[Defcon]

Hey I'm new to this community and I have been all the way with FS1 and FS2 since they both came out, but I have absolutely NO IDEA what I need, what to do with files and where to ask for help. I realise that most questions asked by newbies such as myself pisses the hell out of you veteran programers, modelers and texturers etc..but I have just stumbled here into this thriving community when I thought FS was compeltely dead and stale. I want to congradulate the many people who made this enhancement to the game! this is insane!!! I've seen amazing graphical screen shots and it was breath taking!!!

 Aside from that, my main question or "complaint" is the way the files are distributed across the forums. I get linked to here and there, that place and this post and it's dizzyingly molesting to my brain. My one main goal is to make my FS2 look refurbished, sexy and worthy of a present day -graphic'd game. I realise that there are many wiki's and help files but they only link me to various places and most things are usually "out of date".  nearly gave up on this altogether until Zman pointed me to the right direction. Although I have recieved this help I thought that this post was worthy of a prelude to a main post for newbies.

My one idea of making things easier for newbies is this:

1) ONE non-congested Freespace Full Game "download" post which includes:
              - Descent: Freespace The Great War and the Silent Threat Expansion pack (2 + 1 iso's)
              - Freespace 2 (3 Cds - isos)
(this is so that you don't have to download those annoying "pieces of the game" - vp files and what not. As Soon as I get my router fixed up I'll be able to host these games with no problems at all.)

2) ONE non-congested FS post concerning with which files are needed to even make the game look visually stunning.
              - where to place files (models, tables, textures, pof files, enhancements, VPS etc)
              - which build makes it look the best, what files do you need.

3) ONE non-congested post concerning with new HIGH POLY models for FS.


well tell me what you guys think... - thats my rant for now. I do have further questions that I will post about later on since I have just gotten here I have much to discuss...I wish that i Knew about this place years ago...

[karajorma]

Fair points and I'm working on it

Hey I'm new to this community and I have been all the way with FS1 and FS2 since they both came out, but I have absolutely NO IDEA what I need, what to do with files and where to ask for help. I realise that most questions asked by newbies such as myself pisses the hell out of you veteran programers, modelers and texturers etc..but I have just stumbled here into this thriving community when I thought FS was compeltely dead and stale. I want to congradulate the many people who made this enhancement to the game! this is insane!!! I've seen amazing graphical screen shots and it was breath taking!!!

 Aside from that, my main question or "complaint" is the way the files are distributed across the forums. I get linked to here and there, that place and this post and it's dizzyingly molesting to my brain. My one main goal is to make my FS2 look refurbished, sexy and worthy of a present day -graphic'd game. I realise that there are many wiki's and help files but they only link me to various places and most things are usually "out of date".  nearly gave up on this altogether until Zman pointed me to the right direction. Although I have recieved this help I thought that this post was worthy of a prelude to a main post for newbies.

I've just added a guide in my FAQ on how to install FS, FS2_Open and Mods for FS2_Open. The plan is to move the guide over to the wiki and update it so that it can be kept up to date without the need for me to do everything. That should hopefully help a lot with what you're describing.

My one idea of making things easier for newbies is this:

1) ONE non-congested Freespace Full Game "download" post which includes:
              - Descent: Freespace The Great War and the Silent Threat Expansion pack (2 + 1 iso's)
              - Freespace 2 (3 Cds - isos)
(this is so that you don't have to download those annoying "pieces of the game" - vp files and what not. As Soon as I get my router fixed up I'll be able to host these games with no problems at all.)

Get that done and I'll be happy to link to it in my FAQ but I'd be careful about estimating how much bandwidth that could use. I don't have the exact figures but ask MatthewPapa how much bandwidth his site burned through in a day when his link got posted on something awful. It was close to a months bandwidth for his site (which has never had problems with bandwidth before or since IIRC).

