[scratch]

Hello all, just registered, i got note of your (quite huge as i see) project here via planet-fiction.de, a german science fiction gaming site. So i downloaded the Freespace SCP 1.5c recently and i'm having quite some fun with it. Looks incredible for a six-year old game, great work guys!

Now, i'm having a hard time getting used to this forum as it is quite complex around here. That's the main reason why i'm asking following questions, the other reason is that i'm getting crashes now and then which is starting to annoy me the bigger the missions become. I'd like to update my FS2 SCP in order to see if that solves the crash problem, i know that i should file an error report, but i want to try it this way first.

So, the questions:

- Which CVS do i need (What does CVS mean anyway?)? There seem to be several different versions:

3.6.7 posted by WMCoolmon http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,35266.0.html
3.6.9 R3 posted by taylor http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40557.0.html
17th May Build posted by karajorma http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,39842.0.html

Why so many? What are the differences?

- Downloaded Launcher.exe version pre-5.4, is that the latest? Side-question: Which 3D API is recommended? OpenGL or Direct3D?

- Last thing would be the MediaVPs (i'm playing the original SP atm), the latest seems to be that one:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,39905.0.html

In this topic the CVS by karajorma is linked, so do i need exactly this CVS?


That's it. Thanks for helping me out.

[Wanderer]

CVS... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_Versions_System

First read Karajorma's FreeSpace FAQ carefully

Also read ShivanSPS guide how to patch his 1.5c version to 1.8 version... Here

Then download the 3.6.9 RC2 package and you should get included the 5.4 launcher. Then download the 3.6.9 RC3 package and use 3.6.9 builds. CVS builds are ment more for modders and such rather than to casual gamers. As for mediavps i would download 3.6.9 zetas and then also the two alpha patches from the 3.6.9 RC3 thread. So...

Build: 3.6.9 RC3
Launcher: 5.4
MediaVPs: 3.6.9zeta + alpha patches

Oh.. and

[scratch]

Oh, that's some more info for me, i thought i almost figured it out, lol. All the information in the SCP topic (i was there before in order to download the pack) was somewhat overwhelming and there was no clear indication that the updates have to be done by myself, thought they were the updates for this build, so i didn't take another look there to figure it out.

Thanks!

Ah, not to forget: Shivan mentiones that i should use the 17th may CVS build from karajorma in the SCP topic. But i guess it's ok to use the 3.6.9 RC3?

[Shade]

It can be a bit overwhelming at first. But, it should be getting better - The reason for the massive amount of different builds floating around is that the 3.6.7 release had some problematic bugs in it, which meant people were forced to use CVS builds (builds based on the current state of the code), which in turn meant a lot of potential for confusion as the actual purpose of the CVS builds is not to be used in place of official releases, but to be used for testing new features and bug fixes. So that meant a lot of different builds floating around, all supporting different feature sets.

Fortunately though, once 3.6.9 final is done and released, that should be (and more importantly remain) the version to have for everyone, and CVS builds will return to being used for their intended purpose. Some changes have been made to make sure 3.6.9 can recieve bugfixes without also introducing new ones from new features, whereas before it was all or nothing. So it will be getting much less confusing once that is released

Oh, and definitely go with OpenGL, it is in far better shape than D3D support.

[scratch]

It is overwhelming indeed - at first i even downloaded about 50% of an old SCP build until i noticed that there is a newer one.

So thanks to you Shade, too - now i understand this CVS stuff. So this means the 3.6.7 was kinda broken, that's the reason why Shivan linked the 17th May CVS build by karajorma. And now the new version 3.6.9 is a "final" build which i can use without problems.

Right?

[Shade]

Yep, once released, 3.6.9 should be what everyone uses for normal play until the next official release happens (which should be a while). And while futher updates will happen as bugs are found and fixed, the feature set of that build will mostly stay the same so there should not be any more of the current problems where stuff works on one build and doesn't on another.

There may be some incompatibility problems with mods (including MediaVPs) though until they update their media to be compliant with the new graphical features introduced with 3.6.9, which can already be seen with the release candidates, but that should only be a matter of time. And more importantly, once they work, they should keep working on every subsequent bugfix-update.

Test and CVS builds will still be around of course, but they should only be used for testing or by people who really know what they're doing and don't mind crashes or incompatibilities.

[scratch]

I guess this was the problem with my crashes, the SCP pack used a build from karajorma, a CVS perhaps? I'm not sure if the crashes are gone, but now i could finish the mission where i have to escort three freighters to the Colossus without problems, hell, i don't even have slowdowns anymore and it looks way more incredible than with the 1.5c pack! Thanks again guys!

Another question: My soundcard is a Creative Audigy 2 ZS which is capable of OpenAL. Could i use "Generic Hardware" or the soundcard itself in the drop-down menu in the launcher? I can hear the difference of software and hardware sound very clearly.

[karajorma]

The idea is to have official builds for players and development (CVS) builds for people who work on campaigns. The problem is that it's been ages since we actually managed to release a stable enough official build for that to actually work. All the official builds have tended to have little problems that resulted in having to get people to use CVS builds even though they are really not supposed to be used by average users.

The May 17th build was a development build (and it wasn't even the most stable build from around that time as some major changes were introduced only 3-4 days earlier). When 3.6.9 is out we'll have to pursuade ShivanSPS to put together a v2.0 version of his pack which has only official releases in it .

[Shade]

Definitely Should wait for updated mediaVPs (no beta/gamma/delta/zeta patch packs) as well as let the included mods get a chance to update their own media though, otherwise it'll just lead to problems once people come complaining of bugs that are not bugs at all but simply obsolete media content.

Anyway, the current release canditates are in my experience already the most stable builds of the last half year or so, which bodes very well for the final release.

[scratch]

The idea is to have official builds for players and development (CVS) builds for people who work on campaigns. The problem is that it's been ages since we actually managed to release a stable enough official build for that to actually work. All the official builds have tended to have little problems that resulted in having to get people to use CVS builds even though they are really not supposed to be used by average users.

The May 17th build was a development build (and it wasn't even the most stable build from around that time as some major changes were introduced only 3-4 days earlier). When 3.6.9 is out we'll have to pursuade ShivanSPS to put together a v2.0 version of his pack which has only official releases in it .

Yeah, i completely understand that, but initially i was kind of lost in the forums here as you almost literally have to dig out information. Also, being a german doesn't make this process easier.

Anyway, it's amazing what's going on here. Keep up the good work!

PS: Regarding the Audigy 2 ZS (my previous post).. anyone?

[Shade]

If it doesn't lead to crashes, use whichever sounds better.