RELEASE - Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius

[Jeff Vader]

Download the Blue Planet Patch behind the Useful Stuff link on my signature, extract to your blueplanet folder and try again.

Oh, and on the folders and such. If you look your root freespace directory, you'll notice a data folder. If you open it, it'll show you just what kind of folders there can be inside a data folder. In the same manner, you can create data folders in your mod folders, and subfolders like \maps, \models, \tables and such. If you get update files like .pof, .dds or .tbl, you need to create the data folder in the mod folder, along with the subfolders, then place the files into the correct folders. But, if the extra files are in .vps, you'll only need to place that vp file into the appropriate mod folder, like blueplanet on this case.

You might understand this whole shebang if you acquire a vp viewer, like QuickVP, and started studying the vp files. That enlightened at least me. Very much.

[Stealthbreed]

<- for Stealthbreed .

And about those crashes , I found out how to avoid them . You have to have the mv_core.vp in your mediavps folder . I had the 3D ship selection turned on too . That way it doesn't crash .

Basically , all people need for Blue Planet to work 100% is to have ALL of the newest mediavps .

First off, thanks.

I had the same problem, which was fixed by using 3D ship selection.  However, I still can't get into weapons selection.

Before I turned on 3D ship selection, the screen would go dark upon hitting either ship selection or weapons selection, and then FSO would crash.  Now, I can get into ship selection fine, but if I go into weapons selection, I can see the ship/weapons for just a moment and then the screen goes dark and FSO crashes.

[Objekt]

Download the Blue Planet Patch behind the Useful Stuff link on my signature, extract to your blueplanet folder and try again.

Oh, and on the folders and such. If you look your root freespace directory, you'll notice a data folder. If you open it, it'll show you just what kind of folders there can be inside a data folder. In the same manner, you can create data folders in your mod folders, and subfolders like \maps, \models, \tables and such. If you get update files like .pof, .dds or .tbl, you need to create the data folder in the mod folder, along with the subfolders, then place the files into the correct folders. But, if the extra files are in .vps, you'll only need to place that vp file into the appropriate mod folder, like blueplanet on this case.

You might understand this whole shebang if you acquire a vp viewer, like QuickVP, and started studying the vp files. That enlightened at least me. Very much.

Thanks for the clarification.  I did install a .vp viewer/unpacker (VPVIEW32) and it was indeed enlightening.

I also installed the patch you linked to, but blueplanet is still broken.  I'm still having this error:

Error: Can't open model file <none>
File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 1902
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it possible I have another .vp somewhere causing problems?  Here are all the .vps in the root of my freespace2 directory:

[Herra Tohtori]

Copy the ships.tbl to ../Freespace2/BluePlanet/data/tables/  and the mission file into ../Freespace2/BluePlanet/data/missions/

That'll make them to override the same named files in blue planet VP file.

What are you talking about?  All I have is a file called "2bppatch.vp".  It is not an archive I can open to get individual files, at least not one recognized by 7zip.

I was referring to this post and it's attachements, which were the ships.tbl and the mission file I mentioned. Soon after that message, MarsNeedsWomen wrote this:

May I ask how to install the two fixes you provided?

To which I answered with the message you quoted (more than a month ago, may I add )I do believe they should be in the patches, although I'm not certain. At any rate, IIRC that post I wrote before Darius put the patch(es) up and at the time the manual fixing was pretty much the only alternative.


...Looking at your root folder, there doesn't seem to be too much that doesn't belong there... I would likely put the two first multi*.vp's to mediaVP folder, though.

[Cobra]

Um. Objekt? Why do you have your .vp's set to open in NotePad?

[Objekt]

I've tried the suggested fixes but they don't.  Apparently, SCP is not using the fixes files in the patch .vp files.  I suppose I could extract and place the files individually with VPVIEW32, but that's a pain in the butt and a last resort.  Also, I don't think it would work, since it didn't work to fix the 9th mission in Derelict SCP.

.vps were temporarily associated with Notepad because I opened one of them in it to see whether there was anything human readable (there wasn't).  They now have the correct association (VPVIEW32).

[Jeff Vader]

Hmm. Just curious. What are Launcher.exe.ver55 and the likes, that have text after the file extention? Are those even supposed to be there? I've never seen them before.

[Stealthbreed]

Okay, now I'm at the mission

Spoiler:

after the dream of Eriana and your mother dying, so I have a normal GTVA bomber, the Boanerges.

But when I go into weapon select, my game still crashes.  What's going on?

[ShadowGorrath]

Listen , Stealthbreed , DOWNLOAD THE MV_CORE.VP !!! IT WILL STOP BLUE PLANET FROM CRASHING ! It has files in it , that are meant for the load-out screens . Without the mv_core.vp I couldn't select the weapon load-out on many other mods . And you MUST have the mod.ini to direct Blue Planet to the mediavps .

