[Mars]

Okay, if the MediaVPs are supposed to be in their own MOD folder, how do you play other campagins that require the mediaVPs without copying massive amounts of data?

[Nuclear1]

I've always put the Media VPs in the root folder and let everything sort itself out from there.

[Wanderer]

Use mod.ini files... Create a blank text file to the mod directory and name it mod.ini.

Then write this stuff into the file

Code: [Select]

[multimod]
primarylist  = ;
secondrylist = ,mediavps;

Where 'mediavps' is the name of the directory where you have placed your MediaVP files. Then when you select the mod from the launcher it automagically uses also the stuff from 'mediavps' in addition to the stuff from the mod directory.

[Mars]

Thanks much

[karajorma]

Mod ini's also have the advantage of making the forum and website buttons on the launcher work too if you have them set up correctly.

For instance here is my launcher 5.4 FS1Port mod.ini

Code: [Select]

[launcher]
image255x112 = FS1_Port.bmp;
infotext     = Porting the ships, weapons, and missions of Freespace: The Great War into the advanced Freespace 2 Engine, FSPort boasts full compatibility with all retail FS2 campaigns and limited multiplayer support, as well as new enhancements and additions.;
website      = http://fsport.hard-light.net/website/;
forum        = http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=39.0;

[multimod]
secondrylist = MediaVPs;
You'll need a suitibly sized BMP to use it. (Or you can just trim out the line that mentions it)

[Mars]

How did I miss this before? 

Is it in the Wiki yet?

[Polpolion]

I've always put the Media VPs in the root folder and let everything sort itself out from there.

FOR shame!!! Thou Shalt not maul FS2!!!

[karajorma]

Yep. Not a good idea in general. In fact I spent a while explaining to S-99 exactly why it was a bad idea a few threads down.

Is it in the Wiki yet?

Can't remember to be honest. Some of it may be. Mod.ini's have a limited lifespan really. They're a stopgap until Taylor finished the new launcher which should use something similar but better.

[Nuclear1]

Yep. Not a good idea in general. In fact I spent a while explaining to S-99 exactly why it was a bad idea a few threads down.

*shrugs* Well, I've never particularly had a problem with it in the past, but I'll trust your word.

[Mongoose]

They're not really a problem if you know what you're doing and understand how the whole mod/data hierarchy works; I had the MediaVPs in the main directory for months without running into any problems at all.  It just tends to make things slightly more complicated at times, as well as preventing you from playing retail.  I just recently switched over to the mod.ini system, which I've found to be much more elegant; it's definitely the better solution when dealing with campaigns that require the contents of more than one mod folder.  For new SCP users, it's definitely the better way to go.

[karajorma]

Exactly. If you know what you're doing you can get away with it. But if you're new to FS2 it can cause all kinds of confusion.

The loss of the ability to play on retail is probably the biggest problem. Many people don't ever want to go back to retail so it's not a problem for them but for people who do want to swap between the two it can be a nightmare.

[ZmaN]

I've always put the Media VPs in the root folder and let everything sort itself out from there.

word to that!

I find it easiest that way.

[Mars]

The new way seems to be working really well for me.

[Polpolion]

If you do it with the MediaVP folder, I'm prettey sure FRED missions that you fred (assuming you use retail Fred) will still be compatible with both retail FS2 and SCP, which is pretty much the main reason I'm doing it that way .

[WMCoolmon]

You can also do it with the multi-mod feature.

"-mod Inferno,Media_VPs"

[jr2]

@WMCoolmon:
Careful.  kara gets touchy when people start explaining that feature to noobies.   
@karajorma: jk! don't kill me!       :

[karajorma]

Actually WMC is explaining the correct way to do things so I'm not going to complain at him for that

If you do it with the MediaVP folder, I'm prettey sure FRED missions that you fred (assuming you use retail Fred) will still be compatible with both retail FS2 and SCP, which is pretty much the main reason I'm doing it that way .

Installing to the mediavps folder does indeed allow you to develop missions using retail FRED. Not sure why anyone would want to infict retail FRED on themselves but it is possible

[CP5670]

I have always just left the VPs in the main folder and haven't had any problems. I occasionally have the play with the filenames a bit to get the right read priority, but that's about it. Is there any advantage to using the mod.ini system if you don't use retail FS2 at all?

[karajorma]

For someone who knows what they are doing they are relatively small but still worth the minor trouble it takes to set them up.

1) The major advantage is multiplayer. This still requires the 1.2 tables or it bugs your about hacked tables. You can play multiplayer easily by making a new folder for it and play it without the media VPs.

2) When playing campaigns like Shrouding the Light which require files from other campaigns you no longer need to move files from FS1 port into the STL folder in order to allow it to find them.

3) You can turn off the media VPs for a mod with quick edit of the mod.ini file when getting errors in order to check where the fault lies. If you're playing the main campaign simply clicking the no mods button turns them off so that you only have the retail VPs to contend with.

4) The mod.ini can specify the image and text displayed in the mod details section of the launcher. Minor but pretty

5) You can specify links to any two websites in the launcher. That can actually prove quite useful when it comes to mission release. You can have the campaign actually link to the support thread here on HLP so that people know exactly where to go to get help.

[neoterran]

yeah i have to say, i use the mod.ini system. I know it will be deprecated with the new launcher, but it works for me very well as of now and I highly recommend everyone to use it, it causes far less problems if you want to play multiple campaigns simultaneously.

I hope Taylor's new launcher (the replacement for 5.4) will be able to detect existing mod.ini configurations and automagically set its new system up for such configurations.