Freespace 2 OS X!

[Soulstorm]

The instructions may be a little complicated, but installation isn't as hard as it seems. I remember the first time I tried to install the game. It was a pain in the ass, but the result was actually worth it, plus, I noticed that in fact, it was simple.

I tried to give the most useful links to you, and the bottom line is this:

You need FS2_open to run the game, and its data files. Extract the data files using file juicer into an FS2_open directory and put the application in it. Open the application, and the game should be just fine.

There is a confusion about the media.vp files. Note that these files are NOT required to run. They just add some eye-candy that I personally think its awesome (compared to the original release).

The settings in the command line file, should only be tapped when you want to optimize the game to run in your machine, or to use the media.vp's and FS2_Open's new capabilities.

It just needs a little time to get things running properly, but when you do that, you'll see that it wasn't that hard...

 

[Darklord]

FS2 wont read the command line file that i created and seems to be running off some preset settings that i dont know how to change, so I take it i did something wrong. Can you give more detailed instructions on how to create a command line file?

 

[mtr]

FS2 wont read the command line file that i created and seems to be running off some preset settings that i dont know how to change, so I take it i did something wrong. Can you give more detailed instructions on how to create a command line file?

Say if you wanted to enable specular maps, glow maps, an ambient factor of 80, and JPG and TGA textures then you would open Terminal app type this:

echo "-spec -glow -ambient_factor 80 -jpgtga" > ~/Library/FS2_Open/data/cmdline.cfg

If you already have that file in place then you can open it in TextEdit and add the options you want there. Note that the options I listed won't matter unless you have the MediaVPs installed. If you have questions on how to install the MediaVPs just let me know.

 

[Darklord]

Say if you wanted to enable specular maps, glow maps, an ambient factor of 80, and JPG and TGA textures then you would open Terminal app type this:

echo "-spec -glow -ambient_factor 80 -jpgtga" > ~/Library/FS2_Open/data/cmdline.cfg

If you already have that file in place then you can open it in TextEdit and add the options you want there. Note that the options I listed won't matter unless you have the MediaVPs installed. If you have questions on how to install the MediaVPs just let me know.

when i copied pasted in your command into the counsole it created a file called cmdline.cfg instead of the preposed cmdline_fso.cmd file that you wrote in your readme. I think the extra vp files are all working but its hard to tell. for instance i did not enter in the command to have a 3d radar yet i have it anyway. and like to turn it off. and also durring one of the missions it the program keeps quiting mid flight. I knoticed that it was durring a battle so what i deduced that the problem might be is that the -load only used weapons command is on, despite the fact that i did not enter it in. and one of the fighters is launching a missle that isnt loaded up. though i could be wrong..

EDIT: I created a file entiled cmdline_fso.cmd to make sure that that was what the file should be called. and I entered the following commands exactly in this fashion on the first line.

-nosound -nomusic

the weird thing is, and this is where my entire problem started, was that the program seems to ignore the cmdline_fso.cmd file that i created. all sound plays normaly and ontop of that all the extra vp. files work fine despite the fact that i did not enter in the proper commands to make them work. And finaly i still get the 3d radar.

 

[mtr]

the weird thing is, and this is where my entire problem started, was that the program seems to ignore the cmdline_fso.cmd file that i created. all sound plays normaly and ontop of that all the extra vp. files work fine despite the fact that i did not enter in the proper commands to make them work. And finaly i still get the 3d radar.

The file has to have a .cfg extension so be sure to check that since you keep writing .cmd. The "cmdline.cfg" thing I wrote was just my fault, but it will check for that file if "cmdline_fso.cfg" is missing so it should still get any options specified there.

If you use the options I listed and use the MediaVPs then you should notice an immediate difference in the visual quality. Something just sounds wrong with your setup considering all of your problems. Can you please post a list of the files that are in the same folder as the FS2_Open app and a listing of the files in ~/Library/FS2_Open and ~/Library/FS2_Open/data? That might help me figure out what's wrong.

Oh and I just recently found a bug with -nosound which would cause random crashing in a mission so I suggest not using that until a CVS bugfix build is released.

