Author Topic: FSO Installation  (Read 1680 times)

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I know this topic has been extensively covered in the past. I have downloaded everything I think I needed to do either a "auto" or manual install. But reading the instructions on how to either type of do install is very confusing and also conflicting to me. I have had both Freespace and Freespace 2 and have been playing both for over 20 Years. I simply want to install FSO to improve the game graphics and playability. I can wait to get mods for new ships, weapons, campaigns,etc at some later time. I am just nervous about installing FSO that it might mess up up my original FS2 installation to a point where I can't play it at all. I just need some assurance that when I do either installation, that both my installed games will remain intact and still playable even if the FSO install fails. Also, I installed Wing Commander Saga and it plays flawlessly on my PC. Just recently registered too. Thanks

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
The currently suggested method of installing Freespace Open is the Knossos mod manager/installer. The idea behind it is to be the "Steam for FSO mods", so to say. So basically, a solution that lets you install and play, without any significant modding know-how to do so.

The important part for you here is that during FSO setup, Knossos just copies over the necessary files from an existing FS2 install, and leaves said install totally unchanged. From that point on, Knossos has its own separate working directory of your choosing, called the mod library. Knossos itself also needs to be installed somewhere, obviously, but that directory will be occupied by only the program itself.
Also try to avoid system protected directories for the mod library, like Program Files.

As for when you try it out, I highly recommend looking for, in the Explore tab: Freespace Port MediaVPs (FS1 with new graphics), Silent Threat: Reborn (a fan remake of the horrible expansion pack for FS1) and then Freespace Upgrade MediaVPs (FS2 with new graphics). When you finish those, you can basically pick and go as you please.

If you are using Discord, you also might want to join the HLP Discord server. It's a much better medium for quickfire questions, and I have some resources on squeezing out the best graphics pinned in Freespace related channels.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 
Thanks so much! I'll move forward and try to install it as suggested. I'll report on how I did.

 
Knossos installed fine with its own separate folder and created another separate FSO Folder. However Knossos is showing a message fetching mod list and showing 100%, Yet, no files seem to be installed into the FSO folder. except for some screenshots. Is the process supposed to take that long or what an I doing wrong?

 
All the Mods did download, but now my question is where so you install the mods? Do you put them into the FSO folder or somewhere else? The FSO folder still has nothing in it but some JPG Files. It has no exe. ,data or other required files to actually run the game from this Folder. It seems like none of the necessary files were ever copied from the original FS2 Install  into this FSO folder and if they were, where are they?

 

Offline Antares

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  • Author of The Shivan Manifesto
The first time you run Knossos, it will ask you to specify the directory of your existing FS2 retail install. The data files from this installation are then copied to the Games/FreespaceOpen/FS2 directory so that Knossos can use them when it loads mods.

To actually install and play a mod, you click on the desired mod in the mod list and then click 'install'. This downloads and installs all of the necessary files for that mod into a specific FreespaceOpen/FS2 subfolder for that mod (for example, fsport-3.7.0). It also downloads the most up-to-date FS2 game executable for that mod--either the latest stable release of FS2 Open or the most recent nightly build--and installs it to Games/FreespaceOpen/bin .

All the mods available for download are listed in the explore tab under Knossos. All of the mods that you've downloaded already and are ready to be played are listed in the home tab. To play a given mod, simply click on its picture and then click 'Play.' To fiddle with a mod's default options, like all the various special effects and bells and whistles that are enabled by default, click on that mod, click 'Details', and then click 'Options' and 'FSO settings' (or 'Modify' to download extra material for certain mods, like custom music packs, high-resolution texture files, radar icons, etc.). When you're done setting everything up to your liking, click 'Save', then click 'Play.'
We have returned to continue our purification of this galaxy. It is again your turn to be crushed beneath the great force that is the Antaran army. All your petty squabbling with the other beings in this galaxy is meaningless. The Antaran fleet will destroy you all, one by one. You may not surrender. You cannot win. Your only option is death.

 
Still having trouble. Firstly like I previously told you, when I first opened Knossos, It automatically created the folder C/Games/Freespace Open and no files were copied from the original Install into the folder. Secondly, the only item on the Home Tab is the Original Freespace 2 Cover, but no Mods. When I press play for the Icon of the Original Game, it get a message no exe. I have some ideas how to hopefully fix this, but I'm not sure if they will work. Very frustrated. Sorry I'm bugging you so much about this.

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
It's fine, the current iteration of Knossos has a bunch of weird quirks that you have to get used to.

