[TwoCables]

This title could be misleading, but what I'm referring to is this:

I remember being able to open the launcher and then just tap Enter because the 'Run' button was always the one in focus. Now it's always the 'Browse...' button no matter what.

I also remember it always opening to the last tab that I had selected, but now it's always opening to the Welcome tab no matter what.

The only thing I've done is, I didn't play the game for several months (the first time I played was almost 2 weeks ago now). Beyond that, nothing has changed - except for this behavior.

Finally, and this is unrelated to the title, but the launcher is always still open when I'm done playing the game. I could have sworn that it used to NOT be open at the end of a gaming session. I mean, every time I finish, I'm thrown off because it's still open. I don't remember having to close it after I finish playing.

Do you have any idea of what's going on here?

[Jeff Vader]

Try running it as an administrator whenever you make changes to the settings.

I also remember it always opening to the last tab that I had selected, but now it's always opening to the Welcome tab no matter what.

I honestly do not remember it ever doing this, I've always ended up in the Welcome tab. I could be wrong, though.

[TwoCables]

Try running it as an administrator whenever you make changes to the settings.

I'm not talking about making changes to settings though. Besides, I'm already running everything as an administrator by default. I can confirm this by just opening up the Run dialog box because it says "This task will be created with administrative privileges". I set it up that way on purpose.

I also remember it always opening to the last tab that I had selected, but now it's always opening to the Welcome tab no matter what.

I honestly do not remember it ever doing this, I've always ended up in the Welcome tab. I could be wrong, though.

Thank you. It's always possible that I'm not remembering this quite accurately. lol

[AdmiralRalwood]

Finally, and this is unrelated to the title, but the launcher is always still open when I'm done playing the game. I could have sworn that it used to NOT be open at the end of a gaming session. I mean, every time I finish, I'm thrown off because it's still open. I don't remember having to close it after I finish playing.

I have a tendency to hit "ok" immediately after "run" (or, well, I did back when I still used the old launcher), but no, it has not, to my memory, ever closed itself upon running FSO.

I likewise don't remember it ever remembering the previously-open tab.

[Jeff Vader]

Try running it as an administrator whenever you make changes to the settings.

I'm not talking about making changes to settings though. Besides, I'm already running everything as an administrator by default. I can confirm this by just opening up the Run dialog box because it says "This task will be created with administrative privileges". I set it up that way on purpose.

Ah, sorry. I mainly read the title and was like "yeah this is simple you just gotta run it as an admin" and then skipped the majority of your post. My bad!

[jr2]

Sound like it might be an OS settings issue?  Have you noticed the behavior of other programs' menus changing at all?

[TwoCables]

Sound like it might be an OS settings issue?  Have you noticed the behavior of other programs' menus changing at all?

Everything is exactly the same as it was before installing Freespace 2 a year ago now. I haven't made any changes to Windows, I haven't downloaded any Windows Updates (it's been disabled since July of 2012), I haven't installed any new software, etc.

Am I the only one using this launcher? I need someone to reply who is using this launcher and who has been using it. I mean, I am mostly sure that I used to open it and then tap Enter because the 'Run' button was always the one selected.

Regarding the tabs, I'm not as sure about that, but I'm fairly sure. My biggest annoyance right now though is the button that's selected when I open the launcher. I still sometimes tap Enter out of habit. I realize that I can just press Tab twice before pressing Enter now, but still.

Am I just remembering incorrectly here or what? What does this launcher do for you guys?

[jr2]

All right; I opened up 5.5g and set up the path to FS2 just to check;

After succssfully launching FS2, exiting FS2, then clicking the 'X' to close the Launcher, when it opens back up, it defaults to the "Browse" button.  BUT, if you leave the launcher running, and just hit 'Enter', it will still have 'Run' selected and will launch FS2.  So if you've left the launcher running while quitting and relaunching FSO a lot (bugtesting, perhaps?), then I could see how you would think that was the default behavior.

[TwoCables]

All right; I opened up 5.5g and set up the path to FS2 just to check;

After succssfully launching FS2, exiting FS2, then clicking the 'X' to close the Launcher, when it opens back up, it defaults to the "Browse" button.  BUT, if you leave the launcher running, and just hit 'Enter', it will still have 'Run' selected and will launch FS2.  So if you've left the launcher running while quitting and relaunching FSO a lot (bugtesting, perhaps?), then I could see how you would think that was the default behavior.

No, I am talking about when opening it, as I said a few times now. My habit is to open it and then press Enter. I don't leave it open when I'm done with a gaming session.

Of course the Run button will still be selected because the launcher was just sitting there doing nothing the whole time.

I guess what I'm experiencing now is normal behavior and what I had before was not. It also seems that the accuracy of my memory is being doubted. I'm the kind of person who notices even the tiniest changes to routines that I've performed thousands of times, and I'm telling you guys I know that it used to do this for me. I noticed it when I opened the launcher and instinctively pressed Enter only to get the "Open FreeSpace.exe" window.

[jr2]

Perhaps this was with Launcher 5.5f/e/d or something? i.e., it's new behavior introduced with 5.5g?

