Prophecy Movie Upgrade Patch Released (October 24, 2006)

ChrisReid · 10-23-2006, 16:00

Nearly a thousand fans have downloaded at least one high resolution movie pack for Wing Commander Prophecy, and many have asked how they can integrate these videos into the actual game. HCl has created another amazing patch to make this possible. Pack one (1.6 gigs), pack two (1 gig) and pack three (550 megs) are still available for those who need them.
Getting it all set up is easy:
[*]Install Prophecy if you haven't already (don't forget the Windows 95/98 compatibility mode Properties setting)[*]Unzip the WCP enhancement pack into the game's folder (back up your Prophecy.exe if desired - the pack also enables high res gameplay modes and online multiplayer)[*]Create a subdirectory called movie in the Prophecy folder[*]Move your downloaded high res movie files into this folder[*]Download this VOB patch and unzip it to the Prophecy folder (it will overwrite a file you made earlier)[*]Start the game!

The game will search the movie directory first, and if it doesn't find a high res file, it'll default to the regular videos on CD. This means you don't have to download all 3 gigabytes of movies in order to play. If you encounter problems, try installing this mpeg decoder, switching to a different video mode or alternating subtittles on or off. This upgrade works great for most people, but a few may encounter glitches. Feedback is very helpful at this point. Enjoy the game!

--
Original update published on October 24, 2006

Mincemeat · 10-24-2006, 23:48

This is simply awesome - just like an early Christmas!

Suggestion to HCl:
Would it be possible to use a codec internal to the DLL for playback? That would potentially make it more controllable and avoid the "flicker" necessary to draw to another surface.

If anybody has trouble playing back the videos, look for an application named "GraphEdit" which will show you what DirectShow filters it is trying to use.

There are other programs which will allow changing the priority (merit) of the filters in order to eliminate incompatibilities. I won't list them here as they are way too dangerous to use - google and research the subject throughoutly if you need help in this area...

Mace · 10-25-2006, 04:42

Nice!

Will a future patch enable us to put everything onto a single DVD?

Pedro · 10-25-2006, 05:29

HCl, the CIC staff responsible for getting the videos, aww heck everyone in the Wing Commander community, thankyou!

In the absence of new Wing Commander games things like this keep me happy.

Laserschwert · 10-25-2006, 07:15

Very nice patch... great work!

Any chance getting something similar working with WC4? I've got the DVD-version off of eBay, but my native language is German (so having the whole thing in German would make it even more immersive). I also have the German 6-disc version, so putting the German audio of the movies into the VOBs won't be a problem. Yet, the rest of the game (of the DVD-version) is still in English, so having a VOB-patch for the CD-version (or a language-file patch for the DVD-version) would be just awesome...

10-25-2006, 07:49

Really great, Thank you very much!!!

KrisV · 10-25-2006, 07:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

I also have the German 6-disc version, so putting the German audio of the movies into the VOBs won't be a problem. Yet, the rest of the game (of the DVD-version) is still in English, so having a VOB-patch for the CD-version (or a language-file patch for the DVD-version) would be just awesome...

This sounds like a lot more effort than it's really worth. Would you personally mux the German audio into a couple hundred VOB files? Would anyone else? I'm also not sure how watching people talk in a voice that's not their own could be considered immersive.

10-25-2006, 09:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by KrisV

This sounds like a lot more effort than it's really worth. Would you personally mux the German audio into a couple hundred VOB files? Would anyone else? I'm also not sure how watching people talk in a voice that's not their own could be considered immersive.

What a narrow-minded answer...

I know that dubbing isn't that popular in America (most movies are made in English anyway). But Germany is known to have the highest quality dubs in the world, and probably the biggest industry for it. 99% of the movies are getting dubbed here, and as a movie lover I love original versions just as much as their translated and dubbed versions.

WC 3 & 4 were treated like a major blockbuster production, so the German voice actors in the game are all well known from several movies. Ergo the immersion is immense!

By the way, re-muxing the videos can be done as a batch job, so you just have to rip all the movies once, demux them, and remux them with the VOBs. Most steps can be automated here.

Laserschwert · 10-25-2006, 09:10

Oops, forgot to login... so that post above this one is mine.

