[General Battuta]

quick question about the new folder scheme what happens if someone wants to play say BP with the new Mediavps so you are loading both 3.6.10 and version 3.6.12. I understand that there is an issue with not being able to sort the mess when you have conflicting assets with the same name so it loads them at random?

Blue Planet has released a mandatory update that provides compatibility with the 3.6.12 MVPs. (Well, mandatory to play War in Heaven.) 3.6.10 is not required for BP.

[Fury]

quick question about the new folder scheme what happens if someone wants to play say BP with the new Mediavps so you are loading both 3.6.10 and version 3.6.12. I understand that there is an issue with not being able to sort the mess when you have conflicting assets with the same name so it loads them at random?

Eh?

If you play old, unupdated AoA, it's mod.ini points to "mediavps". If you play new, updated AoA, it's mod.ini points to "mediavps_3612". AoA update was released a short while ago.

There's no conflict whatsoever.

[headdie]

ok so BP was a bad example but the question still stands what happens if you run both

[Fury]

I don't understand your question at all. If mod.ini points to "mediavps", it uses 3.6.10 mediavps. If mod.ini points to "mediavps_3612", it uses 3.6.12 mediavps.

You don't run both of them at same time unless you for some reason put both of those in mod.ini, which is not recommended or supported.

[General Battuta]

ok so BP was a bad example but the question still stands what happens if you run both

If you try to get an old mod to point to the 3.6.12 MediaVPs, I don't know. Maybe something bad. If you try to get it to point to both, I imagine everything will asplode.

[Klaustrophobia]

ok, stupid question from a non-coder/modder.

for 3.6.12, why couldn't we just add/update to the 3.6.10 MVPs, leaving old assets alone and thus theoretically maintaining compatibility for all mods?

[headdie]

I ask because i cant justify the full 3.6.12 download atm due to my 5 gig data limit which I often hit regardless of downloads like this so I'm trying to figure out if I can use them together in a 3.6.10.5 kind of style.  but my usage patterns have changed this month so i might be able to do it towards the end of the month.

@ Klaustrophobia
It looks like the old issue of FSO being unable to differentiate between conflicting assets with the same file name seems to remain so if you have 2 cains 1 mvp3.6.10 and 1 mvp3.6.12 with the same file name the game don't know which is which and at best loads one at random and there are a few asset changes like textures which could negatively affect the look of some mods calling on mvp3.6.10 textures for models they weren't originally made for

[Klaustrophobia]

i would guess that a mod calls up the model called "Cain" from the MVPs, and whatever gets returned gets tossed into the game and rendered.  if this be the case, the new MVPs need simply replace any models/assets that were updated, add any new ones, and then the old could be left alone, free for the mods to still call up.  if a model that has been updated gets called by an old mod, presto, automatic upgrade.

now someone who actually knows how this works tell me how wrong i am.

[General Battuta]

i would guess that a mod calls up the model called "Cain" from the MVPs, and whatever gets returned gets tossed into the game and rendered.  if this be the case, the new MVPs need simply replace any models/assets that were updated, add any new ones, and then the old could be left alone, free for the mods to still call up.  if a model that has been updated gets called by an old mod, presto, automatic upgrade.

now someone who actually knows how this works tell me how wrong i am.

Tell me too, because honestly this is the approach I'd expected. Except, thinking about it...I think some of the new stuff in the MVPs, like the scripting stuff, might actively break mods that aren't prepared to work with it...

[Fury]

for 3.6.12, why couldn't we just add/update to the 3.6.10 MVPs, leaving old assets alone and thus theoretically maintaining compatibility for all mods?

1) Bloat, complexity and maintenance.
2) It is extremely difficult for mediavps to maintain 100% backwards compatibility with earlier releases of mediavps even if old assets are not removed.
3) Mediavps 3.6.10 was not fully compatible with mediavps 3.6.9. Neither was mediavps 3.6.9 fully compatible with earlier release and so on. They forcefully broke a lot of mods when they were released.
4) This is the easiest and most robust solution to mod compatibility until FSO/FSU can together come up with a better system, without sacrificing on high quality standards of mediavps.

