Ok, you are now talking a bit over my head. I really am not sure what you mean by "mod.ini" Do I have to redesignate certain files as .ini files? If so, which ones? Also, what makes a file a .ini? And how do I do it so it will show up in the mods folder so I can play with the SCP enhancements?
If you have a screen shot of what your folder should look like with an enabled ini file versus the original file folder configuration that would go a LONG way in helping me, and I'm sure others as well. Hope I'm not being too much of a pest.
I will just copy things from the Support board stickies here.
1. Your \freespace2\ folder. First of all, your FSO builds (fs2_open_3_6_***.exe) and the Launcher must be there, because having them somewhere else causes errors. Next, the retail .vp files belong there. You
must have the following .vp files in \freespace2\:
- root_fs2.vp
- sparky_fs2.vp
- sparky_hi_fs2.vp
- stu_fs2.vp
- tango1_fs2.vp
- tango2_fs2.vp
- tango3_fs2.vp
- warble_fs2.vp
- smarty_fs2.vp
In addition, you
can have the following .vp files in \freespace2\:
- FS2OGGcutscenepack.vp
- multi-mission-pack.vp
- multi-voice-pack.vp
Files with a file extention other than .vp or .exe do not affect your gameplay experience.
2. Multimods. Using many mods simultaneously can be achieved with two methods, but for the sake of popularity, I will describe the mod.ini method.
You should already know that you can select a mod folder with the Launcher. However, if there is a proper mod.ini file in the selected mod folder, the game engine will read it, pick up a reference to another mod folder and then use that mod folder as well.
What is a mod.ini? Simple. A file called "mod.ini", with the noticeable file extention .ini. A configuration file. They are not complicated piles of code, but rather compact little packages. Below is an example of a typical mod.ini meant for situations where you want to use the MediaVPs with a mod for the sake of graphical delight:
[launcher]
image255x112 = ;
infotext = ;
website = ;
forum = ;
[multimod]
secondarylist = mediavps;The single most important part of this mod.ini is the "secondarylist" line. The words after the "=" symbol are the names of the folders that the game engine will use as additional mod folders. In this case, we could assume that a person is playing Into the Halls of Valhalla with the MediaVPs. He has selected the ITHOV folder as his active mod from the Launcher, he has a mod.ini file with the text above in his ITHOV folder and his MediaVPs are in a folder called mediavps.
The next most intriguing part of a mod.ini is that you don't have to limit yourself to just one other mod folder. For example, if you wanted to play Awakenings, which is an FSPort campaign, you'd again create or copy a mod.ini to the awakenings folder, but the text of the mod.ini would be:
[launcher]
image255x112 = ;
infotext = ;
website = ;
forum = ;
[multimod]
secondarylist = fsport,mediavps;Notice that the "secondarylist" line is different from before. It just means that after reading the awakenings folder, the game engine will then read the fsport folder and finally the mediavps folder.
And a little something about the other lines of a mod.ini:
The "image255x112" line can be used to tell the Launcher that there is a banner image in the mod folder. The Launcher will then show this image under the MOD tab.
The "infotext" line can be used to write a short description of the mod. This will also be shown under the MOD tab of the Launcher.
The "website" and "forum" lines can be used to provide links to the mod's home page and forum/thread, respectively. However, the "secondarylist" line is still the single most important thing in the mod.ini for you.
A note of caution: if you want to create your own mod.ini files with Notepad or other text editor, remember to select "All files" as the file type when saving. Otherwise it will most likely be saved as a text file and the file will be "mod.ini.txt". This is not dangerous in any way, but it just means that the FSO engine cannot read it and consequently won't use it.
Edit: Incidentally, there is a link to Launcher 5.5d in my signature.
