Hard Light Productions Forums

Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Inferno => Topic started by: Chiss on February 15, 2008, 05:00:49 am

Title: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Chiss on February 15, 2008, 05:00:49 am
I installed SAH and i wonder which mode must be active in order for SAH to work properly...

AND an extremly noobish question: what is "Media vp's"??? Are they part of the game or something to download? This problem causes all of the campaigns for SCP except of INFR1 to run on Retail FS2 graphics...

Problem #3: My original (CD) version of FS2 is REALLY WEIRD. It has no voice wav's what so ever, so i had to enjoy complete silence in kinda 5 years.  (Even when I installed SCP, voices don't work) And... the FRED (both FRED original and FRED SCP) can't make campaigns. The question is... Should I download full FS2 from this site or HC or can I fix this problem some other way?? If i need to download it, can you link please?

And... can you guys suggest any good modelling programs (with a good tutorial too, i'm completely zero on those kinds of things)


Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 15, 2008, 09:06:27 am
I installed SAH and i wonder which mode must be active in order for SAH to work properly...
Are there any mentionings in the manual? I'm not swearing this in the name of Ba'al or anything, but it might require FSPort and InfR1.

Quote from: Chiss
AND an extremly noobish question: what is "Media vp's"??? Are they part of the game or something to download? This problem causes all of the campaigns for SCP except of INFR1 to run on Retail FS2 graphics...
If you take a look at your \freespace\ folder, you'll notice that there are vp files in there. vp files are containers, much like zips but without compression. MediaVPs are files that include high poly models and seriously revamped textures. The 3.6.10 MediaVPs also contain normal maps. You can find MediaVPs release threads from the FreeSpace Upgrade Project board. Or, you can use Turey's Installer to download them without unnecessary hassle. The Installer will download them to \freespace\mediavps and that's where you also might want to install them if you decide to download the manually. The MediaVPs are used by selecting the \mediavps\ folder from your Launcher's MOD tab.
In addition, you want to play a mod, like Derelict, but with the graphical enhancements provided by the MediaVPs, you'll need to have a mod.ini file in the mod folder, like Derelict in this case. You might want to take a look at the modding section of Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ, since it will explain the issue quite well. Better than I would, at least. But, again, if you use Turey's Installer, it should provide you with the necessary mod.ini files so that you don't need to think about the issue.

Quote from: Chiss
My original (CD) version of FS2 is REALLY WEIRD. It has no voice wav's what so ever, so i had to enjoy complete silence in kinda 5 years.  (Even when I installed SCP, voices don't work)
Apparently your stu_fs2.vp is either broken or missing altogether. I can't advertise this enough: run Turey's Installer over your FreeSpace installation. It should detect the flawed stu file and redownload it. If you notice no changes, remove the stu_fs2.vp from the folder and try again.

Links to both Turey's Installer and Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ can be found from my signature.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 15, 2008, 01:23:02 pm
Morale: -1  :(

Thread read 27 times, only one reply...and total exploitation of one of the most terrible aspects of the community, the almost complete lack of "how to get started with FS Open" sections. Oh, another problem... "only a few members care about newcomers and their problems".  :ick:

And there still is someone(maybe an Administrator? :rolleyes:) who doesn't want to focus the attention of the community on newcomers and their problems/requests. Go for the Welcoming Fiasco, Go!  :sigh:
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mongoose on February 15, 2008, 08:09:33 pm
Get over yourself, Mobius.  Lobo already posted a fine explanation up above; it's rather useless for anyone else to post help until the original poster provides more feedback.  And "an administrator" never once spoke against focusing on the problems of new players; what he spoke out against was the utterly asinine practice of not-so-new players creating some childish game out of "targeting" new players with an old and tired board meme.  Also, the presence of an entire section (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_Started%28Main%29) in the site's wiki dedicated to new players get started seems to have slipped your mind.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: terran_emperor on February 16, 2008, 07:26:50 pm
Sol: A History Requires INF R1, preferebly with the SCP patch
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 05:01:31 am
Preferably WITHOUT the SCP patch.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: terran_emperor on February 17, 2008, 05:57:36 am
Actually it worked fine for me with the SCP patch...I was getting model bugs galore without it - When i got past a certain distance, the models of ships were replaced by orange flying triangluar wedges. Now that may be because i screwed up somewhere in SCP instalation but this before i know about Trurey's installer or could download it
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 06:00:16 am
Technically the SCP patch messes up the tables for SAH or something. This is why Woomeister has stated that if you're modding INF SCP (when it comes out :P) then you should always be using a modular table (.tbm) in case a new patch comes out and messes everything up.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: terran_emperor on February 17, 2008, 06:06:44 am
I do remember getting those. I just went in and edited the TBLs so that the errors went away. But Adding the SCP patch removed that graphics error that i got
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 06:08:15 am
It must have been a texture error, then... Did you get the same thing on INFR1 or only on SAH?
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 06:17:13 am
Get over yourself, Mobius.  Lobo already posted a fine explanation up above; it's rather useless for anyone else to post help until the original poster provides more feedback.  And "an administrator" never once spoke against focusing on the problems of new players; what he spoke out against was the utterly asinine practice of not-so-new players creating some childish game out of "targeting" new players with an old and tired board meme.  Also, the presence of an entire section (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_Started%28Main%29) in the site's wiki dedicated to new players get started seems to have slipped your mind.

