Prophecy Movie Upgrade Patch Released (October 24, 2006)

[ChrisReid]

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]

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]

Nice!

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

[Pedro]

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]

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...

Really great, Thank you very much!!!

[KrisV]

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.

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]

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

[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.

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]

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]

@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?

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]

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]

Damn. I just installed mpeg2dec, and same problem.

Well, I'll keep trying...

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]

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 ????

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Damec]

I'll try to do that to!!
thx

[HCl]

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]

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]

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]

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

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

Btw.: Wat was the error you fixed?

[maniac89]

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

[Wingolof]

The patch works ok. Buti have a problem(besides glitches), the movies are not fully resized. I mean there is narrow black line on top and bottom. So movies are not in 16:9 ratio. They are 16:8,8 or simething. I know its not a big problem but anyway to fix this?

[Sordid]

Originally Posted by Wingolof

The patch works ok. Buti have a problem(besides glitches), the movies are not fully resized. I mean there is narrow black line on top and bottom. So movies are not in 16:9 ratio. They are 16:8,8 or simething. I know its not a big problem but anyway to fix this?

Yeah...I realised it, too. The ratio is different than the one I get with WinDVD


and...the Dolby movie at the beginning doesn't run smoothly...no big deal though

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Wingolof

The patch works ok. Buti have a problem(besides glitches), the movies are not fully resized. I mean there is narrow black line on top and bottom. So movies are not in 16:9 ratio. They are 16:8,8 or simething. I know its not a big problem but anyway to fix this?

Are you sure there's a problem? The movies seem to be encoded in 4:3 with black bars on top and bottom. Even if that is getting all cropped off (leaving the 16:9 area where the image is), are you sure your monitor is that aspect ratio? Most widescreen LCDs for computers are actually 16:10. What resolution are you running in?

[Wingolof]

Yeah, the movies are encoded in 4:3 aspect ratio (16:9 is the image).
So when i play the game, video is not resized to 4:3. My desktop resolution is 1280x1024, which is not 4:3. I thought this was the cause so i changed it to 1024x768 and then run the game. Video was resized more, but still not to 4:3.

When i play prophecy movies in powerdvd for example, they are properly resized.

[AD]

Originally Posted by Wingolof

Yeah, the movies are encoded in 4:3 aspect ratio (16:9 is the image).
So when i play the game, video is not resized to 4:3. My desktop resolution is 1280x1024, which is not 4:3. I thought this was the cause so i changed it to 1024x768 and then run the game. Video was resized more, but still not to 4:3.

When i play prophecy movies in powerdvd for example, they are properly resized.

They're not exactly 640x480 either though. They, along with the wc4 DVD are encoded at the DVD resolution of 704 x 480 which is about 4.4:3

[HCl]

Glad to know the last build helped with some problems reported here

Mincemeat: i did not touch the keyboard code, so i am assuming you accidentally hit some key at the time. However, i will be changing the patch behavior to skip the movies only when ESC is pressed, to avoid this situation.

Regarding movie aspect ratio: I think the issue here is, as Chris said, that the movie aspect ratio doesn't exactly match your monitor aspect ratio. Even if you have a widescreen display, small portions on top / bottom of the display remain black because of this. This happens on my laptop as well, at resolution 1280x768.

[Dominator]

I've had a problem with hi-res video but fortunately I've solved it. I post solution here in case other people have (or will have) the same problem.
I've installed wcp, enhancement pack and vob patch, then started the game - but instead of dvd video there was a blank screen (there was sound). When I've Alt-Tabbed from game I've noticed that video is played in ActiveMovie window. After some googling I've found a solution - you have to disable "Use Overlay Mixer" option in your MPEG video decoder.

[Sordid]

Originally Posted by HCl

Regarding movie aspect ratio: I think the issue here is, as Chris said, that the movie aspect ratio doesn't exactly match your monitor aspect ratio. Even if you have a widescreen display, small portions on top / bottom of the display remain black because of this. This happens on my laptop as well, at resolution 1280x768.

I know...on 1280x1024 you actually have an aspect ratio of 5:4. But you get those black lines at the top and the bottom to GET a 4:3 picture.

And there still is the unanswered question why WinDVD gives a different aspect ratio (imo a better one)...

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Dominator

I've had a problem with hi-res video but fortunately I've solved it. I post solution here in case other people have (or will have) the same problem.
I've installed wcp, enhancement pack and vob patch, then started the game - but instead of dvd video there was a blank screen (there was sound). When I've Alt-Tabbed from game I've noticed that video is played in ActiveMovie window. After some googling I've found a solution - you have to disable "Use Overlay Mixer" option in your MPEG video decoder.

