[Toranks]

I came here looking for compatibility with MVPS 4.6.5 and I see that it is already updated, although Knossos still has 0.6.0
How can I install 0.6.1 so that I can boot and manage it from Knossos?

EDIT:
A manual installation seems to work. I start it from Knossos as usual, and now I get both the new version of MVPS and NTP and the tutorial works.

By the way, would you accept corrections to the spanish translation? In the menus and HUD there are errors that, in addition to being incorrect, are too long and cover other texts, such as in the HUD. And some mispelling i've encountered. I am making the corrections for myself in the *spa-lcl.tbm files.

[Novachen]

I got info about a critical bug in 0.6.1 due to a misspelled variable that causes a crash in a mission.

I am working on a 0.6.2 update because i got some other reports (finally  ) that need to fix.
But well, as a temporary measure there is a fixed ntp_root.vp on fsfiles. It is somekind of unofficial update, that ensures that you can play through the main campaign.
The fixed root archive has to be extracted in the ntp folder.

I think this error was introduced in 0.6, as i remember that i fixed a different bug in that specific mission for 0.5 . For Troubleshooting it was the last time i played that mission, as i never reached that mission in my regular playthrough with the 0.6 Beta .

0.6.2 will include some additional fixes in some missions, but well, they are not critical enough for a hotfix release. Hope that i can release the upcoming version in one of the next two weekends.


In other news:
There is nothing going on in terms of 0.7.0 though and i actually do not think, that anything will happen until Q4/2022. Maybe late in Q3 if the weather gets too bad.


So, for the questions:

I came here looking for compatibility with MVPS 4.6.5 and I see that it is already updated, although Knossos still has 0.6.0

Well, it seems that Knossos still do Knossos things  .

Because of the upcoming 0.6.2 update i do not think, that i will fix that. So i simple recommend manual installation for the time being. Or you have to wait one or two weeks.

By the way, would you accept corrections to the spanish translation?

Of course i do  .
As that is a language without any translator right now.
So it's translation is mostly based a very old one i adapted to NTP myself and got some own translations by me even i am not speaking spanish at all.

So i never played through it on spanish on the first place. I did only small random tests.

[Novachen]

Time for another update.

Nothing new for NTP 0.7 actually. But well, 0.6.1 still has more than enough hiccups, so an update come in handy. Especially during a twitch livestream of NTP 0.6.1 i saw some problems in the missions. So the most part of this update are mission bugfixes.

Changelog of Version 0.6.2:
• MediaVPs 4.6.5 compatibility!
• MjnMixael's HD Mainhalls 1.4.10 compatibility!
• Various Mission fixes.
- SM1-03 "The Romans Blunder": The Psamtik was repositioned and rearmed to make sure, that it uses the Anti Capital Beam Cannons against the NTF cruisers.
- SM1-09 "Into the Maelstrom": The hull status of the GTFr Parracombe and Cargo Pod 163 is now bound to each other to show the correct hull damage.
- loop1-1 "Rebels and Renegades": On its attack run on the NTFg Iceni it could happen, that the GVC Yaaru finished off the NTSC Hinton by accident. The Hinton got some more Hitpoints, which make it more survivable during the initial attack.
- SM2-02 "A Game of TAG": Scout 3 was destroyed, before he was able to send his complete communication message. That was fixed.
- SM2-03 "Proving Grounds": The GTD Aquitaine got some more Hitpoints, which should make this mission to a less drastic difficult spike in the game.
- SM2-08 "A Monster in the Mist": The LRed beam cannons of the SJ Sathanas were able to destroy the GVCv Maahes before the player was even half way through the subsystem scanning. The medal was unobtainable if a player played this mission in the intended way. The Maahes got more Hitpoints which give the player more time for the subsystem scanning. The intended way to play this mission was restored.
- SM2-09 "Speaking in Tongues": In the Briefing a GVCv Sopedu is mentioned. However only a GVCv Thutmose is present in the mission. The briefing text was corrected.
- SM3-02 "High Noon": If the SD Beleth was not destroyed during SM3-01 "Bearbaiting", it will reappear in this mission as a Support destroyer for the SJ Sathanas.
- SM3-03 "Return to Babel": An incorrect Variable Name caused a crash of the game. This critical error was fixed.
- SM3-04 "Straight, No Chaser": As the SJ Yama kills off the GVD Psamtik way too fast, not even all communication messages were played. The sequence was reorganized, so that all messages are present, now.
- SM3-05 "Argonautica": As inactive events were reactivated during NTP 0.5, this mission is several minutes longer and so it is also more difficult and more frustrating than in retail. Now, the GTD Aquitaine got more Hitpoints, so that this mission should be more like Retail difficulty again. The SJ Yama was repositioned and will appear further away from the Gamma Draconis Jump Node, now. The Aquitaine Escape Pods will now properly fly to the Gamma Draconis Jump Node.
- loop2-2 "Into the Lion's Den": Some buggy events in the original mission were fixed and restored. The Shivans will now check on the approaching GTF Maras and this will be commented by Snipes. The SI Dre Device that the player is ordered to scan is actually scannable now. Some ships were repositioned to be a better fit for the now-working events as well to reduce the waiting time at the Jump Node. The Sathanas Juggernaughts will jump in with the Knossos Warp Effect, now.
- SM3-08 "Their finest Hour": The GTVA capital ships used their beam cannons only on the initial shivan wave. The waypoints were changed so all other Shivan capital ships are also attacked with beam cannons. As the SJ Jagannatha kills the GTVA Colossus too quickly, the last communication message was never played in full. That sequence was slightly changed so that the full communication message is properly played.
- SM3-09 "Clash of the Titans II": Some communication messages by the wingmates were not playing. The events were adjusted so that all conversations are present, now. Deleted all leftovers of the SD Niobe events i introduced in NTP 0.5 and that were still present by accident since NTP 0.5.1.
- SPDemo-02 "Crisis in Capella": The GVD Psamtik appeared only very unreliable which cause that this mission did not have a consistent difficulty. Some events in this mission were changed to ensure, that the Psamtik will always appear.
• Several spelling fixes in the german language file.