I ask because i cant justify the full 3.6.12 download atm due to my 5 gig data limit which I often hit regardless of downloads like this so I'm trying to figure out if I can use them together in a 3.6.10.5 kind of style.  but my usage patterns have changed this month so i might be able to do it towards the end of the month.

In that case you will probably miss out on a lot of mod releases, not just mediavps. These include newly released update to BP: AoA and very soon to be released BP2: WiH.

@ Klaustrophobia
It looks like the old issue of FSO being unable to differentiate between conflicting assets with the same file name seems to remain so if you have 2 cains 1 mvp3.6.10 and 1 mvp3.6.12 with the same file name the game don't know which is which and at best loads one at random and there are a few asset changes like textures which could negatively affect the look of some mods calling on mvp3.6.10 textures for models they weren't originally made for

Huh? You're mistaken. There won't be conflicts between assets of same name, loading priority handles that. If your mod.ini has line secondarylist = mediavps_3612,mediavps; then all assets in mediavps_3612 have priority. But it's not quite as simple as that, issues arise in modular tables at the very least. And that assumption is being really generous. I really, really don't recommend mixing different versions of mediavps.


For the sake of mod compatibility, mediavps would become dirty, complicated and really difficult to maintain in the long run. Nobody wants that, least the FSU staff. Robust and clean mediavps are the best for mods. Even if that means keeping more than one version of mediavps installed. Mods using mediavps as dependency is not a right. It's a privilege. Don't take it for granted.

[Klaustrophobia]

on a different note, is there a changelog/list of new features somewhere?

[Fury]

Not official list as far as I know, but I'll list the most notable ones that I can remember from top off my head.
- New Hatshepshut, Cain and Lilith
- Updated Fenris, Leviathan
- New explosion effects
- Flashy explosion script and new effects for it
- Flaming debris script
- Improvements to missile and bomb effects and visuals
- New particlesmoke
- New trails and afterburner trails
- sigtau's sound effects
- Turret base rotation and elevation sounds, turret barrel rotation and elevation sounds
- Animated glowmaps were moved away from MV_Advanced to separate MV_AnimGlows because they're bigger resource waste than rest of MV_Advanced.
- Weapon hull piercing effects
- And lots more that I can't remember

[blowfish]

As a general rule, DO NOT try to play a mod with any version of the mediavps other than the one it was designed for unless you REALLY, REALLY know what you are doing.

[carbine7]

Just to let you guys know, the MD5 sums seem to have been reversed for the root and assets VPs, as a scan of the VP will return the .zip's posted checksum. Opposite is true for the respective folders. Also, only the mirror version of the RadarIcons VP will return the correct checksum, as the FSMods version will fail and is not reversed like the two VPs above. These issues seem to cause the all-in-one download to fail also.

Either that or my MD5 checker is borked....


EDIT: It also appears that the RadarIcons VP is not included in the complete package download. Is this intentional or was it simply left out by accident?

[c914]

My media VP got about year or more - now I'm wondering how FS will look with new ones XD

[Colonol Dekker]

What a nice surprise to wake up to.



Now. . . . . . . .The obvious unspoken question remains.

[T-LoW]

Now. . . . . . . .The obvious unspoken question remains.

What is the Matrix?



Great release! Now testing mods for compatibility

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Q: With the flashy deaths script and configs now in the MVPs, how can a mod use it with custom ships and explosions? Do we just override the three config files in MV_Effects, or is there more to it?

[The E]

Yes. You need to write your own config files.

[starbug]

These are great but i have encountered a couple of problems, and it seems to on only the vasudan maps. The Aten just shows up as a black model picture attached and several textures will not show up, for example i have the GVD Tempeth destroyer installed and the following textures won't appear on the model CapVTile3a, CapVTile2a and Capital01-04a.

[attachment deleted by ninja]