Author Topic: fs port Multiplayer  (Read 4545 times)

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Offline ShivanSpS

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I have one issue here, when i attempt to play multiplayer, i still have listed all FS2 missions, and its just one big MESS, there is any way to avoid this?

 

Offline Novachen

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As far as i know, no. Unfortunately not.

Maybe you could rid of all the Team and FS2 Coop missions in the selection menu aside from the MP Campaign menu, if you create a Campaign file with all FS2 Team and Coop missions respectively.
But that require that the MP missions are working the same as SP missions and so are not selectable alone if they are part of an campaign. Actually i do not rememeber.

But there is no way to get rid of the FS2 Dogfight missions, because they can not be part of an campaign file.

EDIT: No, even that is not working. All missions that are part of an MP campaign are selectable alone, too.  :(
So well.. the only chance to get rid of them i see, is a package full of dummy files, that have only the same file names as the FS2 (and its multiplayer package) Multiplayer missions.


Actually i have another problems with the current behavior, too. Because i can not use any Debug build with a translation, because i get countless error messages about too long text entries, because the FS2 MP missions use tstring ids i changed.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 10:48:26 am by Novachen »
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Offline Novachen

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Well, i created such dummy package now.

You have only to extract this into the FSPort folder.

This one deactivates all Multiplayer missions that are part of Freespace 2, the MediaVPs and FreeSpace 2's multi-mission package.

The only FS2 remnants that are still visible in the Multiplayer menu are the three Freespace 2 Multiplayer Campaigns. But i edited the campaign description to make clear, that they are not working. Aswell these campaign files do not contain any missions.

FSPort Multiplayer missions that uses the same file names are unaffected by these changes, because the VP in this archive is loaded before the fsport-missions.vp which so have a higher priority.

Of course, any custom FS2 Multiplayer mission that was not part of the three beforementioned packages is still selectable in the Multiplayer menu.

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« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 02:34:09 pm by Novachen »
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Offline Goober5000

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There isn't any way to filter out the FS2 multiplayer missions if you're not playing a FS2-compatible mod.  This would require a FSO feature along the lines of #Ignored Campaign File Names.

EDIT: I have opened a GitHub issue for this.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 05:44:21 pm by Goober5000 »

  

Offline ShivanSpS

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There isn't any way to filter out the FS2 multiplayer missions if you're not playing a FS2-compatible mod.  This would require a FSO feature along the lines of #Ignored Campaign File Names.

EDIT: I have opened a GitHub issue for this.

That would work, altrought it it woundt be easier just to load missions in the primary active mod for multiplayer?

 

Offline Goober5000

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No, it wouldn't.  Once FSO loads, it has no idea which data came from the primary active mod and which data came from other mods.

 

Offline ShivanSpS

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Well, i created such dummy package now.

You have only to extract this into the FSPort folder.

This one deactivates all Multiplayer missions that are part of Freespace 2, the MediaVPs and FreeSpace 2's multi-mission package.

The only FS2 remnants that are still visible in the Multiplayer menu are the three Freespace 2 Multiplayer Campaigns. But i edited the campaign description to make clear, that they are not working. Aswell these campaign files do not contain any missions.

FSPort Multiplayer missions that uses the same file names are unaffected by these changes, because the VP in this archive is loaded before the fsport-missions.vp which so have a higher priority.

Of course, any custom FS2 Multiplayer mission that was not part of the three beforementioned packages is still selectable in the Multiplayer menu.

MMM this works perfectly, this is a nice workaround you have here, goober you may want to check this out.

One error, Terran/Vasudan/Shivan gaunlets from FS2 are still showed, FS1 versions ends with a "multi" on the title, ex: "Shivan Gaunlet Multi". And another two missions, in the end, its missing:
cet_m06b.fs2, Fubar_m01.fs2, G-Shi.fs2, G-Ter.fs2 and G-Vas.fs2. Added those on a simple mission folder inside fsport and it works.

The FS2 campaign are still show, Operation templar campaign gives an error (i think it tries to load FS2 version, not sure if Fs port includes OP templar multi, or its broken), "the last hope" multi campaign also gives an error. I would recomend to rename that one to Templar FS1 if exists, ill need to check.
This also means the #Ignored Campaign File Names only works on single player.

Ill try to figure out was wrong with the "last hope" and "op templar".
EDIT: OP Templar its definely trying to load FS2 missions, FS1 version is missing from FS port files. Ill fix that.
"The last Hope" the campaign file is broken, the individual files load just fine, ill fix that as well.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 01:38:33 am by ShivanSpS »

 

Offline ShivanSpS

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edited, not sure who trought it was a good idea to auto copy missions and campaign files to appdata/roaming/hardlightproductions as some sort of cache, that just wrong!

