommended:

• conf - to store DOSBox and HOTAS config files.

• fdd - to store floppy disk images, with the following sub-folders:

  • wc - for Wing Commander images.

  • sm1 - for Secret Mission 1 images.

  • sm2 - for Secret Mission 2 images

• cd - to store a cd image for cd retail versions (e.g. Wing Commander: Deluxe Edition)

• hdd - an emulated hard disk folder for Wing Commander.

The DOSBox [autoexec] section

The following is a DOSBox config [autoexec] section with some example mount commands suitable for the above game management folders. You will need to change these to use your own Wing Commander folder.

[autoexec]

# mount wing commander disk images
# imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\fdd\wc\*.img" -t floppy

# mount secret mission 1 disk images
# imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\fdd\sm1\*.img" -t floppy

# mount secret mission 2 disk images
# imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\fdd\sm2\*.img" -t floppy

# mount wing commander cd image (e.g. wc.iso)
# imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\cd\wc.iso" -t cdrom

# mount the DOS hard disk
mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\hdd"

# go to the c: drive
c:

Note: The disk and cd images are commented out, so remove the # to enable an imgmount command.

Installing

To install the base game from floppy disk images you'll want to:

• Enable the 'mount Wing Commander disk images' command and start DOSBox with this custom config.

  
  

• You should be able to go to the A: drive and run the Wing Commander installer (install.exe). To swap to the next disk use <CTRL> + F4.

  
  

• Once complete, close DOSBox and disable the 'mount wing commander disk images command.'

  
  

• Then enable the 'mount Secret Missions 1' command, start DOSBox and run the Secret Missions 1 installer from the A: drive. Once complete, close DOSBox and disable the 'mount Secret Missions 1' command.

• Now enable 'mount Secret Missions 2' command, start DOSBox, install and once complete, close and disable 'mount Secret Missions 2'.

To install the base game and secret missions from cd image (Note: this assumes files are copied from the cd to the 'hard disk' and not run from the cd):

• Enable the 'mount Wing Commander cd image' command and start DOSBox with this custom config.

  
  

• You should be able to go to the D: drive and run the Wing Commander installer.

  
  

• Once complete, close DOSBox and disable the 'mount Wing Commander cd image'.

Once either version is installed you may wish to create a zip archive of the hdd folder for safe keeping and to prevent you from having to repeat the installation in the future.

Installer patch

If the Wing Commander floppy disk installer runs into issues you may wish to try the installer patch. This patch replaces the install.exe file and disables the automatic hardware sensing. The patch is available at the Wing Commander CIC. So credit and thanks to the folks at CIC for hosting the patch.

To use the patch you will have to:

• Extract the contents of Wing Commander disk 1 to a folder (7-Zip should be able to extract) or you could use DOSBox to mount disk 1 and copy the contents to a sub folder on the hdd folder (C: drive).

• Extract the patch to the folder, replacing the old install.exe file.

• Use a third party tool like WinImage to create a new disk 1 image from the folder.

• Try the install again using the new disk1 image.

Installing digital releases

This is the method to use to install a digital release.

The gog.com Galaxy client, or offline installer or EA Play client should be used to install the game. That's all there is to it, for this reason a digital release is recommended over a retail disk or cd release.

If you have already installed DOSBox Staging and wish to use it, continue to the Patching with W.C.A.T section.

If you don't have DOSBox Staging installed or have a pre-existing installation (retail or digital) and want a simple installation method, continue to the Installing with W.C.A.T section below.

Installing with W.C.A.T.

The W.C.A.T. mod is distributed as a Windows installer or zip archive, both of which are bundled with a preconfigured version of DOSBox Staging. The custom DOSBox download option is not applicable to this method.

This method works best if Wing Commander has already been installed (pre-existing installation) with a earlier version of DOSBox Staging or another variant (DOSBox v0.74, DOSBox-X, etc.) or by a digital release client or offline installer.

For clarity, we'll assumed W.C.A.T. has been installed in the following example folder:

D:\Games\Dos\WCAT

MT32 ROMs

Once installed the MT32 ROMs will need to be obtained and added to the roms folder. The enclosed ReadMe.txt file provides further details.

Pre-existing installation

Installation is very simple, copy the contents of the GAMEDAT folder from your pre-existing installation into the W.C.A.T. GAMEDAT folder.

E.g. for a gog.com digital release installed in

D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander

Copy all files from:

D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander\GAMEDAT

Into (as an example):

D:\Games\Dos\WCAT\GAMEDAT

This completes a pre-existing installation install.

New retail installation

To install retail releases using the bundled W.C.A.T. DOSBox, it is recommended to specify an alternative emulated hard disk folder supplemented with the appropriate mount commands for the images being installed.

It is recommended to use similar folders as described earlier in 'Game management'. Note: a conf folder isn't required as the W.C.A.T bundled DOSBox config file is used and an alternative hard disk folder is used, to prevent changes to the W.C.A.T. install.

The DOSBox config can be found in:

<WCAT installation folder>\dosbox-staging\dosbox-staging.conf

Using the example folder:

D:\Games\Dos\WCAT\dosbox-staging\dosbox-staging.conf

The existing commands in the [autoexec] section should be commented out:

[autoexec]
# @echo off
# MOUNT C "..\files"
# C:
# CLS
# CALL LAUNCHER.BAT
# EXIT

And supplemented with suitable mount commands. Follow the earlier steps to install Wing Commander and any addons.

Once installation is complete remove the added mount commands (from the last step) and reenable the original [autoexec] commands above.

The final step is to copy the contents of the installation GAMEDAT folder into the W.C.A.T. GAMEDAT folder, e.g. copy all files from:

D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\hdd\WING\GAMEDAT

Into (as an example):

D:\Games\Dos\WCAT\files\GAMEDAT

This completes a new retail installation install using W.C.A.T.