Opening Post was updated. NTP Installation file on ModDB was also updated. Knossos will follow. The "FreeSpace 2 Open All-in-One Installer" will however get an update only after FSO 22.2 go out of RC. So long it still contains the MVP 4.6.4 models. Should be still compatible, though.


Would still like to see some feedback and experience reports

Greetings and Happy playin'

Jenna

[Novachen]

Heyya,

well, i think it is time for a small development announcement.

I had quite a lot on my mind again during the last couple of months since the last release.
As i heard nothing about annoying issues that are still present in 0.6.2, there will be no 0.6.3 update anymore.

Instead the development of NTP will continue with version 0.7. That version will bring back translated versions of the Standalone Singleplayer Missions in the Tech Room from the Game of the Year Edition.

As these missions are unaltered since retail i will however do some mission changes to modernize them like i did with the FreeSpace Port Standalone Single Missions in FreeSpace: Mission Disk: Redux.

These mission updates will have some kind of time exclusiveness to NTP. For the time being there will be no seperate standalone release, as there are actually plans for a FreeSpace 2: Mission Disk: Redux like release however. That would also include converted standalone coop missions for single player as well... but will be released only after i am finished with the work on the coop section of NTP.

That would mean... with luck in two years or so
(i actually hope not, even there is actually a massive number of standalone coop missions through the multi mission pack)

Greetings,

Novachen

[Novachen]

Well, as 2022 is coming to an end, i use the opportunity for an End of the Year report as there will be nothing happen anymore in the current year.

I have to admit, that i was not able to accomplish my personal goals that i set for NTP in 2022.
This year only saw the release of Version 0.6, which however was a big milestone nevertheless.
This version added two whole languages for this game, which made it possible, that you can experience the FreeSpace 2 campaign in six languages with current MediaVPs (even NTP was last tested with now slightly outdated ones, it should still be compatible) for the first time. Also the FreeSpace 2: Demo campaign was released for the first time in italian, polish and spanish aswell.

Version 0.6 saw also the release of the FreeSpace-NTP font, which is an exclusive created font based upon the original Bank Gothic Md to include all the characters that are present in the five latin-based languages. Especially in the newly included polish and italian languages there were some chars, that have to be added.
During the further development of Version 0.6 there was a release of the 0.6.2 Update which includes many bugfixes in the Main Campaign missions. Some of them were timing adjustments so that messages got properly played completely, others were however fundamental bugfixes, so that the missions are working much like in Retail again. These bugfixes were needed due to changed AI or SEXP behaviour in process of Code changes by FSO.

However, my goal this year was to release at least Version 0.7 which would had complete the Single Player segment of FreeSpace 2 with the Standalone Single Missions.
But well, life was playing a different game with me again. During the summer a lightning strike fried the telephone line in my house. This disconnected myself from the internet for several weeks. As i did not had an unlimited volume of data for my mobile phone contractor back then, that event caused extreme difficulties and problems at work, as well financial damages i am still in the process to sort out.
During autumn a thunderstorm also damaged the roof of our house as well. So in every rain shower we had to make sure, that not too much water runs into the house.

And last but not least, in November we had a house search by the police here because my husband is suspected of certain acts. All of his hardware was confiscated.
Of course I believe in his innocence, but this whole thing was quite an additional emotional burden for me. Especially because although his health is better, he's still not fully recovered.

But these are all reasons why it just wasn't enough for more than version 0.6 to 0.6.2 this year.
The second half of this year was just extremely difficult and that will probably drag on into the first months of 2023.
Will therefore not promise too much after this year for the next year in this project. But you should be able to count on version 0.7, because I shouldn't let this project die here. And for that there should be something at least once a year.