Bandit LOAF · 10-25-2006, 10:08

Damn those narrow minded Americans!

... who, Kris' case, are from continental Europe.

(Also, the German dub of Wing Commander IV was done right here in Austin, TX -- the American game designers went through great pains to make sure the game would be available in English, French and German when it came out.)

I can't comment on switching all the VOBs. I know that they're not *exactly* the same in the PC and DVD versions, though, and it might not be a process that it's easy to automate. Maybe there's some way to do it, though -- but it's probably a job for someone willing to do hard work (and who knows German) rather than a technological trick for HCl.

10-25-2006, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bandit LOAF

Damn those narrow minded Americans!

... who, Kris' case, are from continental Europe.

(Also, the German dub of Wing Commander IV was done right here in Austin, TX -- the American game designers went through great pains to make sure the game would be available in English, French and German when it came out.)

I can't comment on switching all the VOBs. I know that they're not *exactly* the same in the PC and DVD versions, though, and it might not be a process that it's easy to automate. Maybe there's some way to do it, though -- but it's probably a job for someone willing to do hard work (and who knows German) rather than a technological trick for HCl.

Mmh... actually I didn't mean the "narrow-minded" and the "America" part to go together... anyway...

Usually with a game of this size, the dubbing is a collaboration between a German dubbing-studio and the publisher. (Though obviously not all the time, since "Half Life 2" got an awful German dub, with mostly American's playing the parts... German with American accent... almost as bad as the other way around).

Regarding the VOBs... re-muxing them would only make sense if they could be integrated into the German version of the game. Otherwise the whole thing would be pointless.

maniac89 · 10-25-2006, 12:37

Urgh, I have a problem.

When a video starts in the game, it plays, but about ten times before the video starts I'm greeted with and error message: "This program requires the file advrcntr2.dll, which was not found on this system." Also during a movie, if I press Esc, it frezzes, forcing me to close it.
How do I fix this? I would appreciate any help.

Sordid · 10-25-2006, 12:42

@Laserschwert

Do you have such a batch file for Prophecy already...I'd appreciate having a german version

Regarding WC4 it is not as easy as for Prophecy. The Intro has severeal scenes the CD version hasn't.

Btw.: With glide mode the videos have blue bars instead of black ones. If I switch to direct3d they are black as they should...but direct3d (looks like 8 bit texture s!!!) looks like shit compared to glide...

Any ideas?

10-25-2006, 12:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordid

@Laserschwert

Do you have such a batch file for Prophecy already...I'd appreciate having a german version

Regarding WC4 it is not as easy as for Prophecy. The Intro has severeal scenes the CD version hasn't.

I'm not planning on doing that right now

And for WC4 it would probably best to somehow combine data-files from the German CD-version with the english DVD-version... although that's probably impossible.

HCl · 10-25-2006, 15:50

Thanks for all the feedback, guys! Answering individual questions:

Mincemeat: Yes, it would be possible to integrate everything in the DLL instead of using DShow, and doing so would probably help solving certain issues. However, it would make the patch more complex and most likely introduce other limitations, so i'm trying to avoid doing that (however the idea is not out of the question either... it will depend on what problems come up with the current implementation).

Mace: Yes, a future version of the patch will search for the movies on a DVD. No point on burning those DVDs just yet though..

maniac89: No clue about that one, i have no idea what advrcntr2.dll is supposed to be about. Maybe you have some strange DShow filter installed (try checking with GraphEdit). Does installing mpeg2dec help at all?

Sordid: I'm looking into the problem. Unfortunately it is not something i am able to reproduce here, but there are a couple of things i can try. I will be uploading a new DLL sometime tomorrow for testing!

maniac89 · 10-25-2006, 17:41

Damn. I just installed mpeg2dec, and same problem.

Well, I'll keep trying...

10-26-2006, 09:03

I would second Mincemeat's suggestion, when this solution would reduce the flickering during switching between movies and game parts. Especially using 3DFX mode this is a little bit bothering.

The patch only works for me, when I have subtitles enabled, otherwise I only hear sound, but have on picture.
Normally I prefer playing without subtitles, so it would be really great if this could be remedied with the next version of the patch (maybe this is also related to Direct Show?)