OK, i zipped a mission folder with added multi missions to ignore from FS2 on top of the vp file you provided, a fixed "The Last Hope" and OP Templar multiplayer.

It just the minimum to make them work, OP templar still needs a little work and balancing, and the last hope needs the correct conditions for branching.

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« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 03:26:36 am by ShivanSpS »

 

Offline Novachen

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Actually i never heard about that there is a coop Templar campaign for FS1... if that exists, than this is not part of any official file i know of, because Templar was only officially released for FS2

As for the missing FS2 missions, well.. are they from the Sim of the Year Edition? Actually i forgot to check that, because i always thought that all exclusive Soty MP-Missions were also part of the multi-mission-pack at least.
Because in my modded Installation, i do not have this missions and never had problems with "The last Hope" btw. as i played through it alone.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 10:23:02 am by Novachen »
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Offline ShivanSpS

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Actually i never heard about that there is a coop Templar campaign for FS1... if that exists, than this is not part of any official file i know of, because Templar was only officially released for FS2

As for the missing FS2 missions, well.. are they from the Sim of the Year Edition? Actually i forgot to check that, because i always thought that all exclusive Soty MP-Missions were also part of the multi-mission-pack at least.
Because in my modded Installation, i do not have this missions and never had problems with "The last Hope" btw. as i played through it alone.

"The Last hope" campaign file is broken for me, on the fsport 3.5 mission vp, the fs2 terran/shivan/vasudan gaunlets are in fact volition validated missions, the other two with "fubar and cet" have 2003 date on my data/mission folder, those are probably missions from the original fs2 multi... probably no one else has them, the other 2 are mine, just ignore them. In fact i made "Art of War" like 15 years ago for the original FS2 pxo multi.

And about "Operation Templar"... i was sure i had played those on original FS1 with the ST exp back in the day, i really dont remember that now that was so long ago.

If no i dont see why anyone would port OP Templar SinglePlayer to FSPort if it was not originally avalible, maybe Goober5000 knows.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 10:50:02 am by ShivanSpS »

 

Offline Novachen

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Operation Templar in FS2 was ported by Volition for Single Player with the Sim of the Year Edition. But they only changed the mission type without any balancing edits.

The main purpose for the FSPort Templar was to have a version, that is actually balanced for Single Player, even i never know, why that misses the branching event in the second mission that i have added in my Mission Upgrade package then. But maybe i have to adress Volition for that, because the original Templar campaign did not have this branching event, also.

For the Gauntlets... yes, as it seems, that i have overlooked them. I found them in the root_fs2.vp. Actually i thought that these were the SP versions... but these where added also only in the SOTY Edition.
But for the other missions... they seem to be user missions only.

And that is actually the problem, why a simple ignore list in game_settings.tbl is not very helpful, because there a thousands of custom MP missions out there, that you have to add in such list.
Actually the best idea would be, that Freespace is ignoring all missions and campaigns automatically, that have ships and/or weapons in it that are not present in current loaded ships and weapons.tbl and .tbms.
But that would cause only a bunch of other problems i fear.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 11:03:40 am by Novachen »
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Offline ShivanSpS

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Operation Templar in FS2 was ported by Volition for Single Player with the Sim of the Year Edition. But they only changed the mission type without any balancing edits.

The main purpose for the FSPort Templar was to have a version, that is actually balanced for Single Player, even i never know, why that misses the branching event in the second mission. But maybe i have to adress Volition for that, because the original Templar campaign did not have this branching event, also.

For the Gauntlets... yes, as it seems, that i have overlooked them. I found them in the root_fs2.vp. Actually i thought that these were the SP versions... but these where added also only in the SOTY Edition.
But for the other missions... they seem to be user missions only.

And that is actually the problem, why a simple ignore list in game_settings.tbl is not very helpful, because there a thousands of custom MP missions out there, that you have to add in such list.
Actually the best idea would be, that Freespace is ignoring all missions and campaigns automatically, that have ships and/or weapons in it that are not present in current loaded ships and weapons.tbl and .tbms.
But i think, that could cause another problems... especially for debug reasons that one would not be a good idea i fear.

Thats a good idea, and im petty sure there is a "debug" flag so you can ignore that for debug build.

I still dont understand why you cant ignore missions that arent from the primary mod, that what does FS do for the ships and weapons tbl right? otherwise retail FS2 ships and weapons would be always loaded.

Im taking a look at the FSO code right now to see if i can figure something out, but i never worked with FSO code before so i dont even know were to start lol.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 11:13:31 am by ShivanSpS »

 

Offline Novachen

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Well.. actually the problem i have with this "primary mod" idea is the case... what happens if you use a Mod that has only additional ships and do not delete the current ones? It would be still compatible with Freespace 2 Missions. FreeSpace Blue is doing that for example. And Blue Planet has also its own MP missions AFAIK... but you can still play the FS2 ones with it without any problems and without any mod change.
And because it is established to create an own mod directory for every campaign and use the multi-mod possibility, the current behavior ensures, that you can add missions to already existing ones.