 

[Darklord]

Yah, i labeled .cfg on the actual file. EDIT: I FOUND THE CULPRATE!
there was another cmdline_fso.cfg in the data in the freespace folder. if you hadnt asked for a list of all the files that i had then i wouldnt have noticed. that had all the commands that i thought it was using including that 3dradar one

-spec -glow -pcx32 -jpgtga -d3dmipmap -nomotiondebris -2d_poof -cell -rlm -orbradar -ship_choice_3d -3dwarp -snd_preload -env -alpha_env -decals

I knoticed that cell should not be on when using the mediavps so ill get rid of that. anything else

thing is that this file is in the wrong folder and yet it seems to take precedence over the one that is in the right folder. very odd...

ok, i had edited that cfg file instead of the one in the library folder. and now evreything works perfectly. I even had the game preload the files like you suggested in the readme and that shortened the load time considearbly. so Thanks for your help

 

[mtr]

thing is that this file is in the wrong folder and yet it seems to take precedence over the one that is in the right folder. very odd...

Glad to hear it's working for you now.

It does support a cmdline_fso.cfg file in both places and will use options in both but there is an order to which option values get used. For instance, if you specify an -ambient_factor value in both files then only the one in ~/Library/FS2_Open/data/cmdline_fso.cfg will get used. Different options in the two files will just be added together though so you can specify -jpgtga in one and -loadonlyused in the other and both will get used.

All options are combined from all of the locations with the most recent value for a particular option getting used. This read order goes like this:

3) <game_directory>/data/cmdline_fso.cfg
2a) ~/Library/FS2_Open/data/cmdline_fso.cfg
2b) ~/Library/FS2_Open/data/cmdline.cfg (only if above cmdline_fso.cfg isn't found!)
1) what was actually specified on the command line when run from the shell

That load order allows you to do some nice things with mod support and what not, which I'll detail at a later time (using it for TBP). Windows users don't have the option of doing this so they still have to do a bit more work to support the total conversion mods (like TBP, Inferno and WC:Saga).

 

[Darklord]

is it just me or the main site for freespace 2 Open source is down.

 

[mtr]

is it just me or the main site for freespace 2 Open source is down.

It should be back up now. Went down sometime last night I think, don't know why.

 

[K4NN4B15]

Am i missing something, or is no one actually going to make an installer or some installation instructions I can understand?

 

[madmax_2069]

i hope i can get this Beige G3 AIO up to power to try to play this game, with the ati radion 9200 128mb pci video card and sonnet G4 1000mhz zif upgrade that i plan on getting for this mac in my sig

 

[DJO]

Problems with the disk files

hello and greetings to all from New Zealand!

I had never heard of the game freespace until I stumbled across this thread. It sounds quite exciting.

Trying to follow the instructions provided here as closely as possible I have downloaded disk 1, 2, 3 and the FS2_Open application.

Thus, I am fairly certain that I have all the necessary components to put together the game for OS X .

I began to follow the installation instructions. However, the discs are in a zip format, not rar as is referred to in the instructions.

When I tried to open them, using stuffit expander the the process begins and then stops.

For some reason, I am unable to open the game disks and thus at this stage, cannot precede with installation.

If anybody could shed any light on why I am unable to unzip the discs, I would be extremely grateful.

Kind regards,

David

 

[mtr]

Am i missing something, or is no one actually going to make an installer or some installation instructions I can understand?

An installer is in the works but it doesn't have the priority of other things right now. Anyone is free to make easier to understand installation instructions however. I have tried but with my big Linux/UNIX background I can't seem to explain it in way that makes much sense for most OS X users. My latest attempt at instructions for installing, by hand, the game from the original discs is contained in a readme file in the unshield binary I made available: http://icculus.org/~taylor/fso/misc/unshield-bin.tar.gz

The instructions still require use of the Terminal and all of the typing that involves but it's about the best I've been able to come up with so far. Anything else I do seems to be too complicated for many. The installer is very special and not just for installing the game under OS X but a complete installing, downloading, updating, patching system for SCP and the mods based on FS2_Open. It's going to take time to get all working and I'm not going to half-ass something in the meantime for those who don't understand the current instructions.

