[K515]

Well folks, I'm back from my trip, and as of this moment, I'm downloading FS2 from GoG for $5.99. It's a 4 hour download.

Ok, everyone - I've finished downloading FS2, the game's soundtrack, manual, and the reference card from GoG. I assume this is the FS2 with the FRED thingy?





Here are all my FreeSpace donloads, plus my silent threat reborn downloads from last month;



and here are all my FreeSpace 2 downloads from yesterday/today; so am I all set? Good to go? Except that I'd like to wait until I get my new computer probably some time next month or so before I start playing around with all these downloads as this current laptop's main hard drive is only 40 GB capacity, it now has lots and lots of stuff on it, and my new laptop's hard drive is going to be about 320 GB capacity with about 250 GB reserved for windows XP (it's going to be a macbook pro).

[Jeff Vader]

There are several instructions on these forums that will tell you what components you need. At a quick glance I'd say you have most of the things, but

- you'll need an archive handling tool 7-Zip for opening the .rar and .7z files
- you don't need fs2_open_3_6_10_RC1, since RC2 is newer and better
- since you have many FSPort-related things in the same folder, I feel it necessary to remind you that Awakenings, Cardinal Spear and Destiny of Peace are separate mods and they must have their own subfolders: you musn't place them to your (future) \fsport\ folder.

[K515]

Thank you Lobo - I've downloaded the 7zip (thanks for the link you gave me) but where do I find the RC2? And where do I find the instructions that tell me what components I need? I'm new to this forum, so I don't know my way around here. 

[The E]

Did you take a look at this? It should answer most, if not all of your questions.

[Jeff Vader]

Thank you Lobo - I've downloaded the 7zip (thanks for the link you gave me) but where do I find the RC2? And where do I find the instructions that tell me what components I need? I'm new to this forum, so I don't know my way around here. 

There are many links in my signature (that thing under each of my posts, can also be seen on my profile page):
- installation instructions for noobs, which basically tell you how to do things with Turey's Installer
- installation instructions for more advanced users that basically give you links to up-to-date stuff and explain which one goes where
- FSO 3.6.10 RC2: the brand new spankin' version of the FSO game engine (which you seem to have already)
- 3.6.10 MediaVPs (which you seem to have)
- OpenAL and other tools
- the troubleshooting FAQ which contains all the most common issues and solutions that a typical FSO player may encounter.

Did you take a look at this?

If you don't mind. I copied that here with some relevant changes, like instructions to get RC2 instead of the stoneage 3.6.10 that comes with Turey's Installer.

[K515]

Thanks for the help, Lobo. BTW, I'd like to know what are these "CPU-Z" and "GPU-Z" links for in your sig? What do the CPU-Z and GPU-Z do? And do I need them?

[colecampbell666]

They just tell you info about the CPU/GPU.

[Jeff Vader]

Indeed. Clicking on the links will take you to the pages where you can download the programs. CPU-Z also provides information about your motherboard and memory, in addition to the processor.

[K515]

To date I downloaded these from Lobo's link to the mediavps page from this site: Launcher graphic, mod.ini, MV_Complete.7z, readme, and the mv_music which I put in my "mediavps" folder (in my FreeSpace downloads folder). I still don't have anything installed yet, since I want to back everything upon a blank DVD (my FreeSpace downloads and my FreeSpace game downloads = 2 separate main folders sitting on my desktop) before I start installing the games. Do I have everything that I'll need to get FreeSpace Open, Silent Threat: Reborn and FreeSpace 2 up and running as of now? Please let me know. Thanks.

[Jeff Vader]

You need FreeSpace 2 to get FreeSpace 2 running. You seem to have it.
You need (at the bare minimum) FreeSpace 2 and FSPort to get ST:R running. You seem to have them.
You need a fs2_open build and a Launcher (and FS2 of course) to get FSO running. You seem to have all of them.

As for a backup: I'd rather do it so that I'd first get myself a working installation and then back that up. But it is very much a matter of opinion. Also, you may want to wait for the official release of 3.6.10 before backing up. 3.6.10 RC2 works well, but it's still a release candidate.

[colecampbell666]

Yeah, but that may be a month or more.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

When it comes to FS2, I don't back stuff up, especially not the vp files. Backups take up too much space on my MacBook.

[colecampbell666]

Buy an 8Gb flash drive, they're like 10$.

[General Battuta]

When it comes to FS2, I don't back stuff up, especially not the vp files. Backups take up too much space on my MacBook.

This is dumb.

[The E]

When it comes to FS2, I don't back stuff up, especially not the vp files. Backups take up too much space on my MacBook.

That's what (re-)writable DVDs are for...

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Oh yeah...

...but forget DVD-RWs. DVD-Rs are good enough. No point buying a DVD-RW if a thumbdrive can offer more space.

[K515]

today I brought a 4 GB jump drive (actually I brought 2 of these) so I can use one of them to store FreeSpace 2 and all my other FreeSpace dowloads (downloaded from this site) on as temporary storage because someone here told me that a new release (I think its a new source code or sme other thingy I'll need in order to play FreeSpace Open, Silent Threat Reborn and FreeSpace 2) in a month or so, and I would like to play around with my current FreeSpace downloads right now (maybe tonight) and see if I can get it running on my current laptop before I get my new macbook pro and that new FS thingy is released in a month or so - it'll give me something to do while I'm waiting until after that Apple expo that someone on MysteryManor.net told me about.
 
Then, after the new release comes out, I'll back everything up on a blank DVD. However, I have a question: just now when I was copying these downloads to my new 4 GB jump drive, I got a message that said something like this: "this has extra information that might be lost if you continue copying. Do you want to continue copying - Yes/No." I chose "yes to all" - will this affect the installability/playability/quality of my downloads?

[colecampbell666]

Choose yes, extra info is probably some file info, not the actual files.

You don't need to download anything after a new release comes out, only the new .EXE. The rest is good to go.

[K515]

The message said it was something called "EMC" and "DATA" - and I'm getting this same message on all my files (photos, applications that I've downloaded, etc) that I'm now in the process of backing up since my laptop's main hard drive has only 4 GB free space on it. Will this affect my stuff that I'm backing up if I want to copy it to my new computer and run/play/use/edit, etc?

[colecampbell666]

No, I doubt. Probably some program on your laptop complaining that it won't be on your new PC so it won't be able to monitor your files. Or some other BS.