Actually Freespace2 ships and weapons are loaded at the start of every game, because both tbls are present in the root_fs2.vp that is loaded due to the fact, that it is present in the root folder of the game. Only after the loading process of the root folder is complete, the mod folders are loaded. And because most mods uses a own ships and weapons.tbl they simply overwrite the tbls that were loaded first.

That is also the reason why the dummy package is working, because they are loaded after the missions from the root_fs2.vp.

Back in retail days we used the FreeSpace2\data folder for mods for the same reason, because the files there were loaded after the vps and so had a higher priority.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 11:50:39 am by Novachen »
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Offline ShivanSpS

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But that can be easily fixed as adding a flag to the mod config to disable it, both to allow all, or a reverse to #ignored as #allowed
If you are playing the BP mod you probably dont want to load FS2 MP missions, altrought its welcome, and probably only works because BP instent to make it work due to having the FS2 retail remarke.

I say this should be default because it gets too confusing for new people, belive me in trying to get 6 people that never player FS before, and things like this are confusing TO ME that i played FS all me life.
By default i belive FSO should hide all missions and campaign that does not belong to the primary mod for both single and multi, unless the mod says otherwise (and by this the mod also ensures that it will work).

What you said should also work, but probably means FSO should do some kind of "pre-load" every mission at the... game start?.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2018, 12:16:02 pm by ShivanSpS »

 

Offline ShivanSpS

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@Goober5000 ok i want to try multiplayer now, there is a port in FS2netd where tablets and missions are validated? both for 3.5 and 3.5+mediavps?

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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I still dont understand why you cant ignore missions that arent from the primary mod, that what does FS do for the ships and weapons tbl right? otherwise retail FS2 ships and weapons would be always loaded.
Nope; all data folders specified by the mod flag, plus the base data, are loaded all the time. What happens (when retail data isn't loaded) is that a mod defines a file with the same name (e.g. ships.tbl instead of a modular *-shp.tbm), which due to folder priority is loaded instead of the retail file; if mods didn't load data from "lower priority" folders, the entire mod system would collapse as everything would need to include copies of everything it depended on.
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Offline Goober5000

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The main purpose for the FSPort Templar was to have a version, that is actually balanced for Single Player, even i never know, why that misses the branching event in the second mission that i have added in my Mission Upgrade package then.

It was not missed; we deliberately took it out.  Volition apparently wanted to create a branching campaign, but nothing else supports the branch.  The player is required to fly both missions instead of just one of them.  Furthermore, the story assumes the player flies the missions in the order they are listed in the campaign -- the opposite order does not make sense in the story.

Quote
Actually the best idea would be, that Freespace is ignoring all missions and campaigns automatically, that have ships and/or weapons in it that are not present in current loaded ships and weapons.tbl and .tbms.
But that would cause only a bunch of other problems i fear.

It would massively slow down the multiplayer listing.  Right now the list is generated by a quick scan.  This idea would require each mission in the list to be parsed and loaded.

We should only need to ignore the multi-mission-pack files and the files from retail FS2.  If any other missions are present in the multiplayer listing, it is because the mod designer wanted them to be there.


Actually Freespace2 ships and weapons are loaded at the start of every game, because both tbls are present in the root_fs2.vp that is loaded due to the fact, that it is present in the root folder of the game. Only after the loading process of the root folder is complete, the mod folders are loaded. And because most mods uses a own ships and weapons.tbl they simply overwrite the tbls that were loaded first.

FSO does not load the FS2 ships.tbl and then load the FSPort ships.tbl.  It only ever loads one ships.tbl.  If FSPort is the mod, it will never load the ships that appear only in FS2.


@Goober5000 ok i want to try multiplayer now, there is a port in FS2netd where tablets and missions are validated? both for 3.5 and 3.5+mediavps?

I am not really familiar with FS2NetD; it would be better to ask the multiplayer community.

 

Offline ShivanSpS

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BTW, the dummy missions quick fix has drawbacks, first it breaks the Tech Room Mission listing, and Freed Campaign editor.

 

Offline Novachen

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Actually i did not have a problem in the tech room with it.

But nevertheless, i created a new one, which also includes several Single Player missions as well from the Soty... they would still appear in the tech room if you have this version installed and use mods... so they would be incompatible.

In this package i created three Single Player campaigns with the dummy missions and ignore them in an also included mod.tbm... so they do not appear and because these are single player missions, they do not also appear in the MP room.

Extract that in the fsport folder.. even this one should also work with all other mods.
The FSPort MP missions that use the same file names are still usable with that.

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« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 05:49:44 pm by Novachen »
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