[Burdokva]

Okey, I did use the search function, but I couldn't find anything that gave a clear answer, so: how does one enable cockpits in FSO? I saw some screenshots in various mods (FreeSpace I Port, Blue Planet etc.) that were not Photoshoped, but actual ingame cockpits. Is there an overall, global "switch" to enable cockpit view?

The only thing that has always bugged me about FreeSpace is that I couldn't see the cockpit. I'm a sim pilot in general, and I'm used to fly by actual (virtual) instruments, so even with the HUD, not seeing the cockpit at all is... unnerving, honestly!   

[Snail]

If you are willing to do some modding, what you have to do is open the ships.tbl file and add "show ship" to the flyable ships.

[Burdokva]

Where do I find that file and how to edit it (would Notepad be sufficient)?  I searched through the entire FreeSpace folder, plus Windows Search, but there wasn't such a file.

[The E]

It's inside the root_fs2.vp. You need to extract it (using maja, vpview or cfileextractor) and edit it by hand (using notepad or whatever). Then save the modified tbl in <FS2 directory>\data\tables.

VP editing tools can be found here: http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?list.51

[BloodFleet]

be advised there are only some ships that you can enable that and still be able to play (they have to be the HTL versions of course). I recall "show ship" working well for the Hercules (mk1 and mk2), Perseus, Pegasus, and Zeus. I'm sure there are more.

[HAZARDLEADER]

I hope it works

[NeonShivan]

will it work with fs open?

Yes, in game cockpits were introduced into Freespace Open. You should read through the Modding Portal of the Freespace Wiki, it has information that might be useful to you

[HAZARDLEADER]

If i may pitch in here, do i add  "show ships" to the "flags" section on each fighter table or do i add it somewhere else?

[Nuke]

If you are willing to do some modding, what you have to do is open the ships.tbl file and add "show ship" to the flyable ships.

thats the old skool method which only i should be endorsing. a more modern solution is to model the cockpit and then use $Cockpit POF file: something.pof
where something.pof is a model of the cockpit in fs2/modname/data/models. show ship is used by me because of certain scripting enhancements that are possible which may (as far as i know) not be possible with the new system.

It's inside the root_fs2.vp. You need to extract it (using maja, vpview or cfileextractor) and edit it by hand (using notepad or whatever). Then save the modified tbl in <FS2 directory>\data\tables.

VP editing tools can be found here: http://www.freespacemods.net/download.php?list.51

its probably easier to use xmts to just append the flag for relevant ship entries. this is better for multi-mod support (such as applying it on top of media vps).

[NeonShivan]

If i may pitch in here, do i add  "show ships" to the "flags" section on each fighter table or do i add it somewhere else?

You got it