Does WING COMMANDER benefit from having a throttle?

[Mike S.]

Does Wing Commander (and games like WC) benefit at all from having a
throttle or should I just concentrate on getting a joystick? I have
some gift cards to use up and I decided on a joystick or joystick +
throttle combo. I need some advice please.

[Ross Ridge]

Post by Mike S.
Does Wing Commander (and games like WC) benefit at all from having a
throttle or should I just concentrate on getting a joystick? I have
some gift cards to use up and I decided on a joystick or joystick +
throttle combo. I need some advice please.

I don't think the original Wing Commander had any special support for
joysticks with anything other than the standard X/Y axes and two buttons.
The install program doesn't have an option to configure what kind of
joystick you're using, so I assume it's limited to standard PC joysticks.
The PC GamePort interface does support four axes and four buttons,
but the extras are meant for a second joystick. It's possible that a
throttle is silently supported anyways, but I doubt it.

Wing Commander 3 has support for Thrustmaster joysticks and DOSBox can
emulate these joysticks, so a throttle (and possibly other controls)
should work with this game. I don't have Wing Command 2 installed,
but I assume it doesn't support throttles, just like WC1.

[Mike S.]

Post by Ross Ridge
I don't think the original Wing Commander had any special support for
joysticks with anything other than the standard X/Y axes and two buttons.
The install program doesn't have an option to configure what kind of
joystick you're using, so I assume it's limited to standard PC joysticks.
The PC GamePort interface does support four axes and four buttons,
but the extras are meant for a second joystick. It's possible that a
throttle is silently supported anyways, but I doubt it.
Wing Commander 3 has support for Thrustmaster joysticks and DOSBox can
emulate these joysticks, so a throttle (and possibly other controls)
should work with this game. I don't have Wing Command 2 installed,
but I assume it doesn't support throttles, just like WC1.

Thank you for the reply. Forgive my ignorance, but I have not used a
joystick since Wing Commander 3 when it first came out. I have not
really even given a joystick a second thought in all these years.

You mention that WC1 likely will only support two buttons. But I am
assuming that I can assign the buttons to keystrokes via some kind of
software that comes with Thrustmaster joysticks, is that correct?

[Ross Ridge]

Post by Mike S.
You mention that WC1 likely will only support two buttons. But I am
assuming that I can assign the buttons to keystrokes via some kind of
software that comes with Thrustmaster joysticks, is that correct?

DOSBox allows mapping controller buttons to keypresses, and more generally
pretty much any input action that DOSBox accepts to any input action
that DOSBox emulates. It's interface isn't the most user-friendly,
but I'd rather use it than any kind of macro software, especially the
kind that gets bundled with input devices.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Ross Ridge

Post by Mike S.
Does Wing Commander (and games like WC) benefit at all from having a
throttle or should I just concentrate on getting a joystick? I have
some gift cards to use up and I decided on a joystick or joystick +
throttle combo. I need some advice please.

I don't think the original Wing Commander had any special support for
joysticks with anything other than the standard X/Y axes and two buttons.
The install program doesn't have an option to configure what kind of
joystick you're using, so I assume it's limited to standard PC joysticks.
The PC GamePort interface does support four axes and four buttons,
but the extras are meant for a second joystick. It's possible that a
throttle is silently supported anyways, but I doubt it.
Wing Commander 3 has support for Thrustmaster joysticks and DOSBox can
emulate these joysticks, so a throttle (and possibly other controls)
should work with this game. I don't have Wing Command 2 installed,
but I assume it doesn't support throttles, just like WC1.

What he said.

Wing Commander III's throttle (and hat) support is flakey; I think it
expects a genuine CH throttle or Thrustmaster. In my recent
playthrough, I had problems getting anything beyond basic joystick
support. Even to get that much you needed a special joystick patch. Of
course, that might also be because I was playing through DOSBox.
Nonetheless, I remember playing the game years back on "real" DOS and
being disappointed that I couldn't get it to use the throttle slider
on my old Sidewinder 3D. So YMMV.

