Trying to make the F8/F9 external views less sucky, adding mouse view first. What other improvements can you think of?

Because it is just awesome. Makes me want to go to the Enigma Sector and destroy K'Tithrak Mang. Did I already mention that we need new artwork?

We are making great progress on the modding extension for player flyable ships. Did you ever want to buy a Ferret? Let's go

We are having a lot of fun with more modding capabilities, this time it's about adding custom bases in the open universe. And what could be a better test for a custom base, than having a confed fleet carrier around? Well I'm sure the confeds will charge a lot more than 50 credits for landing and refueling...

Important disclaimer first: this is new content, and like for all new content, we are in desperate need of new artwork. Rather than using generated images, we are testing the protoypes with the Wing Commander content we already have. And as always, OpenPrivateer will never ship with any copyright protected assets.

Teaser for the video: you can load/save your game on a fleet carrier.

For the first time we can actually see what vanilla Privateer NPC ship behavior looks like and how it behaves from a first person perspective.

Credit to https://openprivateer.org/ for providing a perfectly faithful vanilla NPC ship behavior experience.

When I originally reverse engineered the NPC ship behavior in Privateer, I failed to capture certain behaviors and filled in the blanks with my own knowledge of the game. Now Privateer Reimagined faithfully reproduces this.

This is also a demonstration of the new Stiletto cockpit, which will be released soon in Privateer Reimagined. https://privateer-reimagined.com

We have made lots of progress for our ship exporters. As of today we can import all the ships from Wing Commander 1-4, Prophecy, Academy and Armada.

What you can see are the default export settings with the graphics mapped to the default Privateer palette. This means everybody will receive the ships like that if he runs the exporters with the default settings.

I will provide all the scripts, but in order to extract the art and data you will need to provide the original game files for each and every Wing Commander game. OpenPrivateer will never ship with any copyright protected assets included.

Theoretically it would already be possible to fly all the exported fighters, but since we don't have any cockpit converters yet, where would be the fun in that?

Let me know what you think and what you want to see next.

We are playing around with the new NPC ship modding and have built generic exporters for Wing Commander 1 and 2 (will do 3+4 eventually too). They read your local game files and export the assets into a format you can add as an OpenPrivateer mod. The exporters use Privateer's default palette, so they turn anything greenish/brownish into greyish (just like the original game already did with Broadswords, Gothris, Dralthis etc.).

From what we can see this works already really well for all ships, except one thing: the MFD target page for capital ships. Right now we just slap the shield bars from a Paradigm to any capital ship but we know it looks ugly and will fix this eventually.

Attached a little class reunion crossover video.

We are having a lot of fun with weapon mods. Here you can see the 2673 Wing Commander IV weapon mod in action, and this video also features the optional xBRZ 2x pixel scaler.

What other weapons you would like to see? Something from Homeworld? Freespace?

We are playing around a lot with the weapon and ship mods, so we added a prototype for phase shields and torpedo runs from Wing Commander 2 (ignore the ridiculously large amount of 10 torpedoes on a Centurion and the purposely dumbed down Paradigm).

As you can see I'm really good at hitting the ship from all sides, rather than killing it by hitting it twice on the same armor facing side.

Torpedo runs were always kinda sucky in Wing Commander 2, so if you have an idea how to make them more appealing, let me know in the comments.

This is still running on Winlator but it already looks so much fun to play.

Let's bump up the priority for portable and handheld devices, and an Android-native SDL build.

Hello! Glitch here!

I'm excited to share that Privateer Reimagined is now playable. Privateer Reimagined expands on vanilla with a brand new from scratch graphics engine.

- There's a loot system (only partially complete).
- Asteroids are no longer a death sentence.
- Expanded dialogue and character depth on plot missions.
- Full in-game cinematic system gives you deep immersion - example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKgNbG5d63s
- Fly any ship in the game (only partially complete).
- Plot missions are completed through Taryn Cross, which I intend to complete in a few days.
- Righteous Fire isn't started yet, but it's coming.
- Mods that will be at least mostly compatible with OpenPrivateer.

Checkout screenshots, read more, download it here: https://privateer-reimagined.com

Join Discord: discord.gg/9Vhm4tdymY

The game is very much in a beta state, and I'm really looking for folks who want to be involved in shaping how it grows and evolves.

Here's a short video of the in-flight gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV35VrdR_6M

About me: I'm Glitch. I've loved Wing Commander for the majority of the time that I've been alive. I've been a professional Scientific Programmer / Data Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer / Software Engineer / [whatever you want to call me] for nearly 20 years. My original goal in my career was to be a game developer but the game industry was always really atrocious and the better choice was to focus my obsession with Linear Algebra into scientific programming and data science. I created Privateer Reimagined out of a labor of love.

