[Htown]

I figured that since you guys seem to be THE freespace community, I should try here for help.

First, a little background.  I don't have any of the SCP stuff installed because my computer is old.  Really old.  Old as in I have to turn down the detail levels on the original retail version of FS2 to mediumish to get it to run smoothly.  Old as in I don't have a CD burner.  Old as in I don't really have a lot of space on my hard drive.

So here's my problem.  I wanted to fire up FS2 again for the first time in a long time, but within the last few months I misplaced my copy of it.  So, I went to get the three CD images from a popular torrent site.  And I downloaded them, but since I couldn't burn them, I decided to load 'em up in Daemon Tools as virtual CDs to install the thing.  Worked like a charm, I did a full install, whatever.   I now had the three CD images (like 2 gigs worth) AND a full install on my HD.  Since my hard drive then only had like a gig of space free, I decided I'd use the "no-CD" patch included in the torrent so I could remove the fake CDs from my PC and just play it from the full install.  Worked fine, the game played like a charm, so I removed the CD images and deleted them into subspace or wherever it is deleted files go.

HOWEVER

There's a problem.  The cutscenes won't play, and I can't figure out how to get them to do so.  Every time I come to a point in the game where a cutscene would be, there's a message from the game saying I need to put disc 2 in the tray or something.  I can press "cancel" and continue playing, but I'd really rather not miss all the cool videos and whatnot.

Does anyone have a clue why this isn't working?

Please help.


Full disclosure - before just getting the retail CD images, I started and then cancelled an installation of that full scp pack o' everything that's linked to in this forum.  (I thought, it can't REALLY need 512 MB of ram just to INSTALL the thing, but then I saw from how my PC was insanely slow to do any installing that, huh, it kinda DID.)  I pressed cancel fairly early on in the process.  I installed the regular FS2 afterwards. 

Would THAT have anything to do with the movies not playing, or is it just a peculiarity of the no-CD patch?  Does anyone know how I could get the movies working?

[karajorma]

The problem is that you don't actually have the movies to play. Even when doing a full install FS2 leaves the cutscenes on the CD. You have two choices.

1) Get the images back somehow and pull the mve cutscenes off of them.
2) Get the avi versions of the cutscenes and play them in your video playing program (whatever that is). You won't be able to play them in-game but the download is much smaller.

[Htown]

Ah, I see. 

For the avi solution:
What order are the movies supposed to be played in?  I found the avis but they're all named something that isn't helpful in determining WHEN to watch them.  (I'm currently at the first cutscene that asks for disc 3.)

For the mve solution:
Is there any place besides the CD images where I can get the .mve files?  An FTP or a torrent or something?  I'd rather not have to pull the whole image if I can just get the movies.  And if I were to get the .mve files, from the CDs or somewhere else, where would I put them to have them work?

[karajorma]

For the avi solution simply check my FAQ's gameplay page. At the bottom there is list of missions and cutscenes. I've missed off endpart1 and endprt2a/2b but you should have been able to figure out that they are the the campaign outro's even without my prompting.

At the moment there is no way to get the MVEs without getting the images. I wouldn't have suggested getting the avis if there was one

[Sarafan]

Target: Htown. Begin plasma core insertion, gunnery control, open fire:




Welcome to HLP. Please keep all appendages within the installation at all times. Flamethrowers are located underneath all seats, however, due to the rising cost of oil, the ID / evolution debate (don't debate me on Whether or not there is a debate),V, and the meaning of life, the napalm has been replaced with Holy Water. Plasma rifles are located in the weapons locker, but only Admins,V, or a hyper-intelligent shade of blue have access to these areas. If you meet a Shivan in the ductwork it is most likely Carl, give him your lunch and back away slowly, odds are good you'll be fine. Recommend reading includes Karajorma's Freespace FAQ for general questions, and The Freespace Wiki for specific issues and questions.

19 kill. 

[sabbey]

I have a slightly different, but similar question. I just bought the retail version and already installed both a No-CD patch and moved the MVE files over to the HDD. My question though, where do I put them, or at least get the game to know where to look for them? So far none of the directories I put the files are getting the cutscenes to show during the game. Only played the first training mission, but would assume at least the intro should play first and since it didn't...

Well, I am at a loss for words...

[Turey]

I have a slightly different, but similar question. I just bought the retail version and already installed both a No-CD patch and moved the MVE files over to the HDD. My question though, where do I put them, or at least get the game to know where to look for them? So far none of the directories I put the files are getting the cutscenes to show during the game. Only played the first training mission, but would assume at least the intro should play first and since it didn't...

Well, I am at a loss for words...

.MVE files go in the main folder for retail.

[[DW]-Hunter]

you can get the cds Here. This download should run at about 450KB/s if not more.

[sabbey]

.MVE files go in the main folder for retail.

The thing is, that's the first place I recall trying and it didn't work. So, it's just C:/games/freespace 2? Will try again, and maybe it was elsewhere, but don't think so...

[Huggybaby]

Put them in C:\Games\FreeSpace2\data\movies and see if that works. If you don't have that folder you can create it.

That's where I run them from.

[sabbey]

I had it recently there, but don't recall if I tried the game before moving them back to the main folder. Either way, I'll try both, thanks!

[[DW]-Hunter]

Aight dude, look.

Put them in the root folder; C:\Games\FreeSpace2

also you might want to get a better crack, i have heard that theres a crack out there that gives people cd errors at really odd times. Heres the link.

you can get the cds Here. This download should run at about 450KB/s if not more.

Download the cds there if you havent already for the cutscenes. You only need CD2 and CD3 for cutscenes.

If you want to play some other campaigns that work on retail, Inferno will work on it. Just dont download the SCP enhansements and you will be fine.

[sabbey]

Thanks, it worked!