If someone else wants to make an installer just for installing the files off of the CD-ROMs then I'll make sure that it gets listed with all FS2_Open OS X info and that it gets added to the 3.6.7 dmg. Coming from me however, the new installer system will have to wait until it's done and there is no timeframe for when that may be.

 

[Soulstorm]

Comprehensive read-me's are here:

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/fsdoc/

All things concerning freespace and FS2_Open are in there.

Have fun!

 

[ravenvii]

Installed Freespace 2, everything works just fine. No problems. Except my mouse wouldn't work in-game? It worked fine in the menus, but in-game nothing happens when I move the mouse?

 

[mtr]

Installed Freespace 2, everything works just fine. No problems. Except my mouse wouldn't work in-game? It worked fine in the menus, but in-game nothing happens when I move the mouse?

By default you can't use the mouse to fly the ship. You can turn that on in the options screen though. I think it's just listed as "Mouse" with and on and an off setting. You can change that at any time and it takes affect immediately so you could turn it on while you are playing (F2 brings up the options screen when in a mission) if you wanted.

 

[ravenvii]

Thanks! The mouse works just fine now. And whoever recommended a joystick for this game is absolutely right. Still, this looks to be quite a cool game! What a sense of scale!

I'm looking at the graphics enhancements. Which ones should I download and install? I see there's several, from Lightspeed and others for example.

 

[mtr]

I'm looking at the graphics enhancements. Which ones should I download and install? I see there's several, from Lightspeed and others for example.

Just stick to the MediaVPs at first (can be downloaded from http://scp.indiegames.us) since they are about the only thing that's officially supported. Everyone's best work ends up in the MediaVPs so you will find all of the cool stuff from Lightspeed and DaBrain as well plus the hi-poly models from the many skilled model makers out there.

A HOWTO is in the works which explains what everything is and how to make use of the MediaVPs. I'll post a link to it here when it becomes available (someone else is writing it).

 

[Verto]

Damn, this is hard to get a hold of! Still trying to get a download to go through!

 

[mtr]

Damn, this is hard to get a hold of! Still trying to get a download to go through!

Yeah it's freaky. Nearly every single major site with the game, forums, CVS, or related files has dropped off the internet for at least a couple of days during the past week and a half. Not sure why it all hit at once but everything is slowly coming back online.

 

[Verto]

Yeah it's freaky. Nearly every single major site with the game, forums, CVS, or related files has dropped off the internet for at least a couple of days during the past week and a half. Not sure why it all hit at once but everything is slowly coming back online.

And to think, I intentionally waited to avoid the rush

 

[Soulstorm]

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/39309975/m/115003814731/p/1 will work

 

[Verto]

General Info

Although no official website has been created for the OS X at the time, you can grab the full game here:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/39309975/m/115003814731/p/1 (this one will SURELY work)

Anyone who downloaded the game from here, can you tell me which installation instructions you followed? How did the three files extract or work? Did you just click each of them, or did you need an extra program to put it all together?

They are .ISO files.

 

[Verto]

I've tried double clicking on the .ISO files and it says it failed to mount...someone please tell me this is normal, because there is some other way I'm supposed to be opening this?


EDIT:

So should I go with these instructions? The ones that say..

1. Download all 3 disc images from http://freespacezone.com/. They are compressed as .RAR files, extract them wherever you want.

2. Rename the 3 disc images with the extension .BIN instead of .ISO; they were mislabeled.

3. Download Bin2ISO (linked to earlier in this thread). This is a command line utility. Run the program on all 3 .BIN images. After all 3 images have finished being converted, you can delete the .BIN versions. The syntax for running it is:

 

[ravenvii]

I've tried double clicking on the .ISO files and it says it failed to mount...someone please tell me this is normal, because there is some other way I'm supposed to be opening this?


EDIT:

So should I go with these instructions? The ones that say..

Yup. The installation really isn't that hard if you just follow the instructions closely.

But don't take my word for it... I'm the nut who installed (and successfully too!) Gentoo on his PC.