Wing Commander IV had improved throttle and rudder support even in the
original version, and the version currently sold on GOG is a Windows
executable that uses Windows joystick API so emulation isn't even an
issue.

Wing Commander I, II, Privateer and Academy did /not/ support throttle
or rudder; you needed the keyboard for those manuevers. I can't recall
if Privateer II or Armada made use of them; I'd guess yes to the first
but no to the second.

[Mike S.]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2019 12:23:50 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
What he said.
Wing Commander III's throttle (and hat) support is flakey; I think it
expects a genuine CH throttle or Thrustmaster. In my recent
playthrough, I had problems getting anything beyond basic joystick
support. Even to get that much you needed a special joystick patch. Of
course, that might also be because I was playing through DOSBox.
Nonetheless, I remember playing the game years back on "real" DOS and
being disappointed that I couldn't get it to use the throttle slider
on my old Sidewinder 3D. So YMMV.
Wing Commander IV had improved throttle and rudder support even in the
original version, and the version currently sold on GOG is a Windows
executable that uses Windows joystick API so emulation isn't even an
issue.
Wing Commander I, II, Privateer and Academy did /not/ support throttle
or rudder; you needed the keyboard for those manuevers. I can't recall
if Privateer II or Armada made use of them; I'd guess yes to the first
but no to the second.

Ok, thank you Spalls and Ross for the replies. I installed the GOG
versions of WC1 and WC4. I will see how it goes after my Joystick
arrives.

[Mike S.]

Controlling Wing Commander 1 with a mouse is awful. Just awful. I am
not even sure it can be done to any reasonable degree. I don't have
the patience to try.

I also have no idea why GOG insists on not including the installers
with some (many?) of their games so I can change the sound options.
Instead I have to google it and then insert archaic commands into
*.cfg files. Fun.

Anyway... WC1 and WC4 are ready to go. Now I just need the joystick.

[Mark P. Nelson]

Post by Mike S.
Controlling Wing Commander 1 with a mouse is awful. Just awful. I am
not even sure it can be done to any reasonable degree. I don't have
the patience to try.

Agreed, but I did it on my 386SX back in the day ;)

Post by Mike S.
I also have no idea why GOG insists on not including the installers
with some (many?) of their games so I can change the sound options.
Instead I have to google it and then insert archaic commands into
*.cfg files. Fun.

Can you tell us what you did so we don't have to repeat your efforts, please?

Post by Mike S.
Anyway... WC1 and WC4 are ready to go. Now I just need the joystick.

So what are you getting?

Mark.

[Ant]

Post by Mark P. Nelson

Post by Mike S.
Controlling Wing Commander 1 with a mouse is awful. Just awful. I am
not even sure it can be done to any reasonable degree. I don't have
the patience to try.

Agreed, but I did it on my 386SX back in the day ;)

Ditto with X-Wing and TIE Fighter games on my IBM PS/2 model 30 286 10
Mhz PC. ;)

[Mike S.]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:36:45 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
Can you tell us what you did so we don't have to repeat your efforts, please?

Well my case is very specific. I needed to change SoundBlaster to
Roland MT-32. So I googled it and that took me right back to GOG's
forum and it was there I learned the appropriate commands I had to
stick in two different *.cfg files.

I can give specifics if you really need them as I saved the
information to a screenshot. But if you need to change SoundBlaster to
something other then the MT-32, you will have to google it.

Post by Mark P. Nelson

Post by Mike S.
Anyway... WC1 and WC4 are ready to go. Now I just need the joystick.

So what are you getting?

I had to spend $150 in Gamestop gift cards before they go out of
business. I was going to blow the whole thing on a joystick at first
but I decided to get a keyboard as well. I will rarely use the
joystick so spending more then I did would be silly. So I got the
following keyboard and Joystick. -->

https://www.gamestop.com/pc/accessories/hyperx-alloy-fps-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-red/146855

and

https://www.gamestop.com/accessories/hotas-x-flight-stick/95660

[Mark P. Nelson]

Post by Mike S.
On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:36:45 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
So what are you getting?

