[bolero]

Hey guys.  I'm having a problem with adding backgrounds to my Fred2_open missions.  Well sorta.  I downloaded i believe the lightspeed nebulea backgrounds.  I put them into the Derilect folder under data/effects as i believe that campaign uses those.  I also put them into freespaces root data/effects folder... but when i play my missions with the derilect mod off, the backgrounds dont show in my personal missions, but when derilect is on, the backgrounds show in my missions.  Would anyone know why this is?

-Bolero

[karajorma]

The derelict mod has a copy of stars.tbl which tells the game all about the new backgrounds in one of the VPs. When you run with no mods FS2 only finds the original retail version of stars.tbl so it doesn't know that the new backgrounds even exist.

I strongly advise against installing anything in \Data anyway. You should install those files to the mediavps\Data folder instead along with a copy of the stars.tbl which you either missed in the nebulae pack you downloaded or can extract from the Derelict VPs using VPView.

[bolero]

Well i seem to have a problem with this mediavps folder.  I created that folder, put my MV_*.* files in there yet they dont work when i load up he game. They do however work when they are in FS2's root folder. I believe i am using the official 3.6.7 build.

Also hopefully you look but a quick question about compatibility.  Would a current CVS Fred mission not work with an old version of FS2_Open? I seemed to have that problem once.  Also would an older version of fred missions not work with newer FS2_open?   Also saving the file in a newer fred and opening it in an older fred doesnt work, that is expected to happen correct? Im just curious about compatibility

-Bolero

[karajorma]

Well i seem to have a problem with this mediavps folder.  I created that folder, put my MV_*.* files in there yet they dont work when i load up he game. They do however work when they are in FS2's root folder. I believe i am using the official 3.6.7 build.

Did you go to the mod tab in the launcher and select your mediavps folder as your mod? The media VPs won't automatically work from the media VPs folder. You have to run them as if they were a mod. The advantage of doing things this way is better compatibility and also you can turn them off with a few mouse clicks to check whether they are the source of a crash or not.

Also hopefully you look but a quick question about compatibility.  Would a current CVS Fred mission not work with an old version of FS2_Open?

Depends on how much older. You could probably get away with a couple of weeks difference depending on what has been added in the meanwhile and whether or not you are using it. In general it is a bad idea to do this especially when there is a large gap. CVS FRED builds from pretty much any time this year make missions that are guaranteed tobreak 3.6.7. 

Also would an older version of fred missions not work with newer FS2_open?

This is a lot safer. There are a few little problems (ai-chase-any-except has been removed for instance) which can cause you problems but there is a reasonably good chance that FRED missions from fairly old builds will open in modern FS2_Open.

Also saving the file in a newer fred and opening it in an older fred doesnt work, that is expected to happen correct?

Yep. That probably isn't going to work for the same reason opening it in FS2. In fact both are parsing the mission through the same code so if CVS from one date won't open in FRED it almost certainly won't open in the corresponding CVS build of FS2_Open.


The general rule of thumb to follow is always try to use a build of FRED which is older or the same age as the build of FS2. The same age means that they are more likely to be compatible but also means that they may suffer from the same bugs.

[bolero]

sweet thanks for the information, very helpful.

I am pretty outdated on my builds of both FS2 and FRED.  I had backups of my missions luckily, and noticed that after they were opened and modified with new fred, they did not work with my 3.6.7, as you have mentioned. I guess i havnt upgraded due to fear of breaking compatibility with my missions and losing my data.

-Bolero