[IronBeer]

Hey, Hard Light.
As the title implies, I am completely new here... though I have been a fan of Freespace 1 and 2 for almost 10 years now. At any rate, I tried upgrading my old install of Freespace 2 to SCP standards, and I've gotten some interesting results. And by interesting, I mean disappointing.

-Default FS2 is more or less as it was; the voices, music and movies I never could get to work, tho... However, when the SCP enhancements get pulled out, strange things start happening.
-First off, I cannot even run the default FS2 campaign with the MediaVPs activated. I'll get to the loading screen of the first mission, then the game will lock up and crash. As an aside to this, the main hall music won't play, and I can't get the intro movie to play, either. I'd guess it's related to that not working on the default install.
-So then I try the MediaVP-enhanced version of the FS Port. The redone Apollo looks amazing- kudos to whoever did that work- but unfortunately, I'm unable to appreciate the work done on the other ships because the models simply won't show up! Granted, I have no idea what mechanic may be causing this, but I noticed this primarily affects the Vasudan ships; the blue-ish textures on the Orion are fine, but the surfaces that I know should be darker are invisible.

I tried reading the installation guide and got the part where I need the 1.2 version of retail. I understand that "standard procedure" here would be to download retail from the Good Old Games site- it would then be patched up and all ready to receive SCP goodness. How would I go about upgrading my old install to version 1.2? The auto-patcher in the setup doesn't work anymore, and although I found a patch installer, it quits with an error telling me "no old file was detected". If I had to guess further, I'd say that something is rather seriously messed up; I haven't a clue how to fix it at this point. I've heard great things about the Source Code Project; please don't leave me hanging here.   

[General Battuta]

We definitely won't leave you hanging.

You're running the game through the Launcher, correct? What build do you have selected?

[IronBeer]

I'm running the latest Windows nightly build... released on January 29th. I believe that means it's Revision 5055.

[Herra Tohtori]

I'm running the latest Windows nightly build... released on January 29th. I believe that means it's Revision 5055.

 

Very good, at least you've done some homework and aren't just running the 3.6.9 build that comes with the online installer...

So, could you share your system specs? GPU, CPU, amount of memory, operating system?

Another thing you can do is to run a debug build and locate the file ../FreeSpace2/data/fs2_open.log, open it in wordpad, paste it's contents to pastebin.com. You'll find the debug build from the same archive file as the build, and it should be named fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe in this case.

As far as version is concerned, check the lower right corner of the main hall when you run the retail game. There should be a number, and if it's 1.20 I think it's safe to assume that you have the patch installed (although I am not certain if that patch even affects the VP files at all, which is what is relevant to FS2_Open).

[IronBeer]

Ok, first off, regarding the retail version, it's 1.00. I don't know why it needs to be updated to version 1.2, but that's what the installation instructions call for.
Next, I tried running the debug build of Revision 5055. I was unable to locate a log file- the game crashed when I tried to go into the Tech Room. However, I do have an error message that may be of some value:

(Begin error)

Warning: Couldn't open texture 'glass'
referenced by model 'fighter01.pof'

File: modelread.cpp
Line: 3378


Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00933692()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00936025()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 009a99e7()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 009ab9be()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 009ac984()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073d13b()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00952036()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073b867()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00952608()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073ef88()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073f21e()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00c959d6()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00c9585f()
    kernel32.dll 76f14911()
    ntdll.dll 7787e4b6()
------------------------------------------------------------------

(End error)

As for system specs, the important stuff is as follows:
CPU- Intel Core 2 Duo clocked at 2.4 GHz
RAM- 3 GB
OS- Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
GPU- nVidia GeForce 8600 GT (256 MB Adapter RAM)

To throw my very inexperienced opinion out there, it appears to me that something isn't communicating between the game and the mediaVP files...

[General Battuta]

If you ran a debug build, it should generate a spew file in the directory Herra Tohtori pointed out. If it's there, can you post it? If not, weird!

Try patching the retail game to version 1.2 if you can. I, uh, unfortunately don't remember where to get the patch, but Lobo will probably turn up shortly to help out.

Don't give up, we'll walk you through it.

[tinfoil]

It really is always Lobo isn't it? Every time.