I had to spend $150 in Gamestop gift cards before they go out of
business. I was going to blow the whole thing on a joystick at first
but I decided to get a keyboard as well. I will rarely use the
joystick so spending more then I did would be silly. So I got the
following keyboard and Joystick. -->
https://www.gamestop.com/pc/accessories/hyperx-alloy-fps-mechanical-

gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-red/146855

I just bought one of these as well!

Post by Mike S.
and
https://www.gamestop.com/accessories/hotas-x-flight-stick/95660

Looks very nice. I have an old CH USB combat stick and throttle, which I
bought when I first got a computer without a game port. I bought my first
CH flightstick to play WC1, long, long ago.

Mark.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:36:45 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
Agreed, but I did it on my 386SX back in the day ;)

Post by Mike S.
I also have no idea why GOG insists on not including the installers
with some (many?) of their games so I can change the sound options.
Instead I have to google it and then insert archaic commands into
*.cfg files. Fun.

Can you tell us what you did so we don't have to repeat your efforts, please?

(I'm doing this from memory so pardon any minor mistakes ;-)

GOG uses DOSBox for almost all of its DOS games, including the older
Wing Commander games (Privateer 2 and Wing Commander 4 are the
exceptions that use Windows excutables, although they also offer WC4
with DOSBox as one of the extras). They usually do include the
original installers/setup programs, but do not make them easily
accessible. Unlike modern games, you cannot modify the settings from
within the game itself. The problem is that you need to launch the
setup programs seperately from the games and GOG doesn't let you drop
down to a DOS prompt to launch the program (if you quit the game, it
just closes the DOSBox window). So to get access to the DOS prompt -
and the setup program - you need to tweak the DOSBox configuration.

DOSBox stores its configuration in special files. In default, these
are usually .CFG files, but GOG uses the .CONF extension instead.
These files are found in the game's installation directory. Usually
the one you edit is named dosbox[something]_single.conf (where
[something] usually is the game's name). So for Wing Commander, the
name of the file you want to edit might be
dosboxWINGCOMMANDER_single.conf


The contents of this file varies. DOSBox .CFG (.conf) files can store
settings on the virtual machine itself (how much and what type of
memory, what soundcards, speed of the processor, type of joystick,
network, etc) and you usually shouldn't mess with these bits. However,
there is also a section at the bottom called [autoexec] which
replicates the functionality of the old DOS autoexec.bat file; usually
it is used to switch to the game's directory and launch the game with
the correct variables. If you have ever used DOS, it should look very
familiar and is easy to use.


The quickest way to get to the install program is this:

1) edit the appropriate *_single.conf file, scroll to the bottom of
the file

2) delete the very last line that reads "exit" (this is the command
that tells the DOSBox window to close after the game quits)

3) save file. Launch game.

4) Exit game. How you do this can vary between games. Origin
frequently used ALT-X to exit to DOS, but other games used ALT-D,
CTRL-X, CTRL-D, or any of a host of other commands (some older games
didn't even have a way to exit back to DOS!). See included
documentation to figure out what command to use. Whatever keys you
press, you'll find that instead of closing the window, the game will
drop you to a DOSBox prompt.

5) Now you can launch the set-up program just as if you were in a real
DOS. In Origin games, they almost invariably used INSTALL.EXE as their
setup program, so type that in and DOSBox launches the program where
you can change various settings (usually install directory - don't
change this - and sound card settings). Other publishers - such as
Microprose - used SETUP.EXE, while yet others had no fixed standard at
all. Heck, some games didn't even have a setup program and needed you
to type in specific variables when launching the game. Fun times ;-)

6) When you are done, exit the setup program then close the DOSBox
window. If you want the game to automatically close the DOSBox window
after you finish playing, just re-open the appropriate .CONF file and
type in EXIT on the very last line.

