[General Battuta]

You are a marvel of human achievement.

[jjmounes]

Did you select 'The Works' option on the installer? If so you're about to be buried under a whole ****load of stuff. You only need to select the 3.6.12 executables.

I mean heck I can give you a direct link to the thread with those executables if you want to do it that way.

There, see, a constructive post or two. Thank you very much. I decided to stop and retry through different methods after four hours of downloading files.

[Herra Tohtori]

I am mostly just wondering if the GPU drivers on that tiny thing support OpenGL correctly. The 3.6.5 build probably only used Direct3D mode, which has since been dropped. If the GPU does not run with the new OpenGL versions of FS2Open, then the only option is to go back to builds that supported Direct3D mode and in which it wasn't yet horribly broken, but those builds are unsupported and bound to have metric ton of more bugs than the newer ones.

So, the first critical piece of information is whether or not you can run, say, FSO 3.6.12.

My second concern for performance is processor performance and amount of memory (both RAM and video memory). Retail models are simple enough that this shouldn't present a problem, but due to how GPU's work, all the PCX textures will take up to four times more video memory than an equivalent, compressed Direct Draw Surface (DDS) texture which are widely used in the MediaVP's.

That means that in certain circumstances, if the processor and graphics card can handle the more complex model geometries, you can possibly even gain a few FPS with the MediaVP's (without advanced VP file).


Also, I would like to point out that while "re-installation" is not usually required in the conventional sense due to how FreeSpace Open works (all the "installation" consists of slapping stuff into your FreeSpace2 directory), the most common reason for support requests is user error during installation: Yes, it's possible to slap stuff into your FreeSpace directory in a wrong way, and while that will not require "re-installation" of the game, it will require re-arranging certain assets into their correct places. But, considering you are so far just trying to play the FS2 main campaign, I don't think that is your problem yet.


So, what you need are the following:

Latest Launcher application
A recent FSO executable: I suggest either official 3.6.12 build from this thread, or a bit more recent test build which has more optimization in it, which would likely be advantageous with your proc and GPU.

In case you wonder if you should try the regular, SSE or SSE2 version of these builds, I recommend trying the SSE2 build(s) first and if they don't work, rever to SSE, if that doesn't work revert to regular. Or use CPU-z to find out what rule sets your CPU supports. Chances are it'll run with SSE2 rule sets, being of relatively modern make.

Can anyone link him to a functional set of shader files alone, just to see if his GPU can run with shader model 2?

[Jeff Vader]

The installer will remain my first line of advice because of how mind-bogglingly stupidly complex finding all the threads buried in this forum can be.

Hey, the manual installation instruction thread is stickied and reasonably prominent. And it has links to all the relevant threads. And it is kept up to date (as far as official/stable releases go). *****.

[General Battuta]

I think you overestimate the patience of the average user. Each and every click - up to and including extracting archives - is a barrier to entry.

[Jeff Vader]

I think you overestimate the patience of the average user. Each and every click - up to and including extracting archives - is a barrier to entry.

Yes, but if we are to venture into that topic, FSO still isn't a full-fledged game. It is, in the end, a modification to an existing game. If a user specifically wants to start modifying his game, he shouldn't be expecting a method which involves snapping his fingers once. Twice, at most.

[General Battuta]

Agreed, but I'd like to make progress in that direction.

[Jeff Vader]

Go for it.

[jjmounes]

Go for it.

Like it or not, FSO is the only way many people will be able to play this game in the first place. It isn't a mod so much as it's a patch to make it work in the first place, in my eyes. The process of installation has become so confusing and convoluted I have decided the game isn't worth my $6 or whatever I paid GoG, and I'll be on my merry way.

Except that I want a space sim for my netbook, and Freelancer has un-solveable issues with Win7, unfortunately.

[General Battuta]

Go for it.

Like it or not, FSO is the only way many people will be able to play this game in the first place. It isn't a mod so much as it's a patch to make it work in the first place, in my eyes. The process of installation has become so confusing and convoluted I have decided the game isn't worth my $6 or whatever I paid GoG, and I'll be on my merry way.

