[Klaustrophobia]

First of all, hi.  I'm an old pilot from the days of yore, way back when Parallax was still online.  I went by the callsign of AD-Klaus in those days, and was a part of teamwars and the attempted resurgence of squadwars.  I recently felt a pang of nostalgia and decided to give the SCP a go.  I did a little dabbling in FSO years ago, but that was when it required a degree in nuclear physics to install and I never did get it working properly.  Some other mod I ended up getting working, one that completely replaced all of FS2, which was not what I was looking for, so that didn't last long.


ANNNYYYYYWHOOOOOOOO, as for my actual question, it regards the audio tab in the launcher.  The "getting started" page here says to set the audio to "generic software".  However, I have an x-fi sound card installed, and feel like I should be making use of it.  So, is the generic software required for OpenAL, or should I select my sound card?

[Jeff Vader]

it required a degree in nuclear physics to install and I never did get it working properly.

Not sure of how different things were before I joined, but at least today there are several ready installers for installing FSO and related stuff. And I've tried to write clear and explanatory instructions for manual installation at the support board.

I have an x-fi sound card installed, and feel like I should be making use of it.  So, is the generic software required for OpenAL, or should I select my sound card?

No one can stop you from trying your sound card (and hell, it might even work, who knows), but for a guaranteed least buggy experience possible, it is recommended to select "Generic software".

[Klaustrophobia]

cool, thanks for the heads up.  Yeah, I used one of the massive offline installers, and it was pretty painless (other than the download and unpacking).  The first time around everything had to be done manually, and as far as I could tell, there was no single, concise instructions page.

I'd love to help out with FSO, cuz freespace is still the coolest game ever, but I don't have much free time, and my coding ability is limited to classroom-assignment type of programs in FORTRAN and a little Java. 

But if you ever run across the need for a nuclear engineer, give me a holler! 

[taylor]

ANNNYYYYYWHOOOOOOOO, as for my actual question, it regards the audio tab in the launcher.  The "getting started" page here says to set the audio to "generic software".  However, I have an x-fi sound card installed, and feel like I should be making use of it.  So, is the generic software required for OpenAL, or should I select my sound card?

You should be ok with the X-Fi hardware driver.  The X-Fi driver capabilities actually surpass what the code does so it should work just fine.  The problem one is "Generic Hardware", so just don't use that.

[Klaustrophobia]

Wow, I'm not used to an active FS2 community. 

One other thing I just noticed, I downloaded the campaign pack and ran the installer.  Everything seemed to go fine, no error messages or anything, but the campaigns don't appear in the campaign room.  I still just have FS2 and Templar.

Also, about the weird-looking text, I'm guessing this probably isn't fully solvable, but just in case.  It is a LOT better than retail FS2 for sure, but it's still got an odd line or two in it.  It looks the same with the "fix font distortion" flag on or off.  For retail FS2, disabling AA on the vid card used to fix it.  Is there any such known fix under FSO?

Ok, I guess more than one other thing.  Sorry for inundating the board with questions I'm sure you are all very tired of answering.  For widescreen, does it actually render extra area, or just stretch the image?  I don't have a joystick handy so I am unable to fly right now, but it seems in the breifings and such it is stretched image.  I've "forced" widescreen in some other older games by playing with some config files and changing the zoom levels or aspect ratios or something, is there a comparable trick for FSO (if needed)?

[Jeff Vader]

One other thing I just noticed, I downloaded the campaign pack and ran the installer.  Everything seemed to go fine, no error messages or anything, but the campaigns don't appear in the campaign room.  I still just have FS2 and Templar.

They aren't campaigns as much as they are mods. If you open your \freespace2\ folder, you'll notice many subfolders (excluding \freespace2\data\). The campaigns/mods are in those folders. You'll use them like this:
- open the Launcher
- open the MOD tab
- click Select MOD
- select the mod folder you want to use and  click OK
- click Apply, click Run
- create new pilot
- go to the Campaign room and select the user-made campaign for the mod you just selected
- ????
- PROFIT

For widescreen, does it actually render extra area, or just stretch the image?  I don't have a joystick handy so I am unable to fly right now, but it seems in the breifings and such it is stretched image.  I've "forced" widescreen in some other older games by playing with some config files and changing the zoom levels or aspect ratios or something, is there a comparable trick for FSO (if needed)?