Again, it's all fairly straight forward if you've ever used DOS and
since most people who are playing these older games on GOG probably
first did so on a DOS machine, that's probably not much of a stretch.

I do pretty much the same thing on all my GOG games that use DOSBox
(hence why I can write this from memory) since I like to have the
music piped through the Gravis Ultrasound emulator rather than the
Soundblaster's FM synthesis. Thus, I need to get to the game's setup
program to change the music device (getting DOSBox to emulate the GUS
takes a few more steps but its worth it :-)

I should note that if you install the game through GOG's Galaxy
client, there is sometimes an option to change the game's settings
through the client itself (it basically just launches the settings
program for you) but this option isn't always available. Anyway, the
above procedure is pretty simple; besides, half the fun of playing DOS
games was mucking around with DOS ;-)

[Mike S.]

On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:10:14 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
5) Now you can launch the set-up program just as if you were in a real
DOS. In Origin games, they almost invariably used INSTALL.EXE as their
setup program, so type that in and DOSBox launches the program where
you can change various settings (usually install directory - don't
change this - and sound card settings). Other publishers - such as
Microprose - used SETUP.EXE, while yet others had no fixed standard at
all. Heck, some games didn't even have a setup program and needed you
to type in specific variables when launching the game. Fun times ;-)
6) When you are done, exit the setup program then close the DOSBox
window. If you want the game to automatically close the DOSBox window
after you finish playing, just re-open the appropriate .CONF file and
type in EXIT on the very last line.

Your way might be easier then mine and I will try this the next time I
need to change sound settings. What I do is copy the entire GOG game
directory into my own DOSBOX install. My DOSBOX always take me to a
dos prompt when I run it. From there, I go into the copied GOG game
directory and run the installer for the game, change the settings,
save and exit, then copy it all back to the GOG DOSBOX directory.

However, neither your method or mine will work with Wing Commander 1
because the game installer is not included.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Mike S.
On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:10:14 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
5) Now you can launch the set-up program just as if you were in a real
DOS. In Origin games, they almost invariably used INSTALL.EXE as their
setup program, so type that in and DOSBox launches the program where
you can change various settings (usually install directory - don't
change this - and sound card settings). Other publishers - such as
Microprose - used SETUP.EXE, while yet others had no fixed standard at
all. Heck, some games didn't even have a setup program and needed you
to type in specific variables when launching the game. Fun times ;-)
6) When you are done, exit the setup program then close the DOSBox
window. If you want the game to automatically close the DOSBox window
after you finish playing, just re-open the appropriate .CONF file and
type in EXIT on the very last line.

Your way might be easier then mine and I will try this the next time I
need to change sound settings. What I do is copy the entire GOG game
directory into my own DOSBOX install. My DOSBOX always take me to a
dos prompt when I run it. From there, I go into the copied GOG game
directory and run the installer for the game, change the settings,
save and exit, then copy it all back to the GOG DOSBOX directory.
However, neither your method or mine will work with Wing Commander 1
because the game installer is not included.

An easier way to get to the DOS command prompt is in W10 look under "All
Apps" for 'Command Prompt'. That will open a window with a DOS command
prompt where you can use the regular DOS commands to change directories,
etc.

[Ross Ridge]

Post by Dimensional Traveler
An easier way to get to the DOS command prompt is in W10 look under "All
Apps" for 'Command Prompt'. That will open a window with a DOS command
prompt where you can use the regular DOS commands to change directories,
etc.

This doesn't get you access to the DOS command prompt, it gets you access
to the Windows command prompt (also know as "cmd.exe"). If you have
the 32-bit version Windows then you can run MS-DOS commands from the
Windows command prompt, but it's still not an actual DOS command prompt.