Patching with W.C.A.T

This method uses the custom DOSBox download option and requires a pre-existing retail or digital installation. It should not be used if Wing Commander was installed using the 'Installing with W.C.A.T.' process.

Game management

Using my strategy I create a suitable Wing Commander folder:

 D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander

This folder may already exist if I had used DOSBox to install a retail release.

Under this folder the following folders are recommended:

• conf - to store DOSBox or HOTAS config files (again this folder may already exist).

• hdd-wcat - a fresh emulated hard disk folder to store the W.C.A.T. mod

The DOSBox [autoexec] section

The following is a DOSBox config [autoexec] section with some example mount commands suitable for the above game management folders. You will need to change these to use your own Wing Commander folder.

# mount the wcat hard disk
mount C "D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\hdd-wcat"

c:

# run the launcher
call launcher.bat

# run Wing Commander/Secret Missions 1
# call wc.bat

# run Secret Missions 2
# call sm2.bat

exit

There is only a single mount of the hard disk folder used by W.C.A.T. In the example above the launcher is called but Wing Commander/Secret Missions 1 or Secret Missions 2 can be run directly.

Installing the patch

There are two steps to install the patch:

• Download the W.C.A.T. custom DOSBox download option and extract the contents to the hdd-wcat folder.

• Copy the all the files from your existing installation GAMEDAT folder into the W.C.A.T GAMEDAT folder:

For example, copying the GAMEDAT files from a pre-existing retail release:

D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\hdd\WING\GAMEDAT

Or from a pre-existing gog.com digital release:

D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander\GAMEDAT

Into the W.C.A.T. GAMEDAT folder:

D:\Games\Dos\Wing Commander\hdd-wcat\files\GAMEDAT

This completes patching with W.C.A.T.

W.C.A.T. config

If a W.C.A.T download comes bundled with DOSBox it can be run with the W.C.A.T. executable (Wing Commander.exe). This will run the launcher utility.

If the W.C.A.T. custom DOSBox download is used then the [autoexec] section of the custom DOSBox config will automatically run the launcher. The W.C.A.T. executable is not included (as it won't know where DOSBox is installed on your machine).

The first time it runs it will validate the GAMEDAT files to ensure all are present.

W.C.A.T. control options

The most important part of the launcher config is the configuration of a joystick/HOTAS. In order to work correctly the DOSBox config, [joystick] timed setting must be true.

The mod supports 2, 3 or 4 axes. For a 3 axes setup, the 3rd axis can be used as rudder or throttle.

With 4 axes, rudder pedals or 2nd joystick x-axis can used to yaw left/right or roll clockwise/anti-clockwise. The throttle axis can be relative (suitable for a 2nd joystick y-axis) or linear (suitable for a traditional throttle).

Once everything is configured and calibrated Wing Commander/Secret Missions 1 or Secret Missions 2 - Crusade can be run from the launcher.

Windows (Kilrathi Saga) version

Kilrathi Saga box cover

The Kilrathi Saga is a compilation of Windows 95 native versions of Wing Commander, Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi and Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger. It does not include the Secret Missions addons for Wing Commander or the Special Operations addons for Wing Commander II.

Running Wing Commander natively under Win10 uses a copy based installation rather than the installer app based installation. Although the installer app can run under Win10, better results are achieved by copying files.

Installation

For the purposes of this guide it is assumed the Kilrathi Saga cds have been ripped to an iso format. The steps are as follows:

Create a suitable installation folder, as an example the following folder is used:

D:\Games\Win\WC1

Mount the first Kilrathi Saga cd in Win10. And copy the contents of:

<CD Drive>:\WC1

Into the example folder (or whatever folder you used). That completes the installation of Wing Commander.

Secret Mission addons

The DOS versions of the Secret Mission addons are not compatible with the Kilrathi Saga version of Wing Commander. Instead Origin released the Kilrathi Saga compatible Secret Missions as a free download from their website. This download contained both Secret Missions 1 & 2.

This addon is required by the WCDX patch, so obtaining it is required. In order to obtain this zip file, google for the zip file (wckssm12.zip). To Install:

Extract the contents of wckssm12.zip to a folder.

Copy all application files (all files ending in .exe) into the Wing Commander installation folder:

D:\Games\Win\WC1

Copy all other files (not ending in .exe) into the Wing Commander installation GAMEDAT folder, overwriting existing files. So the following file types:

.002				.dat				.txt				.v05			
.v06				.v07				.v08				.v14
.v19				.vga

Into:

D:\Games\Win\WC1\GAMEDAT

That completes the Secret Missions installation.

Patching with WCDX

The WCDX patch can be downloaded from the GitHub repository releases. The latest version (at time of writing) is v2.2.1.

The zip archive (wcdx-2.2.1.zip) should be downloaded and the following files extracted into the installation folder:

wcdx.dll
wcpatch.exe
patchmusic.exe

Run the following commands from a Win10/11 command prompt in the installation folder, to apply the patch:

wcpatch Wing1.exe Wing1_wcdx.exe
wcpatch SM1.exe SM1_wcdx.exe
wcpatch SM2.exe SM2_wcdx.exe
wcpatch TRANSFER.exe TRANSFER_wcdx.exe
patchmusic streams\mission.str

To run use the new _wcdx.exe files rather than the originals. Optionally, you may wish to remove the originals and rename the wcdx versions back to the original name.

That concludes the native Win10 installation and patching.

Kilrathi Saga version, Win10 native and WCDX patch

Further information

The most comprehensive repository of Wing Commander information is the Wing Commander CIC. The forums are also a wealth of information including current information about the W.C.A.T. mod and WCDX patch.

The gog.com Wing Commander forum may also include interesting posts and solutions to issues.

Good hunting!