3783

So when do we put together a Qt3 crew?

Tom Mc

3784

Hi Brian, I listened to your podcast about the Freespace 2 mod called Blue Planet and wanted to know whether I should use GOG Galaxy or download the install files and install FS2 the old way if my plan is to use FSO Installer (I posted the question on the youtube version of the podcast as well BTW).

Also, what is the bit of dialog + music you play at the very end of the SGJ podcast? What’s it from?

3785

Hey, thanks for listening to the podcast Papa. I’d recommend using GOG galaxy to install Freespace 2, then simply download the FSO installer, point it to where GOG installed it, then let it run for a while. Overnight preferably, since it downloads maybe 10-30 gigs worth of stuff (My FS2 folder is actually about 40 gigs, FYI).

As for the song, it’s from a 1970’s John Carpenter space movie called Dark Star.

Which I still need to see.

Tom, we’ll likely play Pulsar again next month, keep an eye out on the calendar for the dates. :)

3786

Dark Star–awesome! I vaguely remember that movie–it was a sci-fi comedy, essentially. Pretty good as I recall.

And thanks for the reply on FS2. 10 to 30 gigs? Wow. What the heck is it downloading?

3787

All the Freespace Open/Upgrade stuff that makes it look pretty and allows for HD resolutions, plus a bunch of awesome mods like Blue Planet and so on.

3788

OK, the complete d/l is in progress. I’ve never played Freespace 2, despite owning it for many years (bought it on GOG a few years back, and bought a boxed copy back when it was on sale at EB for 10 bucks or something)… I did play Freespace 1 way back (or Descent: Freespace as it was known) but only got a few missions in before I hit that seemingly impossible stealth mission and got distracted by something else. Way less time to play games than I wish I had–I’m sure I don’t have to tell you. :-)

3789

The eff? You haven’t seen Dark Star? That’s as egregious as Tom not having watched The Wire.

3790

Hmm, well the installer downloaded everything but the following–two of them sound like mods but the last one sounds like something that might be a graphics upgrade. Any advice, folks? Go to moddb, maybe? EDIT: n/m, I just re-ran the installer, selected the failed items, and they supposedly installed right.

The following errors were encountered:

Inferno: The file ‘inf1.zip’ could not be downloaded.
Shrouding the Light: The file ‘stl.zip’ could not be downloaded.
MV_RadarIcons: The file ‘MV_RadarIcons_3612.zip’ could not be downloaded.

3791

BTW, now that I’ve installed the mod, does the basic “prettification” stuff run automatically when running FS2?

3792

Actually no. You need to install the wxLauncher (you’ll find the EXE in your FS2 directory now), then launch that, point it to your FS2 directory, then pick one of the new Freespace Open EXE files. From there you’ll be able to add all the prettification you want.

OH, and if a mod doesn’t fully download, just run it again. I had to do that a couple times, but I thought it was just me.

3793

Not to totally derail the thread, but at the time of the release of Dark Star I was living in San Francisco, and one of my co-workers was the girlfriend of Dan O’Banon, who wrote it. As a result, I got to go to the Bay Area premier and after party, where I (briefly) met him and Carpenter.

A couple of years later, O’Banon went on to write a little indie picture called Alien.

I like to think I was his muse.

3794

OK, I figured out how to launch it with the launcher you mentioned, and just went with the basic FS Open option, which appears to launch in some flavor of 4:3 resolution (even though my monitor was recognized as a 1920x1200 one). Is there a particular one you’d recommend? Will the game maybe recognize my Thrustmaster HOTAS X?

I didn’t see an FSOpen readme file anywhere in the game folder, unfortunately. I’ll try checking the site where the files appear to be hosted to figure out how to launch a particular mod or whatever.

3795

Drop everything. Right now. Find movie. Watch. You have your orders. Now go!

I still get that song as an earworm from time to time. One of the few I don’t mind.

3796

The menu screens are still 4:3, but the game itself will be widescreen if you chose 1080 in the launcher. You also have to tell the launcher which joystick you want to use, so it has to be plugged in, but it should recognize it. I’ve used it with a Saitex X-36, X-45, X-52 and now the Sidewinder with no problem.

Mods are launched via the Mod tab, you have to activate them. For example, for the basic prettiness, you activate the MediaVPs 2014 mod. Sorry this isn’t clearer, I kinda forgot to mention that step.

I’ll put it in the queue. ;)

3797

Slacker. ;)

3798

What a great story. Must have quite cool.

I remember as a teen reading the novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster.
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Star-Alan-Dean-Foster/dp/0345288718

3799

At least I’ve heard of The Wire.

3800

Quick question for anyone who can answer–does the solution linked here (called “glovepie” for some reason) work for using the 360 controller with FS and FS2 Open? Post on Steam Community re Glovepie

EDIT: never mind, the glovepie.org link is dead.

I tried using the options screen to get my HOTAS X buttons mapped to the controls but they weren’t being recognized for some reason. I don’t think I can do mouse and keyboard with this, it’s just way too complicated. :-(

3801

Is your HOTAS X multiple devices in windows, or is it seen as one device?

3802

Is that under the Device Manager? It’s weird, because I fired up the Control Panel in Windows 7 and there used to be one called “game controllers” or similar there, and there’s none like that now, not even for the 360 controller. In the Device Manager I can see the 360 controller under the category “Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class” but I can’t see the Thrustmaster HOTAS X by name anywhere although there’s a whole mess of things like “HID-Compliant consumer control device” (2 of those) and “HID compliant device” (3), and “HID-compliant game controller” (2), and 5 things that are generic “USB Input Devices”, all under the Human Interface Devices category.

When I unplug the HOTAS X, it appears that one “HID-compliant game controller” and one “USB Input Device” drop off the list, if it helps. So it does apparently appear as one device, and ED has no problem recognizing it. Strange.

I guess if I’m going to play this thing I’ll just have to use mouse and keyboard. I’ve also got an old Saitek Cyborg EVO that might work, but it’s too light in the base for my taste.