[cransona]

So I'm running Vista Home SP2 and when I try to activate any mods in Fred by creating a shortcut and modifying the shortcut target in the 'properties' settings, Windows generates an error message as a dialogue box and I'm prevented from correctly modifying the target.  It says:

"The name "C\...\Freespace 2\fred2_open_3_6_12_RC4r_INF.exe -mod mediavps" specified in the Target Box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct."

I do have the mediavps, but only up to version 3_6_10.  Would that be a cause?  I can't get Fred to open any of the other mods, such as FSport or blue planet, either.  I have played them with the current inferno build of FS Open, though.

Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times already... I haven't Fredded since the 90's when I was also playing Team Fortress Classic as a 56K sniper. (lolzers)

[Snail]

You actually don't need to use the shortcut to load mods with FRED. Use the Launcher to select a mod as you would with the FreeSpace 2 executable. Since FRED reads the same config files as FreeSpace 2, it will now also load the mod.

[cransona]

Boy... the way technology just turns everything you know up on its head...

[Iss Mneur]

Boy... the way technology just turns everything you know up on its head...

It does.

To be clear,  FRED 3.6.10 does require the shortcut method that you were using whereas FRED 3.6.12 (and newer) works as Snail describes.

Also for future reference the correct way to format it would be:

Code: [Select]

"C:\...\Freespace 2\fred2_open_3_6_12_RC4r_INF.exe" -mod mediavps
That is, the the flags have to be outside of the double quotes that surround the executable's name.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Actually that kind of sounds like a bug.  If something is specified by command line it should override the launcher.  A lot of people (I'm not one of them) have shortcuts for many mods set up so they can just launch from a shortcut. 

[sigtau]

Well, according to the OP and the topic title, the problem may be because he forgot the colon ( after "C".

[Iss Mneur]

Well, according to the OP and the topic title, the problem may be because he forgot the colon (:) after "C".

Now that you mention it, I did fix the missing colon in my corrected example and didn't think anything of it.

That being said, I did test on Windows 7 and if you edit a shortcut and put the flags inside the quotes you get exactly the same error as what cransona indicated, but if you put the flags after the quotes it works fine.

[headdie]

Well, according to the OP and the topic title, the problem may be because he forgot the colon (:) after "C".

Now that you mention it, I did fix the missing colon in my corrected example and didn't think anything of it.

That being said, I did test on Windows 7 and if you edit a shortcut and put the flags inside the quotes you get exactly the same error as what cransona indicated, but if you put the flags after the quotes it works fine.

that's because everything inside the quotes describes the file path, everything after are switches applied to the exe file and its been the case since win95 or before

[cransona]

Oh, I guess my main problem was placement of the quotation marks in the properties box.  I was placing the -mod argument within the quotes, but I see it should be outside the quotes.  Also, I have used the launcher trick with ease, so I guess I'm set now. Thanks all!

[Parias]

Well, according to the OP and the topic title, the problem may be because he forgot the colon (:) after "C".

Now that you mention it, I did fix the missing colon in my corrected example and didn't think anything of it.

That being said, I did test on Windows 7 and if you edit a shortcut and put the flags inside the quotes you get exactly the same error as what cransona indicated, but if you put the flags after the quotes it works fine.

that's because everything inside the quotes describes the file path, everything after are switches applied to the exe file and its been the case since win95 or before

Technically you can still get away without needing to use quotes, but in cases like this topic it's needed because of spaces in the path name. The quotation marks therefore are to instruct Windows how to differentiate between the intended executable path and the command-line arguments coming after it - without quotation marks, Windows by default assumes you're finished typing the path to the executable after the very first space, and everything after it is an argument, ergo resulting in the error in question.