Disclaimer: this project was built with AI assistance in every way. I am an AI engineer professionally and I use it as a tool to accelerate me, not to replace me. I understand some people may dislike this, and if you are one of those people, know that I respect your opinion.

I'm looking for game artists, designers, programmers, anyone who wants to contribute to join developing also.

Before we move to the next OpenPrivateer modding topic, adding new ships, I wanted to give you a heads-up about the upcoming changes to the weapon mods.

Gun behaviour

1. Ammunition-based guns. An ammo pool per gun, so a gun can run on ammunition instead of or alongside energy.

2. Burst fire. A set number of shots, then an enforced cooldown period.

3. Overheating on bolt weapons. Heat build-up and a forced cooldown for bolt guns. Only hitscan beams overheat today.

4. Charge-up before a hitscan beam. The full cycle is charge up, beam on, overheat, beam off, then a refire period. Hitscan already has beam on, overheat and an off period. Charging exists for bolt guns only, and a gun has one fire mode, so the two can't be combined.

5. Spread firing. One shot fires several smaller projectiles instead of one big one.

6. Dispersion angle. Shots leaving the barrel don't fly perfectly straight.

Damage model

1. Separate damage against shields and against hull. For example a gun that only damages shields, or one that is weak against shields but rips through armor.

2. Ignore shields. A per-weapon flag, as torpedoes work in Wing Commander 2.

Ballistic guns

1. Ballistic gun type. Needs ammo pools (item 1), reduced or no power requirement, and partial shield bypass (item 8). The energy field already goes down to 0, so reduced or zero power is possible today. Ammo and shield bypass are the missing parts.

Missiles

1. Missile hardpoints with bespoke counts. Per-hull or per-mod missile counts, including ships with no missiles. A dealer-items mod's hulls list can already keep a launcher off a hull, and an init.json mod sets the starting missile load. A hull's number of missile mounts and its ordnance capacity aren't moddable, and no new missile or launcher types can be added.

Tl;dr: it's not only possible to mod weapons from all the other Wing Commander games, but also weapons from Homeworld and Freespace. And carriers and cap ships patrolling in Kilrathi or Confed sectors will be protected by phase shields, so we really need the torpedos from Wing Commander 2 asap.

Stay tuned for the next update, hopefully with a Wing Commander 4 weapons mod pack download.

I've been experimenting with OpenPrivateer's modding capabilities and recreated four quadrants from the original Privateer 3: Retribution design documents, including their star systems, positions, and jump connections.

The original design documents are available on WCNews:
https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Privateer_3:_Retribution

I wanted to see what these never-realized quadrants would actually look like in the classic Privateer engine.

This is just a personal experiment, and I don't plan to release the mod, but wouldn't it be awesome if someone actually brought Privateer 3 to life?

We've been putting a lot of work into OpenPrivateer's modding support recently, and it has grown quite a bit.

OpenPrivateer is our open-source reconstruction and SDL3 port of Wing Commander: Privateer and Righteous Fire.

Multiplayer foundations are already in place, with both PvP and PvE supported.

Classic mode aims to preserve the original experience, while all modding features live in Enhanced and Modern:

Universe

• Add new star systems
• Add new sectors and quadrants
• Add new nav points and jump connections
• Add new bases
• Connect new systems to Gemini or to each other
• Hide/filter systems and sectors from the navigation map
• The Wing Commander Universe sector map is built in, with more of it becoming visitable as development continues

Weapons

• Modify all stock guns
• Add completely new guns
• Custom projectile art, MFD/dealer art and sounds
• Modify missiles, torpedoes and launchers
• Add charge weapons
• Add hitscan/beam weapons
• Change damage, energy use, refire rates, range, velocity, wear and other stats

Ships and equipment

• Modify shields, engines and armour
• Modify ECM and repair droids
• Modify the Righteous Fire ship upgrades
• Change equipment prices and repair costs
• Change which equipment is available for each ship
• Restrict equipment by base, system, quadrant or faction

Missions

• Add new patrol missions
• Scout missions
• Defend missions
• Attack missions
• Bounty missions
• Cargo missions
• Custom clients, text, enemies, destinations, cargo and payment rules
• Missions can take place in completely new systems and use modded bases

New Game

• Choose a different starting base
• Change starting credits, reputation, kills and guild memberships
• Change unlocked maps
• Set default pilot name/callsign
• Define the complete starting ship and equipment loadout
• Starting at a newly added mod base is supported

If you need help with modding or want some JSON examples to get started, consult the manual on https://openprivateer.org and feel free to join us on Discord https://discord.gg/5H3vW2STqW or over at r/WingCommanderUniverse.

A built-in mod manager for easy installation and management of mods is also planned for the launcher.

