[Insomniac34]

About 2 months ago I tried installing the SCP on my computer. I encountered numerous frustrating problems, and despite my love for FS2 gave up. I now have once again fallen in love with FS2 and have returned to once againtry the SCP out. Now, I did a Google Image Search online, and found these amazingly impressive pictures:



and



Now, is the Net misleading me or is this truly what the game looks like with the updated engine? If so I will try to get SCP working until I die.

[karajorma]

Those are in-game shots. 

There is a guide on how to install in my FAQ. I suggest staring with 3.6.7 (the last official build) as you should have less problems getting that up and running (unless you have a dual core processor).

[Insomniac34]

Ok, but how many "layers" or "installations" will I need to get that kind of quality? Do I simply install 3.6.7 and everything's set? Listen dude, I have been out of the community for 5 YEARS-I have NO IDEA where to start. I always encounter problems with the wierd loading program that you need to install the game.

[karajorma]

Installing FS2_Open 3.6.7 will get you very close to that quality. In fact there may not be anything in those particular pictures that is missing in 3.6.7. The latest beta VPs have added a few more things but at the cost of being a little bit more tricky to set up.

Follow the guide in my FAQ. If you have problems I'll be more than happy to help.

Or you could try the link to ShivanSPS's big torrent file (look in general freespace in the how to get Freespace thread) as that contains a fully set up copy of FS2 and FS2_Open that you simply need to extract into a folder in order to get it to work.

[Insomniac34]

alright I just downloaded the SCP, and got it to "work" briefly, however now when  try and run the launch program it gives me a wierd error so i deleted it. But, even when the game did work, It looked almost identical. Things that were different were only so in the HUD. If anything, the Warp-effects looked worse. In the HUD I had a 3D map and targets now had info next to them. Assuming I get the launch program working again, how do I activate all of the graphical perks? They were checked in the launch program as enabled, but nothing really showed up in the game.

The error I get whenever I try to run Launcher .exe is; "unrecognized comand line parameter -ingame_join, continue?"

oh, and of course it crashes if i Hit OK. This keeps happening by the way, even when I download a new loader.

[karajorma]

The parameter can be turned off easily. Go to the features >> Multiplayer options and turn off in game joining.

Make sure the other graphical features are on. Most importantly make sure you have media VPs and are running them as your chosen mod. If you don't have them or don't run them as your chosen mod you won't notice any difference. The differences are in the several hundred megs of media VPs. The exe only makes it possible for the new graphics to work. It can't work miracles on the old data.

[Cyker]

Trying to start from base FS2 to get there is hard because things are scattered all over the place!

At the very least you need the "fs_open" and the "mv_zpack" (which is also called the "MediaVPs" just to confuse everyone more), and they have to be matching versions or weird crap happens.
(So if you get the v3.6.7 fs_open, make sure you get the v3.6.7 mv_zpack, and if you get fs_open_368 get the v3.6.8 mv_zpack!)

I'd post URLs but they're in the Wiki (And I forgot all of them anyway )

In all honesty, downloading Shivan's BitTorrent is the EASIEST way to get started; It's slightly out of date since they keep updating so quickly but it is a good place to start.
But, if you don't mind the 1.7GB download, I'd go for that.

I've been uploading at a throttled 8kB/s for smeg-knows how long with a total of 10GB uploaded and it's still hammering out solidly at 8kB/s as I type!
(See, if they did 8MB DSL up AND down instead of some stupid crap like 8MB Up/512kB down I would bother upgrading my line!)


The launcher problems sound like you have weird options set; The Wiki has a (sketchy) guide to all the launcher options; Use that to configure yours.
If you're not sure about something, best to leave it off or ask here.

I'd post my launcher options as a guide but I don't have access to my games machine right now...

[Insomniac34]

I cant even OPEN the launcher to access the 'features' tab you spoke of. It gives me the error when I open the LAUNCHER, NOT FS2.

Listen, I can delete a multiplayer file if you need me too, I dont care about online play. It sucks cause even when I try and d/l a new loader it has the same problem.

[StratComm]

The launcher really shouldn't be crashing, but it it persists go to your FS2 directory and delete "launcher.ini" and/or "launcher6.ini".  If it still keeps happening, delete the launcher itself and re-download it.

And getting the graphical enhancements really isn't that hard.  To start off with (until you feel more comfortable picking things up from the community at large) you can get all of the extras that you need from http://scp.indiegames.us/download.php under the VP files section (get everything but mv_zpack and the last patch, and if you're system's not that great then skip mv_adveffects as well).

[tamshiwen]

Need more info on exactly what's hapenning when you try to open the launcher.  is it crashing when you open launcher.exe, or is it crashing when you click run in the launcher? What error is it giving you?

a couple common problems when trying to run freespace open: 

1.  it can't be in a folder with a space in it, so don't put freespace open in the program files folder.  put it in games instead. the path should look something like this: C:\Games\FreeSpace2

2.  If you are using a cvs build(if you don't know what that is, then you aren't using it), you need to install openal to run freespace open.

3.  you need to select a freespace open build for the launcher to open.  to do that, click on the browse button at the top of the launcher and choose one.  if the game still looks the same, then you need all the vp packs.  you can put them in the main folder, but the easiest way(if you have several mods) is to put them in their own folder in the freespace 2 folder and then the folder in the mods tab.

[Insomniac34]

fixed

[Insomniac34]

hey thanks Stratcomm, it worked. I deleted the INI file. OK, now back to the original problem of trying to get the graphics to be pretty. The game itself (the graphics) look like normal FS2, only the HUD has changed. So what should I do?

[StratComm]

EDIT: Nevermind.  See my last (edited) post for the best way to get the graphics.  And in the launcher, make sure you've checked 'enable specular' and 'enable glowmaps' at least.

[Insomniac34]

the file i deleted was called Launcher6, so doesnt that mean I have it?

[Insomniac34]

OK, I messed around and got my resolution up to 2048 by 1536, but now even the HUD features are missing...what did I do wrong? The hude features arent there anymore. And when I go to "select MOD", I cant find anything to select. There's the FS2 directory but it says theres nothing in it.

[StratComm]

It means you do.  If you didn't have it was when you'd have been in trouble, as the thing causing the crash would have been in the registry.

EDIT: Slow down dude! I can't keep up with your questions!

I've never tried the game at a resolution that high, so I can't help you much there.  However, I do know that it works at 1600x1200 resolution without any problems even though there are no HUD graphics for that resolution, and that even though they are "unsupported" higher resolutions at the 4:3 ratio generally work.  Stick with 1024x768 for now, and go up once you've got the additional graphical content working to your satisfaction.

[Insomniac34]

**** now it says  have launcher5. Where do I get Launcher6?  It's also now giving me an error when I try and open the Launcher again. Its that Microsoft thingy saying error occured would you liek to email Microsoft blahblah.

[StratComm]

It depends on where you look.  Launcherv6 still has a couple of places where it calls itself v5 if I remember correctly, specifically the title bar that actually is v5.3.  The presence of "launcher6.ini" is by itself an indication that you have the latest version.

Anyway, delete launcher6.ini again, run the launcher, and open the "features" tab.  There you will find a frame with the executable path and (perhaps) some flags.  Copy that data and paste it here, so we can see what you're trying to do.  You'll probably also need to update the executable that you're pointing to again.

[Insomniac34]

fixed

[Insomniac34]

ok my bad that picctures incorrect, i put in the path and heres what if gives me: C:\Games\FreeSpace2\fs2_open_367_p4.exe -spec -glow -pcx32 -jpgtga -d3dmipmap -nomotiondebris -2d_poof -cell -rlm -noscalevid -dualscanlines