However, the MS-DOS emulator built into Windows has terrible compatibility
with games and isn't included at all in 64-bit versions of Windows, so the
DOS games that GOG.com sells don't use it. Instead they use DOSBox,
a cross-platform open source MS-DOS emulator designed specifically to
run games. It's the DOSBox command prompt that Spalls was describing
how to gain access to.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Mike S.
On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:10:14 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
5) Now you can launch the set-up program just as if you were in a real

<snippity>

Post by Mike S.
Your way might be easier then mine and I will try this the next time I
need to change sound settings. What I do is copy the entire GOG game
directory into my own DOSBOX install. My DOSBOX always take me to a
dos prompt when I run it. From there, I go into the copied GOG game
directory and run the installer for the game, change the settings,
save and exit, then copy it all back to the GOG DOSBOX directory.

In all honesty, that's what I do to, but that is because I have a
single DOSBox install for all my DOS games. One of the nice things
about DOSBox is that you can change almost all its settings (video
modes, CPU, soundcard, etc) from the command line, so I create
individual BATch files for each game to tailor the environment to the
game's needs (this, for instance, lets me use the Roland emulation for
some games, Gravis for others, and Soundblasters for the rare game
that sounds better with FM synthesis) . Then I use a custom DOS
launcher to call all those BATch files.

But all that is a bit more involved and not, I think, what most people
are interested in doing.

Post by Mike S.
However, neither your method or mine will work with Wing Commander 1
because the game installer is not included.

Well, maybe it won't work for you but it will for me. I have an
install.exe in my Wing Commander I directory (interestingly, it also
lets you chose video modes - MCGA/VGA, EGA and Tandy. I'm tempted to
see what the game looks like in the other modes). GOG must have pulled
the installer at one point for some reason, possibly because it
crashed the system? Who knows.

It looks like the Wing Commander configuration file (the one created
by the game's setup program, not the .CONF used by DOSBox) is just a
file with embedded variables (in my case, "v a904 z". The initial "v"
variable probably denotes vga mode and the a variable likely specifies
Adlib (or Soundblaster) sound; dunno 'bout the rest.

(some tests: adlib is a904; soundblaster is a904 z; PC speaker is p
and roland is just r. The "v" doesn't seem to change regardless of
video-mode, although changing video modes resulted in the game not
working at all even after changing everything back. I had to do a
reinstall to get the game running again. Perhaps that is why GOG
removed the installer/setup program).

(it's stuff like this that makes me miss DOS gaming. I know a lot of
people bitched about autoexec.bat and config.sys and weird console
commands but I loved it ;-)

[Mike S.]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2019 10:08:22 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
(it's stuff like this that makes me miss DOS gaming. I know a lot of
people bitched about autoexec.bat and config.sys and weird console
commands but I loved it ;-)

I actually started my reply by saying I do NOT miss those days, but I
just sat here trying to get the damn WC2 installer working... when I
already had it working just fine another way! LOL!

Maybe I miss those tweaking days more then I think I do.

[Mike S.]

On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:10:14 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
1) edit the appropriate *_single.conf file, scroll to the bottom of
the file
2) delete the very last line that reads "exit" (this is the command
that tells the DOSBox window to close after the game quits)
3) save file. Launch game.

OK, I was curious. I just tried this method with Wing Commander 2.
This game includes the installer so it should work. But it doesn't.
Maybe I did something wrong. Here are the steps I took.

1. I launched dosboxWC2_single.conf
2. I deleted the final exit line
3. I Launched game. It has a convenient 'exit the program' option
before you even get into the game. But that closes DosBox completely
and puts me back into Windows. Even when I try exiting the game from
within the game itself,(ALT-X) I still am taken back to Windows.
DosBox closes completely.

I tried my method of just copying the whole thing over to where my
DOSBOX games and install are. I ran the installer, changed
SoundBlaster to MT-32, copied the whole thing back to the GOG
directory, and the game then ran fine with MT-32 sound.

Your method seems pretty simple, and unlike my way of doing it, does
not require your own DOSBOX install. Where did I screw up?

[Ross Ridge]

Post by Mike S.
Your method seems pretty simple, and unlike my way of doing it, does
not require your own DOSBOX install. Where did I screw up?

