[Myraseth]

Let me get my story straight 1st. I am TOTALLY new here, and have been wanting a copy of Freespace 1/2 ever since it 1st came out and my older brother had them. Now I have both, thanks to Steam, and after beating the campaigns, I want to begin modding Freespace 2. Now for the details. I know the basics - that all extracted files go into my Steamapps/common/Freespace2/Data1 folder. However, I have been getting a LOT of trouble installing FSO and OpenAl. While installing Freespace Open, there is no Launcher.exe. I receive it from the recommended site and the only options I'm getting are: com (folder), lib (folder), META-INF (folder), Resources (folder), gpl-2.0.txt, lgpl-2.1.txt, and readme.txt. The readme saysto just launcher the installer, but there are no .exe files, or any launchable files anywhere in any of the folders I received from the download. OpenAl is a bit simpler to describe. I get a file (and only 1 file) called oalinst.exe, and when I run it, after clicking agree on the terms, it says "Installation complete, but no files are installed to my computer, there isn't even a setup wizard. I'm sorry if this has been answered a million times, and I'm sorry if I'm a complete idiot, please answer these questions.

[ngld]

I guess you extracted the .jar file. You should run it, not extract it.

Yeah, the OpenAL installer is a bit strange but that actually means that OpenAL was installed succesfully.

[Myraseth]

I guess you extracted the .jar file. You should run it, not extract it.

When clicking the link, I only have the options to open, save, or save as, and not run. Thank you for your time, sir.

[ngld]

Do you have Java installed? If you have, you should download the file using "save" and then open the file with a double-click.
What browser are you using?

[Myraseth]

Do you have Java installed? If you have, you should download the file using "save" and then open the file with a double-click.

I got the latest of Java, and it's working smoothly. I got FSO installer, and I selected a complete download. Does this include OpenAl, or do I have to do that separately, as well?

[ngld]

Yes, it includes OpenAL as well. If the install succeeds, you shouldn't have to do anything else.

[Myraseth]

Allow me to say one more thing. For nearly a year, I've been looking at the Hard-Light forums, wishing in awe to witness what you guys witness. The new ships, music, amazing graphics, campaigns... Thank you for helping me be a part of this amazing community.
To any and all reading this, if there's any questions you have about Freespace 1 or 2, please hit me up on here.

[jr2]

If you should have any problems, assuming you can get FreeSpace Open running (you may have to download and use WXLauncher as the old 5.5g Launcher is no longer being updated and doesn't work with Win 8), then Please post your fs2_open.log file.  Instructions on how to do this can be found in this post. You can do this either by uploading the log somewhere like http://pastebin.com and posting a link, or by putting the log in [code][/code] tags.

If you don't get FSO running, then of course we'll help you get to that point.

[Myraseth]

Thank you, Jr2, and on that point. I got it open and running correctly, and was able to complete both blue planet campaigns. However, I had a problem running said debug, as soon as I tried it, it "stopped working". I apologize for shoveling my problems here, please just deal my incompetence with a smile, please. xD When using the updated graphics to play Freespace 2's main campaign, some ships (namely Hercs and the Bosch's ship) appear as a Ulysses. I run fs2_open_3_7_2_RC4_SSE.exe, and have tried both MediaVP 2014 and MediaVP 3.6.12. I used the FSO Installer that was linked in this very discussion, and everything seems to be properly placed. Should I just run some missions vanilla?

[AdmiralRalwood]

When using the updated graphics to play Freespace 2's main campaign, some ships (namely Hercs and the Bosch's ship) appear as a Ulysses. I run fs2_open_3_7_2_RC4_SSE.exe, and have tried both MediaVP 2014 and MediaVP 3.6.12. I used the FSO Installer that was linked in this very discussion, and everything seems to be properly placed.

That's... different.

However, I had a problem running said debug, as soon as I tried it, it "stopped working".

Did it create an fs2_open.log file in the process? If so, we'd still like to see it.

[jr2]

Maybe corrupted download?

[Black Wolf]

If ships appear as Ulysses, that generally means that you're playing with a mod active that doesn't include include those particular ships in its ships.tbl. If you want to play the FS2 main campaign, it's generally best to select only the media VPs from the launcher.  If you're already doing that, and you haven't accidentally left BP or something selected... Hmm. Then it's more of a puzzle. Have you edited any files? Specifically any mod.ini files or any.tbl or .tbm files? Unlikely, I know, but worth confirming.

[jr2]

The fs2_open.log file will clear a lot of these questions up if we can get that.

[Myraseth]

Back before I got Freespace Open, I tried installing mods the same way you manually install them on New Vegas - by directly placing all downloaded files into the Data folder. I didn't do that with Open. I'd guess that's the prolem, but ships like the Ultra Herc and the GTSD Paladin load in perfectly.
I was unable to open the debug log at all. Nothing started up before it crashed.
Perhaps I should just delete all my data, redownload the vanilla from scratch, and then get FSO again. That's my last resort.
Again, thank you guys for your help.

[Black Wolf]

Ah, yep, that'll do it. Delete (or move) everything in your \data directory except \data\players and then use FSO as normal with the launcher. That should solve your Ulysses problems.

[Myraseth]

Did it, fixed it, love you guys.

[jr2]

Yeah mods' .vp files go in their own folders for FS Open.   Retail was where you would manually install / uninstall them by putting the .vp files in the FS2 directory.

[Myraseth]

jr2, I went about it the same way I do with Fallout New Vegas mods. That's where I messed up. xD

[Myraseth]

There was 1 more question that started bothering me, once I saw BP WiH voice acting was still being worked on. How do I get updates to mods, or new ones? Do I just run the Installer again?

[niffiwan]

Do I just run the Installer again?

Yep, rerunning the installer should automatically update any mods that have been updated to a new version since you last ran the installer (it does this silently I believe, making it a bit hard to figure out )