Hi everyone, thank you for being part of the Wing Commander community.
This restored Wing Commander IV: 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, 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 extras?
The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition.
Does the game have controller support?
Yes! The Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition has controller support thanks to the community Enhancement Patch. However, controllers may require additional activation in-game.
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 IV: 30th Anniversary Edition.
Default control schemes have been mapped for the following controller families:
Xbox Series X/S
Xbox One
Xbox 360
PlayStation DualSense
PlayStation DualShock
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 “Computer Terminals” on the TCS Victory. Within, select Duty Logs to save or load your game. However, the game does feature Cloud Saves to ensure save progress can be continued between devices.
Does the game work on Steam Deck?
The “Enhanced” version of the game should load and run on the Steam Deck.
However, we need to highlight a few items on the Steam Deck:
The Full-motion Videos are taking several seconds to “start playing”, which can result in some mis-timed videos during in-flight comms or back-to-back full screen cinematics.
We unfortunately had to remove our default “Official” Steam Input configuration for a technical issue just days before launch. This means the Controller Setup instructions in the embedded Extras folder are incorrect with regards to the Steam Deck input configuration. We will let the community know if we are able to resolve this.
In the meantime, if you establish your own Steam Deck configuration, 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 Callsign Name and Save / Load menu.
What is the difference between the multiple launch versions of the game?
The 30th Anniversary Edition includes two different versions of the game. You can read more about each version’s history and journey here.
On Steam and the EA App, there are two primary launch options for the game.
“WCIV Enhanced” is an upgraded version of the 1997 / 1998 DVD edition of the game. The community Enhancement Patch provides features like 60 FPS gameplay, the higher resolution FMVs, advanced levels of detail, improved controller / joystick support and more.
The “DVD Edition” is the 1997 / 1998 version of the game, and is essentially what has been available digitally over the past decade. This version may be difficult to run properly on modern hardware configurations, and is primarily included for historical and modding purposes.
On GOG the “DVD Edition” 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 FMV quality options.
What is the difference between the various FMV 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 FMVs Source” are the cinematics as captured from the Master tapes and exported to play fullscreen on a modern 16:9 monitor.
The “Master FMVs Upscaled” 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 “DVD” FMVs are the original videos as shipped with the DVD version of the game in 1997 / 1998.
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 Wing Commander IV: 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 calibrate my Joystick, Mouse, or Controller?
The 30th Anniversary Edition includes a powerful input configuration tool provided by the Enhancement Patch.
Before diving into this tool, we recommend reviewing the “Controller_Setup_and_Mappings” and/or “Joystick_Setup_and_Mappings” PDFs in the Extras folder.
The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition.
To access the configuration tool, press the hotkey “Alt-J” while on the capital ship or during flight. Alternatively, you can also access the tool by pressing the “Calibrate” button from the Options Menu during flight. Press “Alt-O” during flight to access the Options menu.
The Input configuration tool should detect most Joysticks, Controllers, and Mouse hardware. Start by selecting the Joystick or Mouse tab at the top of the tool, depending on which device you want to configure. For the purposes of the configuration tool, controllers are considered “Joysticks”.
The second row of tabs will determine which portion of the game you are configuring.
The “Space” tab will configure controls during space flight
The “GUI” tab will configure controls during menus or on the TCS Victory
The “Nav” tab will configure controls within the Nav Map
The “Remap” tabs allow you to set controls based on modifier buttons
The benefit of these tabs is allowing you to map the same device input to different actions depending on where you are in the game.
To configure an action, press or activate the device input (such as pushing a button moving the joystick). If your hardware is compatible with the game, the tool should reflect which input is being pressed. You can then assign a game action to that input from the nearby dropdown list.
On Buttons and Switches, at the bottom of the dropdown list is an option called “Remap 1, 2, or 3”. Selecting this action will make that input a hold-modifier for other commands in the respective Remap tab.
For example, let’s say that Left Trigger in your default “Space tab” is set to Afterburner. Then in your default “Space tab” you set the Right Bumper to Remap 1. You may then go to the “Remap 1 tab” and set Left Trigger to something different, like Fire Missile. This means that when you use Left Trigger by itself, it will simply Afterburner. But when you hold the Right Bumper and pull Left Trigger, it will Fire Missile instead. In this example on the “Remap 1 tab”, you could set every button on the device to trigger something different if holding Right Bumper, opening up a wide range of combinations.