If you open the Video tab in the Launcher, you'll notice that you have a variety of resolutions to choose from. Or if a proper resolution isn't listed there, you can use the -res commandline flag (for example -res 1680x1050) to set your resolution. 3.6.10 can actually use widescreen resolutions. Only the interface art and the HUD elements are stretched.

[Klaustrophobia]

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh cool.  My next adventure in FSO was going to be mods with new ships 'n such, but HLP is awsome enough to include that .  You guys have come a LONG way since my last visit.   

It's a shame the HUD had to stretch.  I know I'm being nitpickey, but distorted circles just kindof bug me. >.<

BTW, what do you think are the chances of an actual cockpit appearing in upcoming releases?  Or do some mods already do that?

[Jeff Vader]

There are cockpits in some (if not most) ships, and enabling them requires a bit of messing around with tables, as described here. Though personally I don't concider them too awesome just yet.

[General Battuta]

Cockpits still kind of suck, but they're doable.

The mods you absolutely must play are Silent Threat Reborn, Derelict, Blue Planet, and Transcend. Windmills and The Procyon Insurgency are also great.

[chief1983]

Be thankful widescreen works well at all, that came a long way from just a couple years ago, thanks to some driveby coding by a new forum member.  The hud stretching is next on the list of things to fix in that area, but it's currently just making a 1024x768 layout fit on a 16:9 resolution.  I believe it positions by corners and not centers of elements, so fixing it will take some careful math.  Probably possible though.

[Klaustrophobia]

oh i am nothing but thankful for EVERYTHING here.  i guess that did come out kindof whiney, sorry.  i have no kind of experience with modding, but i would think that drawing a 1680x1050 (or whatever) HUD would be the easiest thing to do.  or is it more complicated than just an image?  i guess you would have though of that long ago... i'll shut up now.

i seem to remember Inferno being "the" mod back last time i poked around. 

[General Battuta]

Inferno is no longer top-of-the-line quality-wise, but hopefully new entries in the series will be good.

[Thaeris]

You're a nuclear engineer, Klaus?

That's quite neat. I'm a former aerospace engineering student pursuing civil engineering right now. 

[chief1983]

Yeah, give Blue Planet a spin, it's top notch and it's actually got a significantly large release.

[The E]

oh i am nothing but thankful for EVERYTHING here.  i guess that did come out kindof whiney, sorry.  i have no kind of experience with modding, but i would think that drawing a 1680x1050 (or whatever) HUD would be the easiest thing to do.  or is it more complicated than just an image?

The problem is that a lot of the interface code is hardcoded for either 1024x768 or 640x480. Other resolutions are interpolated where the HUD is concerned; Instead of taking the sensible approach and rendering the HUD elements pixel-perfect, they are stretched to cover the same amount of screen real estate they would occupy in 1024x768, which leads to some uglyness. Thankfully, gameplay is not affected by that (much), and all the 3d models are rendered accurately on widescreen displays.

[Thaeris]

Of course, it's only a matter of time before the old hard-coded crap is fixed. 

[General Battuta]

Yeah, give Blue Planet a spin, it's top notch and it's actually got a significantly large release.

Heh, while I appreciate the props, I also think Silent Threat Reborn is basically mandatory play.

[Thaeris]

Derelict, Cardinal Spear, Warzone...

...And the list continues. 

[jr2]

it required a degree in nuclear physics to install and I never did get it working properly.

Not sure of how different things were before I joined, but at least today there are several ready installers for installing FSO and related stuff. And I've tried to write clear and explanatory instructions for manual installation at the support board.

Aww, you missed it.  It was fun.    I think it took me a month of research in my spare time and much downloading at the college before I got it working.

[General Battuta]

Derelict, Cardinal Spear, Warzone...

...And the list continues. 

I try to point new players at only the top campaigns in the community, as suggested by general consensus. Neither Cardinal Spear nor Warzone make that cut, though they are quite good.