I can't do anything about getting a 3 ISO version up but you join us on the day when I've finally managed to get HotU (just about the biggest abandonware site on the net) to put up everything apart from the cutscenes in one easy to install download.  The original HotU version got us a whole bunch of new members and I'm hoping for more of the same from this one  

2) ONE non-congested FS post concerning with which files are needed to even make the game look visually stunning.
              - where to place files (models, tables, textures, pof files, enhancements, VPS etc)

The problem with posts is that they require the same person (or an admin/mod) to edit them. That's why I'd rather have all this in the Wiki where anyone can edit it. My FAQ already explained how to place everything. I just need to port it.  Then we can just have one big "How to do everything" post that simply points at the wiki

[Unknown Target]

...We already have those, methinks.
#1) The www.freespacezone.com downloads contain all three complete CDs.
#2 and #3 are the same thing basically, and they can be found in A) one of the many forum threads, B) in karajorma's FAQ, or C) in the FS Wiki.

EDIT: Kara beat me to it

[Defcon]

i totally understand karajorma  if there is any way I can help then I'd be happy to oblige!

as for the distribution of FS2, once I get my dad to let me open a send port on the router i'll be able to send any freespace game to whom ever needs it. i was wondering if we had any IRC channels for this community? I would be happy to distribute the files on IRC once i get the router all fixed up. it'll make life easier for every freespace fan

[Defcon]

...We already have those, methinks.
#1) The www.freespacezone.com downloads contain all three complete CDs.
#2 and #3 are the same thing basically, and they can be found in A) one of the many forum threads, B) in karajorma's FAQ, or C) in the FS Wiki.

EDIT: Kara beat me to it

Kara has some good points but... Many of the links to the full FS game are dead or dispursed within pages of posts. also, you prove my point with the forum threads. There are TOO MANY threads. Its just horrific that someone needs to be redirected to 20 different threads and within those threads 20 pages of posts (Exaggerating) and then in my case, i nearly gave up on even giving FS2 a chance with all of the new enhancements for it because I was "redirected" to various places. I think an IRC channel can fix these problems too. If everyone was there one person may ask "i need the new medusa model" - *gets file sent to them*. I believe in simplicity and the easyness. and another thing...I am aware of the FAQ and wiki but It has way too much information. I have been linked to there and told to go there at times. I tried looking around in those documents but it didn't help me that much...it only LINKED me to other places for getting files. I would advise the use of those when there is of trouble or more indepth information needed. my post is intended for an idea to devise of some form of means to distribute the easy ways of getting FS2 to work nicely with the new enhancements as well as getting your hands of freespace 2 in general.

The main aspects of the freespace 2 enhancements are textures, models, graphics and what not. the information on those has been scattered throughout the forums...I'm not trying to boss you guys around on what to do and not to do, i'm just simply giving you advice or ideas on what you "should" do. And you have first hand experience from me  . as soon as i came to this forum i was bounced around, linked around half across the web, many of those links were dead. i just want to help the community clean up the "confusion" that may occur and the mess in the forums that could be avoided

ANYWAYS lol. I would gladely help this community filter out any confusing stuff and distribute files respectively to FS enthusiasts!

[karajorma]

Which is why centralising the information on the wiki is a good idea. One of the main reasons why I made my guide in the FAQ first is that we have a backup for when HLP goes down (all to often this last week) but the wiki is the right place to put all this info.

I fully agree that having one place to get everything is the right idea. But you also face the issue of making it and ending up with a huge long explaination that scares people away.

[Defcon]

  true, unless we have the IRC unification which makes it possible for anyone to get even the dumbest question answered in real time. true it can get confusing but over crowding the forums is pretty annoying, well to me since i am a newb. i totally have a different perspective than any of you guys . its just my opinion anywho. as i get to know things better in the community maybe i can help organise things or actually see that its far less confusing than i really think it is.

[karajorma]

Well no one is going to complain about one more person helping with the wiki

No need to wait though. If you've read my installation guide and have ideas on how to improve it feel free to pipe up. Remember that it's meant to be generic though. The idea was to have a guide that was still accurate 6 months from now. The one in the wiki will be specific because more people will notice mistakes and correct them (hopefully).