[lilsnippy]

Hey all, I am new to the area, as you will soon know from my annoying questions...

I am looking at playing some FS2 (after many years) with a friend or two, though as we all know getting installed and up to date can be a task.

So my question is, can we play any user made campaign online? ie these ones "http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=70582.0" (Released campaigns thread)

Or will we limited to FS2 original campaign? and these missions? "http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=45919.0"

Thanks for even looking at my thread!

May lasers be with you.

[The E]

No, only campaigns specifically made (and balanced) for multiplayer can be played there.

[lilsnippy]

Thanks for the quick reply, Its a shame we don't have a specific MP Campaigns Thread

Can anyone recommend a good MP campaign?

[Black Wolf]

Operation Templar is the only one I know of - Volition did it as part of the FS1 expansion, but it's been ported to FSO. Multiplayer's not really been a big part of the FS nodding scene since... well, ever really. We've been a mostly SP focused community since the demise of Squad War and PXO many years ago.

[lilsnippy]

Now that takes me by surprise! Seeing as you guys have one of the best engines out there for MP campaigns.

Diaspora was amazing but again no cooperative content worth looking at.

Of course there is Freelancer, not my thing though.

Soooo, new question...

Anyone know of a good MP space Sim to keep us going till Star Citizen roles out its Dogfighting Module this December?

[MatthTheGeek]

Why would you even need multi ? Have you played and finished our hundred-ish user-made campaigns yet ? You've already got more than enough to keep you busy until SC and a few years after that.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Why would you even need multi ? Have you played and finished our hundred-ish user-made campaigns yet ? You've already got more than enough to keep you busy until SC and a few years after that.

Perfect example of the mindset that still keeps multi from being a viable possibility. 

[Black Wolf]

Now that takes me by surprise! Seeing as you guys have one of the best engines out there for MP campaigns.

Unfortunately, that's not really entirely true. The lacklustre multiplayer experience when FS2 first came out combined with the overall small sales figures meant that while there was a multi scene, it wasn't extensive. This was made worse when PXO went, and so by the time we got around to the SCP and FSO, multi just wasn't a mjaor priority - FSO had serious multi problems in its early iterations, and while it's better (I believe) these days, It's still sub-optimal (It was a big issue for a lot of the Diaspora reviews IIRC), plus we've got that problem of a small base and a long historic tail of limited action on the multiplayer front. That has meant that the "market" for multiplayer campaigns has been way way smaller than that for single player (in terms of the number of potential players) so nobody (or almost nobody) makes them, which means that there's not much to attract new multiplayer people, which in turn decreases the impetus for the SCP guys to upgrade and optimize multi.

There are lots of other factors that have fed from this - the community as a whole has very little experience in FREDding for multi, for example - It's really become something a self perpetuating problem that has no obvious solution.

Why would you even need multi ? Have you played and finished our hundred-ish user-made campaigns yet ? You've already got more than enough to keep you busy until SC and a few years after that.

See that? Don't post that.

[MatthTheGeek]

So what, you'd rather the thousands of hours gone into making great campaigns was for nothing ? Great community spirit here.

[General Battuta]

No, he just plainly recognizes that some people are going to be interested in co-op campaigns (a great way to play games), that we can't provide much for that interest right now, and that if we want to offer content for people interested in multiplayer and co-op, we need to break the cycle somewhere.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

So what, you'd rather the thousands of hours gone into making great campaigns was for nothing ? Great community spirit here.

You come into the multiplayer forum and basically tell someone that there is no point in even trying to play multi because there is a lot of single player content.  So you are pushing a potential community member that might be interested in helping reestablish the multi community out the door before he even gets all the way in.  And now you try to further your anti-multi stance  and turn the argument around in your favor after a forum mod and a global mod both told you not to go there.  Well it's not going to work.  This is the mult forum not the there is a bunch of single player over there forum. 

[General Battuta]

I don't think he's anti-multi per se, he was a big developer in a multi-focused mod.

[MatthTheGeek]

What I'm saying is that given the little amount of coop content we have (not enough to keep him busy until SC is out, since that's his goal), there is no reason to not point him toward other content that might interest him.

Not pointing him in that direction would actually be a disservice both to him and the community, since he might not realize that there is so much he can play, and the community would loose another player thinking "that game is so dead, I'm out".


@lilsnippy: It is possible to manually turn most SP missions into coop missions, and although the balance may be affected, it will usually not break anything. The process is quite simple, and I can walk you through it if you're interested, although I can obviously not garantee it will work for all missions and campaigns.

Otherwise, if you want to play those SP campaigns with a friend, you can also do a parallel playthrough: using two screens and a streaming software to play the same thing at the same time and share your gaming experience in real time (ish, minus streaming latency). I'm currently doing that with the ME trilogy with a friend, it doesn't work too bad. That's probably the easiest way enjoy with a friend the huge amount of SP content we have over there.

[lilsnippy]

First off, thank-you all for answering.

It is an interesting topic for sure, though the argument of SP vs MP is an old one I am predominantly a MP/coop gamer.

Though I find myself drooling over vids of FS2 custom campaigns on youtube and wish I could employ wingman tactics and formation flying to defeat the enemy.

@MatthTheGeek Yes! If you could run me through this it would be perfect, I play IL2 Clod, Rise of Flight and DCS World so mission editing isnt something I am afraid of (Luckily for my flying buddies).

Can we make a new thread as a tutorial and sticky it to the front page? This way we have the info in one place... If one was to look back on the Multiplayer section of this forum there are many requests from other players like me asking for coop content...

Of course they would then be uploaded here if they can be made stable for Coop.

Regarding rebalancing, is it possible to host the missions on a higher difficulty to make it harder to beat with more players? Or would it be the case of increasing the numbers of opposing forces?

[QuantumDelta]

Both, normally.
PS <3

The original FS2 campaign is sort of semi-converted, it's multiplayer viable - you just have to play the missions one after the other I think.
Multi's campaign-support is somewhat sketchy in code, not just content. It's a little buggy, you will be better off playing sequential missions from the campaigns than playing an actual campaign file (unless the campaign is split into a 'couple mission chunks').

Converting SP mods to MP co-op mods is actually relatively simple, rebalancing them properly for MP enjoyment however takes a little finesse.
Nice to see interest though!