Anyway, that error is quite odd and rather foreign to me. Like General Battuta said just wait for Lobo to swing by and all shall be resolved.

@Herra Tohtori i'm almost positive the patch has no influence on the MediaVP's, however it could be the reason for the lack of music, speech and cutscenes in retail that IronBeer reported

[FUBAR-BDHR]

http://165thbdhr.com/files/fs21x-12.exe  for the 1.2 patch.  Note this doesn't work with the GOG version.

When you select a mod or no mod in the launcher are you selecting the corresponding campaign or main FS2 campaign in the campaign room as well?  Does the problem only occur with the MediaVPs on?  If so try doing a manual download of them.  There have been a lot of corrupted downloads lately. 

[tinfoil]

The 3.6.10 mvp's can be found here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,58230.msg779019.html

[IronBeer]

http://165thbdhr.com/files/fs21x-12.exe  for the 1.2 patch.  Note this doesn't work with the GOG version.

Funny you should mention that link- it's the exact same patcher I've been using. That said, I may not be using it properly... I don't really know what file or directory to point the patcher at. Not like it matters- whatever I try, it stops and squawks at me with th following message:
"There was an error processing the patch:
Old file not found. However, a file of the same name was
       found. No update done since contents do not match."
What??

Anyways, the only campaigns I've tried thus far are the old FS2 main campaign, FSport, and the FSport version using the improved MediaVP's.
And, no- I used Turey's installer to get the MediaVPs. I could do a manual download... actually, I'll start that before I go to bed. ~2 GB doesn't download quickly, even on a broadband connection.
The FS2 main campaign will work without the MediaVPs, but it seems to be missing the cutscenes, voicing, and music...  

[tinfoil]

That sounds like a corrupted mvp thing to me. are you sure those vps are 2 gigs though? i seem to remember them being only 300 megs

[IronBeer]

That sounds like a corrupted mvp thing to me. are you sure those vps are 2 gigs though? i seem to remember them being only 300 megs

Or however much they are. At any rate, I won't be cracking at this problem much longer tonight- it looks like I'll be getting some more help in due time anyway. I will go ahead and try a manual VP install, tho. ...tomorrow. 

[Jeff Vader]

but Lobo will probably turn up shortly to help out.

It really is always Lobo isn't it? Every time.

If someone with the same level of dedication and knowledge of the basic issues wants to fill in, I'm more than happy to take a break.

To business: Invisible ships and crashing when trying to start a campaign are symptoms of one annoying thing: your MediaVPs are corrupt. Unfortunately this happens a lot with the Installer. Download the MediaVPs manually should indeed solve the issue.

As for the cutscenes, it is possible that you don't have them. Check your \freespace2\data\movies folder to see if there's anything in there. If not, check if there's a file called FS2OGGCutscenepack.vp in \freespace2\. If not, you certainly don't have them. In that case the cutscenes are available at FreeSpaceMods.net.

I was unable to locate a log file

There should be a file called fs2_open.log in your \freespace2\data\ folder.

Edit: While we're at it, there's also a huge list of common issues with solutions on the support board.

Edit^2: Oh, right. The 1.2 patch. Here. Since you probably won't be playing retail FS2, it is sufficient to extract Root_fs2.vp from the pack and stick it to your \freespace2\ folder, replacing the one already there.

[IronBeer]

Great! Thanks a lot- replacing the .VP files seems to have worked for the most part. I also figured out how to get the cutscenes to play- I yanked out the old. mve's. Only trouble is, a new error has been introduced:
(begin error)

Assert: instance->frame_num >= 0 && instance->frame_num < instance->parent->total_frames
File: animplay.cpp
Line: 681


Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00804d1a()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00ac4b84()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073db67()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0095265d()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073ef88()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 0073f21e()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00c959d6()
    fs2_open_3_6_10d-20090129_r5055.exe 00c9585f()
    kernel32.dll 76044911()
    ntdll.dll 777be4b6()
    ntdll.dll 777be489()
------------------------------------------------------------------

(end error)

I got this one twice- once when going to look up the weapons in the tech room, and later when I tried simply running the campaign.
Further, I'm running the debug version of the latest build- 5055. There is no log file. I even did a search to see if the program was sticking the file in some unusual location- nothing. Only an old log file relating to multiplayer or something.

