[MP-Ryan]

Has anyone managed to successfully go through Homesick in a 3.6.9 build (or 3.6.7 for that matter)?  I've made it a few missions in, and I'm getting a persistent crash right after the GTVA discovers the contraband (when the next mission loads the transmission.

Be nice to be able to play the next mission

[Woggy]

I'm getting this crash as well, at the same point in the campaign. I tried an older build (not much older) but it still crashed when I hit the commit button after the red alert screen.

Wow, was it really a year since I last posted?

I only posted crap though I suppose. 

[MP-Ryan]

I'm getting this crash as well, at the same point in the campaign. I tried an older build (not much older) but it still crashed when I hit the commit button after the red alert screen.

Wow, was it really a year since I last posted?

I only posted crap though I suppose. 

Seems to be something to do with the transmission screen itself (the downloading new orders).  I've tried it in 3.6.7, 3.6.9, and a newer experimental build to no avail.  I reported the problem in Mantis - it must be something these older mods (Homesick, Inferno) are doing that the new orders system broke.

[fsi.scsi]

Has anyone managed to successfully go through Homesick in a 3.6.9 build (or 3.6.7 for that matter)?  I've made it a few missions in, and I'm getting a persistent crash right after the GTVA discovers the contraband (when the next mission loads the transmission.

Be nice to be able to play the next mission

Quick 'n dirty fix:

-Open up Homesick.vp in WordPad (or your favorite plaintext editor) and go to Edit -> Replace.
-Replace every occurence of +Red Alert: 1
 with: +Red Alert: 0

Drawbacks to the fix: You don't get any more Red Alert screens, and you have to customize your ship selection/loadout more tims than usual.
Benefits: You get to play this great campaign uninterrupted! Though I can't figure out exactly why SCP crashes with these particular Red Alert missions - earlier ones took place in the same campaign and I managed to play them fine.

[Goober5000]

-Open up Homesick.vp in WordPad (or your favorite plaintext editor) and go to Edit -> Replace.
-Replace every occurence of +Red Alert: 1
 with: +Red Alert: 0

That will render the .vp unreadable by FreeSpace.  Have you actually tried it?

[fsi.scsi]

-Open up Homesick.vp in WordPad (or your favorite plaintext editor) and go to Edit -> Replace.
-Replace every occurence of +Red Alert: 1
 with: +Red Alert: 0

That will render the .vp unreadable by FreeSpace.  Have you actually tried it?

yep, and i am currently enjoying the campaign.  works like a charm.

[MP-Ryan]

I attempted that work-around to no avail - FS wouldn't even launch.  Goober, you don't have any suggestions eh?  Other than "Use retail"?

[Pnakotus]

Damn retail! *waves fist*

Shouldn't Shivan have a fix for this?  I've been meaning to harass him about Sol A History as well.

[fsi.scsi]

I attempted that work-around to no avail - FS wouldn't even launch.  Goober, you don't have any suggestions eh?  Other than "Use retail"?

Huh?  It works on my 3.6.9* build with MediaVPs - I'll upload my modified copy of the .vp file later.  See if that works

*Taylor sent me a modified 3.6.9 build to resolve a different error - it's at http://icculus.org/~taylor/fso/willrobinson/reboot.rar.  Try that also.

[Goober5000]

I attempted that work-around to no avail - FS wouldn't even launch.

This is because *drum roll* the .VP was rendered unreadable by FreeSpace.

Either fsi.scsi is lying, he's mistaken, or he fell through some sort of bizarre universal plot hole that allowed a text editor to edit a hex file without corrupting it.  That's about as likely as using Photoshop to compose music by editing the wavefile pattern.

Goober, you don't have any suggestions eh?  Other than "Use retail"?

It would help if I knew what mission that was.  Can you give me the title, or the filename?

Actually, if you took fsi.scsi's advice and corrupted your .VP file, you'll have to redownload it first.

[MP-Ryan]

It would help if I knew what mission that was.  Can you give me the title, or the filename?

Actually, if you took fsi.scsi's advice and corrupted your .VP file, you'll have to redownload it first.

I keep "pure backups"; I've already replaced the VP with an unmodified copy.  Give me a few minutes and I'll give you the mission name.  The crash itself I reported in Mantis - it's highly similar to one that occurs in Inferno.  The ticket is here:  http://scp.indiegames.us/mantis/view.php?id=1255  No one has been assigned to it yet.