Other than that, this is really good. Thanks again!

alucard · 10-26-2006, 10:23

Great work out there. I really loved WC5 but the moviequality was always worse than WC4 DVD. Therefore playing the whole saga one by one was putting WC5 to shame.

Now how about mixing WC3 for PC with movies of the 3DO and PSX versions ? WC3 on PC has the better flight engine and flight graphics but the movies were a big reason for buying a 3DO. Anyone out there with the ambition and knowledge to start the whole thing ????

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laserschwert
WC 3 & 4 were treated like a major blockbuster production, so the German voice actors in the game are all well known from several movies. Ergo the immersion is immense!

@Laserschwert: Good to see you here. I am a big fan of your LucasArts-Soundtracks-Homepage.
But the voice credits for WC4 weren´t as good as for WC3. Cap. Eisen´s voice in WC4 German was in no comparison to WC3 German. But nethertheless I am glad to watch the movies and enjoy the games in translation.

Damec · 10-26-2006, 11:36

Hello!!!
I did every thing what chrisReid wroted about movie pach. I didnt dld first and second pack (only third)I also install mpeg decorder into WCP dir and clicked on reg.bat file, but still nothing, I reinstall and insall game again with no result.

Hi-Res. is doing fine and I also played game on windows XP without Win95 compability. Then I activate win95 try again and also NOTHING!!
I really dont now what to do more!!

KrisV · 10-26-2006, 12:04

Did you unzip the pack? You say you skipped packs one and two? Maybe the video you're trying to watch is in one of those.

Damec · 10-26-2006, 14:03

ok if these is a problem. I ll dld other two packs. I was understanding that i need to dld just pack 3. So I ll try to dld other two packs and try again
Thx

Lt.Death100 · 10-26-2006, 14:22

You're almost impossible to comprehend without correct grammar, you might want to fix that.

Damec · 10-26-2006, 16:01

I'll try to do that to!!

thx

HCl · 10-26-2006, 17:49

I just uploaded a new DLL, it should fix the issues reported by Sordid and Walter. If you're having problems, give it a try and let me know if it helps!

Link.

Beckmen · 10-26-2006, 18:09

So is Maniac going to somehow use this footage for his Prophecy DVD movie? That would be sweet...

(well, I PM'ed asking him directly, but can't seem to find out how to delete this message. Sorry)

Mincemeat · 10-27-2006, 02:05

I don't know if it's just my particular setup, but the winning endgame movie (after the wormhole has been demolished) gets skipped and I go straight to the animated credits.

Other movies seem to play just fine in-game.

Edit: After installing the 27 Oct build, it seemed to work fine now. Or maybe because my hands were off the keyboard and joystick when the cutscene cut in.

Sordid · 10-27-2006, 07:14

HCI, you are a true genius!!!!!

the new dll fixed my problem! Just fantastic! Thanks!

Btw.: Wat was the error you fixed?

maniac89 · 10-27-2006, 12:32

YES!!!! Thank you, HCl, I don't know how, but the new DLL you posted did the trick! No error messages! Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wingolof · 10-27-2006, 15:40

The

10-23-2006, 16:00	#1
ChrisReid Super Soaker Collector Administrator Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Seattle, Washington, USA Posts: 9,836	Prophecy Movie Upgrade Patch Released (October 24, 2006) Nearly a thousand fans have downloaded at least one high resolution movie pack for Wing Commander Prophecy, and many have asked how they can integrate these videos into the actual game. HCl has created another amazing patch to make this possible. Pack one (1.6 gigs), pack two (1 gig) and pack three (550 megs) are still available for those who need them. Getting it all set up is easy: []Install Prophecy if you haven't already (don't forget the Windows 95/98 compatibility mode Properties setting)[]Unzip the WCP enhancement pack into the game's folder (back up your Prophecy.exe if desired - the pack also enables high res gameplay modes and online multiplayer)[]Create a subdirectory called movie in the Prophecy folder[]Move your downloaded high res movie files into this folder[]Download this VOB patch and unzip it to the Prophecy folder (it will overwrite a file you made earlier)[]Start the game! The game will search the movie directory first, and if it doesn't find a high res file, it'll default to the regular videos on CD. This means you don't have to download all 3 gigabytes of movies in order to play. If you encounter problems, try installing this mpeg decoder, switching to a different video mode or alternating subtittles on or off. This upgrade works great for most people, but a few may encounter glitches. Feedback is very helpful at this point. Enjoy the game! -- Original update published on October 24, 2006