4 hours between the first and the second post. 4 hours during which the thread has been ignored. It's easy to consider "childish" something you don't know :rolleyes:

Technically the SCP patch messes up the tables for SAH or something. This is why Woomeister has stated that if you're modding INF SCP (when it comes out :P) then you should always be using a modular table (.tbm) in case a new patch comes out and messes everything up.

I thought it was for stability reasons, with or without patches.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: terran_emperor on February 17, 2008, 06:21:45 am
@ Snail
I got the Same thing for R1...it was very surreal seeing formless shapes blowing eachother to scrop

I aslo got it for the FS2 campaign, but that was be cause i didnt have all the right VPs installed
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 06:29:19 am
@ Snail
I got the Same thing for R1...it was very surreal seeing formless shapes blowing eachother to scrop

I aslo got it for the FS2 campaign, but that was be cause i didnt have all the right VPs installed

In that case it had nothing to do with S:AH, it was the messed up crap of INFR1 running on SCP (unpredictable things can happen when you do this). It is advisable NOT to use the SCP patch with S:AH since they have conflicting tables or something.

I thought it was for stability reasons, with or without patches.

Well the thing is, if you modify the table itself, when the new patches come out, they will either take no effect OR completely break your modded table. If you use .tbms, then the patches will have no problem in fixing the bugs without damaging your .tbms. At least that's how I see it. But I guess stability reasons are also important...
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: feltoar on February 17, 2008, 06:47:52 am
Speaking as someone who recently discovered and started using FSO I can say without a doubt that getting into it is hostile. The FAQ and Wiki proved to be completely useless with the exception for providing the FSO automatic installer.

The only reason I got as far as I did was because of my general computer knowledge and pure desire to get into some space combat (I fondly remember Xwing Alliance). It took me a while to find the latest OpenAL (and I only knew what it was and why it was needed, and that I didnt have it because of basic computer knowledge) I played FS2 for 3 days before I realised why everyone said not to use Direct3D... list goes on. I also wanted to know what a mediavp was at one point (what eventually gave it away was a list of what was in the 3.6.8 mediavps written in the thread).

Some knowledge taken for granted by the community who have been involved for so long.

Ive kind of motivated myself to make some changes/additions to the Wiki. It would be more constructive than complaining.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 06:52:22 am
In your face, Mefustae! :P

Mobius was wrong? :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 07:25:28 am
The most important thing, feltoar, is that everyone's happy (except Mobius, he'll always be beyond happiness and beyond the realm of human understanding).
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 07:38:18 am
4 hours between the first and the second post. 4 hours during which the thread has been ignored. It's easy to consider "childish" something you don't know :rolleyes:[/color][/i]
As much as we all would want to keep watch here for any technical or other issues 24/7, Real LifeTM just tends to get in the way. Repeatedly. And even if people happen to read the thread, they might not know what to say. And at least I try to follow a simple ideology: if you can't assist with a problem, it is most likely the best option to just shut up. I know I break the rule occasionally, but I don't have a habit of posting something completely irrelevant to support plea threads.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 07:44:18 am
You need 4 hours to get someone available to explain what the media vps are? :wtf: :P
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 07:49:53 am
Typing "mediavps make FS2 purdy" doesn't take long but the person asking about them will still be like :confused: after an answer like that.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 08:02:19 am
That's the best a member can write, in your opinion? Everyone here knows how to use the mediavps and should be able to come out with a better explanation.
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 08:24:34 am
It really, really, depends on how much time a person has. Or what situation is he in. I, for example, might be unable to reply since I have to leave in order to make it to the bus stop in time. Or I might have a lecture/exam coming up and, needless to say, I have to be there on time. Other people are also sure to have schedules to obey and if they don't have time to write an extensive and accurate yet easily understandable response, they most likely won't.

