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Privateer Remake Complete

flyboy writes "In a similar vein to the remakes of the Origin's Ultima series games reported in 2001 and 2004 a group of Wing Commander fans has remade Wing Commander: Privateer. Unlike the Ultima remakes, the Privateer remake is finished at version 1.0 with 3d graphics and the whole storyline. For the new kids on the block, WC:Privateer was a much loved trading game similar to the more venerable Elite, which appears also to be in the process of a remake. As a linux fan I was most happy with the remake's use of GPL 3d engine software and release of Linux, Macintosh and Windows versions. See Screenshots here."

44 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Escape Velocity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks a lot like Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity series. I had a lot of fun playing those on my Macs a few years back.

    (oh, and FP ;P)

    1. Re:Escape Velocity? by moonbender · · Score: 2, Informative

      Note that Escape Velocity was released for Windows last year. I loved it on the Mac, and on Windows I even paid for it... Although IMO the final scenario (Nova) isn't anywhere near as good as the second (Override) or some of the total conversion add-ons available - probably because Nova is fairly linear. Fortunately, Override was ported to Windows, as well, and is available as a free add-on.

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    2. Re:Escape Velocity? by worst_name_ever · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Back in the day when I was just starting to write what later became Escape Velocity, I didn't have a PC, but I did see Privateer at the store and thought it sounded really cool. So, there wasn't really any direct influence, although the phenomenon of parallel evolution applies to open-ended space action/RPG hybrids just like any other game type - certain ideas are just universally fun, so you'll see them crop up repeatedly in different games. Sometimes they cross media types, as evidenced by when I first saw Firefly and said "hey, this is like EV: The Series!" ;)

      Now that I am leet enough to have both MacOS and Windows machines, I should probably download this remake and check it out. It sure looks like fun.

      mcb

      --

      In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
    3. Re:Escape Velocity? by worst_name_ever · · Score: 2, Informative

      I admit that I did play a ton of TradeWars when I was in highschool, and some of the inspiration for EV came from saying "gee, wouldn't it be cool if you could actuall see what was going on here?" so there was definitely some influence, at least in a general sense!

      --

      In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
  2. Obvious joke by RyoSaeba · · Score: 3, Funny

    Guess there's an opportunity to make money by supplying many servers to cope with /. load!
    New business plan:
    * post a privateer story on /.
    * wait for servers to melt on the load
    * come in your ship filled with additional hardware
    * PROFIT!

    --
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  3. SourceForge Screenshots by MankyD · · Score: 5, Informative

    They link to a Source Forge Gallery of screenshots. They also warn that there are spoilers in the gallery.

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    1. Re:SourceForge Screenshots by digidave · · Score: 5, Funny

      "They also warn that there are spoilers in the gallery."

      Yeah... It's only been twelve years since the original game was released. I wouldn't want to ruin everything.

      P.S. don't tell me what happened in Super Bowl XXVII. I taped it and haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

      --
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    2. Re:SourceForge Screenshots by Ubergrendle · · Score: 4, Funny

      P.S. don't tell me what happened in Super Bowl XXVII. I taped it and haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

      You'd better hurry... shelf life for Betamax is only ~ 10 years before the picture degrades.

      --
      John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
    3. Re:SourceForge Screenshots by Deusy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just because the original was released twelve years ago doesn't mean everybody played it. I know your sarcasm was an attempt to be funny but not everybody watches or plays something when it comes out, especially if they were just a youngster when it was originally released.

      What if you wanted to watch a movie that was released a decade ago? Would you be pissed if somebody gave away the twist in conversation with you just because it was that old.

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    4. Re:SourceForge Screenshots by Picass0 · · Score: 2

      I found this more interesting -
      http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/gallery/vegat rek

  4. OT but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is one of the Ultima remakes of which they speak. One of the best games ever made.

    1. Re:OT but... by halivar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exult deserves kudos. They took the best RPG ever made, and perfected it.

  5. Torrent for the game by MjDelves · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=privat eer1.0.exe

    1. Re:Torrent for the game by moonbender · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You must be new around here. ;) (Slashdot puts a space in long "words" to prevent them from messing with the layout.) Linkfied.