Greetings,

Jenna

[wookieejedi]

Having version 0.6 and the subsequent updates out this year was terrific. Very sorry to hear about all those rough and unfortunate events that made the second half of the year so difficult, and hopefully the upcoming year will be better as time goes on.

[Novachen]

Well, that was a hell of the year.

In terms of work, I was pretty busy and it was successful. Unfortunately, there was no time for hobby projects like this one.
So there was no big progress this year. I hope to finish version 0.7 with new missions in 2024 then.

But because there are new MediaVPs, I at least had to find time for a compatibility update.
So here it is. But there are more things under the hood.

For example, around 200 new entries for strings.tbl, which basically means that the new options menu, which is still under development, has already been translated.
As always, Achille has contributed the French texts. I did the German ones. All other languages were partly translated with a mixture of translation tools and AI. The best I can offer as a person, who does not speak Italian, Spanish, Polish or even Japanese  .

The build from 06th December 2023 is required. I have not currently installed Knossos due to circumstances, so I recommend considering it as a supplement to manual installation or the FSO installer right now. I hope that i will be able to add this to FSOInstaller in the near future at least, as i have to update my things there too anyway.

Changelog of Version 0.6.3:
• MediaVPs 4.7.1 compatibility!
• Updated strings.tbl. All translatable strings added since NTP's 0.6.2 release are now supported. This includes the new in-game settings menu currently in development.
• Some strings from the Retail FreeSpace 2 Launcher had to be restored for this as well.
• The japanese translation of "Escape Pod Bay" exceeded the 32 Bit Buffer, which cause crashes on newer FSO builds. Another shorter term is now used.
• The japanese language package now also includes the complete default (aka english) language, as the used japanese font support all english letters anyway.
• Added new entries to the controlconfigdefaults.tbl to prevent the usage of duplicate IDs and to ensure proper translatability for every input setting.
• Changed MediaVPs & HD Mainhall files are now in their own VP files in preparation to make NTP more independent from both in the future.
• Mission update in SM1-08 "The Sixth Wonder": Some event changes on the NTCv Hawkwood & NTC Conquest to make them less obviously indestructible for fighters.
• Mission update in SM3-02 "High Noon": If the SD Beleth survives SM3-01 "Bearbaiting" with active beam cannons, it will now also provide proper fire support for the SJ Sathanas with them.
• Mission update in SM3-04 "Straight, No Chaser": The SJ Yama/GVD Psamtik sequence has been slightly optimized.
• Mission update in loop2-2 "Into the Lion's Den": Further repositioning of some ships. The mission should be solvable with all objectives on Insane difficulty again. Also, the Shivan check on the GTF Maras happens earlier now.
• Mission update in DemoTrain "Training": Command Briefing did not have any voice because of a wrong file name. This was corrected.

Opening Post was updated.


Greetings and Happy playin'

Jenna

[Novachen]

So, NTP is also part of the FSOInstaller now, which means that it also downloads all required files automatically aswell.

I looked into the MediaVPs 4.7.2 and its chagelog suggest that there should be any incompatibilites to NTP 0.6.3. So you can safely update.

As stated in the NTP 0.6.3 changelog, i already moved all changed MediaVPs & HD Mainhall files for NTP into its own VP files.
The target for Version 0.7 is to official provide a base version of NTP that is launchable regardless of the current Mainhall/MediaVPs version. Or even to play retail like without any of them.
I think the content of the specific vps could be changed for 0.7 aswell, if they will even survive in the long term, as i think there is a much better way to keep compatibility, but i have to put more time into this.

If there is an upcoming MediaVPs version that cause incompatibilites, you should already able to remove the ntp_mediavps_47x.vp now and can still use NTP's translations together with any new feature. In this case, only a few texts would again be untranslated.
This standalone solution was desired by myself, as i could not work on this project for over a year and so missed some MediaVPs releases.

But as far as i have not tested this actually, i give no guarantee yet.

[Toranks]

How is this project going? If anyone is willing to update it to be fully compatible with the latest updates of FSO and MVP (4.7.2), I am willing to help with the Spanish translation, which has numerous errors.

[Novachen]

0.6.3 was released for the current MediaVPS. So it should be fully compatible with 4.7.2.

But i have no spanish translator. So If you want to update the spanish translation, you can fix the errors in the spanish language files and send them to me and i will release a 0.6.4 update 

There are no news for 0.7 right now. But i am positive, that i will find time for this during the year. I know that there is no big progress for some time already. It is not a lack of motivation, but the lack of free time for this. I did not gave up on this. This project is still maintained for compatibility right now, even there are no new translated campaigns for the moment.
But there will in the future.

[Toranks]

Okay thanks! Indeed, it seems to be compatible with any version of Freespace from 23.3 to 24.0 without errors, same with MVP 4.7.2 so I consider it good. I'm already correcting strings.