[fsi.scsi]

so... I installed fs2_open on one of the school PCs a while back with some old mediavps (can't remember if they were 3.6.7 or 3.6.6 or what), and a few days ago I upgraded the mediavps to 3.6.8. 

I opened up fs2_open, and went to the techroom to see the shiny new models, and what did i actually see? Nothing! I could see the colored glow lights all right, but no actual models showed except for the Hercules and HMII.  The odd thing is that the game functioned perfectly with the old mediavps. 

The PC is a P4 1.8 GHz with 512 MB ram and a 32 MB nVidia Riva TNT2 graphics card.  Older but still performs better than my laptop 
The options I've enabled are specular, envmaps, glow, jpgtga.  I've fiddled around with all of them and nothing seems to work.  The VP files are intact though and all the models are there, just not showing in either the lab, techroom, or ingame.

[Mars]

Did you upgrade fs_open itself? Or just the VPs

Also... what flags are you using for startup?

[Turey]

did you select mediavps as your mod? Are you using 3.6.9 Final Executables?

If you want to make sure that you've got everything up-to-date, download the Installer in my sig, run the Updater, select your FreeSpace2 directory, then hit "All Sections" and "Yes to all", and leave it running overnight.

[fsi.scsi]

Did you upgrade fs_open itself? Or just the VPs

Also... what flags are you using for startup?

I did upgrade fs_open.    It's the latest stable release 3.6.9.

Flags, as I said before, are:

Enable Specular
Enable Glowmaps
Enable Environment Maps
Enable JPG/TGA Textures
Enable Mipmapping

did you select mediavps as your mod? Are you using 3.6.9 Final Executables?

If you want to make sure that you've got everything up-to-date, download the Installer in my sig, run the Updater, select your FreeSpace2 directory, then hit "All Sections" and "Yes to all", and leave it running overnight.

I'm using 3.6.9 final; the thing is, everything functions perfectly on my laptop with the exact same settings and files, just not on this PC. 
I got the files from your installer 

[Wanderer]

Why do i have a nagging feeling that 32 MB nVidia Riva TNT2 & HTL is your problem...

[fsi.scsi]

If that were the problem, then the game wouldn't even function on my machine, which for the longest while had only 32 MB of video memory.  yet all the models showed up perfectly on it.  Plus, my problem is that certain textures are not showing - for example, the Ulysses is invisible except for colored flashing lights.  The high-poly Hercules and HMII display perfectly with no lag though. 

Even with a 32 MB Riva TNT2 my school PC still outperforms my laptop 

[Turey]

try hitting F3 at the main hall. If you can see LOD1 or LOD2 of a ship, but not LOD0, then it's probably your graphics card.

[fsi.scsi]

try hitting F3 at the main hall. If you can see LOD1 or LOD2 of a ship, but not LOD0, then it's probably your graphics card.

f3's the 'lab', right?  I've done that already, and none of the LODs are showing.

[karajorma]

To be honest I think it is the problem and even if it isn't you'll have others. The TNT 2 doesn't support HTL and that's a requirement of FS2_Open.

[fsi.scsi]

Is there any way short of reverting to old mediavps to make models visible?

[Turey]

Is there any way short of reverting to old mediavps to make models visible?

Don't use mediavps. Any of the HTL models shouldn't work on your machine.

[jakeslogan]

Arghhh, I've encountered the same problem, too. , and I've discovered that I can see the ships which I couldn't see in mediavp with MODVIW32, and ships I could see while playing freespace2 using mediavp like Herc, etc,... didn't appear in MODVIW32. By the way, any1 know how to extract the *.vp files???

[Turey]

VPView. Comes with my Installer, or get it off of Kara' FAQ.