[blackfirefox]

So today I was browsing the web and decided to check on BTRL, to my surprise it is no longer available, it is dead.  So I did some more research looking for more information and I remembered this site.

So I will just cut to the chase, I have purchased FreeSpace 2 from GOG and I will install it tonight, I have also downloaded FreeSpace Open Installer 3.6.12 to install as well, I did some reading so I also downloaded OpenAL Installer.  Now for the question, I know you have been waiting for it.  When I unzipped the FreeSpace Open Installer it had 4 exe files and 2 .pdb files.  Which one do I choose

1) Fred2_open_3_6_12d_inf.exe
2) Fred2_open_3_6_12r_inf.exe
3) fs2_open_3_6_12d_inf.exe
 or
4) fs2_open_3_6_12r_inf.exe

I am a little confused but I am totally amped about installing all of this and seeing FreeSpace 2 with the new graphics.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Sorry If I did not read enough to find out what to do, I know nothing of modding, I just enjoy a good game.

Thanks
Mike

[Deadly in a Shadow]

So today I was browsing the web and decided to check on BTRL, to my surprise it is no longer available, it is dead.  So I did some more research looking for more information and I remembered this site.

So I will just cut to the chase, I have purchased FreeSpace 2 from GOG and I will install it tonight, I have also downloaded FreeSpace Open Installer 3.6.12 to install as well, I did some reading so I also downloaded OpenAL Installer.  Now for the question, I know you have been waiting for it.  When I unzipped the FreeSpace Open Installer it had 4 exe files and 2 .pdb files.  Which one do I choose

1) Fred2_open_3_6_12d_inf.exe
2) Fred2_open_3_6_12r_inf.exe
3) fs2_open_3_6_12d_inf.exe
 or
4) fs2_open_3_6_12r_inf.exe

I am a little confused but I am totally amped about installing all of this and seeing FreeSpace 2 with the new graphics.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Sorry If I did not read enough to find out what to do, I know nothing of modding, I just enjoy a good game.

Thanks
Mike

Use the fourth one. The FRED executables are "mission editors". The "r" means release and "d" means debug.

[Snail]

The executable for playing is fs2_open_3_6_12r_inf.exe

The ones starting in "fred" are the mission editor executables, the ones with "3_6_12d" are debug builds which output a comedy of errors if you need help fixing bugs.

[General Battuta]

Yep, use the last one until someone asks you to generate a debug log - in that case the second to last one will help you out.

[Jeff Vader]

Yes, use the last one.

[FelixJim]

Yep, use the last one until someone asks you to generate a debug log - in that case the second to last one will help you out.

You do mean UNLESS...right?

[General Battuta]

Yep, use the last one until someone asks you to generate a debug log - in that case the second to last one will help you out.

You do mean UNLESS...right?

I suspect it is an inevitability my comrade

[Mongoose]

I wonder if it would be beneficial for the SCP to adopt a slightly more user-friendly naming convention for builds, at least in the case of official releases.  It'd be much easier to tell the user to use the executable with "Release" or "Debug" in the file name instead of having them hunt through the underscores for a single letter.

[Jeff Vader]

I wonder if it would be beneficial for the SCP to adopt a slightly more user-friendly naming convention for builds, at least in the case of official releases.  It'd be much easier to tell the user to use the executable with "Release" or "Debug" in the file name instead of having them hunt through the underscores for a single letter.

There has been talk of exactly this. Basically the build a regular user is supposed to use would simply be "fs2_open_3_6_14.exe" or equivalent, and any other variants would be clearly separated, such as "fs2_open_3_6_14_DEBUG.exe" etc.

[mjn.mixael]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=76340.0

[General Battuta]

I wonder if it would be beneficial for the SCP to adopt a slightly more user-friendly naming convention for builds, at least in the case of official releases.  It'd be much easier to tell the user to use the executable with "Release" or "Debug" in the file name instead of having them hunt through the underscores for a single letter.

Yeah I whined about this and the good folk are doing stuff

[jg18]

Might I add that it would also be nice if the naming conventions were consistent across all three platforms. The OS X builds use different names from the others.

[blackfirefox]

Yes, use the last one.

I want to thank everyone for the help and support while I learn how FreeSpace OpenInstaller works.

I have another question to ask:  When I select the my mod location, anyone that I choose, and then I hit run it launches FreeSpace 2, depending on the mod it can vary on how it is displayed.  Do I have to do the training scenario for all mods I choose or am I doing something wrong?

[General Battuta]

You need to go into the campaign room and select the mod's new campaign.

[G0atmaster]

Make sure that when you want to play the vanilla FS2 campaign, you select the Media VPs folder as the mod, or you won't get the cool pretty effects.  Also alter the mod.ini files in the mod folders you're using to point to the mediavps_3612 folder, but note that not all mods will be 100% compatible yet.  You may, for some mods, need to download the 3.6.10 VPs and use them instead.  But it's pretty easy to figure out once you get the hang of it.

[karajorma]

BtRL is still available to download from here. As for being dead, who knows? But Diaspora should give you everything you ever wanted from BtRL and more.

[Drogoth]

Lets use in game wing naming conventions to name the different files! Wooo!

That would make things simpler... right?