10-25-2006, 10:08	#10
Bandit LOAF It wears the skull of its dead mother on its head. When it becomes lonesome, it is said to cry loudly. Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Ashton, MD, USA Posts: 23,835	Damn those narrow minded Americans! ... who, Kris' case, are from continental Europe. (Also, the German dub of Wing Commander IV was done right here in Austin, TX -- the American game designers went through great pains to make sure the game would be available in English, French and German when it came out.) I can't comment on switching all the VOBs. I know that they're not exactly the same in the PC and DVD versions, though, and it might not be a process that it's easy to automate. Maybe there's some way to do it, though -- but it's probably a job for someone willing to do hard work (and who knows German) rather than a technological trick for HCl. __________________ Long live the Confederation, Ben "Bandit" Lesnick, LMG. "You go, Loaf! Get some!" -JPG

10-25-2006, 12:37	#12
maniac89 I love Wing Commander: Prophecy Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: T.C.S. Midway Posts: 324	Urgh, I have a problem. When a video starts in the game, it plays, but about ten times before the video starts I'm greeted with and error message: "This program requires the file advrcntr2.dll, which was not found on this system." Also during a movie, if I press Esc, it frezzes, forcing me to close it. How do I fix this? I would appreciate any help. __________________ The Wing Commander: Prophecy Movie Project

10-25-2006, 17:41	#16
maniac89 I love Wing Commander: Prophecy Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: T.C.S. Midway Posts: 324	Damn. I just installed mpeg2dec, and same problem. Well, I'll keep trying... __________________ The Wing Commander: Prophecy Movie Project

10-26-2006, 12:04	#20
KrisV Space Marshal Administrator Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: The Reid System Posts: 3,161	Did you unzip the pack? You say you skipped packs one and two? Maybe the video you're trying to watch is in one of those. __________________ The Wing Commander CIC Forum Rules

10-24-2006, 23:48	#2
Mincemeat Not A Dralthi Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: New Zealand Posts: 247	This is simply awesome - just like an early Christmas! Suggestion to HCl: Would it be possible to use a codec internal to the DLL for playback? That would potentially make it more controllable and avoid the "flicker" necessary to draw to another surface. If anybody has trouble playing back the videos, look for an application named "GraphEdit" which will show you what DirectShow filters it is trying to use. There are other programs which will allow changing the priority (merit) of the filters in order to eliminate incompatibilities. I won't list them here as they are way too dangerous to use - google and research the subject throughoutly if you need help in this area...

10-25-2006, 04:42	#3
Mace Captain Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Netherlands Posts: 492	Nice! Will a future patch enable us to put everything onto a single DVD?

10-25-2006, 05:29	#4
Pedro Swabbie Banned Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: England Posts: 1,346	HCl, the CIC staff responsible for getting the videos, aww heck everyone in the Wing Commander community, thankyou! In the absence of new Wing Commander games things like this keep me happy.

10-25-2006, 07:15	#5
Laserschwert Cadet Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 12	Very nice patch... great work! Any chance getting something similar working with WC4? I've got the DVD-version off of eBay, but my native language is German (so having the whole thing in German would make it even more immersive). I also have the German 6-disc version, so putting the German audio of the movies into the VOBs won't be a problem. Yet, the rest of the game (of the DVD-version) is still in English, so having a VOB-patch for the CD-version (or a language-file patch for the DVD-version) would be just awesome...

10-25-2006, 07:49	#6
Walter Guest Posts: n/a	Really great, Thank you very much!!!

10-25-2006, 09:10	#9
Laserschwert Cadet Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 12	Oops, forgot to login... so that post above this one is mine.