My first post on this thread took place on Friday, a little past 1700, local time. I had been doing an exam on transport phenomena at 1200-1600. So I hope you'll understand that I just didn't have the opportunity to reply sooner. I am deeply sorry that I participated that exam. Maybe I'll skip the one on Tuesday so that I can monitor HLP in case someone needs help on some matter, so that I can reply within a minute of the first post.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 08:50:33 am
If I have time to visit HLP and read a thread I have time to post on it, too.
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 08:55:52 am
But that doesn't necessarily hold true for everyone. At uni I often come and check out the latest posts quickly. If there's a tech support request, I might read it half-arsed and think: "I'll read this through thoroughly and offer assistance once I get home" but I won't have time to start typing a long and detail intensive reply immediately.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 09:07:46 am
This is not a tech support request. This one required 3 lines, dammit!
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 10:01:06 am
Well there was this one time I was at the school library, it was getting dark and I decided to write a long-winded post about the differences between the FS1 Shivans and the FS2 Shivans and how I liked the FS1 Shivans more than the FS2 Shivans. Then I realized it was 10 pm. :P
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 10:09:11 am
This is not a tech support request. This one required 3 lines, dammit!
Please write exactly 3 lines where you explain what the MediaVPs are, how they function, how can you modify them, where should they be installed, how to avoid problems and bugs and how to operate mod.inis. In the manner that a less experienced person, such as a newcomer, can also easily understand it.

Edit: Come to think of it, we're, like, so off-topic here. Would some kind moderator/administrator/other omnipotent entity move this somewhere away from this thread? Something along the lines of "Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure."?
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 10:20:02 am
It was about "what they are", not "how to use them properly".
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 10:25:15 am
So what you're saying is, you can't do it. Thought so. If a person asks what the mediavps are, my sense of logic says that surely he would also like to know how the hell he is supposed to use them. Right? Or am I assuming too much? Maybe he already knows how to use mediavps. Maybe he has already modified them and done many great things; he just doesn't know what they are.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 10:28:50 am
I can describe them in about 3 lines. And I don't need to write how to use them, The FAQTM has everything necessary.

In your face :P
Title: Re: Excessive debate about the cruelty that newcomers have to endure.
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 17, 2008, 10:31:51 am
Äitis oli ku sua teki ja isäs on vieläki.

But the FAQ, in all it's glory and magnificence, might be too big and overwhelming to newcomers to handle. And it's a bit outdated as well.

But I bid you fare well now. I must study organic chemistry, which is a helluvalot more fun than this debate.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Mobius on February 17, 2008, 10:33:37 am
It's stupid to have a thread with this name in Inferno.

Äitis oli ku sua teki ja isäs on vieläki.

Scusa, io non parlo la tua lingua!

But the FAQ, in all it's glory and magnificence, might be too big and overwhelming to newcomers to handle. And it's a bit outdated as well.

3 lines are enough to describe the Media VPs and add a link :P

But I bid you fare well now. I must study organic chemistry, which is a helluvalot more fun than this debate.

 :lol:
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Snail on February 17, 2008, 11:04:33 am
But I bid you fare well now. I must study organic chemistry, which is a helluvalot more fun than this debate.

You are no more welcome at the Inferno night cafe.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: feltoar on February 17, 2008, 06:11:06 pm
I was agreeing with Mobius until he mentioned the Wiki. First of all, you would have to know what a wiki was before you would try opening it to even see the Getting Started guide and the search box where you first have to assume to search for "mediavps". Add a perminant link for the Getting Started FAQ on the front page at hard-light.net.

Secondly the description on the wiki isnt very much help at all. Not a scrap in there about the mp-710 files for the 3.6.9 mediavps and nothing in there about the merge of mv_textures and mv_models in the latest release (it still has an old list).