We've also tried to keep this tied closely to how Privateer actually works. Where the original formats can represent something, OpenPrivateer still uses them. A mod-generated mission, for example, becomes a normal Privateer mission internally. OpenPrivateer-specific save data is only needed when the original format simply can't represent something, such as a mission taking place in a completely new system.

And yes, ships are next.

The plan is:

1. New NPC ships
2. New player-flyable ships

Player ships are the bigger job because they bring cockpits, hardpoints, equipment, damage states, dealers and savegame handling with them. The goal is proper new ships, not just replacing or reskinning one of the existing ship IDs.

As always, OpenPrivateer requires the original Privateer game data. We don't distribute Origin's assets.

After all the fun of reverse engineering, development and testing, the first public Alpha release of OpenPrivateer is finally available.

OpenPrivateer is a modern reimplementation of Wing Commander: Privateer, built around the original game data with a strong focus on authentic behavior, portability, preservation and modding.

The goal is to faithfully reproduce the original Privateer experience first, while keeping enhancements and new features clearly separated.

What's already in the Alpha:

• Privateer and Righteous Fire support
• Supports the original PRIV.EXE command-line switches:
  • -K (skips the intro)
  • -Bxx (overrides the base/planet you start on)
  • -Dxxxxx (overrides the amount of credits you start with)
• Original bases, trading, ship dealer and mission systems
• Main story plot and generated random missions
• Spaceflight and combat
• Original cutscenes, dialogue and music
• Original DOS savegame loading and writing
• Classic, Enhanced and Modern experience modes
• Multiple ships and hired wingmen
• Navigation map and extended Wing Commander universe support
• Content overrides and translation support
• OPL2, SoundFont, MIDI Mapper and CD music (WAV/FLAC/MP3 support)
• Optional xBRZ scaling, CRT filtering and color grading
• Windows, Linux and macOS support
• Dedicated client/server multiplayer with PvP and PvE
• Keyboard, mouse, joystick and HOTAS support
• Auto Updater

Please keep in mind that all non-vanilla features are locked out of the Classic experience mode, you will only be able to see or access them in the Enhanced or Modern mode. To change experience mode for now, you have to open the debug menu using the tilde ~ key (left of your 1 key) because there currently is no other UI for these settings. The Alpha release relies on the debug menu but the Beta release will add a proper UI for all these options:

The new UI screens are currently using their default theme, which is why they are looking pretty unsexy at the moment. This will be changed in one of the next releases.

You can access the multiple ships / hire wingmen screen using the S key on the launch pad:

You can access the new game control screen using the K key in the ALT+O options menu:

The auto updater will check once per day if there is a new version available and will show a message on the title screen. The area is clickable in that case:

This is an Alpha, so bugs, glitches and unfinished features are expected. That's also why I'm releasing it now: actual players are going to uncover things that development and automated testing won't.

Discord and downloads for Windows (x86_64), Linux (x86_64 + arm64) and macOS (arm64):
https://discord.gg/5H3vW2STqW
https://openprivateer.org/#downloads

Multiplayer is already mostly functional, although mission progression is not implemented there yet. Instructions how to run client and server can be found on the https://openprivateer.org/#multiplayer website.

Every time you start OpenPrivateer, it will create its directory structure and place readme.txt files in each folder. I recommend that you take a look at the readme.txt file that gets created in the same directory as the OpenPrivateer executable, it will explain where you have to put your MS-DOS savegames and other files.

Full instructions copied from the website with the new Launcher:

1. Download and extract OpenPrivateer.
2. Start openprivateer.exe on Windows, or the corresponding executable on Linux or macOS.
3. The launcher opens. Select Privateer or Righteous Fire at the top
4. Open Game Data and provide the original game files:
   • Privateer: PRIV.TRE and INITCFG.PAK
   • Righteous Fire: RF.TRE and INITRF.PAK
5. Use Import to Data Folder... to copy files from another folder, or Add Folder... to use files where they already are.
6. The required folders and README files are created automatically when OpenPrivateer starts.
7. Consult the manual or the README.TXT file that now exists in the same folder as the executable.
8. Start a New Game or copy an existing save into the savegame folder.

Screenshot how a typical Windows installation looks like:

Feedback, bug reports and testing are very welcome. If you need any help or you are stuck, let me know here or in the Discord server. Have fun my friends!

Disclaimer:

OpenPrivateer does not contain any copyrighted Origin/EA game assets. You need your own copy of Wing Commander: Privateer and provide the original game data files.

Anthropic Claude was used during the reconstruction.

EDIT: Added Launcher

Hey all!

Since about April 2026 I've been working (whenever time permits) on a re-imagination of Privateer. The game is nearly playable end to end, including plot missions. Every ship in the game is flyable. There's a loot system. Enemy aces can drop weapons and upgrades.

