[Skafsgaard]

Hey guys,

I've now played through FS1, ST:R and Operation Templar through the FSPort. One really nifty feature was the availability of a button that would outfit the whole wing with the same setup as the first ship in that wing, when clicked.
Now, playing through the FS2 campaign, I've noticed that there is no such button. Is this some sort of a bug, or is it intentional? And is there any way to restore it?

Thankya

[General Battuta]

You may need to have the MediaVPs enabled. Select mediavps_3612 as your FSO mod.

[Skafsgaard]

I see. Thing is, I'm currently using a really poor graphics card from 2003, and it has a hard time running the game with decent fps if the MV_Effects.vp mediavp is enabled. However, if I try to run the game with all the mediavps except for the effects one, the game will run just fine, aside from giving me a bunch of errors at startup, though the biggest drawback of this is that some of the primary weapons fire will be invisible. Is there any way to circumvent this?

Thanks you for your quick response, btw

[General Battuta]

Hrm. Does removing MV_Advanced help at all?

[Skafsgaard]

Just MV_Advanced.vp, or both MV_Effects.vp and MV_Advanced.vp?

[General Battuta]

Just mv_advanced. Unfortunately you will not be able to run the MediaVPs with MV_Effects removed.

[Skafsgaard]

Well, if I remove both, some of the primary weapons (such as the Subach) will still be invisible. If I try to run it with all the mediavps except for the advanced one, I'll get the major fps slowdowns - likely because of the background backdrop graphics (nebulae, etc.).

It's as if one of the mediavps is telling the game to load the graphics for the primary weapons from the effects mediavp, and when the effects mediavp is not there, it will not show anything. Now if I could either find out which mediavp is telling the game to load primary fire graphics from the effects mediavp and then remove that, or if I could somehow disable the backdrop graphics from the effects mediavp and instead use the retail backdrops while still using the rest of the graphics from the effects mediavp, that should solve my problem...

Am I out of luck here?

[General Battuta]

Yes, unfortunately for you MV_Core contains tables which reference the visual effects in MV_Effects. While MV_Advanced can be removed, MV_Effects cannot. You may be stuck playing without MVPs. 

[Skafsgaard]

MV_Core? I don't have such a file - do you mean the MV_Root.vp file?

Anyway, I realized that the 3613_Update.vp was the file referencing the graphical effects in MV_Effects.vp, and thus caused the startup errors as well as the invisible primary fire when loaded without the MV_Effects.vp. Thus, by running the game with all mediavps, except for the 3613_Update.vp and the MV_Effects.vp ones (and optionally with or without the radar mediavp), I am able to run the game without any errors, have visible primary fire, take advantage of the outfit-wing-button, as well as enjoy all the graphical upgrades of the mediavps, except for the ones in the MV_Effects.vp mediavp (enhanced backdrops, fire, explosions, etc.), without problem!

This is the near optimal for me, only next best to either getting a new graphics card or somehow getting a version of the MV_Effects.vp that doesn't include the enhanced backdrops so I could take advantage of the improved effects while retaining a reasonable fps.
In conclusion, let me underline the fact that it is possible to run the game with only certain mediavps enabled, though if doing so one should make certain not to use a mediavp that references another mediavp, such as the 3613_Update.vp, lest one will face graphical issues.

Anyhow, allow me to thank you for you quick support, General!

[General Battuta]

Well that's...very odd. 

[The E]

No, it's not.

The mediavps are designed so that the only thing you _really_ need is mv_root. However the update vp broke that rule.

[Skafsgaard]

I like that - great design!

[Goober5000]

Yes, unfortunately for you MV_Core contains tables which reference the visual effects in MV_Effects. While MV_Advanced can be removed, MV_Effects cannot. You may be stuck playing without MVPs. 

Waaaat?   MediaVPs should not have co-dependent data.  You ought to be able to add/delete VPs from your MVP folder at will, or according to obvious rules (e.g. MV_Advanced depending on MV_Effects).

The mediavps are designed so that the only thing you _really_ need is mv_root. However the update vp broke that rule.

This vexes Goober!   From the very first mediaVP release, MV_Core contained only the most basic assets, such as the interface art enabling the apply-to-all button or the cbrief scroll buttons.  All else should be optional.

Fortunately, those buttons have been around for a while, so you should be able to get away with using an mv_core.vp from a previous MVP release.

[The E]

mv_core == mv_root

That patch vp was a bloody mistake, yes.

[Skafsgaard]

Sorry to restart this topic again.

When I last fiddled with this, during my previous posts, I found a solution in leaving out the 3613_Update.vp and the MV_Effects.vp mediavps. As far as I remember, everything worked perfectly, using that setup.

Today, however, I encountered a problem, where if I have the MV_Assets.vp mediavp enabled, then the backdrops will be completely turned of - i.e., I can see suns and stars, but there is no "nebulae".

If I leave out the MV_Assets.vp mediavp, then I'll have the retail backdrops again, but then I'll miss out on pretty much every graphical upgrade in the mediavps.

I find a completely black backdrop, filled only with stars, a bit dull to be honest. Does anyone have a solution to this issue? Remember, using the MV_Effects.vp mediavp is a non-option for me, as that makes my fps drop ridiculously.

Thanks (:

[FreeSpaceFreak]

You can download Lightspeed's nebulas separately from FSMods. They're the same as in the current MVPs.

[Zacam]

I'm refactoring the Patch for 3.6.13. The uni-Update file will be going away in favor of the following:

MV_Assets.3613.vp (loads before MV_Assets.vp)
MV_Effects.3613.vp (loads before MV_Effects.vp)
MV_Root.3613.vp (loads before MV_Root.vp)

(The above is still apparently up for debate, so don't hold me to it, but in short, the situation will improve)

Assets and Effects should be separate of each other. However, closer examination notes that the Starfield.pof used in the MV_Assets missions is actually stored in MV_Effects. This will be corrected. This still doesn't do anything for the backgrounds in those mission files though other than as previously suggested, using the Lightspeed nebula pack in lieu of MV_Effects.

I'm actually more concerned with WHY MV_Effects won't work on your machine and it's not texture size related, 2048x2048 is the largest texture size in MV_Effects.