[stef]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and just began experiancing the Freespace 2 Universe.

I downloaded the game of underdogs (650+ MB) and just wondered about the whole thing with the missing cutscenes/movies (minor) issue and found this place which is the temple (i presume) for many freespace fans.

Though I do take into consideration of the legality of such thing, however, i sill ask:

1.) Am I allowed to download these movies?
2.) Where can I find them?

Once again, it is the FREESPACE 2 Movies im looking for. Thank You.

[Dark Hunter]

Gunnery control, target stef, OPEN FIRE!




Welcome to HLP! exits are to your right, left, and behind you, however they are currently blocked, so I don't recommend using them. In emergencies, flamerthrowers filled with holy water(due to budget cuts, among other things)  are located under all seats. Plasma weapons are stored in secure lockers which only an admin, god, or hyper-intelligent shade of blue may open. If you go crawling through ducts, beware Carl, our resident Shivan. Should you meet him, throw him your lunch, and then back away slowly. He shouldn't be mean after that. Thank you and enjoy your stay!



By "the Temple" are you referring to the Freespace Oracle, also known as karajorma's FAQ? If so, then read it thouroughly, it is quite helpful.

As to the cutscenes.... the links to download the FS2 movies have been down for as long as anyone can remember. I'd send you my versions....... but they are too massive to be sent via e-mail. If you don't have the discs..... then I'm afraid your stuck. Best bet is to bug the staff into setting up some new (working) links to download them.

Now that I think about it, ShivanSPS's mega-download might contain them. It's a little redundant since you've already installed FS2, but that's where they'd be, if anywhere.

[stef]

ShivanSPS's mega-download?

Would it be okay if you can give me the direct link or any other server facility that hosts such files im looking for. I've read about other people's FTP's, though how do I access them.

And what I meant by "the temple"was simply a figure of speech, referring hard-light.net simply as THE place for Freespace 2 fans. I am obviously mistaken. I have yet to learn more about the Freespace 2 fanbase...so apologies.

Anyway thanks for showing me around Dark Hunter, looking forward to hanging around here for quite a while. (I just hope i get those videos) Thanks very much.

[karajorma]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40802.msg832385.html#new

Swantz has provided a new home for the cutscenes. I'll update my FAQ with the links at some point soon.

As for the legality. Well downloading FS2 isn't exactly legal but in my FAQ I explain my feeling on the matter though

[Dark Hunter]

YES! Silent Threat cutscenes! Can't wait to view these!

[karajorma]

They've been up on my FAQ's Downloads for ages. Although I've got no complaints about you sparing my bandwidth by getting them from Swantz

[stef]

Thank you very much to Karajorma, Swantz and Dark Hunter for the movies.
Now how do I install them? Do I create some sort of special folder like "Movies" in the Freespace/Data directory? Or some other way?

When I restarted the whole game and inserted the movies...there was no introduction, no movies at all. I'm still new to this, so i'll need as much help as I can to acclimatize myself with this game. Thanks for reading.

BTW, I forgot to mention that the freespace 2 folder already contains the MVE files under the movie titles (intro, mono1 etc etc.). Are they the actual films themselves? What do I do with both MVE and AVI files? Which one do I use to make them work with the game? Anyway, thanks again.

[Dark Hunter]

The movies are AVI's because FSOpen (the updated Freespace engine) does not recognize MVE files. Those files were intended to be used simply for FSOpen. I don't know whether retail FS2 can read and AVI in place of the MVE....

[Wobble73]

The movies are AVI's because FSOpen (the updated Freespace engine) does not recognize MVE files. Those files were intended to be used simply for FSOpen. I don't know whether retail FS2 can read and AVI in place of the MVE....

I thought 3.6.9 could read the MVE versions now??

[Dark Hunter]

Can it? I don't know....

[karajorma]

Yep. 3.6.9 can read mve movies.

Hmmmm. I'm trying to remember if I included truncated copies of the MVE movies with the HotU download. Have these MVE files always been there stef? Cause if you didn't add them yourself you should check their filesize (1kB most likely). If they are truncated versions the reason you aren't seeing movies is because FS2_Open considers MVE higher priority than avi and is thus playing the MVE version first.

If they are 1kB in size deleting them will result in the avi movies playing (You can shove them in the main Freespace folder or in Data or in Data\Movies. Any of those will work fine).

[stef]

Yes, they have always been there since I downloaded the game. And yes, they are 1KB. When I downloaded the AVI films, I simply created another folder (called Movies) in the Freespace/Data entry and inserted them there. Then I just moved the MVE files from there original location to Data folder - THEN i played the game and still no films. I simply moved the AVI and MVE files at the same time (stupid of me, I know. Let alone i didn't test the game when moving and removing each file...I just rushed).