Except that I want a space sim for my netbook, and Freelancer has un-solveable issues with Win7, unfortunately.

Wait what, someone just gave you a one stop link to how to do it (though it being Herra it was buried in a wall of text.)

Here, download these - http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=73257.0

put them in your FS2 folder, select them in the launcher, don't pick one that ends in D. Enjoy your game. (If you get a crash when starting, delete your /data/players directory).

If this guy does ragequit it's evidence that people need to STFU and stop being confusing, and start giving one-line advice. And we need to chop out the stupid clutter.

[Jeff Vader]

I have decided the game isn't worth my $6 or whatever I paid GoG, and I'll be on my merry way.

ok bai. Merry holiday season!

[chief1983]

I'm sorry, but your eyes are wrong jjmounes.  It's not a mod, or a patch to 'make it work'.  It's an upgrade.  The engine itself has been greatly enhanced and upgraded over many years of coder development.  Calling it just a patch to make it work trivializes those efforts.  Due to the staff size and time capable of being donated to a project like this, some things that we wish we could better support haven't made the cut, due to lack of hardware for testing, or time, or both.  Are you having trouble getting the base game running with 3.6.12 still?

[Herra Tohtori]

The process of installation has become so confusing and convoluted I have decided the game isn't worth my $6 or whatever I paid GoG, and I'll be on my merry way.

Except that I want a space sim for my netbook, and Freelancer has un-solveable issues with Win7, unfortunately.

Hope you stick with it.

FS2Open is simpler than people usually give it credit to. All it needs is a system capable of running it, the retail VP's, and the FSO executable, and the Launcher which is used to set registry values for graphics resolution, bit depth and other useful stuff like command line options instead of typing them on every time you start the executable.

When you have the basic game working with retail data, you can start installing rest of the stuff, starting from mediaVP's; if you find your PC unable to run those, just revert to retail data by de-selection the mediaVP's from the Launcher.

What we need is a simple description of the components required to run the game, and all the extra stuff that is available being separate.

In fact, a core functionality option might be useful to have as default with the FSO installer: Check for the presence of the retail VP files, download most recent Launcher and fs2_open executables of the latest officially released version, and there you go.

[Zacam]

Here, download these - http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=73257.0

If this guy does ragequit it's evidence that people need to STFU and stop being confusing, and start giving one-line advice. And we need to chop out the stupid clutter.

And you also need to stop referencing users, who may or may not be having stability or operational issues, to be using BLEEDING EDGE TEST BUILDS. Seriously. Don't ever. EVER. do that again please. I appreciate the enthusiasm and the new Pilot code has been a long time coming and many of us are already used to it, but it doesn't help.

To every one else:

As far as what I can read, there isn't actually a problem here. He had a crash. Which is documented on GoG. He had a much older FSO Build, which the 3.6.12 build should hopefully have resolved, but I don't see (I may have missed it) where it was said that the problem was fixed or anybody asking if it was.

Instead, he got dog-piled. Regardless of how he started his post (which could have been easily over looked and the true meat of the situation addressed in a technically brisk ond proficient manner) and it ends up being turned into a multi-user debate for no reason.

While I know that many of us LIKE helping, sometimes too much help all at once (especially when there is a lot of opinion biased in it) can lead to a frustratingly complicated lack of understanding or desire to just walk away.

Fact: Apparently has or referenced a GoG install of FreeSpace 2. It is having a technical problem. The only issue the hardware brings to the table in any sense is in being able to load or use the heavier eyecandy.

Requirements: Needs and up-to-date-ish STABLE release, 3.6.12 executable. _should_ ideally have a download of the MediaVPs MV_Root.vp file (Just the root file).

Determination: If the requirements are fulfilled, does the reported crash still happen, or does the game operate?

Once the Determination has been satisfied, THEN the journey of what else to add to the game can be taken.

[The E]

You will note, however, that all these points were addressed (including a link to the .12 release thread) in my reply in this thread, which incidentally was the first one.

[Wobble73]

Does it matter, I think the guy has rage quit and gone for good!

[QuantumDelta]

I think he did that before he started.