[hassgrant]

Hello, first time poster, so please bear with me.  I have a good copy of FS2 from GOG.  I have installed it on my zip drive so I can play it at work during down time.  The game runs fine from home in my Windows XP home edition.  The problem occurs when I try to run the game on my work computer, Windows 7 or from wife's laptop, Windows Vista.  When I try to launch FS2.exe from those computers I get the message to run the launcher first (don't get this message when running from XP computer).  Thus, from the launcher I have to detect my graphics card on either machine then click ok and then get the message about Fred2 and the root directory.  My directory for FS2 is my zip drives drive letter, usually E:\ or F:\ and then Freespace2.  Also, after selecting graphics card from launcher, I attempt to select Play from launcher and I get the same launcher message.  It is like a bad loop.  Anyone have any suggestions?  I did read the post that said to read it first before posting but it didn't help with the Fred2 issue and I didn't see anything to address my launcher issue.  I am also currently downloading the OpenSourceCode using Turey's automatic installer.  Perhaps that will work.  Any and all help is appreciated, thanks!

[The E]

Well, that sounds to me like an issue with the retail executable, for which the generally accepted fix is called "use FS2_Open".

[hassgrant]

Well I downloaded FS2 Open and it works fine on my XP computer but on my wife's (haven't tried at work yet and will not be able to until Sunday night), computer I get the openal32.dll issue.  I installed openal32.dll and now I get an error about enty point of a file with openal32.dll.  Quick question - where should I install openal32.dll?  I just put it in the Freespace2 folder.  Thanks for the responses to my issue.

[The E]

Just run the OpenAL installer on every machine you plan to play FS on.

[hassgrant]

Ran the OpenAl installer but nothing changed.  Still get the error - "The procedure entry point alcGetString could not be located in teh dynamic link library."  After that I get the prompt that FreeSpace2 has shut down and Windows is looking for a solution.  I also get flag errors.  This only occurs on my Vista and Windows 7 computers, not on my XP computer.

[Jeff Vader]

Remove the OpenAL32.dll in your \freespace2\ folder.

[hassgrant]

Thank you Jeff, now it works at least on my wife's laptop, Windows Vista.  I shall see if it works at work on Windows 7.  Thanks again.

[hassgrant]

One more question - What is the difference in F:\Freespace 2\fs2_open_3_6_12r_INF.exe and F:\Freespace 2\fs2_open_3_6_12d_INF.exe?  Which one should I select when I browse in the launcher.  I currently use F:\Freespace 2\fs2_open_3_6_12r_INF.exe.

[Jeff Vader]

The one with "r" is a RELEASE or REGULAR build, and is the one you should be using when you just want to play. The one with "d" is a DEBUG build, meant for bughunting, error tracking and other similar tasks. Debug builds don't perform as well as release builds, so they're not suitable for casual playing.

[Mongoose]

Man I can't wait until that naming scheme is changed.

[Jeff Vader]

Agreed.

[hassgrant]

Thanks for all of your help with this issue.  I will post whether or not FS2 works at work.  Always tricky with those admin. privileges and such with work computers, LOL!

[hassgrant]

Well, at work now, and of course I can not get FreeSpace 2 to run due to the OpenAl32.dll issue.  I also can not get the OpenAl program to run so I can run it.  Thus, when I try to run FreeSpace 2 I get errors that it failed to set different graphics settings.  Anyone know a way around this?  I am using Windows 7 at work and our IT people have limited us peons on how much we can do to the computers, LOL.

[hassgrant]

Was looking in the Windows System32 file and saw a file called opengl32.dll.  Is there anyway to use that?  I was hoping to put OpenAl32.dll directly in the System32 file but was not allowed because of admin. privileges.

[Zacam]

If you can't install OpenAL on the system, then it generally wont work. And there are more files to OpenAL than just the openal32.dll, you could try putting them all into the FreeSpace2 dir.

As for the OpenGL32.dll, leave that alone. It will get used just fine right where it is. That controls the video presentation of FSO, OpenGL. OpenAL covers the Audio. (GL = Graphics Library, AL = Audio Library)

[hassgrant]

As always, thank you to all of you that try to help me here.  I am beginning to think playing this game is impossible at work.  Guess I will have to stick with Rome Total War and Independence War 2.  Before giving up however, let me list all of the errors I am getting in case someone knows a way around them:

- when I start the launcher I get the OpenAl32.dll file missing error
- then I get "Failed to read flag error."
- then the launcher comes up
- once I try to click run or apply after changing settings I get "Failed to set graphic mode."
- then "Failed to set Anistropic Filter setting."
- then "Failed to set FSAA setting."
- then "Failed to set Texture Filter setting."

Also, when I try to run OpenAl program I get this error, "Permission not granted for writting to the system directory - try again with administrator privileges."

Again I am using a Windows 7 operating system at work.  Should I just give up?

[The E]

If you do not have the necessary privileges on that system to install the prerequisites FSO needs, then yes, you should give up.

[G0atmaster]

Why are you playing Rome Total War and Freespace 2 at work??  What in the world do you do???!!

[MatthTheGeek]

You can get FSO to run on a portable device. Install FS2, FSO and OpenAL on a machine you have the admin privileges on, then move the whole folder on a USB stick or something. You can then run it directly from the key. Expect longer load times and a few settings not working due to unability to write on the registry, but the game should run. I know cause I did it before.

[hassgrant]

I do run my games from a zip drive but no luck on FS2.  I run Rome Total War, Freelancer, Independence War 2, etc. from my zip drive.  And for the one that asked what I do....well, I work in corrections at a satelite facility, and there are some nights (12-hour shifts) when I might not get in anyone that has been arrested.  Without my time-killing video games, 12 hours would never end.  I will try my zip drive one more time and see if it works.  I will post a gain tonight to see if I was successful or not.