Since a few of you say you dont have enough time for all this stuff why not come up with a solution? Automate stuff. Put all major release information such as new executables and mediavps into a sub-forum (disable new threads for regular members). Then use SMFs built in capability to generate an RSS feed based on that sub-forum. Use that RSS feed on the front page of the site, preferably using a pre-existing extension for MODx. You could tidely make a "Latest MediaVPs" box there. "[SNIPPET] xslt" from the MODx website looks like it might do the job. Same goes for the latest executables.

Then be sure to write up a decent explaination of the mediavps in the major threads. Like I mentioned before, I needed to see the official 3.6.8 thread before I realised what was going on, that was because the latest one didnt make any sense out of context. Get into the habit of cut and pasting a short yet useful description that says where to put them, what old files you dont need anymore and what they actually do.

That might sound pointless, but trust me it isnt. The search for these forums isnt very useful. I just tried searching "3.6.8" to try and find the thread and explain why it was better than the latest one, but alas I didnt find it. Imagine the effort one needs to know what the latest release was? Same goes for the executables. I had to make a post asking for someone to link me to the latest beta executable.
Title: Re: Ja tervetuloa jälleen Mitä Vittua -tietovisan pariin, tuttuun tapaan...
Post by: Jeff Vader on February 18, 2008, 01:57:07 am
There are actually many places that provide information for dummies, such as kara's FAQ and the SCP website, but they're all, like, so outdated. There have been people here who register then start a problem thread stating "Hi, I just dowloaded the latest SCP (3.6.7) and I'm getting errors, plz help  ;)". I, too, originally downloaded **** from the SCP website before actually discovering Hard Light.

But I bid you fare well now. I must study organic chemistry, which is a helluvalot more fun than this debate.

You are no more welcome at the Inferno night cafe.
What? You have something against chemistry? Oh wait, I forgot. Earth is flat and the universe revolves around it.

But the FAQ, in all it's glory and magnificence, might be too big and overwhelming to newcomers to handle. And it's a bit outdated as well.

3 lines are enough to describe the Media VPs and add a link :P
But the FAQ, in all it's glory and magnificence, might be too big and overwhelming to newcomers to handle. And it's a bit outdated as well.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Chiss on March 04, 2008, 06:31:42 am
Sol: A History Requires INF R1, preferebly with the SCP patch

I disabled INFR1 and started Sol: A history campaign #1. The briefing seemed to go fine until i pressed the commit button. As you know, the ship/weapons selection in the first mission is locked, and i got the "Player **** have not selected place in player wing" or something like that...
 
The other campaigns seem to be working though

And i had some other questions::

1. What is the absolutely largest ship among all of FS2:s campaigns, mods, etc. (gargant??)

2. What is the absolutely largest stationary object among -"- (earth model in INFR1??)

3. The most powerful beam weapon (USilv?)

4. The most powerful missile/torpedo

5. The most powerful primary weapon
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Macfie on March 04, 2008, 07:40:16 am
Here is a version of Sol A History that will work with FSOpen.  It should install with its own folder.  The tables were modified to work with a normal version of FSOpen.  I.E. does not require an inferno build.  This requires INFR1 and the SCP patch.
The folder for INFR1 should be labeled InfernoR1 or you must change the mod file from InfernoR1 to whatever your inferno file is labeled.

http://files.filefront.com/Sol+A+Historyzip/;8679092;/fileinfo.html
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Chiss on March 06, 2008, 04:53:04 am
I know, this sounds stupid; but is there a version of the Turey Installer (entire or separately) to *get* without requiring immideate internet connection (i've not been connected for a while now)?

And, if I "don't have" MediaVP:s, how come INFR1 is running on SCP graphics?
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Jeff Vader on March 06, 2008, 04:57:34 am
I know, this sounds stupid; but is there a version of the Turey Installer (entire or separately) to *get* without requiring immideate internet connection (i've not been connected for a while now)?
The way of Turey's Installer is to download FSO and related materials from the Interwebs. So, no. But, you can download FSO with it on a computer that has the Interwebs and then use storage media of your choice to transfer FSO from that computer to another. Like a DVD, a usb stick or an external HDD. Since no registry entries are created during the download, you can just copy the \freespace\ folder to another computer and then start running it.
Title: Re: Sol - A History problem + other questions?
Post by: Colonol Dekker on March 09, 2008, 04:16:58 pm
Do i really need to download that version? I just need a SCP patch for it. I've got infR1 and the SCP patch.