Let's start first with - did Knossos ever ask you for the retail FS2 directory? Seeing as you have retail FS2 in Home tab, I'd expect FSO to have been (mostly) correctly installed. Several .vp files should be in <mod library>/FS2. You can change the mod library location or point Knossos to retail FS2 once again, it's somewhere in the Knossos settings menu (gear symbol in topright corner).

Also, what are the contents of your Explore tab? If retail FS2 wasn't found for some reason, you'll only have a dozen or so mods available. If you have more, try looking for Freespace Upgrade MediaVPs and seeing if you can install it.

The "no executable found" bug is usually fixable by going into mod's Details page, and re-choosing the executable in the FSO Settings menu, then clicking "Save" in that window. That said it also might be related to the lack of some specific FSO build, but if you install the MVPS, a proper FSO build should be downloaded and used automatically.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

  
Thanks again. Everything seems to be working now. The Original FS2 did show up in the Explore Tab and the I've been able to install 3 Mods and they were installed into the new FSO Folder created when I first ran Knossos. Everything that was installed did show up in the Home Tab also. I got the FS2 Media VPs to install in addition. I'm not going to try to play anything at this time until I install more of the Mods that you recommended. Then I'll give everything a try and see what happens. The only thing is that  theMods do take  time to install, but I'm quite used to that. Your input and support is really appreciated.

 
Ran into some issues with Mod Installation. It seems that the Mods I recently installed disappeared from the Home Screen  showing that that they were installed and ready to be played and on the Explore Tab the Mods don't show that they were installed and they need to be installed. But when I go to the FSO Subfolder FS2 the Mods installed are there. I know you said that Knossos had some weird quirks , so I am not sure what 's going on. Also, checking on the install progress, the % Installed goes back and forth . I also would like to know if Knossos can install more than one Mod at a time. Again sorry to keep bothering you with these issues.

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
Firstly, make sure your mod library isn't located in some system protected folder (like Program Files). Software has notable difficulties saving any files in such places. Then check if you aren't running out of disk space, this obviously can also cause problems.

I have no other ideas why mods would just casually stop being detected by Knossos without the user touching anything inside their files. That said, Knossos detects the mods by them having a mod.json file in their directories, so if the file is missing or corrupt, the mod won't be detected (the latter is a known occurence for the people who modified the file to manually force different dependency versions - yes, you can do that just fine, it's a text file - and didn't use the correct syntax).

As for reinstalling said mods back, during installation, Knossos always checks for leftover files and whether they're valid. It will only re-download the missing or damaged files, basically. So for example, you can delete a mod's mod.json file, refresh Knossos and that mod will be missing - but if you install said mod from the Explore tab, it will download the mod.json and only check for existence and validity of all of the other files.

Currently Knossos can only "do one thing at a time", as in, install one mod at a time and it sometimes does cause issues with other functionality. I have had notable issues of "apply to all builds" and "save" in Knossos settings not working until a mod finishes installing. That said you do have control over how many files can be downloaded simultaneously, and you can set download speed limits. See Knossos settings -> Downloads.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 
Currently, all the Mod Files are located in C/Games/FreespaceOpen/FS2 . Like I said earlier, all the Mod Files I installed are there, but none of them show INSTALLED in Explore Tab and as a result of this, I can't enable the Mods from Knossos or even load and play FS from Knossos at all. The latest Build exe. did install into the Freespace Open folder in the bin subfolder . In the settings I have max. downloads at 6 but did not set a download speed. I just got an  installation error  on Freepace Port message saying it may only partially installed and I need to run a Integrity Check or Uninstall and Reinstall. I have been getting this several times after some of the Mod Installations were supposedly completed.but a couple of the Mod Installs, no error message.  Also, I have not tinkered with any of the Mod Files at all. Just tried to install them .

 
For some reason, all the Mods I installed showed up in the HOME Tab as ready to play and in the EXPLORE Tab as being installed. I am currently installing 2 more Mods and will then install 2 more after that and I'll see what happens this time. Hopefully it will a smooth installation for all 4. Again appreciate your putting up with seem to be my reoccuring  problems.

 

Offline Mito [PL]

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  • Proud Member of Slavicus Mechanicus
All the mods available for download are listed in the explore tab under Knossos. All of the mods that you've downloaded already and are ready to be played are listed in the home tab.

So basically, works as it should, I believe.
How do you kill a hydra?

You starve it to death.

 
Yeap. So far. I'm not going to try to run or play any of the Mods until they're all installed and show that they were indeed installed and ready to go and I'll tell you what happened. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.