Yup, I'm a total n00b to FSO and FreeSpace in general really. Seeing as this problem is pretty weird, probably has an obvious and non-code-based solution, and I haven't seen it here or on Mantis, I've decided to stick it here for the code gurus to ponder (or laugh at my stupidity for such an obvious problem, one or the other)
I never managed to get the game in the shops and ended up getting the HotU version as a temporary fix. Due to the need for EMule (which can't be installed at college obviously) I was unable to fill in the missing files of the cd-rip, so I am literally running a bare-bones FS2 rip patched to v1.2. Mind you, it does work (both with the stock campaign and downloaded ones) so something is working and fairly stable in there...
Sadly, I've heard that the rip does have issues with the SCP, and my version is no exception. Shortly after installing both FS2 I tried FS2 Open v3.65 and the v5.2 launcher, along with some of the addon .vp files. It did work (wonderfully)... for a while. then one day it refused to go any further, claiming it had developed the known 'missing Cain' problem. Back then I didn't know it was common, and tried to fix it with a new pilot. Then a full delete-and-reinstall (yes, all of FS2 as well as FSOpen). No result, and I was now further behind as the campaign would not advance too far thanks to the misplaced Cain file. But before I could look up a fix on the net, my PC developed more serious problems and went for a trip back to the shop...
Later I got the PC back fixed, and tried reinstalling FS2 and FSOpen. No Cain problem, but now the HUD was all messed up and the game froze whenever I tried to exit. After killing it with some Task Manager tomfoolery I found an odd window on the desktop complaining that a flag could not be set. When I reinstalled everything AGAIN FSOpen refused to work at all - upon selecting the FSOpen executable for the launcher's first run, it suddenly sprouted a nice little error window, "Software Mode not supported - GET A PROGRAMMER!!!" Uh-oh. I had it running using DirectX and my GeForce 5200 as the display adapter, so where did THAT come from?! To add to the confusion, all the flags were now missing from the Flags tab on the launcher - everything was just blank fields in there. And FSOpen wouldn't run at all, yet the old FS2.exe was quite happy.
Recently I tried another reinstall, but this time installing FSOpen v3.67 (P4/Athlon optimised) and the v5.3 launcher. Same bug again, but with an extra debug window thrown in:
==========================================================================
DEBUG SPEW: No debug_filter.cfg found, so only general, error, and warning
categories can be shown and no debug_filter.cfg info will be saved.
==========================================================================
Setting language to English
soundcard = DirectSound
** MAX_CHANNELS set to 16. DS reported 1.
Couldn't determine if we are really using 640x480 res or not! Going with default...
Am I having a massive problem here, or am I missing some files, or has something got corrupted, or is it a Registry problem? Or just standard and irreversable for a HotU-rip + WinXP combo? If you need more error info tell me which files to paste in and I'll try to find them. Oh, and I'm using an AMD Athlon 3000+ with 512MB RAM, 1gig pagefile, nVidia GeForce 5200 with 128MB VRAM, Via AC97 onboard sound and Windows XP Home. Hope this helps.
Any advice/support/even flames gladly appreciated!