How do you do that? I don't think I've ever gotten anywhere where I had options to change things with my "mpeg video decoder."

[Dominator]

Originally Posted by ChrisReid

How do you do that? I don't think I've ever gotten anywhere where I had options to change things with my "mpeg video decoder."

I open vob file in my video player, click on "filters", then click on (in my case) Ligos MPEG video decoder - and there are some options there

[pvd_addict]

Hello all !

I installed the files following the instructions... I can see the videos, but no sounds (with either subtitle on or off)... any ideas to fix this ??? Thanks a lot !!

[AD]

Originally Posted by pvd_addict

Hello all !

I installed the files following the instructions... I can see the videos, but no sounds (with either subtitle on or off)... any ideas to fix this ??? Thanks a lot !!

You probably need to install something like AC3filter to play the 5.1 audio.

[pvd_addict]

AD : yep !! worked ! thanks !

[Mirage]

Well I just dl'd and installed the 10-27 version of WCPHR.DLL and it cured one weird problem I was having. It seemed that all the VOB files would play upside down, and occasionally get stuck looping.

But the new DLL fixed that. Thanks you very much! Now I'm off to see if I can break something else....

[nowyuser]

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

how's the work going?

[ChrisReid]

HCl is busy working on an upgrade to the Prophecy multiplayer patch right now.

[nowyuser]

any info about the progress?

[dellflo123]

found my wing commander prophecy game and installed it on my new computer dell xps 410 system, duel core 2.13 ghz system with lots of disk space and memery.
this system was built for the gamer...

but when I installed the game i found out that the only part that works fine is the missions itself. the rest seems to run at high speed... very high speed

I noticed that you had some patches and I downloaded them to my system, maybe you can help me fix the movie part of my game?
if not maybe you can tell me where to go to find the fix.

thank you.

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by dellflo123

found my wing commander prophecy game and installed it on my new computer dell xps 410 system, duel core 2.13 ghz system with lots of disk space and memery.
this system was built for the gamer...

Do you know what kind of video card you got with it?

Originally Posted by dellflo123

but when I installed the game i found out that the only part that works fine is the missions itself. the rest seems to run at high speed... very high speed

It would help if you were more specific. Does something run fast when you're standing aboard the carrier? Is it just movies that move fast? Is everything sped up or does it just skip?

Originally Posted by dellflo123

I noticed that you had some patches and I downloaded them to my system, maybe you can help me fix the movie part of my game?
if not maybe you can tell me where to go to find the fix.

Did you run any of the patches? Have you done anything else to make the game run more smoothly? A good place to look around would be the Tech Support forum here.

[Gast1999]

@HCL

Hi i have an little problem with downloading the movies i only have 4gb download trafic allowed per month so its near an month traffic for me upload is unlimited thats an irony
Can u explain how u made these Videos i think it was extract with movie exporter from you to avi than an scaler and converted to vob files i think so but how u make it
exactly.
which programms and which stats so that i can do it for myself and have the same quality.
The second problem is im german so i will have german sound and if i take my videos its no problem i haver the german version

PS: my upload is so i can make it possible to download from me if i have done it so its not only for me
it would take some time but i think i can make it for all german too or only convert sound extra or so


thanks for help

[Bandit LOAF]

Sorry, it's nothing like that -- the movies are from an unreleased DVD version of Prophecy.

[Crantock46pa]

Just wanted to say thanks for above postings. They have helped me set up WCP successfully after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I have the following feedback:
1. Downloaded all three DVD movies packs;
2. Installed Prophecy from scratch, enabling Compatibility for 98/Windows ME and did not access the game before completing the next steps;
3. Followed your instructions - Enhancement Pack, separate movie folder and VOB patch after installing Prophecy;
4. Downloaded an AC3 Filter from the web (freeware) to obtain sound reproduction.

I have not used your "mpeg2dec" and "prophecy_video_fix" downloads as these have previously had the effect of throwing me back to the CD movies. Don't understand this - just thought you might want to know.

When using the Installer, I found that all three gf.tre files had not been placed in the "patch" folder along with data.tre - so this was done manually. Furthermore, I had to copy gf2 & gf3 from CDs 2 & 3 as they had not installed. The Installer did actually prompt for these files, but it was still a manual process.

Lastly, I have loaded Secret Ops as well, using your High-Res upgrade as it placed files in the game directory which were required for installation but had not copied across. The installation required glide2.dll which was missing - your file sorted that out neatly. I don't know if this will help any other correspondents, but if it does, then I can repay some of my debt, as it were.

Health, wealth & happiness.