Also, I haven't run 5.5g on this setup before, so The default behavior for 5.5g seems to be to not remember which button was highlighted on last run.

The only other thing I can think of is something like Windows' snap to default button --  this will snap the mouse cursor to the default button, but I'm not sure if it will highlight it or not.

[TwoCables]

Perhaps this was with Launcher 5.5f/e/d or something? i.e., it's new behavior introduced with 5.5g?

Also, I haven't run 5.5g on this setup before, so The default behavior for 5.5g seems to be to not remember which button was highlighted on last run.

The only other thing I can think of is something like Windows' snap to default button --  this will snap the mouse cursor to the default button, but I'm not sure if it will highlight it or not.

I don't remember ever seeing a 5.5f or a 5.5e or a 5.5d. From the day I discovered FSO for myself, it was 5.5g.

I don't understand yet how Snap To would help. When I open this launcher, the button that's selected is 'Browse...'. So, I've just been trying to create a habit where I press Tab twice and then Enter.

[jr2]

Maybe you could try wxLauncher?  5.5g isn't supported any more, so eventually you'll have to switch to something else.  Might as well get used to it now (and maybe wxLauncher will have play selected by default, and if not, they are still developing it so you can suggest it!).

[Goober5000]

Or YALauncher, which is a bare-bones version of the launcher quite similar to 5.5g.  Both it and wxLauncher are available through the FSO Installer.

[TwoCables]

I regret to report that I still prefer FS2 Open Launcher 5.5g. With this program pinned to the Taskbar, I can open it using a keyboard shortcut and then press Tab twice and then Enter to launch the game (I never need the mouse!). With wxLauncher, I am required to use the mouse because the Play button isn't selectable using Tab. In YAL, I have to press Tab several times.

I guess I'm a dinosaur? Am I the only one left who uses the keyboard more often than the mouse or what?

[AdmiralRalwood]

I regret to report that I still prefer FS2 Open Launcher 5.5g. With this program pinned to the Taskbar, I can open it using a keyboard shortcut and then press Tab twice and then Enter to launch the game (I never need the mouse!). With wxLauncher, I am required to use the mouse because the Play button isn't selectable using Tab. In YAL, I have to press Tab several times.

I guess I'm a dinosaur? Am I the only one left who uses the keyboard more often than the mouse or what?

No, you're not the only person who prefers the keyboard to the mouse; I play FSO with the keyboard exclusively. However, I also don't use any launcher most of the time; the only time I fire up wxLauncher, it's to switch mods. Otherwise, I just run FSO's executable directly.

[TwoCables]

I regret to report that I still prefer FS2 Open Launcher 5.5g. With this program pinned to the Taskbar, I can open it using a keyboard shortcut and then press Tab twice and then Enter to launch the game (I never need the mouse!). With wxLauncher, I am required to use the mouse because the Play button isn't selectable using Tab. In YAL, I have to press Tab several times.

I guess I'm a dinosaur? Am I the only one left who uses the keyboard more often than the mouse or what?

No, you're not the only person who prefers the keyboard to the mouse; I play FSO with the keyboard exclusively. However, I also don't use any launcher most of the time; the only time I fire up wxLauncher, it's to switch mods. Otherwise, I just run FSO's executable directly.

What about flags? This is what I have in the launcher:

C:\Games\FreeSpace2\fs2_open_3_7_2_RC4.exe -mod MediaVPs_2014 -nomotiondebris -missile_lighting -3dshockwave -post_process -soft_particles -fxaa -nolightshafts -fb_explosions -targetinfo -rearm_timer -ballistic_gauge -ship_choice_3d -weapon_choice_3d -snd_preload  -ambient_factor 0 -no_emissive_light -spec_exp 11 -spec_point 1.5 -spec_static .8 -spec_tube .6 -ogl_spec 83

This is what fits in the shortcut though:

C:\Games\FreeSpace2\fs2_open_3_7_2_RC4.exe -mod MediaVPs_2014 -nomotiondebris -missile_lighting -3dshockwave -post_process -soft_particles -fxaa -nolightshafts -fb_explosions -targetinfo -rearm_timer -ballistic_gauge -ship_choice_3d -weapon_choice_3d -snd_pre

[AdmiralRalwood]

You don't need options in the shortcut; the launcher stores the commandline flags in a file called "cmdline_fso.cfg", so just running your FSO (or FRED) executable with no extra arguments will use the command-line flags from your last run through the launcher.

[TwoCables]

You don't need options in the shortcut; the launcher stores the commandline flags in a file called "cmdline_fso.cfg", so just running your FSO (or FRED) executable with no extra arguments will use the command-line flags from your last run through the launcher.

Omg, then I don't need a launcher at all. Thank you. I got this all under control now and I understand everything that I would need to do in order to make any changes that I want to make! Nice. I'm glad I made this thread!!

[jr2]

Glad everything worked out. 

[TwoCables]

Thank you! Me too! I hope that this thread can show others that maybe they don't need a launcher either, especially if they're like me and are only playing FreeSpace 2 with just one mod (in my case, MediaVPs 2014).