Hm... I read through the list of common problems, and I may have isolated another source of problems. For some reason, I don't have sparky_hi_fs2.vp; I'd suspect that has something to do with the problems I've been having. As well as a low-resolution mainhall.
Other than that, everything else seems to be in order.... Wait... no. It looks like I've got a limited install of Freespace 2 retail... 

Dangit! Well, that goes quite a ways to explaining a lot of the problems I've been having. But... that said- aren't the files mentioned here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karajorma/FAQ/hotu.html optional, so to speak? I don't have a Home of the Underdogs version, but since it has been a while since I installed FS2, I may have gone with a minimal install for some stupid reason. Is there any way I could get the missing files without the original CD's?

[Jeff Vader]

Further, I'm running the debug version of the latest build- 5055. There is no log file. I even did a search to see if the program was sticking the file in some unusual location- nothing. Only an old log file relating to multiplayer or something.

That is weird, since debug builds really should generate the log as long as the game starts up properly (meaning that it doesn't freeze or die before the splash screen and the intro cutscene).

Hm... I read through the list of common problems, and I may have isolated another source of problems. For some reason, I don't have sparky_hi_fs2.vp; I'd suspect that has something to do with the problems I've been having. As well as a low-resolution mainhall.
Other than that, everything else seems to be in order.... Wait... no. It looks like I've got a limited install of Freespace 2 retail... 

The absence of sparky_hi has caused the weirdest of problems in the past. It is completely possible that it affects the situation on your end as well.

I'd recommend that you try to reinstall FS2 and make sure it does a full installation this time. If problems still persist, we'll try to figure out something else.

[IronBeer]

I'd recommend that you try to reinstall FS2 and make sure it does a full installation this time. If problems still persist, we'll try to figure out something else.

Yeah... I figured I'd have to do that. The only complication is that my discs went AWOL a while ago before I left for college, and now that my disks are lost somewhere at home and I'm typing on my computer at college, my 2 options are to play the half-baked and less-than-half-functional mess I have right now, or to give Good Old Games a visit and acquire a fresh new install. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to tell you what I'm doing. I'll update after the download and SCP feature installation is done.
Thanks for the effort though, everyone. Especially Lobo. Just turns out this was a problem that couldn't be solved without starting over. 

[Herra Tohtori]

Also... if you have it installed in Program Files, try and move it to somewhere like C:\Games\FreeSpace2\. Simply copy the directory and move it somewhere else - no need to re-install to some other directory. It might be that Vista's retarded permission stuff prevents the exec from creating the debug log because it's in Program Files, but this is a stretch... You could also try running the game as administrator but that should really be unnecessary.

[captain-custard]

" death to vista"

[ARSPR]

Well If you did buy your game, I think there's no legal problem P2P-ing it again ... (emule or bittorrent should go fine). Nevertheless GOG can be even easier and faster for only 6 bucks.

If you have trouble installing it because old instalers don't run fine, try enabling "Compatibility for W95" in their exe properties. I remember installing the game on a XP system.

OTOH, once you have all the retail files installed and patched to 1.2, (ie. the vps), you can make a backup of them. If you use FSOpen AND its Launcher, you don't even need a proper retail re-install anymore. You can make any new install (only for FSOpen, but who wants retail anymore?) with this procedure:

• Make a FS2 folder
• Copy your backup-ed vps in it
• Copy fsopen build and launcher in it
• Install OpenAL
• Run Launcher. On the very first run it will create the needed registry entries
• Select the fsopen build, the desired flags and options, graphics resolution, joystick, ...
• Enjoy the retail FS2 game but with all FSOpen build enhancements (greater available resolutions, OpenGL API instead of old D3D one, if you want 3d radar, target info beside the brackets, 3d models in ship and weapon selection, F3 lab, ...).

AND

• Start donwnloading and installing FREE extra contents and enhancements like Mediavps, FSPort or other mods, and so on...

I used this procedure when I changed my system from the previous PC to my actual Vista one.

[IronBeer]

Getting the full install from Good Old Games got everything working. Thank you all for your time and dedication!  Now to experience the glory of 2009's technology merged with the perfection of the Freespace universe.