Hi everyone, thank you for being part of the Wing Commander community.
This restored Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition was a passion project for everyone involved. For the community modders, their contributions were generated by volunteer hours in the spirit of bringing joy to the greater community. For the folks at EA and GOG, the vast majority of this work was done alongside our ongoing full-time projects. We did our best, and hope you will please forgive anything that may have slipped through cracks.
The goal of this Steam discussion thread is to provide answers to some common questions and outline known issues, in order to help players get set-up with the game. As you may recall, tutorials weren’t common for PC games in the 90s, and it can sometimes be challenging to learn the core loop or controls.
PC Games often relied on printed manuals to teach the player these items and introduce them to the game world. As such, we have included many of these scanned documents with the 30th Anniversary Edition in the “Extras” folders, and we recommend them as a great place to start your journey.
Cheers,
~ The 30th Anniversary Team
Where can I find the bonus extras?
The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition.
Does the game have controller support?
The Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition has controller support on PC thanks to the team at GOG, but currently requires activation in-game via the following steps:
1) Boot the game
2) Once on the Midway, press Esc to bring up the Pause menu
3) Select “Options Menu”
4) Select “Gameplay”
5) Under the “Control Type” section, choose “Joystick”
6) Select “Accept” and Return to Game
Default control schemes have been mapped for the following controller families:
Xbox Series X/S
Xbox One
Xbox 360
PlayStation DualSense
PlayStation DualShock
We recommend you review the “Controller_Setup_and_Mappings” PDF in the Extras folder.
The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition.
Does the game Autosave my progress?
Unfortunately no, like many games of the era, the game does not have any autosave functionality. Be sure to manually save your game often via the “Terminals” on the TCS Midway. However, the game does feature Cloud Saves to ensure save progress can be continued between devices.
Does the game work on Steam Deck?
When running the “Enhanced” version of the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition, the gameplay portion should load and run smoothly on the Steam Deck.
Unfortunately, the new Master and Upscaled FMVs are not playing properly on the Steam Deck. If we are able to solve this we will let the community know. In the meantime, the “Original” FMVs in the Launcher drop-down menu are playing on the Steam Deck.
We recommend reviewing the “Controller_Setup_and_Mappings” PDF in the Extras folder, which contains a section about the Steam Deck.
The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition.
However, keep in mind certain menus on the Steam Deck may require special navigation (such as virtual keyboard input) given the legacy UI. This will be most common in the Player Name and Save / Load menu.
Can I adjust the difficulty?
Yes, difficulty can be adjusted anytime from the Pause / Options Menu.
Press Esc to bring up the Pause menu
Select “Options Menu”
Select “Gameplay”
Choose the difficulty setting
Select “Accept” and Return to Game
What is the difference between the multiple launch versions of the game?
On Steam and the EA App, there are two launch options for the game.
The “Enhanced” version includes all the improvements as highlighted in the 30th Anniversary Edition. This is the recommended way to play.
The “Original” version is the classic game from 1997. This version may be unstable on modern hardware configurations, and is primarily included for historical and modding purposes.
On GOG the “Original” version is a separate item in your game library, and should be granted as part of the 30th Anniversary Edition.
See the section below about the different Movie Quality options.
What is the difference between the various Movie Quality launch options?
The 30th Anniversary Edition includes a full restoration of the Full-Motion Video (FMV) cinematics. You can read more about that journey here.
The “Master Source” FMVs are the cinematics as captured from the Master tapes and exported to play fullscreen on a modern 16:9 monitor.
The “Master Upscaled” FMVs are the Master Source files enhanced via AI Upscaling technology. The goal with this process was to increase resolution for larger monitors, and repair some artifacting issues from the age of the master tapes.
The “Original” FMVs are the classic videos as shipped with the game in 1997.
Where can I learn how to play or find the controls?
All manuals and control documentation can be found in the “Extras” folder. The folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition.
For controller and Steam Deck information, we recommend you review the “Controller_Setup_and_Mappings” PDF in the Extras folder.
For Joystick information, we recommend you review the “Joystick_Setup_and_Mappings” PDF in the Extras folder.
How do I enable subtitles?
Unfortunately, we noticed an issue just prior to launch where the subtitles were not appearing on the Master and Upscaled videos. We will let the community know if we are able to resolve this.
For the Original videos, subtitles can be adjusted anytime from the Pause / Options Menu.
Press Esc to bring up the Pause menu
Select “Options Menu”
Within the “Audio & Video” tab, select your subtitle preferences
Select “Accept” and Return to Game
Can I play the Original version of Secret Ops?
The files for the Original version of Secret Ops are included in the install. They are located in the …\\Original\\Secret Ops location in your root install directory. You may run the game by using secretops.exe.
Please note we have observed the Original Secret Ops being unable to boot on many systems, which has been a legacy issue for years. We wanted to include the files for historical and modding purposes, but recommend playing the new Enhanced version of Secret Ops for the most reliable experience.
How do I quit the game?
You may press the hotkey combo “Alt-X” at almost any time to activate the Quit Menu.
Who worked on the 30th Anniversary Edition?
To see all the community and team members who contributed, please check out in the “30th_Anniversary_Edition_Credits” in the Extras folder. The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition.
My game is having stability issues, what can I do?
We do apologize if the game is unstable on your system. Please report any instability you encounter and this will help in our ongoing efforts.
Are there any other Known Issues:
On certain hardware configurations, we have noticed when going into Autopilot the camera does not shift to the wide view. This is a cosmetic issue only, but still bummer for the player experience. If you happen to run into this issue and feel comfortable, please share any hardware info to help us track it down.
Certain Joysticks which do not utilize DirectInput are not compatible with the game.
Unfortunately, we noticed an issue just prior to launch where the subtitles were not appearing on the Master and Upscaled videos. We will let the community know if we are able to resolve this.
The day before launch we discovered a blocking issue on the Hrissith H5 mission. The message “Your carrier was lost.” appears instantly after starting the mission (which means an immediate failure). This is obviously a serious issue, and we will let the community know when we are able to resolve this.