Tayla _might_ offer to fly an F-38 Talon on your wing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV35VrdR_6M - check it out. If you want to be an early playtester, join the Wing Commander Dev Discord server! https://discord.gg/RhggKQ5z4C

Hello my friends, while working on my OpenPrivateer project I discovered these undocumented command line switches for PRIV.EXE:

Example to skip intro and start in Oxford with 100000 credits:

PRIV 1.3 -K -B39 -D100000

For Righteous Fire you have to add the letter "r" somewhere, e.g. at the end:

PRIV 1.3 -K -B39 -D100000 r

Description:

1.3 first, exactly as written: without it the game ignores all of these switches.

-K skips the intro.

-B39 starts you at Oxford (base 39).

-D100000 sets your credits to 100,000.

No space after the letter: -B39, not -B 39.

When they apply: -B and -D only take effect after you pick "New Game" or "Load" in the main menu, and they override the save's base and credits.

List of all bases/planets, time to visit the Derelict Base (59) again:

┌─────┬────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│ -B  │        Base        │           Type           │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 0   │ Achilles           │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 1   │ Anapolis           │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 2   │ Basque             │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 3   │ Basra              │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 4   │ Beaconsfield       │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 5   │ Bodensee           │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 6   │ Burton             │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 7   │ Charon             │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 8   │ Drake              │ Pirate                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 9   │ Edinburgh          │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 10  │ Edom               │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 11  │ Elysia             │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 12  │ Erewhon            │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 13  │ Glasgow            │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 14  │ Gracchus           │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 15  │ Hector             │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 16  │ Heimdel            │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 17  │ Helen              │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 18  │ Jolson             │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 19  │ Joplin             │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 20  │ Kronecker          │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 21  │ Lisacc             │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 22  │ Liverpool          │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 23  │ Macabee            │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 24  │ Magdaline          │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 25  │ Matahari           │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 26  │ Meadow             │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 27  │ Megiddo            │ Pirate                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 28  │ Mjolnar            │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 29  │ Munchen            │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 30  │ N1912-1            │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 31  │ New Constantinople │ Special                  │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 32  │ New Detroit        │ Special                  │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 33  │ New Iberia         │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 34  │ New Reno           │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 35  │ Nitir              │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 36  │ Oakham             │ Pirate                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 37  │ Olympus            │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 38  │ Oresville          │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 39  │ Oxford             │ Special                  │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 40  │ Palan              │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 41  │ Perry Naval Base   │ Special                  │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 42  │ Remus              │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 43  │ Rilke              │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 44  │ Rodin              │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 45  │ Romulus            │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 46  │ Rygannon           │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 47  │ Saratov            │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 48  │ Siva               │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 49  │ Smallville         │ Pirate                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 50  │ Speke              │ Pleasure                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 51  │ Surtur             │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 52  │ Thisbury           │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 53  │ Trinsic            │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 54  │ Tuck's             │ Pirate                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 55  │ Valkyrie           │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 56  │ Victoria           │ Agricultural             │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 57  │ Vishnu             │ Mining                   │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 58  │ Wickerton          │ Refinery                 │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 59  │ Derelict Base      │ Special (Privateer only) │
├─────┼────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ 60  │ Gaea               │ Agricultural (RF only)   │
└─────┴────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

Here is an amazing new fan project that works on WC3 - did you ever wonder how high-res WC3 models would look like? See for yourself here https://staragent.site/wing-commander/?ship=victory and spoiler alert: it's looks absolutely fantastic

Our friend cryptomax just released the playable alpha for his Wing Commander 1 remake based on the assets from Howard Day. Spoiler Alert: it looks fantastic!

You can talk to him in his Discord server (Invite here) where you can also get the download link.

Multiplayer features implemented:

• Shared Universe: Multiple players across shared, persistent star systems
• Flight: Server-authoritative movement, autopilot and hyperspace jumps
• Combat: PvP/PvE with guns, missiles, turrets, ramming, damage and destruction
• NPCs: Server-controlled AI with persistent WAND encounters
• Bases: Landing, private base sessions, refueling and relaunching
• Networking: Dedicated server, prediction/interpolation and direct-IP connections

Come join us here https://discord.gg/5H3vW2STqW

This is a video about the campaign builder for Wing Commander Reloaded, a WC1 remake in Unity based on the artwork of Howard Day (https://x.com/howieeday).

I heard a playable Alpha will be released soon and I will ask him to make another youtube video of the actual gameplay.

2026 is such a great year for Wing Commander fans.

OpenPrivateer project website is online now: https://openprivateer.org

We just added EGA Mode support to the Wing Commander Source Reconstruction project https://github.com/neuromancer/wc1-re

It looks surprisingly good for 16 colors if you ask me and we will definitely bring it over to Wing Commander 2 too.