[RonnnL]

After playing FS2 for some weeks I stumbled across these forums and am pleasantly surprised that there's still such an active community with loads of ongoing projects. At the moment, I feel like a little kid in a toy store: There is a huge amount of mods, model&texture-files etc. available and I don't have a clue which ones are the best or most useful.

I used Turey's installer (brilliant for newbies such as me) so I guess that most of the improved game-data for FSPort and FS2 is contained already in my mediaVP and FSport directories. Using the launcher I cranked up my screen resolution and overall video-settings. In the wiki I found some recommendations for additional command line switches (such as -fov).  The game looks beautiful now, but am I perhaps still missing important tweaks or files that can further enhance my gaming experience?

And as an additional question, which of the mods is most suitable to play after FS1, Silent Threat and FS2? I'm looking for epic-scale campaigns, mods or TC's... There are recommendations in these forums, but I'm not sure which of the mods is currently most developed & interesting.

[lenard27]

Derelict is an interesting campaign to play after fs2....Awakenings is also good to play after fs1....Other than that there are plenty of good campaigns head over to hades-combine to download some campaigns

[jr2]

Inferno Alliance (prequel to what will eventually replace INFRelease 1) and Inferno Release 1 (storyline scrapped, but still good)

[Turey]

BtRL Demo and WCSaga Prolouge are awesome TCs.

[Admiral Edivad]

@RonnnL



Welcome to the HLP Station. Exits are located to the right, left, up, down, and 4th-dimensionally. However all of them are blocked, except the 4-d one, and no one's yet figured how to reach it. Somebody says there is anoter one in the 5th dimension: if you find it, let us know! In the event of a landing of any kind, you can and will be used as a flotation device. We are currently suffering from technical problems from time to time, which may cause the lights go out at any instance, and sometimes even the basic life support fails for some time. At these times, stay calm and composed; for these cases the station system automatically drops a computer from the roof above you with FSO installed and ready. They have independent power sources. Please keep all appendages within the installation at all times. Do not feed the resident Shivan Carl as he will become voracious and, if you are lucky he will chew your leg off; if you are not, you can imagine what will happen. You can find him in the ventilation duct. Throw him your lunch and hope he is not hungry and leaves you alone. Flamethrowers can be found under your seat but due to financial constraints have been re-filled with holy water. Phased Plasma rifles (40 watt range of course) can be found in storage lockers. To prevent act of n00b, however, these can only be opened by Moderators, Volition or a hyperintelligent shade of BluE. Please remember that any attempt to use the ASCII characters 0046h, 0053h, and 0033h in sequential order will result in you being trampled by the whole FreeSpace community. Your trampled remains will be fed to Carl so that the rest of us don't have to carry around so much food for lunch. If you shall go in the Vasudan section of the station and find a boxes labelled “Headz”, please don’t open them, unless you are a Vasudan. Trust me on this one.... In the event of catastrophic hull failure please board the nearest lifeboat which is pre-programmed for autonomous flight to our sister station the Game-Warden outpost. Thank you and enjoy your stay at Hard Light station as long as you will!

[RonnnL]

Thanks, both for the recommendations and the pretty green beam which I was hoping for...  I'll check Hades-Combine for some new material. Didn't find that site before...

Any comments on general tweaks/graphical improvements not contained in Turey's installer?

[jr2]

Add the custom command line:
<hang on while I find it>

EDIT: Here ya go, Herra Tohtori uses this:

-spec -glow -env -jpgtga -mipmap -nomotiondebris -2d_poof -missile_lighting -img2dds -no_vsync -cache_bitmaps -dualscanlines -targetinfo -orbradar -rearm_timer -ship_choice_3d -3dwarp -warp_flash -snd_preload -alpha_env -voicer -fps  -ambient_factor 0 -no_emissive_light -fov 0.55 -spec_exp 16.7 -spec_point 0.6 -spec_static 0.9 -spec_tube 1

[RonnnL]

Nice list. Playing with the ambient factor, emissive light settings and especially the field of view command really changes the overall atmosphere of the game. I would expect that mods have a pre-defined set of 'optimal' settings, described by the production team. A more cartoony/funny/casual mod could benefit from other lighting settings than one with a more serious tone...

[jr2]

They have the capability of doing that, yes.  But I have yet to see that ability being put to any real use.

[Unknown Target]

There used to be cell-shading once upon a time.

[jr2]

mv_cell.vp; I think it still works, you just have to disable all other vps except mv_core.vp

[karajorma]

Or run on a post 3.6.9 build with mv_cell in a higher priority mod folder.

[jr2]

Ooh, this I didn't know.  Would changing mv_cell.vp's name to !1a_mv_cell.vp work as well?  Or not?

[Snail]

Whoa, jr2, you're posting almost as much as me!

[jr2]

What, you wanna make it a race?  Muhahahhahah!  j/k.  Yeah, I know, I post way too much.

[Snail]

Nah, you don't. I have 3x the posts per day that you do. So a race would be stupid.

I have NO LIFE whatsoever.

[Mobius]

First of all welcome to the HLPBB, RonnL!

You're right, when you arrive here you don't know what to play first. There are plenties of campaigns and many others are being developed! Have fun!

Nah, you don't. I have 3x the posts per day that you do. So a race would be stupid.

I have NO LIFE whatsoever.

Of course. As the Ancients said, in Real Life^TM you can be tracked and killed

[Snail]

YOU, par contre, cannot say much. You have almost as many posts per day as I do.

[jr2]

OK, this has to be a mix-up:

Summary - jr2             Picture/Text
Name:                          jr2
Custom Title:               The Mail Man
Posts:                           1,989 (3.406 per day)
Position:                     210
Date Registered:        September 29, 2005, 09:33:39 PM
Last Active:                 May 07, 2007, 06:12:00 PM

EDIT: Upon further examination, I realize it's 3.406, not 3,406.  For a minute there, I thought the HLP bean counter had lost its marbles. 

[karajorma]

Ooh, this I didn't know.  Would changing mv_cell.vp's name to !1a_mv_cell.vp work as well?  Or not?

A higher priority name would work but using a separate mod folder allows you to play the game in something other than cell shading mode without the hassle of opening and deleting/moving stuff