If you would like to save your configuration as a shareable preset, press the “Save as Preset” button. This will ask you to input a file name. By default, the file will be saved as a .joy file in the following location of your root install directory:
…\\WC4_Enhanced\\controllers\\presets
This file will start with the unique 8 digit hardware ID, followed by the custom name you provided. If the .joy file is in the presets folder and the game detects the exact hardware as denoted by the hardware ID, it will become a viable preset in the Presets dropdown box.
Note: Default control presets have been mapped for the following controller families:
Xbox Series X/S
Xbox One
Xbox 360
PlayStation DualSense
PlayStation DualShock
Along with the following Joystick models:
Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
Logitech Attack 3
Logitech X86 (Stick only)
PXN 2113 Pro
Thrustmaster T16000M
Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X
Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X
Thrustmaster Sol R1
Turtle Beach Velocity One
Can I adjust the difficulty?
Yes, difficulty can be adjusted anytime during flight. First open the Options Menu by using the hotkey combo ALT-O, or pressing the Menu or Options button on the controller.
Difficulty levels will be available on the right side of the menu. Additionally, modifiers like Invulnerability and Disabling Collision can also be activated here. To confirm your selections, select the Save button at the bottom of the screen before exiting the menu.
What is the different missile balance and how can I adjust it?
In the original Wing Commander IV, most enemy missiles would kill you from full shields and hull in one-hit. Enemy ships and turrets would also spam these missiles at you, resulting in constant fear of losing a 20 minute run to an unavoidable missile. The community decided to rebalance this behavior for the 30th Anniversary Edition by developing a new Objects.tre file which makes some key adjustments.
After months of iteration, the best compromise was to make it so most enemies do not fire missiles, or the missiles act as dummy projectiles instead. In our opinion the result is a much more vibrant Wing Commander IV, where your ship’s health throughout the mission matters.
However, if you prefer the original missile behavior, we have provided a solution. Before proceeding, we recommend making a backup of the default Objects.tre file, which is located in the “WC4_Enhanced” folder of your root install directory.
The classic Objects.tre file is located in the Extras folder. The “Extras” folder can be found in your root install directory for the Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition.
Copy this classic Objects.tre file and override the version in the “WC4_Enhanced” folder to enable the original behavior. If you are not happy with the results, replace this with the backup of the default Objects.tre file.
How do I enable subtitles?
To enable subtitles, first access one of the Main Terminals on the capital ship. Once logged in, select “Control Parameters”. On the left side of the screen, check the “Subtitles” box. This will play subtitles for the currently selected VO language of the cinematics.
How do I quit the game?
You may press the hotkey combo “Alt-X” at almost any time to activate the Quit Menu.
How do I adjust the framerate?
To adjust the default framerate, navigate to your root install directory for the Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition. Then open the “WC4_Enhanced” folder. In the “WC4_Enhanced” folder, open “wc4w_en.ini”. Within the INI file, set the desired framerate under the following setting:
SPACE_REFRESH_RATE_HZ=60
For reference, the framerate for the original game was 24.
Save the file. Note: Adjusting INI files may result in game instability.
The game takes up more hard drive space than I was expecting, can I reduce that?
Yes you can. The vast majority of the installation size is due to the multiple versions of FMVs offered in the game. If you are not interested in playing with a certain FMV set, you are welcome to delete those files from your local install to save hard drive space.
Warning: Deleting these files may cause instability when attempting to play with that launch option of the game.
To find the FMV sets, do the following:
Navigate to the root install directory for Wing Commander IV: 30th Anniversary Edition
Open the “WC4_Enhanced” folder
See the “Master_FMVs_Source” and “Master_FMVs_Upscaled” and “vob” folders
Each of these folders contain the respective FMV files for that launch option of the game (“vob” is for the DVD FMVs of the Enhanced version)
For example, if you are only interested in playing with the “Upscaled” FMVs, you are welcome to delete the contents of the “Master_FMVs_Source” and “vob” folder.
Note: Regaining these files may require a reinstall of the game, or may automatically download again after an update.
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 IV: 30th Anniversary Edition.
My game keeps crashing, 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:
When attempting to quit the game straight from spaceflight, sometimes the game will freeze and refuse to quit. If this happens, press “Alt-Tab” to minimize the game and then manually shut down the game from the respective digital platform. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
When playing the German versions of the videos, the opening logo sequence is using the wrong background audio. The audio for the rest of the intro sequence should be fine. We will let the community know if we are able to resolve this.
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