It's possible that dosboxWC2_SO1.conf or dosboxWC2_SO2.conf is being
used instead. These files are used when you're playing one of the two
Special Operations expansions.

It shouldn't affect anything but there's two things I would do different
than what Spalls suggested. First instead of deleting the "exit"
line, I would just comment it out by putting a "#" character (without
the quotes) in front of it and I would also comment out the line that
launches the program the same way. So for example, I would change the
dosboxWC2_single.conf file so it reads like this:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C "..\WC2"
c:
cls
#loadfix -32 wc2.exe
#exit

That means you can skip the step of having to exit the game because it
never gets run in the first place. From the DOSBox prompt you can run
the install/setup program to change the configuration and then test it
out by entering the command to run the game, going back and forth between
the two if necessary. Once you've got everything working correctly you
can remove the # characters you added to the .conf file.

[Ross Ridge]

Post by Mike S.
I tried my method of just copying the whole thing over to where my
DOSBOX games and install are. I ran the installer, changed
SoundBlaster to MT-32, copied the whole thing back to the GOG
directory, and the game then ran fine with MT-32 sound.

Are you using an actual MT-32 (or compatible device)?

[Mike S.]

Post by Ross Ridge
Are you using an actual MT-32 (or compatible device)?

Yes to both. I am using an actual MT-32 and I am also using a CM-64,
which is a MT-32 compatible device.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Mike S.
On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:10:14 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
1) edit the appropriate *_single.conf file, scroll to the bottom of
the file
2) delete the very last line that reads "exit" (this is the command
that tells the DOSBox window to close after the game quits)
3) save file. Launch game.

OK, I was curious. I just tried this method with Wing Commander 2.
This game includes the installer so it should work. But it doesn't.
Maybe I did something wrong. Here are the steps I took.
1. I launched dosboxWC2_single.conf
2. I deleted the final exit line
3. I Launched game. It has a convenient 'exit the program' option
before you even get into the game. But that closes DosBox completely
and puts me back into Windows. Even when I try exiting the game from
within the game itself,(ALT-X) I still am taken back to Windows.
DosBox closes completely.
I tried my method of just copying the whole thing over to where my
DOSBOX games and install are. I ran the installer, changed
SoundBlaster to MT-32, copied the whole thing back to the GOG
directory, and the game then ran fine with MT-32 sound.
Your method seems pretty simple, and unlike my way of doing it, does
not require your own DOSBOX install. Where did I screw up?

The WC2 conf is a bit more complicated because they use a little menu
to select between the main game and the two expansions. That menu
jumps you to four possible branchings (main game, expansion 1,
expansion 2, and exiting). Each branch has its own "exit" command, and
"exit", as noted, closes the DOSBox window.

In addition to this, there's also an "exit" command embedded in the
desktop shortcut that you need to get rid of (this must be a new a
new addition since I don't remember them doing this in the past. Since
I never use their shortcuts it never occured to me to check there ;-)
GOG really doesn't want people fiddling about with the DOSBox commands
;-)

[Mike S.]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2019 10:19:30 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Spalls Hurgenson
The WC2 conf is a bit more complicated because they use a little menu
to select between the main game and the two expansions. That menu
jumps you to four possible branchings (main game, expansion 1,
expansion 2, and exiting). Each branch has its own "exit" command, and
"exit", as noted, closes the DOSBox window.
In addition to this, there's also an "exit" command embedded in the
desktop shortcut that you need to get rid of (this must be a new a
new addition since I don't remember them doing this in the past. Since
I never use their shortcuts it never occured to me to check there ;-)
GOG really doesn't want people fiddling about with the DOSBox commands

Good catch. That exit in the desktop shortcut was the key here that I
was missing. After getting rid of that and adding a # symbol (thanks
Ross) in front of all the exits in the conf file I was finally able to
get to a command prompt. The installer ran fine from there.

