[Jeff Vader]

Prepare for a big message.

Likewise.

Don't start flaming, Lobo.

I am not flaming. I am irritated by the fact that you refuse to listen.

I put all the campaigns into my main FS2 folder (C./Games/Freespace2). I start up the FS2 Launcher, go to the campaign selecting menu and there are NO new campaigns there.

According to the screenshot you have all your mods in their own subfolders. So, up to this point we're doing OK.

So what I do is...

I open each campaign folder (For Example: C./Games/Freespace2/CardinalSpear). In the CardinalSpear folder I see two files/folders I must open, fsport-cardinalspear and fsport-cardinalspear-voice. These are both VP files. I open each one. Inside the first one are: Effects, Tables, 8b20k, Models, Missions, Maps and Cache. Each of them is named after a folder in the main Data folder for FS2. I said nothing about having to create an entirely new data folder. I need to put/extract/zip or whatever to the corresponding folders in the main data folder.

And this is where it all goes wrong. No. I say no. Once more: NO. The vps are ready to use. You do not need to extract them. Seriously, if you were here, you could see tears flowing from my eyes. You do not need to extract anything. The point is, that when you want to play Cardinal Spear, you open Launcher.exe (yes, the FSO Launcher), then open the MOD tab, then click Browse, then select the FOLDER of the mod you want to use (in this case \cardinalspear\), then click OK, then Apply, then Run. The game starts, you create a new pilot, then open the Campaign room and Voila: The Cardinal Spear campaigns are there.

Now, the Tables file in fsport-cardinalspear contains a file named Weapons.tbl. I have no doupt that this is what took away all the weapons from the game. The cardinal spear campaign is saposed to take place during the Terran vasudan war I believe, which would explain the loss of all FS2 weapons. I have now taken away the weapons.tbl file but there are still no weapons.

Yes. And this is also the reason why you should always leave \freespace2\data\ alone. You have no reason to put anything in it.

This is my main FS2 folder. Messy, I know, but it still works. It allways has. I had those Campaign folders for ages and nothing has gone wrong since, until I installed the rest of them.

Yes. \freespace2\ works. The problem lies with your \freespace2\data\.

This is my main Data Folder. The individual VP's in the VP files are now in their corresponding folder. I have been doing this ever since I started using these campaigns which means I am doing everything right. The Weapons.tbl must have something to do with the problem with weapons. As you can see, I have the Tables folder highlighted. The Tables folder contained the Weapons.tbl before I took it out, meaning that the weapons.tbl folder has had a lasting effect on the game.

I'm going to say this again, just so that you'd listen for a change. Don't extract anything. Just leave the vps to their subfolders and select the desired subfolder with the Launcher. You're doing things in such a complicated way that it almost makes me sick.

If you say that everything is all wrong, then thats tough, because I have been installing campaigns this way ever since I started using them, and that was a long time ago. Its only recently that I have no weapons in any of the missions.

Not everything is wrong. Just your \freespace2\data\ folder. So, do this: rename your \data\ folder to \data-old\. Then, create a new folder inside \freespace2\, called \data\. Next, copy \players\ from \data-old\ to \data\. Then, please do it the right way and use the Launcher to select the mod you want to play. Don't extract things. If you place many different mods together, they will interfere with each other and cause problems, like missing weapons.

K? You now have been briefed on what your FSO-related problem is and how you can fix it. If you refuse to accept the facts, no one can help you anymore.

If you don't want to believe me, at least believe Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ, particularly the section about installing mods.

[ShivanEmperor]

Okey, as I am a man of politeness I thank you for your help. I still do not see the meaning for your agression. Hopefully this matter is resolved now.

[Jeff Vader]

Okey, as I am a man of politeness I thank you for your help.

As a mentally unstable but still "sane" person, I'm glad I was able to be of assistance.

I still do not see the meaning for your agression.

As I stated, I was getting edgy because I had to repeatedly ask for the contents of your \freespace2\ and \data\ folders. Not to mention telling you that "unpacking" vp files is highly unnecessary. To me it's pretty obvious that if you want help here, it's not enough to just say "please help". We need some information from you before we can determine the problem and assist you in fixing it. Most of the time, and also in this case, that needed information was the contents of your \freespace2\and \data\folders. We must have asked for that information for half a dozen times. And did you notice one thing? Immediately after you finally posted those screens we were able to solve the problem.

Hopefully this matter is resolved now.

Does that mean you got it working?

[ShivanEmperor]

Nope, its all working fine now. Thanks for the help, but remember, sometimes FS2 directories can be a bit confusing. After several tries of giving you the info you asked for, I finally found out how to upload the images. And I finnaly understood what you were saying. Thanks for the help anyway!

[Jeff Vader]

Yeah, I suppose I can be quite unclear sometimes. And pardon me for sounding rude. I've had back pains since yesterday and today I even got a headache. That sort of lowers my temper.

But also, I really do recommend that you familiarized yourself with installing and using mods the easy way. The way you described is unnecessarily complicated and potentially dangerous.

The point of mod folders is that you can have many mods on your computer and adjacent to your FreeSpace installation without the need to constantly move the files around. You just have every one in a subfolder, like Derelict in \freespace2\derelict and so on. Then, you just use Launcher.exe to select the desired mod or mods.

Also, the purpose of vps seemed to be a bit lost for you. They are used by the game engine as a data source and that's why they have a \data\folder and subsequent subfolders in them. You must have noticed that there are no or very few retail files in \freespace2\data\. That's because all the files are in the retail vp files in your \freespace2\ folder. You haven't extracted them and still the game works. It's because the game engine reads vp files too. And this is why there is no need to extract the contents of a vp, if you've been provided with one.

Then, a few words about priorities. The game engine reads and uses vp files and \data\ folders according to a few rules:

1. A selected mod folder overrides \freespace2\.
2. A vp that comes first alphabetically overrides the ones that come after it. For example, Root_fs2.vp is read and used before stu_fs2.vp because R is before S alpabetically.
3. Files in the \data\folder override files in vps. This is why I told you to leave \freespace2\data\ alone since the files you placed in there, especially the Cardinal Spear tables, affected the whole game in your case.

I don't suppose there is anything else. Well, there are the mod.ini files, but if you just use the Installer to get mods, you don't need to worry about it for now.

[ktistai228]

Hi. I have a small problem. I downloaded FSSCP a few days ago, or FSO as you call it, and I loved it. Because I finished it today, i went in and downloaded Cardinal Spear along with FSport, but neither of them work properly. When i open the Cardinal Spear, i have the same problem in the tech room, i hear Sam saying something and this appears:
Error: Can't open model file <fighter04.pof>
File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 1902
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
and then it crashes. Same with the campaign.
With FSport there is another problem. The campaign works, but i have no bloody weapons. And just preventive, no i didn't meddle with my vp's. I downloaded them and selected them through the launcher. I even followed that thing with the registry. Anybody has any ideas as how to sort this out?

[Jeff Vader]

I suspect it is once again the fact that even though you've selected a mod from the Launcher, you've forgotten to select the appropriate campaign from the in-game Campaign Room. Those errors occur when you try to play a campaign with a wrong mod, such as the FS2 campaign with FSPort.

[Stormkeeper]

So to sum up; when you switch mods, makes sure the first thing you do is to enter the campaign room and switch to the appropriate campaign. To make it simpler, finish the mod that you're playing first before switching campaigns.