So what do I do? Do I remove either the MVE or AVI file? Or is there some other tricky way? Sorry if the above sounds confusing.

And what's this 3.6.9.? Is this another FS2 version? How do I update the program? Thanks again...

 

[karajorma]

Just delete the MVE versions. You don't need them now you have the avi version. To be honest I'm not certain you ever needed them

[Dark Hunter]

IN answer to 3.6.9 and other junk like updating:

You see that link in Karajorma's signature? That'll tell 99% of what you need to know.

[Wobble73]

And what's this 3.6.9.? Is this another FS2 version? How do I update the program? Thanks again...

 

3.6.9 is the latest version of the Freespace open project (SCP Source Code Project) which is what this site is all about  do a search for 3.6.9 Release Candidate 5, which is the latest version of the latest version ( ). I'd post a linky but I'm lazy!

@Kara how about  you post a linky?

[stef]

Just delete the MVE versions. You don't need them now you have the avi version. To be honest I'm not certain you ever needed them

No luck . I removed the MVE files (outside freespace folder - on desktop), left the AVI in the Data folder AND restarted the game again and still no movies.

I've read in Karajorma's FAQ about requiring Home of the Underdogs version needs some help and also something about HotU? Seeing that I have the underdogs version, will this problem have to do with its own difference between retail and abandonware version?

Also I have ISObuster so will I have to install it a different way?
When I downloaded the game, I simply extracted it rar. files to my local hardrive, then clicked on the icon which lead me to setup and sorted the options from there.

How do I install it?

Also, when I downloaded FS2 the game was in one huge Rar. file assuming that all 3 CD applications were in that file. (Note* this happened the first time when playing the game and not knowing anything about the films) This is backed by the event when i finished a level and the game prompted for CD2 asking for the movies ("Please insert CD2 - No Movies found" or something like that) and of course I just carried on by clicking OK. Still no movies. Do the movies come from CD#2 or after. I've checked in the Tech room where the cutscenes are available and right now, the introduction is listed but when I click PLAY the same propmt just shows up "Please Insert CD2 - No Movies found".

Anyway, sorry if this minor issue is becoming a problem.

[karajorma]

Actually the problem isn't your fault. It's mine. At some point in this thread I started thinking you were using FS2_Open 3.6.9 rather than the cracked version of the retail exe that comes with HotU. My bad.


Basically with the HotU version you'll probably never get to see the cutscenes in game. Underdog felt that the movies were too large to go on her server and said that she'd only host the version without them. Since the retail exe will only play MVE movies the only way you can get it to play the movies ingame is to find someone with the original CDs and copy them or get someone to upload them (Unlikely as they are several hundred MB in size).

However all is not lost. The 3.6.9 that you've heard mentioned a few times refers to FS2_Open 3.6.9. Volition gave the community a copy of the source code a few years back and we've been working to improve the game. FS2_Open 3.6.9 will play both avi and mve movies. It also has improved graphics and models for many of the ships. If you check my FAQ you'll find a general guide on how to install FS2_Open here.

You can start at the what do I need section but seeing as how I messed you about earlier I'll give you a full explaination of what you have to do. Just follow the FAQ if you get confused about anything I say here

Downloads

You'll need to two things to get FS2_Open working.

Launcher v5.4
FS2_Open 3.6.9 Release Candidate 5

This stuff is optional but if you don't have it you'll not get the prettier graphics and models I told you about.

http://fs2source.warpcore.org/mediavp/mp-710_adveffects.rar
http://fs2source.warpcore.org/mediavp/mp-710_effects.rar
http://fs2source.warpcore.org/mediavp/mp-710_models.rar

(mv_zpack)

Setting Up

Unpack the first two items to your main FS2 folder. Make a new folder called mediavps and unpack the other stuff in there. You can now follow the instructions here to finish off the setting up.

Have fun

[stef]

Thanks Karajorma...

only that I have another problem. I have followed every single step you have given me to installing FS2_Open and managed to go throught the setup proccess. When finishing the setup, I clicked on "Run" and an error prompt appears under the entry;

"This application has failed to start because OpenAL32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix the problem".

I'm guessing this has to do with the OpenGL that I haven't recieved nor ever had in my PC. Or is it something else?

So close, yet so far...

Edit: forgot to mention that the same error prompt appeared after selecting the launcher from the browse menu. Also when clicking OK on the error prompt, another message appears saying "Failed to read flag file".

Thanks again...

[karajorma]

I knew I'd forget something

OpenAL

[neoterran]

It's OpenAL, not OpenGL... let's not confuse anyone...