[Mark P. Nelson]

Post by Mike S.
On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:36:45 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
Agreed, but I did it on my 386SX back in the day ;)

Post by Mike S.
I also have no idea why GOG insists on not including the installers
with some (many?) of their games so I can change the sound options.
Instead I have to google it and then insert archaic commands into
*.cfg files. Fun.

Can you tell us what you did so we don't have to repeat your efforts, please?

(I'm doing this from memory so pardon any minor mistakes ;-)

8<-------snippety snip.

Thank you very much indeed for this.

Mark.

[Mike S.]

On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:50:56 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
Thank you very much indeed for this.
Mark.

Mark, when you asked about this initially, I thought you were
referring specifically to Wing Commander 1. Which is why I mentioned
needing to go into *.cfg files and changing parameters. That is the
only way to change sound settings in WC1 with the GOG release as far
as I can tell.

For games where GOG actually provides the game installer, my copy back
and forth method, or Spalls 'remove the exit line' method is what you
need to do.

[Mark P. Nelson]

Post by Mike S.
On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:50:56 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson"

Post by Mark P. Nelson
Thank you very much indeed for this.
Mark.

Mark, when you asked about this initially, I thought you were
referring specifically to Wing Commander 1. Which is why I mentioned
needing to go into *.cfg files and changing parameters. That is the
only way to change sound settings in WC1 with the GOG release as far
as I can tell.
For games where GOG actually provides the game installer, my copy back
and forth method, or Spalls 'remove the exit line' method is what you
need to do.

Yes, I understood. Your instructions were a great overview on getting
around GOG/DOSBox limitations, and much appreciated as such.

I do have the WC1 installation program on 5.25" disks, 3.5" disks, and CD-
ROM (this last of which I can actually access--no, wait, I also have a USB
3.5" drive a friend gave me, though I've never tried it).

I love Usenet and the good people you can meet here.

Thank you.

[Xocyll]

Spalls Hurgenson <***@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs

Post by Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Ross Ridge

Post by Mike S.
Does Wing Commander (and games like WC) benefit at all from having a
throttle or should I just concentrate on getting a joystick? I have
some gift cards to use up and I decided on a joystick or joystick +
throttle combo. I need some advice please.

I don't think the original Wing Commander had any special support for
joysticks with anything other than the standard X/Y axes and two buttons.
The install program doesn't have an option to configure what kind of
joystick you're using, so I assume it's limited to standard PC joysticks.
The PC GamePort interface does support four axes and four buttons,
but the extras are meant for a second joystick. It's possible that a
throttle is silently supported anyways, but I doubt it.
Wing Commander 3 has support for Thrustmaster joysticks and DOSBox can
emulate these joysticks, so a throttle (and possibly other controls)
should work with this game. I don't have Wing Command 2 installed,
but I assume it doesn't support throttles, just like WC1.

What he said.
Wing Commander III's throttle (and hat) support is flakey; I think it
expects a genuine CH throttle or Thrustmaster. In my recent
playthrough, I had problems getting anything beyond basic joystick
support. Even to get that much you needed a special joystick patch. Of
course, that might also be because I was playing through DOSBox.
Nonetheless, I remember playing the game years back on "real" DOS and
being disappointed that I couldn't get it to use the throttle slider
on my old Sidewinder 3D. So YMMV.
Wing Commander IV had improved throttle and rudder support even in the
original version, and the version currently sold on GOG is a Windows
executable that uses Windows joystick API so emulation isn't even an
issue.
Wing Commander I, II, Privateer and Academy did /not/ support throttle
or rudder; you needed the keyboard for those manuevers. I can't recall
if Privateer II or Armada made use of them; I'd guess yes to the first
but no to the second.

I think Privateer2 had throttle support, since back then I was using an
F15 hawk joystick that had a throttle on it.
It wasn't useful though since varying throttle speed in that game really
didn't help much if at all.

It was different than all the other WC world games in that it had a
different jump mechanism that would not let you jump if enemies were
near and with enemies jumping in you could have massive furball fights
where you'd have to kill off dozens of enemies before you could get
away.
Hardest combat of any of them, because of that.

Xocyll