10-25-2006, 12:42	#13
Sordid Cadet Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 68	@Laserschwert Do you have such a batch file for Prophecy already...I'd appreciate having a german version Regarding WC4 it is not as easy as for Prophecy. The Intro has severeal scenes the CD version hasn't. Btw.: With glide mode the videos have blue bars instead of black ones. If I switch to direct3d they are black as they should...but direct3d (looks like 8 bit texture s!!!) looks like shit compared to glide... Any ideas?

10-25-2006, 15:50	#15
HCl WC EXE archaeologist Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 129	Thanks for all the feedback, guys! Answering individual questions: Mincemeat: Yes, it would be possible to integrate everything in the DLL instead of using DShow, and doing so would probably help solving certain issues. However, it would make the patch more complex and most likely introduce other limitations, so i'm trying to avoid doing that (however the idea is not out of the question either... it will depend on what problems come up with the current implementation). Mace: Yes, a future version of the patch will search for the movies on a DVD. No point on burning those DVDs just yet though.. maniac89: No clue about that one, i have no idea what advrcntr2.dll is supposed to be about. Maybe you have some strange DShow filter installed (try checking with GraphEdit). Does installing mpeg2dec help at all? Sordid: I'm looking into the problem. Unfortunately it is not something i am able to reproduce here, but there are a couple of things i can try. I will be uploading a new DLL sometime tomorrow for testing!

10-26-2006, 09:03	#17
Walter Guest Posts: n/a	I would second Mincemeat's suggestion, when this solution would reduce the flickering during switching between movies and game parts. Especially using 3DFX mode this is a little bit bothering. The patch only works for me, when I have subtitles enabled, otherwise I only hear sound, but have on picture. Normally I prefer playing without subtitles, so it would be really great if this could be remedied with the next version of the patch (maybe this is also related to Direct Show?) Other than that, this is really good. Thanks again!

10-26-2006, 11:36	#19
Damec Cadet Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	Hello!!! I did every thing what chrisReid wroted about movie pach. I didnt dld first and second pack (only third)I also install mpeg decorder into WCP dir and clicked on reg.bat file, but still nothing, I reinstall and insall game again with no result. Hi-Res. is doing fine and I also played game on windows XP without Win95 compability. Then I activate win95 try again and also NOTHING!! I really dont now what to do more!!

10-26-2006, 14:03	#21
Damec Cadet Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	ok if these is a problem. I ll dld other two packs. I was understanding that i need to dld just pack 3. So I ll try to dld other two packs and try again Thx

10-26-2006, 14:22	#22
Lt.Death100 Colonel Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Sol Posts: 1,160	You're almost impossible to comprehend without correct grammar, you might want to fix that. __________________ He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. The higher we soar, the smaller we become to those who cannot fly. -Friedrich Nietzche

10-26-2006, 16:01	#23
Damec Cadet Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	I'll try to do that to!! thx

10-26-2006, 17:49	#24
HCl WC EXE archaeologist Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 129	I just uploaded a new DLL, it should fix the issues reported by Sordid and Walter. If you're having problems, give it a try and let me know if it helps! Link.

10-26-2006, 18:09	#25
Beckmen 2nd Lieutenant Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 88	So is Maniac going to somehow use this footage for his Prophecy DVD movie? That would be sweet... (well, I PM'ed asking him directly, but can't seem to find out how to delete this message. Sorry)

10-27-2006, 02:05	#26
Mincemeat Not A Dralthi Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: New Zealand Posts: 247	I don't know if it's just my particular setup, but the winning endgame movie (after the wormhole has been demolished) gets skipped and I go straight to the animated credits. Other movies seem to play just fine in-game. Edit: After installing the 27 Oct build, it seemed to work fine now. Or maybe because my hands were off the keyboard and joystick when the cutscene cut in.

10-27-2006, 07:14	#27
Sordid Cadet Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 68	HCI, you are a true genius!!!!! the new dll fixed my problem! Just fantastic! Thanks! Btw.: Wat was the error you fixed?

10-27-2006, 12:32	#28
maniac89 I love Wing Commander: Prophecy Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: T.C.S. Midway Posts: 324	YES!!!! Thank you, HCl, I don't know how, but the new DLL you posted did the trick! No error messages! Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! __________________ The Wing Commander: Prophecy Movie Project

10-27-2006, 15:40	#29
Wingolof Cadet Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2	The