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    2. Re:Torrent for the game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or, you know, rather than linking to the download pages already given in the story, we could link to the torrent files themselves:

      Windows
      Mac
      Linux

  6. TASTE RIGHTEOUS FIRE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Die by the very weapons you adore!

  7. Re: Here's downloads on mirrors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just download it and try it yourself :)

    Privateer for Windows:
    http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wcuni verse/priv ateer1.0.exe?download

    Privateer for Linux:
    http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wcunive rse/priv ateer1.0.bz2.run?download

    Privateer for OSX:
    http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wcunivers e/priv ateer1.0.dmg?download

  8. Did you have... by cnelzie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...the proper 3D Drivers installed for your video card or is the Linux version of the game just that sloppy?

    I have noticed that I tend to get better FPS and smoother performance with same version releases of commercial Windows and Linux games, like Quake 3, when running Linux as opposed to running Windows.

    --
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  9. Re:This site has siezed being. It has gone ... by Psiren · · Score: 2, Informative

    [My english is better than most other people's german, so please point out mistakes politely. Thank you.]

    You probably meant ceased, not seized. Seized is when you grab hold of something. Ceased is when something ceases to be. Hope that's polite enough :)

  10. Actually... by WWWWolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...there have been "finished" Ultima remakes. two complete Ultima IV remakes for Neverwinter Nights, even. Ultima III was remade for Game Boy Color. And Akalabeth has been known to be remade by programmers on their lunch hours. That's not to even count engine remake projects like exult or xu4...

    Of course, uncompleted ones vastly outnumber the completed ones =)

  11. Re:This site has siezed being. It has gone ... by bobintetley · · Score: 3, Informative

    MirrorDot as usual.

  12. Re:I've tried all 3 by mahdi13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As the last poster said, are you using good 3d drivers for your card or are you on an ATI and using the kernels DRI drivers??

    I've been playing the pre-1.0 release on Linux and have not seen what you described at all.

    --
    "Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
  13. BitTorrent Download Links by doublem · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bittorrent for the Windows Version

    Bittoreent for Linux Version

    Bittorent for MAC Version

    Use the torrent, and make MY download faster! MWHAHAHAHAHA!

    --
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  14. Re:One thing I didn't like by acidrain69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The STORY was linear, but you were free to move around. There wasn't much to do other than trading though.

    It is pretty much a graphical version of the old BBS door, tradewars. Except single play. And non-ASCII.

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  15. Re:Remake Crusader by Jainith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remake the Crusader games....

    quite possibly 2 of the best games ever.

    Jainith

  16. copyright? by Ubergrendle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder how the current owners of Origin Systems Inc, or Chris Roberts, feel about this open source work.

    Personally I would feel honoured and accept the compliment that my work is being resurrected ~10 years hence for people to enjoy, but I can't speak for them. How is this handled in the open source community?

    --
    John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
    1. Re:copyright? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2, Informative

      Depends, they might get around it by requiring the orignal game to play. I've seen that more than once, people reimplement the engine, and what data that needs updating (like 3D graphics) but all other data is left orignal and thus you have to have the game. Doomsday, a Doom engine, is this way. You can override most included content with your own so you can add new music, 3d models for enemies, etc, but to play the oringal game you still need the orignal WADs.

      Not sure in this case since their server is suffering from /. burnination, but that's one way to go. Also developers some times release their projects into the public domain, though that is quite rare.

    2. Re:copyright? by snuf23 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's kind of hard to say. Seeing as Richard Garriot is no longer with Origin and has lost the rights to the franchise (Ultima) to Electronic Arts, he probably would be honored at this point.
      Especially seeing as how EA has all but killed off Ultima, first by exerting pressure to change the game style (see Ultima 8's arcade jumping) and then rushing an unfinished Ultima to release (Ultima 9). Lastly, the one remaining Ultima product is Ultima Online which has seen two seperate updated versions killed as well.
      Go EA!

      --
      Sometimes my arms bend back.
  17. Re:Vega Strike.... by Deusy · · Score: 3, Informative

    It is a Vega Strike mod, hence the link to VS (as the GPL engine) in the /. article.

    What the article doesn't really mention is that the Privateer Remake development crew is mostly Vega Strike developers. I believe Privateer is one of the games that inspires the VS developers, although VS itself is a very different game universe. Once the VS engine was in a position to make a Privateer Remake possible then they poured a lot of effort into making it.

    I look forward to future releases that should continue to improve upon the graphics 'ported' from the original Privateer and bring the remake further up to date.

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    Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary

  18. Re:great by Baal+Sebub · · Score: 2, Funny
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  19. Re:great by porter235 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Check out UFO2000, a multiplayer xcom game that will run on linux! As well, you could always play the original using dosbox.

