[Antares]

Recent SCP builds haven't been creating their own flag.lch files, meaning the Launcher can't run them.  WMCoolmon's two most recent builds don't produce a flag file, and nor does 3.6.5. (I can't unrar files, so I haven't tested any of Goober's stuff).

This problem can be circumvented by copying a flag.lch file from an earlier build like 3.6, but as the SCP makes more changes, these older files will become obsolete.  Whatever is preventing the more recent builds from listing their own flags should be corrected.

[Antares]

Buh.  As it turns out, I -can't- circumvent this.  Adding flags.lch to the FS2 directory after the Launcher has started doesn't do any good (because the Launcher won't run FS2 without recognizing the flag file when you choose your .exe), and when a given .exe is chosen, it replaces whatever flag file is currently in the directory with a new one--or, in the case of the newer builds, deletes the flag file entirely.

Does anyone know what's causing this hoo-ha?

[WMCoolmon]

I'm not having any trouble with this with my builds. Is the Freespace 2 directory read-only or something?

[Antares]

It is.  Every time I change the attribute, it switches itself back.

EDIT: My error.  Read-only isn't checked, it has a green box beside it.  I suppose that means some of the files in the folder are read-only, while others aren't.  But still, applying "not read-only" to the whole directory doesn't seem to be sticking, for some reason.

EDIT EDIT: Maybe not.  I have no idea just what that 'green box' symbol means.  Every folder has it--even freshly-created ones.  I think it means that directory can be indexed by the system for rapid searching.  If that's the case, I doubt it's interfering with FS2.

I can run 3.6 without any problems.  It doesn't seem to have any qualms about creating a flag file.  But the latest builds do.

[Antares]

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Man, what the heck?

I tried implementing the solution you found when you were working on your friend's computer; I copied over the flag file from 3.6 and set it to read-only so the new .exe wouldn't delete it.  The Launcher doesn't give the flag file error now, but it won't run the .exe, either.

EDIT: Oops.  Double-post.  Sorry.

[WMCoolmon]

Erg, I actually copied the flag file from my 3.6.5 to his comp, which was also running 3.6.5.

Here's the flags file from my latest build, tho it may be the same as FS2_Open 3.6.5.

(Note: By latest build, I mean the update I made 5 minutes ago. )

[Antares]

I'm an idiot.

The extra DLLs included with the 3.6.5. release were missing from my FS2 folder; I didn't bother grabbing these because I read somewhere that they were OGL enhancements, and I don't use OGL.  Turns out they were necessary for the builds to generate their flag files.

The various builds will boot up now, but I've run into a new problem for another thread.

[Trivial Psychic]

I was recently having similar problems while doing a fresh install of FS2.  I copied in my previous flags file, but the launcher would tell me it couldn't read it, and promptly delete the copy.  What I had to do was run the exe without any flags directly from the exe, then exit.  When I loaded the launcher, it generated the flags file and could read everything again.