I'm not on my home PC at the moment, so it's going to take me a few minutes to figure out which mission it is.

[MP-Ryan]

OK, so VPView is taking a month to download here.  Went through the VP in text format.

Looks like it's mission 9, "He who turns and runs away..."  It starts on the Incoming Transmission screen, so the previous mission (if you need it) is mission 8, "A Turn For The Worse."

Hope that helps.  I can get you mission file names tonight.

[fsi.scsi]

I attempted that work-around to no avail - FS wouldn't even launch.

This is because *drum roll* the .VP was rendered unreadable by FreeSpace.

Either fsi.scsi is lying, he's mistaken, or he fell through some sort of bizarre universal plot hole that allowed a text editor to edit a hex file without corrupting it.  That's about as likely as using Photoshop to compose music by editing the wavefile pattern.

Goober, you don't have any suggestions eh?  Other than "Use retail"?

It would help if I knew what mission that was.  Can you give me the title, or the filename?

Actually, if you took fsi.scsi's advice and corrupted your .VP file, you'll have to redownload it first.

     I'm not lying - what possible benefit could I derive from doing so?  I will produce screenshots of the modified vp in action (i.e. the red alert missions to "regular" mission transitions) as soon as I get access to my PC this afternoon.  THEY WORK COMPLETELY FINE ON MY PC.  I used a program called NotePad++ to modify the VP file - maybe that has something to do with it?  *smacks self* Yeah, Notepad++ preserves hex structure.  Maybe I should have elucidated that part, but the rest is completely factual.

Again, I will upload the screenshots, along with my modified VP, this afternoon.  Be patient.

Notepad++: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

[MP-Ryan]

That's kind of a key detail.  Though had I been un-lazy I would have opened the VP and done your suggestion within the individual missions (which I still may do).

[fsi.scsi]

Triple threat  :

1) Homesick modified VP (compatible with SCP):
http://thestuff.quotaless.com/index.php?SortBy=0&fdir=./FreeSpace/Homesick/ & dl "homesick.zip"

2) Screenshot of (former) Red Alert mission "...Lives to Fight...":
Go to  http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/7959/missionaa6.png if the image don't show correctly


3) Oober-1337 screenie of NotePad++ in action:
Go to  http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3690/editingej3.png if the image don't show correctly


There y'all are.  Granted, I could have fabricated all of those in Photoshop and the VP could just be a scriptkiddie virus, but that's kind of pushing it, isn't it?

homesick.zip is also attached below in case the above file is broken.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[CP5670]

NotePad++

This program probably supports editing binary files. Wordpad doesn't though.

[fsi.scsi]

NotePad++

This program probably supports editing binary files. Wordpad doesn't though.

Yeah, I think I got that now.

[Goober5000]

    I'm not lying

Yes, you were.  (Or maybe, to be charitable, you were merely "being inaccurate".)  Let me contrast your two quotes here:

-Open up Homesick.vp in WordPad (or your favorite plaintext editor)

I used a program called NotePad++

NotePad++ isn't Wordpad, and it's not a generic plaintext editor either.  It may sound like I'm being pedantic, but that's an extremely important detail.  If you edit a .vp file with a program that doesn't preserve hex structure, the .vp will become corrupted and unusable.

Maybe I should have elucidated that part

Yes, you should have.

Debugging requires careful attention to detail.  It's very easy to make a mistake like this that will seriously screw something up.  It's also very easy to give sloppy directions with the result that the other person isn't doing quite what you expected.  We don't have the luxury of face-to-face communication here.

EDIT: And several people already posted by the time I composed this, making it a bit redundant.

[neoterran]

Goob strikes again. 

[fsi.scsi]

Point taken and noted.  I didn't realize (dumb me) that Notepad++ preserved hex structure until a few hours ago.  Prior to that, I believed it was a plaintext editor (albeit with syntax highlighting.)  So I thought that any old plaintext editor would serve the purpose of editing the .vp file, thus why I suggested WordPad (more people have it than Notepad++.)

I still don't see how that consitutes "lying",  but this is a stupid argument to be having anyhow.  I'm done defending my 1nt3rn3t reputation.