Mv_effects.vp is also needed if you want to have weapon fire effects .

[Objekt]

Hmm. Just curious. What are Launcher.exe.ver55 and the likes, that have text after the file extention? Are those even supposed to be there? I've never seen them before.

A while back, I had a problem with launchers.  New versions didn't work, for some reason.  So, I went through a process of trying older ones until I found one that works (5.5a).  Every version is called just "Launcher.exe" so the tags are a means of telling which one is which, and not accidentally overwriting the version I wanted to be active.

Version 5.5c seems to work, though, so I don't know what the problem was.  Go figure.

I finally got BluePlanet to work.  Very impressive!  I like the in-mission cutscenes and all-new art in most places.  The new fighters look incredible.  It must have been a hell of a lot of work.

It turns out all I needed for Blue Planet to work was a mod.ini file pointing to the proper mediavps.

[Jeff Vader]

A while back, I had a problem with launchers.  New versions didn't work, for some reason.  So, I went through a process of trying older ones until I found one that works (5.5a).  Every version is called just "Launcher.exe" so the tags are a means of telling which one is which, and not accidentally overwriting the version I wanted to be active.

Ah, yes. Silly me. I should have figured that out. But yeah, 5.5c works quite well, for me too.

It turns out all I needed for Blue Planet to work was a mod.ini file pointing to the proper mediavps.

Oh, I knew I should have asked, whether you had a mod.ini, or a proper mod.ini in there. Oh well, good that this is solved. In the future, always make sure that there's a mod.ini in every mod folder and that they point to the mediavps folder, or the mediavps and fsport, if you're playing mods meant for FSPort.

[Stealthbreed]

Listen , Stealthbreed , DOWNLOAD THE MV_CORE.VP !!! IT WILL STOP BLUE PLANET FROM CRASHING ! It has files in it , that are meant for the load-out screens . Without the mv_core.vp I couldn't select the weapon load-out on many other mods . And you MUST have the mod.ini to direct Blue Planet to the mediavps .

Mv_effects.vp is also needed if you want to have weapon fire effects .

Fixed, thank you (I had all that stuff, but there was a typo in the mod.ini file, lol).

Seems kinda strange though, cause the typo was just a comma before 'mediavps'.

w/e.  It works now.

[azile0]

where can I directly download your awsome music tracks? ( I searched.)

[Objekt]

Has anybody got any tips for the 13th mission?  Can't recall the name, but you're supposed to help one of your ships (the Duke I think) make it through the Knossos portal past two Shivan cruisers.

The problem isn't the fighters or the bombers, it's that the Duke gets its ass kicked by the Shivans' beam turrets. 

If I take the time to destroy beam turrets on one cruiser, the other gets the Duke, or it gets waxed by Shivan fighters. 

Any ideas?

[Darius]

There are a number of strategies you can use, this is one I found to be relatively trouble-free :

Spoiler:

Call in Delta wing, get them to attack one cruiser. Get Alpha and Beta wings to destroy the Maras. Once the Maras are destroyed, get Alpha and Beta to target the other cruiser. Once the cruiser is destroyed, move to the first cruiser which should have been weakened by Delta wing and destroy that. You should have time to do this before the Duke arrives. If the Duke arrives before the second cruiser is destroyed, leave your wingmen to destroy the cruiser and move to protect the Duke from Lakshmi wing, which is the next greatest threat to the cruiser.

where can I directly download your awsome music tracks? ( I searched.)

In Lobo's "Useful Stuff", linked in his signature.

[azile0]

where can I directly download your awsome music tracks? ( I searched.)

Nevermind, I got VPviewer, and popped open the music vp folder. Problem solved!

[BustRobot]

First of all, let me congratulate Darius on a truly excellent and enthralling campaign that I've played through twice now.

But onto my main thing: I've also been having trouble with the crashes during ship selection - only ship selection, weapon selection is fine - when choosing Vishnan ships, but also when trying to change from an Aurora to a different fighter in one of the earlier missions.

My main guess is that it's to do with 3D ship selection not being turned on, since I've checked through everything else and it's all installed fine. Would someone mind telling me how I go about turning it on? (Is that a stupid question?) 

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Jeff Vader]

Would someone mind telling me how I go about turning it on? (Is that a stupid question?) 

Open the Launcher.
Open the Features tab.
Select 'Gameplay' from the 'List type' drop menu.
Tick 'Use models for ship selection'.
Ok, or Apply.

[BustRobot]

Ah, many thanks. Everything is working fine now. 

[Hellstryker]

Nah its not a stupid question, everyone is equal... some people are just more equal than others