  20. Re:Vega Strike.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Indeed VS was born AS a Priv remake, then it was decided that it should stand alone and the Priv remake ocntinued as a side project.

    (yeah, I helped)

  21. Re:One thing I didn't like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes, there is a new plot. Basically this is Privateer + Righteous Fire + an addon which was never released -- think Wing Commander/Secret Missions/Secret Missions 2.

    Also, we will expand Priv to work with the whole Wing Commander Universe.

  22. Urkh by offline · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I hate to say it, but other than a bit of glitz in the combat (The shields look about like they did for WC3, which is a step up on Privateer, at least) this game looks like crap.

    I'm not sure how they can characterize this as 1.0, all things considered. I mean, I get graphics corruption just on the launch screen, not to mention the apparent non-function of the game start menu (is there one? I didn't see one, I just randomly hit keys after the last loaded image until something happened)

    I loved the original game, and I suspect that if this one were cleaned up a bit, it'd be as good, but right now it's fricken 'orrible.

    --

    C
    --
    Democracy would work just fine if people weren't so goddamned stupid.

  23. Re:Drool! by Txiasaeia · · Score: 2, Informative

    Righteous Fire. Very interesting expansion pack, but bloody difficult IIRC.

    --
    Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
  24. As one of the original programmers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd have to say I'm honored.

  25. Re:Privateer remake complete? by Txiasaeia · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Get the Evolutions mod then - more ships, more weapons, the addition of different types of equipment (can't remember off-hand but they help with shield recharging, weapons recharging, heck, even additional armour!) and - the best part - heavier ships move *slower*! It takes longer to move a cargo train around than it does a little fighter. Amazing!

    --
    Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
  26. Re:I've tried all 3 by darilon · · Score: 2, Informative

    Almost guaranteed you have the default DRI drivers from your distribution running. These are fine for 2D but use software rendering for 3D. In order to unleash the 3D hardware power, you need to download and install the proprietary linux drivers from ATI's web site. I have had mixed results with these drivers in the past. Some times they install and work fine and other times they do... strange things and I have to start over again. Read the directions carefully and follow them. Then draw pentagrams and burn tallow candles and mutter latin incantations and hope for the best.

    I have them running fine on this box. The only problem I have now is that they refuse to work with the Doom3 Linux native binary (sigh).

  27. Re:I wonder if it has... by Politburo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I even managed to lose at tic-tac-toe

    That's because the only winning move is not to play.

  28. Re:Privateer remake complete? by Sj0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or...you could...I dunno....try this Open Source remake of privateer....seeing as it's here and all. :P /me shrugs

    I dunno.

    --
    It's been a long time.
  29. Re:copyright? - New revenue from old game by evought · · Score: 2, Informative

    They do, in fact, require the original game to play the remake. The original game provides all of the data files (ship stats, plotlines, etc.). The remake just provides a modern engine to run it.

    To my knowledge, it cannot violate copyright because they do not copy anything; they extend. If anything, the existence of the remake provides a revenue stream for a 12 year-old game that does not run anymore on most PCs. The 'classic' compilations of many of these old games can still be bought in many game stores. All a game producer needs to do to cash in is press a few CDs of the original game with no new development costs. Can't argue with that.

    What games like this do sometimes run afoul of is *trademark*. By using 'Wing Commander: Privateer" in the game materials, they could arguably violate the original trademark, but 1) there is a world of difference in saying "this game *is* Privateer", and this game is "an add-on for Privateer, which, btw is a registered trademark of ...". There is no way to market an add-on product without referencing the original trademark and this is usually considered fair game (think about an application for Microsoft Windows(tm)). 2) EA (or whoever currently owns the rights) would be insane to not grant the remake a license to use the trademark since they are making money off of it.

    Notwithstanding, both law and corporations have been known to be irrational.

  30. This is a mod to the Vega Strike Project by ducomputergeek · · Score: 2, Informative
    This game is actually a Mod based around the http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/ Vegastrike game engine. Vega Strike is completely opensource creation of a Privateer like game. The graphics engine is actually quite advance even if some of its other features are still lagging behind.

    --
    "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  31. Re:Settings? by graysonburrows · · Score: 2, Informative

    Leave the defaults--they're proper for your computer unless you're advanced enough to understand them. The defaults are carefully tested. also the manual gives detailed descriptions if it goes slow, lower the rez and the detail level

  32. That's no big deal by mlylecarlin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Pssh. This is no big deal. Did you hear some guys remade Tetris?